The Story of Nerath The Valelands & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Valelands campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

The Empire of Nerath once stood as the greatest civilization the world had ever known. Its roads stretched across continents, its armies kept the darkness at bay, and its laws united countless peoples beneath a single banner. That age is long gone. A century has passed since the empire collapsed in a cataclysmic war, leaving behind a broken realm where thriving cities became abandoned ruins, mighty fortresses crumbled into silence, and civilization retreated before the encroaching wilderness. What was once the heart of a mighty empire is now little more than a vast, untamed frontier.

The wilderness has reclaimed nearly everything Nerath built. Ancient highways disappear beneath tangled forests, forgotten watchtowers now serve as lairs for monsters, and ruined keeps shelter creatures far darker than those who once defended them.

The scattered settlements that survived stand alone, separated by miles of dangerous wildlands where travel is rare and perilous. Merchants, pilgrims, and adventurers cling to the old roads, knowing that a single wrong turn can lead to death at the hands of bandits, beasts, or horrors left behind from the empire's fall.

Without an emperor, kingdom, or great alliance to restore order, every village and town must fend for itself. A settlement threatened by raiders, cultists, or monsters cannot expect help from distant rulers because there are none. News travels slowly, and many communities disappear without anyone beyond their neighbors ever knowing their fate. Those few bastions of civilization that remain are isolated points of light, surrounded on all sides by the endless wilderness that swallowed the empire. Among these surviving enclaves lies the Nentir Vale, one of the last true frontiers of the fallen Empire of Nerath.

Here, the remnants of civilization struggle to endure while the ruins of a forgotten age beckon from every forest, mountain, and lonely hill. The heroes of this campaign are not exploring a thriving kingdom—they are walking through the bones of a dead empire, where every ruined tower, abandoned village, and crumbling fortress tells the story of Nerath's fall and offers the chance to shape what little future remains.

Lake Wintermist The Valelands & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Valelands campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax

Perpetually shrouded in icy fog, Lake Wintermist provides ample supplies of fish for the human clans of the Winterbole Forest, the western shore village of Mistwatch, and a few homesteads along its southern shore. White dragons frequently appear in the northern reach of the lake, particularly in the dead of winter when they seek out mates.

Fed from the icy glacial runoff of the Cairngorm Peaks and dark waters of Winterbole Forest, Lake Wintermist is a mysterious place. Hot volcanic springs on the western shores of the lake keep the place shrouded in mist which perpetually falls in freezing sheets, refracting the light into thousands of colorful sparkles. It is said that the fey Winter Court once favored this place before the fall of the Winter Queen. The Winter River carries the icy waters of the lake to meet the Nentir River below the Gray Downs.

Lake Wintermist is a more secluded body of water within the Nentir Vale. Residents of Winterhaven might have more information on this section of the region, but those to the Southern and Eastern parts aren’t familiar with its history. Most people who don’t live on the Western side of the Nentir Vale aren’t interested in visiting the lake due to all the strange activity going on within the Winterbole Forest, which encircles half of the lake. All anyone cares to know is that the lake exists, and lies to the northeast of Winterhaven.

The Stuff Page The Valelands & The Nerath Timeline The current year for our Valelands campaign is set during the year 103AE. Inspired By Gary Gygax