#nimbral

The rare visitor to Nimbral today is a curiosity and does not receive hostile treatment (unless armed and aboard a slaving ship, or engaged in the act of slaving or raiding and pillaging the Summer Land). So long as that visitor obeys any glass-armoured knights he or she sees, or any herald of the realm (any person flying without a steed, and bearing a rod of white carved bone fashioned with a spread-fingered human hand at either end), he or she can freely roam the island at will and might well observe some of facts and specifics that follow.

Nine out of ten Nimbrese today are dark-haired, fair-skinned humans (apt to be slender and tall of build, sometimes with blue-tinged skin around their cheeks and throats from traces of moon elf blood), with the tenth Nimbrese being a half-elf of obvious moon elven descent. No social stigma is attached in the Summer Land to being one or the other. Nimbrese refer to themselves as "the Folk of Summer" and their land as either (very formally or poetically) "the Land of the Summer Seas" or, more often, "the Summer Land."

Nimbral uses the Calendar of Harptos, though the latitude of the island, plus the cooling sea breezes that customarily blow gently over it, make winters a short, mild month (Hammer) of rains, cold mists, and mud (followed by another month or so of warming weather accompanied by near-blinding fogs), and summers long and gentle. They embrace the standard Roll of Years, and many Nimbrese are familiar with extensive local lore (events down the years, including shipwrecks, dragon arrivals and slayings, births and deaths of important citizens as well as their own kin, and so on).

All Nimbrese speak Common and Halruaan. (The former is used in daily speech, and the latter in prayers, family and community lore, ballads, and formal speech.) Most use the Draconic alphabet daily, and many are also familiar with Elven and the Espruar script. Song, rhyming tales (from simple childrens' ditties such as

"Oh, if you go down to the sea today

/The merfolk will call: come away/

Heed not their pleas if you would stay

Alive, alive-o!" to long, intricate narrative ballads), and romantic tales of true love, sacrifice, and loyalty are favourites of most Nimbrese.

One rarely finds an unlettered inhabitant of the Sea Haven, though many prefer to listen and speak little, writing when haste is unnecessary and strong emotions or principles latter. (For example, love letters and notes to state positions in disputes are common.)

Nimbral itself is a gently-rolling, well-watered land of lush forests. Knee-deep ferns, sun-dappled blue-green shade, damp air, and fireflies by night are the elements that come to the minds of most folk when asked to describe the Realm of the Flying Hunt. One never strays far from small brooks and ponds when in Nimbral, though it has only one river: the Ormarr.

This river is navigable from its mouth to the cascades that bring it down from the high slopes of Maern Prestarr, which is the largest and highest peak of the Seirsardar. This central range of mountains provides a rampart for the island against the occasional "Great Waves" that sweep across the sea to the west of Nimbral. "Maern" means "mountain" in Nimbran naming, and "Thorl" is rock (usually applied to offshore rocks that endanger Nimbran fishing boats, or the sea-lashed coastal rocks where shellfish many be found). Interestingly, Nimbrese have no word for "Wood" or "Forest," because, despite some open meadows and cleared farmlands, they regard all of Nimbral as a place of trees.

The visitor roaming Nimbral can see trees, trees, and more trees. Marshes are few and so are farms (which tend to be individual clearings strung along the unsignposted labyrinth of dirt lanes that crisscrosses the realm in a great web). High meadows exist only on the rising slopes of the maerns, in particular along the eastern side of the Seirsardar and the southern face of the Vaerael (the mountain range at the northern tip of the island).

Some Faerûnian mainlanders say that human-sized and larger versions of the fey, many possessing extra limbs and strange powers, inhabit the secretive, seldom-visited island realm of Nimbral. 

Still other tales whisper of lush, deep, and endless forests inhabited by elves (or elflike beings) who can turn invisible and teleport at will. The tales tell of the inhabitants tormenting intruders with spells and sudden "thrusts from nowhere" of poisoned blades. Some folk of Faerûn believe that Nimbral is a land of fell women who have, over centuries of spell use on their new-borns, changed their races form to gain tails or extra limbs and innate magical abilities. These beings supposedly dwell on Nimbral under the rule of hags and use portals to reach certain mainland forests and cities to breed with men who never suspect their true nature and origins. 

Still others think the isle serves as the abode of a centuries-old colony of disciplined and powerful arcane casters who use spells and spell-commanded monsters to drive off intruders and spread wild tales (like the preceding beliefs) of what truly exists on Nimbral.

Most tales of Nimbral agree on two things, however: Deep green forests (temperate woodlands dominated by soaring shadowtops, duskwoods, oaks, and elms) dominate the realm, and a Flying Hunt of glass-armoured knights who ride pegasi steeds call the place home. Legends of this splendid aerial spectacle have given Nimbral its most famous mainland nickname: the Realm of the Flying Hunt. Some name it the Sea Haven for its location, too, since it made its small harbours a refuge from storms for sailors blown west from the shipping lanes around the Chultan peninsula and into the seemingly-endless expanse of uncharted ocean.

Many mainlanders had the existence of the Flying Hunt proven to them dramatically in the Year of the Shield, when a Flying Hunt flew across the Trackless Sea and raided pirate ships in the Nelanther Isles -- the first such foray in living memory. They left several pirate ships off the coast of Tethyr afire and adrift, with the crews slaughtered. Many in coastal lands lauded these deeds, but the actions of the Flying Hunt awakened fears of where the Hunt might strike next, and whether any land remained safe from their raids. Flying ships from the mage-land of Halruaa sailed the skies to Nimbral shortly after this foray; some thought the ruling wizards of the Land of the Skyships wanted to discourage any possibility of the Nimbrese becoming a new sort of aerial pirate, coastal raider, or conqueror of lands in face-to-face discussions.

What ensued from those talks remains unknown, but rumours among seafarers up and down the Sword Coast and the Shining Sea ports suggest that the Nimbrese were avenging pirate raids, not embarking on any campaign of raids or expansions. (However, other sailors have reported finding caves on small, isolated sea isles that had Nimbrese garrisons and that also possessed pegasi pens, forage for the steeds, and "star charts" to aid in oversea flights.) Moreover, seafaring Calishite slavers revile the Flying Hunt as ruthless raiders and bandits, blaming them for many disappearances and "strange ills" (the local term for bad luck), suggesting a history of strife between the Nimbrese and all who come slave-raiding within their reach.

The folk of Nimbral seem self-sufficient, and they engage in no regular shipping or trade with mainland Faerûn. Some sailors and sages of interior Faerûnian lands alike believe this land is purely legendary; others, such as the monks of Candlekeep, hunger for more information about this remote and reclusive island. Scholars, by the way, apply the term "Nimbrese" to the collective folk of the island, "Nimbran" to their work, study, beliefs, and customs, and "Nimbrian" to items of their making. Thus, a Knight of the Flying Hunt is a Nimbran, wearing Nimbrian armor, and of the Nimbrese people.

The isolated realm of Samarach was once the western half of Thindol.

At that time, its populace was dominated by Tashlutan immigrants who settled the Sanrach Basin after the Tashalar Campaigns (circa 300 DR).

In the Year of Many Serpents (605 DR), the Thindolese in both the Chultan-dominated east and the Tashlutan-dominated west unmasked a host of yuan-ti infiltrators in their midst.

During the months of anarchy that followed this event, roving bands of ophiophobes attacked anyone they suspected of possessing serpentine ancestry. 

Unlike the eastern Thindolese, the folk of western Thindol fled en masse, marshalling a great flotilla of ships and sailing for the fabled isle of Nimbral.

After a great storm dashed much of this slapdash fleet against the Beacon Rocks, a legion of pegasi -mounted Knights of the Flying Hunt appeared above the remnants of the fleet and ordered the Thindolese to return to their homes. 

After listening to their pleas for mercy, Lord Samar, a Nimbral Lord and the commander of the Nimbran legion, agreed to return to the Chultan Peninsula with the refugees and drive the yuan-ti from the Sanrach Basin.

Once the survivors returned home, the archmage Samar cloaked the mountain passes and roads of the realm in veils of illusion, then began a decades-long hunt for the agents of the yuan-ti. 

The Hidden Kingdom of Samarach lies along the southern shore of the Chultan Peninsula, between Thindol and the Jungles of Chult. 

Although independent of Nimbral, Samarach is a vassal state of the Seahaven ruled by one of the twelve Nimbral Lords.

Mountain passes leading to Samarach are cloaked in veils of illusion, and the kingdom’s settlements are protected by high walls and overlapping permanent images

The ophiophobic inhabitants of Samarach are consumed with the fear that traitors lurk in their midst. Trust is rare, even among family members, and lying is the cultural norm.

While all adults are expected to contribute to the defense of the realm, those who practice spellcasting—particularly spells from the school of Illusion—are most highly regarded.

A sharp cultural split divides the Nimbrese nobles from the Chultan and Tashlutan commoners. Although there has been no hint of rebellion, cultural and class differences continue to rankle a sizable percentage of the populace.

Samarach is governed by an individual known as the High Phantasmage. The position rotates among Nimbran archmages, each of whom assumes the title and rules from a few years to a few decades before surrendering the rulership to another. The current ruler, High Phantasmage Meleghost Zoaster, has  already  governed for many years, and whispers among the Nimbrese nobility suggest that he has no intention of returning to Nimbral. Some attribute this decision to the burgeoning power of the Leiran (Cyricist) priests,  who  settled in  Samarach  in large  numbers after the Time of Troubles, when the Nimbral Lords banned any state religion or organized priesthood in the Seahaven.

Although foreign merchants are not permitted in the Hidden Kingdom, a handful of Samarachans who have approval from the High Phantasmage to act as merchants occasionally set sail from the port of Samargol or travel overland via the Sormarl Pass.