I have a bad tendency to tinker with systems and settings so long that I never end up actually running/playing the game. To combat this, I started my solo D&D game with a deliberately zero-prep approach, relying on a module and my own particular sense of vernacular fantasy to fill in the gaps on a strictly as-needed basis. Nevertheless, lore accumulates fast, and as the game has progressed I’ve steadily built up a picture of the world (or at least this part of it). It's all Vanilla Fantasy of course, but I happen to think vanilla is a fine flavor and everyone's fantasy vernacular is a little bit different. Hopefully mine is a nice vanilla bean (it makes better rootbeer floats than french vanilla, in my opinion).
Eveningstar
A small valley province on the border of the Realm, just south of the inhospitable Stonelands. In ages past Eveningstar was a petty kingdom ruled by a line of bandit kings who used the black star as their sigil.
Eveningstar’s current ruler, Lady Winter, is the king’s former lover and was installed here as a form of soft exile from court. Fortunately for the people of Eveningstar, she is also a powerful wizard and has transformed her domain into a garden on the edge of the wild waste.
Aided by her spells, the valley is full of flowers, fruit trees, and magical animals. The most notable of these are Eveningstar’s famous winged cats, but most of Lady Winter’s designs are less ostentatious, such as helpful bees, livestock that rarely sickens, and cold-resistant fruit trees that graft easily.
Eveningstar Abbey
The monks of Lathander own a fair proportion of the land around Eveningstar. Relations between the abbey and the town are generally good, as Lady Winter is careful to honor the abbey’s rights and privileges. The abbey’s beer is famous.
The Two Rivers
A stream of clear water, the Starwater, flows through Eveningstar from its source in Lostar Lake in the Stonelands, forming a picturesque waterfall along the way. A second stream of foul, sulfurous water, known as the Goblinwater, runs out of Eveningstar Gorge and into the Briarwood. The two eventually meet by the town of Toadmarket, where they join the mighty Realmstream River.
Eveningstar Gorge
The old heathen kings of Eveningstar were laid to rest in tombs carved into the gorge walls. Monsters from the Stonelands have moved in or dug new caves in the years since then. Collectively this network of dungeons is known as the Caves of Chaos.
The Haunted Halls
The last redoubt of the old kings of Eveningstar. The last king’s army fell to starvation and foul magic in a war with a witch-queen out of the stonelands. Old spells and cursed, immortal soldiers of that barbarous era still haunt the halls.
The Killing Keep
An old ruin that overlooks Eveningstar Gorge. A mad vampire and his small army of kobolds occupy it now, and have protected it with traps and the severed, animated hands of intruders. The keep is connected to the Haunted Halls in several places, most of which are guarded or trapped.
