Salt & Starlight: A Player Primer for Our

Voyage
When we set sail: Seven years have passed since the heroes of Phandalin quenched the Forge of
Spells. Its last breath rippled through the Weave, leaving new boons in odd corners and waking
stranger hungers at sea. Phandalin thrives. In Neverwinter’s rebuilt docks, tavern songs still carry
the names of Ulrik, Finn, Peridot, Noxy, and Durlia. You are not them. You are the next tide.
Their echoes open doors, raise expectations, and paint targets.

Where we begin: Neverwinter’s harbor. Lanterns on wet ropes. A brisk wind and a contract
sealed with salt. The caravel The Voyage, captained by Arveene Greysail, readies to depart
under Lord Neverember’s commission to “investigate disturbances” reported by King Olgrave
Redaxe of the island realm of Gundarlun. Your berth is aboard The Voyage; the Trackless Sea
waits.

What your characters know:

 Piracy has surged along the Sword Coast, and Gundarlun’s kingsfleet is stretched thin.
The islanders want help, not pity.
 Neverwinter is paying, The Voyage is sturdy, and Captain Greysail prefers clean
maneuvers over messy heroics. You will have one last night in port to gather rumors, call
in favors, and set your jaw to the wind.

Tone at the table: Swashbuckling high fantasy with brine on the tongue and stars like cold coins.
Humor keeps the dark at arm’s length. Romance is possible in crowded ports and quiet watches.
Horror ebbs and floods; the sea takes tithes. Themes of freedom, mind’s will, and the price of
command run beneath the waves.

Character ties and factions: Choose a reason that threads you to our first crossing. Each can
color contacts, rivals, and favors in play.

 Lord’s Alliance: Drafted minor scions proving worth aboard The Voyage. Family pride rides
with you.

 The Harpers: Undercover mages and spies devoted to stopping the abuse of power; you’re
tasked to quietly gather intelligence, safeguard common folk from tyranny, and alert the network
if authoritarian forces or pirate cabals threaten the coast.

 Emerald Enclave: You taste a wrongness in storms and migrations. The balance is tilting;
you intend to right it.

 Order of the Gauntlet: Placed aboard as shields and chaplains to keep crew alive and pirates
repentant or sunk.
 Zhentarim: Sent to “survey opportunities” near the crash. If treasure spilled, someone must
collect it properly.

 Sword Coast native: A dock kid grown into a sellsword, a fisher with a longboat tattoo, a
mintarn hand good with line and blade. The sea is your mother tongue.

 Volunteers: You answered Neverember’s flier. Coin, renown, and the first taste of the
horizon.

 Fugitives: You crossed the wrong guild or law in Neverwinter and need a fast departure with
legitimate papers.

First expedition horizon: Make fast your gear. The Voyage casts off with the morning tide,
Neverwinter fading to smoke and song. Somewhere ahead, cliff-walled Gundbarg waits, the
kingsfleet at anchor, and a curt audience with King Redaxe before you’re sent west toward
windswept holds and broken shoreline. Eyes open. The sea keeps secrets poorly.

The Harpers
Working undercover in the major cities of the Sword Coast, the Harpers are mages and spies
whose aim is to prevent the abuse of power. They accumulate knowledge on the political
workings of the Realms, endeavouring to protect the common folk from tyranny and oppression.
The Harpers often recruit adventurers to assist the faction in times of dire need, especially when
major towns and cities are threatened by authoritarian forces.
The Lord’s Alliance

Hot-headed rulers of various regions of the Sword Coast, the Lord’s Alliance is a band of
powerful noblemen and women that aims to destroy mutual threats to their kingdoms. The agents
of each lord or lady are motivated by glory and aim to bring renown to themselves and their
masters. The main power players of the Lord’s Alliance in the Sword Coast are Lord Dagult
Neverember of Neverwinter, Grand Duke Ulder Ravengard of Baldur’s Gate, Lady Laeral
Silverhand of Waterdeep and King Olgrave Redaxe of Gundarlun.

Many of the members of the Lord’s Alliance are troubled by the increase in piracy along the
Sword Coast but lay the blame on their old enemy; Luskan. King Olgrave Redaxe is also aware
of the bizarre vessel which crash-landed on his island, but, as the only island member of the
Lord’s Alliance, the others tend to disregard him, and do little to investigate his claims.
The Emerald Enclave
Striving to maintain the delicate balance between civilisation and the wilderness, the Emerald
Enclave are a sect of survivalists united under the banner of mother nature. They actively search
out and destroy unnatural threats to the ecosystems of the Realms and subvert attempts to expand
cities into areas of ecological importance.
Clearly, the illithid emerging from the Astral Plane are a great threat to the natural balance of
life along the Sword Coast. Their interference with Slarkrethel unbalances the delicate nature of
the seas, disrupting aspects of the ocean from storms to fishing. These disturbances to the status
quo alert the enclave to the presence of the mind flayers, and they in turn search for adventurers
to help defeat them.
The Order of the Gauntlet
Devoted to deities of protection, justice, and self-sacrifice, members of the Order of the Gauntlet
protect others from the evils of the world. Driven on quests of righteousness by deities such as
Helm, Torm, and Tyr, the knights of the order seek out those who would threaten the lives of
others.

The doctrines presented by the Order of the Gauntlet are in direct opposition to the raiding and
piracy that forces its way into life on the Sword Coast. Seeing that a crisis is at hand, the
operatives of the order do their best to fend off these pillaging evildoers. Members of the Order
of the Gauntlet can be found on many naval ships acting as clerics and paladins, who keep up
morale and cure the wounded.

The Zhentarim
As coastal settlements are plundered, the need for mercenaries is on the rise. The Black Network
has them to spare, and for the best prices in all Faerûn. Whilst supplying cheap mercenaries to
ward off pirates, the network is secretly stocking the raiding ships with fresh crew, weapons and
even loaning them ships.

With spies and operatives in all the major settlements along the Sword Coast, the network knows
far more than any other faction, save the Kraken Society itself. They understand that something
unnatural is driving this spike in violence, but so long as they can protect their profits, the
network has no intention of intervening.

The Sword Coast: Sailor’s Gazetteer

Neverwinter — The City of Skilled Hands. Rebuilt streets ring with smiths and saws, and Lord
Neverember’s banners hang bright. Prosperity shows in the shipyards and patrols, yet piracy
gnaws at the lanes and tempers run short when cargoes vanish. The Voyage sails from these piers
with royal sanction, a clean hull, and a captain who favors smart seamanship over needless blood.

Waterdeep — The City of Splendors. A city of guilds, masked lords, and busy quays where a
dozen languages rise with the gulls. Diplomatic courtesies, holy processions, and dockside
hustles all happen within a stone’s throw. When trouble comes by sea, allies and informants are
never far.

Baldur’s Gate — The Gate. Smoke-stained walls, crowded markets, and the iron law of coin.
Rivermen, smugglers, and mercenary companies turn rumor into opportunity. Grand Duke
Ravengard’s soldiers mind the big threats while the harbor fixes itself one rope at a time.
Luskan — City of Sails. Pirate haven and ship-town where the “Ships” rule and the ale tastes of
salt and iron. Pressed by the Lord’s Alliance, Luskan sponsors heavy warships to “clean the
lanes,” though a savvy crew knows which flags earn passage and which earn bolts.

Mintarn — Sellswords’ Isle. A mint for mercenary contracts and a common birthplace for hard-
bitten crew. Many sailors aboard The Voyage have seen Mintarn paydays and Mintarn grudges.

Gundarlun — The Kingsfleet’s Home. Northlander stone and salt. The only great harbor is
Gundbarg, walled and watchful, with longships carved like beasts and a crumbling keep that still
commands respect. King Olgrave Redaxe keeps taxes fair, the ale strong, and expects visitors to
mind their manners.

Out on the Islands. Northlander holds, Moonshae harbors, and lonely rock-coves dot the
Trackless Sea. Some welcome trade. Others count seasons by raids and winter stories. Sailors
spin yarns about far Purple Rocks, though few linger there by choice.

The Sea Itself. Ice to the north, gentler waters to the south, and everywhere the quick temper of
storms. Pirates from Luskan and Northlander isles haunt the coast, and the deeps hide things
older than cities. A wise crew treats fog like an ambush and a calm like a lie.

Factions You Might Know.

 Lord’s Alliance: City banners united against threats to trade and safety, quick to
commission expeditions and quicker to demand reports.
 Emerald Enclave: Wardens of balance. When tides and migrations turn strange, they
move.
 Order of the Gauntlet: Remit is simple: protect the innocent, punish the wicked, keep
the crew alive to see home.
 Zhentarim: Brokers who call piracy “salvage” and smuggling “private delivery.” They
always know a buyer.
 Harpers: Quiet mages and eyes in the crowd, working to stop the abuse of power and
safeguard common folk when cities drift toward tyranny.
 Sword Coast Locals: Fishers, shipwrights, longshore hands, far-faring traders. Half the
coast runs on their gossip.

Coin & Comforts. In busy ports, a modest meal runs a few silver, a mug of ale coppers, rooms
pricier near the docks and cheap where the roof leaks. Crews drink, sing, and wager before a
voyage, then sober quick when the bosun rings the bell.

Customs & Good Sense. Ask leave to come aboard. Coil lines like you mean it. Never mock a
harbor god within earshot of the water. Pay the tithe, mind the night watch, and keep a dry set of
clothes in oilskin. The sea forgives slowly.