Selgaunt

Overview

Selgaunt (once called Chancelgaunt) is Sembia’s great merchant port on the Sea of Fallen Stars and, after the fall of Ordulin, the de facto capital of the nation. Founded by Chondathan traders around 380 DR, it grew into a metropolis whose wealth, fashion, and sharp commerce set the tone for Sembia at large. The city’s name honors Selgar, a famed merchant-king laid to rest beneath an ornate tomb said to be protected by traps and guardians. Selgauntans see their city as the height of civilization, and much of Sembian politics, trade, and style flows from its streets.

Geography & Climate

Selgaunt stands where the Arkhen River meets the Inner Sea, with the stone-built High Bridge carrying traffic from the Klaroun Gate across the river mouth. The shore east of the walls is bleak and scrubby, dotted with small fisheries and docks. The harbor, sometimes mistakenly called “Selgaunt Bay,” is deep but dangerous: kuo-toa lairs, sahuagin raiders, sharks, and river-borne hazards such as water weirds threaten the unwary. Offshore dolphins are a common sight.

The city lies in a temperate zone. Winters bring snowfall and regular ice fogs. Winds keep most rains brief and often confined to mornings and mid-afternoons. Cloud cover is common by day; fogs swell at night and leave frost on roofs and spires by dawn.

Districts & Architecture

Selgaunt’s plan is dense and irregular. Brownstone tallhouses stack families floor-by-floor in wealthier wards, while sprawling warehouse tracts crowd the docks and gate roads. Many grand structures are faced in imported Yhauntan stone. The city’s crown is the many-spired Palace of the Hulorn, ringed by the Old Chauncel—manor-packed streets of long-entrenched noble houses. Adjoining the palace lies the walled Hunting Garden, a private preserve stocked with game and guarded well.

The Foreign District is a busy mix of warehouses and taverns patrolled by the city guard, with Rauncel’s Ride as its spine. Tormyn’s Way leads to Temple Avenue, a broad, stone-flagged way marked by a granite arch and lined with dwarf maples, statues, and benches. The Avenue of the Temples holds multiple shrines and major temples. Mairen Street—“Shop Street”—is the commercial heart: towering storefronts, stalls, hawkers of produce and spices, silks and fine goods, and popular street foods. To the west, the Oxblood Quarter sits a short walk from the city gate. On the High Bridge itself, houses, a tavern, and a fish market form a lively span divided by Galgorgar’s Ride.

Beneath Selgaunt runs a broad sewer network that drains northeast to the sea. It hosts the usual vermin and worse; deep alcoves shelter rats and, by report, strange aquatic undead. In the 15th century, explorers found a linked web of “dungeons” connecting many cellars with curious, mostly non-lethal traps and scattered hoards. Their origin is unknown.

Government & Law

For most of its history, Selgaunt was ruled by a hereditary Hulorn. In practice, power also lay with the Old Chauncel’s noble merchant houses, with pressure from the Knights of Selgaunt and, at times, the Sembian Council. After 1374 DR, Thamalon Uskevren II became Hulorn; during Netherese dominance in the 15th century the office was retitled Lord High Governor, though the Princes of Shade held the true reins until the Second Sundering.

Law in Selgaunt favors commerce. Vice trades—pleasure houses and drugs—operate openly under the old maxim “business is business.” Piracy, however, is reviled and punished with crippling sentences that forbid magical healing. Duels among nobles occur regularly, but murder at fetes and breaches of guest-right are beyond social tolerance.

Faith

The Avenue of the Temples concentrates Selgaunt’s religious life. Major temples honor Milil (House of Song), Sune (Firehair’s House), Deneir (Hallowed House of Higher Achievement), Oghma (Sanctum of the Scroll), Lliira (Palace of Holy Festivals), and Istishia. Shrines to Lathander, Tymora, and Waukeen serve daily devotions. A large temple of Shar rose during Netherese rule as a sign of their influence. An earlier lunar temple, Bright Lady’s Tower, famed for its library, was abandoned and demolished centuries ago.

Hourly life is marked by a city corps of hour-callers and the great bell of the House of Song. Festivals, recitals, and revels are frequent in warm months.

Economy & Trade

Selgaunt thrives on shipbuilding, warehousing, brokerage, and high craft. Exports include art, sculpture, books, musical instruments, fine clothing, silks and dyes, soaps and scents, spices, blown glass, parchment, and luxury goods. Noted wines include Selgite ice wine and Usk Fine Old; black raisins and confections are common shipments. Imports include foodstuffs and dressed stone. Musical instruments—violins, harpsichords, psalteries, silver harps—are especially prized across the Heartlands.

Gems are common tender among merchants; this has fostered a large black market in cutting and resetting stolen stones. Nightcarters, who collect and sell dung to outland farmers, sit at the bottom of the labor ladder. The docks bustle with coasters, costers, and foreign ships; the Anabravvur family is renowned for its shipyards. Attempts to copy kuo-toa glues produced a powerful but unstable adhesive, sometimes used to immobilize violent prisoners.

Society, Culture & Fashion

Selgaunt is rich, loud, and status-conscious. Theaters and salons stage plays with choral and dance elements. Painters and sculptors find eager patrons, and noble homes display new commissions each season. Music fills taverns and villas; glaurs, zulkoons, and thelarrs are popular. Summer “pastorales” and private entertainments shift with fashion.

Selgauntan nobles chase trends. Elaborate coiffures with dyed streaks, brocades, damasks, and shimmering sarcanets set the tone. Cosmetics—such as fucus-dyed lips—are common. Even simple cuts in Selgaunt use costly cloth. In kitchens, “dice” means uniform cubes of butter, sold in scored fingers for easy measuring. Food ranges from pepper-fried fare and goat cheeses to nut-roasted goose; taverns serve sunmelon rind, ruth-balls, stews, and breads. Nobles favor imported Berduskan Dark and Arabellan Dry alongside local vintages.

Selgauntans carry a notorious pride. They consider Sword Coast folk, northern Dalelanders, and southern Dragon Coasters rough and unclean; Cormyr is viewed as provincial despite its crown; Calishites are marked as pretentious rivals. Even fellow Sembian cities suffer their scorn: Ordulin is seen as small-minded and Saerloon as waning.

Defenses & Order

The Scepters are both city watch and soldiery, numbering around nine thousand in the 14th century and supported by a fleet of three dozen patrol craft. Their kit is black leather, green cloaks, and silver-hilted blades. They patrol markets, piers, and bridge, watch the Foreign District, and answer Hulorn and council directives.

History

The sea off Selgaunt was reshaped in -1660 DR by the fall of three Netherese enclaves. Chondathan and Chancelgaunt were planted around 380 DR by Chondath. In 400 DR, orc and goblin wars threatened both towns until Chondath reinforced the region. After the Rotting War (902 DR), the cities broke from Chondath, and in 913 DR Sembia was proclaimed with Chancelgaunt renamed Selgaunt in honor of Selgar. The Cult of the Dragon soon seeded a cell in the city.

Across the 13th and 14th centuries, Selgaunt saw pirate fleets strike its harbor, thieves’ guild wars with Westgate, and adventurer-financed expeditions to Myth Drannor. A notorious artifact, the Mask of Mysteries, appeared at noble balls, culminating in a violent scandal. In 1368 DR, a tidal disaster—tied to wild godly influences—hurled ships into the streets and wrecked parts of the harbor. By 1370 DR, Red Wizards had opened an enclave. In 1374 DR, Thamalon Uskevren II became Hulorn; that same autumn, Saerloon marched by circle and besieged Selgaunt. With aid from the Princes of Shade and a captive green dragon turned against Saerloon, Selgaunt prevailed. Through the 15th century, Netherese rule rebranded the Hulorn as Lord High Governor while resistance, demon cults, and shadow trade simmered. The alliance with Sakkors ended with its fall during the Second Sundering.

Later tales speak of sudden outbreaks of sword-magic that targeted wizards, of an Abyssal trader using hidden gates to poison rival merchants’ wine, and of a rumored “Fringe Grounds” below the city that interfaced with Shadowfell routes. Many of these events never reached public resolution.

Notable Sites

Palace of the Hulorn: seat of rule, famed for its spires.
Hunting Garden: walled preserve for the ruler’s hunts, stocked with mundane and magical beasts.
Avenue of the Temples: arch-marked religious way with major temples and shrines.
Palace of Beauty: a grand amphitheater and gallery built in the late 14th century; lavish to some, gaudy to others.
High Bridge: river-spanning district with shops and a market.
Stormweather Towers: seat of House Uskevren.
River Hall, Sarntrumpet Towers, Whitebirch Manor: notable noble estates.
Peeing Statue Fountain: a magically purified water source and living act of civic mockery aimed at a disgraced tyrant of old.

Factions & Intrigue

Thieves’ groups include the Eyeless Mask—with a record of kidnappings and an anti-arcanist agenda—and the Night Knives, a powerful independent guild. The Zhentarim maintains influence. Red Wizard agents have operated under cover, though leadership has risen and fallen. The Harpers and Moonstars keep watch through embedded agents and scholars. The Guardians of the Weave oppose abuses of magic, while experimental cabals such as the Seekers of Forgotten Dooms pursue risky planar projects. Adventuring companies come and go—some celebrated, some ill-fated.