Old Rhestilor

About five hundred years ago, the nearby city of Rhest came to control the Elsir Vale and a large swath of land north of the Giantshield Mountains and up to the current borders of Gaunt. Soldiers from Rhest secured the roads all the way to Dennovar and beyond, creating a safe passage for trade between the eastern coast and Thane-Haig the omnipresent dwarven home. Under the kingdom's shield, the towns along the Dawn Way—Brindol, Talar, Terrelton, and the rest—grew up from tiny hamlets or lonely soldiers' posts to flourishing human settlements. As the Dawn Way became an important route for trade, the kingdom of Rhestilor grew wealthy on the tariffs exacted from the passing merchants.

Rhestilor eventually collapsed under civil strife, monstrous incursions, and magical blights. Around four hundred years ago, the city of Rhest was burned by a savage horde out of the Wyrmsmoke Mountains. Although the warriors of Rhestilor killed many of the goblins and their kind, the city was abandoned and the already weakened kingdom broken. Since then, the towns of Elsir Vale came to look after themselves. While most of the local lords still hold titles derived from the old kingdom of Rhestilor and everyone knows that the kings of Rhestilor were long dead, and the realms that have arisen on the periphery of what was once Rhest have yet to claim the center of the vale.