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In Storm King’s Thunder there are several factions active in the Savage Frontier which the PCs will either interact with, join, fight, or all three:

• Emerald Enclave
• Harpers
• Order of the Gauntlet
• Zhentarim

For the DM, however, it’s quite difficult to come to grips with these factions, as references to their current activities and resources are scattered randomly throughout the book with only limited cross-referencing.

So I’ve assembled this reference to make it easier for you to juggle these factions in play. The PCs are looking for a faction? A faction member is fleeing to their nearest safehouse or summoning reinforcements? You’ve got a random encounter with a faction member and you want to drop a lead pointing to a local faction operation?

Now you can just consult the reference below and be good to go.

Note: Although I’ve opportunistically included some references to other sourcebooks, this should not be interpreted as a complete survey of those or any other published sources.

Finding a Faction: If the PCs belong to a faction, are in an unfamiliar area, and would like to try to find a local safehouse or operative they can make a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check. The check can be made at advantage in a major metropolis (e.g., Waterdeep) and should be made at disadvantage if they’re in a tiny community in the middle of nowhere (e.g., Nightstone) unless there’s a known presence described below.

If the check succeeds, they find their faction’s local presence. (If you’re at a loss for what that might be, just pull one of the “Wanderers & Random Encounters” listed for the faction below.)

If the check fails, they either failed to find the local faction presence (if it’s described below or if you determine that there should be a local faction presence) or it means that their faction isn’t active in the area.

EMERALD ENCLAVE

• Goldenfields, a major stronghold of the Enclave. (p. 44)
• Fireshear: Emerald Enclave runs a griffon stable overseen by Dasharra Keldabar. (p. 83)
• Jalanthar: Quinn Nardrosz, the head of the Council of Elders, is an Enclave member. (p. 94)
• Shadowtop Cathedral, a meeting place of the Enclave overseen by the treant Turlang. (p. 107)
• Waterdeep: Klarz, the captain of the Koalinth, owes the Emerald Enclave his life.

Wanderers & Random Encounters

• Aerglas, a moon elf who hasn’t been seen in many years. (p. 51)
• Tharra Shyndle, a druid and friend to the treant Turlang. (p. 51)
• Zindra Winterbow, a scout in the area of Triboar. (p. 57)
• Vordana Jezral, a ranger. (p. 71)
• Saarvin, a ranger and self-proclaimed King of Frozenfar. (p. 71)
• Ghalvin Dragonmoor, native of Goldenfields held prisoner in Grudd Haug. (p. 144)

HARPERS

• Bryn Shander: Beldora is the local Harper agent, disguised as a homeless beggar. She has a sending stone connected to Thwip Ironbottom in Hundelstone. (p. 40 & 249; gives quests on p. 44)
• Hundelstone: Thwip Ironbottom, an inventor, is the local Harper agent. Has a sending stone connected to Beldora in Bryn Shander. (p. 44 & 92)
• Silverymoon: A haven for Harpers, but no details given.
• Triboar: Lord Protector Darathra Shendrel is a Harper agent. (p. 53 & 253)
• Yartar: Harper agents are established here. See Inner Circles.

Everlund

• Moongleam Tower: Harper stronghold. Overseen by Moonlord Davianna Yalrannis. (p. 82)
• Krowen Valharrow, a wizard who lives in Moongleam Tower (p. 44 & 60 & 82).
• Dral Thelev: Harper agent living in Danivarr’s House. (p. 60)

Waterdeep

• Open Lord Laeral Silverhand: A friend to Harpers and will agree to meet with them. (p. 157)
• Lord Zelraun Roaringhorn: A Harper agent. (p. 42)
• Captain Zaldar Floshin, captain of the Kelpie’s Kiss. Hires his ship to the Harpers. The bosun, Ilkara Levari, is a Harper agent. (p. 220)
• See Dragon Heist, p. 37, for additional details.

Wanderers & Random Encounters

• Artus Cimber, a former harper who is the last known owner of the Ring of Winter. (p. 1)
• Endrith Vallivoe, retired caravan merchant and friend to the Harpers. (p. 232)

Inner Circles

• A network of teleportation circles controlled by the Harpers. (p. 117-18)
• Everlund Circle: Located in Moongleam Tower.
• Loudwater Circle: Located in the Smiling Satyr tavern.
• Mirabar Circle: Located in stable house loft attended by Zazspar Bronzefire.
• Neverwinter Circle: Located in the attic of a rowhouse.
• Waterdeep Circle: Located in the City of the Dead.
• Yartar Circle: Located in a dilapidated villa.

ORDER OF THE GAUNTLET

• Sir Baric Nylef (Bryn Shander, p. 44 & 249)
• Sir Lanniver (Neverwinter, p. 44)
• Hawk’s Nest (p. 90) is controlled by the Order and raises hippogriffs.
• Helm’s Hold (p. 90, SCAG p. 85) is ruled by a splinter sect of the Order called the Order of the Gilded Eye.

Waterdeep

• Waterdeep has faction representatives. (unspecified in SKT; Dragon Heist, p. 39)
• Halls of Justice, a temple of Tyr located in the Castle Ward. (DH, p. 39)
• Arilosa Adarbretn, captain of the Coin Toss and financial supporter of the Order. (p. 220)

Wanderers & Random Encounters:

• Lady Hariana Hawkwinter (p. 71)
• Sir Jordeth Tavilson (p. 71)

ZHENTARIM

• Nightstone Team, including Kella Darkhope (p. 25) and Xolkin Alassandar’s agents (p. 27).
• Triboar Travelers, a mercenary group based out of Triboar (p. 54). Led by recruiter Urlam Stockspool.
• Fireshear: Zhentarim mercenaries have been hired to guard griffon stables controlled by the Emerald Enclave (p. 83).
• Loudwater: The high lord, Telbor Zazrek, is a paid puppet. (p. 97)
• Mornbryn’s Shield (p. 99) has been taken over Zhentarim strike team led by Oboth Thornstell.
• Rassalanter: Yondral Horn, innkeeper at the Sleeping Dragon, is on Zhentarim payroll. (p. 104)

Daggerford

• The city has hired a large Zhentarim mercenary force led by Nelkin “the Snail” Danniker (p. 80).
• Zhentarim agents in Daggerford are handing out interest free loans to compete with local moneylenders. (p. 53)
• Zirazylym: An undercover bronze dragon and regular customer at the Happy Cow. (p. 80)

Orlbar

• Bargewright Inn (p. 73), controlled by Zhentarim led by militia-master Chalaska Muruin and innkeeper Nalaskur Thaelond. Also the vampire Arik Stillmarsh.
• Zhentarim fortified tower west of town that was recently abandoned due to a giant attack (p. 80).

Waterdeep

• Sees tensions between Zhentarim and Xanathar’s Thieves’ Guild. (unspecified in SKT; see Dragon Heist)
• Captain Drashk, captain of the Lost Cause. (p. 221)

Trade Routes

• Dawn Pass, the Zhentarim have built a stone gatehouse between Llorkh and Parnast (p. 80).
• The Black Road, a trade route controlled by the Zhentarim (p. 77).

Wanderers & Random Encounters:

• Sorelisa Zandra and Naeremos, bounty hunters (p. 43). Looking for Weevil in order to protect him.
• Shalvus Martholio (p. 46 & 250, gives quests on p. 51). Shalvus works for Nalaskur Thaelond (see Bargewright Inn). He later returns to the Bargewright Inn waiting for a new assignment.
• Frylo Nelgorn and a Zhentarim team are meeting fire giant representatives in the ruined city of Nesmé. (p. 100)
• Nilraun Dhaerlost, a Zhentarim mage captured by Storvald and helping him search for the ring of winter (p. 156).
• Jasper Dimmerchasm, who was sent to negotiate with Zalto and is now held prisoner. (p. 184)

Former Holdings

• Llorkh: Zhentarim previously conquered the town, but abandoned it when the mines dried up (p. 96).
• Newfort: Originally founded by the Zhentarim, but they’ve lost their influence. (p.101)
• Thornhold: Formerly held by the Zhentarim, but now controlled by dwarves. (p. 111)

Other

• Everlund: Zhentarim has a strong presence, but no details are given.
• Mirabar: Zhentarim has strong presence, but no details are given.
• Neverwinter: Zhentarim has strong presence, but no details given.
• Silverymoon: Zhentarim has strong presence, but no details given.
• Yartar: Zhentarim has strong presence in Yartar, but no details given.

Go to Storm King’s Remix

When I reviewed Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, I commented that Arveiaturace — the white wyrm with the dead body of her beloved wizard-rider strapped to her back — was one of the coolest things created for the book.

I wasn’t alone. You can find lots of people saying the same thing.

She’s still very cool.

But it turns out she wasn’t created for the book.

I realized my mistake recently when I was reading through Storm King’s Thunder and noticed a reference to Arveiaturace. (Which is a testament to how cool her presentation in Rime of the Frostmaiden is, because it made her stick in my mind so that future references would stick out like that.)

My curiosity piqued, I started digging deeper. And it turns out Arveiaturace is also mentioned in Tyranny of Dragons, where her mate Arauthator is trying to find a new rider for her in the hopes that it will convince her to take the rotting corpse off her back.

(True story.)

Around this time, Arauthator and Arveiaturace were both mentioned in R.A. Salvatore’s Rise of the King, but their origin actually traces back thorugh Dragons of Faerun (a 3^rd Edition supplement that I’m pretty sure is the source text from which they entered 5^th Edition) all the way to Dragon Magazine #230, where Ed Greenwood launched a column called Wyrms of the North. The first column was dedicated to Arauthator. The second column, in #231, was about Arveiaturace, featuring art by Storn Cook:

You can actually find the original article in Wizard’s online archives. (Thanks to Graham Ward for finding that link.)

If you go back and read it, there are some really interesting games of Telephone that you can trace through the later books where it seems fairly clear authors were aware of one of the older references, but didn’t realize (just like me at the beginning of this article!) that it was all based on a larger body of previous lore.

For example, Arveiaturace’s lair is located in Icepeak, where it is part of the lair of the wizard who was/is her rider.

Because Arveiaturace doesn’t actually appear in Tyranny of Dragons, this lair is not mentioned there. But it is mentioned that her mate, Arauthator, has a lair inside a hollowed out iceberg.

For Storm King’s Thunder, whoever wrote the section describing Icepeak (p. 92, where it appears as “Ice Peak”) knew the original source for Arveiaturace or, more likely, Dragons of Faerun and places her lair “correctly” in Icepeak.

But whoever wrote the section on the Sea of Moving Ice (p. 106) was probably sourcing strictly from Tyranny of Dragons and so writes, “Each dragon [Arauthator and Arveiaturace] makes it lair inside a hollowed-out iceberg.”

In Rime of the Frostmaiden, the author of Arveiaturace’s section (p. 105) once again is sourcing strictly from Tyranny of Dragons, is unaware of either reference in Storm King’s Thunder, and decides to place the “unknown” location of her lair atop the Reghed Glacier.

I love this kind of thing because it’s a simple exemplar of something that happens all the time in actual history texts describing the real world. For example, check out CGP Grey’s “The Race to Win Staten Island,” which brilliantly tears apart a historical legend which has perniciously crept its way into historical “fact.”

Another fun fact here is that, in her original appearance, Arveiaturace is a straight-up draconic whore:

Arauthator regards the white dragon Arveiaturace as an acceptable mate when he feels inclined. He employs a sending spell to call her to his lair for dalliance, giving her gems from his hoard after each mating but firmly escorting her out of his domain to rear any hatchlings that may result on her own.

(No shame intended, to be clear. Everyone’s a consenting Adult age category here.)

Where are their kids, by the way? That could be a really interesting thread to pull on in your Tyranny of Dragons, Storm King’s Thunder, or Rime of the Frostmaiden campaigns. Or, if your players have already run through those campaigns, to drop into a future storyline.

My favorite anecdote from Dragon #231, though, is that Laeral Silverhand of Waterdeep heard that Arveiaturace had besieged Candlekeep in response to someone writing a disparaging remark about Melathorand, her dead wizard-rider. So Laeral immediately commissioned The High History of the Mighty Mage Melathorand (he’s the dreamiest!) and hand-delivered a copy to Arveiaturace, cementing a long-term alliance with the tempestuous wyrm (which apparently lasts unto the present day).

It’s also worth noting that Melathorand’s corpse has been strapped to her back for over a hundred years now. I’m guessing it’s not in great shape.

Or perhaps Arveiaturace periodically seeks out preservation spells to maintain the corpse in good condition. Although if she’s aware of that need, it raises the question of why she has not resurrected the mage. Does the mage not wish to return to life? (Why not?) Or is his soul trapped somewhere? That could be a fascinating adventure seed!

Alternatively, perhaps Arveiaturace is utterly mad and someone (likely Arauthator?) is the one who periodically arranges for the corpse to be magically preserved or restored.

Long story short, if you want to add a lot of lore to your presentation of Arveiaturace, track down Dragon #231 for “Wyrms of the North: Arveiaturace, the White Wyrm” (which, again, you can currently read here). Pretty much everything else is just a cliff’s note version of Greenwood’s original work.

Go to Icewind Dale Index