> [!infobox|right] > #### Sembia > ![[Pasted image 20260410090436.png]] > ##### Basic Information > | | | > | ---- | --- | --- | > | **Type:** | Nation | Merchant State | > | **Location:** | [[Eastern Heartlands]] | Sea of Fallen Stars | > | **Status:** | Active | Under Recovery | > | **Founding:** | 913 | DR | > | **Dissolution:** | N/A | DR | > | **Age:** | ~580+ | Years | > #### State > | | | > | ---- | --- | --- | > | **Leadership:** | Merchant Council | Lord High Governor | > | **Sovereignty:** | Independent | Plutocracy | > | **Forces:** | [[Silver Ravens]] | | > | **Population:** | ~2.4 Million | Nation | <a href="https://dioctionary.net/THE+DIOCTIONARY/HOME/Home" class="dioctionary-ribbon-2"> HOME </a> <div class="dioctionary-ribbon">A Brief History</div> - Sembia stands as a nation in recovery, still wealthy, still driven, but undeniably shaped by the long shadow of catastrophe and occupation. Known as the Land of Merchants, it was founded in 913 DR by Rauthauvyr “the Raven” as a coalition of trade-driven settlements governed not by nobility, but by a council of powerful merchants. That structure remains intact, a plutocracy where coin dictates influence and contracts carry more weight than bloodlines. Its cities continue to function as independent engines of power, with [[Selgaunt]] serving as the interim capital following the destruction of [[Ordulin]], while [[Saerloon]] thrives as a volatile but prosperous port, known as much for its wealth as for its instability and undercurrent of criminal and cult activity. Together, these cities reflect the broader nature of Sembia itself; productive, competitive, and rarely unified beyond shared interest. Even after hardship, trade has never truly stopped here, it simply shifts, adapts, and continues forward. Beneath that continuity lies a fractured history that still defines the present. The destruction of [[Ordulin]] in 1374 DR and the emergence of the shadow-bound Maelstrom left a lasting wound at the center of the nation, while the subsequent domination by the Netherese reshaped Sembia into something more cautious, more opportunistic, and more divided. Though Netheril has fallen and independence has returned, its influence lingers in the form of heightened ambition, tolerated corruption, and a political structure that rewards cunning over unity. Merchant houses compete relentlessly, alliances shift as quickly as coin changes hands, and stability exists only so long as it remains profitable. Sembia is not broken, but it is not whole; it is a nation rebuilding its reach while living beside the memory of its own collapse, its capital displaced, its cities competing, and its people bound by a single enduring truth: wealth survives, even when everything else does not.