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Bryn Shander

Town in Icewind Dale, Icewind Dale

Bryn Shander is the largest of the Ten-Towns of Icewind Dale, a walled market town on a hill at the heart of the frozen dale.

Wind-whipped snow drives against the palisade, smoke rises from every chimney, and inside the walls traders crowd around fires swapping news of the frozen dale.

Bryn Shander at a glance

Type & size
Walled town; the largest of the Ten-Towns
Allegiance & rule
  • Allegiance: The Ten-Towns of Icewind Dale, a loose league of independent settlements
  • Ruled by: An elected speaker (Duvessa Shane in 1485 DR) and the town council
People & culture
Mostly humans, with dwarves, halflings and others drawn by the trade; hardy, stubborn and wary of the cold
Key exports & trade
  • Scrimshaw carved from the bones of knucklehead trout
  • Furs and goods of the Ten-Towns

Overview

Bryn Shander stands on a low hill in the middle of Icewind Dale, the cold tundra beyond the Spine of the World, with the Reghed Glacier to the north-east. The other towns of the Ten-Towns lie around the three lakes of the dale, and almost all their trade passes through Bryn Shander's gates.

Life in the dale is hard: winters are long and brutal, and the Ten-Towns are threatened by barbarians, monsters and the cold itself. Bryn Shander's walls make it the refuge of the whole region in bad times.

In adventures

Bryn Shander is the main town of Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, in which the dale is trapped in an endless winter, and a natural base for any adventure in the far north.

At the table

  • A caravan from Luskan is weeks overdue, and the speaker needs someone to brave the pass and find it.

On the map

Map of Bryn Shander and the land around it on the Sword Coast
Bryn Shander at the centre, about 470 miles across.Open the interactive map

Roads from Bryn Shander

Regions nearby

Nearby places

Distances as the crow flies, measured on our map.

Sources

Description written by justroll. Forgotten Realms and its places are property of Wizards of the Coast. justroll is unofficial fan content, not approved or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast.