Zhentil Keep

The southern section of the Keep is currently all that remains of the great city of Zhentil Keep. This area was long known as the Foreign Quarter of the Keep. The lords that ran the city acknowledged that they needed the trade of other cities and nations in the Realms, but wanted to make sure that these non-Zhents were easily watched, so they segregated foreigners in a separate section of the city, with the River Tesh forming its boundary. Access was granted by the two bridges that spanned the river: the Force Bridge and the Tesh Bridge. The Foreign Quarter, while still fully a part of Zhentil Keep proper, and just as heavily patrolled as the larger northern section, was nevertheless looked down on by native Zhents as a foreign ghetto.

It is therefore a supreme twist of fate that the only section of the Zhentil Keep left intact was the section set aside for strangers. During the entire Cyrinishad fiasco, which culminated in the destruction of most of the Keep, anyone with any wisdom and the means to leave, left the city. Those who stayed, voluntarily or not, were either killed, left to rummage in the ruins of the main city, or managed to flee to the southern section of the city. The flow of refugees to the Foreign Quarter was slowed when the bridges were blown up by angry orc units that had served with the Zhentilar who felt mistreated. Still, some brave, foolish, or panicked souls attempted to cross the Tesh using whatever boats were handy.

Terrible riots broke out at the Keep’s main harbor as frantic refugees stabbed each other in the back in their frenzied attempts to get to the few precious boats that could be seized. The citizens of the Keep, not exactly known as paragons of morality during the best of times, became positively savage in their desperate scramble for places on the dwindling number of boats. And gaining a seat on a water craft did not guarantee one’s safety. The angered white dragons swooped down on the refugee boats and ships and in the harbor and blasted them with frosty breath, creating grotesque miniature icebergs that with the bridges. destruction drifted down to the mouth of the River Tesh and out into the Moonsea. Many foreign ships later stumbled across these tragic monuments to the horrors of the siege; one was rumored to have washed ashore as far west as the city of Phlan, its macabre cargo still frozen.

But even with the humanoid armies and the dragons still lurking in the ruins of the northern section of the Keep, the southern section wasted no time in organizing itself into a fully functioning city. The surviving nobles, some Zhentilar officers, and the clergy of many of the temples of the Keep who had fled to the Foreign Quarter when the siege began proudly declared, once the initial onslaught was over, that Zhentil Keep still existed.on the southern shores of the Tesh.

Overview of the New Keep [Map of the ruins - TBA]
In the wake of the Razing, the Foreign Quarter of Zhentil Keep has been occupied by the refugees/survivors from the much larger northern portion of the city. Nowadays, when people talk about Zhentil Keep, they are talking about that small portion southern quarter. For all intents and purposes, it is Zhentil Keep. The northern part of the entire city is now known as ‘the ruins.. Of the population of approximately 83,000 that dwelt within the walls of the Keep at the beginning of the Cyrinishad fiasco, 42,000 died in the siege, about 10,000 were snatched from the city and transported to safer locations by their deities (not by Cyric, however), and about 9,000 people fled the Keep altogether before the siege became set Fifteen hundred of the Zhentilar, mostly officers of rank who could see which way the wind was blowing, deserted and disappeared to become brigands (or go into hiding in the Foreign Quarter).

The ruins of the northern section of the Keep now house nearly 2,500 homeless and frantic refugees. The new Zhentil Keep’the old Keep’s southern quarter.holds around 15,000 people. Structurally, the city got away with considerably less damage than the ruins did. The destruction of the two bridges (Force and Tesh) by vindictive orcs did more to save the city than any other single act. By destroying the bridges, the orcs inadvertently prevented the invading humanoid armies from crossing the Tesh and attacking the Foreign Quarter in full strength.

That is not to say that the Foreign Quarter did not get hit. In fact, the two gates on the southernmost wall of the quarter had to be heavily reinforced to prevent their breach. The westernmost gate was eventually shut down and sealed. The invaders had a token southern force, which was used during the siege mainly to harry the walls. defenders (thereby tying down defending units that could have been put to better use elsewhere) and co seal off the roads leading into and out of the Keep so that the Keep’s citizens would starve.

When the siege began to break up, the southern forces were the first to be pulled back. Despite its sinister reputation, the city is making a genuine effort to bring in skilled people to settle the city and help restore it. Naturally, it helps if the new citizens have a moral view that is in line with the city’s powers-that-be. Lord Orgauth, who has declared himself the lord of Zhentil Keep, has allocated heavy resources to rebuilding the Force Bridge in an effort to control river traffic and generate revenue through tolls and tariffs upon this traffic.

He wants the Force Bridge’s main gate’the one capable of completely blocking off the river.repaired. His intent is not to reconnect the two parts of the city yet; this is only a money-making venture at the moment. Some enterprising folk are trying to set up a ferry service that allows access to the northern bank of the river and back. However, Lord Orgauth is not comfortable with the idea of a ferry just yet; the ruins are still too dangerous.