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The heart of the Heartlands is the area of rural communities known as the Dalelands. These small farming communities are the homes of many retired adventurers and the birthplaces of many new heroes and heroines. The forest of the Dalelands is the remaining shard of what was once the great wood known as Cormanthor, which ran from the Moonsea to the King's Forest of Cormyr. The forest is also known as the Elven Court, and the two terms are used interchangibly. To speak of one is to speak of the other for the fates of the Dalesmen are intertwined with those of the Elvin Lords.
The region known as the Dalelands is defined as the non-forested area occupied by humans, north of Sembia and Cormyr, south of the River Tesh and the town of Voonlar. The dales are all rural by nature, and share common interests and ideals; Archendale, Battledale, Daggerdale, Deepingdale, Featherdale, Harrowdale, High Dale, Mistledale, Scardale, Shadowdale, and Tasseldale.
The founding of the Dalelands long preceded the creation of any of the existing Dales by hundreds of years, and the year numbering system known as Dalereckoning is actually a commemoration of humankind being given permission to settle in the lands north and west of the Inner Sea. Most of the current Dales are relative newcomers, the older Dales having been abandoned, destroyed, or overrun long ago.
In those ancient days, when Suzail and Chondathan (now called Saerloon) were mere coastal trading posts, the elves who ruled this forest entertained a request from settlers from the East, refugees and farmers from far-off Impiltur and Damara. This request was to farm and settle the borders of the great forest Cormanthor, in particular the rich delves and dales along the rivers Arkhen and Ashaba. These newcomers did not wish to lumber or clear the inhabited forest, but only to settle on the rich territories, and these newcomers were willing to ask permission.
The lords of the Elven Court granted that request in return for aid from these new dalelanders against outside aggressors, both monstrous (orc and goblins from the lands of Thar) and Human (the rising powers of Cormyr and Sembia). In commemoration of this pact, the humans and elves together raised the Standing Stone that can now be seen where the Moonsea Ride reaches Rauthauvyr's Road, the road from Essembra to Hillsfar. It is from the date of the raising of this stone that Dalereckoning is counted.
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