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Shining South is a new hardcover in Wizards' Forgotten Realms line, 192 pages for $30. The content is biased toward regional descriptions of the warm lands of the south.


BACKGROUND

The Shining South occupies an interesting place in "Realmslore". Pull out your FRCS and look at the map, noting the location of Luiren, Dambrath and Estagund (bottom right corner).

These lands are separated from the "heartland" of the Realms first by the states of Turmish, Chondath, Chessenta, Unther, and Mulhorand. Then there are the great plains of the Shaar, a massive grassland bisected north-south by the Landrise. This is followed by forests and mountains to bypass. Finally, you have arrived in the Shining South.
Its a 1500 mile journey, minimum, to reach any of the lands of the Shining South from the "Heartlands". In a best case scenario (optimal mount, all highways, no breaks, etc), thats more than month of constant travel. Realistically, its about two month's travel. Thus, no-one will be interested in making the trip unless they have a very good reason.
Because of this isolation, the Shining South feels more like a mini-campaign region, like Al-Qadim and Zakhara, rather than a part of the Realms proper.


CONTENT OVERVIEW

New character regions are presented along with new regional feats. Many of the new feats (both regional and general) focus on the nomadic peoples of the Shaar and the outdoors, with a few quirky ones like Initiate of Loviatar for the aristocracy of Dambrath, and a couple that are useful for Dwarven Defender-like characters.

The prestige classes do a good job of bringing out the character of the regions. Dambrath has the Crinti Shadow Marauder (a mounted skirmishing attacker) and the Scourge Maiden, a priestess of Loviatar. The Great Rift features the Great Rift Deep Defender (a localized adaptation of the Dwarven Defender). Halruaa has both the Halruaan Elder and Magehound, with the latter serving as inquisitors for that nation of reclusive wizards.


The spells are unremarkable for the most part, though there are some interesting new nature spells like Land Womb (creates a subterranean sanctuary) and Brittleskin (attacks deal additional damage to creatures with natural armor). There are a few new arcane spell variants, like various tentacle spells that inflict fire damage or negative levels. Also, the cleric spell Stonefire, which inflicts damage as well as burning away solid stone, is pretty neat.

The magic items are fairly unremarkable as well, featuring protective spell-like abilities for armor, additional weakening effects for weapons, and the like. The Wondrous Items are where things get interesting, with Belts of Priestly Might which confer bonuses to the devotees of a specific deity, and Halruaan Skyships. There are also a variety of Dweomered Doors, which are used by the wizards of Halruaa in their sanctums. There is also the Great Elixer, a minor artifact reminiscent of a Deck of Many Things and a Wand of Wonder.

The presence of the Cyclops in the Monster chapter made me suddenly realize it is not present in the 3.5 core Monster Manual, which is strange. The tasloi makes a return here, and a new creature called a Beguiler will likely become a favored familiar.

It occurred to me as I was reading that the best way to get a sense of the regional books and decide if it would be useful to you, is to read the campaign chapter. This chapter includes both an overview of the significant organizations of the region, and notable fortresses and ruins. The rest is random encounter tables.



Dambrath presents an interesting convergence of drow and the worship of Loviatar. The aristocracy is composed of half-drow female priests of Loviatar, and she is the chief deity of that realm. Lolth is also openly venerated here, since the drow invasion which established its rulership. Only the "Crinti" may own land here, and the mostly human population are their servants and serfs.

Estagund and the Shining Lands are the far east end of the Shining South, south of the dust desert Raurin. The lands are the domain of the Durpari people. This place is fairly non-descript, beyond an openness to trade and a unique member of society, the Hands of Adama, who act as mayor-judges.

Halruaa is an isolated nation of mages. Ringed by mountains, deserts, swamps and jungles, Halruaa has prospered for almost 2 millenia, despite the many attempted invasions. Aside from banditry, Halruaa is a peaceful land. The few ruins left are in isolated areas, like the Kilmaruu Swamp, and even these are not unexplored.

Luiren is the land of halflings, so its unsurprising that it has a Shire-like feel. Despite the idyllic surface, there are some sinister things afoot here, including a hidden cell of Yuan-ti attempting to breed a new slave race from the halflings, and an interesting ruin or two.

The Shaar and the Great Rift is not a nation proper, but a vast expanse of land. This chapter is focused on geography and the various people of the land. This region is one of the most most interesting, with wemic and centaur tribes alongside human barbarian tribes. The most organized nation is that of the Gold Dwarves of the Great Rift, and that recieves a page or two of the entire chapter. Aside from some tombs and the Great Rift, there are not many traces of civilization here.

The city maps presented are Eartheart in the Great Rift, the village of Crimel for Luiren, and the capital city of Halarahh for Halruaa.

Three adventure sites described in a dozen pages round out the book. The first scenario is set in a magical inn of Halruaa, and works as a good "Side Trek" or diversion. The second is a bandit camp, and the third is a dwarven tomb. These last two could be used anywhere, as could the first with some tweaks.


My dislikes with this supplement are the occasional similarity to Eberron (airships, floating cities), and the goofy monsters (Loxos and Tall Mouthers). Loxos are 2-trunked elephant men of the Shaar; the name apparently derived from the loxodont dentition of real world elephants. There are also creatures called Tall Mouthers, which are 6-armed ape-like things.
Eberron has also been compared to Iron Kingdoms. My guess is that Eberron provoked these comparisons by gathering many disparate and fairly unusual fantasy tropes and collecting them in one setting.


PRESENTATION

The art is nothing less than beautiful in some places, as is the cover art. The gallery can be found here.

I caught an editing error in the 2nd paragraph of the description of the Halruaan Magehound. I don't normally catch such things, so hopefully this was a fluke rather than a pattern. Aside from that, the layout and editing was good.


CONCLUSION

My favorite regions here are Dambrath, the Shaar, and Halruaa (basically the western region of the Shining South). I like Dambrath because it is an interesting evil nation. While it is somewhat "drow-like" it is different enough to be interesting, and it is nothing like Thay, the other major evil land of the FR. Halruaa makes for a good base of operations, but is too peaceful a place to make wandering there interesting. The Shaar is populated by many interesting people and places, and could make an ideal setting for some ancient ruin.

Shining South is more modular than most FR regional supplements, isolated as it is. The influence of most major FR organizations, whether Red Wizard, Zhentarim, or Harper, is virtually non-existent. This makes it easier to integrate as a "drop-in" into non-FR campaigns than most FR material is.

The distinct character and interesting regions make this a worthwhile buy, assuming you will have use for it.