Location from Icewind Dale by R.A. Salvatore / Wizards of the Coast / Black Isle Studios
The largest and most fortified of Ten-Towns, built atop a windswept hill — the commercial heart and political center where the Council of Speakers convenes.
Bryn Shander thrums with the energy of a frontier trading post pushed to its limits. The market square echoes with the shouts of merchants, the clatter of cart wheels on frozen cobblestones, and the rhythmic hammering from the blacksmith's forge. The smell of roasting meat from the taverns mingles with the sharper scents of tanned leather, whale oil, and the acrid smoke of peat fires. The wind never stops — it howls over the walls and funnels through the streets, making every conversation a contest against the gale. In the perpetual darkness of Auril's Rime, the town exists in a bubble of torchlight and firelight, the world beyond the walls reduced to impenetrable black. The gates close at dusk, and guards on the walls watch for movement in the dark with crossbows loaded. Refugees from smaller towns have swelled the population, straining food supplies and goodwill alike. The town hall hosts tense council meetings where speakers argue over dwindling resources while their constituents grow desperate.
A walled town perched on a broad hill, its stone-and-timber ramparts visible for miles across the flat tundra. The buildings are squat, thick-walled structures of grey stone with steeply pitched roofs designed to shed snow. The main gate faces south, flanked by guard towers. Inside, the streets radiate outward from a central market square. Smoke rises from every chimney, creating a perpetual haze that clings to the rooftops. The town hall, the largest building, sits at the hilltop's crown with a commanding view of the surrounding landscape.
Also known as: Bryn Shander, The Shander, The Walled Town