What is the status of the nation of Tashalar in the Forgotten Realms as of 5e?

Question

As far as I understand, the Chultan Peninsula became an island for a time during 4e, and after the Second Sundering the regions around the Mhair Jungle were restored. Tashalar, an established and prosperous nation on the peninsula, was described in earlier editions (2e and 3e if I'm not mistaken), then presumably disappeared in 4th edition.

In 5th edition, several neighboring nations on the Peninsula are mentioned in passing in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide (p. 10), under "Lands to the South":

Eastward along the Chultan peninsula lie the remains of Thindol and Samarach. Despite the apparent fall of both civilizations, Thindol remains infested with yuan-ti, while the illusions cloaking Samarach's mountain passes conceal the activities in that nation.

I've yet to find any reference to the current state of Tashalar, aside from a mention in the Forgotten Realms Style Guide under the heading "Don't Whitewash the Realms":

The Forgotten Realms is a huge world with many earth analogs. Turmish, Tashluta, and Chult provide sources of humans with black skin and features.

(Curiously, as far as I can see in previous editions, "Tashluta" was a city in Tashalar, and not a nationality or a region.)

Is there any canonical reference to the current state of Tashalar in 5e?

I'm exploring basing an adventure to be published on DMs Guild in the region, so I'd like to avoid contradicting anything published. I've seen the Forgotten Realms Wiki entry and the Realmshelp listing, but as far as I can tell, both refer to earlier editions of the game.

Answer 1

Now that some time has passed, we have a definite answer.

The Canopic Being adventure in Candlekeep Mysteries sends players to Tashluta, the capitol city of Tashalar. It is described as follows:

According to the section on the Mission to Tashluta > House of the All-Seeing Orb section:

Tashluta is the busy port-city capital of Tashalar, set between sea, mountains, and jungle. It is a welcoming stopover point for travelers, merchants, and traders in the south. Tashalar is a land known for warm, breezy weather, bright, flowing garments, and spicy, delicious foods. It is also famous for the obsession its citizens have for divining the future; most Tashlutans claim to have some amount of skill with personal prognostication.

In other words, Tashluta is currently in good condition and existing in 5e.

Answer 2

As of writing, not that I can see

From page 120 of The Grand History of the Realms, the 3.5 edition sourcebook, we know:

1142 DR Year of the Sword’s Oath

[...]

Rage of Wizards: After centuries of somnolence, the pureblood yuan-ti arcane spellcasters of the Coiled Cabal attempt to take Sammaresh as the first stage of a plan to reconquer the Cities of the Seabreeze. Two dozen Tashlutan and Lapaliiyan archmages engage the yuan-ti in a season-long orgy of spellbattles along the Tashtan Coast. This so-called Rage of Wizards inflicted wanton destruction on the cities of Lapaliiya [...] and the Tashalar.

This, presumably is why we don't hear much about Tashalar in 4th edition.

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I went through the following sourcebooks to see if I could find a reference to Tashalar by name or implied reference. Here is what I found:

• Acquisitions Incorporated contains an adventure set in the Dessarin River Valley. It contains a map of the Savage Frontier that extends only as far south as Waterdeep.

• Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus deals predominantly with hell. Waterdeep, might theoretically have some sort of trade with Tashalar but this is not explicitly stated.

• Curse of Strahd takes place in Barovia, which is wholly separated from the Forgotten Realms. It is a demiplane located in the Shadowfell.

• Dragon of Icespire Peak is set around Icespire Peak, which is in the Sword Mountains just north of Waterdeep. (The supplementary adventures Storm Lord's Wrath, Sleeping Dragon's Wake, and Divine Contention are also of limited scope, focusing on the area between and around Neverwinter/Waterdeep.)

• Eberron: Rising from the Last War focuses on Eberron, a separate planet/realm from the Forgotten Realms.

• Explorer's Guide to Wildemount focuses on the world of Exandria, an entirely different setting from the Forgotten Realms.

• Ghosts of Saltmarsh is set in the Greyhawk setting by default, and therefore does not reference the Forgotten Realms (outside brief sidebars on setting the adventures in other realms, but Tashalar is not mentioned there).

• Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica deals exclusively with Ravnica, a separate plane from Toril.

• The Tyranny of Dragons adventures (Hoard of the Dragon Queen/Rise of Tiamat) deal with the area just north of Amn up through the Savage Frontier.

• Locathah Rising mentions the Sword Coast, Turmish, and Thay (and the Elemental Plane of Water).

• The Monster Manual does not mention the region. I specifically checked through the section about yuan-ti in particular because their lore seems to intertwine with Tashalar's quite a bit and they are said to inhabit the area according to the SCAG passage you quote.

• Mythic Odyssey of Theros is also a standalone campaign setting that does not intersect with the Forgotten Realms.

• Out of the Abyss takes place in the Underdark. It touches on the surface world a little, but this is limited to the Sword Coast and Silver Marches.

• Princes of the Apocalypse is centered around the Dessarin Valley, with references to other nearby areas of the Savage Frontier.

• Rrakkma deals with Pandemonium, the plane of madness.

• Storm King's Thunder does not reference anything South of the Savage Frontier.

• The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide*: In addition to the excerpts you mention, on page 115 it reads:

  Rock gnome communities are most common in the Western Heartlands and along the coast of the Shining Sea, [...]

  The "coast of the Shining Sea" would include the region of Tashalua, and so we can assume that there are a number of Rock Gnomes in the area. Not super illuminating.

  On page 44, there is also a reference to a family whose ancestors hail from Tashalar:

  A new family, not noble but possessing much wealth, has purchased the old Baldasker ranch. We suspect that the Hemzar family, who were unknown in either Amphail or Waterdeep before the purchase [...]

  My contacts say the Oglyntyrs have petitioned the Ilzimmers to help crush this upstart business, [...]. I visited the Hemzar ranch, and I'd consider such a move inadvisable. A large family of Tashlutar descent, they seemed capable and confident

• Tales of the Yawning Portal is a collection of adventures from D&D's history. Several of the adventures are set in the world of Greyhawk, and almost all of them are designed to be location-ambivalent so that they may be dropped into other campaigns.

• Tomb of Annihilation does not mention either Tashalar or the city of Tashluta. The map on page 39 does not extend past Samarach and the Sky Lizard Mountains.

• Volo's Guide to Monsters does not mention the region. I again checked the section on yuan-ti in light of their history with Tashalar and SCAG's mentioning their presence in the general area, but I could find no specific reference.

• Waterdeep: Dragon Heist: Waterdeep might theoretically have some sort of trade with Tashalar. There is nothing to confirm this but there is a family of people from Tashalar living in the area per page 13 and it could be that they still communicate with their homeland as part of acquiring their monsters:

  House Phylund. The Phylunds are a Tashlutar family that captures and sells monsters. The Phylunds sponsor adventuring parties and monster-hunting expeditions [and] has an estate on Copper Street, west of the High Road between Julthoon Street and Trader's Way in the North Ward.

• Xanathar's Guide to Everything is a sourcebook that does not describe any specific setting.

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In short, it seems that there are pockets of Tashalar immigrants living in the Savage Frontier but the region itself is a bit of a blank canvas when it comes to 5e.

Answer 3

According to these maps, half of the Hazu Mountains were submerged for a time. Whether this means Tashalar was effected or not remains unclear, but it seems like the mountains are formed by continental plate convergence, sank when the plates diverged, and rose again open subsequent convergence. Given the proximity to the plate boundary, we can assume the people at least experienced some seismic activity, and at worst have evacuated the city as the relative sea levels rose. However, it's likely that mages and druids employed magic to protect themselves from devastation.

_{Tomb of Annihilation, stylized}

_{DM's Guild supplement for Adventure's League Season 7/Misc, Chultan Adventures}

Just keep in mind that the Chultan Peninsula is not a welcoming place. It's craggy mountains and dense jungles hide many lost cities and monstrous things, both living and undead. Tashalar is the one of the most inviting cities in the region, but few who live there venture south. My advice would be to borrow heavily from Tomb of Annihilation and the supplemental sources that detail the ecology of the Peninsula. This region is rich with ancient, primal forces.

Consider the Grung (poison dart frog people,) Kuo Toa, Yuan-ti, Dino-folk, Jungle-kobolds (and other variant humanoids,) as squamous-skinned, and giant insectoid creatures thrive in the oppressively-humid lands.

The jungle takes what it wants, and leaves many mysteries behind. Merchant Princes rewrite history with alterations and omissions. On the Chultan Peninsula, Survival is the only truth.