Are the Zhentarim still around?

[Slipjig]

I haven't been keeping up with FR lore lately, but on the FR Wiki both the main entry for the Zhents and the "History of the Zhentarim" don't mention anything after the 1390s, and a novel I'm reading referred to them as "defunct". Were they wiped out at some point?

[The Glyphstone]

This wiki page mentions activity for them as late as 1489, so depending on when your game is set, maybe?

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Zhentarim

They apparently fought a battle in 1492 as well (part of the Dragon Heist module, it seems)

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/w...illa_Bloodbath

[Slipjig]

Ha, that's the article I was reading, and I missed it. There's a novella's worth of info about the 1300's, then a few lines about an event in 1420, then one line about something in 1489. So they are still around, but I guess it's been about a century of game time since any authors wanted to use them as a primary antagonist.

[Calthropstu]

Ha, that's the article I was reading, and I missed it. There's a novella's worth of info about the 1300's, then a few lines about an event in 1420, then one line about something in 1489. So they are still around, but I guess it's been about a century of game time since any authors wanted to use them as a primary antagonist.

With Bhaal dead, and Cyric not backing them, and Manshoon no longer leading them their teeth are pretty much nonexistent, and they really have no interesting characters.

[Ettina]

They're very active in Waterdeep Dragon Heist.

[Pex]

Yes, but they have reformed and are now considered benign. They do the things they believe necessary to save the world the good two shoes would have a problem doing. They care about their profits but don't seek world domination.

Whether the DM has them be their #Team Evil selves as they used to be is up to his particular campaign.

[Ettina]

Yes, but they have reformed and are now considered benign. They do the things they believe necessary to save the world the good two shoes would have a problem doing. They care about their profits but don't seek world domination.

Whether the DM has them be their #Team Evil selves as they used to be is up to his particular campaign.

Kidnapping a random good-guy noble and brutalizing him because they're looking for a stone containing the soul of a creature that can tell them where treasure is hidden is benign? They're literally hurting people in pursuit of personal gain, that's definitely evil.

[Composer99]

Kidnapping a random good-guy noble and brutalizing him because they're looking for a stone containing the soul of a creature that can tell them where treasure is hidden is benign? They're literally hurting people in pursuit of personal gain, that's definitely evil.

In fairness, they are "maybe-sort-of-not-quite-evil you can team up with" in several other modules, where they team up with the PCs and other factions to fight the BBEG, such as Hoard of the Dragon Queen/Rise of Tiamat and Out of the Abyss, they contribute materially to such efforts.

Not everyone has, or knows the plot of, every adventure, after all. Given how the Zhentarim are portrayed in other adventures, if you don't know their doings in Dragon Heist, you could hardly be blamed for thinking they're not so much the baddies these days.

[Pex]

I was also thinking in Adventure League you can have them as a Faction. Of course they're not goody-two-shoes, but since they're accessible to players and openly work with the other Factions they have to be reformed enough to be given legitimacy.

[PattThe]

Llorkh Orlbar and other northern towns have completely been taken over. However with the Zentilar/Zentalil armies themselves being defunct since the fall of zhentil keep a hundred years ago (I'd imagine many units stuck together but a century of war with the Shade Enclave is going to take the wind out of your veterans' sails) and the spellplague devastating the populations of every northern town (rip nesme and zelbross) makes their monopoly over trade anywhere near Loudwater seem rather useless. With the Anauroch becoming a desert again (finding the lore on that is a maze but look up each of the princes of shade on the wiki and you'll run into this guy named Melegaunt and stuff starts making sense) and the Shade Enclave going kaput, trade to and from both sides of that upper desert trade road are back in their classic zhent controlled caravan paths.

The army would have been disbanded ages ago, with no funding. I like to think that many many of these fighters got involved in the territory brawls of Shade and their allies across the chaotic green land of returned netheril and the ecological catastrophe of that biome flip-flopping.. but the armies of Zhentil Keep's old ways would likely be dissolved into veterans trying to retire into the Black Network since nobody would fund them and all the best lands were raided thrice over already.

[Tanarii]

Yes. Per Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide they're centered out of Darkhold under the leadership of Pereghost. Although it also mentions a rumors of Manxam.

They operate as mercenaries, more legitimate traders (before they were heavily involved in illicit smuggling), and are apparently work to improve their standing among the common folk.

They were also the faction you had to have if you wanted to play a Lawful Evil character in Adventurer's League. I don't know if that still holds true. And that doesn't mean all Zhentarim are LE.

[icefractal]

In fairness, they are "maybe-sort-of-not-quite-evil you can team up with" in several other modules, where they team up with the PCs and other factions to fight the BBEG, such as Hoard of the Dragon Queen/Rise of Tiamat and Out of the Abyss, they contribute materially to such efforts.

Most evil people don't want the world destroyed, or taken over by demons, or whatnot. It does mean they're at least not in the "unable to stop backstabbing even when it's a really bad idea" camp.

[Beleriphon]

The Zhents in the current era of FR are more like a not particularly nice mercenary company rather than evil zealots. They're interested in money as an end rather as a means.

[PattThe]

The Zhents in the current era of FR are more like a not particularly nice mercenary company rather than evil zealots. They're interested in money as an end rather as a means.

OOTA describes them as archetypically the Black Network conducting trade of all kinds legal and illegal at prices nobody can beat where they control trade. If you're talking about a mercenary company, wouldn't that be more likely to apply to the companymen of the Zhentalil army which was sundered with the destruction of Zhentil keep a century ago?

[Beleriphon]

OOTA describes them as archetypically the Black Network conducting trade of all kinds legal and illegal at prices nobody can beat where they control trade. If you're talking about a mercenary company, wouldn't that be more likely to apply to the companymen of the Zhentalil army which was sundered with the destruction of Zhentil keep a century ago?

Maybe. They're more like a shady business organization that's mostly legitimate, with a side of hiring out their muscle. They might also be members of The Legitimate Businessman's Club.