Toril is the third planet from the Sun, orbited by one moon named Selûne, and by a cluster of asteroids known as the Tears of Selûne. Land masses consist of various continents and islands, including: Faerûn, Kara-Tur, and Zakhara in the central super-continent and Anchorome, Maztica, and Katashaka in the western region of the world. Legends say there is also one large and very mysterious continent east of Kara-Tur called Osse, whose nature and inhabitants are all but unknown. Following the Spellplague, a new continent, Laerakond, appeared in the northwest.
In ancient texts, Toril was sometimes referred to as Abeir-Toril. The name “Abeir-Toril” was archaic, meaning “cradle of life” in an extinct and forgotten language. Since the Spellplague and the revelation of the existence of an extra-dimensional planetary sibling known as Abeir, and the fact that both Abeir and Toril were once united, the latter name came to informally mean the originally united worlds of Abeir and Toril.
As part of the Prime Material Plane, Toril exists in parallel with two opposite “echo” planes of existence. They are defined by a similar geography and bestiary. The parallel planes were created in the days of creation when the Primordials, mighty beings on par with the gods, split the Prime into three parts, finding some parts “too bright” or “too dark.” The two parallel planes created were the Plane of Shadow and the Feywild, though the Plane of Shadow later transformed into the Shadowfell.
Continents
Anchorome is hardly known by Faerunian scholars, though it is seemingly populated with violent elves and more of the humans found in Maztica.
Faerûn is the westernmost portion of Toril’s central supercontinent, a diverse landscape inhabited by numerous races and cultures, including humans, dwarves, elves, halflings, and gnomes.
Kara-Tur is the exotic eastern portion of Toril’s supercontinent, steeped in ancient history like a fine tea.
Katashaka is south of Maztica and virtually unknown to Faerunian scholars. It is the ancestral home of most Chultans.
Laerakond is a continent of dragonborn empires formerly located in the world of Abeir, brought to Toril with the Spellplague.
Maztica contains primitive cultures bound by duty to their gods. Natives give blood sacrifices in return for power, while those who disagreed with the practice struggle to survive.
Osse is populated by spiritualists and druids; the spirit world and nature dominate the lives of its inhabitants.
Zakhara is a mostly hot, arid realm dominated by elemental forces and a philosophy of Fate and Honor.