Durpar is an old and exceptionally wealthy mercantile nation, separated from its sister nations Estagund and Var the Golden by the Curna Mountains and the Golden Water, respectively. Together, the three countries form the region collectively known as the Shining Lands.

The history and geographical location of Durpar have long granted it unusual access to broad trade opportunities not seen further north or west. A highly functional plutocracy, the realm is ruled by a High Council consisting of the eleven richest Nawabs and their attendant chakas, or merchant houses. Each specializes in a different area of trade or craft, and together, their membership possesses treasure enough to buy and sell whole kingdoms. Perhaps surprisingly, the system is not as corrupt as an outsider might assume, since the Durpari adherence to the beliefs of Adama—the governing philosophy of the Shining Lands—includes a cultural sense of honesty and integrity, especially as applies to their business practices.

A land of higher education, martial discipline, and art, Durpar produces shrewd citizens who are typically cosmopolitan and invariably multilingual. Compared to the peoples of other countries along the southeastern coast of Faerûn, Durpari live lives mostly autonomous from their government, voting with their coin in the ever-ongoing political economy created by the many successful chakas. While their monstrous neighbors in Veldorn are often responsible for raiding the caravans that travel through the Eastern Shaar to Mulhorand, many fruitless wars against the beastmen have made the Durpari wary of sending any sizable force to quell the incursions, and they focus instead on fortifying their precious trade routes.

Durpar is home to many institutions of power and progress, at the pinnacle of which is arguably the Mehfil-e-Sahiriin, or Gathering of Magicians—a cooperative incorporated network of independent and financially interlinked arcanist groups that push an agenda of research and community service. The nation is exceptionally tolerant of adventurers and generally allows them to operate without a charter or license, since clearing away monsters—and spending their loot in town—is good for the local Durpari economy in the same way that it's often ruinous in other countries. The Gathering sometimes employs these eager sellswords to assist in their work, and more find their way to the Trollslayers, a mercenary guild-cum-chaka that is swiftly rising as the top supplier of capable hired help in the Shining Lands.

While the Trollslayers and their ilk patrol the land routes that link Durpar to its partners, all aquatic trade goes outward, through the Golden Water, as whatever magic lies over the Liontongue River prevents watercraft from traversing it, forcing merchant caravans to brave the Curnas or the Shaar, if they wish to ply their wares.