Toril and Its Lands
Toril is a vast and wondrous world, filled with an immense diversity of peoples and a rich, full history. For most folk of the Sword Coast, however, knowledge doesn't extend much beyond the confines of the North, and anything "known" outside of Faerûn proper is based more in rumor than in fact.
The vast central continent of Toril, Faerûn is a land mass divided by a great sea known as the Inner Sea, or the Sea of Fallen Stars. The lands beyond the North can be roughly divided into those to the south and those to the east, becoming more foreign to the folk of the Sword Coast and the North the farther away they are.
Just as "the North" describes an area that includes a number of nations and governments, a number of collective terms exist for other regions across Faerûn. Not all such names are used universally, and opinions vary as to which lands qualify in which groups. Here are some currently recognized regional groupings:
The Cold Lands: Damara, Narfell, Sossal, and Vaasa
The Heartlands: Cormyr, the Dalelands, the Moonsea, and Sembia
The Lands of Intrigue: Amn, Calimshan, and Tethyr, also known as the Empires of the Sands
The Old Empires: Chessenta, Mulhorand, and Unther