This looks a bit familiar!

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We’ve still been playing 3.5e. Some reference material here. https://www.d20srd.org/

We’ve also been playing Shadowrun 3e one-shots.

https://loremaps.azurewebsites.net/Maps/Faerun - Zoomable map of Faerun for D&D with some key markers annotated

- High resolution map of the Sword Coast where many of the adventure modules are based to give a better idea of terrain, relative distance

https://aided.org/atlas/index.php?map=R&I=1 - Atlas style map with key points of interest. Can also select many common cities from the menu to switch to that map (Waterdeep, Baldurs Gate, Neverwinter, Laelith, Kara-Tur, Greyhawk, Chult, etc.)

https://donjon.bin.sh/5e/dungeon/ - random dungeon generator. Same site also has other pages to generate random magic shops, encounters. Pick the ruleset (5e, 4e, pathfinder, etc) for appropriate items

Loads of lore at

https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki. Many google searches of locations, an event (e.g. spellplague), dates (1492 DR), key people (elminster, mystra) will get you to the appropriate page on this site with convenient cross-references as wikis excel at. Web 1.0 at its finest.

https://dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/appendix-c-the-five-factions

Factions

While there are many other minor factions/organizations, the primary ones referenced in adventures of 5e are the Emerald Enclave, the Harpers, the Lord's Alliance, Order of the Gauntlet, and the Zhentarim. Premade adventures often have faction options and there's also resources on dmsguild. Faction missions/quests for members help set the tone of the worlds interplay and can give adventurers additional hooks for decision making alliances yielding benefits such as aid, resource replenishment. Characters of the world are typically aware of the existence and desires of factions whether or not they themselves are (optional) members.