Departures

I think it’s a scientific fact, or it could one day be, that I can’t write anything without deviating from what’s already been written about the subject.  I’ve been known to disagree with things on first glance, and the longer I look at something the more the chance of divergence rises.  So.  Not only is this blog not representative of any official direction for the Realms, even within the context of the pre-4e Realms, but it’s likely to flat-out change things.  Unapologetically.  This post is going to be a list of specific points upon which the Xaeyruudh campaign’s vision of the Realms is significantly different than the published one.

  1. Imaskar is older in my world… something like 7,000 years older.  The fall occurs around the same time; this just means that they were here longer.  Also, Imaskar’s domination spread a little further in my version.  Certain events in the timeline have been dramatically recast… the god-blocking shield and the giant portals that summoned millions of people come to mind. Oh, and there was no crossover —of humans or deities— from Earth to Toril.
  2. The current year is 1365 DR, and the Time of Troubles didn’t happen. In this campaign, Ao has control over individual Powers’ access to the Realms, rather than over the Powers themselves. So if I were to acknowledge the Time of Troubles it would look more like Ao locking the cosmic “door” granting godlike beings access to the Realms. It’s worth noting that some non-deific entities (Gargauth, etc) have found ways to “sneak” into the Realms in passive defiance of Ao. Powers who wish to be active in the Realms following the ToT could indicate this desire by sending an avatar to Toril and searching for the symbolic Tablets of Fate. The “door” will be reopened when the Tablets are returned, and those who aided in the search or at least were present on Toril may be part of the post-ToT pantheon. Those who elect not to be involved will have similarly made their desires clear. But I’m killing the ToT completely, so none of that is an issue.
  3. The God-Kings of Mulhorand and Unther are native to the Realms (as opposed to powers like Mystra who “reside” outside the Prime Material). Therefore, the God-Kings would be unaffected by the ToT, even if the ToT were to happen in my game, which it is not. They are not governed by Ao’s rules for the Faerunian pantheon. Also, while we’re on the subject of the God-Kings, they will not be leaving the Realms en masse as they do in the official timeline.
  4. The 3e map is garbage. The only redeeming features of this map are that (1) it was blown up (in Dragon Magazine) onto four glossy-ish poster maps, and (2) the mountains and oceans are better than previous maps. The hills are crap, though. My point here is that you don’t cut sections out of a map just to save a few pennies by crunching a 2-poster map down to one sheet of paper. You simply don’t. It’s a mutilation of the game world, which is always a bad thing. It’s also a cardinal sin as far as cartography is concerned. Even if you ignore those facts, it foments arguments over which maps to use in each campaign, which means it’s negative rather than positive for DMs and players. Even from a corporate point of view, the monetary motive is completely transparent, and anything that makes you look greedy is a stupid decision. Players and DMs made a stink about it as soon as we saw it but since profit was priority #1, obviously no corrected map was forthcoming in 3e. 4e made things even worse, and there’s no reason to believe that 5e will take us back to the original map. The Xaeyruudh campaign will rely on 1e/2e maps.
  5. Shade will not return to Faerûn in this campaign. If it did, it would be destroyed, all lifeforms enslaved and the city itself shattering into rubble and raining down from the sky. This would occur both due to the story of the campaign calling for it and because I think it would be a pleasant contrast to the way the shadovar were handled in the official Realms. That’s not to say the shades won’t be around in my campaign… they will. However, the city/empire of Shade will not be. The shades cannot be successful in rebuilding Netheril as suggested in published 3e/4e, partly because the phaerimm aren’t idiots in this campaign, and also because there are unforgivable sins in the Realms and Karsus’ Folly was one.  On the other hand, their imperialistic nature and callous cruelty and subversive techniques also probably lay the foundation for the most effective argument for bringing the shades back… they add to the darkness, rather than being a point of light.  Another large threat for the PCs to face.
  6. Speaking of the phaerimm… they’re not idiots in this campaign. The Sharnwall remains in place, though there are rumors that holes have been poked in it, the attack described in that one trilogy didn’t happen, and they remain the horrible nightmare that most folks don’t even know about. They’re also involved in the plot, so… not many details will be spilled just yet.
  7. Unless otherwise noted, all 4e changes to the Realms are tossed out. This won’t have much impact since the campaign is set 114 years before the 4e timeline starts up, but it means that the future has not already been written. Something relevant to the foretold “blue fire” will most likely occur at the appropriate time, but it won’t be the lunacy that heralds 4e.

That’s all I can think of, for now… I’m sure this post will get edited again in the future…

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