Some thoughts on RP/Lore, IC vs OOC, and when it conflicts

[Edge]

Probably says about how long it's been since I looked at that forum that I didn't know/remember that was even there.

[onivel]

Sept 17, 2015 13:58:23 GMT -5  @belladonna said:

Sept 16, 2015 23:20:21 GMT -5 valiea987 said:

Yeah, putting this up on a post for new players would be really nice (as SO mentioned, but deleted), because personally, if I knew, I wouldn't have even started here to be honest. When I first heard someone say the Wheel was still something characters in CD believe in 1378 DR, I asked Vincent, and he said this is 3.5 and to go by the 3.5 cosmological model of the World Tree. Letting people know ahead of time would be nice so they don't do as I did and get into something that they don't want to be a part of. Probably best for someone else to make the timeline, someone more in tuned with how you all are applying the lore.

forums.cormyrdalelands.com/index.php?topic=142

Dec 13, 2013 17:49:08 GMT -5 Vincent07 said:

We are presently in winter/spring of 1378 DR.  Some of the more recent events are not canon on CD. (specifically between 1372-1374DR)

Forgotten Realms Chronology


CD disregards most official Canon post 1372, when we launched.  Though it did not take place on the server, we do acknowledge that Lolth's Silence happened off-camera.


A note on the FR Wiki:  Most of the content there has been infected with the 4th Ed. update and is thus not relevant to CD.

Well... that certianly changes some things for the drow RP. It was my understanding from a long ways back that we treated Lolth's Silence as never having happened in our timeline. We've treated places like Ched Nasad and Maerimydra as still being there and functioning normally. In fact we have Maerimydra listed as the location of the primary House for the Doth'isheal clan.

[Edge]

Yeah, I missed that. I was under the impression for years now that Lolth's Silence never happened on CD.

[Fire Wraith]

It was something we brushed over, because it was something that was said to have occured right around the start of the campaign. Regardless, it was a minor incident in CD, rather than anything of particular importance.

[Deleted]

We still do need our own timeline created, with such stated, and continuing on into summaries of each book.  I would do it, but... well... I'm already pulling almost 12 hour workdays currently.

[Edge]

Sounds like something we admins should probably get settled before we put something new up. I could volunteer to take over doing the timeline from this point on, though I'd need some assistance in filling in the parts of CD I wasn't here for.

Honestly the background/history of the Realms is less of an issue to me - beyond making sure we don't get any 4e dribbled on it - than codifying the stuff that's actually happened on CD and the stuff that canon says happened that didn't.

[Fire Wraith]

I can help with that, Edge.

I can probably also write up an explanation of the cosmology, how we square all the FR-specific stuff with everything at the periphery, etc.

[Deleted]

Between all of us, and the DMs, we should be able to pull this together.  We've just never had the time or resources prior.

[Dismus]

I can recall alot

[Fire Wraith]

Book IV: The Whispers

It started largely unnoticed.

The ones who already teetered on insanity were the most susceptible, and few pay attention to the ravings of known madmen. A few of the Selunites noticed something was different, in the Arabel Asylum, but it was only when it began to spread beyond that the rumors began to spread of people hearing strange voices, almost like whispers just beyond the edge of their hearing.

The temples tried to care for the afflicted, but it only grew worse, and soon random people were driven to bouts of madness. Word spread of people discovered in back alleys, butchered as if by some strange, massive beast, though none were ever to be seen.

As the plague of madness worsened, groups of adventurers sought information wherever they could, desperate to learn more. The very research itself proved dangerous at times, and attempt to discover more led to the Mages' Guild of Arabel, the Violet Flame, having its entire tower sucked into a strange nightmare pocket.

Through many false leads, forgotten histories, and ancient legends, the source of the madness was determined to lie somewhere within a ruined outpost of the fallen Empire of Netheril, atop a mountain near the great desert of Anauroch. The Steel Regent, Princess Alusair of Cormyr, led an expedition to the peak, along with a troop of soldiers, the Mage Royal of Cormyr, Caladnei, and a group of adventurers.

In the depths of the partially buried fortress, those adventurers would find a dark secret - the prison of a strange and powerful entity from the Far Realm, whose bindings had weakened slowly through the ages. The creature taunted the adventurers, even from within its bindings, and showed them visions of the past - of great and momentous events in Cormyr and Faerûn's history, that it claimed to have been the hand behind, time and again bringing death and ruin. The adventurers then faced the guardians of the beast, as well as its possessed avatar, in a climactic battle whereby its corporeal form was destroyed, banishing it to its plane of origin, and unleashing massive amounts of energy as the prison crumbled.

Meanwhile, on the surface, as rifts opened and battles waged, the adventurers emerged, watching in horror as a final rift opened beneath both the Princess Regent and the Mage Royal, swallowing them both, disappearing in an instant, the great danger vanquished - but not without cost.

[Fire Wraith]

Book II: The Shadow War

Although Cormyr and the Shadovar had fought previously, following the appearance of the city of Shade above the Anauroch, the two had settled into a relative peace following the indecisive and costly battle that destroyed the city of Tilverton. This would change with the arrival of a delegation of Shadovar, led by the Archwizard Hadrhune, at the gates of the Cormyrian settlement of Halfhap. The Dark Wizard issued an ultimatum on behalf of the Prince of Shade, demanding that Cormyr formally cede both the town of Halfhap, and all lands north of the Storm Horns. Unsurprisingly, Cormyr refused the absurd demand, and the Shadovar declared war.

For the most part, the war went poorly for Cormyr, as the Shadovar had organized armies from the orc, goblin, and ogre tribes of the Stonelands, augmented by fearsome shadow wizards, who methodically captured or eliminated all the northern outposts one by one, save for the town of Halfhap itself, which was put under siege. Cormyr's War Wizards mobilized to keep the town supplied through portals and other means, and harassing raids were conducted on the relatively poorly disciplined humanoid hordes. At the same time, the Shadovar conducted raids of their own into Cormyr, including one attack on Arabel that burned the city's temple of Sune.

As the war continued into winter, Cormyr was forced to turn to additional measures to mobilize sufficient troop numbers, including a key decision to turn the city of Arabel over to a council of nobles, merchants, and locals, who in turn raised a city guard, freeing the city's Purple Dragon garrison to move north, under the command of Myrmeen Lhal, to reinforce Castle Crag, a key fortress protecting the pass through the Storm Horns through which the Shadovar could have threatened the rest of Cormyr.

Come spring, with the siege progressing, both sides became increasingly desperate, though the Shadovar seemingly moreso. Attempts to assault the town directly increased in tempo, until finally, the Shadovar launched an all-out attack. As the battle raged in and around the town, the Dark Wizard Hadrhune led a contigent straight to the heart of the town, ignoring all else to make for a seemingly meaningless hill. He was met there by a group of adventurers from Cormyr, along with War Wizards and others, who engaged him in a determined battle. At the key moment, the Shade's magical wards all suddenly disappeared, as if stripped away by some unseen force, leaving him vulnerable. Dying, he hurled a powerful bolt of dark energy to the ground beneath him, tearing a crater in the ground.

With the leader of the invading force dead, the hordes largely panicked and fled, followed by their now outmatched Shadovar counterparts. The next day, a delegation of Shadovar led by one of the Princes of Shade, Rivalen Tanthul, came with an offer of formal peace, relinquishing the claims made thereby, seeing no interest in continuing a war for whom the staunchest advocate now lay dead. Rumors would later pass, suggesting that perhaps Hadrhune had been betrayed by his rivals, but most think that to be just talk.

Meanwhile, the truth of Hadrhune's goal was revealed, for in the smoking ruins of the crater he left lay a large crystal, that proved to be a gateway into a long-lost Netherese Library... one that remained guarded and warded, but accessible now nonetheless.

[Darvins]

Sept 17, 2015 16:23:22 GMT -5 Fire Wraith said:

It was something we brushed over, because it was something that was said to have occured right around the start of the campaign. Regardless, it was a minor incident in CD, rather than anything of particular importance.

I remember vaguely that I think it was used to explain the Undercity that Lolth's silence had given those who wanted to aim for a more mercentile focus to make their move and displace the Matrons. that it also led to a increase in the worshippers of other Drow Dieties in the city, especially Kirnasalee (Which is why I had taken notice). I think didn't we take many of the diety affects such as the bump in Lolth and other Drow Dieties while downplaying affect on the day to day lives of people on Toril?

[Deleted]

That's not why Undercity isn't Llothite, but I'd have to look up the reasons later.

[valiea987]

If I remember right, the drow city just west of the Undercity here, Sshamtath or something like that? It is a drow city that isn't Lolthite, instead ruled by a magocracy. Maybe there's some explanation power there.

[Darvins]

Sept 23, 2015 8:57:45 GMT -5  @belladonna said:

That's not why Undercity isn't Llothite, but I'd have to look up the reasons later.

Really? Huh I remember it being mentioned that the silence was at the very least the reason why Kiransalees faith had taken an upswing in the city, the Lolth was silent leading to many getting angry and turning to Kiransalee but meh, not really important.