| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Jakk |
Posted - 23 Feb 2012 : 20:05:45
Okay... now that I think I've collected all my thoughts... hopefully THO finds this; I didn't want to clutter Ed's scroll with a massive half-quoted post of speculation again. 
I've been working on puzzling out something touched on by scribe Kuje some years before my association with the 'Keep:
quote:
Originally posted by Kuje 22 Dec 2005
Ed,
I was pondering the Chosen of Mystra and some of your past replies about Mystra, and her power, and her investing her power in mortals. This led me to ponder Mystryl, who seemed even more powerful then Mystra and Midnight/Mystra.
So my pondering led to me this thought: Did Mystryl have any Chosen like Mystra and Midnight/Mystra does? If so, are any of them still "alive?" Or did they all die when she "died?" If there is anything else that you might want to add to this pondering of mine then it's more then welcome.
quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One 22 Dec 2005
Oooh, Kuje, dear: you tread into darkly perilous ground, approaching (gasp) a secret of the Realms that has been sitting in plain sight for lo these many years, just waiting for a brilliant scribe to pounce upon.
Heh-heh. Which is a grand way of saying Ed won't answer you directly. You'll have to wait (for some time) for a rather more public answer.
Heh heh heh.
love,
THO
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert 22 Dec 2005
I wonder if that means that one or more of the Netherese survivors is/was a Chosen of Mystryl...
I've confirmed this to be true; see links below. 
quote:
Originally posted by Kuje 08 Jan 2010
I never understood why her alignment was changed. It's been one of the things that's always bothered me. Which is another reason why I kept the old Mystra.
I have a possible explanation for this; see the end of the post.
And here are my references to earlier speculation on the matter (much of it mine):
Here (starting "22 Dec 2005 08:51")
Here (from the top)
Here (starting "17 Apr 2010 22:20")
Here (starting "21 Aug 2010 20:30")
So... I wasn't even thinking about this when something hit me: Mystryl/Mystra's alignment in any given incarnation seems to be reflective of the alignment of the most significant of her Chosen. She went from LN (pre-ToT as well as pre-FoN; Khelben and Karsus, and possibly Halaster pre-FoN) to CG (post-ToT; Elminster)... and (as noted in the referenced scrolls above) the beginning of Halaster's madness corresponds closely with the fall of Netheril and the death of Mystryl... and we've seen El lose his mind with the death of Mystra 2.0. So the expanded theory is that Mystra's persona comes from the Chosen she vests the greatest amount of her power in. Anyway, I need to go to work; more on this later, if I can right my derailed train of thought, which is starting to leave the rails now anyway. |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Dennis |
Posted - 31 May 2012 : 08:54:56
Which book is that? I only read the first. It was okay, but not enough to keep me completely interested.
The Bhaalspawn Crisis is hardly a human's affair, so... |
| Eldacar |
Posted - 31 May 2012 : 08:41:06
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
I don't see why one should dislike Ao, or his mere existence. It's not that he's been openly participating in the affairs of gods and men.
He did answer a prayer. Once. Which I found very impressive.
I did like the way he was portrayed (or the lack of portrayal, if you will) in the Baldur's Gate series. When Cyric comes to speak with you in your Pocket Plane, he basically states that he won't interfere in the Bhaalspawn crisis because "even Ao" has taken an interest in the affair. On the other hand, I think Cyric also says that you shouldn't be expected to know who he is or anything about why he's interested, because it's well above your pay-grade (paraphrased) and thus irrelevant to your existence. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 31 May 2012 : 07:47:33
I don't see why one should dislike Ao, or his mere existence. It's not that he's been openly participating in the affairs of gods and men.
Besides, he pretty much embodies what everyone should be thankful for---Balance. Without it, the world becomes either too dark, or too goodly. A few hints of his continued existence is enough; he doesn't necessarily need to be written out. Besides, why would a few novels still mention him if he's supposed to be 'forgotten'? |
| Lord Karsus |
Posted - 05 Mar 2012 : 20:00:40
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
The gist I got from that was that we wouldn't have any mentions of him in 4e, so the 'slowly phased out' part was from a meta-gaming standpoint, and not in-game.
Just how I took it, is all - YMMV.
-In game, Ao was/should of been all but forgotten, since it's memory was disappearing since it's appearance over Waterdeep at the end of the Time of Troubles. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 04 Mar 2012 : 01:08:46
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
I recall that conversation (and we were VERY lucky Rich was so candid with us).
The gist I got from that was that we wouldn't have any mentions of him in 4e, so the 'slowly phased out' part was from a meta-gaming standpoint, and not in-game.
Just how I took it, is all - YMMV.
I tend to view it as referring to both the meta- and inner-game perspectives, which could help to explain those early references to Ao in the 4e novels, like Cordell's "Sovereignty" books. |
| Lord Karsus |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 18:24:15
quote:
Originally posted by Jakk
And I have to say this is a decision I agree with.
-I have no problem with it. Really, that's how it should have always been, to be honest (and, for the most part, that is how it was). Ao was relevant once, during the Time of Troubles. After that, it went back to being the more-or-less plot concept that it was. Ao erased the minds of mortals to remember it's appearance, and ignores the supplications of those who do remember it's existence. In effect, Ao is not relevant to anyone living on Faerûn. As such, no reason to even give Ao any mentions in sourcebooks outside of "Yeah, Ao exists". |
| Markustay |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 18:13:07
quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
Vaguely recalling Rich Baker's words on the Wizards' boards back in '08, he said that "Ao was slowly being phased out of the 4e setting." So not an immediate transition, but, I suppose, time enough for the writers/designers to decide how best to slowly ensure the absence of Ao in their works.
I recall that conversation (and we were VERY lucky Rich was so candid with us).
The gist I got from that was that we wouldn't have any mentions of him in 4e, so the 'slowly phased out' part was from a meta-gaming standpoint, and not in-game.
Just how I took it, is all - YMMV.
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I've not read those novels; I'm going by info in the FRCG and the web info we had in the run-up to 4E. And in one of those places, it was explicitly stated that Shar prevented the ascension of a new deity of magic.
A lot of what was stated point-blank in the GHotR (and also with the release of 4e) has been recanted. Call it 'innacurate reporting', or "the mysteries of the heavens run deep", or just call it back-peddling (my personal favorite  )
While it irks me there is any need to fix FR at all, I am also greatly pleased they recognize it (finally) and are doing something about it. I am more then willing to chuck-out a few errant entries in the GHotR to get us back on track. |
| Jakk |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 18:10:07
quote:
Originally posted by Lord Karsus
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
Really? I only bought the initial campaign setting for 4E and nothing after it. Just wondering, how did they write him out? Like they claimed he's left / gone / or just mystery?
-Ao was just ignored by the writers/designers. Nothing was changed/altered in-game, but the decision was made to just kind of forget that it existed and not bring Ao up, effectively marginalizing it out of relevance.
And I have to say this is a decision I agree with. Honestly, I would have just reset to the OGB, thus eliminating Ao, but that would have taken the ToT, Cyric, two deaths of Mystra, and the Spellplague with him... not that I would have minded, particularly in the cases of Mystra's deaths (the earlier LN Mystra was far better) and Cyric... Myrkul and Bhaal were far more interesting deities. At least the designers saw the wisdom of bringing back Bane. |
| Lord Karsus |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 18:00:00
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
Really? I only bought the initial campaign setting for 4E and nothing after it. Just wondering, how did they write him out? Like they claimed he's left / gone / or just mystery?
-Ao was just ignored by the writers/designers. Nothing was changed/altered in-game, but the decision was made to just kind of forget that it existed and not bring Ao up, effectively marginalizing it out of relevance. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 14:34:36
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
If the Council of Overgods (as I'd like to call them) did, then there should have been no more Ao in 4E. They don't have to try to eliminate him, because they could if they set their minds to it.
Uh... Ao was written out of the picture in 4E.
Really? I only bought the initial campaign setting for 4E and nothing after it. Just wondering, how did they write him out? Like they claimed he's left / gone / or just mystery? |
| The Sage |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 06:28:16
I don't see the need for a focus on Ao, really. Aside from the odd mention here and there.
Before Ao was introduced it was evident that the gods weren't able to act in Faerûn as if they were free-willed super-powered people. That could well be because of what a god is: both greater and lesser than mortals. Somewhat like Glorantha's Cosmic Compromise, their identification with cosmic and archetypal forces imprisons and freezes them as free actors. Ao seems to me a clumsy attempt to personify those metaphysical laws.
|
| Dennis |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 06:06:06
But Rich is not joining the 5E team...So who knows... |
| The Sage |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 05:48:11
Vaguely recalling Rich Baker's words on the Wizards' boards back in '08, he said that "Ao was slowly being phased out of the 4e setting." So not an immediate transition, but, I suppose, time enough for the writers/designers to decide how best to slowly ensure the absence of Ao in their works. |
| Lord Karsus |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 05:44:50
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
Not entirely. Besides, it's impossible to rid of an overgod completely. If greater deities can die and then rise again, how much more the overgods?!
-Not in-setting; just in the hearts and pens of designers. That said, Plague of Spells, which was one of the first 4e-era novels to come out, written by Bruce Cordell, one of the 4e designers, out mentioned Ao- had a character improbably invoking Ao, as in "What in the name of Ao is going on?", or some such- so so much for that almost immediately after saying that Ao was going to basically be ignored and forgotten about in future source material... |
| Dennis |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 05:43:00
If the Luminous Being, Ao's Master, or the Council of Overgods got rid of him, I would expect them to assign someone else on the post, to oversee Ao's crystal sphere. No one that we heard of was promoted for that job. Hence, we can say Ao is still around, somewhere. |
| Jakk |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 05:33:55
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
Not entirely. Besides, it's impossible to rid of an overgod completely. If greater deities can die and then rise again, how much more the overgods?!
And I'll have to admit the truth of this as well... but one would think that the more difficult a deity is to kill, the more difficult they would be to bring back... I would expect some sort of balance that way. |
| Jakk |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 05:31:21
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
If the Council of Overgods (as I'd like to call them) did, then there should have been no more Ao in 4E. They don't have to try to eliminate him, because they could if they set their minds to it.
Uh... Ao was written out of the picture in 4E.
So maybe you have the right of it, Wooly... maybe Dennis' scenario is exactly what happened. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 05:30:49
Not entirely. Besides, it's impossible to rid of an overgod completely. If greater deities can die and then rise again, how much more the overgods?! |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 05:20:03
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
If the Council of Overgods (as I'd like to call them) did, then there should have been no more Ao in 4E. They don't have to try to eliminate him, because they could if they set their minds to it.
Uh... Ao was written out of the picture in 4E. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 02:21:39
If the Council of Overgods (as I'd like to call them) did, then there should have been no more Ao in 4E. They don't have to try to eliminate him, because they could if they set their minds to it. |
| Jakk |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 02:12:45
quote:
Originally posted by Dennis
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
If anything, I prefer the older suggestion made by someone that it wasn't Mystra's death that caused the Spellplague, it was the murder of Ao that did it. There are issues with that explanation, too, but I find that a more plausible explanation for the erratic nature of the Spellplague than the official one, and it would explain how Shar was able to keep a new Mystra from popping up.
Murder Ao? Who would do that? Cyric? Nah. He's the sickest mind in history, but he's never had the capacity to pull that off.
Ao might simply be bored, and let the world hang in the balance to amuse himself. The same reason he orchestrated the Time of Troubles.
Thinking about it, what if Ao's superior offed him? Maybe it was de[i]cided that Ao did too much to protect the gods from the consequences of their actions during the ToT. This is actually more in keeping with both canon and the publisher's movement away from referring to overgods at all. |
| Dennis |
Posted - 03 Mar 2012 : 00:55:32
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
If anything, I prefer the older suggestion made by someone that it wasn't Mystra's death that caused the Spellplague, it was the murder of Ao that did it. There are issues with that explanation, too, but I find that a more plausible explanation for the erratic nature of the Spellplague than the official one, and it would explain how Shar was able to keep a new Mystra from popping up.
Murder Ao? Who would do that? Cyric? Nah. He's the sickest mind in history, but he's never had the capacity to pull that off.
Ao might simply be bored, and let the world hang in the balance to amuse himself. The same reason he orchestrated the Time of Troubles. |
| Jakk |
Posted - 02 Mar 2012 : 21:47:11
quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
<snip>
Hmmm. I wonder how Chauntea would fit into this scenario?
As Ed has stated in the past, both Mystra and Chauntea form the essence of the Realms -- the Weave and the Land respectively. Would Ao have necessarily felt the need to check Chauntea's power as well?
We've also seen tidbits that suggest Ao may have been responsible for ensuring some of Mystra's divine power would be invested in her Chosen. Of course, this has never been actually proven. But what if it wasn't so much about maintaining some semblance of her essence for the rebooted Mystra to reclaim, and, instead, more about limiting her power somewhat. Conceivably, maybe Mystra was "told" by Ao that she could draw on the collective portions of her power invested in all of the Chosen in a time of crisis. But is this actually the truth of the matter? Perhaps Ao could establish a cap on just how much reserve power Mystra can draw upon from the Chosen.
A very interesting theory, Sage. And this might also explain why Mystra (both 1.0 and 2.0) seem to have more Chosen than Mystryl did... if Mystryl was a more powerful goddess, she would need fewer "vessels" in which to store "excess" divine power... and, conversely, she had fewer resources available to her when Karsus attempted his takeover of the Weave. And that's exactly why the number of Chosen grows with Mystra; she wants to avoid a future scenario similar to this. As I understand it, Mystryl voluntarily ended her own existence in order to save the Weave (the exact mechanisms of why it worked this way, I'm still sketchy on). Mystra 1.0 was killed while confined to a mortal avatar on Toril, so the Weave didn't threaten to completely explode in quite the same way (because her powers were held by others, and Ao presumably prevented a full-blown Spellplague from occurring because he's punishing the gods, not the mortals). Mystra 2.0 was killed on her home plane, so everything went up in flames rather swiftly... but my guess is that, at some level, she still treated Toril as her home as well (being a former mortal and all; see my earlier post), (spoiler from Ed's new El novels follows) and this is why she wasn't utterly destroyed in the destruction of Dweomerheart. But perhaps this limitation you refer to is also why Shar and Cyric were able to infiltrate Dweomerheart and carry out the deed in the first place.  |
| The Sage |
Posted - 01 Mar 2012 : 01:52:23
Oh, Erik, you've got me speculating...
quote:
Originally posted by Erik Scott de Bie
Earlier posts in this thread inspire me to wonder about the Time of Troubles . . . what if the whole "Tablets of Fate" thing was just a head fake, and Ao really triggered the event to check some particularly powerful deities, such as Mystra? He saw her becoming too mighty, so he engineered a series of events to trigger her self-reload mechanism to create a weaker Mystra (out of Midnight).
Hmmm. I wonder how Chauntea would fit into this scenario?
As Ed has stated in the past, both Mystra and Chauntea form the essence of the Realms -- the Weave and the Land respectively. Would Ao have necessarily felt the need to check Chauntea's power as well?
We've also seen tidbits that suggest Ao may have been responsible for ensuring some of Mystra's divine power would be invested in her Chosen. Of course, this has never been actually proven. But what if it wasn't so much about maintaining some semblance of her essence for the rebooted Mystra to reclaim, and, instead, more about limiting her power somewhat. Conceivably, maybe Mystra was "told" by Ao that she could draw on the collective portions of her power invested in all of the Chosen in a time of crisis. But is this actually the truth of the matter? Perhaps Ao could establish a cap on just how much reserve power Mystra can draw upon from the Chosen. |
| Jakk |
Posted - 29 Feb 2012 : 23:47:43
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I've not read those novels; I'm going by info in the FRCG and the web info we had in the run-up to 4E. And in one of those places, it was explicitly stated that Shar prevented the ascension of a new deity of magic.
I believe that was in GHotR... which also told us several dubious things about other deities as well (notably Tyr, Sune, and Helm). Although the rest of the deicides, from a plausibility angle, I have no problem with... but I think the drow were made infinitely less interesting by Lolth wiping out the rest of her pantheon. 
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I've not really worked thru the entire thing for murdering Ao; as I said, it was someone else's idea. And the idea doesn't preclude Mystra's murder -- the idea is that it was Ao's murder that caused the Spellplague, not Mystra's. Mystra could have still been killed or imprisoned during that kablooie... As to who did it, I'd personally put my money on Cyric, getting some outside help. Perhaps the Far Realm, perhaps somewhere else...
In fact, what if the primordials were from somewhere far removed from the Realms cosmology, and Ao was one of their number, gone renegade or expatriate? After aeons pass, they find him again, and we get the big boom described. Abeir wasn't a twin world; it was somewhere else, but something about the battle betwixt Ao and his enemies made a connection that made the transposition possible. Ao sacrifices himself, banishes the primordials, and as things are settling back down, Cyric gets sneaky and offs Mystra.
That's a very interesting scenario... but we can still keep Abeir as a twin world to Toril; otherwise, we're looking at a pair of retcons for the same condition, neither of which is preferable to the original state of affairs. If the primordials had tracked Ao to Abeir (which was one world with Toril prior to the Sundering or whatever event we have to separate the two), and they discovered the existence of Toril (some of whose deities turned out to be primordials, according to the 4E lore, so it's not exactly a stretch), the primordials could have brought about the Spellplague in their efforts to deal with the "renegade" Ao. And if we add in Cyric's attempted murder of Mystra and her severe weakening (or death), in combination with the vanishing of Ao and other deities of magic, there's nobody left with the strength to keep the Weave together, and this is what I assume you were getting at with your original post referring to the idea of Ao causing the Spellplague.  I like it. And we can further assume that Ao has been either taken into custody or destroyed in his battle with his fellows, thus removing him from the world (something the designers have been trying to do since late 2E, if you look at how little he is discussed in canon in that time). I like this a lot... hopefully WotC sees this and uses it, because it would go a long way toward making the 5e Realms a place I want to be. Further, we can explain the actions of Tyr, Helm, and Sune as the behaviour of deities driven mad by the primordial incursion and the abduction of Ao, and we might even be able to bring Helm back in the process. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 29 Feb 2012 : 22:02:33
quote:
Originally posted by Jakk
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
If anything, I prefer the older suggestion made by someone that it wasn't Mystra's death that caused the Spellplague, it was the murder of Ao that did it. There are issues with that explanation, too, but I find that a more plausible explanation for the erratic nature of the Spellplague than the official one, and it would explain how Shar was able to keep a new Mystra from popping up.
Except... we have from the new Elminster novels a near-100% assurance that Shar had nothing to do with "preventing" a new Mystra from ascending, because it wasn't necessary (see my spoiler-tagged comments above)... Shar may have been advertising that fact through her priesthood to artificially magnify her power, but I think that's as far as it went, with the possible exception that Mystra would have to keep a very low profile to prevent Shar from learning of her survival until she had regained enough strength to survive another attack and, in doing so, Shar was in fact preventing Mystra from ascending to her former power. This is starting to look like a redacted document from a political scandal... let's see if I can find something to talk about without using spoiler tags.
Still, I'm intrigued by these alternative theories... here's hoping we learn the truth (or as close to it as we mortals can get) in Ed's next novel or three.
Edit: Oh, and re: the issues with the murder of Ao: First, I'm not sure that any entity in Realmspace other than Mystra would be capable of murdering Ao. Second, why would she? Third, I suppose it fits in one way; if the goddess of magic were to kill the overgod, it would certainly cause magic to go kablooie at least until the deed was done and the goddess could calm down again. Fourth, how does Shar fit in? And fifth, if Mystra's not dead or critically injured in this scenario, how is her following century of silence explained? I think the (attempted) murder of Mystra is by far the simpler explanation.
I've not read those novels; I'm going by info in the FRCG and the web info we had in the run-up to 4E. And in one of those places, it was explicitly stated that Shar prevented the ascension of a new deity of magic.
I've not really worked thru the entire thing for murdering Ao; as I said, it was someone else's idea. And the idea doesn't preclude Mystra's murder -- the idea is that it was Ao's murder that caused the Spellplague, not Mystra's. Mystra could have still been killed or imprisoned during that kablooie... As to who did it, I'd personally put my money on Cyric, getting some outside help. Perhaps the Far Realm, perhaps somewhere else...
In fact, what if the primordials were from somewhere far removed from the Realms cosmology, and Ao was one of their number, gone renegade or expatriate? After aeons pass, they find him again, and we get the big boom described. Abeir wasn't a twin world; it was somewhere else, but something about the battle betwixt Ao and his enemies made a connection that made the transposition possible. Ao sacrifices himself, banishes the primordials, and as things are settling back down, Cyric gets sneaky and offs Mystra. |
| Jakk |
Posted - 29 Feb 2012 : 20:43:55
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
If anything, I prefer the older suggestion made by someone that it wasn't Mystra's death that caused the Spellplague, it was the murder of Ao that did it. There are issues with that explanation, too, but I find that a more plausible explanation for the erratic nature of the Spellplague than the official one, and it would explain how Shar was able to keep a new Mystra from popping up.
Except... we have from the new Elminster novels a near-100% assurance that Shar had nothing to do with "preventing" a new Mystra from ascending, because it wasn't necessary (see my spoiler-tagged comments above)... Shar may have been advertising that fact through her priesthood to artificially magnify her power, but I think that's as far as it went, with the possible exception that Mystra would have to keep a very low profile to prevent Shar from learning of her survival until she had regained enough strength to survive another attack and, in doing so, Shar was in fact preventing Mystra from ascending to her former power. This is starting to look like a redacted document from a political scandal... let's see if I can find something to talk about without using spoiler tags.
Still, I'm intrigued by these alternative theories... here's hoping we learn the truth (or as close to it as we mortals can get) in Ed's next novel or three.
Edit: Oh, and re: the issues with the murder of Ao: First, I'm not sure that any entity in Realmspace other than Mystra would be capable of murdering Ao. Second, why would she? Third, I suppose it fits in one way; if the goddess of magic were to kill the overgod, it would certainly cause magic to go kablooie at least until the deed was done and the goddess could calm down again. Fourth, how does Shar fit in? And fifth, if Mystra's not dead or critically injured in this scenario, how is her following century of silence explained? I think the (attempted) murder of Mystra is by far the simpler explanation. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 29 Feb 2012 : 20:29:33
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Erik Scott de Bie
Earlier posts in this thread inspire me to wonder about the Time of Troubles . . . what if the whole "Tablets of Fate" thing was just a head fake, and Ao really triggered the event to check some particularly powerful deities, such as Mystra? He saw her becoming too mighty, so he engineered a series of events to trigger her self-reload mechanism to create a weaker Mystra (out of Midnight).
Of all the deities who could rise to challenge Ao, I think Mystra is the big threat.
Her and Shar, that is.
Maybe Ao engineered the Spellplague too, in order to do the same exact thing, and also collapse the Shadow Weave, which was empowering another would-be rival. But he didn't bother to consider the devastating consequences for the mortals of the Realms (upon whom his power is not directly dependent), and his self-imposed exile after the Spellplague arises from a sense of regret for how badly he messed everything up?
Hmm . . .
Cheers
Meh, I don't see him slapping down all of the gods when he could have just slapped down one or two. And even if it was an oversight, I don't see him engineering such destruction without trying to fix it.
If anything, I prefer the older suggestion made by someone that it wasn't Mystra's death that caused the Spellplague, it was the murder of Ao that did it. There are issues with that explanation, too, but I find that a more plausible explanation for the erratic nature of the Spellplague than the official one, and it would explain how Shar was able to keep a new Mystra from popping up.
Careful there..... I wouldn't expect that management would punish everyone for the stupidity of a single individual.... and yet at least once a month I've got to hear some droning about how we "all" need to be careful with what we do at our job and not break things. Ao IS management still :-) |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 29 Feb 2012 : 19:06:25
quote:
Originally posted by Erik Scott de Bie
Earlier posts in this thread inspire me to wonder about the Time of Troubles . . . what if the whole "Tablets of Fate" thing was just a head fake, and Ao really triggered the event to check some particularly powerful deities, such as Mystra? He saw her becoming too mighty, so he engineered a series of events to trigger her self-reload mechanism to create a weaker Mystra (out of Midnight).
Of all the deities who could rise to challenge Ao, I think Mystra is the big threat.
Her and Shar, that is.
Maybe Ao engineered the Spellplague too, in order to do the same exact thing, and also collapse the Shadow Weave, which was empowering another would-be rival. But he didn't bother to consider the devastating consequences for the mortals of the Realms (upon whom his power is not directly dependent), and his self-imposed exile after the Spellplague arises from a sense of regret for how badly he messed everything up?
Hmm . . .
Cheers
Meh, I don't see him slapping down all of the gods when he could have just slapped down one or two. And even if it was an oversight, I don't see him engineering such destruction without trying to fix it.
If anything, I prefer the older suggestion made by someone that it wasn't Mystra's death that caused the Spellplague, it was the murder of Ao that did it. There are issues with that explanation, too, but I find that a more plausible explanation for the erratic nature of the Spellplague than the official one, and it would explain how Shar was able to keep a new Mystra from popping up. |
| Erik Scott de Bie |
Posted - 29 Feb 2012 : 17:57:39
Earlier posts in this thread inspire me to wonder about the Time of Troubles . . . what if the whole "Tablets of Fate" thing was just a head fake, and Ao really triggered the event to check some particularly powerful deities, such as Mystra? He saw her becoming too mighty, so he engineered a series of events to trigger her self-reload mechanism to create a weaker Mystra (out of Midnight).
Of all the deities who could rise to challenge Ao, I think Mystra is the big threat.
Her and Shar, that is.
Maybe Ao engineered the Spellplague too, in order to do the same exact thing, and also collapse the Shadow Weave, which was empowering another would-be rival. But he didn't bother to consider the devastating consequences for the mortals of the Realms (upon whom his power is not directly dependent), and his self-imposed exile after the Spellplague arises from a sense of regret for how badly he messed everything up?
Hmm . . .
Cheers |
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