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Gary Dallison
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United Kingdom
6350 Posts

Posted - 15 Jan 2021 :  21:18:46  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
So i'm just arranging Calimshan's timeline from all sources and i count around 20 plagues which i think rivals even poxy Impiltur which we now know had a malignant source (Soneillon)

Ten of the plagues striking Calimshan happened during the Shoon Imperium and seemed to spread to cover Calimshan and Tethyr cities rather than just being confined to Calimshan.

The number of plagues, the presence of many magical plagues, and the fact that the location of the plagues expands to include Tethyr when Calimshan claims that region implies to me that someone or something is causing these plagues.

Any thoughts?

Could the Shoon founder have incurred a curse when he manipulated his family onto the throne of Calimshan and Tethyr. Is there an ancient evil in Calimshan and particularly Calimport that really hates the Calishites?

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Edited by - Gary Dallison on 18 Jan 2021 20:55:46

Demzer
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Posted - 15 Jan 2021 :  22:19:41  Show Profile Send Demzer a Private Message  Reply with Quote
No time and mind to check my sources now but I think there are some factors that need to be considered (I'll say "Calimshan" meaning everything in it's history, from the genies with thousands of human and hin slaves to the Shoon Empire to modern day Calimshan):
- Calimshan history covers almost 9 thousand years (from the djen arrival to ... depends when you put the "present" ...give or take 150 years) which is frigging huge for humans;
- Calimport always had much more populations than humanely possible thanks to magical padding of water and food sources but this leaves huge possibilities of plagues swiping in on the huge slums full of poor people and the slave quarters, especially "back in the day" when literally all the slaves were held in the same confined city quarters. The city scheme was reproduced in most cities in the entire region until Tethyr reclaimed it's indipendence. The s****y living conditions also meant that it was always too easy to strike at someone with plagues and have it wreak havoc everywhere as it spread like wildfire (the history of fires and plagues in Calimshan is kinda similar, someone creates the first spark against a rival and things spiral out of control);
- I would need to check the founding/activy dates but the Twisted Runes (and, indipendently, the individual members) always manipulated the region (even Tethyr) and striking with plagues is the perfect way to do a "hard reset". If not the Twisted Rune, Calimshan was the only southern power (with it's own ebbs and flows) that could have bothered Larloch's millenia-long operations, it's the only governmental entity that grew big enough several times in its history to threaten swallowing the Sword Coast;
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TheIriaeban
Master of Realmslore

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Posted - 15 Jan 2021 :  22:32:30  Show Profile Send TheIriaeban a Private Message  Reply with Quote
They were pushing the elves out of their territory for a good portion of that 9,000 years. What if there was a group like Eldreth Veluuthra. A safe way to kill your enemies is using a plague you are immune to.

"Iriaebor is a fine city. So what if you can have violence between merchant groups break out at any moment. Not every city can offer dinner AND a show."

My FR writeups - http://www.mediafire.com/folder/um3liz6tqsf5n/Documents
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist

USA
11686 Posts

Posted - 16 Jan 2021 :  01:16:26  Show Profile Send sleyvas a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Those dirty Calishites don't wash their hands due to a lack of water, and when they sneeze they just do it without covering their nose and try to outdo each other on how loud they can be.

Alavairthae, may your skill prevail

Phillip aka Sleyvas
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6350 Posts

Posted - 16 Jan 2021 :  09:44:54  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
An elf works for me. If the timing wasnt so off I'd propose Lossarwyn ended up in Calimshan for a time but he leaves cormanthyr far to late to be responsible for most of these plagues.

A lone elf trapped in the rubble beneath calimport sensing out plagues on the small mammals that enter his lair

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Demzer
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873 Posts

Posted - 16 Jan 2021 :  13:42:39  Show Profile Send Demzer a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by TheIriaeban

They were pushing the elves out of their territory for a good portion of that 9,000 years.



The genies hunted dragons and elves and humans, then the humans hunted elves and other humans and fought with dwarves until basically they were left with mostly other humans (and half-elves in Tethyr) to fight. Calimshan has always been an expasionistic power throughout it's history, that's why I said some hidden baddies (or even hidden do-gooders or hidden don't-want-to-say) could easily exploit the situation to cripple the nation by slaying thousands.

An elven baelnorn might work as well as a Twisted Rune member.
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist

USA
11686 Posts

Posted - 16 Jan 2021 :  15:09:31  Show Profile Send sleyvas a Private Message  Reply with Quote
or interplanar travellers bringing the pox from their world to this one. Only takes a single traveller, who may themselves died soon after transfer, such that they may not have even made it into the history books.

Alavairthae, may your skill prevail

Phillip aka Sleyvas

Edited by - sleyvas on 16 Jan 2021 15:10:24
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bloodtide_the_red
Learned Scribe

USA
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Posted - 16 Jan 2021 :  17:14:29  Show Profile  Visit bloodtide_the_red's Homepage Send bloodtide_the_red a Private Message  Reply with Quote
To be fair, most places experience a "Plague" about once a century....plus every so often you get a worldwide pandemic (goes over to window and peeks outside). Really, it's just nature.

The thing about gamebooks is that they are all too often written in a sort of bland safe 20th/21st century Western mind set with 'first world' problems like "oh no how do I get more Instagram followers." And on top of that, the average company wants a bland fun world that is not real and is just a fun place to kill monsters.

So the vast majority of gamebooks avoid LOTS of REAL life things that were part of history and STILL part of everyday life (though if your a cool hipster writer living in a flat in Seattle driving a BMW and going to dinner parties where you talk about your great novel, you are pretty far removed from the real world). And plagues and diseases are simply things that just get left out of most game books.

The Realms does have plenty of plagues mentioned in the history lore, mostly in timelines. Often though just as filler for an empty year "The Bad Plague hits Scardale this year". But most "popular" places like Waterdeep are fancy coastal cities (like say Seattle) and have, er, universal health care, or something.
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TheIriaeban
Master of Realmslore

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Posted - 17 Jan 2021 :  16:05:31  Show Profile Send TheIriaeban a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by bloodtide_the_red

To be fair, most places experience a "Plague" about once a century....plus every so often you get a worldwide pandemic (goes over to window and peeks outside). Really, it's just nature.

The thing about gamebooks is that they are all too often written in a sort of bland safe 20th/21st century Western mind set with 'first world' problems like "oh no how do I get more Instagram followers." And on top of that, the average company wants a bland fun world that is not real and is just a fun place to kill monsters.

So the vast majority of gamebooks avoid LOTS of REAL life things that were part of history and STILL part of everyday life (though if your a cool hipster writer living in a flat in Seattle driving a BMW and going to dinner parties where you talk about your great novel, you are pretty far removed from the real world). And plagues and diseases are simply things that just get left out of most game books.

The Realms does have plenty of plagues mentioned in the history lore, mostly in timelines. Often though just as filler for an empty year "The Bad Plague hits Scardale this year". But most "popular" places like Waterdeep are fancy coastal cities (like say Seattle) and have, er, universal health care, or something.



Yeah, books generally don't say anything about floods, large fires, droughts, earthquakes, hurricanes, or tornados. Now, the gods COULD have something to do about those not happening as often as in our world.

Oh, keep shading Seattle. I avoid that place like the plague (I HATE one way streets and don't get me started about the traffic).

"Iriaebor is a fine city. So what if you can have violence between merchant groups break out at any moment. Not every city can offer dinner AND a show."

My FR writeups - http://www.mediafire.com/folder/um3liz6tqsf5n/Documents
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6350 Posts

Posted - 18 Jan 2021 :  21:11:39  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Thinking about other things unrelated to plagues.

1 - The dwarves of Shanatar marched halfway across the known world through endless miles of Underdark terrain (which isnt easy). They stopped at the Rift of Dhalnadar to slay 4 blue dragons and build a kingdom. What is soo special about that place that would make 4 blue dragons want to live their and make the dwarves want to take it from them?

2 - Calimport was destroyed by dragons in -7790 DR, how and why. My first thought is that it wouldnt be a port at this time as there are no other nations to trade with and genies dont need ships to trade. I'm thinking at this time it was a Palace with slaves living around it. Now normally dragons appearing and annihilating a settlement is not unusual in Faerun, but this settlement was home to one of the most powerful genies ever and possibly his 100 allied genies so how did the dragons organise into a cohesive force and why did they choose to antagonise such a powerful foe.

3 - Calim founded the Calim Caliphates, this implies to me that Calim ruled over a number of mini kingdoms, presumably each one governed by a genie. Presumably these spread out all over Calimshan and beyond.

4 - Bhaelros's avatar can emerge from a huge golden genie statue in Calimport if it is broken. He emerges riding a dragon. What if Bhaelros was a real genie, who would have the power to imprison him in such a state and why would Bhaelros be riding a dragon (given the event of -7790 DR). I'm guessing worship of Bhaelros began during the Erehnir Dynasty but he could have lived and died long before then and they worshipped the myths and legends surrounding this genie.

5 - Moryggan's Mythaleash is a spell that allows a Mythal to be stretched and shaped across larger areas. It is found in only 5 spellbooks in Faerun, one of which is the Sanded Scrolls of Jafalliya Xyam, a sheaf of copper-reinforced vellum sheets buried within the tomb of a long dead Coramshite pasha in the Marching Mountains.
Coramshan was founded immediately following the fall of Calim's Caliphates and they stole much of their magic from the genies or learned it from the dwarves or drow. The presence of this spell sooo long ago before any of the other works (apart from the Uvaeren was likely created implies that either the spell was planted or that the Coramshite Pasha acquired it from the genies (or drow).

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maransreth
Learned Scribe

Australia
157 Posts

Posted - 19 Jan 2021 :  07:14:48  Show Profile Send maransreth a Private Message  Reply with Quote

At least the pestilence is in the south, while the orcs are in the North. Can you imagine what the North would be like if they had to contend with plagues and orcs?

To bloodtide_the_red: Yes plagues are a part of life, however Calimshan seems to be hit harder with plagues than other parts of Faerun. Mention of plagues in GHotR are haphazard around the rest of Faerun.

I would have said Talona may have something to do with it, as plagues are part of her "thing"/portfolio, but we know how Gary feels about deities.

Re: the dwarves/Shanatar - why did the dwarves go from the Yehimals (if you believe the Yehimals are the original birthplace of the dwarves) to "the great cavern of Bhaerynden"?
If dwarves need a large central area as their starting point, maybe the Rift of Dhalnadar is the same as Bhaerynden - a bloody large place that the dwarves need as a starting point.

Getting back to the original question though, I think it is a number of factors. Lots of people in a small place (relatively) is always a big factor for the inception of plagues. But I think you are right that someone is using plagues as a way to keep the population of Calimshan "under control" and manageable. Was the first plague around the time of the Shoon Imperium, or beforehand? If around the time of Shoon, maybe plagues are the preferred method of the "antagonist" to damage the Imperium and keep the population down.

Thought - beholders. Calimshan was always battling beholders around the Lake of Steam. Could the beholders have used plagues, i.e. not magic, to disrupt Calimshan, etc.

I wouldnt mind seeing the final Calimshan timeline, as it is interesting to see area timelines on their own and not other timelines, as per the GHotR.

Need to think further on this when time permits, but these are my initial thoughts.
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6350 Posts

Posted - 19 Jan 2021 :  09:19:10  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I think I've got all the timeline events for calimshan for various sources in one place (it does include some events from neighbouring areas because it's important and related).

As for the big caverns, I get great bhaerynden, its huge but it also has water (which is a precious resource in the underdark), and food and it was easily defensible.

The rift of Dhalnadar I'm not sure has those things.


Beholders may have had some involvement in plagues, but they arrived quite late to the calimshan party (-2000 dr ish) and their modus operandi for the first few millennia seems to be "exterminate" dalek style, which matches their mindset in that they believe themselves superior to everything else.
I think it took them a long time to learn that humanoids can be really good at war and they needed other means to beat them into submission (which is why vaxall starts getting in bed with the twisted rune and manipulating teldorn darkhope to conquer humans for the beholders).


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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6350 Posts

Posted - 19 Jan 2021 :  09:56:56  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Found something about who could trap a powerful genie and dragon in a statue. The answer is - dragons. The Blue Bottle of Tenaarlaktor has the answer.

Looks like the dragons devised a means of trapping genies, presumably this magic then found its way into the hands of others (because genie lamps now exist).

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Demzer
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873 Posts

Posted - 19 Jan 2021 :  10:09:27  Show Profile Send Demzer a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Gary Dallison

The rift of Dhalnadar I'm not sure has those things.



The caverns of Shanatar had the resources you mention, not the rift. The rift is a rift, the dwarves had to pass it to reach the Underdark where they later founded Shanatar. The dragons maybe were a family, like the Morueme up north, and they kept watch over the only passable point of the rift for untold miles/kms, the dwarves reallt really wanted to pass through there and violence ensued.



quote:
Originally posted by Gary Dallison

Beholders may have had some involvement in plagues, but they arrived quite late to the calimshan party (-2000 dr ish) and their modus operandi for the first few millennia seems to be "exterminate" dalek style, which matches their mindset in that they believe themselves superior to everything else.
I think it took them a long time to learn that humanoids can be really good at war and they needed other means to beat them into submission (which is why vaxall starts getting in bed with the twisted rune and manipulating teldorn darkhope to conquer humans for the beholders).



Agreed, beholder wanted slaves and fodder. They were completely fine with obliterating everyone that resisted but they wouldn't want to ruin their slave population by injecting plagues so I don't think beholders are the culprits here.
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Demzer
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Posted - 19 Jan 2021 :  10:20:13  Show Profile Send Demzer a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Gary Dallison

Thinking about other things unrelated to plagues.

2 - Calimport was destroyed by dragons in -7790 DR, how and why. My first thought is that it wouldnt be a port at this time as there are no other nations to trade with and genies dont need ships to trade. I'm thinking at this time it was a Palace with slaves living around it. Now normally dragons appearing and annihilating a settlement is not unusual in Faerun, but this settlement was home to one of the most powerful genies ever and possibly his 100 allied genies so how did the dragons organise into a cohesive force and why did they choose to antagonise such a powerful foe.




The genies were newcomers at the time, being there for barely 10 years (give or take the precision of the timeline) and they were busy building up and enslaving local humans in that time. I doubt anyone in the earth, skies or forests of Faerun knew anything about how powerful Calim might have been. The dragons tried to quash the newcomers before they got a foothold and succeeded only in angering Calim, causing the eradication or flight of the dragons of the Marching Mountains.
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bloodtide_the_red
Learned Scribe

USA
297 Posts

Posted - 19 Jan 2021 :  18:00:09  Show Profile  Visit bloodtide_the_red's Homepage Send bloodtide_the_red a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by maransreth
To bloodtide_the_red: Yes plagues are a part of life, however Calimshan seems to be hit harder with plagues than other parts of Faerun. Mention of plagues in GHotR are haphazard around the rest of Faerun.



Other then the writers/editors/company refuse to put any negative real world things in any game book. Plagues are a huge part of history, but are unknown in the Western World...at least until the current worldwide pandemic.

The second big problem is the bias. Much of the Realms like the Dalelands, Cromyr, Waterdeep and so forth are treated as special because the writers like or love them so much. So they make them perfect places. And perfect places don't have things like lots of plagues. That is why you don't see super special Cromyr effected by plagues. Cromyr is home of knights in shining armor and a trillion trillion secret but cool plots(sigh).
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Gary Dallison
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6350 Posts

Posted - 19 Jan 2021 :  21:01:57  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I can get that a few dragons might attack the newcomers, but an organised flight implies something not found among dragons today - a cohesive society. Perhaps the dragons of Calimshan had a dragon overlord as mentioned occasionally in Ed's writings.

I think i've figured out where the Mythaleash spell came from. The Forest of Mir (Sarenstar) would have covered a lot more than the southern arm between the Alimir and the Marching Mountains. These forests probably stretched from east to west across Calimshan and were full of elves. Calim ousted them from the forests and i'm wondering if they left behind some of their riches including this mythaleash spell (they possessed high magic enough to bind Calim and Memnon).

Darthiir (forest of Mir) was a separate wood following -8500 DR, perhaps they should have been a separate nation as well, powerful but short lived.

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Gary Dallison
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United Kingdom
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Posted - 20 Jan 2021 :  19:31:18  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Found some interesting stuff in Dungeon 129 Web Supplement which i think was how to make the Gathering of Winds adventure to be more realms based and i assume was written by Eric Boyd because it closely matches FR lore.

So it talks of Calim's generals (Icosiel is one of them) and adds some extra events to the end of the conflict between Calim and Memnon.

Apparently Memnon was marching on Teshyllal Fields so he could open a portal to call reinforcements. Icosiel used the Sceptre of Calim to break that portal (the sceptre then shattered).

Not strictly canon or even extended canon as its about adapting a paizo adventure to FR, but the lore is very close and its written by Eric and it provides additional details to an event that we know nothing about.



My first thoughts are, why would Memnon march on the centre of Calim's power (where his harem palace was built) to open a portal and call reinforcements when he could do that in his own territory and amass a big army. Why would a sceptre be needed to break a portal (which is just a magic field).

I'm thinking that this portal Icosiel broke that Memnon was going to open is the very portal that Calim and Memnon arrived through, and its a physical portal (i.e. it has a gateway around it to allow it to reliably connect to other planes). Thats why the Sceptre of Calim was needed to break it.

But its location doesnt fit Memnon's appearance in the Marching Mountains. So what if Calim appeared through the portal first and carved out an empire and kept the portal open to his home to allow him to take the wealth home to his planar holdings. He stayed on the material plane though because he acquired a taste for women and other material pleasures.

Then someone or some group (elves or dwarves I think) sabotage the portal and point it towards the plane of fire and Memnon so he can come through and fight his rival (having arranged it all remotely first).

Memnon marches through and heads north with his army and sets up Memnonnar, but first thing he does is take a piece of the portal to stop it working and stop calim getting more reinforcements.

Calim moves the portal to outside teshyl so he can keep an eye on it (even though it doesnt work for him). Cue escalating tensions and then open war between Calim and Memnon.

At the battle of teshyllal fields, with much of their strength spent, they launch the last desperate battle.

Memnon plan is to feint attacking calim while a small group use his piece of the portal gateway to open it again and called reinforcements. Calims plan is to let Memnon divide his forces and then destrou the portal with Calims Sceptre before it can be used.

Plans all go wrong. Gate is destroyed but Memnon is beating Calims main force while Calim defeats his small force near the portal.

Then the elves launch their plan and wreck everything. Calim had a fondness for elven harem girls that he captured. The elves of Sarenstar/darthiir used that to infiltrate teshyl and the battlefield and work high magic right under their noses.

I wonder if the original intention was to just stop Calim and Memnon, but the exploding gate massively magnified the effects and absorbed all allied genies into this crystal.

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Edited by - Gary Dallison on 20 Jan 2021 20:15:08
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore

Australia
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Posted - 21 Jan 2021 :  12:00:05  Show Profile Send George Krashos a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I admire the fact that you consider that there was a coherent intention.

— George Krashos

"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus
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Gary Dallison
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Posted - 21 Jan 2021 :  12:17:51  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Well I dont think you or Eric could even unintentionally write incoherent lore for the realms, and for characters in the realms I think it's always best to try and understand the actions and come up with their plan and motives.

It works for me. I get a physical gate I can now place and develop the lore for (who made it in the first place).

I also get to come up with a bunch of rival caliphates within Calims Caliphates. Bhaelros led one and it gets destroyed and he allies with dragons against Calim hiding out in the Alimir or Omlarandin Mountains.

The Astronomer seems to be a neutral caliph not swearing fealty to Calim (why was he allowed to survive).

Many other genies seem to have survived the high magic so some of those may have been enemies of calim and memnon. I think 4 of them (one of each type) may go on to influence the erehnir statues near volothamp.


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Edited by - Gary Dallison on 21 Jan 2021 12:51:54
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TBeholder
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Posted - 21 Jan 2021 :  15:54:23  Show Profile Send TBeholder a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Gary Dallison

The number of plagues, the presence of many magical plagues, and the fact that the location of the plagues expands to include Tethyr when Calimshan claims that region implies to me that someone or something is causing these plagues.

It implies to me that there's no double-height wall of fire between Calimshan and Tethyr.

As to the magical plagues... the Spider Plagues thing was a rather obvious present from matrons of Guallidurth. And maybe was not even a true (communicable) plague, more like a curse used for "poisoning" of food stores or something.
At least several others were "gifts" from Talona, her church became quite strong.

People never wonder How the world goes round -Helloween
And even I make no pretense Of having more than common sense -R.W.Wood
It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo. -Ed Whitchurch
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TheIriaeban
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USA
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Posted - 21 Jan 2021 :  17:02:45  Show Profile Send TheIriaeban a Private Message  Reply with Quote
One other thing to consider about "plague-prone" Calimshan is that the humans and others were brought to Faerun from somewhere else. That would mean that they are not used to the diseases that already exist on Toril and they would bring new ones that the current residents haven't been exposed to. That would create a very fertile area for plagues to shoot through the lands until everyone from both indigenous and incoming populations have been exposed to everything and built up an immunity.

"Iriaebor is a fine city. So what if you can have violence between merchant groups break out at any moment. Not every city can offer dinner AND a show."

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Gary Dallison
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Posted - 21 Jan 2021 :  21:11:49  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Found a few more things about Calim and Memnon.

Calim's sceptre was used to sink Ajhuutal

Calim himself may have come from Zakhara or another world, or many other worlds where he enslaved many. He used magic he stole from his former masters to reach these other worlds. I think the Sceptre of Calim allowed him to open and control (redirect, close, repair) existing portals.

Memnon was an ancient rival of Calim's. What if they were enslaved together and one betrayed the other.


Memnon had his own portal beneath Memnonnar, the Great Brass Gate.





I'm thinking Calim destroyed Ajhuutal by opening a large portal beneath it for just a moment, and that collapsed a number of Underdark caverns and caused the whole coastal shelf to subside for 50 miles.
This magic was quite taxing and it subtly damaged the sceptre (something Calim was unaware of, he probably took the sceptre for granted having used it hundreds of times).


Memnon was called to Faerun by Clan Azerkyn (the dwarves having lost many surface holdings to Calim), in return for them serving him for a number of centuries. They helped construct the Great Brass Gate (probably took a few centuries), and a number of their members became the Azer on the Plane of Fire.


If both sides had a portal to call reinforcements then the war is almost certainly going to be a stalemate lasting centuries. So the Battle of Teshyllal Fields must have been Memnon's attempt to break or redirect Calim's portal.

I figure they were partly successful and a group were able to close the portal, and so Icosiel tried to reopen it. This act shattered the sceptre of calim and at the same time the elves separated Calim and Memnon's essence from their elemental bodies.

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Gary Dallison
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Posted - 21 Jan 2021 :  21:15:47  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Oh, and the slaves Calim brought to Faerun mingled with the natives already here (according to Empires of the Shining Sea).

Interestingly enough i think i read that there were halflings native here as well. It would be interesting to see which subrace of halflings is descended from the Calimshan stock (lightfoot or strongheart), which would have been carried to the Shaar and then Luiren during Shoon time.

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TheIriaeban
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Posted - 21 Jan 2021 :  22:26:56  Show Profile Send TheIriaeban a Private Message  Reply with Quote
In the past when I was looking at the history of halflings, I was thinking that the different subraces comes from the halflings intermarrying with elves and dwarves. That would make lightfoots the base, stronghearts having a bit was dwarven heritege, and ghostwise having a touch of elven blood.

This is what I put in my assembled timeline:

-7790:
The Dragon Wars: A Flight of Dragons destroys the city of Calimport. This event initiates a century of war pitting Calim and the genies against the dragons. By its end, every dragon in the Marching Mountains dies at the hands and magic of the genies. The genies’ magic rebuilds Calimport within a year of its initial destruction.
It is during this time that the elves and dwarves of Forest of Mir and the Alimir Mountains first encounter escaped human and halfling slaves of the Calim Empire. They quickly decide to help them relocate to the southeast of the Lake of Steam.

That would have the humans interacting with the other humans around the Lake of Steam and the halflings ending up in Luiren.

"Iriaebor is a fine city. So what if you can have violence between merchant groups break out at any moment. Not every city can offer dinner AND a show."

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Gary Dallison
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Posted - 24 Jan 2021 :  20:07:08  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Reading about the Era of Skyfire, the elves were in Memnon, Teshyllal Wastes and Schamedar.

I found a ring of stones just outside Memnon detailed in Empires of the Shining Sea. It cannot be harmed by Calim or Memnon, but can be covered by the sand they throw about.

Then in Magic of Faerun i found a faerie crossroads in the Teshyllal Wastes and another on the Isle of Nykkara (which is near relatively Schamedar).

Then in Empires of the Shining Sea i found Endurance Rock which grants healing to people and is also located in the Teshyllal Wastes.



So i reckon the High Mages used these faerie rings to travel to the locations deep in the Calim Caliphates unnoticed, and used these rings to augment their magic.

Endurance Rock i figure is just the uncovered point of the faerie ring in the teshyllal wastes (the other stones covered by sands).

All these faerie rings could have been sites of importance to the elves before Calim turned up.

The origin of Ilmater's name could even be elvish. Endurance Rock is supposedly the site where the first slave of Calim cried out Ilmater's name and received an "answer". I'm imagining an inscribed name in elvish that roughly sounds like Ilmater

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Gary Dallison
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Posted - 26 Jan 2021 :  20:30:58  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Anyone ever had any thoughts as to what the Walking Oasis could be?

It appears every spring, is immune to the effects of Calim's Breath and Memnon's Crackle, its full of varied plantlife and fresh springwater.
It vanishes each winter and reappears next spring several hundred yards away.

Supposedly it has existed from the time the Calim Desert appeared and has been migrating from the centre of the desert out towards Teshburl.


I had a look at what maps i could find, and the Calim Desert is about 250 miles wide, which means 125 miles in diameter. There would be about 220000 yards from the centre to Teshburl and if the oasis moves every year it would only have to move 31 yards to reach the edge of the desert in 7000 years.

So either the math is wrong or the oasis is actually about 700 years old or it did not begin from the centre of the desert or it has been moving very slowly for the first few millennia and has been speeding up in the last few centuries.

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Wooly Rupert
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Posted - 26 Jan 2021 :  21:24:59  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
The movement doesn't have to be straight away from the center. It can move at an angle that takes it further from its last point but still away from the center. If most of the movement is lateral rather than perpendicular, it all works.

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Gary Dallison
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Posted - 26 Jan 2021 :  21:49:12  Show Profile Send Gary Dallison a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I'm not sure I understand but assuming that's correct why go to teshburl. As far as I can find, Teshburl didn't exist until about the 3rd or 4th age.

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Kentinal
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Posted - 26 Jan 2021 :  22:29:47  Show Profile Send Kentinal a Private Message  Reply with Quote
A few possible answers for the problem proposed.

The center could have been different.

However the better answer likely is that the several hundred yards is misstated. It disappears then reappears leaving no reference marks to measure the change in position in an unmapped and changing terrain. The reappearance is only believed to be such a distance based on best guess geo-location. It is unlikely GPS spells would be used for such a small location.

Most people that find it twice clearly find it appeared to move in the stated direction.


Edit: Found this
quote:
"Within this packet, chronicler, ye shall find copies or originals of Tales to be Remembered; Elder Days of Amn; Empires of the Sands; The Phoenix Prophecies; A Slave's Life; Marches of the Calim; A Study of First Age Architecture; the treatise on Lamps, Genies, and the Works They Wrought; and excerpts I deemed appropriate for the work at hand. Ye have been made custodian of some of my rarer books and scrolls so that ye may educate thine folk about the southlands. Mind them well, for 1 shall expect their safe return anon. Respect these works,but believe them fully not, as ye and many find one actual truth in all histories and compendiums: the writers' or sponsors' agendas in creating the work. Even the monks in Candlekeep leave a mark of purpose that alters a story, be it an overflourished letter or the excisement of lore deemed too lascivious for readers' eyes. Glean what ye may and avoid more colorings of the facts overmuch."—Elminster of Shadowdale, an author excised many a time


So you can add inaccurate information/lore as reason.

"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon

Edited by - Kentinal on 26 Jan 2021 22:41:28
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Wooly Rupert
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Posted - 27 Jan 2021 :  05:21:46  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Gary Dallison

I'm not sure I understand but assuming that's correct why go to teshburl. As far as I can find, Teshburl didn't exist until about the 3rd or 4th age.



It's simply a point of reference. It's easier to say it's going to Teshburl than it is to say "it's moving in this direction, on a line that's roughly this far from this geographical feature and roughly that far from that other geographical feature."

And to explain my original statement better... Look at it like this: you can start at one end of an American football field. If you move towards the other endzone, but do it at a 15 degree angle to the endzone you start at, instead of a 90 degree angle, you're going to reach the side of the football field and not the opposite endzone. If you then walk the same angle but in the opposite direction, you're going to hit the opposite side of the field, and you'll barely be any closer to that opposite endzone. You keep zig-zagging like that, you'll walk miles, but end up just 100 yards from your starting point.

As long as the text doesn't say it's straight-line movement, always in the same direction, then there's a lot of room for that oasis to wander.

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