Considering that we have had multiple posters quote from the text, I would have to assume that if the answers were in the text, someone would have quoted them a while back.
And I want to take this moment to clarify, not all of us who are calling this out are saying it in a way to negatively reflect on WoTC. I see no reason to rake them over the coals, as I said in one of my previous posts, this happens all the time in Fiction. There are entire communities dedicated to rooting around in these gaps.
Heck, just off the top of my head, I remember watching a video about how the Original Scooby-Doo TV show must take place in an economic wasteland, because not only is most every location abandoned and without people, even those that logically would have crowds like Museums, Theaters, and Bases, but many of the criminals in the show are highly educated genuises with incredible skills, who have built or invented some impressive things. There is a man who is going bankrupt in a run-down carnival, who invented a fully (sort of) functioning robot. Complete with a limited AI. How is that guy in that situation?
Do these plot holes make the Writers of Scooby-Doo terrible? No. Not even close. But, there is no denying it is a bit of a gap in the world they built.
It takes a long time to kill a forest.
Over two years is a long time. That is the point. We know that Decidous trees can survive for about 90 days without sunlight, because they shed their leaves over the winter. They have had to survive for 720 days, which is eight times that length.
Coniferous trees that don't shed their leaves? I thought that would be an easy response, so I googled it. Turns out most Pine trees "needs lots of sunlight to grow" and "most pines are classified as shade intolerant." Meaning that even a few months of those conditions would wipe out a pine forest.
As I said, easy enough to explain how the towns might be coping, would have liked a few words pointing towards long-term storage, but when they started bringing our attention to the plants, they messed up, because there is seems to be no way that two years of twilight and cold wouldn't have already ruined the area without something propping it up. And if it was propping it up for two years, why not four or six?
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Why do are you insisting that having a polytheistic setting means that there can be no Theocracy? Just because their are temples to Waukeen , Tymora, Umberlee and Gond doesn't mean anything. You could have a Republic, ruled by representatives of the churches of Waukeen , Tymora, Umberlee and Gond.
A Theocratic Republic, like I said.
Also, you mention India, but you are missing that I already addressed the very point you seem to be making. Because, starting from your premise that the world is being held together by the churches, the things in India that prevented the Brahmans from ruling are non-existent.
I'll only briefly address it, but the Caste system played a big role. The system was set up with the Brahman's acting as spiritual and religious figures, but it has no Caste for a ruling class. Instead, the Kshatriya's took over that role. Why? Because they were the warrior caste. They had the armies.
But remember, I covered this. In Faerun, not only are your armies dependent on the Churches to keep them alive, but the Churches can have their own armies. And, in fact, the churches have a really good sales pitch. Th Noble might come up and offer some money. The Church will come up, offer you money, and the blessings of their god, and healing, and point out that since this Noble isn't working for the Church, his armies are cut off from the healing the church provides. Bonus points if the Cleric happens to be from a church of one of the War Gods like Tempus or Torm. Because "The God of War wants to command you in war" is a really really good selling point.
And, you keep to forget that Noble Families and Merchants are also presented as numerous and competing. Baldur's Gate may have... you listed eight churches, I'll round up to ten. However, when I checked the wiki for Noble Families I found
THIRTY of them. I'll just pop a link instead of listing them:
Nobility of Baldur's Gate
So... we can have thirty competing noble families, and that is not an issue. But, having ten competing churches means that they could never rise to power, despite (from your own original explanation) being the sole reason there is enough food and enough soldiers to continue weathering catastrophe after catastrophe?
That doesn't make sense.
Theocractic Republic.
Theocracy does not mean that 1 church rules the entire land. It could, with lesser churches underneath it. It simply means the religious leaders are also the political leaders. You don't need to have the upper hand over your peers, for you and your peers to be running the country.
