Forgotten Realms changes - The Orc King novel prelude's 'facts'

[catsclaw227]

Huh. Here I thought you were pointing out his misspelling, when you were asking a genuine question. Well, to answer your question, Abeir-Toril is the name of the planet where the Forgotten Realms, Maztica, al-Qadim, and Kara-Tur settings are on. Originally it was simply named Toril, but the name was changed to Abeir-Toril so that it would appear in the beginning of an encyclopedia. There's also an article by Ed Greenwood floating around indicating that there's more to the name.

Wasn't there more to it than just better encyclopedic indexing? I thought that the split was something that was part of a past story, a parallel Toril, if you will.

 

[JohnSnow]

Where can I find this article?

I don't know if this is the article to which they're referring, but in the last print issue of Dragon (#359), under the article "Unsolved Mysteries of D&D," there was this snippet:

What is Abeir (of Abeir-Toril)?

We know what Toril is, but Abeir?

Jeff Grubb (called by Ed "the original and superb Realms designer") coined the name Abeir-Toril for the planet of the Realms, because Ed postulated that most inhabitants of the continent he'd (largely) detailed had only a hazy idea that other landmasses existed (beyond small islands, that is), and so had only a name for their continent (Faerûn, which meant "home" in one of the old languages of the Realms). "Over the years," adds Ed, "most designers and gamers have shortened Abeir-Toril to just Toril, for reasons that will soon become apparent..."

Take that along with the "joining of two worlds" line, and it implies Toril is the Realms we know and love, and Abeir is something different.

Since they've said this is something that's been "hinted at for years," my own supposition is that this is tied in somehow with the Weave and the Shadow Weave. And the existence of the adventure Cormyr: the Tearing of the Weave only compounds my supposition.

Toril is merging with its Shadow counterpart Abeir. Perhaps it was divided when Netheril fell, and Anauroch was a side-effect. Such a development could make the metaplot interesting again...

In other words a retcon that makes more the existing continuity make MORE sense, and yet allows them to make alterations. That's what I'm hoping for.

 

[The Little Raven]

That was confirmed to be Bad Fan-fic.

No, it wasn't. It has been stated that a post on the Gleemax forums pretty much nailed what the "joining of two worlds" meant, and having the Sundering reversed (which it would, since Evermeet was a piece of Arvandor fixed into place by the Weave; No Weave = no Evermeet) would bring two time-displaced worlds back together. The theory further suggests that while the original world was called Abeir-Toril, the Sundering made the known world into simply Toril, which means the merger would bring Abeir back into the mix.

Chris Perkins has a lengthy blog update. He mentions that "the Spellplague is an event that allows us to incorporate 4th Edition elements into the existing scheme of the world" and that "there are things about the Spellplague that we deliberately haven't revealed". He also recommends that people check out the hints in the "Unsolved Mysteries of D&D" article in Dragon #359, and comments on a post where somebody picks up on the hints (the current theory is that this is the post).

Now, unless someone can propose a better theory that ties into existing Realmslore like this one does, I think this is the most likely.

 

[SPECTRE666]

The novel Star Deep by Bruce R Cordell, sheds some light on Abeir(and the Cerulean Sign, a hidden city of Aboleths called Xxiphu, and the Star Elves!) Its a really good book in MHO!
YMMV!

 

[The Little Raven]

The novel Star Deep by Bruce R Cordell, sheds some light on Abeir(and the Cerulean Sign, a hidden city of Aboleths called Xxiphu, and the Star Elves!)

Any juicy spoiler details you can provide?

 

[Lord Fyre]

In other words a retcon that makes more the existing continuity make MORE sense, and yet allows them to make alterations. That's what I'm hoping for.

Oh dear. "Zero Hour!"

Believe me, as a long time Superhero Comics reader "Retcon" almost always equils "Bad!"

 

[The Little Raven]

Believe me, as a long time Superhero Comics reader "Retcon" almost always equils "Bad!"

And as a WoD fan, "retcons" are almost always good, because they fix discrepancies and remove idiotic material inserted by stupid developers and freelancers.