CruelSummerLord
First Post
My ideal fusing of FR and GH would not be an actual fusion of characters, countries, and what have you, but rather a fusion of ideas. I'd be exorcising the things most GH fans find objectionable about FR, and redoing them along GH lines, or at least what many GH fans claim are their favorite setting's defining traits:
-First off, Elminster is not nearly as powerful as current canon depicts him, nor is he as actively involved in world affairs much anymore. The stresses of fighting the forces of evil, and seeing horrors too numerous to witness, and the endless factions and fighting in the evil world of Toril, have all made Elminster into a tired old man. He's run rather short on patience these days, especially with young whippersnappers who think that all-powerful wizards and warriors can step in and save the day with any solution or problem, dagnabbit!
Elminster is too old and too frail to fight on the front lines anymore. He'll do the research, or scribe the scroll, necessary to advance the plot, but it's still the players that have to do all the legwork in putting the knowledge he gives them to good use. And, of course, it's quite likely that he'll refuse to help them, giving them a cranky dismissal for their daring to interrupt his well-earned retirement!
-Next, there's the elements of black and white; namely, that there are less of them. Of all the countries and peoples in the Realms, perhaps only the Silver Marches, Shadowdale, and Zhentil Keep truly deserve their reputations for good or evil.
*Cormyr, for all its pretensions to goodness, has a strong undercurrent of noblesse oblige towards other countries and races, viewing their customs with contempt. In its relations with Sembia, it's usually Cormyr that is the aggressor, not the other way around. Whether it's plots to invade Sembia and Westgate and loot and plunder them, or simple out-and-out conquest, Cormyr is far and away much more likely to launch unprovoked, unwarranted attacks against its neighbors than is Sembia.
*Thay, for its part, is badly viewed for its consorting with demons and other evil monsters. But then, look at it from the Thayans' perspective; kidnapped from their homeworld, trapped in a hostile land amid a hostile population, facing horrific oppression from Mulhorand and suffering everything from rapes to murder at the hands of raiders from Aglarond and Rashemen, the Mulan turned to the forces of evil as their only salvation after so many traumatic experiences. The Red Wizards and their minions are just as much the victim as the aggressor when it comes to dealing with Rashemen and Aglarond; the stories of the cruelty and sadism of the Witches of Rashemen are very true, when Thay is the victim!
*Aglarond likes to portray itself as benign and kindly. Tell that to the people of Altumbel, who sided with the dwarves of the region in their wars against the elves. The Fair Folk and Stout Folk had been fighting with each other far before the humans arrived, and the humans split along lines of alliance with either dwarf or elf. Aglarond and the elves won, and were able to write the history books portraying Altumbel as racist, backwards and evil, when in turn Aglarond can be just as bad.
*The Dalesmen are not as nice and kind as people think. Featherdarrans openly hate dwarves and gnomes, earning such attitudes from the elves, who have a very long and very ugly history with the Stout and Forgotten Folk. Scardale and its people openly connive with thieves and assassins. Mistledale is well-known for its arrogance and contempt for what it sees as the backwardness of its neighbors. Tasseldale is opportunistic, more than happy to bargain with orcs if it means those orcs will attack and disrupt the trade of other Dales.
*Churches have varying dogmas that make them sometimes less malevolent or benign than common lore makes them. Followers of Malar are revered in wilder areas for protecting people from the wildest and cruellest of predators, and for their hunting to feed the sick, hungry and orphaned, showing the same love and protection even the fiercest predators have for their children. While Torm punishes those of his followers who actively oppress and harm people, he encourages his priests to "enlighten" those whose cultures and ways are different from his own; in doing so, Tormites can be just as oppressive, and their efforts just as destructive to local cultures, as can any follower of Bane.
Clanggedin Silverbeard orders his dwarven priests to bring back orcish and goblin women and children for living sacrifice to him when the dwarves return from an attack on a humanoid den. Moradin and Corellon Larethian openly hate one another as much as they hate Gruumsh. Many sects of Yondalla preach suspicion and mistrust of outsiders.
*The Harpers are similar; while many of them do genuinely heroic actions and are beloved by many for these same reasons, other people dislike what they see as the Harpers' arrogant condescension, and their thinking that they know better than the people what is best for them. Storm Silverhand, for instance, is very well-known for his contemptuous dismissal of many of the common folk she claims to help, thinking that she knows best, and that they are too ignorant to understand the value of what she is doing for them or trying to convince them to do.
*The Red Wizards are not so much interested in the domination of the outside world as to defend what they view as Thay's interests. If the Red Wizards are actively involved in attempting to conquer Aglarond or Rashemen, these lands were the ones that attempted to murder and destroy the Thayans in the first place! They will pursue schemes that advance their own personal agendas, or what they view as Thay's own interests, and will consort with all manner of hideous and foul creatures to do so. If they deal with evil, and act evilly, their traumatic circumstances are at least as responsible for their actions as anything else.
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The above are all sketches, of course, but in many cases it involves making the villains at least a little more understandable or sympathetic, while showing that the good guys aren't always pure as driven snow, and their actions can have very negative consequences. The Chosen of Mystra and other "good guys" are not paragons of virtue: they have their own prejudices, their own hunger for power, and sometimes less-than-altruistic motives for doing the things they do.
Take FR's setting, throw in a dash of GH's greyness, and maybe scale down the power levels (more on that later), and stir and heat until it becomes a leaner, meaner, crueller, greyer Realms.
-First off, Elminster is not nearly as powerful as current canon depicts him, nor is he as actively involved in world affairs much anymore. The stresses of fighting the forces of evil, and seeing horrors too numerous to witness, and the endless factions and fighting in the evil world of Toril, have all made Elminster into a tired old man. He's run rather short on patience these days, especially with young whippersnappers who think that all-powerful wizards and warriors can step in and save the day with any solution or problem, dagnabbit!
Elminster is too old and too frail to fight on the front lines anymore. He'll do the research, or scribe the scroll, necessary to advance the plot, but it's still the players that have to do all the legwork in putting the knowledge he gives them to good use. And, of course, it's quite likely that he'll refuse to help them, giving them a cranky dismissal for their daring to interrupt his well-earned retirement!
-Next, there's the elements of black and white; namely, that there are less of them. Of all the countries and peoples in the Realms, perhaps only the Silver Marches, Shadowdale, and Zhentil Keep truly deserve their reputations for good or evil.
*Cormyr, for all its pretensions to goodness, has a strong undercurrent of noblesse oblige towards other countries and races, viewing their customs with contempt. In its relations with Sembia, it's usually Cormyr that is the aggressor, not the other way around. Whether it's plots to invade Sembia and Westgate and loot and plunder them, or simple out-and-out conquest, Cormyr is far and away much more likely to launch unprovoked, unwarranted attacks against its neighbors than is Sembia.
*Thay, for its part, is badly viewed for its consorting with demons and other evil monsters. But then, look at it from the Thayans' perspective; kidnapped from their homeworld, trapped in a hostile land amid a hostile population, facing horrific oppression from Mulhorand and suffering everything from rapes to murder at the hands of raiders from Aglarond and Rashemen, the Mulan turned to the forces of evil as their only salvation after so many traumatic experiences. The Red Wizards and their minions are just as much the victim as the aggressor when it comes to dealing with Rashemen and Aglarond; the stories of the cruelty and sadism of the Witches of Rashemen are very true, when Thay is the victim!
*Aglarond likes to portray itself as benign and kindly. Tell that to the people of Altumbel, who sided with the dwarves of the region in their wars against the elves. The Fair Folk and Stout Folk had been fighting with each other far before the humans arrived, and the humans split along lines of alliance with either dwarf or elf. Aglarond and the elves won, and were able to write the history books portraying Altumbel as racist, backwards and evil, when in turn Aglarond can be just as bad.
*The Dalesmen are not as nice and kind as people think. Featherdarrans openly hate dwarves and gnomes, earning such attitudes from the elves, who have a very long and very ugly history with the Stout and Forgotten Folk. Scardale and its people openly connive with thieves and assassins. Mistledale is well-known for its arrogance and contempt for what it sees as the backwardness of its neighbors. Tasseldale is opportunistic, more than happy to bargain with orcs if it means those orcs will attack and disrupt the trade of other Dales.
*Churches have varying dogmas that make them sometimes less malevolent or benign than common lore makes them. Followers of Malar are revered in wilder areas for protecting people from the wildest and cruellest of predators, and for their hunting to feed the sick, hungry and orphaned, showing the same love and protection even the fiercest predators have for their children. While Torm punishes those of his followers who actively oppress and harm people, he encourages his priests to "enlighten" those whose cultures and ways are different from his own; in doing so, Tormites can be just as oppressive, and their efforts just as destructive to local cultures, as can any follower of Bane.
Clanggedin Silverbeard orders his dwarven priests to bring back orcish and goblin women and children for living sacrifice to him when the dwarves return from an attack on a humanoid den. Moradin and Corellon Larethian openly hate one another as much as they hate Gruumsh. Many sects of Yondalla preach suspicion and mistrust of outsiders.
*The Harpers are similar; while many of them do genuinely heroic actions and are beloved by many for these same reasons, other people dislike what they see as the Harpers' arrogant condescension, and their thinking that they know better than the people what is best for them. Storm Silverhand, for instance, is very well-known for his contemptuous dismissal of many of the common folk she claims to help, thinking that she knows best, and that they are too ignorant to understand the value of what she is doing for them or trying to convince them to do.
*The Red Wizards are not so much interested in the domination of the outside world as to defend what they view as Thay's interests. If the Red Wizards are actively involved in attempting to conquer Aglarond or Rashemen, these lands were the ones that attempted to murder and destroy the Thayans in the first place! They will pursue schemes that advance their own personal agendas, or what they view as Thay's own interests, and will consort with all manner of hideous and foul creatures to do so. If they deal with evil, and act evilly, their traumatic circumstances are at least as responsible for their actions as anything else.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The above are all sketches, of course, but in many cases it involves making the villains at least a little more understandable or sympathetic, while showing that the good guys aren't always pure as driven snow, and their actions can have very negative consequences. The Chosen of Mystra and other "good guys" are not paragons of virtue: they have their own prejudices, their own hunger for power, and sometimes less-than-altruistic motives for doing the things they do.
Take FR's setting, throw in a dash of GH's greyness, and maybe scale down the power levels (more on that later), and stir and heat until it becomes a leaner, meaner, crueller, greyer Realms.
