What the heck about the Realms is Forgotten anyway?

[Argus Decimus Mokira]

What's forgotten? Lots and lots of stuff. To quote the book
"The history of Faerun is dominated by the cyclic rise and cataclysmic destruction of empires ... " FRCS p.6

A short list of such empires begins on p. 266, continues on 267 (not full pages; it's a sidebar) and details 24 societies that are no more. This is by no means exhaustive, either. These would be the "somewhat remembered forgotten realms". There are still even more mysterious ancient societies that are not detailed in a supplement, contrary to what NWN would have you believe. If only the books contained such details! But then again let's not forget that they changed quite a bit of Realms history for that game (only one Creator race!?! I think not!)

The Realms have a long and chaotic history that has had sentient creatures creating complex societies for 21,367 years at least - there is a LOT to forget in that time. The books only touch on the subject, as it should be.

-Matt

 

[Gez]

Have you considered that there aren't much realms ? Cormyr, Thetyr and Calimshan are about it -- otherwise, it's city states, theocracies, plutocracies (power to the rich), tribalism, anarchy, oligarchy... True realms (kingdom of several cities and wide countryside) are rare.

The Realms part relate to these old empires and cultures that have left only ruins to plunder and magic items to loot. The forgotten part relates to these lost civilizations too.

 

[Datt]

Why are the Forgotten Realms forgotten?

That is an easy one. Before the Gods War, before 3E, there was a planar ban in effect. No creature, except the gods, could go between planes. The ban was in effect for many centuries. Over time the rest of the galaxy simply forgot about Faerun. But now that the Gods war has been done and the ban has been lifted people from Faerun are slowly starting to seep out into the galaxy and people are slowly remember that Faerun actually does exist.

 

[shadow]

I don't know that this is cannon, but I always thought that perhaps in the distant, distant past the Realms were linked to Earth via portals. However, there was a violent uprising (ala Stargate) and the portals were sealed off. However, the magic of the Realms became the myths and legends of Earth. This is the way I envision the Realms at least.

 

[The Sigil]

It's like GNU (Gnu's Not Unix)... a recursive descriptor.

What's "forgotten" about the realms? People have forgotten what is forgotten about them. Hence the "forgotten" is recursive in that it refers to what has been forgotten about "forgotten realms."

Hope that made some sense.

--The Sigil

 

[Numion]

I played the NeverWinter Nights demo, and just browsing bookshelves found out a bajillion and one obscure historical details. I don't think anything about the Realms is forgotten, except perhaps the Forgotten part.

Well... Neverwinter Nights computer game (if thats what your 'demo' refers to) shouldn't be used as a source to PnP FR. A bit like tolkiens work shouldn't be judged by the movies very thoroughly.

 

[diaglo]

Re: Why are the Forgotten Realms forgotten?

That is an easy one. Before the Gods War, before 3E, there was a planar ban in effect. No creature, except the gods, could go between planes. The ban was in effect for many centuries. Over time the rest of the galaxy simply forgot about Faerun. But now that the Gods war has been done and the ban has been lifted people from Faerun are slowly starting to seep out into the galaxy and people are slowly remember that Faerun actually does exist.

are you talking about Faerun or Aber-Toril? i think you have them confused.

 

[GravyFingerz]

It's like GNU (Gnu's Not Unix)... a recursive descriptor.

What's "forgotten" about the realms? People have forgotten what is forgotten about them. Hence the "forgotten" is recursive in that it refers to what has been forgotten about "forgotten realms."

Hope that made some sense.

--The Sigil

Scarily enough, it did to me

 

[Datt]

Re: Re: Why are the Forgotten Realms forgotten?

are you talking about Faerun or Aber-Toril? i think you have them confused.

Yes I was thinking of Toril and said Faerun.

 

[BiggusGeekus@Work]

As other posters have said above, the current canon may be something else, but originally the FR was connected to Earth. They were going to leave the portals in the game world, but TSR was worried about lawsuits from parents whose children wandered off in the woods in search of these fictional portals.

IIRC.