What the heck about the Realms is Forgotten anyway?

[jester47]

If that was the original schtick then it got relegated to "The Imaskari wrought magical portals to bridge the gap between worlds, only to be destroyed by the god-kings of the slave races they imported to Faerun. Thier lost realm now lies beneath the dust desert of Raurin."

Thats from FRCS p6 c1 Ancient Wonders.

It is turning out that pages 5 and 6 (esp 6) are instrumental in understanding the Realms...

Also p264 c2 Fallen Empires talks about this in a bit more detail.

So according to this Mulhorand and Unther humans are made up of Earth stock, judgeing by the gods they worship. Explains why you have normal Finnish, Egyptian, Norse, and Persian gods mixed in with the other deities of the realms.

And three cities formed from the survivors of Netheril on the borders of the great Desert. So there were survivorsof Netheril that were not the shades (this came up in one of the FR threads out there)

Aaron.

 

[GiantInThePlayground]

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.

Yup, in the early Forgotten Realms articles in Dragon Magazine, Elminster used to show up in Ed Greenwood's living room here on Earth. Thus, the Realms were "forgotten" by you and me and everyone in real-life. The idea has pretty much been dropped since then, but the brand identity had already been established.

 

[grodog]

origin of the "Forgotten" in FR

IIRC, if you check the Greenwood's "Pages from the Mages" series from Dragon 69 or perhaps 62, you'll find some mention of the connections between the FR and Earth.

It's also possible that the mention was in one of Greenwoods' generic DM advice articles in either Dragon 63 or 65.

EDIT: OK, I just checked my Dragon archive CD, and there are some strong inferences in Dragon 69's "More Pages from the Mages" but the cake-topper is from Greenwood's Dragon 63 article, "Plan Before You Play" (an excellent DM advice article, btw):

In my own “Forgotten Realms” cam-paign, similarities between the world we all live in and the AD&D fantasy world (such as chronology, fighting tactics, and legends of beasts such as dragons and vampires) are all accounted for by the existence of connections between the two worlds. These connections were once well and often used, but are now largely forgotten (hence, “Forgotten Realms”) by those on our side (uh, that is, this side, the modern one, with the progress and pollution and such...). But some few quietly walk our earth who know the Realms well. . . .

The article goes on to talk about gates and other good stuff. Like I said, this article is great---one of my favorites ever published in Dragon!

 

[megamania]

Forgotten= new things to explore (ruins + dimensions) to "rediscover"

Realms= new world, terroritories, boundries

 

[grodog]

What? I post the definitive answer and no one cares?

 

[Olive]

What? I post the definitive answer and no one cares?

you're fantastic and we love you.







no, really...

 

[William Ronald]

grodog wrote:What? I post the definitive answer and no one cares?

Grodog, I echo Olive's sentiments.

I remember reading that article and thought that it made sense to explain some elements of the Realms.

By the way, any news on a site update?

 

[Alzrius]

If that was the original schtick then it got relegated to "The Imaskari wrought magical portals to bridge the gap between worlds, only to be destroyed by the god-kings of the slave races they imported to Faerun. Thier lost realm now lies beneath the dust desert of Raurin."

Thats from FRCS p6 c1 Ancient Wonders.

They also, iirc, were the ones who set up a ban that literally kept those gods out from just manifesting in Realmspace. Ao had to literally invite them in, and even then they had to physically make the voyage in special incarnations to get there. The Imaskari really had it going on how to vex gods.

So according to this Mulhorand and Unther humans are made up of Earth stock, judgeing by the gods they worship. Explains why you have normal Finnish, Egyptian, Norse, and Persian gods mixed in with the other deities of the realms.

Persian? What Persian deities? And the only Finnish deity I can recall got herself slain by Talona. And, of course, nothing says these people/deities are from Earth either (since the original thing of FR and Earth being connected is non-canon...its more "apocrypha" now than anything). Those pantheons are worshipped on many other unknown worlds.

And three cities formed from the survivors of Netheril on the borders of the great Desert. So there were survivorsof Netheril that were not the shades (this came up in one of the FR threads out there)

Not really. As I recall, all of those cities were wiped out by disasters such as war or the expanding desert.

 

[Alzrius]

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.

Datt, as far as I know, nothing suggests this, even remotely (save for some bans on gods that ancient empires like Netheril and Imaskar fiddled around with). There are plenty of pre-Time of Troubles instances of various people/groups traversing the planes. For example, the Netherese city of Shade entered the Shadow Plane before the fall of Netheril. Also, a gate to the Abyss, in Orcus's realm, was the cause of the Bloodstone series of modules (in particular, note H4 Throne of Bloodstone).

 

[William Ronald]

Alzrius, when was Mielikki slain? (Mielikki is of Finnish origin.)

Also, I recall no reference to Persian deities in any FR product.