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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 7632477" data-attributes="member: 7006">If I had to guess though, this is what their "secret lore" is actually about... figuring out how lore figures like Orcus fit across ALL their settings.  I mean Orcus *is* a lore figure in Greyhawk, as well as in the Realms.  So what does that mean?  Is the Orcus of one the same as the Orcus in the other?  Are they two separate Orci?  If Orcus was canonically removed as the Demon Lord of the Undead in one of their settings (say for instance they decided that Orcus was indeed destroyed permanently in something like Out of the Abyss)... would they not have Orcus still as a Demon Lord were they ever to do a new Greyhawk setting book? Those are the questions that their "secret lore" is probably figuring out.I mean to use an example right now that *is* currently happening and having to be figured out... Zariel is currently the Lord of the 1st level of the Nine Hells.  This is different than who was the Lord of the 1st Level in editions past.  If they at some point release a Greyhawk setting book, are they going to say Zariel is in fact the Lord of that setting (as she is right now in the Realms), or are they going to go back to whomever the Lord was when Greyhawk first came out (Tiamat or Bel or whomever?)  Even if the timeline of Greyhawk doesn't get advanced from whenver the last Greyhawk setting product was released... do they go with Zariel anyway because in the D&D Multiverse, she is the Lord?  Their "secret lore" book probably has made these decisions if or when they ever need to be printed in some subsequent product down the line.It's these kinds of questions that you are right, have little to no impact on any one person's individual game, table, or setting, but I think it's still good that they've put in the time to think about it.  Like for instance, who is "Ioun"?  Why do they have stones named after them?  Why do these stones appear in multitudes of settings, even ones that "theoretically" aren't connected in any way?  Why does your game have Ioun Stones in them even if you want to say your game and table is completely different and separate from the idea of the "D&D Multiverse"?  *Is* there in fact an answer?  Or is there no answer and the "secret lore" book says it's just a quirk of reality?They're interesting questions indeed.  And even if we players don't give a rat's ass about the answers or would just ignore the answers WotC's decided for themselves in the "cosmic microwave background" of the D&D game were we to ever hear about what those answers are... the fact that they've made a choice at all tells us that the "lore of Dungeons & Dragons" does matter, and that D&D will always remain D&D at its core regardless of whatever game changes happen in subsequent editions in the future.</blockquote>

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