Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Ianten_Silverblade 02-18-08, 01:34 AM	Assume for the moment the current year in Faerun is 1630. Two hundred and fifty years have passed. Now assume NONE of what apparently happens in official Faerun history (via fourth edition) happens. How would you as a DM shape how events halve occurred in this blank slate of Faerun's timeline? List what MAJOR events in what areas of Faerun you would like to have occurred during the two hundred and fifty years after the year of the blazing hand. I'll start: The Heartlands The Dalelands have united to become a glorious new reincarnation of Myth Drannor where all peoples, not just elves, exist in harmony (there is a growing movement amongst the Sun Elves however to begin a "Golden Escape" from all the non-elves" and establish their own nation). The Zhentarim with the Clergy of Shar's help have wiped clean the last resistance in the Moonsea and have established the Zhentaria Empire, a land of towering black spired fortresses and smoke stacks rising high in the sky from vast magical operated factories which design and spout ever more terrifying weapons to one day be used in a terrifying war against Myth Drannor (a arcane magic using resistance movement has formed though in the Moonsea under Mystra's interference). The Shades now have total control over the Anauroch Desert and have defeated the Phaerimm with the help of Shar's clergy and have undone the life draining magic in the Anauroch thus making it a Desert no more but a vast fields of fertile plains. The Anauroch Desert is now the Empire of New Netheril, where the Goddess Shar and Shadow Magic commanded by the Shades rule over all nonmagical beings totally (non-magic using beings are seen as little more than slaves and arcane magic users who do not embrace the Shadow Weave are seen as traitors). Sembia is a complete and utter realm of poverty and corruption. The new overseer of Sembia is known only as Greed and temples dedicated to Garagos now dot Sembia's squalor filled land. Secure in their castles and fortified manors, the few wealthy individuals (who more often than not pay homage to the Tenth Lord of the Nine) hoard Sembia's immense wealth and rely on mercenary forces as well as hired thugs and an army and navy comprised of indentured men and woman for protection. Recently Shar seems to have been encroaching in Garagos's new playground as cults dedicated to the Lady of Loss have gained somewhat in popularity. Cormyr is once again a mighty nation led by the recently noble and honorable but somewhat reluctant king Azoun Obarskyr the VII. Cormyr is Myth Drannor's ally and a staunch opponent of against the enemy empires of Zhentaria and New Netheril. Of late the King made an official visit to Sembia and despite numerous assassination attempts Azoun Obarskyr the VII was horrifically appalled by conditions in the once staunch rival of the nation of the purple dragon. Debate has risen into what should be done with the king championing humanitarian aid with a stern hand and the some of the nobles of the opinion that only conquering Sembia will solve the problem of Sembia itself. Ancient Empires: Mulhorand has become a land of civil war as the high priests of the Mulhorand pantheon now fight a losing battle against the ever growing worshipers of the newer Egyptian Pantheon. The Ra Revolt grows strong and their leader's claim the Mulhorand gods have abandoned Mulhorand itself (they point to Mulhorand's disasterous military occupation of Unthur and the subsequent retreat from the now Chromatic dragon controlled land as proof). Unthur has become a land totally populated by Chromatic Dragontouched and Half-Dragons and ruled by the Clergy of Tiamat and her Chromatic Dragon servants. Chessenta has become fractured and the many city states now fight desperately against one another and the chromatic dragontouched armies of Unthur. Tiamat's chosen Tchazzar's continues his efforts to conquer the region in the name of his scaly many headed mistress. Thay, once a nation firmly controlled by the former Red Wizards of Thay is now a land ruled by the undead and the living are nothing more than cattle at worst and slaves at best. The Arch Lich High Zulkir Szass Tam rules with hordes of vampires, lichs (many of which were former red wizards), death knights, and legions of deathtouched. Recently Szass has begun to consort with Larloch more and more. Some even claim to have seen a few Shades visit Szass's palace and identifying themselves as official ambassadors of New Netheril. The Frozen North: The Kingdom of Damara has become a land almost entirely opposite of Unthur as it is nearly completely populated by metallic dragontouched and the main deity worshiped is Bahamut. This came about after Ilmater combined with Selune to become Illune, greater goddess of hope, moon, and mercy. This combination occurred during Shar's failed attempt to murder Mystra and thus Ilmater's clergy were left somewhat disorganized and unprepared for the coming of the War of Bloody Ice in which Iyraclea's attempted to conquer Vassa and Damara by combining her forces with the renewed forces of the restores Witch King, Zhengyi. Had not Bahamut interfered and sent a few thousand metallic dragons to lend the Kingdom of Damara aid the Lands of Bloodstone would be a much different place now. Fortunately Damara is now firmly protected and controlled by Bahamut and the Metallic Dragons who now call Damara their home. Vassa is unfortunately not so fortunate as Damara as it is now a land firmly under the control of Zhengyi the Witch King. Demons emerge from the bleak rocky landscape and undead patrol the land as giants command goblins and worse things to prepare for the eventual battle to finally conquer the bloodstone lands in the name of the Witch King. Though unable still to take a true physical form, the Witch King himself sits on his thrown, his face and body a total shadow of utter darkness. The Great Glacier has stopped it's retreat and is now once again slowly creeping forward. Many view this as renewed attempts by Iyraclea to please her mistress Auril (rumor has it that lately Iyraclea has become quite fond of Loviatar's teachings as well as Auril's as many charismatic mages have disappeared and it is said muffled screams of both men and woman can be heard from Iyraclea's Palace of Eternal Winter. How Auril will react to this one cannot be certain but rumor has it Auril plans an alliance with Loviatar to help her finally topple Talos). Thats all for now. I gotta eat somethin. ^_~
Bullet06320 02-20-08, 04:36 AM	Waterdeep 1630 The peasents and commoners overthrew the Lords and slaughtered most of the Nobility in 1582, with some help and guidance from Elaith Croulnober who now pulls the strings of the now elected officials in Waterdeep. Elaith got bored with business as usual and decided it would be more profitable this way. Under Elaith's guidance Waterdeep now controls all of the Sword Coast from Baldur's Gate in the south and Luskan in the north, with Waterdeep being the capital inwhich Elaith's coffers get richer skimming of the taxes, the loot that his wars brought and even more evil plots Lantan 1630 Lantan is in the middle of an Industrial Revolution. Steam engines are becoming popular in boats, Railroad tracks are being laid down, The mixing of Magical and Mechanical is creating more and more wonderous inventions. Lantan now resembles a Victorian Age Steampunk setting. The Worship of Gond is stronger than ever and the Gnomes are fruitfull.
MarkusTay63 02-20-08, 02:30 PM	I'd have a Dwarven Railroad cutting across the continent, with the Gold Dwarves building in the west, and the Korobokuru building in the east. The town of Hulan becomes a commercial mecca, and is renamed by the Shou 'Glorious Merchant', which becomes known as 'Gloriant' to most folks. Then the Gold Dwarves and their Eastern cousins decide to connect the two, calling it The Gloriant Express, but they run afoul of various groups who do not like the idea of trade simply 'passing them by', not to mention the Tuigan, who enjoy periodically raiding the supply trains and work camps. :D Also, I would move away from any name with 'Zhent' in it, because of the stigma attached - why not call it something like Empire of the Moon, which is both mysterious, and fits with the location (surrounding the Moonsea).
Ianten_Silverblade 02-20-08, 08:53 PM	Also, I would move away from any name with 'Zhent' in it, because of the stigma attached - why not call it something like Empire of the Moon, which is both mysterious, and fits with the location (surrounding the Moonsea). Right on! Thanks for the suggestion! Here, have a cookie. (hands cookie) ^_~
Rinonalyrna Fathomlin 02-20-08, 09:12 PM	This thread is pretty fun to read, thanks for the posts.:)
Bullet06320 02-22-08, 06:56 AM	longsaddle 1630 in the past 40 years all maps of the area list Longsaddle as 10 mile wide still smoldering crater. (it was bound to happen eventually) it is believed that none of the Harpell's survived the blast that was felt and seen across the entire continent, if any survived they haven't been heard from. All Diviniations into the area fail completly and give the diviner a mild backlash. The entire crater is now a wild magic zone and completely barren devoid of all life. The truth of the explosion is still unexplained
Rinonalyrna Fathomlin 02-22-08, 07:08 PM	longsaddle 1630 in the past 40 years all maps of the area list Longsaddle as 10 mile wide still smoldering crater. (it was bound to happen eventually) it is believed that none of the Harpell's survived the blast that was felt and seen across the entire continent, if any survived they haven't been heard from. All Diviniations into the area fail completly and give the diviner a mild backlash. The entire crater is now a wild magic zone and completely barren devoid of all life. The truth of the explosion is still unexplained I'm sure the Harpells had nothing to do with it.:rolleyes: :P
SCOUT1IDF 02-23-08, 08:16 PM	I'm sure the Harpells had nothing to do with it.:rolleyes: :P The Harpells are probably sitting around waiting for breakfast, not noticing that there is no table, kitchen, food.....:whatsthis *
Bullet06320 02-25-08, 04:36 AM	The Harpells are probably sitting around waiting for breakfast, not noticing that there is no table, kitchen, food.....:whatsthis * Possibly right, you can never tell with the Harpells
SCOUT1IDF 02-27-08, 12:24 PM	AGLAROND 1610 Despite Mysrta's warnings, THE SIMBUL has killed all of the RED WIZARDS of THAY. FAERUN 1630 Only a hand full of new spells has been developed in the last 20 years and nobody knows why. Also magic doesn't seem as reliable as it use to. Maybe Mystra was rite (DUH) evil wizards do have a use. _
NateHawkins 03-07-08, 11:01 PM	Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one planning to pretty much completely bypass the *ahem* material being put out by WoTC. Although I wasn't so much planning as letting some of this happen as completely rewriting what I didn't like. Should be a fun little project, but I'm planning on starting in 1375, and going from the rebirth of Myth Drannor. Any aid is welcome.
Zsych 03-10-08, 01:48 AM	The Shades, Imaskari and Red Wizards all gain power and expand their territories, growing stronger in a cold war type situation. The Mulhorandi redevelop super demon summoning to combat such great powers. Places with inferior magical resources fall behind or ally themselves with and are eventually absorbed into one of the factions. The elves finding the main land too hot to handle run back to Evermeet vowing never to deal with rabid beings like the humans again(some of course seem to annihilate the humans, but the human cold war has pushed the level of magic too high for anything elves do, to matter, since everyone is already expecting magical nukes and prepared) Since magical items are far more common, the average fighter typically carries a staff of fireball with him, and practically all major cities have the equivalent of mythallar, allowing the creation of cheaper magical or quasi-magical items, thus making attacks by non-magical forces(like orcs) far easier to repell. The kingdom of thousand arrows, was eventually destroyed by some expanding human civilization that needed more space for the higher population(and considered orcs to be less valuable than humans find trees in the rain forests when they need more farm land) The overall quality of life of course has become higher for everyone in the human cities since the increase in magical knowledge also trickled into the civilian population. BUT there is a problem, the increased use of magic is putting a strain on the Weave, and Mystra must consider further limiting mortal access to magic. However she worries that if she were to do so, it would tip the balance of power in favor of the shades(not to mention alienating many human populations). And Shar is relaxing, pretty sure that victory is coming to her and probably won't require much more work on her part :P --- As for the Chosen, largely standing alone and not having the resources of countries of wizards behind them, they end up no longer being particularly significant compared to the combined capabilities of wizards of that day, and their small groups of apprentices don't change that much. The Simbul of course, was long ago crushed by a more powerful Szass Tam, with his support team of epic wizards, before he took over Aglarond a hundred or so years ago. --- As for adventures, there is considerable cold war style intrigue, and the back-water nations can be dangerous places to be. Also, planar travel is much more common even for low level characters armed with magical weaponry and travel devices, with none of the major nations being content with dominion over just one world, and thus having trade/intelligence/conquest like intentions towards many places. -------- Naturally this is a very different FR, but plenty of time has passed in a world with various powerful factions around, so what do you expect.
LittleCarp04 04-26-08, 10:43 PM	In the yeary 1630: Red Wizards will have expanded, absoribing aglarond (Killing Simbul, and Eliminster in the process). The Dalelands are in disarray. Skullport has suffered large magical earthquake like powers, and as a result half of waterdeep is now in ruins and being taken over by crime and theft etc. We know wtf is in Kara-tur and Maztica.