Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions

Which came first, the deity or the worship. My personal feeling is that you cannot have a god of something without someone providing the worship first (unless you use deus ex-machine like the tablets of fate).

The Untheric gods are different because they are not true gods. They are demi-gods, beings with the power of gods but that still inhabit a physical form (and yet to ascend to a higher plane of thought and being, one powered solely by belief). Tiamat therefore does not need worship to exist, but worship does provide her with additional power.

It is therefore not surprising that her cult and its cultists have been utterly destroyed several times during the history of Unther as her plots against the godkings have occasionally born fruit and incurred retaliation.

The Cult of the Queen of Chaos is the most recent incarnation of TiaMa'at's cult, created only in the last century by a few survivors from the previous cult in Akanu.

The Cult of the Queen of Chaos has found a voice in Unther as the source of opposition to Gil-Geamesq's tyranny. The downtrodden and the oppressed are crying out to be delivered from their miserable lives, and they turn to the cult for this deliverance. In return for the hope of freedom they merely pass on the occasional bit of information and assistance when requested, and one day TiaMa'at will destroy Gil-Geamesq for them.

The story of Tiamat is the source of much confusion in the Forgotten Realms. A goddess of the draconic pantheon whose worship had waxed and waned over the millennia as she pursued her personal war against Bahamut and his metallic dragons. Then inexplicably she severs a piece of herself and sends it wandering across the crystal spheres to land north of Imaskar and help liberate the Mulan people. This separated part of herself is seemingly never rejoined and battles Gilgeam for 3000 years, dying 3 times in her attempt to slay him before the rest of her outer planar essence finished the job. If you are not confused then you deserve an honorary degree.

So I split Tiamat into two goddess. There is Tiamat the dragon goddess and there is TiaMa'at the sorcerer who becomes the nemesis of the gods of Unther. The two are not the same although during 1356 DR TIamat's cultists will infiltrate the Cult of the Queen of Chaos (which venerates TiaMa'at) and will quickly convert it to worshipping the Dragon Queen.

TiaMa'at is an ancient sorcerer of the Turami, and witnessed her people slaughtered and displaced by the godkings of Unther. She developed her powers by travelling the ruins of Imaskar,and allied herself with dragons (even learning to take their form) in order to gain her revenge. She played a pivotal part in causing the deaths of so many demigods of Unther during the Orcgate Wars, although she perished in the attempt.

TiaMa'at has 3 magic rings that contain part of her soul and allow her to be reincarnated through the three bearers of the rings. Driven insane during the Dracorage of 1018 DR, TiaMa'at was restored to sanity during the 14th century by her cultists and now lives in secret beneath the settlement of Niz'Jaree (Firetrees) in Unther, making plans and plots as she bides her time to gain a final glorious revenge on Gil-Geamesq and Unther.

The first region of focus in my alternate version of the Forgotten Realms is an old favourite, Unther.

Alternate Unther is still a land separated from the rest of Faerun by its society and customs. It embraces slavery, is ruled by an eternal godking, is filled with decadence and corruption, and is on the verge of collapse.

I've attempted to remove the real world influences on Unther. Names like Gilgeam and Ishtar are gone, replaced by a patronym naming system which results in Gil-Geamesq of the House of Gil and Ish-Tarri of the House of Ish (Houses that the godkings founded).

I've also attempted to clean up some of the confusion. Replacing manifestations of separated outer planar essences with demi-gods who cannot or will not ascend to true godhood.

Lastly I've tried to consolidate all the existing lore on Unther into a single place and then expand upon that lore, especially the timeline. What events led up to the restriction of Ram-Manu's and Ish-Tarri's church, how did the Gil-Geamesq drive the other godkings from Unther, just what happened to the Brotherhood of the Black Flame, who are the Enclave and where are they based.

So I've decided to embrace the 21st century and abandon pdf format in favour of a website. The change was primarily for my own sanity as I could not keep up with producing a new version of a pdf and making sure it was available on all the places I had published it.

So here is the new home of the Alternate Forgotten Realms, a place that houses my own personal vision of Ed Greenwood's shared masterpiece, and that is almost the same as the original but with very subtle differences.

Before I try and rationalise the decision making process for rewriting the various islands of the Moonshae Isles, the first question is why rewrite the region at all.

Roleplaying games rely on only a few inspirations for play. The first is conflict and the second is exploration. As a region the Moonshae Isles have little in the way of interactive history, and even less of that history has survived to the present day (which for me is 1300s DR). We know of few ancient civilisations that existed in the area prior to the ffolk and we have no interesting dungeons to explore for buried treasure.

That leaves conflict as an inspiration for adventures. The Moonshaes sourcebook listed a number of common conflicts that basically boiled down to ; Northmen vs Ffolk, religion vs nature, and monsters vs humans. After the various novels detailed in the region and the evolving history of the setting, the Northmen and the Ffolk are in an alliance, the religions of Faerun have gradually stamped out the worship of the Earthmother, and Kazgoroth the most interesting monster on the chain is dead.

So my rewrite is an attempt to fill the Moonshaes with history, including ruins to explore, and to restore the conflicts to the region so that players can interact with them before they all get solved in a series of novels.

Forgotten Realms Alternate Dimensions Issue 9 is now available.

The list of contents is as follows

Alternate Dimensions Presents: The Moonshae Isles

Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles - Callidyrr

Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles - Corwell

Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles - Dwarvenhome

Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles - Gnarhelm

Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles - Korinn Archipelago

Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles - Moray

Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles - Norheim

Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles - Norland

Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles - Oman

Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles - Snowdown

Alternate Dimensions Presents: Moonshae Isles - Myrloch Vale

 This issue is intended as a rewrite of the Moonshaes sourcebook to remove the novel events and make the Moonshaes as a region more interactive and interesting to play in (rather than just read about). It is fully compatible with the information in issue 8 which is intended to supplement and extend the information here to provide a viable campaign ground.

The Shalarin originally come from the Sea of Corynactis on the far side of Toril. That is true now, but what if it had not always been so.

In an alternate version what if the Sea of Corynactis was one of the areas of ocean surrounding the continent of Laerakond before the Tearfall.

What if the Sea of Corynactis was taken to Abeir along with Laerakond when the worlds were separated.

Thus the Shalarin are from a different world and at the same time hail from the Sea of Corynactis which returns to Abeir-Toril in -339 DR along with the rest of Laerakond.

The Shalarin exist in a rigid caste structure that exists from the moment they are conceived. This structure is so inherent to their nature that they even apply their behaviours to non-Shalarin. The origin of this caste system lies in the Shalarin's distant past when they were a servitor race to the batrachi before they ventured onto land. The batrachi modified the Shalarin to be naturally subservient and obedient, something that persists to the present day.

They were abducted to Toril by the Wildtide Gate which was constructed by Dagon who had a personal vendetta against the gods of the Shalarin who were also the gods of the batrachi and who foiled Dagon's plans to dominate that ancient creator race.

The dragons of Faerun have a lot of creation myths as spelled out in the Draconomicon (2e), in summary here are just a few.

The Book of the World states that Asgoroth created the first dragons by shattering the Crystal Sun of Zotha with his breath. The shards pierced Asgoroth and from the blood was born the first dragons, red dragons. The Renegade would then use the blood of Asgoroth on a shard of the Crystal Sun to create the different hues of dragons.

Kelmara of Arabel theorised that dragons evolved rapidly from a smaller less intelligent and less powerful form thanks to the Tearfall event weeding out weaker species.

The Club of Candlekeep theorise dragons evolved from a species known as eodraco and its long lifespan and intelligence granted it a number of advantages over other creatures. It then either acquired magic from the environment or other races to evolve into the dragons known today.

Then there is also the confusion over who created the dragons. Asgoroth with his death, or Bahamut and Tiamat.

What if all the above theories were true and Asgoroth, Bahamut, and Tiamat were all responsible for the rise of modern dragons in their own way. What if dragons originallyu started as something lesser and evolved into dragons. What if the first dragons were red.

Ever wondered how to become a god in the Forgotten Realms universe. How did the Dark Three, or Gargauth, or Velsharoon attained godhood.

What is it that distinguishes a demi-power from a lesser power from an intermediate power, from a greater power. Why is Io classed as a greater god when he has less followers than the Red Knight. Why do the demon lords want so desperately to become gods.

What happens when you kill a demi-power's avatar and why were so many of the Untheric pantheon forever slain in the Orcgate wars.

How much does it cost to create and maintain an avatar. Why do some demi-powers live on the Outer Planes and others live on the Material Plane. Why do gods greater than demi-powers not live on the Material Plane.

Finally, what is it that makes a god a god, why are the children of gods not gods, but more easily able to become them, and how do they gain and lose power.

This organisation is the focus of several novels set in the 4th edition era of the Forgotten Realms, but what if you don't use the Spellplague or the 4th editions realms.

This version of the Brotherhood of the Griffon has its origins in 1360 DR when a strange man with red skin named Valus Medios arrived in Aglarond offering to help the council deal with their infestation of griffons, hippogriffs, and wyverns caused by Nartheling moving into the mountain Umbergoth earlier that year.

Valus trained a select group of warriors in griffon riding techniques and forged an elite scouting and fighting unit that proved invaluable in later years dealing with Thayan invasions, their most successful deployment being in 1365 DR.

Valus was forced out of Aglarond in 1365 DR and left swearing revenge. He took a large number of griffon riders with him and created the Brotherhood of the Griffon.

Since then the Brotherhood has seen action in many theatres of conflict including the Mulhorandi invasion of Unther and Tchazzar's conquest of the Dragon Empire of Unther.

The secret to the Brotherhood's success lies in the incredibly strong bond formed between the rider and his mount.

According to Dragons of Faerun in 1365 DR Alasklerbanbastos attracted a coterie of young dragons and dracoliches and granted fiefdoms of territory in Unther and Chessenta as the self proclaimed king of Unther. Of course his subjects are expected to claim the territory for themselves.

In 1373 DR, Tchazzar arrived and slaughtered the dragon and dracolich allies of Alasklerbanbastos bringing his dreams to an end.

So just what form did this Dragon Empire of Unther take, what government did it possess, what laws, what military forces, all these questions remain unanswered until now.

Alasklerbanbastos controlled all the cities of Chessenta (some only briefly), in Unther he controlled only Unthalass. All of this control however was through the dragons and dracoliches he had granted the lands to and that they had duly seized for themselves.

The dragons Jaxanaedegor, Fulmynargatrion, Storum'aelix, Pyratyrmanix, and Rancroriglomous, all typical for their kind were lazy, greedy, and power hungry. Everyone of them lived off the backs of their human subjects uncaring for their troubles.

Alasklerbanbastos took his tribute from his dragon vassals who in turn took their tribute from their subjects. Chessenta was left to its own devices, while Unther was brought a measure of stability in the chaos engulfing that land since the death of Gilgeam.

Page 12 of the Old Empires Sourcebook mentions the most famous Scribes Guild in passing reference to the various guilds of the middle classes of Mulhorand.

Created shortly after the beginning of Mulhorand in -2135 DR, the Scribes Guild was responsible for the basic tasks of government administration. They recorded the conversations, the minutes, noted tasks, typed up contracts, and kept the wheels of Mulhorand greasy.

They were an integral and yet unimportant guild in Mulhorand, a useful tool to allow talented commoners some advancement, but otherwise something to be ignored.

The rebellion of Thayd gave the guild its first opportunity for power when the government required every wizard be registered and monitored in order to prevent future uprisings.

Suddenly all wizards in Mulhorand were members of this guild and the priests, ever jealous of their magical counterparts, wanted to be part of it as well. The guild became the home of the rich and politically powerful, and soon enough the guild was the method through which political cloak and dagger games played out.

Nowadays the guild is infected with Setities and is being used to bring down the Mulhorandi government instead of support it.

The Church of the Dark Lady was a very last minute article written after the campaign arc for the Mulhorandi invasion of Unther.

Rereading the lore I noticed the Church of Tiamat had at least four different high priests depending upon the source being read; Tiglath, Shudu-Ab, Deiros Forktongue, and Malise.

Rather than deciding which person I wanted to be head of the church I decided to splinter the church in a manner similar to the Church of Bane or the Cult of the Dragon.

I noticed several distinct events that could cause a change in leadership, the death of Tiamat and the invasion of Unther. At both points a change of leadership could have been forced, and it is unlikely the loser would accept defeat.

Splintering the church also allowed me to explain a few loose ends, such as why Tiglath; a lawful neutral person, would serve an evil deity when it seemed to offend her morals to do so. The answer of course is that she wouldn't and so her branch of the church is actually dedicated to bringing about the resurrection of Tiamat the Dark Lady.

Shudu-Ab's branch of the church is more formed around her failure to resist Mulhorand's conquest of Unther and her expulsion from Unthalass. Tiamat certainly wouldn't reward such failure, but Shudu-Ab's survival could be seen as a second chance.

The premise for this article was based upon a single line in Grand History of the Realms "Human seafarers from the west name and settle the island of Ruathym in the Sea of Swords".

I had always pondered where the northmen could have come from. I always envisaged them as Viking raiders arriving on dragonboats to plunder and pillage the north, but there were few places in canon lore that they could have arrived from.

So I endeavoured to place them in my Laerakond, a place ruled by dragon overlords (inspiration for the fearsome dragonboats they plied the waters with) and populated with orcs that preyed upon the few humans that lived there.

However I was stuck for a way for them to access Toril from Abeir since the two planets were separated by dimension thanks to Ao. A rift in the place where Laerakond used to exist would allow access between the worlds, but in 30000 years no one else could find it or use it (and that's rather unlikely).

So Ao being a fairly omnipotent over-deity I figured would have blocked access through the rift, an antipathy effect (from my favourite super adventure The Night Below) would prevent people from passing through.

So then I needed to think of a way around it. And that's where I stumbled across the Haunghdannar dwarves, driven mad by a desire to travel the waves, they left Faerun in -3389 DR never to return.

All I needed now was a means for them to beat an antipathy effect created by the overgod of the entire crystal sphere. The only possible way to do this is if Ao had a hand. Even an overgod is not omniscient and can make mistakes so I had Ao's antipathy effect backfire.

The Haunghdannar turn mad, travel through the rift, break the antipathy and force out the humans on the islands that travel to Toril and become the Northmen.