#mystryl

Putting aside the fact that she shouldn't be romancing mortals (people generally misunderstand how God's in this world work and misunderstand that Mystra was an adventurer who has only been a living goddess for a few decades) Mystra was not being manipulative by asking Gale for the crown of Karsus.

You can be pissed at her for asking Gale to sacrifice himself, despite the fact that he was going to die from his own self inflicted illness. But to perceive the request for the crown, a second request for forgiveness after Gale denied her first, one that doesn't require him sacrificing his own life, as manipulation on her part is nearly bordering on misogyny I'm being so serious.

The whole ROLE of her as Mystra is to protect her domain. The crown of Karsus DESTROYED MYSTRYL AND THE WEAVE! Why do y'all give her no consideration while giving Gale a whole weaves worth of benefit of the doubt? Please remember that when she literally feeds her power, the source of all magic, into Gales self inflicted power hungry orb, Gale immediately becomes power hungry again.

Gales insecurity leads him to having narcissistic traits, the Orb is a reminder of his folly leads him into a depressive episode because he requires greatness to feed his ego, and immediately when that wound is sated he goes back to his old ways!

Again y'all can like Gale, but you can live in the grey that both of these characters exist in. Yes she's a literal goddess I understand that, But she's not actually omniscient and omnipotent. Her current incarnation has literally died before. She's capable of Mistakes just as Gale is, and we literally only get his side of the account. Plenty of mortals mingle with the Gods in this world, Mystra literally rose to Godhood due to this proximity, Gale isn't ignorant of that fact.

Reading into the entire lore of the Forgotten Realms, I am still trying to figure out the timeline for Gale. Because that timeline kinda runs into the issue that Mystra has died two times during the last about 100 years.

Now, let me make this one clear at the beginning again: Mystra in regards to Gale is a fucking groomer and just a shitty person, and we stand tall in the "fuck Mystra" camp. Buuuuut... I still am trying to figure this one out, because it might also relate to Gale's age - and how young he was, when Mystra chose him.

Alright. Let me talk a bit about Mystra.

The quickest rundown is the following: When Shar and Selûne were at their usual battling, their energies interacted and created a new goddess: Mystryl, the goddess of magic. And as we know from the game: Karsus did his thing, tore apart the weave and through it destroyed Mystryl. But somehow the weave started to gather around a "peasant girl" (who never was named) from the Netherese Empire, who after this ascended to become Mystra and as Mystra managed to restore the weave.

Now, Mystra got involved in the bullshit that is usual for the gods in this world. The Faerûnian pantheon is very much based in the Greek gods, which really shows with them. There is a lot of inter-god drama, politics, backstabbing and also procreating with unsuspecting mortals. Something that Mystra was apparently quite prolific at.

Which gets me to Mystra's deaths. Because she died two times within a short time.

In 1358DR the gods were banished from their realm by Ao, with the exception of Helm who was made to guard the stair between the realms. While banished from the realm, Mystra was captured and tortured by Bane. However, fearing something like this might happen, she had entrusted some of her power to a human mage named Midnight. So, Midnight and her party went to rescue Mystra. However, Mystra was very weakened and needed to return to the realm of the gods. But Helm wouldn't let her pass, leading the two to battle. Which ended with Mystra dead.

However, as mentioned, Mystra had enthrusted Midnight with some of her power. And probably because of this, the weave then started to work around Midnight, who soon awakened as the reborn Mystra. Yet, one of Midnight's former party members, Cyric, saw a chance to ascend himself and murdered her. This was in 1385DR.

Those two deaths one after another lead to the Spellplague (aka, magic didn't work how it used to). And only in 1479DR Elminster was the one to find that Mystra had in fact survived, though she was severely weakened.

Now, BG3 takes place in 1492, so 13 years after this. So, we do know that Gale could not have been with Mystra for longer than that.

The next question would be, how old Gale is. I would put him in his early 30s. So, he was probably around 20 years old, when Mystra chose him (aka started grooming him).

This does put a lot more reason behind Gale's decision to absorb the orb. Because the ressurected Mystra was very much weakened and not fully connected to the weave. So, he would probably have done this because of that.

Transcript:

February 8, 2023

Cdawg — I have endless questions for Ed but am trying to repress my enthusiasm. He's got things to do. I'll ask one last question. Is there anything you can tell us about Larloch's actual life? How did he end up becoming a Chosen of Mystryl, and how did he serve her. That's a book I'd love to read, frankly. (Probably all NDA)

Ed Greenwood — Let's just say there was love involved. Elminster wasn't the first mortal to enjoy the charms of a goddess. If the deity began as mortal, after a time they really, really miss mortality, and want to taste it again.

– From the Greenwood’s Grotto Discord server.

Merlin is a character I made originally a female drow based on multiple characters though mostly Merlin then became quite the story. She has the haunted one background and she is a sorcerer of draconic blood line, circle of moon druid, wild magic barbarian, cleric of Bahamut, college of valour bard, arcane trickster rogue, battle master fighter, hunter ranger, divination wizard and oath of vengeance paladin. Merlin at first looks like a drow but on second glance is not, she is eight feet and three inches tall with a dark blue completion the inside of her mouth and flesh is bright blue she has scales that swirl in patterns on her skin and glow with their own light. She has red blood. Her ears are serrated like the githyanki. Merlin is the child of Mystryl and Bahamut who was taken to the non magical earth and raised there. She can play multiple kinds of flutes and whistles including the contrabass flute, as well as a few other instruments. She has both a larynx and a syrinx and can make up to three different sounds at the same time sometimes. She also loves apples and acorns as well as food made from them. She has a innate strong shapeshifting ability and to use polymorph.

Edit: I thought that making her a oathbreaker paladin would be a better fit.

Edit: Merlin is used to working alone or being the one to give orders not working on a team.

Edit: Merlin will often travel or live as a human man for years and be referred to as such during these times.

Edit: Lillian is not her real name any more than Merlin is. Her real name in both lives is Gaelwen.

Edit: I thought making her a cleric of herself would work better.

Edit: I thought that her skin could absorb almost 100% of light and the scales could emit light.

Edit: She should not actually be a paladin or cleric at all.