Reply author: sleyvas
Replied on: 01 Mar 2018 17:37:14
Message:

quote:

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Originally posted by Baltas

Haha, I'm happy you liked enough my idea to incorporate it, and I like how it was done

And I agree Unther might had influence in the Raurin region, and I think part of the proto-Untheric population never gone to Unther, but moved south, to Zakhara, as I mentioned years ago.

The language of Zakhara, Midani, is stated to derive from Untheric, and according to Thomas M. Costa “Speaking in Tongues” article, the Midani languages branched off from the other Untheric languages by mixing with the Jannti languages of genies.

An aspect of Ereshkigal, might have moved to Zakhara, or at least Sahu, seeing the Isle of Necromancers, Sahu, has the ruins of a city named "Ereshkigal". As well having a city named "Uruk".

(Although some have suggested the Necromancers, as well as Nog and Kadar, might have been connected to Imaskar, so possibly Ereshkigal was on Toril before other Mesotamian, which might had been why she was cursed, and stuck as a Lamia noble in the first place, but that's rather incompatible with your lore, so it's just a bit of my musing XD)

But continuing from that - I just think Anu, is the fairly possible to have come to Toril way before other Mesopotamian gods - as the Desert of Desolation firmly painted the faith in Anu, as the native religion of Durpari, they forced upon the Raurindi after arriving in the Raurin Desert.

From Desert of Desolation:

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The Raurindi/Durpari Conflict

The Durpari saw the re-establishment of trade across the desert as a way to return to their her-itage. Traders to the core, they had plied their wares in the At his river valley before the curse had made it barren. They saw caravan trade between the remaining oases as the manner in which they could return. They were driven by two motives beyond those of trade alone: as members of the one god Anu, they were sworn to the destruction of the idols of the older gods of the Raurindi, and they were secretly ashamed that they had deserted the land to the Raurindi. Thus they came back to the desert with the glint of gold in their eyes, and a hatred of the Raurindi and all they stood for in their hearts. While the Raurindi had protected the temples of the old gods, the Durpari's were bent on their destruction. As the Durpari swept into Bralizzar, the Dustwall Mountains, and the Desert of Desolation, they pushed the Rarindi before them...or destroyed them.

The Durpari

The Durpari are a civilized people who are traders to the core. Because of this, they have developed great cunning in business, and their commitment to the truth is less than total. They prefer to talk, rather than fight, though they have some of the most fearsome troops in the southern lands, their dreaded Lancers and Airlancers. It was the Durpari who established trade through the deserts of the south, and it was the Durpari who re-established it when trade became nearly impossible following the curse of Amun-Re. The Durpari are the only group of people who venture through the Desert of Desolation with regularity. Although they often go on trading missions, they prefer to remain at home, usually at an oasis fortress or other trade center. The Durpari worship one god. whom they call Anu. Their religion deems as heretical the worship of many gods, and they are duty-bound to destroy idols and temples dedicated to the "old" religions. The Durpari Airlancers fly on pegasi they breed for the purpose. They can communicate with their beasts in very complex ways.

The Raurindi And The Dervishes

As a people, the Raurindi became nearly extinct when their lands turned to desert millennia ago. Those who were left became desert nomads, a dark people, rough from the desert winds and sands. Hot-tempered and emotion-al, they do not generally care for outsiders. They are somber, pessimistic, and almost always bad-mannered, but they are scrupulously honest and completely fearless. To their friends, they are generous and forgiving, except of a personal insult. Many Raurindi have since been assimilated into the Durpari, particularly in areas within and bordering the great deserts. Most of these have converted to the "True Faith" of the Durpari, who worship the one god Anu. Neverthe-less, some of the Raurindi cling secretly to the old ways. Called Dervishes, they are aliens, outcasts, and even outlaws wherever they go. In fact, because they feel that their god has turned away from them in relegating them to the desert, not only do they worship the old religions, but they now fanatically protect the religious freedoms and holy places of all peo-ples, whatever their practices or beliefs. They hate robbers of graves and tombs, and protect such places from "infidels," tending to make encampments nearby. If they find a holy item or place has been looted or damaged, they will
fighting to the death. This has spawned a desert proverb: "Woe be unto him who puts blood in the eye of the Dervish."

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So to recoile the latter lore with Adama, I moved the Raurindi/Durpari religous and cultural conflict to extremelly dostant past, before Imaskar formed or very early on it's history, when the Durpari fairly recently colonized the Raurin region.

(I basically copied it from other works doing it, like Warhammer 40,000, moved a lot of the early edition elements, to the etting distant past ie the 31th to early 32 millennium.)

But again, I also think Anu, or at least the aspect that came before –2489 DR, was dead by this point, or could be as good as dead, starving from the lack of worship, and possibly bound to the Prime Material plane.

Something for Sleyvas though, as I think I found more possible fiends. I think A'tar might had been a female guise of Astaroth.

A'tar is obviously named after the deity Attar, who was the male version of the Semitic goddess Astarte.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attar_(god)

Curiously though, the name Astaroth, is just the Hebrew version of the name Astarte, and the entity became male (possibly because of Attar?), through confusion, but because of it, Astaroth is often thought to be a demon that switches sexes.

So I think if Astaroth in his masculine form, is known as Astaroth (which in reall life was feminine), he could be as well known when in a female aspect, as A'tar.

A'tar has elemets of Astarte, being a lustful goddess, that cheats on her husband Kozah (who in this role, seems to play the Role of Ba'al Haddad, and whose wife was Astarte).

In generall, I think both Amaunator (or rather, then "Amun") and Inanna, subsumed aspects of Astaroth as A'tar, which ended up corrupting them, possibly as some part of Astaroth's, or Gargauth's plan. (depending when Gargauth killed Astaroth.)

Amaunator had some lawful evil tendencies, as his priest could be only Lawful Neutral and Lawful Evil in 2e.

So my take with him, is that Amun subsumed some elements of A'tar, and became known among Gur as Amun-A'tar, which overtime, evolved into Amaunator.

(Amaunator was even kinda identified with Amon the vestige in the 3.5 Tome of Magic, as it was told if using Amon in the Forgotten Realms, he should be substituted with Amaunator. And Amon, even in the neutral setting, hates one curious vestige - Karsus).

Possibly later, Inanna took the alias of A'tar, but it ended up corrupting her, partially eing what caused her split into herself, and Ishtar (like of Tyche into Tymora and Beshaba), which corrupted Inanna so visibly, she's one of the few deities taking residence in Baator.

(Astaroth was a Demon Lord, but one masquerading as a devil, and I think it could be again Gargauth behind all of this).

But that's just my whole take on all of this

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