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Sordrin
Acolyte
1 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Jun 2008 : 14:42:15
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I'm looking for a little more information on the Tablets of Fate, specifically what happened the tablets during this chain of events:
-Bane and Myrkul steal the ToF from Ao.
-Ao forces all gods to walk as mortals (Time of Troubles).
-Midnight, Kelemvor, Cyric, and Adon search for and free Mystra.
-Mystra was killed by Helm for trying to climb the Celestial Stairway.
---Why was she attempting to defy Ao? Was she trying to return the ToF or did she just know their location?
---What was their location at this point?
-Adon as well as Kelemvor and Midnight begin their journey to take the one Tablet of Fate to Waterdeep.
---How did it come into their posession?
---Where is the other tablet?
---What is/was the final dispostion of the Tof?
Thanks in advance!
~Sordrin~
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jlf2n
Acolyte
11 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jun 2008 : 15:40:59
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| I can't remember why she was defying Helm, but I do remember she wanted to hand the tablet to Ao herself. I also don't remember how they got the first tablet but im pretty sure it was after Torm defeated Bane. The second tablet was held by Myrkul in the Fugue plane. He placed it on top of Bone castle for two reasons. One to display it as a trophy and two because he needed Midnight to steal it so he wanted her to be able to find it easily. He had placed a few spells on the tablet so that when she stole it and tried to take it back to Waterdeep the portal she used would be held open and all of his minions could pour out into Waterdeep. |
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Ergdusch
Master of Realmslore
Germany
1720 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jun 2008 : 16:15:09
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quote:
Originally posted by Sordrin
I'm looking for a little more information on the Tablets of Fate, specifically what happened the tablets during this chain of events:
-Bane and Myrkul steal the ToF from Ao.
-Ao forces all gods to walk as mortals (Time of Troubles).
Correct. Bane and Myrkul stole the tablets from Ao and hid them in Faerūn, suspecting that some of the Overgod's power was derived from these tablets. When Ao discovered the Tablets of Fate were missing he summoned all the deities and asked for those guilty to hand them over. When no one stood forward to admit to stealing the Tablets, Ao cast down all the gods from the heavens, taking their divine power and their imortality in the process. This time has become known as the Time of Troubles.
quote:
-Mystra was killed by Helm for trying to climb the Celestial Stairway.
---Why was she attempting to defy Ao? Was she trying to return the ToF or did she just know their location?
---What was their location at this point?
During the Time of Troubles Lord Ao entrusted Helm with the task of keeping the other deities from returning to their divine realms without returning the stolen Tablets of Fate. For this task Ao left Helm with all his divine abilities, guarding the Celestial Stairway to the planes. When Mystra who had spirited away a portion of her divine power in the realms, which she then recovered once the gods were cast from the heavens attempted to pass him without the Tablets (the reason of this I don't recall) Helm fulfilled his duties to Ao and destroyed her. This took place in Cormyr north of Arabel,his area is located at the eastern edge of the Stormhorn Mountains, near Gnoll Pass and Castle Crag. The landstrip is known today as the 'Helmlands'.
During the Time of Troubles, this area was the center of unnatural activity, including thousands of tar pits that bubbled to life overnight and continue to afflict the area today, though to a lesser degree. In addition, there are many wild and dead magic areas blanketing the Helmlands. These zones constantly shift, making exploration of the Helmlands a seemingly random endeavor. These bizarre phenomena affect magic in chaotic ways. Spells do not behave as they should, producing either unexpected results or none at all. Even enchanted items are subject to these pockets of unreality. Naturally, Cormyreans avoid this area. Just as naturally, monsters and foul beings feel quite at home here. Border raiders use the Helmlands as a base for strikes against nearby communities, farms, and even the city of Arabel.
There seems to be only one way to end this cycle. The royal mage of Cormyr Vangerdahast is rumored to be working on a method of eliminating the Helmlands from the continent.
In 4th Ed. however, the Helmlands have met an entirely different fate.
I will give you more infos once I get home and the novels in hand (unless some other scribe was faster, of course).
Ergdusch |
"Das Gras weht im Wind, wenn der Wind weht." |
Edited by - Ergdusch on 19 Jun 2008 16:16:44 |
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Ergdusch
Master of Realmslore
Germany
1720 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jun 2008 : 16:17:22
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| BTW, you can read all details about these dramatic events in the novels Shadowdale, Tantras and Waterdeep. |
"Das Gras weht im Wind, wenn der Wind weht." |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jun 2008 : 16:41:54
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| You can also get info from the modules of the same names as the books that are listed above. |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3741 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jun 2008 : 16:50:21
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quote:
Originally posted by jlf2n
I can't remember why she was defying Helm, but I do remember she wanted to hand the tablet to Ao herself.
-That's why.
-She had the tablet, and NEEDED to ascend the staircase and see Ao. Helm was told by Ao not to let anyone ascend the staircase. Conflict of interests, there. |
(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know)
Elves of Faerūn
Vol I- The Elves of Faerūn
Vol. III- Spells of the Elves
Vol. VI- Mechanical Compendium |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jun 2008 : 18:24:37
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Mystra did not have the Tablets, not even one of them. She wanted to go back to being a deity, and she thought to barter the information of who stole them in return for being allowed to go back into the heavens.
Keep in mind what being cast out of the heavens was like for the deities: they went from being immortal entities able to do what they wanted, when they wanted, for however long they wanted, to being relatively weak mortals, subject to many of the same rules and weaknesses common mortals had to deal with. They went from being the masters of all that is to being the masters of only stuff they could touch, and even then, they still weren't all that powerful. The Time of Troubles was not only a humbling experience, it was also a humiliating one. Some of the deities were desparate to escape back to the heavens.
As I recall, one Tablet was hidden in Torm's temple in Tantras. That's why Bane and Torm fought -- Bane was trying to retrieve the hidden Tablet.
The other Tablet was hidden in Myrkul's divine realm. Midnight, Kelemvor, and Adon had to use a portal hidden under the Yawning Portal to get into Myrkul's realm to retrieve the Tablet. |
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jun 2008 : 22:39:58
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quote:
Originally posted by Ergdusch
BTW, you can read all details about these dramatic events in the novels Shadowdale, Tantras and Waterdeep.
(To view a spoiler, run your cursor over the blank area to highlight it; the text appears in a contrasting color.)
Far more "efficient" is the old Forgotten Realms Atlas, which has a day-by-day breakdown of what each "hero" (and each villain) was doing during the ToT, plus maps and other illustrations.
If I recall correctly, the final disposition of the Tablets of Fate was: SPOILER: Ao just crumpled them up like a cookie (biscuit) when Cyric gave them to him and proceeded to lecture the deities. Very anti-climactic after all of that fuss, bother, and bloodshed!
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I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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Fillow
Master of Realmslore
France
1608 Posts |
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Thauramarth
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
729 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2008 : 13:48:39
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
The other Tablet was hidden in Myrkul's divine realm. Midnight, Kelemvor, and Adon had to use a portal hidden under the Yawning Portal to get into Myrkul's realm to retrieve the Tablet.
Very true - although, if memory serves me right, Midnight ventured into Myrkul's realm alone, using a portal located in the lost dwarven city of Kanaglym, and used the portal beneath the Yawning Portal to get back to Faerūn; inconventiently, Myrkul had enspelled the Tablet so that when Midnight took it through a portal, the portal would not close, and Myrkul's Denizen legions could enter Waterdeep. |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2008 : 14:50:01
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| What sticks out in my mind the most about the tablets is that they were mere McGuffins, as Jamallo Kreen pointed out. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2008 : 15:57:05
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quote:
Originally posted by Thauramarth
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
The other Tablet was hidden in Myrkul's divine realm. Midnight, Kelemvor, and Adon had to use a portal hidden under the Yawning Portal to get into Myrkul's realm to retrieve the Tablet.
Very true - although, if memory serves me right, Midnight ventured into Myrkul's realm alone, using a portal located in the lost dwarven city of Kanaglym, and used the portal beneath the Yawning Portal to get back to Faerūn; inconventiently, Myrkul had enspelled the Tablet so that when Midnight took it through a portal, the portal would not close, and Myrkul's Denizen legions could enter Waterdeep.
You are likely right. It's been quite some time since I read that trilogy.  |
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2008 : 15:59:49
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quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
What sticks out in my mind the most about the tablets is that they were mere McGuffins, as Jamallo Kreen pointed out.
Indeed. Bane and Myrkul thought they'd get a serious power-up from stealing them, and then they turned out to be worthless. It's a bit ironic that so much trouble was caused by the theft of something useless. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Sailusj
Acolyte
USA
19 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2008 : 16:38:44
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
What sticks out in my mind the most about the tablets is that they were mere McGuffins, as Jamallo Kreen pointed out.
Indeed. Bane and Myrkul thought they'd get a serious power-up from stealing them, and then they turned out to be worthless. It's a bit ironic that so much trouble was caused by the theft of something useless.
But they couldnt be completely useless if Ao was willing to throw them down for it...Maybe they weren't exactly useless but the "Gods" didn't know how to use them. I think their may have been another purpose to the Tablets other than a serious power-up.... |
"Oh dear God...What is that smell?!" |
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Alisttair
Great Reader
Canada
3054 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2008 : 16:47:36
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| I think that the tablets served moreas a symbol and a test of the gods and by failing the test with their greed for power, they were punished. |
Karsite Arcanar (Most Holy Servant of Karsus)
Anauria - Survivor State of Netheril as penned by me:
http://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/172023 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2008 : 16:59:24
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quote:
Originally posted by Sailusj
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
What sticks out in my mind the most about the tablets is that they were mere McGuffins, as Jamallo Kreen pointed out.
Indeed. Bane and Myrkul thought they'd get a serious power-up from stealing them, and then they turned out to be worthless. It's a bit ironic that so much trouble was caused by the theft of something useless.
But they couldnt be completely useless if Ao was willing to throw them down for it...Maybe they weren't exactly useless but the "Gods" didn't know how to use them. I think their may have been another purpose to the Tablets other than a serious power-up....
Ao wasn't willing to throw down because the Tablets themselves had been stolen -- it wasn't about the Tablets. He could have retrieved them himself, at any time. It was all about the principle of the whole thing. The Tablets were merely a written set of rules for the gods to follow. Stealing them showed a disregard for Ao's rules, and was simply the final straw. Ao cast the deities out to do two things: make them appreciate their power and give them a desire to follow his rules to maintain it, and also to show the gods who was boss.
It wasn't a punishment for the latest offense, it was a punishment and lecture for all the offenses committed.
Bane and Myrkul thought that the Tablets gave Ao his power. They were proven wrong.  |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
Edited by - Wooly Rupert on 20 Jun 2008 17:01:20 |
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Quale
Master of Realmslore
1757 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2008 : 17:48:21
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| I like the version where the Tablets have real power, and that's just Ao's propaganda |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3741 Posts |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2008 : 20:07:51
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quote:
Originally posted by Quale
I like the version where the Tablets have real power, and that's just Ao's propaganda
But it doesn't work... If the Tablets had real power, then Bane and Myrkul could have taken advantage of them. And Ao wouldn't have been able to cast the gods out without them... And he wouldn't have destroyed the Tablets when he got them back. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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ShadezofDis
Senior Scribe
402 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2008 : 20:50:12
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Quale
I like the version where the Tablets have real power, and that's just Ao's propaganda
But it doesn't work... If the Tablets had real power, then Bane and Myrkul could have taken advantage of them. And Ao wouldn't have been able to cast the gods out without them... And he wouldn't have destroyed the Tablets when he got them back.
Unless Bane and Myrkul didn't know how to access that power and the power "enchanted" whatever being (in this case AO) accessed it. Then it could have been a case of AO retaining the power but not having it secured.
Further, there's no proof that the Tablets AO destroyed were in fact the Tablets of Fate. He could have pulled a fast switch.
I am, totally, of the opinion that the Tablets of Fate were nothing more than Tablets with some writing on them but that doesn't mean there couldn't be other explanations. |
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jun 2008 : 21:16:24
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quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
What sticks out in my mind the most about the tablets is that they were mere McGuffins, as Jamallo Kreen pointed out.
McGuffins? I thought that they were dinguses. But I digress....
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I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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Nicolai Withander
Master of Realmslore
Denmark
1093 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2008 : 06:29:49
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| Are the tablets just rules for the gods? I thought that they contained the fate of all. Hence the name "tablets of Fate" I mean that is realy a great power-up. to know the fate of any being of toril. That would be cool. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 21 Jun 2008 : 14:38:09
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quote:
Originally posted by Nicolai Withander
Are the tablets just rules for the gods? I thought that they contained the fate of all. Hence the name "tablets of Fate" I mean that is realy a great power-up. to know the fate of any being of toril. That would be cool.
That would also require an entire fleet of Tablets, not just two. They were just rules, with a fancy name. |
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Gelcur
Senior Scribe
523 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jun 2008 : 14:12:13
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| If I remember correctly the tablets documented each deity's portfolios in the realms. Since at the end of the day Ao has final call if a deity could gain a portfolio or if they were serving their current ones up to par. I am not sure if it was every directly stated that this is what enforced the portfolios but it might make sense that the tablets dictated the "fate" of the portfolios in the realms. |
The party come to a town befallen by hysteria
Rogue: So what's in the general store?
DM: What are you looking for?
Rogue: Whatevers in the store.
DM: Like what?
Rogue: Everything.
DM: There is a lot of stuff.
Rogue: Is there a cart outside?
DM: (rolls) Yes.
Rogue: We'll take it all, we may need it for the greater good. |
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ShadezofDis
Senior Scribe
402 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jun 2008 : 15:38:58
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| I think the lore can support either stance easy enough but I do think the intent was to have the Tablets of Fate be basically like a graduation document. Doesn't really mean anything, it's just the written documentation of the fact you graduated. It's easily replaced and holds no real power in and of itself. |
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Tablets of Fate info
