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Razz
Senior Scribe
USA
749 Posts |
 Posted - 02 Jul 2010 : 18:50:08
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I remember reading, I believe in Demihuman Deities, about how there were female gnome gods but something tragic happened to them all that the male gnome gods have yet to speak about.
Any word officially on what exactly happened? Or is that something that'll stay as mysterious as the exact details of the Dawn Cataclysm?
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Gray Richardson
Master of Realmslore
USA
1291 Posts |
Posted - 03 Jul 2010 : 15:18:21
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| It's just one of those mysteries. Nothing official has been, or perhaps ever will be, written on the details, as far as I am aware. |
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Razz
Senior Scribe
USA
749 Posts |
Posted - 03 Jul 2010 : 22:54:07
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| Strange and also kinda sad. Is that NDA or no? If the FR designers don't need to use that story for anything, can an FR employee or Ed give an explanation? |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jul 2010 : 00:19:55
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Ed probably won't, because the 4e Realms have tied his hands on much he can speak about (who knows what strangeness they still plan for the deities?)
And the designers won't, simply because it is not in their best interest to do so.
So, in other words, add this to the long line loose-ends we'll now never see tied up.
For my money, they probably all split and went with the Dwarf Gods. 
Hmmmm... come to think of it... aren't Gnomes Fey now? Well, if we ever do see a Fey/Faerie supplement from WotC, maybe we will get some info after all. Doubt it though, even if said tome comes out. They don't really seem very interested in building upon past lore. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 04 Jul 2010 00:20:29 |
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Jakk
Great Reader
Canada
2165 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jul 2010 : 04:27:35
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quote:
Originally posted by Razz
Strange and also kinda sad. Is that NDA or no? If the FR designers don't need to use that story for anything, can an FR employee or Ed give an explanation?
It's not that they don't need to use the story for anything; it's that they need the story not to be used for anything. Just like everything else Realmslorian post-Spellplague. Realmslore is now like trans fat; the designers have to sneak it into their products if they want to give it to us. 
At least, that's how I see it; read the Living FR module design guidelines if you want evidence. |
Playing in the Realms since the Old Grey Box (1987)... and *still* having fun with material published before 2008, despite the NDA'd lore.
If it's comparable in power with non-magical abilities, it's not magic. |
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Gray Richardson
Master of Realmslore
USA
1291 Posts |
Posted - 04 Jul 2010 : 20:00:07
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I don't think it has anything to do with edition politics, and I don't think there's any reason to ascribe ulterior motives to the designers or WotC. It's simply a mystery. Ed has always said that it's important to create good mysteries and leave spaces in the lore for DM's to fill in their own blanks. He has always cautioned designers and authors not to reveal an answer to a mystery without creating a few deeper mysteries to leave in its place.
There's all sorts of reasons to leave a good mystery unsolved; you don't want to sacrifice a good mystery for just any old boring answer for the sake of checking it off a list. It is proper and good to have mysteries for the ages; the Realms should be a wondrous and mysterious place. How boring would it be if every question were answered and we could just wrap the whole thing up in a bow, declare it "complete" and put it away on a shelf, never to think of it again? I, for one, hope there are certain questions and mysteries about the Realms that are never answered.
In this particular case, I just think designers either liked the mystery hanging out there more than they cared to solve it, or no one ever pitched a good enough explanation worthy of resolving the mystery.
This leaves DM's room to craft a fun campaign for their players to seek the answers. If you have a gnome-centric party, they could go off to find the missing gods, or maybe a PC turns out to be a mortal incarnation of one of the missing gnome goddesses. There's all sorts of fun ways you could use this mystery in a campaign. |
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Barastir
Master of Realmslore
Brazil
1600 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jul 2010 : 12:52:00
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Agreed, Richardson.
The setting always lets many openings for DMs and game designers to explore. If some designer comes up with an interesting explanation or solution - translated into a good idea for a book or game accessory - the editors "buy the idea" and turn this story canon (in novel or game book format).
The first rule in RPG is that the DM always have the last word, and if he (or she) thinks that there was another solution to a mystery, it is always his (her) prerogative to do as he (she) please. It's most probable that a DM will not have all the accessories released in all of FR history, and even when most of the books are available, it's unlikely that their stories will always please everyone.
Now, about the female gnome deities, in the same Demihuman Deities it is written that "it is an ancient tradition of the Forgotten Folk that when a young gnome wishes to leave the close bonds of his or her community, even for a short period of time, that she or he avoid engendering a feeling of rejection in family and friends by attributing his or her wanderlust to a divine vision to search for the missing sister gods." So, they provided a social explanation to the legend AND left open an adventure hook. Quite a challenge, by the way!
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"Goodness is not a natural state, but must be
fought for to be attained and maintained.
Lead by example.
Let your deeds speak your intentions.
Goodness radiated from the heart."
The Paladin's Virtues, excerpt from the "Quentin's Monograph"
(by Ed Greenwood) |
Edited by - Barastir on 05 Jul 2010 12:58:13 |
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Female Gnome Gods?
