#Abeir-Toril

[y-rhywbeth2]

I've seen a few older players who really don't like Durge, and I expected to be one of them tbh. But their whole "living weapon" thing, the identity crisis of being artificial and having no connections outside of Bhaal, and being a reaction to/foil to Charname grew on me. I was going to play Durge regardless (I wanted to play a bloody Bhaalist before they took the cleric option out, and I certainly wasn't going to complain about playing a Bhaalspawn and being able to explore it differently to Charname's story - but I assumed I was going to have to headcanon in a different backstory). But I love my little edgelord dearly and won't trade him for the world.

I do tone down Durge's "uniqueness" though. From observation, they're not inherently different to other Bhaalspawn in any way that actually matters anyway, simply raised in unique circumstances compared to their siblings (carrying more divine essence and receiving Daddy's full attention and control now that there's nobody left to share these things with).

[spacebarbarianweird]

What about Astarion X Dragonborn!Tav headcanons?

This one was really tricky! I had to spend some time reading about the Dragonborn. Hope you will enjoy it

Apparently, Dragonborns in DnD are more mammals than reptiles. They are warm-blooded and have human-like biology (except for laying eggs). 

Masterlist

Headcanons

Astarion x Dragonborn!Tav

There is the thing about you two, a literal dragon and an elf.

Dragonborns are from a different world, Abeir, and arrived in Toril only during the Spellplague, only a century ago.

Rare in number, exotic, scary.

Astarion had to sleep with thousands of people. Humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes, name it yourself.

Any possible relationship is tainted at best.

But Astarion was never forced to sleep with Dragonborns.

They were never among the victims. Ever.

When he is with you, he can forget.

Being with you doesn't awake unpleasant memories.

Your skin is covered with beautiful scales, and your dragonlike face doesn't show humanoid emotions.

You are different. Alien. Gorgeous.

You are much bigger than him and stronger.

Sometimes, when you hug Astarion, you are afraid to break him as if he is made of crystals.

Your thick fingers and claws are nothing like his delicate palms.

When you caress his hands, you fear hurting him, ruining his perfect silk-like skin.

Often you carry Astarion around in your hands or on your shoulders - he is almost weightless to you.

You are warm-blooded, but the temperature of your body is much higher than that of other humanoids. It feels feverish, and the most of the non-dragonborns you meet refuse to touch you since your scales are just too hot.

But that's exactly what Astarion needs.

He is always cold, the freezing grip of death owns his undead heart.

You are basically a walking heater to him. When you sleep, he just cuddles you, stealing as much warmth as he needs.

And you also feel comfortable with something cold in your hands

Astarion loves your scales. He often washes you, seeing water streaming down your muscled body.

Your blood tastes different - it has fire in it, and it burns in a good way.

Like all the Dragonborns you are good with arts and especially crafting. You make jewelry for Astarion - mostly something Elven-coded.

You treat him like your own beautiful princess you saved from a monster.

And he answers with love and care you would never expect from non-Dragonborn.

Besides, your ancestors were slaves, bred, and exploited for the sake of Draconic Lords - you've never been a slave yourself, but the hatred toward evil masters is innate.

Eventually, you take Astarion home, to Tymanther, a displaced kingdom on the far east of Faerun.

You make him a part of your kin, so, once you are gone, he still has a place to belong.

--

--

@tragedybunny @caitlincat-95 @tallymonster @astarionsbeloved @lumienyx @fayeriess @elora-the-slutty-songstress @veillsar @astarion-imagine-archive @micropoe10 @starlight-ipomoea @herstxrgirl @theearthsfinalconfession @ashrio20 @not-so-lost-after-all @vixstarria @wintersire @marcynomercy @tugoslovenka

[thelongestway]

hey no shade but you know dungeon meshi isn't actually based off dnd right? there are definitely some overlapping concepts and it can be fun to analyze it through a dnd lens but really it's its own homebrew fantasy setting. just checking bc i nearly got in an argument w someone over dungeon meshi lore the other day only to realize it was because they were trying to apply dnd lore to it ahahaa

Oh yeah, absolutely, it's its own thing. You don't even have to go far to show how it's its own thing: for one, the whole set-up with the dungeons being what they are isn't found anywhere else in D&D-inspired material that I know. You could maybe reflavor Halaster's Undermountain to something like the Dungeon Meshi dungeons, but that would be another layer of homebrew. That said, I do have the feeling that Ryoko Kui grew up on the same kind of D&D material that I did - stuff like Elminster's Ecologies, or old school Greyhawk materials. Her story genuinely feels like an AD&D game run by an old-school DM, maybe even earlier in the editions (hi, Chilchuck and "I'm a rogue, I'm not gonna fight"!). I don't mean that she follows D&D canon in any meaningful sense--her stuff isn't set in Greyhawk, nor on Abeir-Toril, nor on Krynn, etc. But I do think she's someone who's inspired by old school stuff, even as she makes her work thoroughly her own.

An acquaintance of mine once wrote that long tabletop games gain a quality that she called "being well-trod". This is when the players and DM are so familiar with the world they live in that it becomes, well, lived-in. They don't need to look up rules anymore to extrapolate: they understand the logic of the setting, and they get the same kind of intuitive feel for the world that we do when living in our own world, in real life. A feeling of where the boundaries lie, and how things work.

This is how I feel about Dungeon Meshi and D&D. It feels like a work written by someone who walked the same paths that I did, and whose work is therefore both new and startlingly familiar. That's it in a nutshell, but then I also wrote a bunch of examples, which got very long, so cut for length and spoilers!

I wrote somewhere in the tags on my Dungeon Meshi posts that it's incredibly surreal reading a story that seems to be informed by the exact materials that you base your own homebrew games on. Kui takes her work in a wholly different direction than I did - but the disparate elements of the story would fit in like a glove, because they're based on similar logic. I could quite literally take any of the ecologies elements of Dungeon Meshi and put them into a given module I'm running, and it would need less adaptation than 5e material. And most of the cultural/racial elements of Dungeon Meshi? That, too. Where it's not a one for one match, it would so easily be explainable by "different continent".

Let's take the example you're probably here from: the Canaries and elves in general, and let's take elves in general first. In D&D, there's been a switch in models of elven aging throughout the years: from "they are literal babies up until 60-ish, and then have 40 years of actual adolescence" to "yeah they grow to full adult size at about the same speed as the other races, and are then just culturally considered too young to make their own decisions". I am decidedly not a fan of the second model - I think it takes away from the cool biologies early D&D thrived on. BG3's treatment of Astarion's age of death, for instance, keeps throwing me. Yeah, I get it: it fits in with the edition they're working off, but I hate it. That's not how things work on our Faerun! But then we get to Marcille's backstory, and we see that she has the problems old school half-elves did, and you're like "oh, well of course someone invested in weird cool biology as an author would interpret elves like that." Her treatment of age makes sense to me. She makes the races as alien as possible, and hits that vibe of "D&D-style fantasy is its own thing, with its own set of rules" that I love. In contrast, and unlike any prototypes I know, Kui takes her half-foots in a different direction! They don't live longer than tall-men, they live shorter lives, closer to goblinoids. And I think it's for the same reason: because it's that much cooler to have different experiences of life in humanoid races. This is decidedly Not D&D, but it would absolutely fit into that vein.

With smaller details, I keep joking around here that the Canaries are grey elves, and of course they're not. But then Kui keeps putting in these tiny little details - which can be either nods to existing material, or the same extrapolations that other authors drawing upon high fantasy tropes have made. The white ships that have travelled all the way from Tolkien's Valinor to Evermeet and now to Shima. The fact that the Canaries have basically the right color scheme for grey elves threw me completely: I was not expecting that! Elves being that specific brand of destructive that they are - jeez, the Canaries would be right at home in Myth Drannor, or during the Crown Wars. So I joke around about these specific dolts a lot, and I am having an inordinate amount of fun seeing if my predictions that come from running a Myth Drannor game for a good long while now come true. And it goes on. Marcille doesn't prepare spells, and the magic here is obviously not Vancian. But Mithrun's teleport shenanigans are literally stuff I've done in games. The differences between races in D&D aren't because of wishes made by mortals; they're built in by gods for their own purposes. But the towns that spring up around anomalous spots and that have to deal with the weirdness have the same vibe. Kui draws on a more extensive tradition than just D&D, of course, but she transforms the tradition in a very similar way to old D&D. Of course the elves' magic in Kui's work does weird and creepy stuff with soulbinding and immortality; that's been their dark side since Tolkien and Celebrimbor's work with Annatar, and then it turned into stuff like elves regularly sacrificing their lives in high magic rituals in Faerun. Of course Senshi's backstory is about the dwarves that have dug too deep - but they are, of course, distinct from gnomes, and the gnomes are a peculiar and interesting breed of arcana specialists. Of course Chilchuck is a Burglar - but he works on dungeon delving unions, of all things! It's a familiar transformation, so the world makes sense to me, and I love it. So yeah. Tl;dr: not D&D ofc, but the vibe is there, and I am having fun with it.

Also - can you tell me about the argument? I am super curious, and I wonder if the person you were arguing with was working from 5e material.

[lunastrophe]

Drow Lore 🕷️ Drow First Mentioned (1e)

Drow officially became part of DnD universe in 1977, mentioned in Monster Manual by Gary Gygax. Their first description was very brief, presenting them simply as polar opposites of light-loving, good-natured elves from the surface:

Drow: The "Black Elves," or drow, are only legend. They purportedly dwell deep beneath the surface in a strange subterranean realm. The drow are said to be as dark as faeries are bright and as evil as the latter are good. Tales picture them as weak fighters but strong magic-users.

In another fragment, it is mentioned that drow might be responsible for creation of the sahuagin:

The tritons, however, are purported to have stated that sahuagin are distantly related to the sea elves, claiming that the drow spawned the sahuagin.

And... nothing more.

Things like the first version of the history of the drow, first proper descriptions of drow abilities and equipment, first descriptions of drow city, mentions of Lolth and her evil cult - all this stuff was published a bit later, in 1978, in several Dungeon Modules for Greyhawk setting.

The World of Greyhawk is also a DnD setting, but different from Forgotten Realms. Basically, it is a part of Realmspace, but on a different planet than Faerûn (Greyhawk - planet Oerth, Forgotten Realms and Faerûn - planet Abeir-Toril). Forgotten Realms setting officially became a thing after 1987.

By the way, the first drow city ever mentioned in official DnD sources was...

...NOT Menzoberranzan 😉

It was Erelhei-Cinlu, located in Greyhawk's Underdark:

For more of my drow lore ramblings, feel free to check my pinned post 🕷️

[elfyourmother]

before I start posting more of my bg3 stuff here I really need to warn people that I approach this game not as someone new to any of this but as someone for whom the original bg trilogy (1+2+tob) is deeply meaningful, and pretty much all of my grievances w 3 stem from how larian treated most of the legacy lore and characters (poorly. as an understatement.). I realize some of that was just them building on the atrocious way wotc finally decided to canonize the old games in FR, but shit like the character assassination of sarevok anchev (one of my favorite characters of all time) is entirely on them.

it’s not only that, it’s also that I’ve been playing in the Realms sandbox as a whole for more than half my life at this point, since I was a tween in the 2E golden age. I cut my teeth worldbuilding w Abeir-Toril. even had wotc not literally lost the plot in 4e, my Realms look very different after 30 years of worldbuilding and storytelling through the various tabletop campaigns I ran for years, my fic, and 20+ years of crpg games set in FR not just from the original BG trilogy, but even earlier in the old SSI gold and silver box era of Curse of the Azure Bonds and the like.

in short, I have a very old and very deep history w FR that predates larian’s entire existence as a game studio much less this 1 game they made in it. this game is simply an opportunity to go home again and add another link on the charm bracelet.

so. in keeping with ed’s mantra, the faerûn Gisèle inhabits is uh. different. eg durge is not a thing, was never a thing, will never be a thing. (in the interest of not upsetting folks, I’ll keep my feelings on it to myself). eg. my loviatar has always resembled lady kushiel much more than the caricature of fevered neckbeard fetish dreams, even before ed set the record straight on her church. but too there are constant references to my older lore and stories from the previous crpgs, and not only baldur’s gate—she is my reincarnated CHARNAME, but she also fled to Lith My’athar and trained under my hero of Undrentide, which becomes very relevant when she sets thousands of vampire spawn free in the Underdark. She also knows the True Name of Mephistopheles because of this association, which gives her leverage when dealing with his son. And so on. Everything is deeply connected.

That might make it a little opaque for some, but that’s nothing new for me lol.

[andromedasummer]

knowing forgotten realms lore while playing bg3 is so fucking funny because there are things the characters should know about and talk about that are just. not discussed. Tiamat tried to break out of hell and wreak five-headed-dragon-havoc on the realms and that is arguably not even the most whack thing that has happened in the past few decades. Gale talks about wanting to usurp Mystra if you fuel his ambition which is fucking insane considering he should know DAMN WELL what the spellplague is. you want spellplague 2, fucker? again? again? we gonna have entire land masses swapped out with the alternate universe primordial planet again? we gonna kill half the planets pantheons and turn magic into an all killing blue light that drives any magic user insane? blow up all smokepowder on the planet again? again???? this isnt distant fucking history it started in 1385 and only ended in 1395 when Mystra was resurrected and the Second Sundering brought back most of the gods and also de-merged Abeir-Toril. Baldur's Gate 3 happens at least just after 1492. thats less than a hundred years ago. thats in every single races (save humans and tieflings) lifetime. astarion lived through the spellplague. halsin lived through the spellplague. jahiera lived through the spellplague. it SUCKED. why do you want this AGAIN. GALE???

[tarisbackyard]

So in BG3 you can find what appears to be a fresh corpse of an adult dragonborn Bhaalspawn.

All Bhaalspawn where sired before Bhaal bit the dust in 1358 DR.

Dragonborn are originally from Abeir, which in simple terms was a parallel dimension to Toril, that was cut off from Toril, and only very slowly started to merge with Toril's dimension during the Era of Upheaval (1358 DR - 1480s DR), which then got rapidly finalised in the Second Sundering in the 1480s. — Afaik there where no dragonborn on Toril in Bhaal's initial lifetime.

The last two Bhaalspawn - Abdel Adrian and Viekang - canonically died in 1482 DR, as per Murder in Baldur's Gate. Their deaths released the last of Bhaal's essence, which is what allowed Bhaal to return, as per Alaundo's prophecy. — Theoretically if any Bhaanspawn remained alive at that point, then only because they managed to rid themselves of Bhaal's essence prior to this event, which would include Sarevok who lost his Bhaal essence when he first died, and then was resurrected without it, and possibly Imoen, who is given the option to purge Bhaal's essence from herself at the Throne of Bhaal.

BG3 takes place 1492 DR.

Dragonborn reach physical maturity around age 12 and die around age 80.

This raises entirely too many questions.

[blaurascon]

been hyperfocusing on 5e dragonborn lore and absorbing as much as i can and i had a realization last night

astarion's been undead longer than the dragonborn of tymanchebar in abeir have been free (~200y, dragonborn rebellion) and longer than the dragonborn have existed on toril (~100y, spellplague)

it's kind of wild to think about. 200 years is a long time. very fun to think about hrravak coming to this realization (i do not think she would take it well)

[robothyenawasteland]

I think a contributing factor to this ongoing OGL mess is Hasbro/WotC higher-ups conflating “dnd” with “Dungeons & Dragons.”

We’re really talking about two things here. There’s one thing: a tabletop roleplaying rules system for playing out fantasy-themed scenarios with dice, figurines, and character sheets.

And then there is THE FORGOTTEN REALMS©, a proprietary fantasy setting featuring creatures like beholders©, Githyanki©, and the dreaded mind flayers©, not to mention fan-favorite characters like Drizzt Do’Urden©! THE FORGOTTEN REALMS takes place on the continent of Faerûn©, on the planet Toril©, which used to be called Abeir-Toril©, which was the case until the dreaded Spellplague©--

You get the idea. From the perspective of ‘the suits,’ they’ve watched DnD take off since the advent of 5th edition, as the game expanded beyond what was previously thought possible. What triggered it? The OGL, certainly, allowing people to make third-party content for the game (most of it not Forgotten Realms). Critical Role (also not Forgotten Realms) played a part. Probably, to a certain extent, sheer intertia. DnD, it turns out, is pretty good for playing fantasy-themed scenarios with dice, figurines, and character sheets. Incidentially, people sometimes pick-and-choose pieces of the Forgotten Realms(©) to include in their games. Sometimes people even use WotC’s first-party adventure books and tweak them to suit their needs. 

My sneaking suspicion is that the people at the top don’t really see it that way. To them, the visuals, the details, especially the Named Characters and Things, are one in the same with the rules system. The rules system is, indeed, quite secondary! Why, after all, would people be buying all these little WizKids DnD figurines, signing up for DnDBeyond, if they were not having canon-appropriate adventures in The Forgotten Realms©, in cities like Waterdeep© and Baldur’s Gate©?

To them, the OGL constitutes people being able to muck about and muddy the waters in their pond. Why, they might do things that cut against canon, possibly confusing readers who happen across them! This could be dreadful. This could damage the brand. And the brand is the Forgotten Realms and the characters, creatures, spells, and scenarios therein, all of which are ripe for further use in movies, novels, video games, comic books, NFTs, and other stuff.

You might say, “How does OGL content conflict with Hasbro/WotC’s official releases? It’s not like a third-party is going to release a competing film, or something that could challenge their market dominance.” You aren’t thinking like a corpo (that’s from Cyberpunk). Consider Nintendo’s highly litigious stamping-out of fan content. Disney’s ironclad control over images of the Mouse. Neither have anything like the OGL, of course, but similar logic animates the DnD situation: things which could pose a problem should be stymied before they can ever become a problem. An unsecure (from their perspective) OGL is a time bomb waiting to blow, with the potential for someone to make a lot of money using their rules (rules which, remember, exist in subservience to their copyrighted settings) in a way that undermines their careful image management.

So, I think that’s why they want to corral the OGL into something more secure, from their perspective. Why risk it, when the thing you want more than anything is a customer base that sees it the way you do, a rules-system and setting that cannot be unspooled from one another?

(If you want my other opinion, its that Hasbro is a publicly-traded company, and DnD is now a significant chunk of their revenue, and that means Line Must Go Up, or Investors Get Mad.)

[ravnloft]

in light of patch 7 potentially breaking saves, here are some vanilla tavs i have had percolating

noor: half-drow spore druid who is almost definitely stoned at any given time

blair: halfling going through her goth wiccan phase

ta'wari: gith monk who becomes immediately ride or die for abeir-toril

mauris: dwarf ranger dad friend

sybille: divination wizard who romances wyll (the uncertainty of their future! augh!)

gnoor: gnome noor

neferaxi: green dragonborn who is essentially a bipedal alligator

pampeliska: human bard who is just. just trying his best. he's like 17. everyone be nice to him he only knows hot cross buns

[y-rhywbeth2]

Gods and Clergy: Bane

Link: Disclaimer regarding D&D "canon" & Index [tldr: D&D lore is a giant conflicting mess. Larian's lore is also a conflicting mess. You learn to take what you want and leave the rest]

Religion | Gods | Shar | Selûne | Bhaal | Mystra | Jergal | Bane #1 | Bane #2 | Bane #3 | Myrkul | Lathander | Kelemvor | Tyr | Helm | Ilmater | Mielikki | Oghma | Gond | Tempus | Silvanus | Talos | Umberlee | Corellon | Moradin | Yondalla | Garl Glittergold | Eilistraee | Lolth | Laduguer | Gruumsh | Bahamut | Tiamat | Amodeus | The rest of the Faerûnian Pantheon --WIP

Well, I did the murderhobos, might as well cover the deity and daily business of our favourite hot-topic-shopping dictator and co. now? Ahahahahaaaaa There is too much goddamn material on Bane, I'm going to kill Ed Greenwood-

Intro: If you're not consumed with fear and hatred while trying to take over a city which you intend to rule with cruelty and an iron fist then this is not the religion/political party for you. If this is not the religion/party for you, please lower your neck so that I can attach this slave collar to it.

Banites: The hierarchy and rituals and stupid toys of the church of Bane is what you get when Lawful Evil and Lawful Stupid have a horrible, overcomplicated offspring called Lawful Sadistic. Bring me the avatar of Bane I'm going to stab this fucker Also, being goth is mandatory.

Dreadmasters: More teleporting! Bossy, immune to fear and fond of magic rods. Also, do you remember that "divine oath" Durge and Gortash swore...?

The Chosen: Should be way more impressive than what we saw in game. Forging unbreakable oaths! Pet beholders! Detachable shadow spies! Etcetera!

Bane: Boy, the world (and my sanity) would've been a much better off if this dude had gotten intensive therapy instead of divine power!

(This thing is too fucking long and should perhaps be split into two posts but ooooh my god am I not editing this anymore.)

---

Bane's clergy often hear their god whispering his dogma in their dreams:

"Serve no one but me. Fear me always - and make others fear me even more than you do. The Black Hand always strikes down on those who stand against it in the end. Defy me and die - or in your death find loyalty, for I shall compel it. Submit to my will, [as uttered by my ranking clergy] since true power can only be gained through service to me. [Spread the dark fear of Bane.] It is the doom of those unguided by me to let power spill through their hands. [Those who cross the Black Hand meet their dooms earlier and more harshly than those who worship other deities.]" - Bane's Dogma [with 14th century addendums in brackets]

Bane is basically the quintessential villain of the Realms. When a person pictures the face of evil, they picture this god and his followers.

The most important thing to know about Bane and his religion, in my opinion, is summed up here:

"The summons [from Ao] had come wearing the face and form of that which each of the gods feared most. [...] To the Black Lord, Bane, the summons came in the guise of absolute love and understanding, its light searing his essence as it carried him from his kingdom." - Shadowdale

You want to give one of the most evil bastard in the pantheon a panic attack? Give him a hug.

Following a brief version of a backstory that has been given for him; the mortal who would be Bane was born on Abeir, Toril's linked twin planet/parallel universe. There he was a nameless battle slave to Maram of the Great Spear - an ancient primordial being of absolute evil whom the Netherese had summoned into the world, where it broke free and started inflicting horrors upon the world. While in the service of said horrifying evil, the young slave nurtured ambitions of having absolute power for himself.

While on Toril he teamed up with his two future frenemies, Bhaal and Myrkul, and they killed (or possibly subjugated) his master and took his power for themselves, before heading off to nag Jergal for his job. After bickering, the ex-slave known only as "the Bane of the Ancients" wins the draw and gets to be what he always wanted - the epitome of tyranny with godlike power. The next step for him is to conquer the mortal world and destroy all the other gods so that none have power and control over him.

Banite religion is founded on the principle of making Bane's dream of global domination possible. Every Banite is a link in the chains of Bane's power. What they rule, he rules. All Banites strive to take over something (village, city, kingdom, army, whatever). All Banites are expected to aid and obey their superiors in this domination.

When in control, a Banite is to use their power to "further the cause of hate, fear, destruction and strife." Doing so within the control of the law is preferable, but chaos is tolerated as long as that chaos is wielded as a tool with perfect control. You can get voted into power by stirring up people's fears of minorities, or start the apocalypse and present yourself as the saviour - but you must not be overwhelmed, or you have failed.

The world is divided into slaves who have no power and exist to serve, and the powerful who command them. Bane is the rightful master of all and all are to serve him, and by extension his followers (those with the strength to seek, take and hold power), willingly or by force. Control is the key virtue in the eyes of the faith. Always be in control and/or be controlled by somebody more capable/deserving of power than you. As their lessers are expected to obey every order perfectly, the superiors are expected to be competent in their leadership and wield perfect command.

Banites pride themselves on being cold and decisive in all that they say and do. They also enjoy cutting sarcasm. It's vital to appear in command of yourself and the world around you - shouting, loss of temper and other outbursts of behaviour that suggest a lack of control/power are avoided like the plague. Two Banites on the brink of killing each other may appear to be in the midst of only a polite, but insistent disagreement.

Bane used to enjoy watching his power hungry idiots backstabbing each other to climb the ranks while overzealous worshippers splintered into factions and started killing each other (most notably a divide between the divine-magic based orthodoxy and the arcane-magic based reformers/"Transformers".) Then Mystra technically killed him during a fight with Torm in the Time of Troubles, and Cyric took over his church. When Bane made a comeback in the 14th century he immediately decided they wouldn't be doing that anymore. Now it's an united rigid hierarchy from top to bottom, and Banites are a well organised, well equipped unit.

The laws of the heathens are irrelevant, but a Banite who gets caught breaking those law trying to achieve their goals is expected to suck it up and do the time for failure - unless they've been doing such a good job that everybody's too far under their control to try and punish them for it, in which case great job. A+ in Bane worship.

Banites typically establish themselves in an area by finding a location out of sight of a civilisation and building a fortress, where they build their power until they are too strong a force to drive off. Taking over an existing fort is also a possibility. The temple is run like a military base: spartan, with only tapestries showing Bane's symbol and religious texts on it for decoration. The courtyard is meant for military drills and rituals, and there's a mass hall for dining and holding prayer. They like pointy architecture. And black. Oh, and the torture basements! Can't forget those. It's also where they keep a variety of trained monsters in pens. You may end up sharing your cell with a displacer beast or something, but don't worry about it.

Banites have a secret network of teleporting spells. The actual "portals" will be any space of stone big enough to stand on, which are magically connected to other points (also stone). If you stand on one and speak the correct password, then it will teleport you to the destination designated by that password. There are no spells or barriers that can prevent the teleporter from arriving at their destination. Banites can bring others along with them if they are physically connected when the password is said. They can't bring more than 100lbs of inanimate matter with them.

All are welcome to convert to Bane. There will be an interview where your intentions are checked, although if it turns out you're not actually evil-aligned you can still join. There's a good chance that they'll use magic to turn you into an "incorruptible champion of evil and uncompromising disciple of order" anyway; "for Bane recognizes the value of those who have seen the lure of good and turned away from it to serve evil."

Or just use dark magic to twist you from a person into a weapon/guard/servant bound to the service of Bane anyway.

Banites are also able to ensure loyalty with a magically binding divine oath called the Dark Promise, cast by his favoured priests (Dreadmasters). It's an old spell, back from the early days when Bane was a new god and his followers were vulnerable, and is not used as often. When the spell is cast and the oath is made, a set of circumstances are set into motion that targets of the spell must follow to the letter. The promise must have Bane's interests at heart and the conditions and stipulations cannot be endanger the individuals' lives. If the oath is violated, it drains the oath breaker's life force. The damage done by this spell cannot be healed, and if the oath breaking does not cease then they will die.

Bane is one of the few exceptions amongst the gods in that his worshippers are all henotheistic rather than polytheistic. Banites consider worship of other deities "foolish," Bane is the only master you should truly serve. All under Banite rule will be forced to convert to the worship of Bane. They are however willing to cooperate with the followers of Loviatar (pain), Talona (disease), Malar (predation), and Mask (thievery) as Bane has terrified these gods into allying with him. From a certain school of Banite thought, this means that they and their followers are part of the chains of Bane's will (the gods/faithful in question probably wouldn't agree). Bhaal was, or perhaps still is, a servant of Bane and he and Myrkul have also been counted amongst Bane's allies in the past, despite their tendency to squabble, so cooperation with Bhaalists and Myrkulites is not unimaginable when it serves both their deities.

Banites do not get on so well with... anybody, but they particularly hate worshippers of Ilmater (compassion), Tyr (justice), Helm (non-Banite order), Lathander (optimism/renewal), Torm (champion of the innocent), Oghma (knowledge) and Mystra. If they get their hands on one they'll usually torture them and leave their mutilated bodies somewhere for the distressed public to find. Bane and Cyric are still at war, both due to humiliation and the fact that they're still fighting over areas of divine power that the other has stolen/reclaimed from the other, and the corpses of Cyricists that fall into Banite hands are usually found with "heretic" branded on their foreheads as a warning to others who worship the usurper.

Banite clergy are expected to always be armed, and it is mandatory that you at least wear something black at all times. For ceremonial purposes, Banites wear black armour or robes with a blood-red cape. Wizards like to enchant their robes so that they swirl and give off illusions of glittering with "black stars" and have blood dripping off the hem. The higher in the ranks you go, the fancier the clothes get. Banites used to have facial tattooing, although this made them rather easy to identify and kill off when Cyric took over and some purges took place. The highest ranking Banites can be identified by a gem that they wear on their forehead. Banites are not expected to wear anything that would identify their religious affiliations if it would get them persecuted, but they do like decorating their clothes with spikes and are are expected to dress in a certain specific colour that I'm getting sick of typing out. When Bane rules the world we will all be dressing as goths under threat of execution...

Each priest has a ceremonial staff denoting their rank, which they will have at these rituals. When a Banite dies they are buried with it. They are unenchanted and purely for ceremony, at most being used to light braziers. It starts with a simple black wood staff [level 1], which at higher ranks has an ivory skull at the top [lvl 2-4]. Higher yet they add silver plating, and the skull is the size of a fist [lvl 5], and the even higher level priests that skull has ram horns [lvl 6]. After that you get real human skulls! [at lvl 7+]! They're allowed to decorate theirs how they like, as well as adding enchantments. So gemstones, magic runes, etc.

Bane's holy symbol is the Black Hand, a symbol of terror recognisable to the entire Realms. Versions include a black handprint, a black claw or a metal gauntlet embedded with jewels. Priests usually wear a replica of the hand as a carved pendant of black stone. There is another Black Hand seen on his high-ranking priests: elbow-length gloves crafted of flexible metal mesh or chainmail, usually worn on the left hand. It emits an eerie dark radiance, i's supposed to be black, and a non-Banite found wearing one can expect every Banite on the planet to hunt them to the ends of the world for this blasphemy (also it's about 50,000gp in value jfc). The gauntlet cannot be damaged by force and absorbs all spells of third level or less. Area of effect spells are not negated, but cannot affect the wearer. It can drain magic out of items, should the wearer touch them with intent to do so. The wearer can then discharge all of the absorbed magic into the body of another by touching them, causing them damage. They can also paralyze undead and living beings via touch.

To question or disobey a superior is to question or disobey Bane himself, and is answered by torture, disfigurement and/or death. The word of a Banite of superior rank is law, and you will do literally anything they ask you to do.

Banites have invented a magic whip (a mystic lash) that does all sorts of fun nonsense in case that happens. It's made of glowing red energy. If the priest needs their hands free then the whip can actually wield itself (need to scourge that annoying initiate, but you don't want to look up from your book? Then good news!) If the wielder choses, a lash of the whip may cause one of the following; paralysis, memory loss, seizures, extra damage plus the disintegration of equipment, or electrocution.

One is expected to greet those of higher rank by kneeling in front of them and kissing their boots

At the bottom of the hierarchy are the novices, who are addressed by the title of "slave." If they're good enough, Bane will send them a dream vision or manifest as a voice speaking from one of his altars - he will name them, and they are allowed to enter the first rank of the priesthood… of which there are 12 ranks with their own unique addresses, which everybody is expected to memorise. Disrespect to a higher rank will, as mentioned, involve insulting Bane and lead to torture, disfigurement and potential death.

The only time you're not expected to use the titles is when in the presence of heathens, Banites will address each other as Brother/Sister Faithful (when speaking to an equal/lesser) or Dread Brother/Sister (when addressing a superior).

Banites do not refer to each other by name, only by the name of their rank (unless there are too many individuals of the same rank. In the case you had a room full of Black Fangs, you would address them individually as Black Fang [Surname].) It's generally impossible for eavesdroppers to learn the names or personal details of a Banite.

The rankings are determined by character level, and are as follows:

Watchful Brother/Sister/Sibling

Deadly Adept

Trusted Servant

Willing Whip

Hooded Menace

Black Fang

Striking Hand

Vigilant Talon

Masked Death

Dark Doom

Higher Doom

Deep Mystery

The Deep Mysteries include the Deeper Mysteries… which have their own ranks! Secret, higher levels which are unknown to those of the first 11 levels who must address all higher ranking Banites as "Deep Mystery." There is no official means by which a Banite is bestowed this title, they bestow them upon themselves if they believe they should have the rank. The test lies in the fact that in order to keep the title their fellow Banites must also begin using them - in other words if you are not a pretender and truly have the power and authority to hold this title, then your siblings in the faith will follow.

The ranks of the Deep Mysteries, in order of authority, from lowest to highest:

Vigilator

Lord/Lady of Mysteries

Lord/Lady of the Hand

Imperceptor

Dark Imperceptor

Grand Bloodletter

High Inquisitor

The High Imperceptor is the Banite of highest rank of the Deep Mysteries, supreme living servant of Bane, and unlike the prior titles this one cannot be self-bestowed. I haven't seen any explanation for how it is bestowed, but I imagine Bane decides.

Banites don't bother with set holy days. We will have a holy day whenever the leading priest decides we're having one, and it will be called whatever they decide it is. This usually means a) somebody fucked up, time for a public punishment; or b) we've got an enemy/traitor, time for human sacrifice.

Rituals are to be held in as close to pitch darkness as is possible, gathered around the Black Altar (a wood table covered in a black cloth, a block of black stone - whatever, just so long as it's black so we can give it an ominous name). The Black Altar is to be made holy by having a replica of the Holy Hand of Bane floating above it (this too has to be black in colour). This is a levitating 6 foot tall stone hand that can sense alignments within a 60 foot radius, and it will attack good-aligned people on encountering them. When not in use it patrols Banite locations, seeking out spies and intruders and killing them.

And that the Seat of Bane will be placed in front of the Black Altar. The chair is black, its back is carved into the shape of a hand. Senior clergy sit in the throne when acting as Bane's voice for the rest of the congregation. So the leader of the area's Banites sits in the chair, and that means Bane is sitting in the chair. While sitting in it, the seated can read the thoughts of all beings within 90 yards. it can project a forcefield around the chair; can nullify magic in the area; allows the seated to see through illusions and invisibility; know the alignment of everyone present; allow the seated to speak with dead; and also conjure walls of fire. If the chair is knocked over, it causes a massive explosion of fire that kills everyone around it.

Then the party. With minimum partying and maximum solemn, ominous chanting and deep, heavy drum beats. Those guilty of disobedience or other failures will be chained to the altar and whipped in front of the congregation. And then there's the human sacrifice: "Sacrifices had to be humiliated, tortured, and made to show fear before dying to be acceptable to Bane, and they usually met their deaths through slashing, flogging, or being crushed by the Hand of Bane."

The traditional power base of the Banite faith was Zhentil Keep, the base of operations for the Zhentarim. The Black Network has once again been taken from Bane by Cyricists however, after the death of Fzoul Chembryl a few decades back - Fzoul was a Chosen of Bane and basically his favourite servant (who has since been made into a quasi-deity bearing some of Bane's divine power, that he may continue to serve) and Zhentil Keep is currently in ruins. The loss of the Keep (for a second time) destroyed Zhentarim power, and now they're mostly just a bunch of mercenaries with good connections on the black market trade routes (slaves, drugs, weapons, etc) as far as I can find.

-

The Dreadmasters are Bane's specialty priests, making up 10% of all Banites. Dreadmaster is a unisex title. They spend their time doing all the spellwork and making all the delightful inventions that have been giving me a headache. They have a stupid number of spells given to them. Nobody else's specialty priests have this many fucking spells.

They cannot feel fear from sources other than Bane

They can, however, project the feeling of absolute terror into every being within 10 feet of them, usually causing everyone to run screaming.

They can completely destroy the souls of the dying

Create extra evil undead

Create powerful, still sapient undead servants from dead Banites (from ghouls up to vampires)

Create animated suits of armour that serve the Banites, powered by people's souls

Make a warding symbol drawn with a mixture containing three drops of blood from a collection made by sacrificing 30 people. The ward is invisible and cannot be detected, and when activated it drains the life out of everyone present.

They have a supernatural knack for reading other's true moods and intentions They have a supernatural level of charisma and authority over their servants, who cannot help but be fanatically loyal

They are exceptionally skilled in the artificing of magical wands, rods and staves. When they use them the magic of the items is increased.

They're the ones who cast the stonewalk spells that make the teleport network run.

They're also the priests responsible for binding the Dark Promise.

-

"The Chosen of Bane are tyrants in every sense of the word, consumed with the quest for absolute power. Hand-picked by the deity of tyranny and fear, [they] are both charismatic and filled with hate [...] They seek only to rule with absolute, unchallenged authority over every living and undead create across the world."

They are unbothered by temperature, both hot and cold, as well as resistant to being burned or electrocuted.

They do not age, though they will still die at an age where they would've died if they did age.

Supernatural insight into motives and emotions, and a massive boost to their charisma.

They can mind control people, are immune to fear, can share this immunity with others or increase the fear they feel.

They can also cast gaes, which is basically exactly the same as the Dark Promise, but doesn't necessarily have to benefit Bane (blasphemous as that sounds).

They can summon undead beholders to serve them

They can grant their own shadows independence as an undead creature of the same name (shadows), While separate the shadow is free-willed, though the two remain telepathically linked.

They are served by a retinue of their own master's servants including: doppelgangers; helmed horrors; beholders; undead Banites; hell hounds; imps; displacer beasts; Banelar nagas (evil snake things with human faces)

-

Bane doesn't like using avatars, if he needs to manifest on Toril he just possesses people in positions of wealth and power who transform into handsome, yet "oily" looking black haired men as long as he's inhabiting them. The souls of these people are forced to watch as the god does what he wants. Once the body is "worn out" from all the punishment he puts them through (mortal shells, so fragile) he'll move to another evil or neutral mortal via touch.

If he strikes out with his gauntleted hand, then there is a good chance that the person stuck will drop dead.

In combat he warps the face into a more beastial visage. His hands become talons capable of "rending flesh and bone" and in the Time of Troubles when he was first forced to manifest as a normal human he immediately started editing the body into a more demonic visage although that might've been because he'd just crash landed in his own temple and destroyed it, and only had a few moments until his torture happy zealots turned up to find what seemed to be some random dude standing in the wreckage. He was in kind of a panic trying to make sure they saw Bane, God of Tyranny not... that.

His other manifestations as a pair of blazing red eyes staring out from the darkness, and a black, taloned hand which was the temperature of ice to the touch. They work exactly like his other manifestation.

Bane sometimes announces his presence, and that he is paying attention to you, with the sudden manifestation of the giant footprint of a boot, scorched into the earth. He shows his approval of his followers through their sudden discovery of a black sapphire. His disapproval is shown through the sudden appearance of red carnelian, ground into dust.

He is served by various devils, beholders, death tyrants (the undead remains of beholders that failed him), black dragons, banelar nagas and pride incarnates

Bane can cast any spell at will, save those that heal or create.

Bane was slain in the Time of Troubles. After his death his followers had an even bigger row between those who were loyal to Bane (orthodoxy) and those who worshipped his portfolio instead of the god himself and switched to Cyric. Many of the Orthodoxy began worshipping Iyachtu Xvim the Godson, son of Bane (whose mother was either a fiend or a fallen human paladin, nobody's sure).

Xvim was doing a pretty ok job in his nascent godhood up until 1372 DR, when Bane hijacked the essence of himself he'd left in his son and destroyed him - being reborn within his body and immediately regaining the rank of Greater Deity. About a few years following the Bhaalspawn Crisis, the year where Bhaal was supposed to be reborn from the death of his kids but failed.

Bane went on to continue being one of the most infamous, powerful and dangerous gods on Faerûn up until the Second Sundering, when suddenly we've got confusion.

In BG3 canon, the Dead Three are clearly greater than quasi-deity status. Due to new rules that WotC pulled out of their ass, gods of lesser deity status or higher cannot manifest avatars. Bane can still empower clerics and have Chosen, so he's most likely still a Greater Deity in BG3.

In Descent into Avernus, the Dead Three are apparently quasi-deities now, forced to exist in permanent avatars on Toril and unable to grant spells of have Chosen.

I think this nicely explains what I mean when I say D&D has no fucking "real" canon, it's all just a mountain of everyone's headcanons.

[maddmuses]

Alexstrasza, The Crimson Justice

(Sauce)

Aliases: The Lifebringer, The Crimson Justice, Species: Dawn Titan (Draconic) Ethnicity: Red Divine Rank: Variable, as a sleeping god her power is more akin to that of a quasi-diety with her avatars, aspects, chosen, and worshipers having to take action while she's in this state, though at her peak wakefulness she operates as a Greater deity (Rank 16-20) Divine Alignment: Neutral Good (With A Neutral Bias) Portfolio: Life, The Longevity of Dragons, Elemental Fire, Red Dragons Symbol: A Golden Spiked Effigy of a Phoenix-like Creature

Verse Details Asgorath The Ninefold Dragon is a being of many stories and myths in Toril and Abeir alike, and much like those of other such creatures, many are quite true. And much like Bahamut and Tiamat, Alexstrasza represents one of their various extremes, one of the nine folds.

The Lifebringer is believed to have brought about all dragons, breathing into them the flame that gives them long lives, and creating all life across the worlds in the wake of the sundering. Despite definitional status as a Titan, as is the others of her kind on Abeir, she is worshipped as a goddess on Toril by a great many dragons and draconic beings, or at least revered for her control and bestowal of their flames and long lives. But, due to her status as a creature of two worlds, she is often trapped in a deep slumber, her true body resting among the secret places of Elysium, she rouses and slumbers at various times, and when prayers in her name become more certain.

Instead, the many avatars and aspects of the dragon wander the multiverse, carrying out her desires, and advocating for others, while maintaining the flow of the life's flame with normalcy. In this sense, she is an ally of gods such as Kelemvor and Lathander, who encourage and foster this process as-naturally, but the bitter enemy of the likes of Vecna and The Dead Three (particularly Myrkul) who often sought to usurp her and her control over life.

Her most frequent forms are known to be that of a beautiful elven woman, with horns and other qualities akin to a half-dragon, who is known and feared as a powerful sorcerous. That of a mighty dragon, believed to be a reflection of her true form within the ninefold, and that of a simple half-elven young woman, strikingly similar to that of her sorcerus form, but simply more unassuming, with a rustic appearance, and large front teeth.

Ability-Differences From Canon As a goddess, Alexstrasza is a being of great power, though her ability to leverage it outside of her divine realm is limited. Functionally, though, in every realm she controls the very fundamental force of life itself, manifest as a green, flame-like, energy that seems to fuel the existence of the soul. Through this she is able to cast magic without a weave, or at least without tapping directly into the weave to do so, as magic can come from this life.

As a Greater Goddess, Alexs is able to hold many chosen and lesser form beings with a portion of her divine spark, this may well prove to be why she is such a potent goddess, even when the likes of Tiamat would love to see her brought to heel, or otherwise take her power to solidify true control over all of Red Dragons.

[sledgehammer-to-a-discoball]

Durgetash, Fluff (?), Gore, (???), Pre-Canon.

[perahn]

2, 4, 12, 19!

Hi Quark! I had to do a few substitutions for yours, alas.

Jade asked 2, so 1: What was your Tav’s place of birth and raising like?

Varash’s hometown is a little monastery with attached town/support services (suitable githy syllables yet to be determined). It is fairly remote, as outposts in Limbo go, and insular even for the githzerai, who tend to be a bit wary of strangers; probably most of the inhabitants have never met a non-gith. In theory, the First Zerth of the monastery is the main authority of both monastery and town, but in practice it’s cooperative.

4 and 5 already done, so 6. What is your Tav’s favourite childhood memory?

Apart from that first day of falling in love with Faerûnian ecology – which was probably when she was thirteenish – I think most of her childhood was characterised by a quiet contentment without much by way of highs or lows. When she was recommended for an apprenticeship to the tor’jhra’karach, maybe? It was definitely an honour.

12. What opinion does your Tav have about the Gods?

Complicated! Forgotten Realms theology is a bit of a mess, and it’s really unclear how much sway the gods of Abeir-Toril even have over other Planes of existence, even though technically most of them have their own planar domains. Mask of the Betrayer suggests that even people who’ve never heard of the gods or lived in a reality where they’ve appeared are still subject to their judgement, which is a whole thing.

Culturally the githzerai seem to skew pretty secular, although there are temples in their capital city. Earlier editions have them worshipping Zaerith Menyar-Ag-Gith as a god-king and a Messianic relationship with Zerthimon, who led the civil unrest against Gith, but those editions also had the githzerai as basically indistinguishable from the githyanki, so I do not subscribe.

I think Varash is aware of the gods, and their messy histories, and the punishments for not worshipping them, but it doesn’t really become relevant to her until she comes to Faerûn. Then she’s travelling with people who have intimate and complicated relationships with their deities, and she starts to reflect on it all a bit more. Eventually she probably settles into a fairly Lawful Neutral perspective on them: they exist, they occupy their particular place in the ecology, better learn to live with it. She does, eventually, come to share something of Halsin’s devotion to Silvanus.

19 and 20 already done, so normally I’d go to 21 but I can’t work out how to answer it, so you get 24 instead: What first impression does your Tav give off to strangers?

Everyone thinks she’s a githyanki. EVERYONE. Now, you know and I know that this is because the game barely acknowledges githzerai exist, but it’s amusing to me, and it makes sense when the githyanki are out here raiding and riding dragons around and laying eggs on Faerûn, and the githzerai are tucked up in Limbo contemplating their navels.

If that gets dispelled (letting people think she’s githyanki is the very first lie of omission Varash learns to tell; Lae’zel and a crashing ship is an efficient teacher), the next impression is probably that she’s curious, nosey, or a very good listener, depending on whether they want to talk. Varash wants to know. Granted, sometimes she wants to know so she can decide whether you need to die, but she will always listen. Varash will always let the villain finish their monologue, and ask for clarification on any obscure points of motivation or course of action. There are several companions that this really annoys.

[leomonae]

Endgame spoilers follow!

My thought process, when I saw option 1 was still available:

Me: *scoffs* "Oh, no way in hell, my Tav would never fucking ask him for that right after what she just became, what kind of sadist - oh. Oh. Right, yes, mind flayers do tend to be rather sadistic by nature, don't they? Hmm."

Anyway my "peace and love on Planet Abeir-Toril" cleric of Ilmater has been a mind flayer for about a half hour now and she's already eaten three people's brains, things are going great.

(Astarion declined the kissing on the grounds that it just wouldn't work with my new mouth)

[faithcontinue]

Hi there! Dont know how to call myself in english, maybe JH briefly? English isnt my first language so sometime I couldnt express the correct meaning of what I said, yet. Get to the point. I'm about to put my bg3 fanart on Tumblr, mostly Durgetash.

Rencently I want to draw a comic strip with a modern Abeir-Toril background and I've already drawn two of them. I will continue update the article to enrich my series.

①

⑤ (maybe)

Here is the Chinese version of the above.

大家好！我还没想好怎么用英文称呼我自己，或许先简单叫我JH吧？英文不是我的母语，所以暂时地有时候我并不能准确表达我的意思。言归正传，我准备在Tumblr上放我的bg3同人作品，大部分是邪念/戈塔什的。

最近我想画一个现代艾伯尔-托瑞尔背景的系列，已经画了两张了。之后我会持续更新这篇文章来补充这个系列。

①如果他们相遇得更早一点

（或许是）⑤总之就是接吻的小年轻