Morality in Faerûn and the EU.

[speaker_to_customers]

In ‘Tabula Avatar’ I’ve been examining some of the big questions in life. Does memory equal self? If the world had been created last Tuesday, complete with memories, fossils, and all the internal evidence to show that it had existed for 4.7 billion years, how would we know? And, the currently relevant question, how come those who start wars get to be regarded as the good guys?

Shar didn’t start the War of Light and Darkness. Selûne did.

The Drow didn’t start the Crown Wars. The Vyshaantar clan of Sun Elves did. Unfortunately the Court of Enquiry which cleared the Drow didn’t sit until 800 years after the Drow had been forced into the Descent. The Vyshaantari got away with it for 5,500 years before eventually being punished – a feat Radovan Karadžić would no doubt love to emulate.

All completely unfair and unjust. But at least there was never any prospect of the evil megalomaniac Ivosaar Vyshaan becoming the first President of the European Union.

Comments

[evilawyer.livejournal.com]

And now I feel like total shit for not having followed this story religiously from the get-go. Lots and lots of catching up to do for this rodent. As for your question, I suppose it all depends on how narcissistic the one asking the question is.

[averageshmoe.livejournal.com]

The question goes very far indeed. If we run with the concept of emerging selfawareness that you created early on, then the idea of "I think, therefore I am," takes on new significance. Would those characters realize not just the injustice of the situation as you described, but also that the events of antiquity that shape their current state are instead the recently written fictions for the course of the original role playing game.

If there is no justice in Nemesis, then is there any in suffering for the amusement of others.

It might be interesting to follow the vampires who crossed over into Sunnydale should they decide to have a long conversation with the people who composed the Realms.

I really wish I could be more relevant, but it's 3:00 AM and I am currently losing any sense of reality that I may have possessed.

pgavigan

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

One reason why Warren & Co are not keen on the idea of bringing Sorkatani & Co out of the game world to fight Bodhi is that they're terrified of what will happen if Viconia finds out that she was raped and buried alive as a piece of 'interesting back-story' for the character.

Rightly so.

[hawera.livejournal.com]

"But at least there was never any prospect of the evil megalomaniac Ivosaar Vyshaan becoming the first President of the European Union."

Might he not be an improvement upon what is currently being suggested?

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

It's close, but no. He's pretty much on a par with B. Liar.

[(Anonymous)]

While justice is a definite factor in the Realms, tons of bad things keep happening to good people. Even good people like Elminster tend to do questionable things ( like training Sammaster to be a Chosen, when he and Mystra *knew* that Sammaster couldn't handle it ).

It comes down to the question of how a world would function with living gods, which actively interfere with the affairs of mortals. We are kriffed up enough as it is with people on believing in a god... if there were real-world benefits to serving an evil deity, I think things would be much worse.

BTW, when will the next chapter of Tabula Avatar be out? I fear you will get sidetracked quite significantly with the imminent release of Dragon Age. :P

Magnus

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

We are kriffed up enough as it is with people on believing in a god... if there were real-world benefits to serving an evil deity, I think things would be much worse.

I don't. Read the Old Testament in its entirety. No god of the Realms, not even Cyric, Lolth, or Loviatar, can even come close to Yahweh for sheer unadulterated evil.

And no character in all the history of the Realms was as evil as Colonel the Reverend John M Chivington of the 3rd Colorado Volunteer Cavalry - theoretically a man of God.

Which brings me to your last point - at the moment I'm working on the next chapter of 'Came the Thunder', 1,700 words done so far, and I should get it done and posted during this run of 5 nights off work that starts tonight. I will be going back to 'Tabula Avatar' after that.

I have not the slightest trace of interest in 'Dragon Age' - it's not set in Faerûn and isn't even D&D.

[(Anonymous)]

speakr2customrs said: "I have not the slightest trace of interest in 'Dragon Age' - it's not set in Faerûn and isn't even D&D."

So is Stargate. ;)

Magnus

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

If Stargate SG1 had never been on TV but appeared for the first time as a CRPG I wouldn't be interested in that either. I really don't trust the world-building of games companies. Ed Greenwood had been developing the Forgotten Realms for 30 years before the first Baldur's Gate game came out. No way is a games company going to match that level of detail in something that they've knocked up in a year or two with accountants holding the reins.