Forgotten Realms
Forgotten Realms is an official Dungeons and Dragons campaign setting created by Ed Greenwood circa 1967 for his little stories, but was not part of the official Wizards of the Coast lineup until 1987 and has since been supported by WotC through all four editions of the game. The setting is supported by hundreds of novels worth of lore by dozens of authors.
Setting
Set on the planet Toril, most of the Forgotten Realms source material focuses on the continent Faerûn. Faerûn is pretty similar to pre-industrial Europe, with the exceptions of all of that crazy fantasy stuff. There is a plethora nations, kingdoms, organizations, deities, and fully fleshed out NPCs that are ripe with political intrigue and conflict.
Abridged History
Creation
Ao creates the twin sister deities Shar and Selûne. Shar is evil and Selûne isn't. So naturally the hate each other. They swirl around in the void that is Realmspace for gods know how long until they accidentally create Toril and create a couple of gods, mainly Chauntea and Mystryl. The latter going on to die several times and become Mystra. Things just got out of hand after that and next thing you know, you've got your campaign setting.
Karsus's Folly
In -339 DR an archwizard named Karsus attempts to save the Netheril Empire by making the only 12th level spell in existence. The spell robs Mystryl of her powers and magic is for a short time really awesome, but then just goes wild. In short Karsus ruined everything for everybody on that day. Lucky Mystryl was there to sacrifice herself and put all of her powers into a young female wizard and rose again as Mystra. Marking the first in the goddess's long line of deaths and rebirths.
Times of Troubles
The Times of Troubles, also known as the Avatar Crisis, started in 1358 DR when the two deities Bane and Myrkul thought it would be a great idea to steal the Tablets of Fate from the over deity Ao. As punishment Ao banishes all of the gods to walk on Toril as mortals(except for Helm who was to guard the gateway back into the heavens) until whoever stole them felt bad and returned them. During this time Mystra got some of her power back and thought it would be a brilliant idea to challenge Helm to get back into the heavens. Helm wouldn't have any of it and and bitch slapped her down the Celestial Stairway. She hit the bottom and died in an explosion of magic. Eventually some mortals, Midnight(who went on to be the next Mystra), Kelemvor, Cyric, and Adon of Sune, fixed everything and they got be gods for a reward. Except for Adon of Sune, he really got the short end of the stick on the loot table for that encounter.
The Spellplague
In 1385 DR the goddess Shar had the god Cyric stab the goddess of magic Mystra. This caused giant pillars of blue fire to ravage Toril, killing untold masses and driving most wizards to madness. One of the few wizards to be unaffected by the event is Szass Tam, who continues to be a badass. To make matters worse, unlike the previous times Mystra has died she couldn't reincarnate. So instead of The Weave magic works on this lame Arcane Power Source. Oh and the setting jumps ahead 100 years and everything has gone to hell.
Interesting Side Notes
- Elminster has sex with Elvira who is polymorphed into a man.
- The world goes to hell in the 4th edition.
- Drizzt will outlive all of his friends and he cries about this often.
- Szass Tam, that's all.
