#shadovar

[aureliaen]

rivalen tanthul, or shar's favorite chewtoy. once again, happy birthday @shadow-djinni 💚💚💚

[shadow-djinni]

handful of Rivalens I've doodled over the last couple weeks, feat. practicing a new coloring style

[tinselace]

Sharing my thoughts on The Erevis Cale Trilogy, The Twilight War and Godborn, written by Paul S. Kemp.

The Erevis Cale Trilogy

Despite not reading this series as first in the chronological order, it turned out to be very enjoyable to discover and better understand the characters from later books. I think a person can totally skip this series to The Twilight War, which I did and loved it without the feeling that I missed some major facts about the characters. While Erevis Cale was still the main character in The Twilight War, the events in this trilogy happened beyond his persona, so the book was more focused on the story, while The Erevis Cale Trilogy is very strictly focused on his development and his bond with his comrades. Reading it in the chronological order would surely enrich the connection between the reader-character and make you understand who these characters are in later books.   

Regarding one of Cale’s friends, I have to say that I feel there is a gap in Magadon’s character between the series. In this trilogy, he is quite OP with his psionics abilities, general intelligence and an eye for details. Also here he uses a bow and arrows in combat, instead of a mind blade. Nonetheless, I love him and care for him. I’m glad this series provided me with more takes on his characters. 

The antagonists of this series were really funny, in a good way. 

My rate 8/10

The Twilight War

I absolutely love this series. It has almost everything I would expect from a fantasy book. Every character with a more major role was enjoyable for me to read, no matter their allegiance. I liked how they standed out. But as I mentioned this trilogy is way more complex, lots of events happen that are beyond just the main characters. We have a glance at politics in part of Faerun, Sharrans culture, another perspective on Tanthul members that appear in other books, lots of fights and affairs of beings beyond the material plane. A good portion of lore for dnd freaks. This book really made me hate Shar. But the hatred is respectful. She is an amazing villain, wonderfully evil.  

Prince Brennus Tanthul… This man gave me butterflies in my stomach and made me more eager to read about Telemont Tanthul and the whole family. I usually don’t fall for characters in a way that I personally would like to date them, but he is one of the rare exceptions. I want to kiss him really bad. He’s my mysterious dark prince and I want to be mom to his two homunculi.

My heart also goes to Magadon, who is such a baby that needs protection in this trilogy. He is really being kicked in this series like no one else.  

Mephistopheles! Och, his characterization by Paul S. Kemp is absolutely a cherry on top for me. This is the Mephi I have in mind when I talk about him. It matches the energy of his portrayal from Neverwinter Nights as well. My obvious take is only that, there were not enough scenes with him! I want more! Although to be fair, I don’t feel like there was much more space for him. Maybe one more clearer dream Magadon could have had with him, but that’s all. In Godborn there were definitely way more opportunities for scenes with his presence. 

My rate 9/10

Godborn

I enjoyed this book, but I think I would have dropped it if I wasn’t crazy about Mephistopheles and didn’t read The Twilight War before, that made me care for the other characters involved. It was good read but I kept waiting for the appearnce of my fav characters from the previous stories. The first two series felt grand in the matters of changing places, the events happened on a bigger scale. In this book, the action is focused in one area and there is just lots of ‘walking’ from the perspective of different characters. I think the whole plot of this book takes action during 3 days at most?

The biggest issue I have with this book is that lots of space was taken for the introduction of a new character named Gerak. While he isn’t necessarily the worst written character, I expected his role to be far more important by the end. I was wondering why the writer writes so much about him and his wife, why does he want me to care for him? I’m honestly pissed off, that a character that wasn’t crucial in any way for the plot, took so much space, at the expense of the characters I already cared for. This character arc feels like a filler to make this story longer, or because the writer had no idea how to give other characters more scenes. And I’m mainly angry about the lack of Prince Brennus, Mephistopheles and Magadon. Like how can it be that Magadon, who played such an important role in each of these books, doesn’t have his epilogue scene, but some new character that was just a drag-along does? Disappointing.

I craved to see Mephistopheles curling his tail before Asmodeus' throne. A showcase of his rage after he was devoid of what he craved for. I resent this book for the lack of this scene. I rage.

The only thing I like about the ending is that while it closes all the events regarding this story, it leaves an opening to most characters' futures. It makes me wonder, how they fare in the coming years of Forgotten Realms.

My rate 5/10

Some general points.

Paul S. Kemp doesn’t know how to write romance. He writes nice sentences, but these moments seem so shallow, unconvincing, so basic as if the editor forced him to put some loving scenes. I don’t buy this “I feel like we are connected to each other” explanation. Varra, Cale’s romance ‘interest’ appeared in all of these series and she is so bland, devoid of personality she seems to exist only to… I’m not sure. Only so Erevis Cale has a girlfriend. 

I picked these books for Mephistopheles, but I grew fond of the dnd lore, story and characters as a whole. @drownedrow said that Erevis Cale reminds them of Batman, and as a big fan of Batman it would explain why I’m also so fond of this character. If you don’t like Batman, this ‘dnd version’ most likely won’t be to your taste either.

But if you would like to get some more lore on Netherese, Shar and Shadovars, The Twilight War and Godborn are worth reading.

For ppl who got into dnd in 5th edition, it’s worth to mention that Magadon despite being Mephistopheles’ son, is portrayed as a tiefling, since the books were released in the 3.5 edition of dnd. If I understood it right, Magadon was less than 40 and he physically (slightly) changed during all these series, so my personal hc is that he eventually changes into the full cambion image from 5th edition. Because aside from my shadow prince, he stays with me after these books. He deserved more, so he and Lorcan from Brimstone Angels will now kiss.

[relleytrots]

The irony is, Methven actually looks like this.

(by @rykhafirehand , as are the memes. depicted here having scrubbed up and been subjected to a mani/pedi so they could go to the opera)

[mybg3notebook]

Lore: The Netherese in 1492 DR

Disclaimer Game Version: All these analyses were written up to the game version v4.1.104.3536 (Early access). As long as new content is added, and as long as I have free time for that, I will try to keep updating this information. Written in June 2021. Detail: BG3 takes place in 1492 DR.

To understand what's the context around "Netherese magic" and, let's hope, its nature, I think it's of vital importance to know a bit about Netheril and what happened in recent years.

The game does a good job in showing us what happened with their fall at Karsus' hands. I explained in the post of "Well-known Characters" a good amount of information about him. His desire for godhood was a bit more complex than just wanting to be a god, even though the game shows it as blind arrogance and ambition: so far we know, it was Mystra who commanded her priests to spread this version of Karsus' Folly, as if he only wanted power alone. 

After Karsus' folly, all the floating cities of Netheril fell to the ground, destroying their population with them. However, only three cities were saved since they were too high in the air: their fall gave enough time for Mystra to be reborn in minutes and saved them. A fourth enclave, ruled by Telamont Tanthul—also called Lord Shadow—was teleported to the Shadow Plane (now called Shadowfell) days before the catastrophe. This was possible because Shadow Lord had been experimenting with the Shadow plane energies for a while. When he returned to Faerûn to see the aftermath of Karsus' folly, he recognised the need to stay in the other plane and gather strength to rebuild Netheril. After 1700 years, he started his plan for the return of his Civilisation in 1372 DR.

This is the context in which the trilogy of The Return of the Archwizards is set. This also belongs to 4e, which is one of the concepts that have annoyed more players, since this return made the Shadovars the Big Bad Evil everywhere. Maybe WotC wants to clean this aspect in the game. Maybe not. We don't know for sure. But we may suspect that Netherese people are returning in BG3: many details ingame keep giving context about them: Gale's explanation about Karsus' Folly, Excavation of the Enclave of Nhalloth (book), The Approachable East: Vol5 (book), and then the presence of Netherese magic not only in Gale's "orb" but in the tadpoles. 

I think it's worth checking the ingame book called “Excavation of the Enclave of Nhalloth”. Nhalloth was a Netherese city floating above the Sea of Fallen Stars in Faerûn. After Karsus' folly, it sank into the sea, claiming for some underwater creatures. As a consequence of the Spellplague, the geography changed, the waters lowered, and allowed a bit of exploration. Little was found, and explorers reported odd feelings and ghosts around it.

What do we know about the Return of Netheril in 1372?

These new Netherese people started to spread their influence in Faerûn, looking for Netherese old artefacts and spying on people and places that could possibly hinder their ultimate goal of creating a new Netheril in their image. But, were these people truly Netherese? The question comes from the fact that living creatures can't stay in the Plane of Shadow (currently merged with the Plane of negative energy which transformed it into the Shadowfell) without being affected by it. So, in an attempt to be short but still provide important facts I will numerate vital details of them that may become handy in BG3:

This floating city used to be called Thultanthar, and after its return, it's more commonly referred as the City of Shade.

Somehow, the Netherese people survived, and became more united and secretive.

Over 1700 years, each generation of these netherese people become more and more attuned to the shadow plane, some of them even turning into Shades: twisted, dark, humanoid creatures with longer lifespan than humans. Lord Shadow was still the main ruler of the City of Shade because he is now a Shade.

A big percentage of their population are worshippers of Shar.

The archwizards (ruling class) in the highest ranks are called Shadovars. Not every Netherese or Shade person is a Shadovar. Despite this, most folk refer to all Netherese as Shadovar nonetheless.

Most Shadovars are followers of Shar.

Shadovars are masters of Shadow Magic. It's a common mistake to think that Shadow magic is the same as Shadow Weave magic. Shadow Magic is magic using the energies of the Plane of Shadow. This can be done using Weave or Shadow Weave. Since most shadow casters are evil-aligned, Shar tried to offer them the Shadow Weave as a means to cast their magic without using the Weave (an element of a neutral-good aligned deity). This is related to the effect of worshipping without consent: Using the Weave is always a way to worship Mystra even if the caster wants it or not. This always gives power to Mystra. Shar created the Shadow Weave as a way to divert all those evil-aligned casters into her own worshipping. More details in the post of "Mystra and her Chosen ones"

With the return of the Shadovars, they tried to corrupt the recently recovered Weave and turn it into Shadow Weave. 

In 1487DR, Lord Shadow tried to gain the power of the Mythal of Myth Drannor, but Elminster killed him and the City of Shade fell upon Myth Drannor, destroying both cities.

However, this was not the end of the Shadovar. We may have some information about how they are in 1490s DR (let's remember BG3 is during 1492 DR):

Lord Shadow may be part of the Weave now (I have no idea why Ed said this. Lord Shadow was not a Chosen of Mystra, why would he be a weaveghost now?)

Two of his daughters and a Netherese arcanist survived: The sisters Lelavdra and Manarlume and the arcanist Gwelt have been calling themselves "The Three".

The Three have been collecting Netherese and others loyal to the Shade Empire from the ruins of the Citadel of the Raven in the western Moonsea region since late 1487 DR. They had collected at least 60 low level arcanists and 20 low born Netherese within a short period of time.

Gwelt was leading the hunt for others calling their group "The Court of the Three."

Their goals were supposedly to collect other Netherese, make allies, identify foes, take command of the remaining floating Netherese cities, and find a remote location to regroup and plan their re-emergence. It is unknown how far they have come.

Why all of this may be important?

Because part of this canon material may or may not be part of the story of BG3.

It's true that Larian has already changed some very consistent canon facts, such as the spell of the Hag eye (Ethel justifies her spell as a very personal customised one) or—the most impressive change—the Ceremorphosis process: Gale explains that the normal process removes the personality of the person in the sixth day after the infection, when in Forgotten Realms canon it should happen few hours after the infection. So my expectations for them to follow all canon material are not blind. They will change canon concepts as they think suitable, which is how DnD works. Still yet, it seems reasonable to read about all this in order to have a better context of what we will see, since the canon context is undeniably there.

Personally I always saw the presence of Netherese/Shadow Magic in the tadpoles as the intervention of Shar, but I never could find a group of mortals who would do that work and have such specific knowledge. We know that, with the exception of Mystra, contact with mortals is forbidden to all gods; therefore, Shar could not be the one to have approached these Mind Flayers. Now, the presence of the Court of the Three, working alongside or co-opting The Three Dead's plan seems a more reasonable possibility for me.

So far, what we know is that 

Shadow Magic is equivalent to Netherese Magic ( EA,  Ethel's words)

Shadow Magic is magic related to the plane of Shadows. This plane was altered by Shar when she merged the negative energy plane with it, causing the Shadowfell. The Shadowfell was Shar's realm for a while.

Shar was a great loser in the last edition. She could not change the Weave into Shadow Weave and become the greatest deity of magic as she planned. So she may want to counter-attack now.

Shadovars—who tried to help Shar in turning her into the Goddess of Magic—are masters of Shadow Magic and Shadow Weave magic.

The Shadow Weave was not destroyed, it's recovering at a similar pace to the Weave. 

The tadpole can't turn the host into a mind flayer because Netherese magic (the dream person) attached to it works as a stasis process. ( EA)

The Netherese magic—aka dream person—seems to restrain the Mind Flayer transformation while having strong connotations of Bhaalspawn essence. ( EA)

These small details may suggest that maybe the Shadovar are returning, or the three dead are using Shadovar's knowledge or vice versa. The possibilities are many and it seems hard to decide which ones are more likely since EA gives little information for such estimation. 

Sources: 

2e: Sea of Fallen Stars 3e: Lost Empires of Faerûn 4e: The Return of the Archwizards, The Herald, Grand History of the Realms Article: After the Fall by Ed. Greenwood: https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/after-fall

Ed Greenwood Twitter

This post was written in June 2021. → For more Gale: Analysis Series Index

[thedemonconstantine]

Shadovar: Prince Lamorak

[artemis-entreri]

POV Rewrite: Slave No Longer

[[ I’ve been doing a lot of research of the mechanics of systematic torture and brainwashing/programming, in an effort to do my due diligence to Artemis when I write the process that breaks even his near-indomitable will. 

The passage below includes a screenshot of the text from Charon’s Claw (chapter 10: The Walk of Barrabus), followed by my take on Artemis’ perspective of the scene. ]]

Artemis Entreri grit his teeth, but it was at neither the pain erupting across his scalp, nor the sudden jerking of his head to the side, pulled there with enough force to be harsh but not enough to bring his shoulder up with the motion. No, indeed, both of those new sensations were nigh unnoticeable next to the excruciating waves of energy reverberating through his body. Even those agonizing pulses of mind-numbing pain failed to distract Entreri from his obsessive focus. In that moment, not even memories of Jarlaxle's treachery could intrude into the Entreri’s mental world, for the enraged assassin's attention was focused on the hateful creature who had been his enslaver, his torturer, and now appeared to be becoming his executioner.

Entreri didn't look the cruel blood-red blade bearing down on him, he didn't need to -- Claw ensured that the hapless man was painfully aware of every detail of his impending doom. That was always how Claw and Alegni worked together, one humiliating him physically while the other degraded him mentally.

Even now, as they conspired to end him, they still persisted in their attempts to make him break.

To the surprise of both the Shadovar warlord and the ancient sword, Entreri smiled. It was a grim smile, and though no joy showed in either the slight curl of the smallish man's lips nor his flinty eyes, it was a smile nonetheless.

That Claw and Alegni would dehumanize him even while granting him the release of final death would've, and indeed had, galled Barrabus the Gray. But he was Barrabus the Gray no longer. He was Artemis Entreri, and even though that was the reason for this fate befalling him now, he had no regrets.

They'd taken from him his name, his life, his very sense of self. Now, they sought to take away even his final choice. They sought to break him again whilst they ended him, just how they'd broken him before.

But, despite the pain still wracking his body, despite the undeniable hold that Claw still had on his life force, Entreri knew himself to be the victor. For, neither Charon's Claw nor Herzgo Alegni could choose for him his gratitude for death, neither could rob him of the fact that he was their slave no longer, and this time, because of those things his death would indeed be final.  

He didn't blink as he sensed Claw's glee soar. His eyes did not flicker when the ranger's desperate cry of denial rang out from behind him. The steely stare of Artemis Entreri never wavered, even as his head was jerked further to the side, even as the cruel red blade came rushing down for his bare neck. He did not fear death. He looked it in the eye as it came for him and he smiled.

[[ The conditioning elements of my research hit pretty close to home, but it wasn’t that that gripped me to write this piece. The concept of death as freedom/release is one that resonates deeply with me, and it is one of the aspects of Artemis that makes me relate to and feel connected to him as much as I do. Sometimes, one can be so broken by psychological torture that one isn’t capable of seeing an escape from their torment by any means but death. Artemis isn’t quite so far broken by the Netherese, but he does spend most of his life being enough of the way there to possess that belief. 

There’s a lot more that I could say on this matter, but I’d better not risk boring anyone more than I already have with my ramblings. Before I leave off though, I did want to note that I don’t support suicide or self-harm, and it was far from my intent to romanticize death or anything akin to suicide or self-harm. ]]

[artsytoad]

Richard Sardinha, Shadovar, City of Shade

www.artsytoad.tumblr.com