The idea of Bhaal still being alive when the sacrifices were being made raises one question, why wasn't he there to make sure it all goes according to plan and no somewhat secret orginazation comes in and messes it up and foils his plans of resurrection...
He didn't mean the Harpers, he meant the Bhaalites.
The timeline certainly is a problem. There's several "obvious" solutions:
#1 The Harpers knew only part of the picture; they knew there were children to be sacrificed, but didn't know when. To be safe, they stormed the temple immediately. That means the children would have probably spent a part of their lives living at the temple, and were meant to be sacrificed not now but later, after Bhaal had actually died. The Harpers of course had no way of knowing these details.
#2 The essence of Bhaal would collect in the Abyss, waiting. As soon as Bhaal died, it would have then fueled his rebirth quickly. Reasons for gathering the children first instead of killing them immediately upon birth could be various, such as certain rituals that needed to be observed so the essence actually collects, and doesn't flow back immediately to (a still living) Bhaal.
#3 You were lied to about your age, and your memories have been messed with. The Time of Troubles happened 10 years before Gorion's death and the beginning of BG. Info states you spent about 20 years in Candlekeep - round numbers, both. Coincidence? It could very well be Gorion had a hand in obfuscating your real past, especially to you.
I suppose you could find more esoteric solutions as well, that essentially speculate even more wildly in order to fill the holes. Truth be told, I suspect that the timeline differences were simply overlooked by the original writers; it's difficult enough as it is to bring all the different DnD lore sources to a common denominator, and streamline the histories. Could be that the missing 10 years were simply an oversight, and you were in fact supposed to be sacrificed then and there, at the height of the Time of Troubles, shortly after Bhaal's death.
Actually they can. Most just choose not to. And especially in Pre-ToT, when the rules were much looser. AO tightened things up at the end of the Time of Troubles by limiting the number of avatars gods could form, as well as the overall level of their power, based on the fervor and number of their worshippers, after how irresponsible they had been acting prior to the Avatar Crisis.
Especially if it's directly involving their own followers.
Cyric is especially bad for it, and openly admits that if AO hadn't specifically forbidden it, he'd have personally wiped out all the Bhaalspawn himself, since if Bhaal or another is reborn as Lord of Murder, he'll lose that portfolio and be weakened (he's been pretty lucky thus far about managing to replace his lost portfolios with new ones (Death with Intrigue, and Tyranny with Illusions)...Murder is the only Dead-Three portfolio he still has)
To toss another thing in, I believe during the Harper testimony in Jaheira's subplot you get a chance to state that the first memory you have is of you running away from something with Gorion. So maybe the PC was older than an infant at the time but the ritual screwed with memories. (Could also explain why elf, dwarf, and gnome PCs aren't still infants despite only living in Candlekeep for a human generation.)
Comments
Because gods can't just show up and start shooting eye lasers at their problems?
Well, he knew he was going to die so would he exactly care about what happens in the short run?
The timeline certainly is a problem. There's several "obvious" solutions:
#1 The Harpers knew only part of the picture; they knew there were children to be sacrificed, but didn't know when. To be safe, they stormed the temple immediately. That means the children would have probably spent a part of their lives living at the temple, and were meant to be sacrificed not now but later, after Bhaal had actually died. The Harpers of course had no way of knowing these details.
#2 The essence of Bhaal would collect in the Abyss, waiting. As soon as Bhaal died, it would have then fueled his rebirth quickly. Reasons for gathering the children first instead of killing them immediately upon birth could be various, such as certain rituals that needed to be observed so the essence actually collects, and doesn't flow back immediately to (a still living) Bhaal.
#3 You were lied to about your age, and your memories have been messed with. The Time of Troubles happened 10 years before Gorion's death and the beginning of BG. Info states you spent about 20 years in Candlekeep - round numbers, both. Coincidence? It could very well be Gorion had a hand in obfuscating your real past, especially to you.
I suppose you could find more esoteric solutions as well, that essentially speculate even more wildly in order to fill the holes. Truth be told, I suspect that the timeline differences were simply overlooked by the original writers; it's difficult enough as it is to bring all the different DnD lore sources to a common denominator, and streamline the histories. Could be that the missing 10 years were simply an oversight, and you were in fact supposed to be sacrificed then and there, at the height of the Time of Troubles, shortly after Bhaal's death.
Actually they can. Most just choose not to. And especially in Pre-ToT, when the rules were much looser. AO tightened things up at the end of the Time of Troubles by limiting the number of avatars gods could form, as well as the overall level of their power, based on the fervor and number of their worshippers, after how irresponsible they had been acting prior to the Avatar Crisis.
Especially if it's directly involving their own followers.
Cyric is especially bad for it, and openly admits that if AO hadn't specifically forbidden it, he'd have personally wiped out all the Bhaalspawn himself, since if Bhaal or another is reborn as Lord of Murder, he'll lose that portfolio and be weakened (he's been pretty lucky thus far about managing to replace his lost portfolios with new ones (Death with Intrigue, and Tyranny with Illusions)...Murder is the only Dead-Three portfolio he still has)