Forgotten Realms Storyline
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2. No idea.
3. No idea. lol.
4. No idea.
5. Yes, they are all part of the Dungeon's and Dragon's Multiverse and travel between them is possible.
6. Gods have died in the past, and some were replaced and others weren't. Some simply died due to lack of worship, and some were killed.
7. Netheril was I believe an Empire built on the back of magic, made up of great floating cities. For a moment Mystra the goddess of magic died, and before she was replaced by another form of herself, all magic in the world ceased to be. The floating cities fell and the Netheril died. Not sure how they relate to Myth Drannor.
8. Probably not.
9. I can't quite remember.
10. Amaunator died. Sort of. Part of him regenerated and became Lathander.
11. Not sure.
12. Different worshippers have different names for the same god. He changed pantheon.
13. No idea about anything in Ravenloft sorry.
14. Ao is the overgod. The big cheese of all the pantheons of all the gods of all of Abeir-Toril. He is the equivalent of the Christian One God. Not sure what you mean about the game.
15. Myrkul and Bane caused the time of troubles where all the gods save Helm were cast down as mortal to Toril. He died trying to kill Mystra's avatar.
16. All the gods have their own lower immortal servants like the archons and solars... So I imagine yes.
Don't claim to be an expert or anything but I have answered what I could.
2. Vecna -- an anagram of 'Vance' (from author Jack Vance) -- was a powerful lich in the Greyhawk world. At some point he lost his eye and hand, which subsequently became powerful artifacts. I don't know what his role is in the Forgotten Realms.
3. The Lady of Pain rules Sigil (from the Planescape setting).
4. Don't know, but I assume that the Abyss was as much 'always there' as the other planes.
5. I think that there are links between Planescape, Ravenloft, and Forgotten Realms, but I'm not enough of a 2e AD&D scholar to know exactly what they are.
From 2nd to 3rd there was no cataclysmic event but many of the features of the setting were changed or retconned. For example the way the planes were connected was changed to basically disallow easy travel (or any travel really) from one setting to another. Before Krynn (Dragonlance) Greyhawk, FR etc. were all part of the same multiverse and you would see some "cross overs" from those settings. 3e made this less likely to impossible to occur.
From 3rd to 4th there was the Spellplague. The Spellplague was a wave of magical energy that engulfed the world, destroying cities and regions but sometimes replacing them with other cities or regions from different planes. It was poorly executed and basically did little but dumb down the setting (by removing numerous gods, races, and mechanics of the setting) to make it "easier" for people new to the setting to jump in without having to deal with the hassle of discovering the rich and well detailed work that made the setting a fan favorite up to that point.
2. Vecna was a powerful Lich from the Greyhawk setting. I'm not sure what occurred between him and the lady of pain.
3. The Lady of Pain is the ruler of Sigil, a city that links many planes of existence together.
4. I'm not sure that this was ever touched on. The creation of the realms is well documented but there is little to no detail about how the other planes of existence came to be.
5. There was until 3rd edition.
6. Different gods have risen and fallen throughout the history of the realms. Shar, Selune, and Chauntea were among the first while Finder Wyvernspur and newly awakened Amaunator are some of the newest.
7. Netheril was an ancient country of magic users made up of enormous floating cities. It fell after a powerful wizard known as Karsus created and cast a powerful spell that would siphon the power of Mystryl (the goddess of magic at the time) and transfer it to himself. His goals were semi altruistic as he wanted to use the power to defeat the Phaerim (an evil race of magic using monsters) and save his civilization. However, he didn't realize the full spectrum of responsibilities afforded the god of magic (making sure magic flows through every creature, place, magic item etc.) and just before Mystryl died she blocked his power to do so. This caused the floating cities of Netheril to crash to the ground and turned Karsus to stone who then presumably died when the cities smashed into the ground.
Myth Drannor (formerly known as Cormanthor) was an ancient city of elves that fell into the hands of demons during the Weeping War. Netheril was destroyed long before Myth Drannor fell into the hands of the demons but may have still been Cormanthor when Netheril was destroyed. It has no real connection to Netheril however.
8. Unsure.
9. I'm sure that this depends on the edition of the game you're playing. In fluff terms they are both the pinnacle form of their respective races, Demon for Balor and Devil for Pit Fiend. In the 3.5 edition (sorry I don't play 4e for the "newest" answer) both were considered a challenge rating of 20.
10. Amaunator "died" but many thought that he was merely reborn as Lathander (since the similarities were numerous and since Amaunator was the sun god and Lathander was the god of rebirth and the dawn it was a logical conclusion). I believe in 4e it is stated that Amaunator was Lathander all along and is now back to his old self.
11. Not entirely sure. This could be a reference to Ghaunadaur or simply some reference to the popular Cthulhu mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. Where did you hear about it?
12. Different civilizations know different gods by different names. The bedine (nomads from the Anauroch desert) as well as possibly the people of the returned city of shade still refer to Talos as Kozah. They also revere Selune by the name Elah and know Kelemvor as N'sar, for example.
13. I don't follow Ravenloft so I have no idea.
14. Ao is the overgod, the Alpha and Omega (hence Ao). He is basically in place to make sure that the gods do their jobs and don't muck things up too badly. He is apparently the prime power in the universe but there is a reference to his "superiors" at the end of the novel Waterdeep. From my understanding that has never been elaborated on.
15. Myrkul was killed during the Time of Troubles. He battled Elminster, Midnight (the human form of the lastest incarnation of Mystra) who was bestowed with Mystras powers, and Kelemvor (before he was a god) atop a tower in Waterdeep. He was carried off by a griffon rider during the battle just before Midnight exploded him with some sort of spell. It is believed that his essence however lives on inside a powerful artifact known as the Crown of Horns. In Neverwinter Nights Mask of the Betrayer it is confirmed that his essence lives on inside the crown and the player has the option of destroying him, nothing from that game is considered cannon however.
16. Yes, for example Inevitables would be the equivalent for Lawful Neutral.
Hope some of that helps.
One dead god who floats in space is Atropus (more precisely its head), and with it come atropals, stillborn gods. The life cycle of gods seems to be a bit complicated. If they can be stillborn, then probably they are born somewhere. If a god dies, their essence lingers on and can be used to resurrect said god. Mortals can also become gods, using this essence, I think.
I would say that nothing in the D&D worlds is dead until their soul or whatever is destroyed. A dead god is merely communicating from beyond the border (Mexico, that is).
As for Lady of Pain, there is a rumor that she is actually six giant squirrels in a dress, though you might not want to say that anywhere where she might hear you. And Vecna tried to overthrow her.
My own theory about the birth of Abyss (and other Hells and Heavens) is that they came to be right after first mortals came about. Kinda like Realm of Chaos or Warp in Warhammer. The thoughts and feelings of these mortals brought fourth a metaphysical manifestation of them.
Also the only god I believe whom is fully dead was killed by lloth in the demon webs series, and she cast a spell to make everyone forget the god's name (drow goddess of the dead iirc). Thus since Ao had said that you needed followers to be a god of goddess she quite literally dried up.
As for that Githyanki floating dead god city thing it sounds like it's not specific to FR and that's probably why I've never heard of anything like it.
Also, they're not really "holes in the storyline" they are most likely not fleshed out for two reasons; to give DMs more freedom to come up with their own ideas or these are simply things that no mortal really knows.