Faith Crisis after Spellplague? (Spoiler Warning)

alkahest

I just found out what happens during the Spellplague while trying to collate the timeline of the Forgotten Realm:
which:

1. Mystra(the god) died, again.
2. Helm is slain by Tyr for lover's quarrel.
3. Tyr relinquished his power to Torm.
4. Cyric is imprisoned for 1000 years

and I have some questions regarding to these events:

First,
How do the followers of Helm deem Tyr after the event?
Do the followers of two gods harbor resentment toward each other?
or they just simply blame this stupid tragedy on Cyric? (how easy)

Second,
It said that "Tyr counseled all of his followers to offer their allegiance to Torm" before left,
so the followers of Tyr are likely still receiving divine power from Torm;
but what happened to Helm's paladins and clerics after his sudden death?
Unlike Tyr and Torm do share a lot of similarities, to me the portfolio of Torm and Helm are somewhat different -for Torm is the loyal fury avenger and Helm is more a cold, impartially enforcer.
Therefore it is hard for me to believe that the Helm's followers would also convert to Torm as well;
or they still received divine power because the "Heresy of the Threefold God" is actually real?
(or I just interpret their portfolio wrong?)


Third,
What happens to the followers of Cyric after his incarceration?
When Waukeen was imprisoned, she had Lliira acted as regent for her, but Cyric has no allies...
For such a long sentence, it is unlikely Cyric will return anytime sooner in D&D 5E (even 6E)
Is it pity because I truly admire this mad god - I personally think it is a perfect patron deity if I want to create the type of character who just like to set fire and watch the world burn;
Without his present, the closest deity I can get is Mask, but he is already dead and not sure when he will return;
The only choice now left is Shar (who got hold of Mask's divinity) - but her personality is nowhere close to Cyric.
So it is unlikely the followers of Cyric would convert to Shar. (or did they? how do I reconcile that?)
My question is, is there any other deity that could fill in for Cyric?
(More precisely, I would like to find a deity who love to create chaos among order but without the nature aspect like Talos, more inclined to create fear than total destruction.)
Or being his followers, they have to be limited to first- and second-level spells the entire millennium?



Finally,
It is said that magic ceased to function since casters could not draw magical energy from the source (the Weave).
So from Spellplague which is set in 1385 DR to 4E which is set in 1479 DR,
is it absolutely no game for spell casters during this hundred year?
How about creatures that have innate magic abilities, like dragons, elemental and giants? were they also affected by the unraveling Weave, too?
or is it only because mortals need the Weave to shape raw magic, so magical creatures is not affected?
then how about sorcerers who inherited their lineage?
sorcerers like Wild Mages "draw their power from the entropic power of the elemental planes",
therefore I assume they are no affected, same as Warlock, since they "gain power through pacts with powerful entities"
So my real question is, does Spellplague has the same effects on Sorcerers as it does on Wizards?

BelleSorciere

Mages still functioned during the Spellplague, but the way magic worked changed. It went at least partially back to the way it was pre-Spellplague after the Spellplague ended, and arcane casters had to adjust to the change.

All arcane casters draw from the Weave, or did while there was a Weave, so they'd all be affected by the Spellplague. That includes wild mages and warlocks. Creatures with innate magical powers are powered by the Weave so they would have been impacted by the Spellplague, although not necessarily in the same manner as arcane casters. Arcane casting and spell-like abilities were still available during the Spellplague as I mentioned above, though.

Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide for 4e says:

Many creatures that had been able to cast spells and channel magic through the Weave found themselves powerless in the Spellplague’s wake. Some never regained their abilities. Others attuned themselves to the new magical environment, aided by a diversity of talents, a process that took days for some and years for others. Still others took shortcuts to arcane power by swearing pacts to enigmatic beings.

Cyric is back in time for 5e. It looks like they hit the reset button on deities of the Forgotten Realms so the dead deities are back, Tyr is back, and Cyric's out of prison, etc. Seems to be similar to the 3e-3.5e status quo.

I don't have any answers for what happened during Spellplague with the religions of dead or absent gods. I assume that worshipers turned to other gods when their chosen patron died, left, or was imprisoned. I imagine Tyr's faithful turned to Torm, for example.

scriver

You are giving this much more thought than WotC ever did or intended for people to do.

Which means there's probably no answers.

alkahest

BelleSorciere said:

I don't have any answers for what happened during Spellplague with the religions of dead or absent gods. I assume that worshipers turned to other gods when their chosen patron died, left, or was imprisoned. I imagine Tyr's faithful turned to Torm, for example.

Let's a shame, 'cause I would really like to hear a story about how Helm's paladins would act during Spellplague....

Cyric's followers might temporarily shifted to other evil/chaos deities just for saving themselves but not from their true belief, and the evil Gods of Forgotten Realm seem very generous for that;

And it is convincible that Tyr's faithful turned to Torm
(for they share a lot similarity and Tyr's ability to lead and judge IS indeed questionable for what had happened).

But my impression of Helm paladins are people such as Ajantis and those of Watcher's Keep; for characters like that, it would be hard to imagine they would just turn to Torm because their god is now dead.
(1.their portfolio are no alike, 2.Helm did not have a will beforehand)
I would more incline to think that they just become normal fighters and stay vigilant till the day their god revive, and it would make a great story for a paladin like!

BelleSorciere

I get the impression from the 4e Forgotten Realms book that Cyric's religion continued with business as usual. Cyric was trapped in his plane but apparently still able to grant clerical powers? I do not know.

alkahest

BelleSorciere said:

I get the impression from the 4e Forgotten Realms book that Cyric's religion continued with business as usual. Cyric was trapped in his plane but apparently still able to grant clerical powers? I do not know.

Then I think it could be interpreted as:
Cyric was just "trapped" but not "imprisoned" as the infamous imprisonment spell in his own plane;
therefore he cannot leave but could still grant powers.

It would make sense! thanks!