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Philosophical musings re Divine reincarnation

FrdNwsmFrdNwsm Member Posts: 1,069
Well, MC had learned a lot in the last couple of years, which gave even him a fair amount to think on. Half-orc berserkers are not known for having a philosophical bent, but some questions are so mind-boggling that they cannot easily be ignored.

OK, so dear old dad, the God of Murder (did we really need a God for this? Don't mortals do this enough on their own?) had premonitions of his own demise. He decided on a weird plan, whereby he would send out bits of his essence that would grow, gather power, and eventually serve as the nucleus he could reconstitute himself from. Sounds pretty far-fetched, but Hey!, when you're a god maybe you can get away with nonsense like that and have a chance of it actually working.

How exactly this worked, however, was the question uppermost on MC's mind. Did these bits of divine
essence travel the astral planes until impacting on the Prime material? Did they then absorb organic matter, like some sort of ethereal amebas, until they were big enough to assume the form of a small humanoid infant? Or, rather more disturbing, did these microscopic bits seek out nubile females from various humanoid races and impregnate them, like godly flying spermatozoa? The females would later give birth "normally", and presumably raise the children as their own, assuming that they survived the process. "Oh, look! He has his Father's eyes!".

For extra credit, where is that quote from?


MC of course had no recollection of this fertilization, being a unicellular organism at the time. Nor did he recall anything of his actual physical birth, or ever know any parent other than Gorion. Which brings up the question of who exactly Gorion was; how did this reclusive mage come to foster not one but TWO of these Bhaalspawn anyway? Did evil fairies leave them under a cabbage leaf in his garden one night? Or perhaps he had a sister who was magically fertilized by Bhaalsperm and subsequently gave birth to twins? There is no clue. Gorion seemed reluctant to explain these matters, and understandably so, since they would have sounded like the insane ramblings of a lunatic.

Lastly, what happened to Cyric? Did he die during the Time of Troubles? If not, he should be out busily tracking down any Bhaalspawn he knows about, and whacking them. I mean, if Bhaal ever DOES come back, Cyric knows damned well who is going to be number one at the top of his hit list.

Ah well, perhaps the answers to these and other questions would be forthcoming later on. MC put the matter aside and concentrated on the business at hand ... which mostly involved staying alive.

Comments

  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    Bhaal may well have invented an entirely new form of magic just to make this all possible. He wouldn't trust his divine essence floating around the Astral Plane, and a form of bacteria seems a bit sciency for a DnD god. Maybe Bhaal's essence in his children isn't actually like any magic or normal phenomenon in the Forgotten Realms. Maybe he set up a unique system of inheritance for his essence--hence why nobody seems to know how it all works, besides perhaps Melissan, the one person he would trust with that sort of knowledge.
  • FrdNwsmFrdNwsm Member Posts: 1,069
    edited June 2015

    Maybe he set up a unique system of inheritance for his essence--hence why nobody seems to know how it all works


    And maybe my cousin Gertrude is actually a guy named Germain, who is one of 50 embryonic clones of Adolf Hitler that were smuggled out of Berlin in 1945 and taken to Sao Paulo, where they were implanted into 50 unsuspecting women by Dr. Josef Mengele.

    The two possibilities seem equally likely.

    :wink:

    Post edited by FrdNwsm on
  • JarrakulJarrakul Member Posts: 2,029
    As far as we know, the Bhaalspawn are Bhaal's literal, biological children. As in, he took mortal form and went around having lots of sex. TOB provides a decent amount of evidence in support of this, although I don't think it's ever totally confirmed. It also explains in more detail what exactly Bhaal's plan was, and how it's supposed to work.

    As for Cyric, he's still around. He actually arose during the Time of Troubles, replacing Bhaal as the god of death (both he and Bhaal have a penchant for murderous death, but technically the core of their portfolio is simply death). He definitely does have an interest in the whole Bhaalspawn thing, for obvious reasons, and TOB will touch on that briefly also.
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    Yeah ToB will answer most of your questions. You will see why Cyric can not interfere with Bhaalspawn matters directly, and what Bhaal's grand plan was. Through exposition. Just keep on playing and sharing your run it is tons of fun to read!
  • FrdNwsmFrdNwsm Member Posts: 1,069
    No one wants to tackle my quote? Hint, it's one of the final lines of a famous movie, the theme of which is rather related to this one.
  • ronaldoronaldo Member Posts: 263
    edited June 2015
    @FrdNwsm "Rosemary's Baby"
  • GallowglassGallowglass Member Posts: 3,356
    FrdNwsm said:

    No one wants to tackle my quote? Hint, it's one of the final lines of a famous movie, the theme of which is rather related to this one.

    ronaldo said:

    @FrdNwsm "Rosemary's Baby"

    ... and it's also a quote from every paternal mother-in-law on the Prime Material Plane, although perhaps especially the ones who are secretly trying to reassure themselves that their son is truly the father.

    (Perhaps it's even a quote from mothers-in-law on other planes, but I wouldn't know about that!)
  • FrdNwsmFrdNwsm Member Posts: 1,069
    edited June 2015



    Gallowglass: an interesting pen name, the origin of which I am sure you know, since I rather doubt you just picked it out of thin air. Derived from the Gaelic "gael oglaigh". You may not, however, be aware that it is also the surname of the main character in Christopher Stasheff's "Warlock in Spite of Himself" series.

    :smile:

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