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Given that the latest book came out in 1995, I think it's safe to say we're not getting anymore books in the series.
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The ''Avatar'' series is an ongoing series of novels set in the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' campaign setting of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', written by Scott Ciencin, Troy Denning and James Lowder.
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The ''Avatar'' series is an ongoing a series of novels set in the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' campaign setting of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', written by Scott Ciencin, Troy Denning and James Lowder.
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All sources I could find say that each book in the trilogy was released in 1989, not 1983. Please provide a credible source if anyone has evidence otherwise.
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* ''Shadowdale'', by Scott Ciencin (1983) The first of the original Trilogy, wherein the Time of Troubles begins.
* ''Tantras'', by Scott Ciencin (1983) The second of the original Trilogy, featuring the middle of their quest.
* ''Waterdeep'', by Troy Denning (1983) The finale of the original Trilogy, in which the Time of Troubles ends and several new Gods rise to prominence, most notably Cyric.
* ''Tantras'', by Scott Ciencin (1983) The second of the original Trilogy, featuring the middle of their quest.
* ''Waterdeep'', by Troy Denning (1983) The finale of the original Trilogy, in which the Time of Troubles ends and several new Gods rise to prominence, most notably Cyric.
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* ''Shadowdale'', by Scott Ciencin (1983) (1989) The first of the original Trilogy, wherein the Time of Troubles begins.
* ''Tantras'', by Scott Ciencin(1983) (1989) The second of the original Trilogy, featuring the middle of their quest.
* ''Waterdeep'', by Troy Denning(1983) (1989) The finale of the original Trilogy, in which the Time of Troubles ends and several new Gods rise to prominence, most notably Cyric.
* ''Tantras'', by Scott Ciencin
* ''Waterdeep'', by Troy Denning
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* MacGuffin: The Tablets of Fate, upon which are inscribed the names of every God and their portfolios. The theft of them prompted Ao to banish the Gods to the realms in Avatars and started the Time of Troubles. Everyone and their dog aware of them is trying to obtain them, either to seize power or return them to Ao and end the madness. Fitting for a pair of MacGuffins, Ao later reveals while their return was instrumental in his judgement, they themselves are [[spoiler:largely worthless. He even crushes them into dust to prove this fact]].
* MadGod: Cyric, during the Crucible, and arguably none-too-sane before that, though he masked it well. Also arguably some of the other deities like Bane, Mykrul, and Mask. The last one especially after he read Cyric's book.
* MadGod: Cyric, during the Crucible, and arguably none-too-sane before that, though he masked it well. Also arguably some of the other deities like Bane, Mykrul, and Mask. The last one especially after he read Cyric's book.
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* MacGuffin: The Tablets of Fate, upon which are inscribed the names of every God and their portfolios. The theft of them prompted Ao to banish the Gods to the realms in Avatars and started the Time of Troubles. Everyone and their dog aware of them is trying to obtain them, either to seize power or return them to Ao and end the madness. Fitting for a pair of MacGuffins, this trope, Ao later reveals that while their return was instrumental in his final judgement, they themselves are [[spoiler:largely worthless. He even crushes them into dust to prove this fact]].
* MadGod: Cyric, during the Crucible, and arguably none-too-sane before that, though he masked it well.Also arguably Arguably some of the other deities like Bane, Mykrul, and Mask. The last one especially after he read Cyric's book.
* MadGod: Cyric, during the Crucible, and arguably none-too-sane before that, though he masked it well.
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* AuthorAvatar: Puns aside, the luminous being to whom Ao answers to can be seen as one to the Dungeon Master in a game of Dungeons & Dragons.
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* PowersThatBe: Ao, obviously, has dominion over the gods. However, often forgotten is the fact that Ao himself answers to a higher power: a nameless luminous being responsible for the creation and destruction of all universes, not just the Forgotten Realms.
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* AnyoneCanDie: Even Gods are not immune to this, and the first Trilogy alone claims at least five during the "Time of Troubles" featured. More continue to perish during the latter novels.
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* AnyoneCanDie: Even Gods are not immune to this, and the first Trilogy alone claims at least five during the "Time of Troubles" featured. More continue to perish during the latter novels.
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* GodsHandsAreTied: Gods cannot act against their portfolio at all (Oghma in the Avatars cycle stood on a razor-edge when he hid a location of the pile of misinformation, and the rules limit them even in withholding their boons. Likewise the new Mystra must allow everyone equal access to the "weave" of magic, including those she has personal distaste for. When the Gods step out of line, there are consequences for them.
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* GodsHandsAreTied: Gods cannot act against their portfolio at all (Oghma in the Avatars cycle Prince of Lies stood on a razor-edge when he hid a location of the pile of misinformation, and the rules limit them even in withholding their boons. Likewise the new Mystra must allow everyone equal access to the "weave" of magic, including those she has personal distaste for.for (war, destruction, etc.). When the Gods step out of line, there are consequences for them.
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* JudgementOfTheDead: When he ascends to Godhood, Kelemvor, the God of the Dead, judges the Faithless based on how righteous they are and assigns them to live various locations in the City of the Dead in accordance with their deeds (more pleasant locales being for the more heroic, and more unpleasant for the wicked and cruel). It backfires ''spectacularly''. Cyric, Mykryl, and Jergal had similar jobs when they were God of the Dead, though their judgements tended to be a lot more terrible for the False and Faithless.
* MacGuffin: The Tablets of Fate, upon which are inscribed the names of every God and their portfolios. The theft of them prompted Ao to banish the Gods to the realms in Avatars and started the Time of Troubles. Everyone and their dog aware of them is trying to obtain them, either to seize power or return them to Ao and end the madness. Fitting for a pair of MacGuffins, Ao later reveals while their return was instrumental in his judgement, they themselves are largely worthless. He even crushes them into dust to prove this fact.
* MacGuffin: The Tablets of Fate, upon which are inscribed the names of every God and their portfolios. The theft of them prompted Ao to banish the Gods to the realms in Avatars and started the Time of Troubles. Everyone and their dog aware of them is trying to obtain them, either to seize power or return them to Ao and end the madness. Fitting for a pair of MacGuffins, Ao later reveals while their return was instrumental in his judgement, they themselves are largely worthless. He even crushes them into dust to prove this fact.
to:
* JudgementOfTheDead: When he ascends to Godhood, Kelemvor, the God of the Dead, judges the Faithless based on how righteous they are and assigns them to live various locations in the City of the Dead in accordance with their deeds (more pleasant locales being for the more heroic, and more unpleasant for the wicked and cruel). It Because of how life, faith, and death affect the Forgotten Realms universe, it backfires ''spectacularly''. Cyric, Mykryl, Myrkyl, and Jergal had similar jobs when they were God of the Dead, though their judgements tended to be a lot more terrible for the False and Faithless.
* MacGuffin: The Tablets of Fate, upon which are inscribed the names of every God and their portfolios. The theft of them prompted Ao to banish the Gods to the realms in Avatars and started the Time of Troubles. Everyone and their dog aware of them is trying to obtain them, either to seize power or return them to Ao and end the madness. Fitting for a pair of MacGuffins, Ao later reveals while their return was instrumental in his judgement, they themselves arelargely [[spoiler:largely worthless. He even crushes them into dust to prove this fact.fact]].
* MacGuffin: The Tablets of Fate, upon which are inscribed the names of every God and their portfolios. The theft of them prompted Ao to banish the Gods to the realms in Avatars and started the Time of Troubles. Everyone and their dog aware of them is trying to obtain them, either to seize power or return them to Ao and end the madness. Fitting for a pair of MacGuffins, Ao later reveals while their return was instrumental in his judgement, they themselves are
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* TrappedInVillainy: Prior to his apotheosis, the mercenary Kelemvor Lyonsbane would transform into a dangerous werepanther due to a family curse if he did something out of kindness, forcing him into the miserable career of a cold-hearted mercenary.
* WeirdWeather: With a God or Goddess to direct it, nature is running wild. Rain flowing up is the ''least'' strangest thing you could see during the Time of Troubles.
* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: A god who kills another god can acquire that god's portfolio. Even before the Time of Troubles this transpired on several occasions, but during the original Trilogy, Cyric destroyed Bhaal by himself, and Midnight aided in the destruction of Myrkyl. Both were promptly elevated to deities following the conflict, albeit with different portfolios. Later, Cyric kills another God to gain power over illusion as well.
* WeirdWeather: With a God or Goddess to direct it, nature is running wild. Rain flowing up is the ''least'' strangest thing you could see during the Time of Troubles.
* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: A god who kills another god can acquire that god's portfolio. Even before the Time of Troubles this transpired on several occasions, but during the original Trilogy, Cyric destroyed Bhaal by himself, and Midnight aided in the destruction of Myrkyl. Both were promptly elevated to deities following the conflict, albeit with different portfolios. Later, Cyric kills another God to gain power over illusion as well.
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* TrappedInVillainy: Prior to his apotheosis, the mercenary Kelemvor Lyonsbane would transform into a dangerous werepanther due to a family curse if he did something out of kindness, kindness or selflessness, forcing him into the miserable career of a cold-hearted mercenary.
* WeirdWeather:With During the original trilogy, without a God or Goddess to direct it, nature is running ran wild. Rain flowing up is the ''least'' strangest thing you could see during the Time of Troubles.
* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: A god who kills another god can acquire that god's portfolio. Even before the Time of Troubles this transpired on several occasions, but during the original Trilogy, Cyric destroyed Bhaal by himself, and Midnight aided in the destruction of Myrkyl. Both were promptly elevated to deities following the conflict, albeit with differentportfolios.portfolios (and for different reasons). Later, Cyric kills another God to gain power over illusion as well.
* WeirdWeather:
* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: A god who kills another god can acquire that god's portfolio. Even before the Time of Troubles this transpired on several occasions, but during the original Trilogy, Cyric destroyed Bhaal by himself, and Midnight aided in the destruction of Myrkyl. Both were promptly elevated to deities following the conflict, albeit with different
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* HonorBeforeReason: Taken to a divine level in "The Trial of Cyric the Mad". [[MadGod Cyric]] is put on trial and threatened with destruction because his insanity makes him a threat to the stability of the pantheon (and thus existence). He makes no secret of the fact that he intends to have the ''Cyrinishad'' read into evidence. The ''Cyrinishad'' is a book of epic propaganda telling the highly-sanitized story of Cyric's mortal life, enchanted by Cyric himself to brainwash anyone who hears its words from start to finish one of his worshippers, even gods. The pantheon's greater gods serve as Cyric's jury and would have no choice but to hear the ''Cyrinishad'' if he introduces it, and so pull out all the stops to keep the book hidden from his worshippers. [[OhCrap They fail]]. Thus, when Cyric's [[DirtyCoward most worthy]] follower shows up at the trial with the book, all Heaven and Hell break loose, with half the gods ready to destroy the mortal and each other before being bound to Cyric's will. [[LawfulGood Tyr]], God of Justice and the trial's judge, forbids them to interfere. To his reasoning, Cyric faces death and has the right to present any evidence he may to prove his innocence; to him, a pantheon of brainwashed deities bound in service to a MadGod is a small price to pay to avoid violating the sanctity of his trial.
* JudgementOfTheDead: When he ascends to Godhood, Kelemvor, the God of the Dead, judges the Faithless based on how righteous they are and assigns them to live various locations in the City of the Dead in accordance with their deeds. It backfires spectacularly. Cyric, Mykryl, and Jergal had similar jobs when they were God of the Dead, though their judgements tended to be a lot more terrible for the False and Faithless.
* MacGuffin: The Tablets of Fate, upon which are inscribed the names of every God and their portfolios. The theft of them prompted Ao to banish the Gods to the realms in Avatars and started the Time of Troubles. Everyone and their dog aware of them is trying to obtain them, either to seize power or return them to Ao and end the madness. Fitting for a pair of MacGuffins, Ao later reveals while their return was instrumental in his judgement, they themselves are largely worthless.
* JudgementOfTheDead: When he ascends to Godhood, Kelemvor, the God of the Dead, judges the Faithless based on how righteous they are and assigns them to live various locations in the City of the Dead in accordance with their deeds. It backfires spectacularly. Cyric, Mykryl, and Jergal had similar jobs when they were God of the Dead, though their judgements tended to be a lot more terrible for the False and Faithless.
* MacGuffin: The Tablets of Fate, upon which are inscribed the names of every God and their portfolios. The theft of them prompted Ao to banish the Gods to the realms in Avatars and started the Time of Troubles. Everyone and their dog aware of them is trying to obtain them, either to seize power or return them to Ao and end the madness. Fitting for a pair of MacGuffins, Ao later reveals while their return was instrumental in his judgement, they themselves are largely worthless.
to:
* HonorBeforeReason: Taken to a divine level in "The Trial of Cyric the Mad". [[MadGod Cyric]] is put on trial and threatened with destruction because his insanity makes him a threat to the stability of the pantheon (and thus existence). He makes no secret of the fact that he intends to have the ''Cyrinishad'' read into evidence. The ''Cyrinishad'' ''[[ArtifactOfDoom Cyrinishad]]'' is a book of epic level propaganda telling the highly-sanitized story of Cyric's mortal life, enchanted by Cyric himself to brainwash anyone who hears its words from start to finish one of his worshippers, even gods. The pantheon's greater gods serve as Cyric's jury and would have no choice but to hear the ''Cyrinishad'' if he introduces it, and so pull out all the stops to keep the book hidden from his worshippers. [[OhCrap They fail]]. Thus, when Cyric's [[DirtyCoward most worthy]] follower shows up at the trial with the book, all Heaven and Hell break loose, with half the gods ready to destroy the mortal and each other before being bound to Cyric's will. [[LawfulGood Tyr]], God of Justice and the trial's judge, forbids them to interfere. To his reasoning, Cyric faces death and has the right to present any evidence he may to prove his innocence; to him, a pantheon of brainwashed deities bound in service to a MadGod is a small price to pay to avoid violating the sanctity of his trial.
* JudgementOfTheDead: When he ascends to Godhood, Kelemvor, the God of the Dead, judges the Faithless based on how righteous they are and assigns them to live various locations in the City of the Dead in accordance with theirdeeds. deeds (more pleasant locales being for the more heroic, and more unpleasant for the wicked and cruel). It backfires spectacularly. ''spectacularly''. Cyric, Mykryl, and Jergal had similar jobs when they were God of the Dead, though their judgements tended to be a lot more terrible for the False and Faithless.
Faithless.
* MacGuffin: The Tablets of Fate, upon which are inscribed the names of every God and their portfolios. The theft of them prompted Ao to banish the Gods to the realms in Avatars and started the Time of Troubles. Everyone and their dog aware of them is trying to obtain them, either to seize power or return them to Ao and end the madness. Fitting for a pair of MacGuffins, Ao later reveals while their return was instrumental in his judgement, they themselves are largelyworthless.
worthless. He even crushes them into dust to prove this fact.
* MadGod: Cyric, during the Crucible, and arguably none-too-sane before that, though he masked it well. Also arguably some of the other deities like Bane, Mykrul, and Mask. The last one especially after he read Cyric's book.
* JudgementOfTheDead: When he ascends to Godhood, Kelemvor, the God of the Dead, judges the Faithless based on how righteous they are and assigns them to live various locations in the City of the Dead in accordance with their
* MacGuffin: The Tablets of Fate, upon which are inscribed the names of every God and their portfolios. The theft of them prompted Ao to banish the Gods to the realms in Avatars and started the Time of Troubles. Everyone and their dog aware of them is trying to obtain them, either to seize power or return them to Ao and end the madness. Fitting for a pair of MacGuffins, Ao later reveals while their return was instrumental in his judgement, they themselves are largely
* MadGod: Cyric, during the Crucible, and arguably none-too-sane before that, though he masked it well. Also arguably some of the other deities like Bane, Mykrul, and Mask. The last one especially after he read Cyric's book.
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** Also applies to Torm, who while an Avatar posed as a low-level cleric to speak with Adon and learn more about what motivated him. Unusual for him, but then again he never actually ''lied''.
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** Also applies to Torm, who while an Avatar posed as a low-level cleric to speak with Adon and learn more about what motivated him. Unusual for him, a God of Honor, but then again he never actually ''lied''.
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* TrappedInVillainy: Prior to his apotheosis, the mercenary Kelemvor Lyonsbane would transform into a dangerous werepanther due to a family curse if he did something out of kindness.
to:
* TrappedInVillainy: Prior to his apotheosis, the mercenary Kelemvor Lyonsbane would transform into a dangerous werepanther due to a family curse if he did something out of kindness.kindness, forcing him into the miserable career of a cold-hearted mercenary.
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* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: A god who kills another god can acquire that god's portfolio. Even before the Time of Troubles this transpired on several occasions, but during the original Trilogy, Cyric destroyed Bhaal by himself, and Midnight aided in the destruction of Myrkyl. Both were promptly elevated to deities following the conflict, albeit with different portfolios. Later, Cyric kills another God to gain power over illusion as well.
to:
* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: A god who kills another god can acquire that god's portfolio. Even before the Time of Troubles this transpired on several occasions, but during the original Trilogy, Cyric destroyed Bhaal by himself, and Midnight aided in the destruction of Myrkyl. Both were promptly elevated to deities following the conflict, albeit with different portfolios. Later, Cyric kills another God to gain power over illusion as well.well.
---
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Its starring character is the archmage Elminster Aumar, one of the Chosen of the goddess of magic.
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* ''Tantras'', by Scott Ciencin (1983) The second of the original Trilogy, featuring ?.
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* ''Tantras'', by Scott Ciencin (1983) The second of the original Trilogy, featuring ?.the middle of their quest.
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* ''Prince of Lies'', by James Lowder (1993)
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* ''Prince of Lies'', by James Lowder (1993)(1993) picking up the story roughly a decade later, during Cyric's attempt to create an ArtifactOfDoom.
* ArtifactOfDoom: The Cyrinishad. Anyone who reads it believes Cyric is the One and Only God worth worshipping... whether they want to or not. And since deities are empowered by faith, it would make Cyric mighty indeed as all other deities were starved of prayer. Unfortunately... [[HoistbyHisOwnPetard he read it himself]].
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* BigBad: For the first two books, Bane is this, who orchestrated the plot to steal the Tablets and will stop at nothing to use their so-called power to usurp Ao. Myrkul becomes this in the third book, Waterdeep, but mostly because he is growing desperate. Cyric somewhat shares this role in Waterdeep as he orchestrates the death of several of his companions in an attempt to gain Godhood himself, and firmly cements himself in this role for the fourth and fifth sequel novels.
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* BigBad: For the first two books, Bane is this, who orchestrated the plot to steal the Tablets and will stop at nothing to use their so-called power to usurp Ao. He was also TheHeavy of the BigBadDuumvirate he shared with Myrkul. Myrkul becomes this in the third book, Waterdeep, but mostly because he is growing desperate. Cyric somewhat shares this role in Waterdeep as he orchestrates the death of several of his companions in an attempt to gain Godhood himself, and firmly cements himself in this role for the fourth and fifth sequel novels.novels.
* BigBadDuumvirate: Bane and Myrkul shared this role during the Time of Troubles, being the two evil gods who allied to steal the Tablets and kick-started the events. When Bane died, Bhaal elevated to this due to his closely working with Myrkul to salvage the situation.
** Cyric and arguably Mask form this in the Prince of Lies, but the latter betrays Cyric first chance he gets, and is arguably more of a WildCard. Both are also responsible for a lot of the Crucible thanks to their machinations, though in this case they're very much playing against one another (Mask more than Cyric).
* BigBadDuumvirate: Bane and Myrkul shared this role during the Time of Troubles, being the two evil gods who allied to steal the Tablets and kick-started the events. When Bane died, Bhaal elevated to this due to his closely working with Myrkul to salvage the situation.
** Cyric and arguably Mask form this in the Prince of Lies, but the latter betrays Cyric first chance he gets, and is arguably more of a WildCard. Both are also responsible for a lot of the Crucible thanks to their machinations, though in this case they're very much playing against one another (Mask more than Cyric).
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* CorruptChurch: Ironically, this could be argued of Torm's Tantras branch in the book of the same name. While they are ultimately doing it for what they believe is the greater good, they are using very shady methods to achieve such. And Torm is the God of duty, loyalty, righteousness!
to:
* CorruptChurch: Ironically, this could be argued of Torm's Tantras branch in the book of the same name. While they are ultimately doing it for what they believe is the greater good, they are using very shady methods to achieve such. And Torm is the God of duty, ''duty, loyalty, righteousness!righteousness''!
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* DivineRanks: Averted in the original trilogy, where the Gods are all Avatars and thus equally helplessly mortal, but comes up in the sequel novels, which feature at least a few deities quite willing to pull rank on each other, particularly around demi-gods and lesser ranked deities.
* EldritchAbomination: Several are introduced during the fourth and fifth books, including the Night Serpent, a snake so huge it will one day swallow Toril, and gorges itself on nightmares, and Kezef the Chaos Hound, whom can hunt and kill Gods and took at least a dozen or so greater deities to restrain last time he was free.
* EldritchAbomination: Several are introduced during the fourth and fifth books, including the Night Serpent, a snake so huge it will one day swallow Toril, and gorges itself on nightmares, and Kezef the Chaos Hound, whom can hunt and kill Gods and took at least a dozen or so greater deities to restrain last time he was free.
to:
* DivineRanks: Averted in the original trilogy, where the Gods are all Avatars and thus equally helplessly mortal, mortal (albeit powerful ones), but comes up in the sequel novels, which feature at least a few deities quite willing to pull rank on each other, particularly around demi-gods and lesser ranked deities.
* EldritchAbomination: Several are introduced during the fourth and fifth books, including the Night Serpent, a snake so huge it will one day swallowToril, the world, and gorges itself on nightmares, and Kezef the Chaos Hound, whom can hunt and kill Gods and took at least a dozen or so greater deities to restrain last time he was free.
* EldritchAbomination: Several are introduced during the fourth and fifth books, including the Night Serpent, a snake so huge it will one day swallow
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* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: Post Time of Troubles, the powers of deities are partially dependent on the number of followers they have. Naturally, they all had to work extra hard just to keep them.
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* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: Post Time of Troubles, the powers of deities are partially dependent on the number of followers they have. Naturally, they all had to work extra hard just to keep them.them, with a large portion of the Prince of Lies being dedicated to Cyric's attempts to undermine the worship of other deities.
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* HonorBeforeReason: Taken to a divine level in "The Trial of Cyric the Mad". [[MadGod Cyric]] is put on trial and threatened with destruction because his insanity makes him a threat to the stability of the pantheon. He makes no secret of the fact that he intends to have the ''Cyrinishad'' read into evidence. The ''Cyrinishad'' is a book of epic propaganda telling the highly-sanitized story of Cyric's mortal life, enchanted by Cyric himself to brainwash anyone who hears its words from start to finish one of his worshippers, even gods. The pantheon's greater gods serve as Cyric's jury and would have no choice but to hear the ''Cyrinishad'' if he introduces it, and so pull out all the stops to keep the book hidden from his worshippers. [[OhCrap They fail]]. Thus, when Cyric's [[DirtyCoward most worthy]] follower shows up at the trial with the book, all Heaven and Hell break loose, with half the gods ready to destroy the mortal and each other before being bound to Cyric's will. [[LawfulGood Tyr]], God of Justice and the trial's judge, forbids them to interfere. To his reasoning, Cyric faces death and has the right to present any evidence he may to prove his innocence; to him, a pantheon of brainwashed deities bound in service to a MadGod is a small price to pay to avoid violating the sanctity of his trial.
to:
* HoistbyHisOwnPetard: Cyric read his own book, and having to believe his own lies drove him... [[GoMadFromTheRevelation quite a bit mad]].
* HonorBeforeReason: Taken to a divine level in "The Trial of Cyric the Mad". [[MadGod Cyric]] is put on trial and threatened with destruction because his insanity makes him a threat to the stability of thepantheon.pantheon (and thus existence). He makes no secret of the fact that he intends to have the ''Cyrinishad'' read into evidence. The ''Cyrinishad'' is a book of epic propaganda telling the highly-sanitized story of Cyric's mortal life, enchanted by Cyric himself to brainwash anyone who hears its words from start to finish one of his worshippers, even gods. The pantheon's greater gods serve as Cyric's jury and would have no choice but to hear the ''Cyrinishad'' if he introduces it, and so pull out all the stops to keep the book hidden from his worshippers. [[OhCrap They fail]]. Thus, when Cyric's [[DirtyCoward most worthy]] follower shows up at the trial with the book, all Heaven and Hell break loose, with half the gods ready to destroy the mortal and each other before being bound to Cyric's will. [[LawfulGood Tyr]], God of Justice and the trial's judge, forbids them to interfere. To his reasoning, Cyric faces death and has the right to present any evidence he may to prove his innocence; to him, a pantheon of brainwashed deities bound in service to a MadGod is a small price to pay to avoid violating the sanctity of his trial.
* HonorBeforeReason: Taken to a divine level in "The Trial of Cyric the Mad". [[MadGod Cyric]] is put on trial and threatened with destruction because his insanity makes him a threat to the stability of the
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. Its starring character is the archmage Elminster Aumar, one of the Chosen of the goddess of magic.
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More to Come
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* DivineConflict: Especially in the sequel novels, books four and five, where the Gods are back in their own respective heavens but working against one another for various reasons.
to:
* DivineConflict: Especially in the sequel novels, books four and five, where the Gods are back in their own respective heavens but working against one another for various reasons.reasons.
* DivineRanks: Averted in the original trilogy, where the Gods are all Avatars and thus equally helplessly mortal, but comes up in the sequel novels, which feature at least a few deities quite willing to pull rank on each other, particularly around demi-gods and lesser ranked deities.
* EldritchAbomination: Several are introduced during the fourth and fifth books, including the Night Serpent, a snake so huge it will one day swallow Toril, and gorges itself on nightmares, and Kezef the Chaos Hound, whom can hunt and kill Gods and took at least a dozen or so greater deities to restrain last time he was free.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Once "Midnight" ascends to godhood she takes the public name of "Mystra", the same as her predecessor, in order to keep the new church stable. But Midnight wasn't even her real name, and few besides Cyric and Kelemvor know her birth name was Ariel Manx (she gave it to Kelemvor to pay for his services, and Cyric overheard).
* GodsHandsAreTied: Gods cannot act against their portfolio at all (Oghma in the Avatars cycle stood on a razor-edge when he hid a location of the pile of misinformation, and the rules limit them even in withholding their boons. Likewise the new Mystra must allow everyone equal access to the "weave" of magic, including those she has personal distaste for. When the Gods step out of line, there are consequences for them.
* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: Post Time of Troubles, the powers of deities are partially dependent on the number of followers they have. Naturally, they all had to work extra hard just to keep them.
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: In the fourth book, Cyric created a book that converted any who read it into a faithful worshipper of his, regardless of their mental strength or hatred for him. It was so powerful that the ''Cyrinishad'' even converted the minds of ''Gods'' to worship Cyric. When he read it himself, however, his own self-loathing and lies drove him completely mad. It took quite a while for him to find his way back to sanity.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Helm, after killing Mystra. It cost him a lot of worshippers and saw him relegated to a mid-level deity. Prior to the Time of Troubles, he was a greater god.
* HonorBeforeReason: Taken to a divine level in "The Trial of Cyric the Mad". [[MadGod Cyric]] is put on trial and threatened with destruction because his insanity makes him a threat to the stability of the pantheon. He makes no secret of the fact that he intends to have the ''Cyrinishad'' read into evidence. The ''Cyrinishad'' is a book of epic propaganda telling the highly-sanitized story of Cyric's mortal life, enchanted by Cyric himself to brainwash anyone who hears its words from start to finish one of his worshippers, even gods. The pantheon's greater gods serve as Cyric's jury and would have no choice but to hear the ''Cyrinishad'' if he introduces it, and so pull out all the stops to keep the book hidden from his worshippers. [[OhCrap They fail]]. Thus, when Cyric's [[DirtyCoward most worthy]] follower shows up at the trial with the book, all Heaven and Hell break loose, with half the gods ready to destroy the mortal and each other before being bound to Cyric's will. [[LawfulGood Tyr]], God of Justice and the trial's judge, forbids them to interfere. To his reasoning, Cyric faces death and has the right to present any evidence he may to prove his innocence; to him, a pantheon of brainwashed deities bound in service to a MadGod is a small price to pay to avoid violating the sanctity of his trial.
* JudgementOfTheDead: When he ascends to Godhood, Kelemvor, the God of the Dead, judges the Faithless based on how righteous they are and assigns them to live various locations in the City of the Dead in accordance with their deeds. It backfires spectacularly. Cyric, Mykryl, and Jergal had similar jobs when they were God of the Dead, though their judgements tended to be a lot more terrible for the False and Faithless.
* MacGuffin: The Tablets of Fate, upon which are inscribed the names of every God and their portfolios. The theft of them prompted Ao to banish the Gods to the realms in Avatars and started the Time of Troubles. Everyone and their dog aware of them is trying to obtain them, either to seize power or return them to Ao and end the madness. Fitting for a pair of MacGuffins, Ao later reveals while their return was instrumental in his judgement, they themselves are largely worthless.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: One could argue the original trilogy was this, Ao testing his deities to see if they were up to snuff regarding their care for the mortals in their keeping. Needless to say, most failed (some worse than others).
** Also applies to Torm, who while an Avatar posed as a low-level cleric to speak with Adon and learn more about what motivated him. Unusual for him, but then again he never actually ''lied''.
* TakingYouWithMe: Killing an Avatar results in a ''massive'' explosion. Fully aware of this, Bane took Torm with him when he threatened Tantras, and Bhaal would have taken his own murderer with him if they hadn't been whisked away with mere seconds to spare.
* TrappedInVillainy: Prior to his apotheosis, the mercenary Kelemvor Lyonsbane would transform into a dangerous werepanther due to a family curse if he did something out of kindness.
* WeirdWeather: With a God or Goddess to direct it, nature is running wild. Rain flowing up is the ''least'' strangest thing you could see during the Time of Troubles.
* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: A god who kills another god can acquire that god's portfolio. Even before the Time of Troubles this transpired on several occasions, but during the original Trilogy, Cyric destroyed Bhaal by himself, and Midnight aided in the destruction of Myrkyl. Both were promptly elevated to deities following the conflict, albeit with different portfolios. Later, Cyric kills another God to gain power over illusion as well.
* DivineRanks: Averted in the original trilogy, where the Gods are all Avatars and thus equally helplessly mortal, but comes up in the sequel novels, which feature at least a few deities quite willing to pull rank on each other, particularly around demi-gods and lesser ranked deities.
* EldritchAbomination: Several are introduced during the fourth and fifth books, including the Night Serpent, a snake so huge it will one day swallow Toril, and gorges itself on nightmares, and Kezef the Chaos Hound, whom can hunt and kill Gods and took at least a dozen or so greater deities to restrain last time he was free.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Once "Midnight" ascends to godhood she takes the public name of "Mystra", the same as her predecessor, in order to keep the new church stable. But Midnight wasn't even her real name, and few besides Cyric and Kelemvor know her birth name was Ariel Manx (she gave it to Kelemvor to pay for his services, and Cyric overheard).
* GodsHandsAreTied: Gods cannot act against their portfolio at all (Oghma in the Avatars cycle stood on a razor-edge when he hid a location of the pile of misinformation, and the rules limit them even in withholding their boons. Likewise the new Mystra must allow everyone equal access to the "weave" of magic, including those she has personal distaste for. When the Gods step out of line, there are consequences for them.
* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: Post Time of Troubles, the powers of deities are partially dependent on the number of followers they have. Naturally, they all had to work extra hard just to keep them.
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: In the fourth book, Cyric created a book that converted any who read it into a faithful worshipper of his, regardless of their mental strength or hatred for him. It was so powerful that the ''Cyrinishad'' even converted the minds of ''Gods'' to worship Cyric. When he read it himself, however, his own self-loathing and lies drove him completely mad. It took quite a while for him to find his way back to sanity.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Helm, after killing Mystra. It cost him a lot of worshippers and saw him relegated to a mid-level deity. Prior to the Time of Troubles, he was a greater god.
* HonorBeforeReason: Taken to a divine level in "The Trial of Cyric the Mad". [[MadGod Cyric]] is put on trial and threatened with destruction because his insanity makes him a threat to the stability of the pantheon. He makes no secret of the fact that he intends to have the ''Cyrinishad'' read into evidence. The ''Cyrinishad'' is a book of epic propaganda telling the highly-sanitized story of Cyric's mortal life, enchanted by Cyric himself to brainwash anyone who hears its words from start to finish one of his worshippers, even gods. The pantheon's greater gods serve as Cyric's jury and would have no choice but to hear the ''Cyrinishad'' if he introduces it, and so pull out all the stops to keep the book hidden from his worshippers. [[OhCrap They fail]]. Thus, when Cyric's [[DirtyCoward most worthy]] follower shows up at the trial with the book, all Heaven and Hell break loose, with half the gods ready to destroy the mortal and each other before being bound to Cyric's will. [[LawfulGood Tyr]], God of Justice and the trial's judge, forbids them to interfere. To his reasoning, Cyric faces death and has the right to present any evidence he may to prove his innocence; to him, a pantheon of brainwashed deities bound in service to a MadGod is a small price to pay to avoid violating the sanctity of his trial.
* JudgementOfTheDead: When he ascends to Godhood, Kelemvor, the God of the Dead, judges the Faithless based on how righteous they are and assigns them to live various locations in the City of the Dead in accordance with their deeds. It backfires spectacularly. Cyric, Mykryl, and Jergal had similar jobs when they were God of the Dead, though their judgements tended to be a lot more terrible for the False and Faithless.
* MacGuffin: The Tablets of Fate, upon which are inscribed the names of every God and their portfolios. The theft of them prompted Ao to banish the Gods to the realms in Avatars and started the Time of Troubles. Everyone and their dog aware of them is trying to obtain them, either to seize power or return them to Ao and end the madness. Fitting for a pair of MacGuffins, Ao later reveals while their return was instrumental in his judgement, they themselves are largely worthless.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: One could argue the original trilogy was this, Ao testing his deities to see if they were up to snuff regarding their care for the mortals in their keeping. Needless to say, most failed (some worse than others).
** Also applies to Torm, who while an Avatar posed as a low-level cleric to speak with Adon and learn more about what motivated him. Unusual for him, but then again he never actually ''lied''.
* TakingYouWithMe: Killing an Avatar results in a ''massive'' explosion. Fully aware of this, Bane took Torm with him when he threatened Tantras, and Bhaal would have taken his own murderer with him if they hadn't been whisked away with mere seconds to spare.
* TrappedInVillainy: Prior to his apotheosis, the mercenary Kelemvor Lyonsbane would transform into a dangerous werepanther due to a family curse if he did something out of kindness.
* WeirdWeather: With a God or Goddess to direct it, nature is running wild. Rain flowing up is the ''least'' strangest thing you could see during the Time of Troubles.
* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: A god who kills another god can acquire that god's portfolio. Even before the Time of Troubles this transpired on several occasions, but during the original Trilogy, Cyric destroyed Bhaal by himself, and Midnight aided in the destruction of Myrkyl. Both were promptly elevated to deities following the conflict, albeit with different portfolios. Later, Cyric kills another God to gain power over illusion as well.
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Added DiffLines:
The ''Avatar'' series is an ongoing series of novels set in the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' campaign setting of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', written by Scott Ciencin, Troy Denning and James Lowder.
. Its starring character is the archmage Elminster Aumar, one of the Chosen of the goddess of magic.
The series currently includes the following books:
* ''Shadowdale'', by Scott Ciencin (1983) The first of the original Trilogy, wherein the Time of Troubles begins.
* ''Tantras'', by Scott Ciencin (1983) The second of the original Trilogy, featuring ?.
* ''Waterdeep'', by Troy Denning (1983) The finale of the original Trilogy, in which the Time of Troubles ends and several new Gods rise to prominence, most notably Cyric.
* ''Prince of Lies'', by James Lowder (1993)
* ''Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad'', by Troy Denning (1995)
----
!!The ''Avatar'' series contains examples of the following tropes:
* TheArchmage: Elminster features in the original trilogy, as one of the more knowledgable individuals in regards to precisely what is going on regarding the Time of Troubles, Mystra, and the greater forces at work. Blackstaff also features in the third book.
* AnyoneCanDie: Even Gods are not immune to this, and the first Trilogy alone claims at least five during the "Time of Troubles" featured. More continue to perish during the latter novels.
* BeingGodIsHard: Highgod Ao's is, at least. He started the Time of Troubles and cast out the deities in large part because they were widely inverting this, lounging about enjoying their power without working hard to serve the mortals who worshipped them.
* BigBad: For the first two books, Bane is this, who orchestrated the plot to steal the Tablets and will stop at nothing to use their so-called power to usurp Ao. Myrkul becomes this in the third book, Waterdeep, but mostly because he is growing desperate. Cyric somewhat shares this role in Waterdeep as he orchestrates the death of several of his companions in an attempt to gain Godhood himself, and firmly cements himself in this role for the fourth and fifth sequel novels.
* ChurchMilitant: Some of these crop up naturally as a result of having actual deities hanging around the Realms, most notably Zhenthil Keep after Bane whips them into a frenzy.
* CorruptChurch: Ironically, this could be argued of Torm's Tantras branch in the book of the same name. While they are ultimately doing it for what they believe is the greater good, they are using very shady methods to achieve such. And Torm is the God of duty, loyalty, righteousness!
* DivineConflict: Especially in the sequel novels, books four and five, where the Gods are back in their own respective heavens but working against one another for various reasons.
. Its starring character is the archmage Elminster Aumar, one of the Chosen of the goddess of magic.
The series currently includes the following books:
* ''Shadowdale'', by Scott Ciencin (1983) The first of the original Trilogy, wherein the Time of Troubles begins.
* ''Tantras'', by Scott Ciencin (1983) The second of the original Trilogy, featuring ?.
* ''Waterdeep'', by Troy Denning (1983) The finale of the original Trilogy, in which the Time of Troubles ends and several new Gods rise to prominence, most notably Cyric.
* ''Prince of Lies'', by James Lowder (1993)
* ''Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad'', by Troy Denning (1995)
----
!!The ''Avatar'' series contains examples of the following tropes:
* TheArchmage: Elminster features in the original trilogy, as one of the more knowledgable individuals in regards to precisely what is going on regarding the Time of Troubles, Mystra, and the greater forces at work. Blackstaff also features in the third book.
* AnyoneCanDie: Even Gods are not immune to this, and the first Trilogy alone claims at least five during the "Time of Troubles" featured. More continue to perish during the latter novels.
* BeingGodIsHard: Highgod Ao's is, at least. He started the Time of Troubles and cast out the deities in large part because they were widely inverting this, lounging about enjoying their power without working hard to serve the mortals who worshipped them.
* BigBad: For the first two books, Bane is this, who orchestrated the plot to steal the Tablets and will stop at nothing to use their so-called power to usurp Ao. Myrkul becomes this in the third book, Waterdeep, but mostly because he is growing desperate. Cyric somewhat shares this role in Waterdeep as he orchestrates the death of several of his companions in an attempt to gain Godhood himself, and firmly cements himself in this role for the fourth and fifth sequel novels.
* ChurchMilitant: Some of these crop up naturally as a result of having actual deities hanging around the Realms, most notably Zhenthil Keep after Bane whips them into a frenzy.
* CorruptChurch: Ironically, this could be argued of Torm's Tantras branch in the book of the same name. While they are ultimately doing it for what they believe is the greater good, they are using very shady methods to achieve such. And Torm is the God of duty, loyalty, righteousness!
* DivineConflict: Especially in the sequel novels, books four and five, where the Gods are back in their own respective heavens but working against one another for various reasons.
