I was wondering if anyone knows of a comprehensive Realms calendar out there anywhere, specifically one which details the special days of the year. I'm really wondering if the high ceremony of Talos, Calling Down the Thunder, has a set day or not. Considering that "[Talos] rarely has [his clerics] stick with the same time of day [to pray for spells] for more than a tenday" (FRCS 252), I would think the ceremony's date would vary. However, the entry for Talos also describes his ceremonies as "annual," which indicates a more regular cycle.
Considering that I have similar questions for all the holy days of the various deities, I'm curious if anyone ever wrote such a thing down and put it up to share online. I went to the Candlekeep site of heard so much about (I'm pretty new to seriously running the Realms, so I haven't had a reason to visit before), and was pleasantly surprised to find they don't have a search function. Seeing as I can't spend the next three years of my life rooting around there for this bit of trivia, I came to the next logical choice: Paizo!
Here is the FR Holy Days section from the Traveler's Notebook at Candlkeep:
FR Holy Days--Candlekeep Traveler's Notebook
Most of the articles like that can be found in the Traveler's Notebook section.
Also, just in case you haven't found it yet, there is a map utility for FR at WOTC's site, but it doesn't have the individual holy days listed:
FR Calendar Tool at WOTC's site
Oh, and watch out for articles from that Rascher hack . . . ;)
Thank you! That's exactly what I was looking for. I did notice, though, that many of the holy days either didn't have an actual date listed and/or were listed numerous times. Are the dates of the former simply unkown, or do they just happen at any time during that month? And in the latter case, is the repetition intentional, or a typo? I know it's correct for the church of Tyr but... fan work doesn't always get the editing/proof reading one would like.
I'm just glancing at this at work, but I'm not seeing ones that aren't assigned . . . are you refering to the ones that fall on one of the "special days" beteween normal months?
Yep, that'd be them! I only had a chance to glance at it myself this morning before bolting off for classes. A closer inspection reveals that I was mistaken. Thanks again; this is a huge asset!
Glad to be of service. You might be interested to know that Alaundo (the guy that runs the site) is getting ready to set up "Candlekeep 2.0" and there is a thread at the keep regarding suggestions for the site. You can find it here:
Thanks for the info!
JR, I got all your race articles, and as soon as I have access to Word I will give them a thorough read!
Let me know what you think, and thanks for taking the time to download them. If you care to search for them, all of the race articles were posted on the forums first so I could get feedback for them, so if you care to chime in on any of them, feel free.
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Hmm. A forum search and Google search turned up nothing.
Anyway, I did like your treatment of the Goliaths (very much like the Ogier in Wheel of Time) and toning down the populations of Raptorans and the like. Some very good background information on gods, but possibly would have liked to see some more on nations and races.
I didn't get to the classes, yet. The only other comment I would have is that both the Illumians, Raptorans, and Aventi have extra-planar origins, which seemed a bit much. I liked the background for the Raptoran arrival, so I think the Aventi could have used more of a tweak (maybe changing them to be a sinister creation of Umberlee).
One thought I had about Illumians was making them something like a weapon created by the Gith to fight the Illithids, eventually breaking out on their own. I think they could fit in well with one of the High-Magic nations, perhaps inserting a few cabals into the power structures of Thay or Luskan. Heck, even backwards configuring a major NPC human archmage into an Illumian might create an interesting revelation.
A very interesting read, I will definitely apply your ideas in my new campaign!
EDIT: Forgot to include a comment about the Planescape influence in your write-ups. I myself do not use the cosmology, which accounts for my mixed feelings on your Illumian origins.
Thanks for the comments!
I know a lot of races got hit with the "extraplanar" stick, but part of that is due to the fact that lots of races in the Realms came to Faerun from "elsewhere," and I also did that for a few other reasons as well.
For the Illumians, it allowed me to essentially use them "as is," and only explain when they showed up in Faerun. I'd almost rather they showed up with their origins intact than to say the Illumians in Faerun just happen to seem like core Illumians, but have X origins.
The Aventi seemed really noble and good in origin, so I hated to do anything to alter that much. Also, the cultures of the Sea of Fallen Stars, for example, are really detailed and structured, so I didn't want to say they had "always been there," so I tried to tie the origin to the great article that Eric Boyd wrote on Demon Lords in Faerun.
I found some of the topics, if anyone is interested. I don't want to draw this away from Searn's original intent:
Terrain Series Races in Faerun
Planar Handbook Races in Faerun
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Thanks for the feedback on the feedback. I understand completely your response on the Aventi and not wanting to change them.
Out of respect to the OP, back on topic, I can't use half the features of the Wizards Calendar when I download it - does anyone know a way to fix this? I don't like relying on internet access for game resources.
By all means, my question has been answered, so feel free to take this thread in any direction you'd like.