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I wish we knew. It was some kind of reset, but like some time dilation in science fiction, it seems like people hardly know that it happened. I hope that the new Sword Coast book sheds some light on it. I know that the novels are supposed to say, but I haven't had the time to read them... and some even say that they are vague.
Their way of doing it was probably one of the worst ways EVER!
They make a big up to do about the Sundering, and then don't really give it out straight enough for anyone to know what the heck it is.
I think even some of the key players and authors don't know exactly what it is.
In a NUTSHELL, this is what I gather it is...but since they haven't actually been all that clear on it...it's basically an educated guess gathered from what they've said and friends.
Supposedly, AO had written these tablets long ago and each deities job or field was written on these. With the ensuing changes...deities had died, others had passed on, etc. A reset was needed.
In addition, that entire combination thing done for 4th edition...it was being undone...so the lands were Sundered again. Once again, we have the Realms from 3e instead of 4e...at least for the most part.
Then AO rewrote the tablets which resurrected some Deities and stabilized the pantheon...at least for right now.
In addition, several deities survived because their essence was spread around in their chosen ones or something like that, which enabled them to gather their essence back and come back to life or something odd like that.
And that's basically, in a nutshell, what it supposedly is...from what I gather.
Guess that 4th ed stuff didn't last roo long, did it?
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The Sundering was just that, a sundering of the connection between Toril and the Shadowfell (or whatever it was called). They weren't clear on that, and I wouldn't have been able to answer this except that I "read" the Herald (the last book of the Sundering that starred Elminster).
So apparently the connection between Toril and the Shadowfell occurred during 4th edition and changed the setting profoundly. In fluff terms, during the Sundering Mystra was losing her grip on the weave of magic and the Shadowvar goddess was trying to make a play for the weave and become the goddess of magic. At the same time, (in the Companions Codex trilogy) Lolth was making a play for the weave. Well, Elminster and those silver-haired vixens (Alustriel, Storm, and Blackstaff's wife) secured Mystra's control of the weave and Sundered the connection between worlds, leaving Toril to stand alone once again.
So there it is in a nutshell. Frustratingly little has been release elsewhere, but I expect that much of it will be in the upcoming Sword Coast Adventurers Guide.
Hope this helps some!
IIRC, the Sundering was created when the Elves used High Magic to create the island of Evermeet. It created a cataclysm then with ripples going back and forth in time, causing the the end of the age of the creator races (past) and causing whatever is supposed to happen in 5e setting (future).
My guess is that the whole 4e Realms setting will have been a "possible future" should the quest for the Sundering (or whatever) be failed. Then pantheons are going to be retrofitted to what we knew before 4e, and demons are going to be outer-planar creatures from the Abyss again etc.
IIRC, the Sundering was created when the Elves used High Magic to create the island of Evermeet. It created a cataclysm then with ripples going back and forth in time, causing the the end of the age of the creator races (past) and causing whatever is supposed to happen in 5e setting (future).
My guess is that the whole 4e Realms setting will have been a "possible future" should the quest for the Sundering (or whatever) be failed. Then pantheons are going to be retrofitted to what we knew before 4e, and demons are going to be outer-planar creatures from the Abyss again etc.
That's kinda cool.
AO smashed the tablets of fate (which held the portfolios of each of the gods) at the climax of the Avatar trilogy, putting the deities in the situation of dependence on their followers. This was the 1st to 2nd edition transfer. Hopefully the tablets of fate were not involved in this Sundering. Nor does the Evermeet sundering fit the bill, given the time when that happened, ages ago. Shadowfell sounds better.
From my understanding it was the splitting back into Abeir and Toril.
Edit: handy libk
From my understanding it was the splitting back into Abeir and Toril.
Edit: handy libk
I think that's part of what I stated above. I should have been more clear myself I suppose (After saying WotC hasn't been all that clear).
AO smashed the tablets of fate (which held the portfolios of each of the gods) at the climax of the Avatar trilogy, putting the deities in the situation of dependence on their followers. This was the 1st to 2nd edition transfer. Hopefully the tablets of fate were not involved in this Sundering. Nor does the Evermeet sundering fit the bill, given the time when that happened, ages ago. Shadowfell sounds better.
Also, the tablets are remade which is how many Deities have come back.
However, they have been far less then clear which is why there's so much confusion and different ideas by people on the subject.