Meteor

Meteors were small rocky or metallic objectsThe proper terminology would be "meteoroids", but this has rarely ever been used in a Realms source. The term "meteorites", which has been more commonly used over the years as a synonym, referred to meteoroids that had entered a planet's atmosphere. found in Wildspace. When meteors entered the atmosphere of a planet, or the air envelope of any larger body, the gravitational pull dragged them down. During this entry period meteors rapidly heated up and friction with the air caused them to ignite and catch on fire. This state was variously referred to as a meteor, shooting star, or falling star. A group of falling meteors was called a "meteor shower" and the event of one finally colliding with the ground was referred to as a "meteor strike". This was considered by many on Toril to be among the rarest and most destructive of cataclysmic events that could occur.
==Properties==
Meteors and meteorites ranged in size considerably, from microscopically small to incredibly large.
Meteors were known to contain a variety of different materials that they distributed to planets through their crashing. The most notable of these was star metal, which could be used to make various enchanted armor and weaponry, and meteorite iron. Other materials that could potentially be found in meteors included adamantine, agni mani, skydrop, and allegedly the metal hellthorn.
Some meteors, referred to as star-spores, were infested with strange fungi.
While meteors could potentially land anywhere on Toril, they had a propensity for landing within its deserts, such as the Anauroch and the Raurin Desert. This led to the creation and distribution of tektites—glass-like objects formed from the heat of meteors meeting sand — such as Agni mani and skydrop, across the sands of Anauroch and other Faerunian deserts. Additionally, the impact of meteors with deserts could transform the sand around their impact point into slipsand.
==Usage==
* Some kept meteorites purely as decorative display pieces, as was the case with Sibonseni, who kept a handful in her private villa.
* Making a ring of shooting stars could require pieces of meteorites.
==Reputation==
Some cultures in the Realms tied religious significance to meteors or meteor showers. In the Moonshae Isles, this natural phenomenon was one of many that was believed to be a sign that one of the Earthmother's children had passed away. Among the Elven pantheon, the deities Corellon and Sehanine Moonbow sometimes displayed their favor to worshipers by manifesting a meteor. Sehanine was also known to show her favor through meteor showers, while Corellon sometimes displayed his disfavor with someone by manifesting a shooting star that would look to those below as if it had fallen from between the tips of a crescent moon like some kind of heavenly tear.
Within the Maztican pantheon, meteors were associated with the god Kukul. Among the Mulhorandi pantheon, a shooting star was said to indicate the presence of Horus-Re at night.
==Notable Meteors==
* Sometime in Toril's distant past, a cataclysmic meteor strike in the Frozenfar left an unusual rift exposing rich veins of copper and silver, which later became the site of the mining town Fireshear.
* Sometime around Midsummer in -5000 DR, a meteor fell upon the central settlements of elven realm of Uvaeren. In the wake of that fallen star came a widespread meteor shower, whose stars all set aflame trees across western Arcorar for a period of twelve days. These fires cleared a wide gash into the forest along the direction of the first meteor, decimating the Lorelands of Uvaeren and separating Rystall Wood from the rest of the Cormanthor.
* The Hammer of Fire was a massive fiery meteor that was on a collision course with Toril sometime in the late 14 century DR. It had the potential to be the most cataclysmic event in the planet's history, but a group of Ravenian adventurers were entrusted with the task of stopping it by the city's Wizards Guild. Provided with the tinker gnome Ignious Rammousdammous as a spelljamming helmsman, they borrowed the space galleon Mooney's Marauder and took off into Realmspace with twenty powderkegs of blast powder, gifted to them by Iggy's associate, the giff Major Plunker Big-Boom. Though they were delayed by the efforts of Talosians, the adventurers managed to destroy the Hammer of Fire before it could reach the planet.
* A meteorite that fell into the Elven Woods on Toril thousands of years before the Time of Troubles was responsible for shaping the land into what would later be known as Mistledale.
* A meteor that fell to Toril in primeval times was widely believed to be the source of hellthorn. Many rumors surrounded the meteorite, with some speculating it housed a diabolic entity or a fragment of Asmodeus's original divinity. In early 1479 DR, the priests among the devil-worshiping duergar that took control of Gauntlgrym believed that the meteorite was somewhere beneath that ancient dwarven city.
* The Great Rift in the city of Omu was created by a meteorite that was carrying russet mold spores, leading to the creation of vegepygmies in the surrounding area.
* The eldritch Star Worm was brought to Toril in circa 400 DR by a meteorite twice the size of a temple that fell near Ixtzul Valley in Maztica's Far Payit region.
* The Tear of Selûne, a diamond approximately the size of an ogre's fist that fell to the cold lands of Thar on Toril during the Time of Troubles.
* A great meteorite containing star metal struck the island of Tuern in 1358 DR. Its starmetal quickly became of great interest to both the Kraken Society and local fire giants. The Heroes of Ascore managed to recover some of this starmetal, bringing to Allis Lhyssich's Hand Crafted Weapons and Magical Weapons for Noble Causes to be forged into the sword of stonecutting.
==History==
Over a hundred myths across Faerûn claimed that the Sea of Fallen Stars was created by a massive meteor that fell from the Tears of Selûne, or from even further beyond the moon Selûne. According to the Parwiccan Cycle, it was more of a shower of meteors that fell in , creating a series of natural catastrophes across Toril that destroyed whole continents in earthquakes, fires, and windstorms, rearranging even the positions of the four inner seas. Ancient sarrukh accounts called this event the "changing of the stars", while other people referred to it as the Tearfall.
The founder of the S'tung Monastery in T'u Lung, known posthumously by the title Sky Father, had a keen interest in astronomy and left behind numerous records of comets and shooting stars that flew across the skies of Kara-Tur.
The Starmetal Hills in the Sword Coast North were the subject of numerous meteor showers from the 13 to 14 centuries DR, eventually making themselves the namesake of that range of knolls.
In the 14 century DR, some sages speculated that the three large shallow basins on Falx were evidence of gigantic meteorites having struck the planet in the distant past. These same sages further speculated that such cataclysmic impacts could have altered the climate of Falx, causing the extinction of most life forms on the planet's surface.
In , a meteor crashed into the merchant's district of Uwaji on the island nation of Wa, killing two hundred people. A wu jen by the name of Shiz-ti was later apprehended under suspicion of having caused the fallen star.
Sometime in the mid-14 century DR, a meteor containing a rich deposit of platinum fell into the Dragon Reach and was claimed by a group of aquatic dwarves.
Around 1367 DR, on the night that Adil al-Muluki stole the Seal of Suhail min Zann from a rotund priest outside the Mosque of a Thousand Fountains in the city of Muluk, nine meteors streaked across the night sky.
Aroyund the , across the continent of Faerûn lands far and wide were beset by tremendous lightning strikes, some of which would mark the impact points of a year long rain of meteors. Each of these meteors held within them some form of dragon egg. Worshipers of Bahamut and Tiamat received visions from their respective draconic god regarding these meteor strikes, instructing them to seek out the fallen stars.
==Appendix==
===Notes===
===Appearances===
===External Links===
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===References===
Category:Hazards
Category:Natural phenomena