1358

## *The* **Time *of* Troubles** *begins the***Era *of* Upheaval…**

In **1358 DR**, the gods were cast out of their otherworldly domain and made to wander the land incarnated as mortals. Known locally as the Time of Troubles, the gods were seeking to recover their divinity – and they warred among themselves.

For more than a century, magic would be unpredictable, and the prayers of the faithful would often go unanswered. Some of the gods-turned-mortal were slain, while a handful of mortals ascended to godhood, assuming the responsibilities of the dead deities. This period of turbulence would come to be known as the Era of Upheaval.

Lord Ao destroyed the Tablets of Fate, and in doing so, unraveled the laws of Realmspace. The effects reverberated through the cosmos like shockwaves, including creating instability in arcane magic, though the effects were not consistent. Baldur's Gate suffered with the rest of the world, though perhaps not as much.

## **The** **Lantanese** **suddenly developed working** **smokepowder**

Among the Tablet-based restrictions suddenly rescinded were divine limitations on prime material chemistry – or what those from a certain alt-universe world would know as black powder. The non-magical formulations now worked *just fine,* but literally thousands of years of conditioning that it didn’t work (when it otherwise should) kept everybody else from making that realization.

Not coincidentally, the deity Gond was hanging out in Lantan at the time...

All but a mundane (non-magical) mixture, this was a significantly different formulation to what the SMC had discovered and otherwise invented themselves as an alchemical work-around.

The Lantanese weren’t afraid to show off the result of their “discovery,” either – though the exact formulation was the closest of secrets. This was technically a direct competitor to Stonehearth’s fireball-powered cannons and was indeed an excellent formulation: balanced between shock sensitivity, power and creation process. There were assumptions, however, that this was simply a different alchemical formula (or that Lantans had sold their collective proverbial soul to Stonehearth).

The nature of the mundane chemistry had certain advantages. First, there was no requirement of an enchantment step, so the magic bottleneck was removed. Not that this was a problem for Stonehearth, but for Lantanese allies who were trusted buyers, this was significant. That said, the fire-bead system had raw power and resistance to water that the Lantanese could appreciate on a new level.

Within just a few months, there was a great deal of cross-pollination of more strategic secrets traded between Stonehearth and Lantanese houses. The SMC now started quiet experimentation (so to speak – smokepowder was anything but quiet) that would soon carry them all the way to Smokeless powder.

It was very inconvenient to the rest of the world that Lantan and Stonehearth were already close allies, but it very much fit between the Lantan and Stonehearth cultures. This also gave the world a new espionage target. Lantan's mechanical creations were a curiosity, but now there was something far higher profile attracting the world’s attention.

There was another point, though, that was quietly realized by the Stonehearth-Lantan allies. As the world came to grips with the rest of the calamity: they knew the strange restrictions on non-magical chemistry had been broken. Whether that had something to do with the fallen gods was food for thought...

## **Divine Influence Now Dotted Toril**

Divine mortals are inherently bad news for normal mortals, especially for those caught in the crossfire. Some of the incarnate gods were open, most were operating clandestinely or covertly to avoid other gods (or ambitious mortals).

It was said that Oghma may have started his mortal tour in Candlekeep, but the dusty nature of knowledge-hoarding pushed him to Baldur's Gate and the Stonehearth College. The god took the fall in stride, perhaps better than any other, and was determined to make changes to the status quo even if he faced a fate along the lines of Prometheus (or Azazel).

*It was the nature of the portfolio to subvert arbitrary restrictions on knowledge*...

Even as Oghma took residence at the College of Stonehearth, neither the College, nor the SMC or the House itself had any sudden divinely-inspired developments that could instantly tilt the scales of power in Toril. Rather, there was a sudden brilliant nova in the more mundane academics.

Within a few years, scholars and secular clerics advanced theories of cosmology on the nature of Realmspace and Ao that made sense of the sudden chaos. There was insight into the fabric of the universe itself, not the least of which the ability to create pockets that would nullify arbitrary restrictions on mundane chemistry.

Now inscribed on a scroll of mithril foil was the ability to keep smoke powder working, even if the ancient restrictions returned. *That* was the kind of risk Oghma reveled in taking.

What stayed just past the edge of the history books was just how long Oghma resided in the Stonehearth College. What kept the divine presence from becoming common knowledge? Sadly, outside of the College itself, there were few prayers to Oghma in the city – thus the 1-mile radius for prayers to be answered didn’t happen much. For those that did get their prayers answered, it was no coincidence they were smart enough to keep it under wraps.

## **The dearth in divine healing leads to millions of deaths**

*As healing-enabled gods fell, clerical healing fell with it.*

The 1-mile prayer circle meant that clerics and the churches they empowered were now without their powerful health and safety capacity. This was the largest, fastest point to be noticed by a world that depended on divine health care. When that health care was suddenly ripped away, there was fear, disappointment, disillusionment and resentment.

One major saving grace, at least for areas near and dear to Baldur’s Gate: the Stonehearth potion factory was still able to produce various strengths of *Potions of Healing*. Stonehearth and the rest of Baldur’s Gate was subject to the same reactions at the loss of clerical healing, though Stonehearth saw it as a void that needed to be filled with knowledge.

Contacts in Candlekeep and around Faerûn immediately scoured the great libraries for what mundane medical arcana had been discovered and recorded. This included spreading the word on a generous book bounty. Roughly the inverse of Candlekeeps expensive-book toll for access, Stonehearth was offering rewards for tomes on biology and taxonomy, anatomy, medicine, chemistry and related topics.

Given the sometimes gruesome research on dead bodies required, to ensure there was no necromancy at work, the Stonehearth College arranged a charter with the Grand Dukes for a Guild of Surgeons. They were looking at mundane (non-magical) medical aspects, but it was leading to a version of *The Renaissance* in Baldur’s Gate.