Balthac/WOTI question and Neat Find - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Balthac/WOTI question and Neat Find

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
olddawg
Feb 12, 2007 14:22:53 In doing some of the deep Norwold/Antalian background for the Gaz's, I noted the dragon-slayer Balthac was listed as having died against Calor in 1700 BC (around the time of the Cataclysm). Can someone please confirm that the 1700 BC date is WOTI official?

Also, the neat find: I know where the immortal Illiric comes from - he's a pre-gen (I think, rediscovered notes from a while back) from IM2 Wrath of Olympius.

Also, extra immortal goodiness: Hiriscimus is listed as a shaggy demon who was previously an efreeti and whose secret name is Napoo Shaggennapes (sp?)

There is a boatload (okay rowboat-load) of other immortals in the IM series that aren't on Marco's list.

-OldDawg
#2
Cthulhudrew
Feb 12, 2007 17:47:23
In doing some of the deep Norwold/Antalian background for the Gaz's, I noted the dragon-slayer Balthac was listed as having died against Calor in 1700 BC (around the time of the Cataclysm). Can someone please confirm that the 1700 BC date is WOTI official?

No official dates for Balthac and Calor anywhere. The closest WotI has is that they existed post-GRoF.

I did an attempt at a Balthac timeline here and Aaron Nowack incorporated elements of it into his Darokin history here.

But, again, nothing official as far as dates. IM2 preceded all the Gazetteers, and- while WotI incorporates the legend of Balthac in the campaign- it doesn't set any dates either.

[EDIT- Slight correction. Here's what WotI has to say:]

"... Blackmoor was obliterated in The Great Rain of Fire, an explosion so powerful it shift [sic] the planetary axis. Thirteen hundred years later (1700 years before the start of the Thyatian calendar), a second, smaller explosion turned an elven homeland into the Broken Lands.
Meanwhile, the mirror-disk had become a sort of dragon heirloom, passing from one hoard to another, its powers unknown and its origin forgotten. Eventually it came into the possession of a great dragon-slayer named Balthac, who slew its owner and carried the disk away with him to his mountainside home. After Balthac himself died fighting Calor the Great, the most powerful dragon of his day, his abandoned fortress slowly crumbled into ruin. About 200 years ago, a small keep was constructed on the same site by a Darokin noble named Baron Alexander Corran."

Later, we read:

"Unknown to Hel, Balthac was a candidate for Immortality at the time of his death centuries ago.

So, basically, Balthac could have died anytime between 1700 BC and 800 AC. The implication from the text that I get is that the passing along of the disk of Rheddrian between dragon hoards took place quite a while after 1700 BC. The mention of the 1700 BC date seems like a footnote to the explosion of the GRoF, rather than actually being connected to Calor and Balthac (it's even in a different paragraph).
#3
havard
Feb 13, 2007 13:26:54 I already knew about Balthac being in IM2, but it made me wonder about the other "legendary heroes" mentioned in that module.

IMC I used the option where Balthac had been turned into a Titan and I was wondering if the others could also have been turned into Titans...?

Havard
#4
Cthulhudrew
Feb 13, 2007 14:02:24 CM8: The Endless Stair mentions hero cults that exist around the Known World. The specific one there centers around Baron Elktazar, a Glantrian hero, but makes reference to others. That cult has a cleric who (obviously) gets powers from somewhere. Without double-checking to be certain, I'm reasonably sure that CM8 came out before the Gaz series (and in particular the later development of clerics receiving their powers from specific Immortals, as opposed to the more generic view of them in earlier products).

Then, too, is the Cult of Halav, which grants powers somehow to its followers.

I could envision many of these Hero Cults' central figures being Titans, as well as the other heroes from IM2, perhaps. (With the possible exception of Aurum, because dragons- at least prior to WotI- followed their own sort of hierarchy and cosmological niche.)
#5
jakob_pawlowicz
Feb 16, 2007 21:39:22 WotI also states that the elven follower of Balthac, Sinan, died defending Alfheim centuries later.
So that would narrow our timeframe a bit. To 800BC - 800AC.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 olddawg Feb 12, 2007 14:22:53	In doing some of the deep Norwold/Antalian background for the Gaz's, I noted the dragon-slayer Balthac was listed as having died against Calor in 1700 BC (around the time of the Cataclysm). Can someone please confirm that the 1700 BC date is WOTI official? Also, the neat find: I know where the immortal Illiric comes from - he's a pre-gen (I think, rediscovered notes from a while back) from IM2 Wrath of Olympius. Also, extra immortal goodiness: Hiriscimus is listed as a shaggy demon who was previously an efreeti and whose secret name is Napoo Shaggennapes (sp?) There is a boatload (okay rowboat-load) of other immortals in the IM series that aren't on Marco's list. -OldDawg
#2 Cthulhudrew Feb 12, 2007 17:47:23	In doing some of the deep Norwold/Antalian background for the Gaz's, I noted the dragon-slayer Balthac was listed as having died against Calor in 1700 BC (around the time of the Cataclysm). Can someone please confirm that the 1700 BC date is WOTI official? No official dates for Balthac and Calor anywhere. The closest WotI has is that they existed post-GRoF. I did an attempt at a Balthac timeline here and Aaron Nowack incorporated elements of it into his Darokin history here. But, again, nothing official as far as dates. IM2 preceded all the Gazetteers, and- while WotI incorporates the legend of Balthac in the campaign- it doesn't set any dates either. [EDIT- Slight correction. Here's what WotI has to say:] "... Blackmoor was obliterated in The Great Rain of Fire, an explosion so powerful it shift [sic] the planetary axis. Thirteen hundred years later (1700 years before the start of the Thyatian calendar), a second, smaller explosion turned an elven homeland into the Broken Lands. Meanwhile, the mirror-disk had become a sort of dragon heirloom, passing from one hoard to another, its powers unknown and its origin forgotten. Eventually it came into the possession of a great dragon-slayer named Balthac, who slew its owner and carried the disk away with him to his mountainside home. After Balthac himself died fighting Calor the Great, the most powerful dragon of his day, his abandoned fortress slowly crumbled into ruin. About 200 years ago, a small keep was constructed on the same site by a Darokin noble named Baron Alexander Corran." Later, we read: "Unknown to Hel, Balthac was a candidate for Immortality at the time of his death centuries ago. So, basically, Balthac could have died anytime between 1700 BC and 800 AC. The implication from the text that I get is that the passing along of the disk of Rheddrian between dragon hoards took place quite a while after 1700 BC. The mention of the 1700 BC date seems like a footnote to the explosion of the GRoF, rather than actually being connected to Calor and Balthac (it's even in a different paragraph).
#3 havard Feb 13, 2007 13:26:54	I already knew about Balthac being in IM2, but it made me wonder about the other "legendary heroes" mentioned in that module. IMC I used the option where Balthac had been turned into a Titan and I was wondering if the others could also have been turned into Titans...? Havard
#4 Cthulhudrew Feb 13, 2007 14:02:24	CM8: The Endless Stair mentions hero cults that exist around the Known World. The specific one there centers around Baron Elktazar, a Glantrian hero, but makes reference to others. That cult has a cleric who (obviously) gets powers from somewhere. Without double-checking to be certain, I'm reasonably sure that CM8 came out before the Gaz series (and in particular the later development of clerics receiving their powers from specific Immortals, as opposed to the more generic view of them in earlier products). Then, too, is the Cult of Halav, which grants powers somehow to its followers. I could envision many of these Hero Cults' central figures being Titans, as well as the other heroes from IM2, perhaps. (With the possible exception of Aurum, because dragons- at least prior to WotI- followed their own sort of hierarchy and cosmological niche.)
#5 jakob_pawlowicz Feb 16, 2007 21:39:22	WotI also states that the elven follower of Balthac, Sinan, died defending Alfheim centuries later. So that would narrow our timeframe a bit. To 800BC - 800AC.