Hi guys! Been running a campaign for a few years now for some of my best friends that centers on a giant war between the gods taking place in Faerun in 1609 DR (after the Kingdom of Cormyr conquers most of Faerun) all spurred on by the fact that Ao the Overgod has stepped away from his role as babysitter of Toril's deities.
The BBEG of the campaign is Asmodeus, with my PC's eventually confronting him in a super huge war and defeating him with a god-slaying sword (as I have it planned now. It's D&D so who knows what'll happen). But I sat down today and actually typed out his entire plan from "Step 1" all the way up until our campaign began. Deciding to post it here for fun.
Just a warning, my campaign has been heavily influenced by the 5.5e sourcebooks and HoF/AiF books since their release. I know they're not the most popular, but we started playing D&D well after the establishment of 5e, so the new system really appealed to me.
This plan includes a number of headcannons that I've invented for my version of the Realms. I justify them to myself by saying "although the FR sourcebooks don't say these things do exist, they also don't say that they don't exist"
My homebrew is the following:
- Jergal isn't just the Final Scribe, recording the final fate of all souls. He was given the specific role of ending all of existence by Ao. Once Jergal determines it's time for existence to end, he'll inform Ao of the fact, and the Overgod will step away from controlling the cosmos to allow Jergal to destroy it
- Milil, the God of Music, has a specific power unique to him known as "the Siren Song." Upon playing it, any being that hears it will be subjugated to the will of Milil until he stops playing it.
- The reformation of the Tablets of Fate during the Second Sundering didn't just "result in the gods being more quiet", it specifically demanded it. If Ao finds any gods directly communicating with their worshippers (think avatars, making new chosen, big booming voice in the sky) after 1489 DR, Ao will punish them
- After Sembia/Netheril's war with Cormyr from 1484-1486 DR (called the Cormyr-Netheril War in my setting), Queen Raedra Obarksyr of Cormyr wanted dire revenge (bc they lowkey killed her dad). Her creating the Purple Dragon Knights (the dragon riders detailed in HoF) was a precursor to her invading Sembia to get back at them. By 1501 DR, she has rebuilt Cormyr into an economic and military powerhouse, and is about to invade.
Anyways. Here's Asmodeus (my BBEG) and his devilish master plan to conquer the realms! Starting back when he first descended into Hell...
- Step 1: Become ruler of Hell
- does that as soon as he arrives, cast down from the heavens
- Step 2: Become a deity.
- This one takes him a long-ass time. He has to make sure that the archdevils won’t rebel against him, which is somewhat accomplished in the Harrowing of Hell (a horribly failed rebellion against Asmodeus), and he also needs to ensure that they’re not overrun by demons from the Abyss, which he accomplishes through waging the Blood War (the neverending war between devils and demons)
- Between all of this, he doesn’t have much time to focus his schemes on becoming a deity, and is content to fully solidify the infernal hierarchy into full and complete loyalty to him, something that he imagines will probably take a few more million years, until . . .
- He suddenly does get the opportunity out of nowhere to become a god! In 1385 DR, Azuth, the god of wizards, falls into Hell and is consumed by Asmodeus, making Asmodeus a god (several million years ahead of his mental schedule)
- Step 3: Get a plan to send Ao the Overgod to sleep
- Ao the Overgod is the entity who created all of existence and watches over all gods, ensuring that they’re following the divine rules that he sets in place
- 3.1 - Become a more powerful god Asmodeus knows that, if he wants to conquer all of existence, Ao will need to be out of the picture. The only way to do that, though, is for Ao to be told by Jergal (the god of the end of existence) that existence needs to end, getting Ao to enter an eternal sleep. And the only way to do that is to control Jergal. Imprisoning Jergal is no easy task, though, and Asmodeus realizes that he needs to become an even more powerful god. Between 1385 and 1487, Asmodeus enacted a number of schemes across Faerun to get more people to worship him
- 3.2 - Not powerful enough, so get someone who can do that In 1487 DR Ao the Overgod re-makes the Tablets of Fate: a list of rules and positions cementing each god in their power-level and portfolio they hold. Asmodeus is no longer able to become a more powerful god (while Ao is awake), but he’s still not powerful enough to control Jergal and put Ao to sleep! So, an alliance is made between Asmodeus and Bane, the god of hatred and tyranny. Although Asmodeus is a divine higher rank than Bane, Bane is a god who oversees the direct portfolios of subjugation and control, making him perfectly suited to imprisoning Jergal. As of 1490 DR, the two are stalwart allies.
- Step 4: Take over all of Faerun
- Faerun is the one land in the Material Plane where the gods of the multiverse are most involved. It is seen as the nexus point of the Multiverse—the realm that most influences the makeup of the Outer Planes. Asmodeus’ ultimate plan is to force all of Faerun into worshipping him. This would give the arch fiend so much power that he would ascend beyond his status as “greater deity” and essentially become the Overgod, the “new Ao.” Asmodeus claims that he’ll share this status with Bane, who’ll also be worshipped.
- Obviously, the reformation of the Tablets of Fate meant that the gods were required by Ao to be much less involved in specific orders/actions in the Material Plane. Bane and Asmodeus, however, were special exceptions to this.
- During the reformation of the Tablets, Bane opted to become a quasi-deity, staying in physical form in the world of Toril so that (unlike most gods) he could play an active role in its affairs.
- Asmodeus actually was barred from taking an active role in Faerun. However, his legions of devils weren’t. Asmodeus, therefore, had an effective loophole to Ao’s new mandate. Although he (Asmodeus) couldn’t directly do anything in Faerun, or give direct orders to his worshippers, his devils (who answer to him) could do this instead.
- In this way, Bane and Asmodeus had ways to be actively involved in Faerun without being punished by Ao
- 4.1: Baldurs Gate and Elturel: At the time of their alliance in 1490, both Asmodeus and Bane had projects on the back burner. Projects that they planned to use to take over Faerun, in accordance with their plan.
- Asmodeus was overseeing Zariel (archduchess of Avernus) and her plan to drag Elturel and Baldur's Gate into Hell.
- Bane was overseeing a project to subjugate all of the Sword Coast into worshipping him through an ultra-powerful elder brain
- These two events were stopped by adventurers in Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus, and in the video game Baldur's Gate 3. This sent Asmodeus and Bane back to the drawing board by 1493 DR
- 4.2: The Cormyrean Conquest: In 1494 DR, Asmodeus and Bane realized that Queen Raedra Obarksyr, queen of Cormyr, was building up her military and economic might; getting ready to invade Sembia. They realized that she would be perfect to carry out their plan of controlling all of Faerun.
- Between 1495 and 1501 DR, as Queen Raedra persecuted the Sembite gentry throughout Sembia and the Dalelands, Bane and Asmodeus worked through their respective cults and churches (and Asmodeus through his devils) to gain discreet influence over the Queen of Cormyr. One of Asmodeus’ warlocks (posing as a wizard) had infiltrated the War Wizards’ higher ranks years prior, and Asmodeus used them to slowly chip away at Queen Raedra’s mental defenses, distract/replace War Wizards who were wary of the Queen’s wards, and bring more Baanite agents into the Palace walls.
- Finally, when the Queen’s defences were at their lowest, Asmodeus sent his most skilled succubus agent, a succubus named Sehkzeepandz, to kill Nicolette Silvermace, a prominent noblewoman in Queen Raedra’s court, and take her place. Disguised as Nicolette Silvermace, Sehkzeepandz began a secretive romance with Queen Raedra.
- By 1502, Sehkzeepandz was regularly casting dominate person on Queen Raedra. Through the use of circle magic (augmented by circle magic from Baanites and devil-worshippers in the Royal Court that had infiltrated it over the past few years) the effects of these spells were able to last for a full day, with the spell being re-cast every 24 hours.
- Between 1502 and 1509, the mind dominated Queen Raedra conquered all lands between the Trackless Sea and the Wizard’s Reach. During this time, Bane and Asmodeus were quick to make Queen Raedra seem as “noble”, “kindly”, and as normal as possible, not wanting anybody in the Royal Court to become suspicious that she was under the command of evil gods.
- The “Kingdom of Faerun” was officially established on Moonsong in 1509 DR. Although Bane and Asmodeus tried to use their control of Queen Raedra to expand even further East, by 1510 they realized that it would simply be stretching the Kingdom’s resources too far.
- They decided the time was right to get everyone to start worshipping them. But first, they had to finally get rid of Ao . . .
- Step 5: Take control of Jergal
- With Asmodeus ready to dictate the order to all Faerunians that mandated worship of Asmodeus and Bane, all Bane had to do was dominate Jergal, and get him to tell Ao the Overgod to stop watching the cosmos so that Jergal could “destroy it” (a lie)
- In the winter of 1510 DR, Bane attempted to take control of Jergal. He failed.
- Over the next several months, Bane would make attempt after attempt at subjugating Jergal (beating him in combat, tricking him into prison, sheer number of worshipers, anything!) but, at the end of the day, Bane was no match for the strength of Jergal
- Eventually, he realized that he would need the service of Milil, the god of songs, if he were to actually get Jergal to become his minion.
- Milil had a unique ability called the Siren’s Song: wherein he could get any being (including a god) to do his bidding. With the Siren Song, Bane could take control of Jergal
By the time Bane discovered this, though, it was too late.
- In 1511 DR a group of adventurers (hired by the suspicious Sage Royal of Cormyr) unmasked Nicolette Silvermace for the succubus she was: Sehkzeepandz, and also unmasked the vast network of Baanites and devil worshippers purveying Cormyr’s Royal Court.
- Although the Sage Royal wanted to keep this development as secretive as possible, fearing a full-on noble uprising if they realized they had been following a puppet of Asmodeus and Bane for the better part of a decade, the Sage Royal and the adventurers began a secret crusade of ridding Cormyr of the dark gods’ influence.
- In a matter of tendays, all of Asmodeus and Bane’s control over Cormyr’s Royal Court was upended, and they were back to square one
- Step 6: Repeat steps 4 and 5 again!
- Ultimately, Bane and Asmodeus realized that the reason why they failed with controlling Cormyr is because they tried to keep their control secret and, thus, as hands-off as possible, making their influence easy to oust once discovered
- Asmodeus realized that his eagerness to become Overgod, spurred by the sudden development of him becoming a god during the Spellplague, had made him act brashly
- He was deadset on taking his sweet time before his second attempt at “Overgod-dom”
- By 1512 DR, Bane and Asmodeus understood that, if they were to actively control their conquest of Faerun, they would need to get rid of Ao the Overgod first, and then take over the continent (unlike their prior plan in the 1500s, where the order was reversed)
- Asmodeus and Bane also know, however, that as soon as they get rid of Ao, all of the gods are going to go wild and start doing whatever they want, knowing that they are no longer forced to follow any rules. This will make conquering all of Faerun much harder
- So, between 1512 DR and 1608 DR, Bane and Asmodeus put much effort into forming an alliance with as many evil gods as possible.
- Talona and Laogzed (eager to augment their own power) begin following along with Asmodeus’ plan.
- He puts Laogzed in charge of the Cult of the Dragon (he just tells Tiamat, who’s imprisoned in Hell, to endorse Laogzed's avatar to become her cult leader)
- He tells Talona to start working on a super powerful, super contagious disease that will spread across Faerun and weaken their enemies once Bane gets rid of Ao and start the war. He also sets up her avatar to be the Regent of Thay in late 1608 DR
- Bane overpowers and captures Milil in 1586 DR. Using Milil’s Siren Song, Bane is able to finally subjugate Jergal, who becomes a ghostly shell of his former self, entirely subservient to the whims of Bane
- The two dark gods also form an alliance with Malar, Shar, Talos, Gruumsh, Bhaal, Myrkul, Maglubiyet, Loviatar, and Cyric (who they free in exchange for his–obviously duplicitous–allegiance). All these dark gods form an alliance with the ultimate intention of growing in power until they can betray one another
- Also, Bane establishes contact with Manshoon and makes the Dark Wizard one of his Chosen (which he does after Ao is gone). Although the Zhentarim were leveled during the Cormyrean Conquest, Manshoon begins rebuilding them from Zhentil Keep, entirely subservient to Bane
- In late 1608 DR, Bane orders Jergal to get rid of Ao, and the shit hits the fan! Gods quickly realize what’s going on, and the Everwar begins!
So yeah. That's pretty much it.
My campaign (now in 1610 DR) focuses on my players having to fight back against the Cult of the Dragon, the Zhentarim, the Red Wizards of Thay (now called the Empire of Thay) as they lead a three-pronged attack against the Kingdom of Faerun. The three groups are led by Laogzed, Talona, and Bane respectively (with Asmodeus pulling the strings, of course). They've also teamed up with large groups of rebels and freedom fighters across Faerun, that want independence from the Kingdom (think Tethyrians, Vaasans, Sembites and Dalesfolk that want independence for their respective countries, not to be a part of some greater kingdom).
Thanks for reading this far, and let me know what y'all think!