7,068
editsAd placeholder
The Emperor: Difference between revisions
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
→History
| Line 49: | Line 49: | ||
==History== | ==History== | ||
Details about the Emperor's personal history are intentionally obfuscated during most of the game, but the player character has the opportunity to learn more about it through conversations, interactions with other characters, reading books, and completing specific side quests. | [[File:Balduran1.png|left|thumb|200px|''An Adventurer, I came from Baldur's Gate, though I was never one to be constrained by circumstance. I longed for more.'']]Details about the Emperor's personal history are intentionally obfuscated during most of the game, but the player character has the opportunity to learn more about it through conversations, interactions with other characters, reading books, and completing specific side quests. | ||
[[File:Balduran2.png||thumb|200px|''That longing brought me to Moonrise Towers on a search for treasure. To a colony of mind flayers who caught me and changed me.'']] | |||
[[File:Balduran2.png| | |||
The Emperor was once [[Balduran]], an adventurer who founded a coastal village called Grey Harbour. After securing enough money to fund the building of the Wall that led to [[Baldur's Gate]] being founded, he felt the call of the sea once more. On the voyage, and following a shipwreck, Balduran made his way to [[Moonrise Towers]] in search of fortune. There, he found a coven of mind flayers who infected him with an illithid tadpole. As a record of his interrogation by Enver Gortash during the planning phases of the Absolute Hoax states, he spent ten years under the thrall of the Moonrise Elder Brain. | The Emperor was once [[Balduran]], an adventurer who founded a coastal village called Grey Harbour. After securing enough money to fund the building of the Wall that led to [[Baldur's Gate]] being founded, he felt the call of the sea once more. On the voyage, and following a shipwreck, Balduran made his way to [[Moonrise Towers]] in search of fortune. There, he found a coven of mind flayers who infected him with an illithid tadpole. As a record of his interrogation by Enver Gortash during the planning phases of the Absolute Hoax states, he spent ten years under the thrall of the Moonrise Elder Brain. | ||
[[File:Balduran4.png|right|thumb|200px|''I had the fortune of meeting Duke Stelmane. We formed a partnership'']] | |||
After Balduran was reborn as an illithid and broke free from the Elder Brain the [[Absolute]], it returned to Baldur's Gate, living in the shadows and feeding on the brains of criminals. Initially struggling with its identity as a mind flayer, Balduran eventually embraced its new form. | After Balduran was reborn as an illithid and broke free from the Elder Brain the [[Absolute]], it returned to Baldur's Gate, living in the shadows and feeding on the brains of criminals. Initially struggling with its identity as a mind flayer, Balduran eventually embraced its new form. | ||
| Line 61: | Line 60: | ||
After Ansur's death, Balduran came to be called the Emperor as it used its newfound psychic influence to rule Baldur's Gate from the shadows. For years it made its haven under the Elfsong tavern, keeping various sentimental knick knacks from its time as Balduran. | After Ansur's death, Balduran came to be called the Emperor as it used its newfound psychic influence to rule Baldur's Gate from the shadows. For years it made its haven under the Elfsong tavern, keeping various sentimental knick knacks from its time as Balduran. | ||
During that time it also came to be associated with the Knights of the Shield, a lawful and neutral evil conglomerate of politicians and merchants manipulating events behind the scenes. {{CharLink|Belynne Stelmane|Duke Stelmane}} was a major figure of this secret society, acting as the Emperor's envoy while it secretly kept her enthralled. {{ref|The Emperor's vision of its control over [[Belynne Stelmane]] is corroborated by the 5e module, ''{{FRWiki|Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus}}''. In it, Stelmane is described as having a secret, mental battle against a mind flayer. This mind flayer is very likely the Emperor itself, and as a result, puts its entire "alliance" with Stelmane into question. It is very possible the Emperor and Stelmane did not have a proper alliance at all, and rather, the Emperor enthralled her for its needs. Whether this was always the case, or if they had a genuine alliance beforehand, isn't fully clear.}} | During that time it also came to be associated with the Knights of the Shield, a lawful and neutral evil conglomerate of politicians and merchants manipulating events behind the scenes. {{CharLink|Belynne Stelmane|Duke Stelmane}} was a major figure of this secret society, acting as the Emperor's envoy while it secretly kept her enthralled. {{ref|The Emperor's vision of its control over [[Belynne Stelmane]] is corroborated by the 5e module, ''{{FRWiki|Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus}}''. In it, Stelmane is described as having a secret, mental battle against a mind flayer. This mind flayer is very likely the Emperor itself, and as a result, puts its entire "alliance" with Stelmane into question. It is very possible the Emperor and Stelmane did not have a proper alliance at all, and rather, the Emperor enthralled her for its needs. Whether this was always the case, or if they had a genuine alliance beforehand, isn't fully clear.}} | ||