Forgotten Realms
The Forgotten Realms is a fictional setting created by author and game designer Ed Greenwood for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Most action in the Forgotten Realms takes place on the continent of FaerÃÂûn, which is part of the supercontinent Toril.Originally designed as Greenwood's personal campaign and detailed in a long series of articles in Dragon, it became the setting most popular with D&D gamers in the 1990s.
Its fame has been boosted by dozens of novels (including the exploits of the famous drow hero Drizzt Do'Urden) and the series of CRPGs Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Pool of Radiance, Icewind Dale, and so on.
The Realms are home to diverse races and cultures, from arctic dwarves to Egyptian-like Old Empires.
Geography
Technically, the Forgotten Realms is set on the planet Abeir-Toril. Various lands in this world are also home to other Dungeons & Dragons adventuring campaigns. Abeir-Toril includes the continents of FaerÃÂûn, Kara-Tur, Zakhara, Maztica, and other yet unspecified landmasses. However, most publications regarding the Forgotten Realms are specifically about FaerÃÂûn itself.
While Abeir-Toril is on the Material Plane in Dungeons & Dragons' planar mechanics, some action may also take place on other planes of existence. Visitors from other planes of existence are also a commonly used plot device in the Forgotten Realms.
Religions
The Forgotten Realms has a polytheistic pantheon. deities are an integral part of the world. They interact with mortals, answer prayer, and have personal agendas. They have many servants on the Material Plane, in the form of worshipers, clerics, paladins, proxies, and the Chosen.
Clerics and paladins, both Dungeons & Dragons core classes, are devout worshipers who pay tribute and receive power from particular deities. The Chosen are mortal worshipers who have received a portion of their deities' power, acting as mortal representatives of their deities. The most famous are the Chosen of Mystra: for example Elminster, the Sage of Shadowdale.
Above all other deities is Ao the Overgod. Ao does not sanction worshipers and distances himself from mortals. He is single-handedly responsible for the Time of Troubles, or the Godswar. (plotline from The Avatar Trilogy)