Lord Ao

Lord Ao 

Lord Ao (pronounced: /ˈeɪoʊ/ AY-oh), known as the Hidden One or the One Who Is Hidden, is the Overgod of the worlds of Abeir-Toril. As Overgod, all deities and primordials of Abeir and Toril, even those who also operate in other spheres and planes, such as Lolth, are subject to him. To be more precise, only aspects of gods directly connected with Abeir-Toril are under Ao's power. If it were not for Ao's involvement in the Time of Troubles, he would likely have remained unknown to the mortals of Faerûn.

Description

Ao has only taken physical form once, during the Time of Troubles. In that instance, he took the form of a being that was 12 feet (3.6 m) tall, ageless (neither young nor old), with a visage that was not pleasant yet wasn't unpleasant, because it didn't have any remarkable features. He had a white beard and hair, and wore a black robe dotted by millions of stars and moons, arranged in a not-quite-perceptible pattern but which had a beautiful and harmonious feel. Otherwise, he was envisioned as a very literal beard in the sky, with only face and hands.

Personality

Ao doesn't care what the deities or primordials do as long as they uphold their individual portfolios and do not completely ignore their worshipers. When a deity does something that isn't accounted for by his or her portfolio, Ao punishes that deity, and such punishments are usually harsh. He can damage deities permanently, or even demote them at will. Ao cares even less for mortals, and some theorize that he doesn't want to be known by them. However, when Ao finds worthy mortals, able to uphold the responsibilities of a deity, he promotes them to divinity almost instantly.

Activities

Ao's only job is to ensure deities abide by the rules of the cosmos. He reports such developments to a "luminous being" that exists beyond the normal cosmology.
Another of his functions is deciding which interloper deities are allowed in the sphere of Abeir-Toril and which mortals can be raised to godhood. If Ao doesn't allow it, a being can not ascend to divinity, and an interloper deity cannot enter the sphere or affect it in any way, regardless of how powerful it is. He is also able to decide which dead gods—gods that have lost their connection with the sphere of Abeir-Toril—are to be revived or returned to the sphere, and allow such development if he deems it necessary.
Ao established rules concerning the management of the divine. For instance:

• No two gods in the same pantheon can have identical portfolios
• When two gods clash, one of three results occurred:
• One god fade from the Realms
• Both gods merged
• One (or both) god(s) alter their portfolio(s) sufficiently that both can remain in or join the Faerûnian pantheon

These rules are more problematic than they are worth, because they encourage the gods to battle among themselves for supremacy. During the Second Sundering, Ao discarded such rules, reassigned portfolios, and created more flexible rules.

Powers

Theoretically, Ao can do anything he wants to. He is credited as the creator of the cosmos, and even exists beyond concepts such as alignment and divine rank. He is more powerful than all the gods and primordials of Abeir-Toril combined. In fact, Ao has the power to create gods out of thin air.
In addition, unlike the gods under him, Ao does not need the worship of mortals and does not desire it either, whereas those "normal" gods who do not receive the worship of mortals can die from lack of it. Ao initiated this after the Time of Troubles in order to enforce his will that the gods act as guardians of the Balance rather than kings of mortals.
His powers are limited to the sphere of Abeir-Toril, however, and he cannot control or influence something from beyond it.

Worshipers

The cult of Ao is led by "ministers" instead of clerics, as these cultists never receive any spells from the Overgod. The cult is more philosophical than religious in nature. Among the known cults of Ao are a cult in Waterdeep, and another in Zazesspur, Tethyr. This cult is remarkable for the fact that its ministers could cast divine spells, but in the end it was revealed that those individuals received their divine powers from Cyric and not from Ao.
The gods of the established faiths of Faerûn informed their priests about the fact that Ao did not interact with mortals. Because of this, members of other faiths neither fear nor speak out against the cults of Ao.

History

Creation of the World

There are no exact accounts on how he created the universe, but nonetheless he is credited for the deed. In some traditions, Ao just created the sphere that covered Realmspace, and the goddesses Selûne and Shar, and they later went on to create all the worlds and stars, and other heavenly bodies. In other accounts, it was Ao who directly created all that exists, not only Realmspace, but also the worlds and heavenly bodies - even the Astral Sea - using the raw energy of the phlogiston.

The Tearfall

During the Days of Thunder, when the batrachi were losing their war against the titans, they performed a powerful summoning ritual and released several primordials from their ancient prisons. The gods quickly moved against their ancient foes, and those battles caused the worldwide catastrophes that destroyed the batrachi civilization. A primordial known as "Asgorath the World-Shaper", determined to destroy the world if she couldn't control it, threw an ice moon at the planet, creating the Sea of Fallen Stars. This event was known as the Tearfall.
Before the world was completely destroyed, Lord Ao intervened and sundered the original world of Abeir-Toril into two twin worlds, Abeir and Toril, giving the former to the primordials and the latter (the original world) to the gods, ending the conflict. The Tablets of Fate were created by Ao after the Tearfall as a way to maintain the new worlds of Abeir and Toril apart, and to ensure a balance between the forces of Law and Chaos, as well as between the gods and the primordials.

The Mulhorandi and Untheric pantheons

When the Imaskari captured the ancestors of the Mulan peoples from another world and brought them to Toril, Ao contacted the ancient being Ptah, and invited the Mulhorandi and Untheric gods to manifest in Toril. With help and permission from Ao, these deities were able to follow their worshipers and end their servitude.

The Time of Troubles

In 1358 DR, the gods Bane and Myrkul stole the Tablets of Fate from Ao and hid them in Faerûn, wrongly suspecting that some of the Overgod's power was derived from these tablets. When Ao discovered the Tablets of Fate were missing he summoned all the deities and asked for those guilty to hand them over. When no one stood forward to admit to stealing the Tablets of Fate, Ao cast down all the gods from the heavens, taking their divine power in the process. Ao tasked Helm with guarding the Celestial Stairways that would lead the deities back into their divine realms. Ao stated the reason for this was primarily that he was displeased with the gods treating the world as if it was for their own amusement, rather than the purpose they were created, though the theft of the Tablets were part of it. Luna, the avatar of Selûne, who'd already been dwelling in Waterdeep as a mortal before the other gods were cast down and had missed these events, believed Ao responsible for the gods' turmoil. She informed her friend Kyriani of the One Who Is Hidden, but no more than that. Somehow, Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun knew more about Ao and he explained to Kyriani that Ao had brought order out of chaos so that the world could exist and had assigned the gods their parts in the balance of nature, which were inscribed upon the Tablets of Fate. However, known to few mortals, the gods had come to neglect their duties and fallen out of favor with Ao, leading to dissension and chaos. Later, Luna sighted the Celestial Stairway rising from Mount Waterdeep and showed it to her friends, declaring it meant someone had or was about to cross between the mortal realm and the planes and the realms of the gods. She wondered if Lord Ao had put it there as part of a plan.
After valiant heroes (among them the mortals Cyric, Kelemvor, and Midnight) recovered the Tablets of Fate and returned them to Ao, the Overgod himself destroyed the Tablets of Fate, grinding them into powder as a way to teach the gods a lesson. This act, however, unraveled the laws of Realmspace, beginning the chaotic Era of Upheaval.
Many cults of Ao arose after The Time of Troubles, but disappeared as quickly in the following years. By 1372 DR, even written records about Ao had disappeared, and by 1479 DR all the cults of Ao had vanished from Faerûn altogether.

The Spellplague

It was believed that Ao could not stop the Spellplague from happening because that cataclysm was born of defiling powers from the Far Realm, a plane that existed outside of Realmspace, and therefore was beyond Ao's power.

The Second Sundering

In 1482 DR, Ao began the Second Sundering, as a way to restore the worlds of Toril and Abeir after the ravages of the Spellplague. During the Second Sundering, Ao recreated and rewrote the Tablets of Fate, inscribing the names and purposes of the gods and primordials he chose to serve in a new, inclusive divine reality.

Rumors & Legends

Some believed that the Shadow of Ao, a powerful artifact that had the power to split a world in two, was related to the Tearfall. It was believed to be located somewhere in Laerakond.