STORY OVERVIEW

For my explanation I'll be using the established D cosmology (i.e. Prime Material Plane, Positive and Negative Material Planes, the Abyss, the Nine Hells, etc.)

The Genesis of Finding the Forgotten came about as the result of three factors: 1) The Fanfic Every Silver Lining has it's Cloud by Diresquirrel, 2) another Fanfic I Buffy, Adventuress by Kedran, and 3) an itch to use City being moved to a new, and vastly different, world as a campaign setting for an RPG campaign.

Honestly, my first thought was to do a Harry Potter/ Forgotten Realms crossover. But then I thought about the party balance and realized that an all Spellcaster party, whole being powerful, was a bit too one dimensional. I then thought of either a DC or a Marvel cross, but then realized they would pretty much take it in stride. Then, as I was scrolling through the Fanfic D storylist I saw Silver Lining and I Buffy.

This gave me the direction I needed, BtVS is, to me, a low-magic world. What I mean us that BtVS has Magic, but it is hidden/ignored or difficult to learn. They have knowledge of the Supernatural, but a lot has been lost to time. And the Scoobies, while young, barring Giles and Jenny, are able to handle most scenarios. I had my crossover, now I just had to make it work.

In my mind, I'd envisioned the Powers That Be (PTB) as playing a game against the Gods and the Hell Gods for control of Earth. And the PTB had pulled a bit of a coup recently, relatively speaking. They had gotten the Gods to sign a compact with them, the PTB, that placed Earth in a pocket Universe sealed, and separate, from the Prime Material Plane. And each of the Hells that could reach/connect with/to Earth are Realms/Worlds they (the PTB) already control.

Now my mind sees that each entity shares an 'energy' with their home Plane, such that when one travels through a 'gate' or a 'portal' a strand passes back through said 'gate/portal' still tying them together. This 'Aether String' passes from one generation to the next, fading but never, no matter how many generations pass, disappearing.

Now I wanted to give the world some lead in, and the incomparable Ed Greenwood, creator of THE FORGOTTEN REALMS TM Campaign setting had already done so. In his world he had already established a link between Earth and Toril. In the distant past an Faerunian Empire was decimated by a plague running through their slave population. In an act of hubris they opened gates from Toril to Earth and took slaves from the Babylonians and Egyptians. This bit of world building ties neatly in with my earlier point, as I wanted to have some kind of tie between one of the characters and Toril.

This overall story will be told in three parts, the first Finding the Forgotten establishes the World and lays down some background. The second, That which Follows, will be a series of screnes and vignettes leading from the end of FTF to the beginning of the third part. Life in the new Realm.

Parts 1 and 2 are fully plotted and I should, barring any outside shenanigans, I should publish in the first week of the month.