The Emperor's Timeline

The Emperor's timeline

or: im so normal about this illithid. wait, no come back-

balduran is fucking around and comes back with a shitton of gold. builds a gate for the port. that becomes baldur's gate

balduran leaves for another expedition. shipwrecks on the way back

werewolf island

goes to moonrise towers because the bitch is obsessed with fame and fortune. a true adventurer

gets caught by a fucking illithid colony and infected.

spends 10 years under the control of the elder brain there

ansur shows up and saves him with the power of bronze dragon dick love and friendship

ansur tries to find a cure no matter what. balduran is an anomaly, having kept the memories and personality of who he was prior to the infection, something that just. does not happen. ever.

balduran is like. fine. with being an illithid. ansur isnt.

ansur decides to mercy kill balduran in his sleep. balduran kills ansur in self defence

balduran makes a life in baldur's gate, and basically since he HAS to eat brains in order to survive, he "eats criminals' brains"

i think thats how he got involved with the knights of the shield, a neutral to lawful evil organisation that controls the interests of rich and powerful people

stelmane, a devil worshipper of Gargauth's cult (aka an archdevil turned deity of evil, corruption, trickery, greed and envy) was leading the knights of the shield. that was before he started controlling her

balduran, as an illithid would, developped a weird sort of. pet fondness for his thrall. which makes honestly that whole thing so pathetic. but she was an evil devil worshipping politician so it was a girlboss move of them actually-

balduran gets captured by gortash sometime during gortash's rise to power / setting up of the absolute plan. i think it's around when stelmane started getting worse - a note in an aide's journal marks that she got worse when the "strange visitor stopped coming to see her"

balduran is now under the control of the elder brain again. who is so so so pissed at the Chosen.

the Absolute Nether Brain sends dreams of the Astral Prism to the Chosen, so they get worried about it and want to send someone to find it (hence the cultists on the ship)

the Nether Brain sends him specifically to the strike team on the nautiloid

the Chosen also make a deal with Sharr about helping them retrieve the Astral Prism. sharr double crosses them. that's how shadowheart gets on that thing

that nautiloid is the one the game starts on, escaping from the githyanki after stealing the prism

balduran/the emperor sees an opportunity for freedom and just fucking hides inside the Prism