Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion The insane timeline of the main plot (do I even need to tell you that it's spoilers?)

The mind flayer colony beneath Moonrise was simply a dormant remnant of an age long past - however, it is incredibly lucky that not a soul discovered it during the initial construction of Moonrise and it's surroundings, and incredibly silly that Emperor stumbled into it, freed himself and didn't tell a single soul for possibly hundreds of years that the mere existence of the colony might be a possible danger. If this was revealed to any Githyanki loyal to Vlaakith, this would be reason alone to declare a full scale war on a Plane that conceals Ghaik activity.

At the very least Bhaal was active again way before 1482, as the Durge was handcrafted by Him and Him alone, and Durge himself spent many, MANY years in worship of Bhaal before he met with Gortash. Just how many years is very foggy, as you get to customize everything about Durge in game, including signs of aging, but we can very easily assume at the very least 20 years, thanks to an interaction that occurs when a Heal spell is used on Durge, where a sudden memory of the Durge's childhood of playing games emerges. In this memory, it is hinted at that Durge at this time could have already been a murderer, but was yet to find their way to the Temple of Bhaal. The lowest age you can go in customizing is making your guy look somewhat like they're in their very late teens / super early 20s, however, the pre-made origin looks very mature, which is why my assumption is 20 years at the very least. When exactly Bane and Myrkul become active again, I don't know, but probably at least some years before 1482. The Temple of Bhaal was also quite active, as Orin was born and raised in there - how old she is, I have no clue of, but likely around the same age as Durge.

It seems that I got it completely wrong that it was Bane's task to Gortash to fire up the Absolute. Bane's (and the rest of the Dead Three) motivations, as you outlined, are revenge against fate and the power to control it, however it seems there was no clear way to achieve that until information about suspended ceremorphosis reached Gortash. Likely, the original idea was to start piling up Netherese artifacts to start building up a massive stockpile of weapons to use. According to the book "To Take Control" in the vault, it is said that Gortash (together with Durge) found a portfolio labelled "Accelerated Grand Design" - the very same book you can find in Gortash's chambers - which outlined the concept behind suspended ceremorphosis using an enhanced elder brain, and that this revelation sparked the idea of the Absolute plot. Meaning that Gortash wanted / needed the Crown for whatever purpose that served Bane, which then led luckily into the creation of the Absolute scheme. Why that book was there remains a mystery to me, and why Mephistopheles didn't take advantage of it is also something that I couldn't find out.

It is after this point that Gortash discovers the Emperor's true identity, likely now trying to find an elder brain to put the crown on leading him on this trail. This is confirmed by another document in the vault called "Shield Steward Interrogation Log Scroll or letter". This log outlines that Duke Stelmane was "not herself" and that she was eating the brain of an executed prisoner, and that the person being interrogated was caught snooping around by something blue and floating, "but then it was just Stelmane, smiling". Then they don't remember anything afterwards. This seems like a giant plot hole, as the Emperor mentioned Stelmane as an ally, not as an Illithid, and the genders are very clearly distinguished - Stelmane is a female, Emperor is a male, and an Illithid Stelmane would have been dubbed the "Empress". Either that, or the Emperor was masquerading as Stelmane, but this is never mentioned by anyone, so it remains ambigious at best.

Nevertheless, Gortash achieves his goal - through the Emperor, he discovers the mind flayer colony beneath Moonrise, then they get in contact with Balthazar to ressurect Ketheric, an insanely valuable asset, becomes Myrkul's Chosen in exchange for ressurecting Isobel, then Gortash reveals the Emperor for who he is, drags him to Moonrise and has Durge put the Crown on the local brain, and the Chosen of the Dead Three dominate the brain using the Netherstones, and so begins the 10 years of setting up the Absolute.

Ketheric also becomes invincible at some point during this entire plot - remember that Isobel confesses at the end of Act2 that Ketheric in 1482 claimed Dame Aylin was dead straight after Isobel was ressurected, and that Dame Aylin, when first approached by Durge in Act2 in 1492, says that she's been there for more than a hundred years, so Ketheric was definitely sealed in the Mausoleum when he was defeated as a Sharran General, which makes ressurecting him pointless, as he's very much alive - rather, this should be understood as Ketheric being released with a Myrkulite Necromancer at the helm. But at the same time, who gave Ketheric the power to imprison Dame and make himself invincible? It couldn't have been Myrkul through Balthazar, so it must have been Shar or some unknown third party. But if it was Shar, wouldn't she cut off the invincibility after Ketheric turned to Myrkul? Wouldn't Dame be insanely skeptical of a now Sharran Ketheric luring her to some unknown place? It just seems all extremely convenient. At the same time however, Dame also mentions Balthazar as being a responsible figure in her capture, which only serves to muddy the waters even more.

Sidenote: I can't be arsed to refer to the Emperor as Balduran - that might be who he is, but given that he forgets to ever mention it or use his previous identity in some manner, it just simply has no relevence to the plot. They could have made it so that the Dream Visitor IS Balduran, somebody who would be known even to a custom Tav, and especially all the Origins.

Ten years passes, Durge is dethroned by Orin, and here, the final book in Gortash's vault comes into play. In "The Astral Prism Heist" Gortash writes the following:
"... I had (a dream) about the githyanki threat to our Accelerated Grand Design, my research led me to(...) old archives left behind in Moonrise Towers(...). These records(...) mentioned a relic or artefact called the Astral Prism. (...) This artefact was reputed to be able to project a field that disrupted illithid psionics. Such an artefact would clearly be an existential threat to both our Absolute ambitions and the Grand Design. All three of the ancient sources agreed that the Astral Prism was in the hands of the girhyanki lich-queen Vlaakith. Thus was born the plan to send a tadpoled strike team in a regrown nautiloid piloted by the Emperor to steal the Astral Prism from Vlaakith."
How the Sharrans caught wind of this plan is still unclear, and why they would have needed the artifact even more so, but this book does confirm that the Brain was acting in it's own interest now that Durge disappeared. Nevertheless, the Sharrans learn of it - but first, I want to speak a little bit about the powers of the Prism first.

So, we know that the Prism houses Orpheus, the man who is capable of distrupting illithid psyonics at will. He is the one and only person who can do this. However, it is crucial to remember that this is something he does AT WILL. If we read ahead to the beginning of Act3, when the Emperor first reveals his true identity to the gang, the player can choose to turn on the Emperor straight away and kill him. Note that at this point, the gang was in the posession of the Prism for many days, if not weeks at this point, yet if they kill the Emperor, it's game over as the Brain immediately dominates the tadpoled gang. Therefore, an ambigious rule could be established that Orpheus himself radiates a passive aura of psyonic disruption, which was then sabotaged by the Emperor as he took control over Orpheus's power to use it with intent and precision. Again, this is something that is completely head-canon and never confirmed - it seems as if the plot chooses when the Prism protects someone, and when it doesn't. Likely, there is no emanating aura to begin with, and rather, Emperor is freed at the beginning of Act1 because the Brain let him go.

Either way, the timeline is still not entirely clear, as the first two events could have happened in either order.
1: Either the Sharrans snuck aboard the Nautiloid and were then apprehended by Thrall Emperor, then Emperor proceeded to steal the Astral Prism (somehow, you'd think the Githyanki wouldn't let any Ghaik steal from their Queen), or;
2: Thrall Emperor stole the Prism, went back to Faerun where the Sharrans snuck aboard and were then apprehended.
Unfortunately, the timeline of these events matter, as Shadowheart posesses the Prism once the game begins - Shadowheart would have had to posess the Prism and then get KO-d, put in a Pod and tadpoled to excuse the fact that Thrall Emperor didn't loot the Prism off of her (again, it's a bit ambigious if the Prism was planted on Shadowheart or not). Nevertheless, it follows as:
3: Trailer begins, Thrall Emperor tadpoles Lae'zel and Durge and floats past a Mind Flayer corpse that was likely killed by the boarding Sharrans. Why exactly there are Githyanki on board is not clear, likely they were victims of the heist but this is never confirmed as far as I know.
4: Drive-by over Baldur's Gate to farm up some more people to tadpole, but the Githyanki catch up with the Nautiloid, hellbent on regaining, or at the very least destroying the Prism.
5: Thrall Emperor attempts to make an escape through some planes, ending up in Avernus, but the Githyanki are still following him. Lae'zel stumbles out of the damaged pod and begins making her escape.
6: Trailer over, Durge gets out of his pod, and Emperor breaks free of the hivemind off-screen. Frankly, it is impossible that he was freed because of the Prism as other Mind Flayers would have begun breaking free as well - instead, it is much more likely that the Brain let the Emperor go as he stumbled onto the Prism again, making it seem as if it's the Prism that broke him free. To show his exceptional lack of critical thinking, he houses himself in the Prism but fails to free Shadowheart from her Pod, but at least he finds out about Orpheus in there and begins extending Orpheus's power outside the Prism, but also finds out that Orpheus's Honor Guard is locked in there, locking him in a two-fold struggle that he struggles to multitask at. Note that Emperor does have a significant task force of Intellect Devourers inside the Prism with him - he likely brought them along into the Prism from the Nautiloid, but the why of it is never confirmed.
7: Transponder nerves are connected by Durge (who might or might not have Shadowheart in his party), the ship returns to Faerun - conveniently far away from Moonrise Towers, and conveniently the remaining Githyanki no longer give pursuit. Durge and others fall off the ship, and are saved by the Emperor - why specifically Durge and other origins is not understood, it is never hinted that Emperor tried to save anyone else.
8: Also, Emperor is a bit of an arsehole. He waits until the origins start to exhibit symptoms of natural ceremorphosis before he intervenes as the Dream Guardian, but at the same time it is also acknowledged that these tadpoles are special in the fact that ceremorphosis seems to be paused, not just by Emperor, but Lae'zel as well.