Time of troubles

Time of troubles can refer to:

Time of Troubles

The Time of Troubles (Russian: Смутное время) was a period of Russian history comprising the years of interregnum between the death of the last Russian Tsar of the Rurik Dynasty, Feodor Ivanovich, in 1598, and the establishment of the Romanov Dynasty in 1613. In 1601–03, Russia suffered a famine that killed one-third of the population, about two million. At the time, during the Polish–Muscovite War (1605–18) (known as the Dimitriads), Russia was occupied by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and suffered from civil uprisings, usurpers and impostors.

Causes

After Feodor's death, his brother-in-law and closest adviser, boyar Boris Godunov, who had already acted as regent for the mentally-challenged Feodor, was elected his successor by a Great National Assembly (Zemsky Sobor). Godunov's short reign (1598–1605) was not as successful as his administration under the weak Feodor.

Extremely poor harvests were encountered in 1601–03, with night time temperatures in all summer months often below freezing, wrecking crops; see Russian famine of 1601–03. The probable cause of climatic changes was the eruption of Huaynaputina volcano in Peru in 1600. Widespread hunger led to mass starvation; the government distributed money and food for poor people in Moscow, but that only led to refugees' flocking to the capital and increasing the economic disorganization. The oligarchical faction, headed by the Romanovs, considered it a disgrace to obey a boyar; conspiracies were frequent; the rural districts were desolated by famine and plague; large bands of armed brigands roamed the country committing all manner of atrocities; the Don Cossacks on the frontier were restless; and the government demonstrated it could not keep order.

Time of Troubles (Forgotten Realms)

The Time of Troubles, also known as the Arrival, Godswar, and Avatar Crisis, is a fictional time period in the chronology of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role playing game. Taking place during the Year of Shadows, 1358 DR, the Time of Troubles was a cataclysmic period during which the gods of Faerûn were forced to walk the earth in their mortal avatar forms. However, unlike when a god usually sends an avatar and its true form resides usually on one of the Outer Planes, the gods were all demoted and this was the only form they had at the time, making them very vulnerable. Several major deities died during the Time of Troubles, and a handful of mortals rose to divinity.

Summary

On the fictional world of Toril, the planet on which the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy setting The Forgotten Realms is based, The Time of Troubles was precipitated by an attempt by two of the settings' deities, the gods Bane and Myrkul to steal the Tablets of Fate from the overgod Ao. The tablets were created by Ao and delineated the areas of responsibilities given to each deity: his or her "portfolio" over which each of the gods of the Forgotten Realms have domain. Angry with the gods for their habitual pursuit of power and negligence toward their mortal faithful, the theft of the Tablets resulted in Ao Banishing all of the gods save Helm (selected to protect the gates to the heavens) to take on avatars and live as mortals on Toril. The novels covering this event and subsequent game products take place almost exclusively on the western continent of Faerûn.