| T O P I C R E V I E W |
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Posted - 05 Nov 2023 : 14:05:37
Since starting up his own Discord server (https://discord.onl/greenwoods-grotto/), Ed Greenwood has been answering Realms-related questions in the #q4ed channel. Although it's free to join the Discord and view his answers, but I believe it requires a subscription to Ed's Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/EdGreenwood) to be given access to ask him questions there.
So since his answers are free to view by anyone on his Discord and for the benefit of those who are not on Discord, I'm starting and updating my compilation of his answers in this scroll. I'll leave it to the wisdom of moderating scribes if anything should be changed or removed.
I won't be able to put down everything (I already have 300+ answered questions to put down), so consider updates here will be intermittent, and will take a while before it catches up to the latest questions answered. (Or just join the Discord if you want the latest  )
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| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
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Posted - 12 Jun 2025 : 10:27:48
On major shadow crossings in Cormyr
kageura necromancer wizard [Ahoy] — 20/5/2025 2:04 AM
@Ed Greenwood Hi Ed! Are there any major shadow crossings in Cormyr? I know Neverwinter has Evernight as its Shadowfell reflection—do any Cormyrean cities or villages have known Shadowfell counterparts?
Ed Greenwood — 9/6/2025 3:08 AM
No. Vangerdahast would not have failed to notice such locales, and done something about it. There are secrets Vangey kept that Elminster hasn’t spilled yet, but he assures me that what you’re asking about isn’t among them. |
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Posted - 12 Jun 2025 : 10:16:32
On commonly known fairy tales
Pretzel — 9/6/2025 2:11 AM
Hey @Ed Greenwood, I'm mostly curious to know if there's any commonly known fairy tales. Anything akin to things like Snow White, Cinderalla, etc.
Ed Greenwood — 9/6/2025 3:06 AM
Quite a few. Some of them I've already recounted in Realmslore videos (in the "Edtime Stories" series). There will be more! |
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Posted - 12 Jun 2025 : 10:06:41
On the fate of Thauglorimorgorus, the Black Doom
kageura necromancer wizard [Ahoy] — 8/6/2025 9:46 PM
“@Ed Greenwood I have a question regarding your Cormyr novel and the fate of Thauglorimorgorus, the Black Doom. What happened to his corpse after his death? Was it destroyed, interred in a tomb, kept by Cormyrean nobility or royalty, or possibly taken to the Well of Dragons?
Ed Greenwood — 9/6/2025 3:03 AM
It was destroyed by the War Wizards, casting spells and working rituals to ensure that even a powerful wizard (the likes of Manshoon or Szass Tam) couldn't bring Thauglor back. (This is mentioned in passing in an upcoming Realmslore video.) |
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Posted - 12 Jun 2025 : 09:28:00
On any agreement between Mystra and Moror’s Mirror
seemingly_clever — 7/6/2025 11:18 AM
To the ever-hale @Ed Greenwood, if I may ask a question about Moror’s Mirror (from “SOME SECRET SOCIETIES IN THE REALMS”, on your fantastic Patreon) and Mystra’s relationship with them. I inquire because the former group is said to control large amounts of gates, whilst the latter is said (on page 127 of FOR13 - Secrets of the Magister) to violently discourage anyone from controlling more than two sets of such portals. Does she have some kind of agreement with them? Are the rules different if the portals lead to other worlds? Does the Mirror simply have to perpetually contend with her servitors terrorizing them?
Ed Greenwood — 8/6/2025 3:27 AM
No, Mystra has no agreement with the secret society, and the rules aren't different if portals lead to other Prime Material Planes = other "worlds." Yes, Mystra's servitors are stalking Mirror members constantly (in between more important missions; this policing is decidely "backburner/second tier maintenance" duties for them) to try to elminate their control over said portals WITHOUT damaging or "sealing" such portals (Mystra wants everyone to use magic, and have unfettered access to it; it's the Mirror's fettering that is her target). As many of the portals are located in important buildings/public places, Mystra's servitors act surreptitiously, not in public spellduels or "blasting everything" battles. |
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Posted - 09 Jun 2025 : 05:05:43
On any surviving Selkirks
Joe Chang — 20/5/2025 8:40 AM
Hi @Ed Greenwood The house of Selkirk was one of the most important families of Sembia during the 1370's. The members we know about (Overmaster Kendrik, his sons Miklos and Kavin, Countess Mirateba) all perished in the early days of the Shadovar invasion. Have the Selkirks survived to the present day? They did not appear in your Patreon discussion of Sembian nobles of 1499.
Ed Greenwood — 6/6/2025 10:31 AM
Video coming on this, in the fullness of time! |
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Posted - 09 Jun 2025 : 04:14:36
On developing the Moonsea
Black Rabbit — 16/5/2025 9:57 PM
To Saer @Ed Greenwood , I was curious about the backstory about the development of the Moonsea. Besides yourself, who were the other creators that contributed to its initial lore? Of the cities of the Moonsea, what were the first to be created and concepted? Also, specifically for the city of Phlan, was its history initially developed specifically for the SSI Pools of Radiance game or did it predate that game?
Ed Greenwood — 6/6/2025 3:44 AM
I created the Moonsea, but Vaasa and Damara were added from Bob’s novels, the Galena Mountains name but not the range of peaks (mine) added by TSR from the name of a resort where TSR execs went on “retreats,” and yes, Phlan’s history was developed specifically for the SSI Pools of Radiance game, not by me. |
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Posted - 09 Jun 2025 : 04:09:57
On the building of the sewers in Castle Ward and Sea Ward
Reedhalloran Duskfellow — 16/5/2025 7:48 AM
Thanks Ed for answering this. Can I ask specifically about Waterdeep then? The sewer maps I've seen indicate that is a HOT mess so I'm guessing the straight roads of some of the wards (especially Castle Ward) can't be associated with that. Do you have any civil engineering history lore for Waterdeep you could drop? I've studied a bit of environmental design and learned to read the history of cities via street map topography...the fact that Castle Ward and Sea Ward have so many straight streets makes me think that those were laid down at a later date. Was that due to fire and rebuilding? Some magical mishap (Aghairon got tired of cowpaths and made all the streets straight)? or is there another explanation?
Ed Greenwood — 6/6/2025 3:42 AM
Sea Ward was laid out as an expansion, more recently than Castle Ward and everything east and south of it (as was North Ward, displacing paddocks and caravan camping-grounds and a growing shanty city of brothels and bartering shops and bodyguard-hiring businesses.
Castle Ward was redesigned after urban clearances in the wake of disastrous fires racing through slums; a labyrinth of too-narrow-for-wagons alleys and streets was eliminated in the process (all pre-Ahghairon).
The city sewers began as an alternative to the increasingly backed-up (sorry) system of nightsoil wagons inching in constant streams into and out of vity gates, and started from springs rising to the surface in the northeastern part of the cityplateau and the City of the Dead, being routed to flush out freshly-dug sewer channels after passing through existing pumphouses that filled drinking-water cisterns (city buildings also get greywater, for washing dishes and clothes and bathing, from rooftop cisterns; even when it doesn’t rain, shore fogs condense and very slowly fill them). These sewers ran down into Dock Ward, where tides backwashed the lower sewers, and then washed them out as each tide receded. The system worked, and since then it’s been expanded steadily with the growing city above it, the Warrens “happening” from workers’ workshop and materials storage caverns/cellars. (And no, surface street layout had very little to do with the sewers except for locating access and ventilation shafts.) |
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Posted - 04 Jun 2025 : 03:27:21
Ed reading the Realms novels
Jenzar El — 30/5/2025 10:19 PM
@Ed Greenwood As the obvious creator of this world and obviously a fan of the novel line Im curious, out of the almost 300 realms novels that were printed how many of them have you been able to read.
Ed Greenwood — 31/5/2025 3:57 AM
All of them. In a handful of cases, draft versions (all of the Ed Greenwood Presents) or even the raw MS (the Crystal Shard is one of those) was sent to me for a lore-edit during the readying-for-publication process. In other cases (most of Bob Salvatore's novels) he and I talked about raw ideas he might want to use in future books, but I didn't see any prose until the ARC was ready to go out. Yet one way or another, I've read them all (and that includes "junior movie novelizations"). |
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Posted - 04 Jun 2025 : 02:12:37
On the connection of the black obelisks with the Far Realm
cuddlypooface — 30/5/2025 8:15 PM
@Ed Greenwood Well met Ed from #127988;#917607;#917602;#917623;#917612;#917619;#917631; ! Can you outline any connections between the Black Obelisks in many of the forgotten realm's histories and their connections to the Far Realm? In Dungeon of the Mad Mage, the couatl that emerged had their memories wiped 'due to the far realm's influence' but i'm unsure if the obelisk was used to bind the couatl to the far realm or the obelisk itself was of far realm influence directly... Any help and i'd be eternally grateful!
Ed Greenwood — 31/5/2025 3:53 AM
The Black Obelisks are still hidden behind several NDAs in terms of me doing lore revelations about them, but let me say this much: I wrote them into the Realms before D&D existed, and Bruce Cordell (who created the Far Realms) was born. What I can't discuss is what connection, if any, some of the obelisks may or may not now have to the Far Realms. |
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Posted - 28 May 2025 : 08:03:34
On known black dragon names
kageura necromancer wizard — Yesterday at 2:53 AM
@Ed Greenwood Hi Ed! I saw your recent lore drops and wanted to sincerely thank you for providing such thorough and detailed information—truly appreciated. I did have one quick question:
Under the section titled “Known Black Dragon Names of the Realms”, are those meant to be the names of specific individual black dragons, or are they examples of names commonly used among black dragons in general?
Thanks again for all the incredible work you share with us. sincerly Owen Stacey
Ed Greenwood — 25/5/2025 11:14 AM
It's my pleasure! Okay, those are all names of specific black dragons currently alive and flourishing in the Realms (circa 1500 DR). They are ALSO "popular" black dragon given names, BUT...among that sub-race, it's the custom not to use a name a dragon is currently enjoying until it comes to the great-grandsons and daughters of the current "elder generation" of wyrms. In other words, little confusion arises because few dragons alive at the same time will be bearing the same names (and when they do, nicknames like "The Flying Terror" will often be appended).
kageura necromancer wizard [Ahoy] — 7/6/2025 8:05 PM
also among those names are they feminine masculine or gender neutral? for example is Aerammarglas an appropriate name for a female black dragon
Ed Greenwood — 8/6/2025 3:22 AM
Those all happen to be male black dragon names. The feminine equivalents are: Aerammarglarya or Aerammarglazya; Glazalarlorra; Imrylglamra; Ralaglaudra; and Voarulglammandra.
-Edited on 12/6/25 to add new responses |
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Posted - 28 May 2025 : 08:00:32
On how Mystra and Azuth regained their status
Kim Kimera Kimes — 24/5/2025 7:13 PM
Hello @Ed Greenwood, in the Realmslore channel we were wondering how Mystra and Azuth regained their Greater and Lesser Deity status back so soon while they were absent for a hundred years. When this happened to Waukeen her church crumbled in 10 years despite Liira trying to prevent that. So what is up with the current power of the gods of magic?
Ed Greenwood — 25/5/2025 2:36 AM
Almost all magic across the Realms uses the Weave, or flows through the Weave (like the vast web of electrical wiring across, say, North America), and this rejuvenated Mystra directly, and Azuth "along for the ride" and doing better as mages who'd regained their confidence in their own spells/trust in the Weave cast more magics. Waukeen is not the "only" way to conduct transactions...and yes, there are other ways to make magic, but so many sentients on Toril have gotten so used to the ease and rapidity of the Weave that it's their daily default. That's what brought back Mystra and Azuth so solidly and rapidly. |
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Posted - 22 May 2025 : 01:09:07
On what liches have for social gatherings
Kim Kimera Kimes — 19/5/2025 6:04 PM
Hey @Ed Greenwood , a question for liches and similar undead, as they dont drink tea or coffee and cant consume cookies, what do they prefer to have for social gatherings?
Ed Greenwood — 20/5/2025 1:07 AM
The blood of the living. (That's the in-Realms answer, and widespread belief. A less-popular alternative is "The tears of their victims.") Almost all liches can consume everything you listed, they just receive no nourishment nor pleasure from it. So the real answer is: boiling or freezing-to-the-point-of-having-ice-shavings-in-it liquids, just to feel sensation lost when they ceased to "live."
Ed Greenwood — 20/5/2025 1:10 AM
Ghostly/insubstantial undead like to occupy the same space as warm living bodies, to leach warmth from them (again, to feel the sensation). |
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Posted - 19 May 2025 : 15:28:07
On how diminutive humanoids appear intimidating
Joe Chang — 15/5/2025 9:31 AM
Hi @Ed Greenwood what do diminuative humanoids, like goblins and kobolds, try to do to seem more fearsome and intimidating in battle?
Ed Greenwood — 16/5/2025 7:19 AM
In the Realms, they mainly beat in unison on massed drums, and shriek together when charging. |
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Posted - 19 May 2025 : 12:58:42
On surveyors in the Realms
Reedhalloran Duskfellow — 15/5/2025 3:50 AM
Hi @Ed Greenwood, I have a Realms city planning question for you. I notice that most of the cities that we have maps for in the realms lack a grid planning system. But there are a few notable exceptions like Waterdeep that have a mix of long straight boulevards with windy side streets and alleys.
Are there surveyors in the realms? Do they use anything like the Roman boundary stones when figuring out street/plot alignment?
Ed Greenwood — 15/5/2025 4:06 AM
Heh. Hearken again to my frequent answer: it depends. MOST places, and all large cities, EVENTUALLY end up with official surveyors, sometimes tied to the local tax system. Boundary disputes end up demanding it. Once a settlements gets sewers, the boundary markers usually get tied to them, because surreptitiously moving a sewer a foot or so by night is...difficult. |
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Posted - 19 May 2025 : 12:55:26
On Malakuth Tabuirr's Vhaeraunite temple
Elliott! — 10/5/2025 7:09 AM
@Ed Greenwood Hi Ed! I hope you’re doing well #128578;
We have some info on where Eilistraeeans are grouping up on the surface; where might one find vhaeraunite outposts, communities? Or temples? One of vhaeraun’s expectations of his followers is to contribute to permanent drow settlements on the surface (mentioned in faiths and pantheons and I believe other places as well) so they gotta be out there, right?
Malakuth Tabuirr is mentioned to have funded one such vhaeraunite temple; is it in skullport, or somewhere else?
Thank you in advance for any guidance! You rock.
Ed Greenwood — 15/5/2025 3:26 AM
Thus far, Vhaeraunite temples in the World Above (the surface Realms) are secret, either “upper rooms” in the large houses of sponsors, in big cities, or in cellars. There are temples in Westgate, Waterdeep, Athkatla, Zazesspur, Selgaunt, Baldur’s Gate, Suldolphor, Ankhapur, and Tashluta, that I know of, and more shrines that may become temples if local support grows. Skullport has one of these very secret small shrines, nothing more yet; Malakuth Tabuirr’s temple is the one under the easternmost Bridge District in Athkatla. |
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Posted - 19 May 2025 : 12:48:55
On divine spell scrolls
rweston_DnD — 10/5/2025 3:25 PM
A scroll query for you Ed.
Divine / priestly spell scrolls - will they work for any cleric who reads them in your Realms?
Would a cleric of Lathander be able to use a spell scroll made by a cleric of Shar or Bane?
Would they avoid doing so? Would there be divine consequences? Would the gods (or their servants) even notice?
Is the scroll just a packet of divine energy waiting to be opened by someone with the right key (or in this case class), or does reading the scroll make a channel to the power it's creator worshiped?
Thanks!
Ed Greenwood — 15/5/2025 3:17 AM
A divine spell scroll can be read by any cleric, and will function. That’s canon D&D from many, many, many rulings down the years (Gary Gygax, Len Lakofka, Frank Mentzer, Jim Ward, Bruce Heard, etc. etc. just in my personal hearing, at GenCon tournaments).
In “my” realms, a spell scroll usually consists of an incantation set forth among glyphs/symbols/runes that are to be touched by the reader as they read, the “when” for each touch obvious by the scroll layout (and initial temple/senior priest instruction). These symbols overcome any problems with mispronunciations due to the reader not being a master of the tongue the incantation was written in/version of the Common Tongue used by the scroll-writer.
Divine notice depends on spell level: for first to third level, no deity or servitor will notice unless they are watching a particular mortal, locale, or scroll and the object of their attention gets involved. A scroll of that level is indeed just a packet of divine energy awaiting anyone who can use it.
For high-level spells, chances of a deity noticing rise (obviously to 100 percent for Augury or other “contact the deity” magics, but also for spells that aren’t in the heart of the deity’s portfolio (Tempus will notice some sort of illusion spell more than a battle-related spell, for example).
So yes, a cleric of Lathander can use a scroll crafted by a cleric of Shar or Bane. They would ordinarily avoid doing so, but the purposes of the faith, and needs of the moment, will always override such reluctance. The consequences are their own moral wrestling/feeling “unclean” more than divine attention, though again, there may be specific instances of “traps” set up to alert a deity (such as Shar; other deities—Sharess, for example—have a nature that makes them highly unlikely to set up attention-triggers). |
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Posted - 19 May 2025 : 12:10:25
On what edition Ed plays
kageura necromancer wizard — 15/5/2025 12:02 AM
@Ed Greenwood Hi Ed,
I was wondering—when it comes to playing Dungeons & Dragons, which edition do you usualy use when you play the game from 3rd Edition onward? Also, which version do you feel best captures your original vision for the world of Faerûn?
Thanks in advance!
Ed Greenwood — 15/5/2025 2:54 AM
With my original Realms players, we play 2nd Edition with both 1st and 2nd ed bards, as was suggested by Gary Gygax at the time 2nd was introduced; we vote on everything. When I'm playtesting for TSR and now Wizards, it's whatever rule system and specific proto-rules/draft rules they want tested. When it's at a convention, it's whichever rules system the con organizers think best for their attendees, which is usually 5e these days. Unless I'm running an intro table for non-gamers (such as local mayors, religious leaders, etc.), when I do a free-form, rules-edition-doesn't-matter storytelling style. As this last sort encourages roleplaying (acting out the life of a character) best, and has folks at the table least focussed on builds and buffs and "crunchy" gamer mechanics stuff, it's the sort that best lets me hark back to my original vision of Faerûn. |
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Posted - 14 May 2025 : 07:15:12
On Alaundo's prophecies related to Bhaal
gdallison — 11/5/2025 4:54 PM
Hi @Ed Greenwood ,
Looking for some clarification on a topic, more specifically relating to Alaundo and his prophecies and then a bit more specifically related to the prophecy relating to Bhaal.
So we have some examples of prophecies, such as "The wyrm shall wander the earth and such a pestilence will follow in his wake, that all that know of his passing shall be struck down by the plague." This is vague and open to interpretation as you would expect a prophecy to be. Candlekeep Mysteries says that prophecies are similarly vague and open to misinterpretation and have been recorded in an antiquated form of common (presumably auld common - thorass).
Then we have Bhaal's prophecy "The Lord of Murder shall perish, and in his doom shall spawn a score of progeny". Not really vague and no room for misinterpretation. In fact the only details it is missing are how and where he died.
So how did Bhaal not panic the moment this prophecy was uttered. Why the disparity. Is the "prophecy" we have been provided for Bhaal's demise an edited version that is most often repeated but not the actual original prophecy repeated in Candlekeep.
Ed Greenwood — 12/5/2025 2:21 AM
Hi! Yes, the prophecies of Alaundo are in Auld Common, and they can be heard by anyone within the main buildings of Candlekeep as the monks process through them (following the same route, all the time, so a visitor can choose to be within hearing or far enough away, behind closed doors and so on, to not be distracted by hearing the Endless Chant).
I’ll do a video eventually that relates some of the more interesting not-yet-fulfilled prophecies.
Yes, Bhaal’s prophecy is edited, but only shortened. In full, it is: “When all gods fall and walk the lands, by the hand of one deity wielding another deity, the Lord of Murder shall perish, and in his doom shall spawn a score of progeny who shall keep his name and power alive until his return.”
So Bhaal thought it unlikely that all gods would ever fall, but decided to prepare for this by impregnating many human women to sire many, many descendants (too many for even someone hunting them deliberately to trace and slay them all).
No, the Avowed of Candlekeep don’t publish treatises on the prophecies, nor write them down. To discuss any of them with a monk of Candlekeep, you need to journey to Candlekeep, present an acceptable tome to be admitted, and take your own notes (not forbidden) during your discussions. This policy has created a steady “lore tourist” income stream for Candlekeep, down the years, and continues to do so. |
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Posted - 14 May 2025 : 07:02:15
On Second Sundering around Waterdeep/Neverwinter
Roni — 11/5/2025 9:21 AM
Hello, Ed! In the last few years we've gotten a lot of information about the current post second sundering state of the sword coast, but what about, well, the other side of the shore? The water within a few dozen miles of the coast, under the ships sailing from and to Neverwinter, Waterdeep, and further south? What aquatic races/monsters/factions are particularly common these days, any interesting current events/political intrigue, etc?
Ed Greenwood — 12/5/2025 2:06 AM
A video is forthcoming (not all that soon) on this very topic. Short version: around Waterdeep, the merfolk are certainly flourishing. Around the Nelanther: an undersea version of Veladorn in its monstrous prime is in the making. |
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Posted - 13 May 2025 : 04:18:36
On current top trade items (aside from wine) that merchants ship from Tethyr to Cormyr
Jeremy Grenemyer — 7/5/2025 1:17 AM
Good morning @Ed Greenwood from sunny California. #127774; I was wondering what the current top three or five trade items (aside from wine) are that merchants ship from Tethyr to Cormyr?
And, if you’ve the time, from Cormyr to Tethyr?
Thank you, Ed, as always!
Juniper Churlgo — 7/5/2025 1:35 AM
from the top of my head id think luxury items like T->C ambergris, rugs, pipeweed, whale oil, and C->T weapons and armor, magic items, ivory, maybe coal? Wonder which of them are correct, if any?
Brian Cortijo — 7/5/2025 10:09 AM
I'm going answer part of Jeremy's question with some items you wouldn't think would be on the list. Ed can be more accurate and specific.
- Tethyrians import bow staves (the straight bits of wood eventually used by bowyers in their craft) from southern Cormyr, as the hardwoods there are straighter and more reliable than the cousins in Tethyrian woods (this is humans only, mind you; the elves of the region know full well how to overcome such petty concerns).
- Cormyr imports a good deal of salted fish from the coast. They like seafood, but the varieties available in the Dragonmere are different.
- Some of the ivory that Cormyr likes to carve comes from Tethyrian whalers.
- Disaffected warriors (former soldiers and failed adventurers) often make their way from Cormyr to Tethyr in the hopes of serving as mercenaries or guards to the nobles there, as the expectations and requirements are a bit more lax than in the Forest Kingdom.
Ed Greenwood — 10/5/2025 2:21 AM
Everything Brian has mentioned is correct. Same for Juniper except no coal, ivory, or ambergris (finished scents and perfumes derived partially from ambergris, yes). However, the top three Tethyrian exports to Cormyr are:
1.Cast brass and bronze sundries (ornamental lamps, hinges, platters and tureens, door slidebolts, and the like; the key here is the ornamental designs, as sturdier but plainer ones are available locally in plentiful supply).
2.Polished glass lenses and panes (Tethyr and Calishite locales produce better glass than Cormyr and the Dales), especially monocles, spectacles, and other magnifying lenses.
3.Ornate textiles, especially silk-based (fine feminine clothing, often from Calishite and Tashlutan sources).
And the top three Cormyrean exports to Tethyr are:
1. Bulk milled grain (mainly barley).
2. Live horses (trained riding horses) and oxen (driven along the reade roads, with sales—and losses—along the way).
3. Cut and polished sapphires (gemstones). Rich lodes of sapphire recently discovered in the Thunder Peaks (after the slayings of various minor dragons and wyverns made possible in-depth exploration of their mountain-cavern lairs) have yielded stones of deeper blue, fewer inclusion, and larger sizes than readily available in Tethyr, and as Cormyrean nobles already have a sufficiency of older “family stones” from other local sources, most of these gems can and are being sold abroad—and Tethyr is the conduit for Amn, Tethyr, Calimshan, the Tashalar, and other wealthy Sword Coast buyers. |
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Posted - 13 May 2025 : 03:27:54
On questionable magic in Silverymoon's conclave
kageura necromancer wizard — 10/5/2025 1:12 AM
@Ed Greenwood in silverymoon does the conclave/university of silverymoon such as the lady's college or vault of sages allow reading/studdying/practicing of magic some deem questionable? (ex. necromancy warlocks who pact with "evil" beings, summoning of fiends etc...)?
Ed Greenwood — 10/5/2025 1:24 AM
The establishments you mention don't limit study and research in any way, but they don't offer tutelage or have useful tomes on such topics, either. Most mentors in Silverymoon believe arcane wielders of the Art should fully understand all aspects of handling the Weave...but the old adage "Just because you CAN do it, doesn't mean you SHOULD" very much applies here. |
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Posted - 13 May 2025 : 03:21:56
On what's being sold in Mielikki's Glade in Silverymoon
Juniper Churlgo — 9/5/2025 11:57 AM
What is this guy selling in Silverymoon's Mielikki's Glade? Pastries? Snorting pipeweed? Hallucinogenic drugs?
<https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1072136642162343986/1370248162803187744/latest.png?ex=68236bcb&is=68221a4b&hm=4069b6f40ed174979b1675e392b7c6f62530ae1914bafea87410376135dfa8e0&>
Ed Greenwood — 10/5/2025 1:06 AM
He's selling debarked and polished oak-burl cups. Each one has a clay ball in it containing water from a clear forest spring where Mielikki bathed, gathered at moonlight. Good luck charms that are believed by the faithful to heal and nourish, if imbibed when they're ill or withered. |
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Posted - 13 May 2025 : 03:19:10
On most haunted town in Cormyr other than Tilverton
Joe Chang — 9/5/2025 10:16 AM
Greetings from Hong Kong, @Ed Greenwood and @Brian Cortijo. Which town has the reputation of being the most haunted in Cormyr (other than poor Tilverton?)
Ed Greenwood — 9/5/2025 11:10 AM
The city of Marsember is by far the most haunted settlement of any size in Cormyr. After that, Suzail, though folk who dwell in the forest Kingdom seldom think of their capitol as being troubled by hauntings, even if they live there and in the dockside areas where ghosts and apparitions are most prevalent. After that, it's likely the northern (forest) fringe of Mouth O' Gargoyles, thanks to the magical nature of the locale. |
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Posted - 12 May 2025 : 14:50:35
On tea in Cormyr
kageura necromancer wizard — 7/5/2025 8:05 PM
@Ed Greenwood i am a big tea drinker. i wondered what types of tea's there are in cormyr? are they same as real world tea or are they using plants found only in the realms
Ed Greenwood — 8/5/2025 10:13 AM
Requests for tea lore come up often, and I've answered many of them; a distillate (sorry) of this lore can be found at the FR Wiki, under "Tea." :} |
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Posted - 06 May 2025 : 07:31:01
On Mystra allowing Azuth to mistreat Savras
Kim Kimera Kimes — 3/5/2025 10:06 PM
@Ed Greenwood Why has Mystra allowed Azuth treating Savras so badly to the point of slowly draining his power and life away, and is allowing his current predicament of him being a voice in the weave? That guy just can't get a break.
Ed Greenwood — 4/5/2025 5:15 AM
Heh. That's an untold tale of the Realms hiding behind an NDA. I may do a video on this topic if I can wriggle past the NDAs to tell it. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 06 May 2025 : 03:11:17
On Ed's writing process
Taglas Kae — 3/5/2025 8:32 AM
@Ed Greenwood Hello Ed, I was wondering if you could talk some about your writing process. How do you conceive your stories, or what spawns them. Do you take extensive notes on characters and events or just let the wind blow? How many drafts is 'finished' for you? One thing I've seen that is remarkable in your stories is that the impulses and motives of the characters feel well explored through their dialogue, is that a quality you work hard on?
Ed Greenwood — 4/5/2025 5:12 AM
I hate to say it one more time, but the answer to that is: It depends. On the story; is it a Hollywood script fix? A collaborative novel? A short story set in someone else's world with a highly structured set of must-includes, avoids, and "do this" elements? A Realms tale? A story in a "new" fantasy setting? A modern story? A mystery? A romance? All of these will cause me to create differently. So will: it's an assignment, and I need it tomorrow, or it's an assignment, I need it some time next year. Or...I'd love it if you'd write anything for me. I've written, co-written, or contributed to somewhere around 520 books, plus hundreds of standalone short stories, so by now I usually just plunge in and start writing. Plotting takes planning, but the craft of writing prose, with varying authorial voices, I just do instinctively/by habit, by now. I always read through my prose to catch typos (too many software platforms now try to "fix" what you're writing, by introducing what "they" think was the right word, so the typos are ramping up in frequency in recent years), but sometimes that's the only "edit" the work gets: if a studio wants it now, they mean NOW. I rarely have time to do multiple drafts. Elminster: The Making Of A Mage was written in 16 days, during which I was commuting 200 miles a day to a full-time job AND writing game material...for example. Ideas occur to me, usually a scene or a line of dialogue, and they spawn writings, if I'm talking just about my own "fun" fiction or poetry. By nature, I'm a pantser, but most projects require a plotter approach. I take extensive notes AFTER the fiction's written, to prepare for game design or fiction sequels. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 03 May 2025 : 06:14:29
On a campaign based on Thauglor's descendants
kageura necromancer wizard — 1/5/2025 8:19 PM
@Ed Greenwood Dear Ed Greenwood,
I hope this message finds you well. I’m writing to ask for your permission and your opinion regarding a plot idea I’ve been developing for a campaign set in the Forgotten Realms, specifically Cormyr.
The inspiration comes from a comment you once made: “Congratulations, you have stumbled upon one of the quiet, just-lying-there-in-plain-view secrets of the Realms. ;} Thauglor DOES have descendants, they don't like each other, and some of them are very good at patient, long-term scheming. There'll be a video eventually. ;}”
Using that as a foundation, here’s the core structure of the story:
ACT I – The party uncovers signs of a secret Cult of the Dragon cell operating within Cormyr. Their pursuit leads them through a shadow crossing into the Shadowfell, where they confront a young shadow dragon — a descendant of Thauglor corrupted by that plane's influence.
ACT II – Continuing their investigation, the party crosses paths with a mysterious and influential maiden who has been charming and manipulating Cormyr’s elite. She is ultimately revealed to be an adult black dragon, another heir of Thauglor, using a humanoid guise to further her own ambitions.
ACT III – The final act unveils the true leader of the Cult cell: a secret Wearer of Purple who is also a respected member of Cormyr’s high society. His goal is to use a wish spell to resurrect Thauglorimorgorus the Black Doom as a dracolich to reclaim dominion over the Forest Kingdom.
Ed Greenwood — 1/5/2025 11:54 PM
I like this plot! That fetching maiden is going to have to wear/bear some sort of powerful magic item to hide her draconic nature from the War Wizards, if she's going to be mingling with Cormyr's elite (the Wizards of War will scry her, and the moment they encounter something mysterious/suspicious/they can't fully read they will unleash spells to find out more...so she's going to need something that misleads them, possibly a minor Weave node so they'll think Mystra or Azuth has "marked" this mysterious individual for some purpose, which would intrigue but also reassure them. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 03 May 2025 : 06:09:52
On Balaj
Juniper Churlgo — 1/5/2025 5:34 AM
Is there any lore or at least a brief deffiniton on what this Balaj is ?
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Ed Greenwood — 1/5/2025 10:58 AM
1) Balaj is a rather rough-and-ready caravan camp, where overland traders assemble and break up caravans, when trading with the dwarves of the Great Rift. It “grew out of nothing” because three springs of drinkable water come to the surface there, and formerly filled a small marsh but were soon diverted into dug pools: one for drinking and cooking, one for washing horses, oxen, and mules, and one for all other purposes (like mixing paints, washing wagons, soaking hides, and so on). “Balaj” was Balajahtar Orundi, a Calishite wandering peddler of the 1100s who found the springs and built a “dugout” sod home here to retire to.
After human spies (thieves and adventurers) hired by the Crinti of Dambrath settled permanently in Balaj (circa 1190 DR or so) and moved from watching and information-gathering to trying to set themselves up as the local authorities (charging coin for campsite permits), the dwarves of Underhome stirred themselves to roust these ruffians out and set up their own minimal government, reducing permit fees to “two silver” (pieces; the phrase “two silver” still means both law and order and “nothing’s truly free” in local parlance). Campsites were surveyed and marked, a dung-wagon and manure spreading/tilling fields were set up well northeast of the settlement, and a subterranean, stone-lined stronghold for dwarven “village guards” was constructed, directly beneath new dwarven smithies. Halfling coopers (barrelmakers), wagonmakers, and wheelwrights were paid to relocate from Luiren and set up shop, and dwarven spies were installed, under the guise of being the guides (chaperones) of young dwarves from the Rift, after a custom of “constantly sending younglings up to Balaj to see what humans and others were like.”
After a brief boom in population when misfits and outlaws from all over the Shining South and Tashalar arrived to try to forge lives from themselves as traders, and swiftly discovered that the caravan traders could always undercut them in price and provide more exotic wares, Balaj settled down into being what it is today: a village of a little more than a thousand folk, policed by dwarves, where visitors set up tents and stalls, and locals dwell in dugout two- or three-room dwellings and grow their own hot-climate, light-watering herbs and vegetables. There are a lot of rocks, used by most folk to mark boundaries with “line of stone on the ground” fences. The dwarves have paved all roads and paths with crushed stone, and established a tavern and an inn after establishments built and run by non-dwarves became centers of rowdiness escalating into frequent deadly fires.
So Balaj today has no mayor or lordling. It does have a “Watch” of three shifts of a dozen dwarves each (and ready reinforcements from Eartheart when called upon).
The heart of the village is the intersection of the three major trade-roads that meet in Balaj, where a dwarf-run (headed by “Old Mother” Morragh Dunstan, a kindly gold dwarf of surprising beauty through her wrinkles, who entirely lacks the stereotypical arrogance of her kind, but is so worldly-wise that she’s a shrewd judge who sees through everyone) tavern called the Thirsty Axe faces a sprawling, wings-in-all-directions, one-floor-high and rather ramshackle inn hight Scoroun’s High House (run by Gustable Scoroun, a prodigiously fat and bustling old male gnome).
Balaj also offers the visitor a handful of horse- and -oxen- and mule-selling businesses, a larger handful of crafters concerned with fixing or selling wagons, and about two dozen sellers of herbs, spices, “physics” (medicines and antidotes), and handcrafts, mostly small coffers and woven grass baskets and mats. There are also two rival “sundries” shops of used goods from elsewhere, notably boots and belts and clothing, run by colourful, garrulous old “characters,” both human adventurers: Drazkultam “Daggers” Thellow, a lurching, growling, hairy old man from the Border Kingdoms who fled Baldur’s Gate long ago due to some murders he swears he had nothing to do with, and Lakarra “Longtongue” Marrath, a darkly beautiful, hot-tempered woman of brown skin, jet-black ankle-length hair, and flashing-with-fury eyes who was once a dancer in Zazesspur, and is of Calishite heritage. The two cordially loathe each other and carry on a long-running, loud squabbling feud.
As a jest, years ago, a forgotten-identity dwarf established a vertical spade with its rounded scoop-blade at the top and a cross-handle at the bottom as the badge of Balaj, and its uses has persisted. “Simple and sensible” is the local thinking and approach, and Balajarr are truculently proud of it. |
| Zeromaru X |
Posted - 29 Apr 2025 : 18:24:32
quote:
Originally posted by questing gm
On dragon and dragonborn genitalia
CaptainRelyk the Brass Dragon — 22/3/2024 5:38 AM
@Ed Greenwood do dragons and Dragonborn have cloacas, human genitals, or something else entirely? I know some people wish for them to have cloacas and be more anatomically realistic, and not have cringey mammal parts
And before people judge me for asking this… Melissa Tiefling asked me to ask Ed! I’m not a weirdo, you are!
Ed Greenwood — 19/4/2025 5:09 AM
Dragons and dragonborn have human-like genitalia, but these are normally hidden within natural shallow (and flexible scale-covered) body cavities that are accessed through natural “slits” or slot-like openings normally kept closed by powerful muscles, but which can be gaped (and held wide open) by the owner of the body. The “rolled edges” of the slits are scale-covered and supple, and in most cases can form an airtight and watertight seal if the body owner wants them to.
Between this, and the lore revelations in Baldur's Gate 3, it's nice to finally get rid of that fantheory about dragons (and related draconic creatures such as dragonborn) having reptilian genitalia (cloacas, etc.) just because someone didn't read the Draconomicons and wanted to impose their reptilian kinks on us... (dragons aren't reptiles! They are some chimera of reptiles and mammals). But man, making these kind of questions to Ed really makes me cringe... |
| questing gm |
Posted - 27 Apr 2025 : 14:23:10
On Sharaerann Amber
Juniper Churlgo — 24/4/2025 10:52 PM
Hey Ed, quck question: Sharaerann Amber favored by Alustriel Silverhand at room temperature, where is it from, and is it a sherry? color certainly suggests it.
Ed Greenwood — 25/4/2025 2:36 AM
It is indeed a sherry (fortified wine) and it’s made in many rural places in Durpar (and pre-Spellplague, all over Var the Golden, whose producers at that time boasted they made “the best Sharaerann”). Domestic Sharaerann is made and drunk right away, but most exported Sharaerann is the stronger, aged for three years or more “Sharaerann Amber,” and comes to the wider world from businesses in the port city of Vaelan who blend the sherry they buy from various farm producers in big casks, for aging, then tap the casks into smaller barrels for shipping, notably to Amn, Tethyr, and (largely for transshipment by caravan all over Faerûn) the ports of Baldur’s Gate and Waterdeep. |
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