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The work contained on this page has been penned over time by the creator of the Forgotten Realms - Ed Greenwood, and kindly provided to us here at Candlekeep by The Hooded One on the Candlekeep Forum. The collection presented here is a digest version which has been collated by Scott Kujawa, presenting all Ed's responses and omitting other posters discussions which followed.
(Answers from Ed Greenwood)
Jul - Sep 2005
This time, Ed replies to Zandilar, in the matter of the apparent dislike of clerics in Realms fiction:
Zandilar, your impression about authors not liking clerics is well-founded but mistaken. By which I mean: it's the most likely impression to gain from reading the published Realms fiction canon to date, but I don't believe it's authors disliking clerics so much as being uneasy about using clerics because of a paucity of published lore on (yes, my hobby-horse again) the daily lives of clergy within their priesthoods (creeds, taboos, rituals, dress and customs). Couple this to the fictional basic need for conflict, and one has a situation where clerics (outside of "member of the adventuring band" or "handy healer the party goes to" roles) almost always appear only in scenes of fights, confrontations, or arguments. For the same reasons of drama and accentuating heroism, fiction writers often avoid having healing on the scene when it could help matters.
Specifically about Cormyr: I wrote most of the DotD scenes you refer to, and Garen Thal has (as usual) hit the nail squarely on its head in his reply to you: the Purple Dragons and the War Wizards have long-standing resentments regarding the most powerful clergy of Cormyr "showing up grandly at the last minute to do the bare minimum, with a lot of public show" rather than toiling daily to help the faithful. Note that this anger and contempt is NOT held towards low-ranking priests who dwell as part of the community in villages and towns, and DO work long, hard, dedicated hours; it just seems that in recent times Cormyr, with its freedoms and (relatively) "easy" life (in urban areas, during peacetime) has developed or attracted a crop of lazy, vain, self-aggrandizing and too-often-useless or out of touch exalted-ranks clergy.
Troy plotted DotD (I was waiting for heart surgery at the time, and rushing to complete some outstanding Realms game product projects), and to make the plot as he wrote it (with all the royal family heroics) work, Cormyr's powerful clerics had to NOT step in and meddle (or mobilize their clergy to do so) as the Obarskyrs rush to their various dooms - - and to have that inaction happen, I had to portray the highest priests of the realm as I did.
To put it another way: to give just one of the heads of the major local priesthoods a personality as heroic as Azoun would inevitably have led to at least that one church mobilizing for all-out war on the ghazneths, about as soon as it was realized that more than one existed. Considering the powers of the ghazneths, the clergy of Mystra and Azuth would almost have to consider them prime dangers to be obliberated at all costs, regardless of what happened to the Obarskyrs or to Cormyr. Yet there's no sign of such a reaction in BEYOND THE HIGH ROAD, so my job, swinging into the saddle to ride with Troy in DEATH OF THE DRAGON, is to make sure there's a plausible "in the Realms" reason for that.
Garen Thal's reply is also spot-on concerning the worship of Malar and other "evil" gods in Cormyr. I'll leave your questions about Darmos Lauthyr and Eilistraee for another time, but regarding souls: Yes, souls (for those races having them) ARE "made when the child is first conceived with no divine 'intervention/interference' at all." It can't be otherwise, in a situation where divine power is related to number of worshippers, or the deity with the assigning-souls portfolio would be the ONLY deity.
Kuje is right: TSR has never stated this, for the very reasons espoused by The Sage in his post: that most people prefer this be left mysterious (for personal religious reasons or otherwise; TSR of course wanted to avoid low sales/social backlash from established churches, invited for something that in most campaigns really has very little gameplay importance).
So saith Ed.
Thus renewed, we can all face his next Realmslore reply.
love to all,
THO
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On July 1, 2005 THO said: Krash, Ed wrote that tale to 'nail down' Lhaeo's character. He did this for all important Realms NPCs ("important" really meaning those we Knights had lots of contact with, not necessarily rulers or heads of priesthoods), usually with a "coming of age" story. I guess he chose this encounter instead because it's when he brought Lhaeo onstage, in his own mind. However, I shouldn't presume to speak for him in this, and will ask him (as soon as he's handed in the late project he and a certain aficionado of castles are currently toiling away on).
In the meantime, have this hug and kiss from me.
VEDSICA, glad you liked it, and I'll send your reactions along to Ed right away.
THO
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July 2, 2005: Hello again, scribes of Realmslore! I present Ed's answer to RevJest: "what did El say to Storm to get her to calm down?" in the matter of the Harper Schism ("Sources in Twilight Hall confirm that Storm, formerly screaming in outrage over Khelben's actions, seems calmer after a brief chat with Elminster."), which is as follows:
I'll have to be vague on this, thanks to [NDA], but in general, Storm was furious that Khelben was AGAIN behaving so autocratically, after he'd previously and privately personally promised (whoa: entirely accidental alliteration, I assure you) his fellow Chosen not to (over a matter that's DEFINITELY NDA-cloaked).
El calmed her down in three ways: he first took on Khelben's shape and appeared to her in that guise, letting her blow off steam by verbally and physically assaulting him, taking the punishment she dished out until she "wound down;" then he revealed his ruse and calmed her anger at HIM for doing it by saying that both he and Khelben were in some part acting as Azuth and Mystra had counseled them to (long-term mysterious Grand Plan maneuverings); and then he mollified her by saying that this was going to backfire in Khelben's face, this time, and he was going to "get his" in fairly short order, earning himself far more frustration than he'd have suffered if he'd continued to play ball with the Harpers rather than insisting on assuming the Lone Brilliant Tyrant Beset By Fools role once more time.
And of course the most irritating thing about Elminster is that he's so often right.
So saith Ed.
And there you have it. As revealed as it's going to be, for now.
love to all,
THO
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On July 2, 2005 THO said: Hello, all scribes! I've just noticed that WotC has FINALLY posted Ed's 2004 Spin A Yarn story, "The Night Tymora Sneezed," on their website, in two parts. Don't miss it - - it's GOOD. Also, Ed tells me "Far Too Many Thieves" isn't the only other fiction snippet they'll be presenting!
love,
THO
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On July 2, 2005 THO said: Well said, Wanderer - - VERY well said! That's exactly what the book feels like (and it's also the sort of cover that should have been on the book: a warmly candlelit tavern-table scene, with Elminster, Storm, and the Simbul animatedly telling tales amid an entranced crowd of weird-looking drinkers of the Realms!
I'll send your comment and thanks on to Ed.
love,
THO
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July 3, 2005: Hello, fellow scribes. I bring you Ed of the Greenwood's reasoned Realmslore reply to KnightErrantJR, in the matter of: "Facial hair... how is it regarded in the Heartlands. Do nobles tend to shave, or do they have moustaches only, or is there no particular preferance. My question would apply mainly to Waterdeep, the Heartland Independant Cities, Cormyr, Sembia, and the Dalelands, as I realize that other regions are more influenced, in the current Realms, but similarities to more familiar cultures."
Ed speaks:
In all of the places you specifically list, there's no particular societal preference. Nobles are more likely to have styled, perfumed, and complicated-cut hair (razorpoint sideburns for the men) than commoners because they can afford the time and someone else's trouble to get their hair that way, and there's a general prejudice against food preparers being unkempt (long hair, facial stubble), as well as a view by many elder nobles that younger nobles look foolish with stubble or hairstyles that don't suit them. Most noblemen have at least moustaches, and often what we would call a Van Dyke (a "chinblade" in the Realms), or a neat, close-cropped fringe beard running along the line of the chin and jaw. Most women, yes, would be embarrassed by heavy facial or nipple hair, and would shave it off or (preferably) pluck it. Commoners tend to clip when things get caught or in the way, but generally use their time for other things. Male hair tends to be shoulder-length when young, shorter when older, but modified by practicality (the need to wear a helm, for example) - - but seldom by order (a file of uniformed Purple Dragons will sport all varieties of hair length and facial hair, not anything "regimented" except that long, wispy beards will soon be burned or cut off by their fellows, in pranks, and will therefore be absent).
Sembia and Amn are the only places where fashions take strong root, and "everyone" adopts (or, in a defiant minority, refuses to adopt) a hairstyle of the day. As the frequent travel within these two lands hasn't yet conquered the individuality that prosperity brings, fashions DON'T mean that you won't see a wide variety of hairdos and facial hair in a street. Being out of fashion might lead to scorn among friends or a small closed social circle of rivals - - but not general scorn, because fashion doesn't carry that weight (yet).
So saith Ed.
Hmm, think I'll have my nipples styled right away...
love to all,
THO
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July 4, 2005: Hi, all. David, I'll try to rattle Ed's cage re. Shieldmeet.
Back on May 16th of this year, Kajehase commented: "Was it just me who got a sudden "I-want-to-read-a-lot-more-about-young-Alusair" feeling after that post?"
A response from Ed has just popped into my inbox:
Hi, Kajehase! You shouldn't miss a few short but crucial scenes in my first Knights of Myth Drannor novel (tentatively titled SWORDS OF EVENINGSTAR), then. It's due out next year.
If they don't go away in the editing, that is. Ah, I'm having fun with these Knights books!
So saith Ed.
His last comment leaves me wriggling in glee (imparting a juicy mental picture to some loyal scribes here, I'm sure).
love to all,
THO
P.S. For a VERY insightful look at the Alusair of right now, check out "The Long Road Home," the last story in THE BEST OF THE REALMS II: THE STORIES OF ED GREENWOOD, just released as a mass market paperback by WotC. Yes, this is an unabashed plug. And yes, it's that essential as Realmslore.
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July 5, 2005: Hello again, fellow scribes. Right you are, David: I shall plug shamelessly away, when the time comes. Ed tells me there was a full-size poster of the CofS cover in the WotC booth at ALA, and for his signings he was seated across from it (so when he wasn't staring at pretty girls, he was drinking it in). Ahem. Now, Ed makes reply to Si and to Zandilar:
Hi. Zandilar, Si is quite right in posting: "On the matter of there being no doubt a child was Alusair's, in a world that contains powerful shapeshifters and similar magic I'd say that anyone who wants to rabble rouse can always cast doubt, provided they're willing to risk Alusair finding out about their calumny."
Si, in response to your question about blood tracing magic: old time TSR staffers can tell you just how many of my draft version spells, spell ink formulae, and magical rituals and processes used blood. They had to edit almost all of those mentions out of existence (Beltyn's Burning Blood being a notable exception) because someone in TSR senior management decided - - probably rightly - - that this was precisely the sort of stuff that would get the company and the game in real lawsuit trouble, especially in the Bible Belt. (Most of my writings specified the caster's own blood, which might have cut down on murders, mutilations other than self-mutliations, and pets being butchered, but someone who harmed themselves still has kin who can sue.)
Specifically to address blood tracing: years and years ago, I 'sat in on' a TSR design meeting where it was decided that the Realms in general wasn't going to yet "know about" DNA or genetics beyond the barnyard breeding level. Game and fiction products since then can advance the timeline and progress with it, but many of the Books Department staffers of the time (now no longer with the company) were very leery of having crime-solving DNA techniques coupled with the existing magic system; most of them were of the opinion that it really left "nowhere to hide" and would ruin most murder-mystery novel plots, making that genre unusable not just for the Realms, but inevitably (with 'idea creep') all the other D&D world-settings (at that time, of course, only available from TSR) as well.
So we turned away from such ideas, and ran. :}
As for the inability of Highknights to do skulk-and-dagger: for the real spying, stalking, impersonating, acting so as to mislead enemy spies, and eavesdropping: all of the Obarskyrs except the infant Azoun V (AND Vangey - - and THERE's a tale that'll have to be told someday!) have or had small private networks of personal spies, from old men to small boys and girls to accomplished sneak-thieves, to do the REAL spying. Some of them are also Harpers (and their Obarskyr patrons may be unaware of this), but not all of them.
One topic not yet explored in Realms fiction or lore (I'm getting to it, one way or another) is what's now become of the spy networks of Azoun IV, Tanalasta, and Vangey. Are any of them freelancing for new patrons? Trying to take service with Caladnei???
Which brings me to your last question. Alusair has two intelligence services: the bumbling, overt group she's recruited from the ranks of "her blades" (to make these young nobles feel important, please their families, and provide an unwitting distraction and screen for nobles and others trying to see what the spies they know she has are really up to), and the spies who've worked for her for years, from lovers who serve only her to trusted 'loyal to the realm' Highknights like Glarasteer Rhauligan. I know she's trying to subvert some alarphons to reporting to her, and trying to become a close friend to Laspeera, to both better run the realm as Regent, and to "get some sort of handle" on the War Wizards.
I'd love to say more, but (as you surmised) that rising thunder is the sound of a swiftly-rolling-down-upon-me NDA! :}
So saith Ed.
Interesting. (Drawls:) Very interesting.
love,
THO
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July 6, 2005: Hello, all. A little bit of a "catch table" (the Realms term for buffet or smorgasbord) of replies and comments this time around.
Asgetrion, you're very welcome. Me as Lhaeo: hmmm, kinky.
Ed also says you're welcome, and is glad you liked HAND OF FIRE. (So many readers rushed to tell Ed how terrible it was because they wanted a happy ending, that a lot of them seem to have missed the caravan lore.) I know you'll love ELMINSTER'S DAUGHTER. Don't miss the BEST OF THE REALMS II: THE STORIES OF ED GREENWOOD collection (it has its own thread in the Novels room, here at Candlekeep)!
Rocheval, there's no way Ed COULD reveal the "next great evil" to be "visited upon the Realms," even if he wanted to. There are such things as NDAs, and also ruining the anticipation (I hesitate to use the word "fun" here) of most Realms fans. It's like watching a soap opera and knowing beforehand in detail what's going to happen to everyone. (Yes, I know people go to see the same Shakespeare plays over and over, and ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, too, but they do so for different reasons.)
Ed's name is: "Ed Greenwood" (check out the Walk of Fame and you'll see that many of the stars thereon appear under their everyday [abbreviated] names or even their false [stage] names). Not that Ed seeks, wants, or thinks he deserves any such acclaim.
As for your Sudbury question, to answer it Ed needs to know this: when you say "equivalent," do you mean a hard-rock mining town surrounded by generations of slag-heap devastation but becoming a rejuvenated city? Or do you mean the hard-drinking small-town flavour evoked by Stompin' Tom in that classic song?
Dargoth and Ty, Ed would love to say more about "issues of trial, innocence, and the various court systems" across the Realms, but lacks all time and opportunity for the moment. He does, however, tell me that his forthcoming Crimmor city article in DRAGON will provide another (brief) example of local jurisprudence, and that he and another well-known Realms scholar are hard at work on a future publication that will deal with such matters in somewhat greater detail, but that he can't identify said publication or say any more about it because of the usual proudly-fluttering NDA banner firmly affixed to it.
And so the Bearded Creator waves farewell for another day, and turns back to the eerily-flickering light of the faithful Mac (one of five that nestle closely around him in the dark cellar where Realmslore is hatched; another six or seven rest in its nether darknesses) to spin more Realmslore for us all.
Speaking of whom: love to all,
THO
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On July 6, 2005 THO said: Ah, I understand. "The thinking man's" is a late 1950s, early 1960s phrase that meant "thoughtful, thinks ahead, considers consequences." It never meant that someone or something that WASN'T "the thinking man's" was stupid or idiotic. It didn't mean that they didn't think, only that they didn't habitually think several steps ahead AND FOLLOW the results of that thinking.
There are some people who play chess for fun, never thinking many moves ahead. Others try to "work through" thirty or forty moves into the future (the "thinking man's" approach). So Ed wasn't saying Conan was a slow-witted brute.
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On July 6, 2005 THO said: Hello, all. SirUrza, THE FARTHEST REACH hasn't (ahem) yet "reached" the beknighted backwaters that Ed or I currently inhabit, and Ed has only read the book as a giant Word .doc file (as he and Rich Baker discussed its lore), so we're not entirely certain which paragraph you're referring to.
If the text you cite has a Sister speaking of the Knights and a Sister or two being 'absent' on some mysterious mission, it gives us all a little hint as to what Ed's REALMS OF THE ELVES novella will be about, not the Knights trilogy (which begins a few decades back, Realms time, when the Knights are about to first become a band of adventurers, the "Swords of Eveningstar").
However, well spotted, sir!
Ed originally suggested that passage to Rich Baker as a way of conveniently keeping certain Realms-fixture characters out of the wonderful story Rich is telling, and Ed and Realms fiction Managing Editor Phil Athans hit upon the idea of using it as the setup for Ed's story in the ELVES anthology. Just another example of the way Realms creators scheme, and scuttle from one subtle touch to the next, to weave a richer unfolding tapestry for us all...
love to all,
THO
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July 7, 2005: Hello, all. Lots this time.
First: Melfius, help with your Waterdeep questions. As some posters have mentioned, Virgin's Square is the place to "hang out to be hired" for mercenaries (One-Eye is the man to see if you want to communicate specific skills or wants).
Now, here's Ed:
Waterdeep as a city only hires adventures in specific wartime situations (usually to operate far from the city in an "ependable spoiler" role, not inside Waterdeep where they could do damage if they proved to be traitors or double agents). Individual lords (notably Mirt) tend to charter or hire adventuring companies "on their own"(pretending to do it for personal reasons rather than representing the city). Mirt can often do this to settle moneylending debts, not hinting at his widely-"known" status as a Lord at all.
Various Dock Ward taverns and dives are 'the' places to get hired for shady adventuring tasks rather than just escort and bodyguard work, although many nobles don't dare go there, and instead visit certain South Ward and Castle Ward establishments in hopes of hiring agents (be warned: nobles like to be ready to frame and therefore remove or discredit those who work for them, if things go REALLY wrong, and may hire backup groups to "watch their dupes at work"). Certain Dock Ward brothels (you'll see one in CITY OF SPLENDORS, when it's released in August) are 'good' spots to meet and make such arrangements, because they tend to have better security (safety for the noble) and privacy than taverns.
Many taverns and inns like to claim they welcome adventurers (for the 'publicity spice'), but most are in Dock Ward. The Inn of the Dripping Dagger in Castle Ward is one exception. As for want-ad listings: postings in Virgin's Square, and otherwise it's "buy a broadsheet on the street" time (see my archived Realmslore columns on the WotC website: the Broadcryers of Waterdeep series). The main source should be tavern chatter (news and rumors travel Waterdeep south of the Castle like gale-force winds), but of course a good DM should make sure that this is full of exaggerations, wild inaccuracies, and 'old leads' that other rival adventuring bands have already taken up.
So saith Ed.
Who at the moment is deep in planning the future of the Realms for us all, he tells me. He promises to swiftly get to Shieldmeet details, notes that horse breeds have already been covered here at Candlekeep (but will get back to you re. stirrups, etc - - and yes, the Uthgardt don't use them), and appends this re. Scytax Killbane's slaving query:
There has always been a thriving slaving business in Sembia, Westgate, and Marsember (I've personally worked at least a dozen references to it into various FR releases, down the years; whenever you read about noble "kidnappings," that's what's going on), but by the very nature of the business as practiced in that part of the Realms, there aren't named, high-profile "slaving groups."
Instead, it's always a few individuals doing snatch-and-grab jobs and fetching captives (often drugged to keep them silent, eating and drinking little, and not trying to escape) to a hiding-place they control, from which they can readily be transferred aboard the ship of a captain who's covertly dealing in slaves (an important source of income for some Sea of Fallen Stars pirates). There aren't a lot of shipcaptains involved, per se, but there ARE a lot of little slaving cabals (of a dozen people at most, and half of those are usually guards and "heave the drugged bodies" muscle, with six at most being the active snatchers and thinkers). Many of them can (if someone starts to hunt or hound them) call on the occasional assistance of evil wizards and priests in return for bodies to experiment on or use in rituals. So that's why you "haven't heard mention" of power groups operating: they're very small, secretive, informal gangs. And yes, they are hated and feared. Folk in Marsember tend to be blasé about them, and Sembians even know and accept that hiring someone to have a rival or fellow heir or creditor "removed" is a daily business option, if one dares to go asking and hiring - - but Dalefolk will attack suspected slavers on sight.
So saith Ed.
A bumper crop of replies from a VERY overloaded (at the moment) but still cheerful Realms Creator. Who will return to give more as soon as he can - - and adds:
Yes, I've read my Conan, and still enjoy the tales. As BB and THO have explained, I wasn't disparaging the Cimmerian; I was contrasting his "go into the fray regardless" character with Durnan's "think three times about long term consequences" approach.
Oh, and an unrelated matter: in the Spin A Yarn tale currently being posted on the WotC website, there are a number of tiny editing glitches that make me once again fervently wish that certain WotC staffers would refrain from just turning on their spellcheck features and turning off their editorial brains. Most of these are just passing annoyances, but I DO want all readers to know that Tymora's sneeze didn't cause Waterdhavian matrons to run screaming from their "robbing" chambers, but rather from their "robing" chambers.
One more matter: SirUrza, the matter referenced in FARTHEST REACH has nothing to do with the Knights trilogy, which is set in the past. However, rest assured that although Elminster WILL appear in those books, I have no intention of letting him dominate; it's not his story.
So there.
love to all,
THO
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On July 7, 2005 THO said: Ed did comment to me that he kept the Lures VERY basic and simple. In the "home" Realms campaign, of course, any such touches would be layered several subplots deep, so the illusion of "real life busily unfolding" will be very good and so we PCs literally have a dozen ready choices of things to pursue (or ignore) at any time. Then the DM can combine, shift, and twist these to respond to any the PCs DO chase after. Great fun.
love,
THO
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July 8, 2005: Hello, all. Jamallo, well said: Ed agrees.
And he does something else, too: he quickly answers Alisttair's rainbows query:
Yes, rainbows in the Realms do differ from those of our real world, but only VERY slightly. Essentially you can think of them as the same (same spectra bands, same conditions for their appearance, et cetera). The presence of the Shards and the slightly different Torilian lunar situation make rainbows in the Realms shine much more brightly and persist in visibility longer than they do in our real world, with a longer "pink and purple" fadeout as they do dwindle.
So saith Ed.
Short but sweet, and more Realmslore on the morrow!
love,
THO
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July 9, 2005: Hello, all. Kuje, Ed wants you to know that although most of the "newer" TSR employees (and Rich was one of those) and of course all later WotC employees aren't privy to the precise details of the Realms purchase agreement, and operate on the basis of whatever they've been told it is, everything has since been quietly and privately cleared up on this front. Er. Ed hopes.
However, Rich's words, that you quoted in your post, are an accurate description of how things really do generally work, on a day-to-day basis. Which is fairly practical, and of course explains why inconsistencies sometimes creep in. Back around 1990 this sort thing made Ed tear his hair out. Now everyone's more mellow, and tries to work together, and when Realmslore glitches occur, everyone tries to smooth it over.
Now, to Si and Bendal, Ed makes reply:
No, there's no general salvage law in the Realms. (The word "salvage" exists, as "gleanings from wrecks," but in general, if you find and pick up something, it's yours. If you can hold it against someone trying to take it away from you, of course.)
In most Underdark, tomb, and dungeon areas, of course, "finders keepers" prevails.
As roleplaying, Abbathor's reaction in the Yawning Portal is just fine (particularly if he wasn't Waterdhavian born and bred). All of three arguments are particularly valid, his "B" point (rightful battle spoils) being particularly strong (as in: widely accepted custom across the Sword Coast North, would cause many drinkers there to nod their heads regardless of how they felt about nobles or adventurers).
However, Bendal raises a relevant issue: the strong clan (family) ties of the dwarves, analogous to the Waterdhavian noble family claim. His description of what happened feels "right" (Realmswise) to me.
Legalities aside, in both cases (nobles and dwarves) a group of individuals believe (and feel strongly) that they have a "right" to a "family" item. Disputing with them might not be wise.
In Waterdeep, the nobles DO enjoy a special status, and have legal weight on their side (though in the heart of Dock Ward, exercising that status is a bit dicey for them: they could easily get jumped by a Portal-full of angered drinkers who might well demand they go down into Undermountain and fight some monster or other to bring back to Abbathor a treasure of like or greater value, if they want the sword they didn't lift a finger to find, so much).
Lorelord George Krashos, as usual, has suggested the Realmslore-perfect response (the intermediaries, hiring of forceful agents, the Red Sashes' "enforced sale"). I'd go with that. (George's lost wallet modern real-world legal example, however, holds true in Waterdeep, Silverymoon, Cormyr, the Dales, and not many other places in the Realms: unless the owner of the wallet is a friend or relative of the local ruler, or an important local official, influential merchant, or religious leader.) I echo George's sage opinion: "You can have lots of fun here."
As the madam said to the blind man entering her brothel. (Ahem.)
So saith Ed, I should have said.
Oh, I'm SO bad! Spank me, someone!
(No need to knock over chairs in the rush, there, Wooly.)
More Realmslore filled in; onward!
love to all,
THO
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On July 9, 2005 THO said: Understood, Kuje.
Please pass on to those posters you and Faraer have been jousting with, this from me:
It's my firm belief that Ed understands his contract quite well. It's a short, simple document, as legal contracts go (and Ed has had legal training, and in his time has signed literally hundreds of publishing-related contracts; there aren't all that many writers alive and active today who have been involved in more publications than Ed has), and I have also read it and its amendments, and understood them quite well. They just aren't that complicated, folks. (Moreover, I know Ed has seen the exact same pages I have, because he passed them on to me.)
He passed them on not just to me, but to all of his original players, at the request of TSR, because all of us were required to "sign off" on having read and understood them. All of us were telephoned by TSR legal representatives (who told us they were taping the calls) to make sure we fully understood what we were signing.
We also each had to sign legal release forms for our Knights characters, formally recognizing that TSR now owned the characters we played (which Ed had created, named, and crafted back histories for, anyway), and could be published without any obligation to us. (Interestingly, those forms made mention of "payment of one (1) U.S. dollar" per character, to give the release legal force, and TSR never paid us those dollars. Ed did, but I don't think they ever paid him.) Another bit of trivia: if action or "bendable/poseable" figurines, or tabletop or collectible miniatures, of the Knights of Myth Drannor characters are ever released, John Hunter (who played Florin) is entitled to one free Florin figure, "delivered free into his hands."
No offense to Rich Baker, whom I'm sure is a nice person and a smart man, but he wasn't yet a TSR employee when all of this occurred, and so couldn't have been privy to any of it.
love to all,
THO
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July 10, 2005: Hello, all. David, that story hit me just as hard. I'll pass your message along to Ed. I'm not sure about him writing an autobiography; he tends to tell the world he's just a normal guy who watches and pays attention to all the interesting things the world throws at him. But we'll see. And I know he's at work on your Shieldmeet needs.
However, the reply he sent me just now is to Si, in the matter of Silver Morn's bloodlines, specifically the query: "since she must have been in some horribly stressful situations by now, I would have expected it to have manifested in self defence?"
Ed speaks:
Some beings in the Realms do get the benefits of 'handy manifestation of hitherto-latent personal superpowers,' but a lot more don't (or Realms novels would have settled into a predictable formula long, long ago). Silver Morn's affinity for the Weave will soon, as I said, begin to give her "both dream and 'waking' visions, in areas of strong lingering (or not-yet-triggered) magic: brief animated scenes [sans sound] of beings and events befalling on that particular spot, that are or were magic-related." However, it may never manifest any farther, for her. Or it may spur into becoming a full-fledged sorceress, either soon or sometime before she dies.
Childbirth would be a logical trigger, being as it combines changes in a mother's internal body chemistry as well as stress, but stress alone may not (for a particular being) trigger a manifestation. Or it may; we'll just have to see. :}
So saith Ed.
I can just HEAR that smile of his, at the end, there.
love to all,
THO
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July 11, 2005: Hello, all. Why Si, what a GREAT description of Cormyr's intelligence operatives! I passed it on to Ed, who e-chortled.
Now, Ed makes reply to David Lįzaro in the matter of festivities of Silverymoon. Heads up, all who love Silverymoon and are on the lookout for essential Silvaeren lore, because what follows definitely falls into that category! Ed begins by apologizing for the brevity of his replies, but we know what THAT means, don't we?
Yes, I've had to split his reply into two, for fear of bumping into the post size limit. So here's Part 1.
Ed speaks:
Hi, David. I'm afraid you've asked a question that is both way too big to answer properly AND runs into NDA troubles for me, but I'm going to sneak in a reply here that deals just with Midsummer, Shieldmeet, and the days leading up and immediately following them. I'm afraid (for NDA reasons) these entries are going to have to be very brief and "sketchy," rather than properly detailed. In addition to these, many faiths hold various celebrations and rites (but only Moondown, listed hereafter, is observed city-wide). In the entries, "shops closed" never includes inns, taverns, festhalls, clubs, or dining-houses.
During the tenday preceding Midsummer, one festival is celebrated each day. Here are those ten, followed by Midsummer and Shieldmeet:
OLDCASKS: a day during which private individuals and businesses all across the city find and dust off, or make, and sell (from their doors and tables set up by their front doors, or in their front gardens) various vintages from their cellars, in preparation for the festivities to come. Wineries and "flagon shops" often offer special sales or import hard-to-find or novelty vintages ("Dwarfbeard Ale! Contains the ashes of genuine dwarf beards!" or "Elfmaidblood Ruby, a fine red guaranteed to contain drops of blood from gold elf maidens of the eldest, proudest lineages!"), and all of the city temples cast neutralize poison spells for free, on all liquids brought to them, from dawn to dusk (stockpiling scrolls and "calling in" faithful clergy from outside the city for this purpose; such visitors usually remain for some days, as a reward).
CLOAKSWIRL: a day-long crafters' festival during which various costumes, garments, and fashion accessories are sold (for use in the festivities ahead). No masks, cosmetics, or headgear are sold on this day (it's not unlawful, just considered VERY unlucky; in most shops, such things are hidden away for the day). Street vending by anyone is freely allowed on this day, and most shops move tables out onto the street. These must all be cleared away by highsun of the next day (Moondown). By tradition, inns and taverns put on, or hire actors to present, brief plays or dramatic readings after dusk.
MOONDOWN: a normal working day, until highsun. Thereafter, everyone in the city by tradition bathes (in the river, if they've nowhere else to go), and (again by tradition) puts on new garments they've never worn before (poor folk trade clothes for the night). A solemn ceremony of worship to Sźlune is held, starting at dusk. A Moondance (slow, quiet, sweeping movements of many dancers of both genders clad in palely-glowing "moonrime" [white to very light green] garments, led by priests) winds its way along city streets until dawn. Moonwine (squirted the nozzles of from shoulder-carried skins) and platters of small round cakes are offered freely by the dancers to everyone they pass, wishes are whispered to the moon, and loved ones who perished during the preceding year are softly named. Temples of Shar are closed during this day, and her worshippers by tradition pray only in private, not wearing any ceremonial garb, vestments, or symbols of that goddess.
MASKS: a crafters' festival during which elaborate (and often very expensive or spectacular) masks, cosmetics, and headgear are sold, for the revelry that begins at nightfall of this day, and continues on, invarious observances, night and day through Midsummer Night. On this day Alustriel typically pays every musician (NOT singer) who desires to play in the streets a "flourish" of 25 gp, and many minstrels wander, making music alone or in groups (instrumentals rather than songs).
ELSKELTER: a normal working day, until highsun, when all the city and temple bells are rung, and the Skull Run begins.
The Skull Run is a giant game of hide and seek, wherein a swift, agile, person wearing a skullhead-mask tries to get from any gate of the city to the Moonbridge without being prevented from doing so by a mob of persons who MUST, in order to participate, down a potent drink to the dregs (making them literally tipsy - - that is, staggering on their feet). The Run is administered by the Spellgard, who prepare the drinks and give drinkers one-eyed hoods to wear (no one not wearing one over their head is allowed to take any part in the fun).
Typically one Skull Runner will start from every gate of the city. They cannot use any translocation magic (such as Teleport or Dimension Door), but can use Spider Climb, Feather Fall, and Freedom of Movement. They can (and usually do) strip naked and grease themselves, they must wear their skull mask at all times (so tearing it off is one way to delay them; their chasers are forbidden to hide, throw, or carry the mask, but may snatch it off as many times as they feel like, and can manage), and the Spellgard typically teleports a Skull Runner away from harm if they're injured, get into a fight, or are attacked in earnest by anyone. It's understood that they'll be healed or even brought back to life if they come to harm during the Run.
Every year, Alustriel announces prizes for "catching the Skull," and prizes for any Skull Runners if they successfully reach the Moonbridge. These are typically monetary, but may involve a Runner choosing any single spell be cast upon themselves (that Alustriel can manage), or another service or boon.
The Skull Run began in the days when Silverymoon was first founded, but was banned; Alustriel revived it about three decades ago.
From dusk onwards, this night is traditionally when old friends gather to catch up on events of the past year, begin to negotiate deals or plan the year ahead, and "absent friends" are remembered (and toasted).
CLAWS: On this day, elaborate costumes worn by citizens (or several citizens at once) to resemble various monsters (dragons and owlbears are perennial favourites) are donned, and the "marauding monsters" parade through the streets, heading for particular taverns. Older citizens watch the monsters process along, but younger ones "fall in behind them" and repair to the taverns, where the costume-wearers "unhood" to receive free drinks and meals.
While dining, they are entertained by bards, minstrels, and old retired adventurers telling wild and dramatic tales of monster-slayings, battles against beasts that "got away," and horrific ghost stories of revenant monsters, creatures of the Underdark lurking under all our feet right now, and so on.
These tales go on into the wee hours, with the taverns serving free drinks to all (traditionally these are very watered-down, so it's hard to get drunk before one feels bloated, but taverns vie with each other in doctoring the beverages to achieve unusual but very enjoyable tastes). [So everyone gets free drinkables unless they want full-strength ales and spirits, but only those who wore the monster costumes get free food.] Children traditionally attend the tale-tellings, and usually fall asleep before morning (only to awake shrieking from nightmares).
So saith Ed.
I've chopped his reply here, and accordingly will present Part Two on the morrow. Ed himself remains frantically busy with hush-hush Realms-related work, and can probably best be described as "happily exhausted."
love to all,
THO
July 12, 2005: Hello again, all. I present Part Two of Ed's reply to David Lįzaro about Shieldmeet-related festivities of Silverymoon. I ended Part One with the entry for Claws, and we rejoin Ed's words with the festival held the next day, Glarth:
GLARTH: Colloquially known as "Fullbelly," this is a day of widespread at-home feasting. Floral-decorated wagons are sent out from the Palace in the morning, piled high with smoked hams, loaves of bread, sausages, smoked fish, tiny drawstring-bags of spices, and fruit. The wagons head for the poorest streets of the city first, but circulate until emptied; anyone can reach down any food they want from the passing wagons (that they can personally carry, without benefit of a cart or wagon of their own) to augment whatever food they already have, so that none may know hunger on this day. Visitors to the city and those who live alone are invited to dine with families, or at inns and taverns with other loners, but no loud entertainment or organized revelry takes place (typically everyone eats too much and drowses in chairs and on beds and couches into the evening, talking lazily of divers matters).
OAMAURAE ("OH-more-ay"): After all the eating and drinking of the preceding day, few folk rise until after highsun on Oamaurae. Traditionally, this is a day when everyone goes out to a playhouse, acting-ground outside the walls, inn or tavern or private home where hired performances are being presented, or simply to a street performance, to see theater.
On Omaurae, new plays are presented for the first time, new ballads-with-dance-and-mime tales performed, and new drinks (fortified, doctored-with-herbs-and-spices wines and sherries) are sold to see what'll catch on.
Returning home after enjoying performances, households take time during the evening to read aloud stirring passages of prose, or recite ballads and heroic tales from memory. Much rich dessert food is then consumed, and everyone goes to bed.
CLEARSIGHT: A half-day of work (shops open only until highsun). The rest of the day is devoted to planning ahead, on personal, household, and professional levels.
Everyone discusses politics and (if they're involved in any) the wording of new agreements to be solemnized, or pacts to be renewed, on Shieldmeet. Business owners talk to their employees about the direction and aim of the business, commoners hoist tankards at taverns and discuss the latest news and the "way the world is sailing," and everyone from adventurers to fashion-setting clothiers plots their planned doings in the seasons ahead. The shop closures make possible much "meeting with investors and merchants to plan future undertakings" (and to persuade would-be business partners by wining, dining, or even wenching them) - - if, of course, you can find the people you want to make contact with, among all the to-ing and fro-ing and gladhanding going on.
AMALREE'S PLEASURE: Amalree was a spectacular, affectionate, and much-loved dancer of Silverymoon, who died almost a century ago. In her honour, this day is devoted to lighthearted dancing and flirtation. Older folk (and those too injured or infirm to take part) gather to sip wine, watch the fun unfold around them, and play various elaborate board games. In recent years, wagering on these games has become very popular, and vast sums are won and lost by the evening of 'the Pleasure.'
MIDSUMMER: The Feast of Love. No shops are open past highsun on this day. At highsun, small feasts (private meals) begin, and open public lovemaking begins. Many folk don't take part, and stay home in their shuttered rooms, but the majority of citizens wander, watching or fondling or diving right in and participating in sex acts with those who beckon. Open doors are invitations to all, priests cast curative spells against diseases for free, orgies and public nudity and dalliance are commonplace, and even staid old Silvaeren tell off-colour jokes or make frank, lewd remarks or praisings they'd never dream of daring to utter on any other day (and to which those they are made to are supposed not to react, "forgetting" everything that happened on Midsummer after the next dawn). Traditionally, Alustriel makes love to all sorts of strangers of both genders and many races, and leads a "Hunt of Maidens" (which of course is nothing of the sort, but rather a hunt for a specific mask - - or rather, the person wearing it - - through various gardens) after the moon rises. Clergy of Loviatar and Ilmater give demonstrations involving lovemaking, and various wealthy folk with large homes host parties at which naughty games are held (eating various sweet desserts off the bared bodies of fellow revellers is a favourite tradition).
SHIELDMEET: Celebrated as it is everywhere in the Realms, this special day is devoted to open council between rulers and ruled, which really means: commoners can sit down and speak frankly with monarchs (who are typically protected against attack with ironguard, and various protective magics that mitigate the effects of missiles, particular sorts of spells, and so on) without being overheard by courtiers and without fear of reprisal. Commoners can communicate complaints, warnings, answer royal questions, pass on gossip, and so on; most rulers consider it the most valuable and informative day of their year, and often arrange to meet again soon with particular informants.
For rulers, guild members, merchants, masters and apprentices, and others engaged in renting or in transacting business, it's a day of renewing agreements (often reviewed or drawn up earlier, during Clearsight).
It's also a day of many contests, trials-of-arms, duels, contests-of-spells, and full-blown tournaments of horse-and-lance, with attendant wagering. These events are rarely undertaken in anger or to settle scores or legal disputes (though they can be, if Taern or Alustriel agree and the proceedings are overseen by Spellguard members), but serve as popular entertainment, with local merchants and wealthy notables sponsoring prizes for victorious contestants. Taking part in such trials has also become a very good way for adventurers and hedge-wizards seeking employment to attract the notice of potential patrons.
Silvaeren temples and visiting priests provide free healing magics and care to injured contestants, and the day ends with a "last revel" of theatrical performances and bardic and minstrel performances in various inns, taverns, clubs, and guild headquarters, at which mead and other sweetened wines are sipped and honey-cakes and other pastries and candies are consumed. (Because it's "back to the everyday trudge and drudge on the morrow.") Wise celebrants take to bed early and sober; foolish ones sing and carouse late into the night, and take surly hangovers to the shop the next day.
So saith Ed.
Who hopes he's been of some help, David, and apologizes again for the brevity of his reply. He also added this:
I'm pleased and honoured that you liked THE LONG ROAD HOME so much. I hope to have opportunities to tell many more such tales of the Realms in the years ahead. As for an autobiography: maybe. I'm really not that special a person. I have for years followed a personal philosophy of "try to forgive, try to understand, try to be kind - - and try to experience almost everything life offers, at least once," but I can't say that I've yet reached any deep philosophical insights by doing so, or made myself into a better person. However, I'm not going to stop trying.
And with that, Ed and I both bid you all adieu for another day. There are Realmslore promises in plenty to keep, and pages to pound out before Ed sleeps...
so love to all!
THO
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On July 11, THO said: Well spotted! No, worship of Shar in Silverymoon is done in cellars and behind the closed doors of private homes only. The notation was there because this is a Realms-wide rite of Selune, Ed tells me.
love,
THO
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July 13, 2005: Hello again, fellow scribes.
Kuje, Ed hasn't forgotten your Purple Lady queries, and will reply soon. In the meantime, however, he answers your divine spells question:
In 2nd Edition, 1st and 2nd level spells could be gained or renewed without direct connection to any deity (and so were obtainable during a Godswar, as I suggested in DRAGON #54, and we later all saw in the Time of Troubles). As a general rule, divine spells should be granted by deities (or their servant creatures) only as a result of direct prayer: in other words, yes, divine casters must worship a specific deity and not a cause or broad aspect.
However (weasel time), there will be exceptions, because in the endless game of one-up-god-ship that Faerūnian deities play, subtly struggling for supremacy over each other, dominance over intelligent races and events that affect their societies, and defense of personal portfolios, gods (and their loyal servant creatures) will often grant spells to mortals "out of the blue," or under false pretenses, or whatever - - just to try to influence those events and achieve some unknown-to-mortals aim or temporary victory in the ongoing godly struggle. As I've said before, there are secrets about the gods I can't yet reveal, but all of this boils down to: MOST divine casters get their spells by praying directly to a deity and serving that deity adequately (serve poorly, and your prayers may not be answered at all; serve superbly, and you may even receive extra magic), but A FEW divine casters may, for indefinite periods, receive spells when venerating only a cause, broad aspect, or even a dead or "the wrong" god.
So saith Ed.
Exhibiting his usual love for compromise and all-inclusive attempts to please.
love to all,
THO
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July 13, 2005: Ed of the Greenwood saith:
Mystra sacrificed some of her power forever (losing Sammaster's portion of her essence) when she acted against Sammaster.
It's against Bane's essential nature to relinquish anything, and the sacrifice is not a choice available to him: he CAN'T "seize" the portions of Mystra's essence within each Chosen, or strip them of their Chosen status.
He can destroy them, in direct combat, if he manages to catch them in the right situation.
However, note that "right situation" phrase. All of the present Chosen are well-versed in the Weave, and can "flee through it." If Bane tries to hunt them down and destroy them through the Weave, he'll do so much damage to it and to his own control over magic that it will rapidly become apparent to him just how much "not worth it" destroying any of the Chosen is.
And as Melfius has quite properly pointed out, neither Ao nor any of the other gods of Faerūn would allow any "Tyrant of the Weave" to exist. Bane can't stand for long against any two greater deities, let alone any more numerous combination of them.
Asgetrion is correct in saying that Bane would try to become a Tyrant over the Weave, controlling it absolutely; his essential nature forces him to do so.
Shadovar, Bane cannot succeed in becoming Tyrant of the Weave. The Chosen won't accept him, and he can't remove their powers. He can destroy them, if he attempts their destructions in the right manner. Azuth will resist him utterly (he's god of spellcasters who achieve mastery over magic through their experimentations and research, and can't accept a tyrant who would end or attempt to control that process) but "rebel" is the wrong word, because Bane won't be "the new god of magic."
Dargoth, the Chosen are linked to the Weave. They can die as mortal bodies, and they can be destroyed, but if they have the opportunity to "sink into the Weave," they can all become as Syluné and now Shandril are: "spirits" of the Weave.
So saith Ed.
Not that Bane eliminating Mystra tomorrow is likely. He's been burned with the previous Mystra, and prefers to dominate daily life in human societies in the Realms, where he can exult in being a tyrant.
However, when I put this to Ed, he e-twinkled and replied: "Remember how I keep reminding you there are secrets about the gods I haven't divulged yet, and can't just yet? Let's just say most of these discussions about what god could or would do what to which other god are just what they tend to be in the real world: so many futile words exchanged between mortals who can never know the truth. Now, back to home sweet mud hut and let's all have dinner."
So there you have it: Ed's take on the matter.
love to all,
THO
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July 14, 2005: Hello, fellow scribes. Ed of the Greenwood makes reply to two scribes in the matter of the daily disposal of the dead:
Borch and Asgetrion,
Things vary so much across the Realms that it's difficult to give any valid overall answer to your questions. However, in general, burial matters in cities and large towns across Faerūn "work like this:"
Only noble or very wealthy or very old (long-established) families (or guilds) in an urban area have, and are allowed to keep, crypts within the city walls - - usually beneath the city proper. Everyone else must inter their dead (after allowing beasts to gnaw the bones clean, in some faiths, or after cremation in some faiths or in cases of disease, fungal growths, mummy rot, lycanthropy, suspected undeath, and so on) outside the city walls.
This is the case in Baldur's Gate. Or to put it more correctly: aside from a few old, well-hidden old-family crypts in that city, the dead are disposed of in two ways: shipped out to an offshore isle for burning (a formerly-popular custom, now used only for sailors or shipowners), or far more often corpses are carted well inland, to a monastic community. Homeless and penniless folk make the journey in a common "dead cart" known as "the Vulture Run," and most citizens have a simple walk-with-the-cart funeral.
In the case of Baldur's Gate, the graveyard is about five miles northeast of the city walls, and (again to try to bring something of a "general rule across the Realms" into this answer) is consecrated ground surrounded by the claimed and farmed fields of a monastery, in an attempt to guard against undeath (or at least armies of shuffling undead rising out of graves unnoticed, until they pose a deadly threat to isolated steads and wayfarers). The Gate's graveyard is called "the Field of Rest," and consists of a vast burial hill surmounted by a simple chapel, in the heart of the mixed monastic community of Darfleet (named for its long-ago founding monk), temple-farms dedicated to the veneration of Chauntea. The monks bury all dead, using spells and fire-sticks to fight any undead who rise, and eventually till sections of the burial fields with plows, sewing edible crops that are harvested only for their seeds (sold and sent widely across the Realms). Other Darfleet fields do yield food that's sold directly to folk in Baldur's Gate and elsewhere, via city carters and passing caravan-merchants.
So that's why you'll find no graveyards on the FR ADVENTURES maps: the dead are either taken well outside a city, or are interred in underground crypts (guild members under a guild headquarters, for example, or members of a noble family under their own family mansion). After the Threat from the Sea, the mounded corpses of attacking sea-creatures were piled up on damaging, sinking vessels, towed out to sea, and incinerated with spells - - so the dryland defenders, to avoid any insult to their families, were all taken to a height (to the north) overlooking Baldur's Gate, there burned, and carts full of the wetted-down ashes were taken to Darfleet for "tilling in."
Borch, your earlier and longstanding questions haven't been forgotten, and I WILL get to them in the fullness of time.
So saith Ed.
Who is wearied with the weight of Realmslore work at the moment, yet loves crafting it as much as ever, after more than thirty-seven years of imagineering. What a guy.
love to all,
THO
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July 15, 2005: Hi again, all. khorne, Wooly's reply to you is well said. Ed can't say more on this for NDA reasons, but I'll spill a LITTLE of the beans by saying: Interested in the dead not sleeping in the City of the Dead? Then you MUST read CITY OF SPLENDORS, a novel by Elaine Cunningham and Ed Greenwood!
This time Ed tackles Jamallo Kreen's queries: "Is there a Torilian deity who has diplomacy as a portfolio? Do the gods have any divinity who travels amongst them as neutral messenger and herald, as Hermes served the Olympians, Hades, and Poseidon?
Does much diplomacy occur among the sentient races on Toril? It seems to me that every little squabble and disagreement quickly turns to guerilla warfare, assassination, terrorism, or full-scale invasion... I suppose that a lot of diplomacy occurs within the Lords' Alliance, but I rarely see overt evidence of it in the novels or sourcebooks. Does it take place via portal travel? Do diplomats otherwise travel with trade caravans or do they travel only with their own entourages?"
Ed replies:
No deity has diplomacy as a portfolio, because diplomacy is a large part of what all priesthoods do (if you're trying to influence matters in Faerūn involving other intelligent beings, without using weapons, you're practising diplomacy whether you call it that or not). In other words, no deity will be allowed by the others to "own" a portfolio of diplomacy, even if certain divine beings are very eloquent, persuasive, or successfully manipulative.
The gods aren't monolithic, but rather a number of pantheons. Among the human deities worshipped most widely across the Realms (in other words, those not grouped in FAITHS & PANTHEONS under a "Pantheon" heading in the "Other Deities" section), Helm once did a lot of shuttling "amongst them as neutral messenger and herald" before the Time of Troubles, but his actions during that time of crisis earned him such dislike that he's abandoned that role after being so often spurned, since. In most of the other pantheons, deities employed their servants (archons, et al) as emissaries more often than one of their number performed heraldic duties.
Your impression that "every little squabble and disagreement quickly turns to guerilla warfare, assassination, terrorism, or full-scale invasion" is a function of the D&D game and commercial fiction demands, I'm afraid: a LOT of diplomacy (successful and otherwise) goes on daily among and between settlements of sentient races on Toril. If it did not, no stable, widespread trade would occur. You just don't get shown it all that much in game adventures, novels, or Realms sourcebooks (although there's an upcoming [NDA] that may help in a small way to change that) - - certainly not as much as such publications address open armed conflict. Remember that all the tense argument and confrontation scenes in royal courts (as seen in the various Cormyr novels, among the elves on Evermeet in Rich Baker's current Last Mythal series, and so on) ARE diplomacy, even if they often end disastrously. You'll see a lot of informal, one-on-one diplomacy in CITY OF SPLENDORS. The Zhentarim and the Red Wizard enclaves make daily coin through the sort of diplomacy known as trade negotiations - - it's just that printed Realmslore rarely focuses on that.
(As to why the Zhentarim are widely feared or disliked: it's due to most peoples' aversion to suffering violence at the hands of powerful wizards who are known to be allied with priests of Cyric [murder, lies, intrigue, deception, illusion] or Bane [strife, hatred, tyranny, fear] AND beholders - - and the Zhents have so often struck at anyone who disagreed with them that others now expect them to do so. "From whom one buys one's pots and pans shouldn't be a matter of cosmic significance, in my opinion, but the people of Faerūn make it so," you post, but I've never seen that as true in any of my writings: folk mistrust the Zhents and the Red Wizards for their violent tendencies and out of mistrust of their magic, not for the goods they trade - - and in general DON'T refuse to trade with them, or buy goods from caravan wagons that have travelled under Zhent protection, so I see no attachment of "cosmic significance" occurring, on the part of most folk of Faerūn.)
In general, diplomacy across the Realms is done daily by the Heralds (as revealed in the 2nd Edition CODE OF THE HARPERS and in the upcoming [NDA]), but also by "factors" (trade agents) and by the envoys (diplomats) of kingdoms and city-states treating directly with each other. Such delegations always travel with scribes and bodyguards (and usually trained spies, too). In very dangerous wilderland areas, when overland travel is extended, they may travel as part of a large caravan for safety, yes, but up and down the Sword Coast or within the Dragonreach lands they generally travel as a large, well-armed band flying the banners of the realm they represent and "peace and parley" banners depicting open hands. Such groups can expect to be stopped and searched by local authorities, but not imprisoned, attacked, harrassed, or to suffer confiscations unless they've openly done violence or thefts or arson, or are suspected of being something other than envoys (transporting slaves or poisons is not 'legitimate' behaviour for any trade envoy, for example).
Within the Lords' Alliance, a lot of key diplomacy does occur via portal travel, yes, generally involving Silverymoon (or certain secluded Everlund mansions) as "common meeting-grounds." Alustriel is so widely beloved that grumblings about her dominating affairs in the North are generally seen as just that: grumblings emitted as bargaining ploys. She's the key counterweight to the natural dominance of Waterdeep within the Alliance - - yet there are also the "quiet voices" heard by few outside the Alliance, notably Tolgar Anuvien of Goldenfields, whose ability to feed (or starve) many Alliance members carries great weight.
And yes, international diplomacy has grown since the "Crusade" against the Tuigan Horde, because it brought many rulers together in common cause for the first time. Some have "lapsed back into their old ways," yes, but most are more aware of, and place more value in, knowing what's going on farther and farther away from their own patrol-outposts or borders.
So the diplomacy happens constantly, Jamallo Kreen, and can easily dominate your campaign if you want it to; don't be misled by the natural tendency of Realms fiction and game offerings to concentrate on open combat.
So saith Ed.
Whom I can back up on this, as one of his longtime players: most "home" Realmsplay sessions, with Ed as DM, are intrigue (diplomacy) and not combat at all (on many nights, we never draw weapons). Ed's Realms are a proverbial hotbed of intrigue.
love,
THO
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A July 15, 2005 Mailing List reply: Hi, Jeff! Thanks for the questions. Here we go:
I don't want to say too much about Waterdeep and harm any of the surprises Eric has included in his superb (but woefully shortened) Waterdeep book, but yes, most Waterdhavians know the Red Sashes exist, and credit them for keeping Dock Ward from becoming a constant lawless brawl. Durnan is their creator (he founded them in 1311 DR), and Piergeiron "doesn't want to know" the exact membership of the Red Sashes, because although he mistrusts vigilantes, he's assured by many of his fellow Lords (and by his trusted bodyguard mage, Tarthus, whom you'll see briefly in the CITY OF SPLENDORS novel Elaine and I wrote) that they do act "for good" in Waterdeep, employing methods that the Watch and Guard cannot, but that "they'll certainly be curbed sharply if ever they go too far." Piergeiron long ago had to accept and tolerate the huge variety of value systems, beliefs, alignments, approaches to life, and morals that everyone crowding into the walls of bustling Waterdeep holds, and make his personal peace with "living and working with" individuals he might personally find abhorrent, for the greater good of Waterdeep. The Red Sashes get results, often delivering into the hands of authority criminals his uniformed, disciplined lawkeepers can't find. Moreover, they don't seem to cause any great problems in doing so - - so he's content to not hunt them down and root them out, but rather accept the help they provide, from time to time asking certain Lords (Mirt and Durnan) for reassurance that "You're keeping an eye on those Red Sash fellows, aren't you? We don't need any new thieves' guilds in the Deep, know you!" Whereupon they always gruffly and solemnly assure him they watch the Red Sashers "like hawks, not that they need it," and Piergeiron nods and passes on to other matters. The Red Sash is regarded as exciting entertainment by most law-abiding Waterdhavians, and very much a Good Thing; they're not feared or despised. They do spend more time gathering intelligence and (through off-duty Watch members they pass such information to, in taverns - - posing as Waterdhavians in their cups and making sure the Watch stalwart overhears, NOT parading about as as masked and muttering Red Sash agents) making sure the Watch gets tipped off about "the daily sort" of criminal plans, rumors and facts about who did what theft or is planning which other swindle, than they do pouncing on anyone. The Red Sashers save their pouncings for "big stuff" (slavers; attempts on the part of thieves to act in large gangs; the regrettable tendency for evil-aligned priesthoods to not only hold worship services in hidden temples established in cellars and buildings purporting to have other purposes all over the city, but also to form gangs of worshippers to do evil or illicit things in Waterdeep; those who like to smuggle in monsters to sell or stage beast-fights for betting purposes, or as "hit-beasts" to threaten targets or slay foes... and so on). So, yes, they might pounce in you in a dark alley, but not if you're avoiding participation in these "bigger" bad things. Otherwise, they'll just watch you, and whisper some things about your deeds (where you go, whom you meet, and what you're carrying or doing) to the Watch. Only if you arouse their suspicions, that is: remember that literally thousands of Waterdhavians scuttle down dark alleys every night, some of them hurrying just because they're afraid of what might happen to them there.
Now, as for Skullport: I doubt Waterdhavians would ever go into unrest over the mere existence of Skullport; I can only see unrest occurring if nightly raids on the city that clearly came from Skullport (such as by bands of drow or other "known to be of the Underdark" creatures, coupled with the inevitable lurid rumors) began and went on for days without any response from the authorities. The existence of Skullport is common knowledge in Waterdeep, and has been for years. So have the publicly-given reasons for the Lords of Waterdeep tolerating its presence: it enriches Waterdeep greatly, making possible all the wealth and great selection of wares and bustling progress that "advances us all," and it neatly provides a place for dangerous beings (wizards and drow and illithids and the like) to trade in valuable and sometimes dangerous goods, and "keep all that away from all of us who never have any reason to venture down there." In other words, you as a citizen or resident of Waterdeep enjoy great prosperity and safety that you would not, if Skullport didn't exist. Among all the lurid legends and tall tales of goings-on in Skullport are tales "planted" as reassurance, such as: "And if anything ever gets out of hand in Skullport, the Blackstaff has all sorts of spells 'hanging ready' to take care of it all: invaders from there will get blasted to dust! In the meantime, he and Laeral take their apprentices down there for training, and Watchful Order magists, too, so they can blast a few monsters and remind everyone not to try anything with Waterdeep, or - - blam!" So if adventurers did "tell everyone else about it" they'd probably get responses of: "Uh-huh. 'Sware the bad folk trade, and go, and they deserve whatever befalls them. Glad the Lords keep it all out of OUR hair, anyroads!"
Ed
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July 16, 2005: Hello again, all. Ed replies to Si in the matter of Realms terms for a troubleshooter:
Si, in Faerūn such a person is usually called a "ready hand" (meaning someone who can deal with, or will try to deal with [with a fair amount of competence or success], a wide variety of problems and tasks without a lot of fuss). The closest real-world translation would probably be "jack-of-all-trades."
Someone who's skilled at several sorts of craftwork (such as a person who can function well as a carpenter, locksmith, blacksmith, woodcarver, and tool-maker and -maintainer) is usually referred to a "guildscrafter" (meaning they could probably qualify for membership in multiple goods, not that they're necessarily a member of any guild at all).
Someone trained and assigned (by the local governing authority) to "deal with problems" in any area, particularly if this involves occasional violence or "taking the law into their own hands" is sometimes called a "watchsword" even if they don't carry a sword at all (as distinct from "guard" or "sentinel;" the possible confusion between the three terms is why the term is only employed "sometimes" and isn't more widely popular).
So saith Ed, tirelessly revealing Realmslore wherever he goes.
(And yes, Si, he agrees that "adventurer" is a pretty good answer, too.)
love to all,
THO
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July 17, 2005: Hello, all. Ed makes swift reply to Smyther about those inverted floating Netherese mountaintops:
Smyther, very few of the floating cities of Netheril were severed mountaintops. I know of only four, out of almost two score floating cities and castles (some floating constructs were little more than a single fortress).
Mountaintops are rarely "solid" rock, but rather the exposed and weathered "pointy ends" of fissured and cracked rock that's either volcanic (and therefore of different consistencies, from the former outer cone ash to the onetime magma shaft), folded layers of rock thrust up "on end," or even different tectonic plates. They don't "hang together," and thus there's no benefit to lopping off mountaintops except impressing the observer. Most of the mountains (edge of Anauroch, in Thar, and areas now under the High Ice) that were mined or quarried or sculpted by various Netherese were consumed down to a rocky plain or plateau, and so have "left no trace" to modern mappers and explorers.
Many Netherese archwizards experimented with melting stone and sculpting it (to form honeycombed-with-passages "bases" that they then built up into soaring-spired palaces somewhat as a modern master confectioner "builds" an ornate wedding-cake), and they usually found it easiest to quarry boulders (cottage-sized and smaller) and magically bind them to other boulders of the same size, slowly building the result into a platform of about the size they wanted (constructed lying atop bare rock plateaus on the ground, not in the air).
Most Netherese cities looked like a series of palaces set among terraced gardens, with a few "viewing rooms" or griffon-steed landing ports visible around the "lower curve" edges. The creative competition turned in the direction of changing gravity, "sky" hue, and other local physical conditions by means of layers upon layers of spells.
So saith Ed.
Ever onward into Realmslore!
love to all,
THO
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July 18, 2005: Kuje, your Purple Lady lore arrives at last!
First, to Si: yes, please repost Ed's Red Sashes and Waterdeep replies in this thread. Ed informs me that the already-posted Prologue of CITY OF SPLENDORS is set back at the time of the Threat From The Sea, but the rest of the book is current Realms time, jumping from group of characters to group of characters, but never "back and forth" in time.
Second, Ed deals with Kuje's paladins keeping slaves query:
In theory, a paladin born, raised, and temple-trained in a slave-keeping culture (like the Mulhorandi example already mentioned) could keep slaves if the paladin's deity saw nothing wrong in that (if they did, the dream-vision commandments to "do something" about it would be pretty firm). Otherwise, no. The more familiar Faerūnian cultures already presented in print don't equate slavekeeping with enough "this is the just and right way of doing things" for a paladin to stomach it. If a paladin ventures into slave-keeping lands and cities, the individual character of the paladin and the views of his or her deity, divine servitors, and priests the paladin has contact with will determine how the paladin reacts to other individuals keeping slaves. In the already-published CITY OF SPLENDORS prologue, Elaine and I show you a paladin of Waterdeep's reaction to indenture-bondage (slavery by any other name) practised in Luskan.
So saith Ed.
Who then passes on gleefully to speak at far more length with your desired festhall details:
Ah, the Purple Lady...
Picture a steep-slate-shingled, many-gabled four-storey wooden, whitewashed house whose upper two floors cantilever out (not only with ornate balconies, side-screened and solid-roofed against pigeons, where aromatic flowers are grown and intimate laundry is hung to dry, but also with floors that are larger than the floors below, the fourth jutting even more than the third) over the street. It descends for two cellars below street level, the lowest being damp and moldly and used for storage of things intended to be forgotten, and the "close cellar" (uppermost) being entered from the house above and from the street (via a locked-metal doors-covered delivery ramp) and used for storage: firewood storage, beer in casks, potatoes, turnips, and apples in bins, old furniture, and, yes, a "dungeon" for holding drunkards, unruly guests, and those who like to give and receive pain or stage "mock sacrifices on altars" as part of their sex play.
Above the cellar is the ground floor, having two open-only-from-inside, double-barred alley doors, and one public entrance: a double-width, massive door with an ornate brass-barrel handle like a steward's rod of office. It bears a faintly-glowing (magic paint) image of a cowl-cloaked (in purple, of course) lady, seen side-on, facing to the right (the shape of the figure bespeaks the femininity).
Inside the door is a thick-carpeted forehall, apparently walled in tapestries. At least four armed bodyguards stand ready behind them at all times, ready to be summoned by the visible hostess and doorlar (doorman). Firequench magics govern this room: NOTHING will burn or ignite. Light comes down through three circular glass 'portholes' in the ceiling, from lamps in a room above.
To the visitor's left, the tapestries will part to reveal a magnificent stair ascending to "the Rest." The hostess awaits a visitor's request; those desiring sex with one of the twelve ladies of the house know to ask for "purple for coin." Some guests really just want a room for the night, either to sleep or for shady business or party revelry of their own, and require nothing more than the discretion of the house (soundproofing is magically augmented, and very good).
The topmost or fourth floor (which has nothing above it but a few rooftop rainwater-cisterns for gathering wash-water) is where the staff sleep; the floor below it has six to eight bedchambers that can be rented out to guests who desire nothing more than a place to sleep (though the Lady entirely lacks stabling facilities), as well as three "pleasure chambers" (lushly-furnished bedchambers for sex fun), the floor beneath that is given over to ten pleasure chambers, and the lowest of the upper floors has two private meeting-rooms (one with a kitchen antechamber connected to the main kitchens below via a dumbwaiter), an office, a bathing-chamber with a large, deep multi-person "sit in" bath, and a suite of three joined bedchambers with their own garderobes and robing-rooms, that can be rented for private parties. These floors are linked by the main stair (curving from landing to landing; there's a guard sitting on a chair at each landing, with alarm-gongs) and by a back stair; the latter goes down via the kitchen pantries into the cellars.
The ground floor of the Purple Lady is devoted to the kitchen and its pantries, along the back, and (through the tapestries on a visitor's right, from the forehall) a dimly-lit dining-hall (we moderns would call it a restaurant), called The Lady's Pleasure.
So saith Ed.
I know you'll snarl at this, Kuje, but I've split up Ed's reply to avoid running into the post-size-limit. I'll send along the second part tomorrow (because, she breathed, tortured anticipation is good for any man).
love,
THO
July 19, 2005: Hello, all! Thank you, able scribes, for so swiftly answering Rain's Realmspace questions. I'll forward everything to Ed, but Rain, please be patient: poor Ed is starting to fall behind on his replies again, overwhelmed by real-world, real-life demands (and WotC deadlines!).
Now, hearken all to the second part of Ed's Purple Lady festhalls reply to Kuje:
The Lady's Pleasure is a large, labyrinthine room of tables and booths separated by trees growing in pots, and ornate wooden zigzag folding screens over which vines have been trained. The floor is tight-stretched carpet over tile, and the furniture is all heavy, dark, solid wood.
Sculptures of copper chutes and vessels hung with copper dangle-chimes, through which water endlessly falls (pumped [via seated peddles, like a modern bicycle] in a loop from cellar to top of sculpture, by boys hired for three coppers a night, plus some table leavings to eat, and "a peek at the naked ladies" when they come up from the cellars to get paid), provide background noise to give diners some privacy for their conversations from the next table. Seatings are arranged so the dim, shaded hanging lamps and the various view-blocks provide maximum privacy, from one table to the next.
The dining-hall caters to well-to-do couples and diners desiring to talk quietly or do business. Flirtation and even some sex play is allowed, but must be quiet and discreet (those desiring to "go further" will be invited up a side-stair that only reaches as far as the floor above). Its overall "look" is old money sophistication, cloaked in darkness. Platters are of copper and of wood, with brass cutlery. Tankards are of silver, tallglasses (wine glasses) of crystal, and tables are draped in crimson fineweave linens.
The cuisine consists of generous-helping dishes of fowl, smoked fish, and roasts (boar and beef). All are diced and drenched in various rich cream sauces. The taste is wonderful, the sauces rich and fat-laden, and folk in Westgate generally consider this food both "wonderful" and "as sophisticated as can be had at any great city, anywhere in Faerūn." It indeed tastes wonderful, is far too heavy for healthy eating - - and is about as sophisticated as the nearest road-tavern (only with nicer sauces).
Vegetables tend to be side-bowls of "long beans" and potatoes, diced with apples and fried in flavoured oils.
Meals are accompanied with as many wines as diners care to accept from the gliding servers (deft, quiet, always-dignified and stonefaced men in black jackcoats and hose), and topped off with fresh fruits served with under drizzled melted chocolate sauces, in crystal goblets. The kitchen is staffed by three cooks and five "runners and dicers," and is notable for shared expertise in crafting strongly-flavoured sauces (including the masterful touch of being able to make fish not taste all that "fishy," if desired). There are normally two shifts, from dusk to midnight, and midnight until dawn (the open hours of the Pleasure) of eight servers each. This is normally ample, but when all sixteen tables and six booths are occupied by diners, the place hops (quietly).
The overall appearance of the Purple Lady as a building is old, well-maintained but no longer as elegant as it once was. Its city-wide reputation is for "elegant sensuality," and diners in the Pleasure are certainly aware of what goes on "above." It has its share of matrons who choose to ignore that "regrettable" side of things, but its clientele is dominated by swingers (think Oscar Wilde or P.G. Wodehouse flapper-era [but without the twits] sophistication, only almost entirely sexually "straight") who enjoy flirtation over a light meal where they won't be rushed, and then "some fun upstairs."
A few pimps and spymasters regularly pose as this sort of client in order to meet with "their girls," to talk over assignments and exchange pay.
The Purple Lady is not a dance-house or a venue for brawls or gambling; the staff firmly usher out anyone openly trying to engage in any of the three. The Lady is no longer a tavern per se, although its diners and occupants of the rooms above consume prodigious amounts of drink.
So saith Ed.
Third bit next time, Kuje: Ed tells you about the founding and current staff of the Lady. We're both awaiting your story, by the way.
love,
THO
P.S. Ed says there's movement on the Castlemorn front (but he can add NOTHING more, yet).
July 20, 2005: Hello again, all! Thanks, Si! (You make a very nice "me".) Nynshari, Wooly hath steered you rightly: Ed did write the Candlekeep intro specifically for this site, but it does answer your questions about fees, who can enter, and so on. Read it through, and if it falls short of answering any of your queries, rush right back and post the unaddressed ones, and I'll send them on to Ed.
Who continues his Purple Lady reply to Kuje:
The Purple Lady was founded by Anhala Dreith ("Ann-HAL-ah DREE-thhh") a short, fat, dumpy, wrinkled, wart-covered Tashalan woman of middling years who painstakingly saved the coppers she made from cleaning grand houses in Westgate, starving herself and living in the most squalid (cheapest) rental rooms, until she had enough for a grand house. She "knew" the way to riches was to sell strong drink and sex, and was a good-natured, hardworking, stubborn sort who figured she could get pleasure-girls by paying them fairly and giving them good food and a good place to stay. She was right, and by the time she died (about a dozen years ago) had built the Purple Lady into a mainstay local fixture.
The key to that was getting Onstable Tarth and Ilimar Jathakh, two wanting-to-retire-from-crime "entrepreneurs" of the city to be her first two cooks. They're both dead (of old age, like Anhala) now, too, but they gave the Lady its name, its gimmick (the purple robes worn by the hostess and all the "ladies of the House"), and protection from other criminals of Westgate who would otherwise undoubtedly have squeezed Anhala for protection-coin. The story around the Lady is that Onstable lusted after a tavern dancer in his pimply youth who was tall, long-legged, elegant, and wore vivid purple cowled cloaks and gowns - - and was "bringing his dreams to life" with the name and look he established for the festhall.
Today, the Purple Lady is owned jointly by the chief cook and the senior "Lady of the House."
The chief cook is the mountainously fat and strong "Boar" (Undral) Lauram, a hairy, amiable man who's usually covered in food and sweat. He's a superb seasoner and a kindly master, so his staff is loyal. They view him as their best friend, and his co-proprietor (whom he refers to as "THE Lady" or "the "proprietress") with reverent respect.
The Lady of the House is Ambra Indreth, formerly a personal chambermaid to a Cormaeril aunt. Trained in full etiquette and inured to most pain thanks to her (now dead, of a winterchill fever) former employer's cruelties (jabbing with hatpins and floggings with her walking-sticks), this tall, slender, long-legged, tawny-skinned Damaran is blessed with strikingly vivid emerald eyes and dark lashes, long jet-black hair, and a mouth that's been described as "kissable." She enjoys sex and doesn't mind being bound or whipped, though she's starting to scar and stiffen now, and prefers to take a less and less active role in the pleasures of the house, instead cultivating friendships and spending increasing amounts of time with older men who just want attention, backrubs, the chance to idly caress bared flesh, and a good listener while they ramble. She serves them tea or cordials or whatever they like to drink, and obliges them.
Ambra is utterly fearless, and so CAN'T be intimidated. She's fatalistic (we all die someday, perhaps this is my day) and won't give in to threats. She now has such a wide network of "men who owe her something" that she can swiftly assemble protection for the Purple Lady or herself or any of her staff, and even strike forces to eliminate foes.
Ambra and the Boar have been lovers, and when she wants comforting, or he wants sex, they still meet in the cellars.
So saith Ed.
Last bit tomorrow, Kuje!
love,
THO
July 21, 2005: Hello again, fellow scribes. Herewith, Ed concludes his reply to Kuje:
The Boar presides over the kitchen staff (stolid middle-aged women with names like Reldra and Immra, and darting-fast, ratlike young men rescued from the streets, with names like Orlarrin and Jelst) and the servers (mainly retired bodyguards and hireswords, with names like "Red" and Lorgel, Juth and Morryk, and a surprising range of talents for plumbing and painting and carpentry).
The two hostesses and two doorlars (if illness or injury reduces their numbers, an upstairs lady helps out as hostess, and a server steps in as doorlar) report to Ambra.
The hostesses are tall, dark, exotic-looking Jemlarra (from Nimbral), who's a superb mimic and actress and likes to wear gowns side-leg-slit all the way up to her waist; and Dautha (of Westgate, a honey-huksy-voiced "bright young thing" with blonde hair, ample curves, and a false but superbly-done "innocent" manner; she often "inadvertently" shows flesh, with a completely straight, earnest face).
The senior doorlar is Jharak ("Old Jhaer"), a long-nosed, narrow-chinned, bearded man who chuckles a lot and looks rather piratical. He's a grumbler, but loves jokes and making people laugh, and is very popular among the "family" of staff at the Lady. The junior doorlar is the glib-tongued, smoothly self-controlled, young and handsome Vreldur, from Sembia, who's continually chided by Ambra for his willingness to kiss and grope matronly diners who express an interest in him (Old Jhaer they joke with, but Vreldur they WANT). He may yet be dismissed - - or may become the only upstairs "Lord of the House" in the Purple Lady.
The sixteen Ladies of the House are a wide mixture of human (with one half-elf) women of all shapes and sizes. All enjoy sex, all have wardrobes and training that allow them to act with elegance in formal situations, and all of them love Ambra and try to get along like sisters with each other, regarding her more or less as their mother. Four of them are relatively inexperienced, and Ambra is "gentling" them into full roles.
The most beautiful among the Ladies is the tall, sleek, demure Nathelle, but the most popular is the wildest and most acrobatic, a muscular, young-looking, nipple-pierced and buttock-branded (left cheek, with a leaping dolphin) "nimble nymph" by the name of Lalurra (nickname among the staff only: "Lure-lass"). The sharp-tongued Narauntha can take the most abuse (pain, restraint, and endurance-testing activities) of all the Ladies, and is the busiest. Sharmra looks like a high-class lady, and can act the part, and has two loyal followings of clients: those who want to treat her as a high-class lady, and those who want to play at humiliating her as one.
Two of the Ladies look very much alike, and are sometimes requested by clients as "the Twins." Both are lush-figured (and the same clothing size), short, bouncy brunettes who can adopt a "oh yes" eager manner in an instant, or plead for mercy "because they've been bad." Their names are Maleira and Harbrenla.
So saith Ed, who figures he's given you enough to spin a series of short stories.
Enjoy!
love,
THO
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July 22, 2005: Hellow, fellow scribes of Realmslore.
To Mumadar Ibn Huzal, Ed makes reply:
Regarding your questions as to what's hidden beneath the roots of the Wealdath AND how Cylyria Dragonbreast rose to rule Berdusk: NDA to both for now, I'm afraid (possible future fiction). Hopefully at GenCon I'll have a chance to remind Phil Athans of something first discussed years back, to see if it's still on the table. There are a lot of new writers getting chances to tell Realms tales, and although most of these will be set in current Realms time, some of them may well reference past history such as these two matters. We'll have to see.
So saith Ed.
I share your sigh.
love,
THO
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July 23, 2005: Ahem, dahling, I resemble that remark.
Hi, all.
By the ever-lengthening arm of coincidence, Ed replies to, yes, Blueblade about that long-ago GenCon adventure BB mentioned in an earlier post:
No, sorry, that adventure has never been published, and probably will never be (remember all the NPC roleplaying? that's death to plans of publishing an adventure, always). It wasn't one of those I handed to the RPGA for that reason (in those days, RPGA adventures had to be linear and "the same" from table to table and DM to DM as much as possible, for competition purposes, so Team A and Team B had the same chances of winning points).
Yes, there are indeed tombstones that "open" to allow access to undead-haunted, partially-flooded smugglers' tunnels under parts of Luskan, and there is a local priestess of Loviatar who likes to use a small part of these tunnels as a place for initiations of those attracted to her rituals - - and has definitely bitten off more than she can chew (ahem). Yes, there are "unseen others" involved. And yes, I'll probably resurrect this adventure someday to torment new players (probably two decades after I entertained my first lot of victims). Heh-heh; thanks for the reminder.
So saith Ed.
Oh, BB, you've done it now!
love,
THO
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On July 23, 2005 THO said: Hi, Raelan. Well met!
Re Netheril's floating cities, I'm guessing you've misread Ed's reply. Here's the relevant part of it: "Smyther, very few of the floating cities of Netheril were severed mountaintops. I know of only two, out of almost two score floating cities and castles (some floating constructs were little more than a single fortress)."
So, Ed's saying there are almost forty floating cities, but only TWO were "for certain" (and Ed is THE Ultimate Realms Authority) made by severing mountaintops and using those mountaintops as the city base, as opposed to shattering it into rock rubble and fashioning it into building blocks.
Also, it's important to remember that the Netherese archwizards were extremely competitive. There's NO WAY that Proctiv's Move Mountain would have been a spell "shared around" at the time the enclaves were being created. So every enclave creator would have had to "reinvent the wheel" and craft an enclave in their own way.
What Ed was saying was that very few of them were made from intact severed mountaintops (don't be misled by the inclusion of that spell in the PG). Here's a snippet from Ed's notes on the matter, pre-TSR-publication:
"The most popular form of enclave creation was to create a rigid flying base out of something (permanent wall of forces were popular) and bond the archwizard's existing tower, castle, or garden-surrounded mansion onto it."
Always remember, Ed's lore came first, and everyone else embroiders it, sometimes without even having access to the original writings.
love to all,
THO
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July 24, 2005: Hello again, fellow lovers of the Realms. Ed of the Greenwood here tackles Reefy's latest questions (with a hearty "You're welcome," Reefy, from us both):
Hi, Reefy. In the Dales, upland Turmish, upland Cormyr, and around Secomber folk tend to live more "in harmony with" the land than in most other places in Faerūn, so what I say here holds true (in general) for all three regions.
The average commoner views clergy of Eldath as helpful and useful: they "clean up" after everyone else, they know the edible berries and the dangerous ones (and all other woodlore, including how to best transplant or seed-harvest and then farm "wild" plants in a tended garden, and how to get along with wild forest beasts) better than almost any other handy source - - and give such information freely, without demanding service or coin or any measure of obedience in return.
As THO said: "Eldathyn (like clergy of Chauntea) are valued and revered as builders and nurturers by most folk." In general, Faerūnians accept people for what they are: if clergy of Eldath withdraw from combat, that's just "what they do." Those who believe in battle and aggression may become exasperated with them in a given situation, but folk in the Realms "believe in" ALL the gods, and so understand their chosen role even if they strongly cleave to other ways and primarily follow other gods. A priest of Talos or Talona might want to destroy the same tree an Eldathyn wants to protect and nurture, and might do violence to both the Eldathyn and the tree-but if relatively sane, that priest wouldn't despise the Eldathyn (who'd be seen more as a respected competitor or opponent than as naive).
I see little conflict between being a Harper and being an Eldathyn, because other Harpers would KNOW that an Eldathyn Harper will readily tear down walls, break doors, spring prisoners out of captivity, hide people, frustrate woodcutters and road-builders (and therefore rulers seeking to strengthen their grip on a territory), help things grow, and things of that sort, but NOT lead armies, burn down trees, poison wells or streams, and so on - - and wouldn't expect or ask the Eldathyn Harper to do something so against their nature. Eldathyn understand natural balances (within what we might call "microsystems," such as the life around a single small forest pond) better than almost any other clergy (clerics of Chauntea understand the same forces and factors just as well, but see a different approach - - less natural, more interventionist - - to using them, whereas an Eldathyn is a "restorative or leave alone").
However, to answer your question directly: if asked to do something as a Harper, by a Harper, that breaks the tenets of faith, almost all Eldathyn would refuse (and the few who would agree are "stepping away from their faith" and will suffer consequences).
An Eldathyn often "fights" by opening a dam and unleashing a downstream flood, luring foes into the jaws and claws of a known predatory monster or into quicksand, and so on. Eldathyn in the Dales don't seek to eradicate farms, but they do want farms not to expand much farther (instead, they'll work with farmers to companion-plant and restore hedgerows and enrich farm yields in return for the farmer avoiding the use of fire in clearing land, and allowing nature to reclaim small areas). In like manner, Eldathyn want woodcutters to fell select trees, with regard for the continued healthy life cycle of the forest, and never clear-cut.
In terms of holy days, Eldathyn venerate the natural happenings of the annual cycle (at different days in different places, of course, when they actually occur): Thaw, Firstflowering, Firstfall (of snow), Lakefreeze, and the solstices. In the Dales, their most holy places are the Handtree (in the carefully-kept-trackless forest southeast of Mistledale, a huge old shadowtop tree split in its youth so that it has five spread-out trunks, cupped as if around a bowl, like huge fingers - - and in its "palm" grow many other smaller trees); Moonfire (a pool in the forest northwest of Shadowdale, where the rays of the moon lance down in a shaft on certain nights, and cause phosphorescent mosses at the bottom of the pool to glow; if harvested and kept damp, these retain a faerie fire for years); and Sweetwater (a spring that rises out of a cleft rock in the forest not far east of The Standing Stone, whose waters purge or neutralize all known poisons, diseases, and rots (including gangrene, mummy rot, and the various fungi that alter living flesh). Eldathyn also pray in every place where they find "Gifts of the Goddess" (useful herbs growing in profusion), and try to keep such locales secret so beings who understand or respect natural balances less than they do won't overharvest and ruin such bounty.
I wish I had more time now to do a proper job of describing and detailing the rituals, holy days, and shrines of this faith (and, hey, all of the others!), but I just don't. Sorry.
I hope these few notes have been of some help.
So saith Ed.
Who is a truly nice man, as you can probably tell from that answer.
love to all,
THO
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On July 25, 2005 THO said: Hello all.
To The Sage: your music question is great. Ed is deeply interested in music. His parents were both professional choristers who first met in a choir; years ago, after Ed's mother died, his father later married another chorister, and they're at Balliol College in Oxford right now, starting a summer "guest cathedral choir" tour, Ed's grandmother was a radio opera singer, and Ed and his sisters sang in their youths [the usual: G & S, Bach, Handel, Respighi, and the classical religious standards - - oh, and as I recall, Ed sang Anais the High Priest in a high school production of Jesus Christ, Superstar]. Ed's voice has risen a bit since then (he was hitting Low As, but like most basses, he's losing his lower register and rising into baritone-hood). BTW, he tells me he was a lousy piano player.
However, before I unleash your query on him, have you read his extensive "music in the Realms" reply to The Blind Ranger on page 64 of the 04 Questions for Eddie thread?
love,
THO
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July 26, 2005: Hello, all scribes. Elfinblade, Ed will get to your marinating question as soon as he can, but as to your query about the sorts of trees found in the Cormanthor forest:
Hi, Stig! The forest of Cormanthor includes pines, spruces, and cedars, but is primarily deciduous hardwoods. Oak, ash, chestnut, elm, beech, maple, birch, and the Realms trees known as shadowtops, blueleafs, and duskwoods are common. Almost all other varieties of temperate wet climate trees, from ironwood to weeping willows, can be found somewhere in those vast woodlands - - which of course vary from mountain foothills to marsh in topography.
So saith Ed, whose woodchopping scenes are legendary.
love,
THO
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July 27, 2005: Hi again, fellow scribes of Candlekeep. Re. that Amazon listing: I agree with George. NDAs lash and scourge me.
I like it, and so doth Ed, but at times 'TIS frustrating. Let me say this much: I'll be surprised if it has that exact title when published (so don't go weighting any content guesses too heavily on that title).
Now, Ed makes brief reply to The Sage:
NDAs (of course) hamper me in speaking too freely about the state of the Church of Cyric in and around Darkhold in 1373 DR, but in general, Cyricists are riven by the same internal strife that afflicts the Dark Sun himself - - but also goaded into a restless, burning desire to DO great things, lashing out against rivals and foes (the church of Bane in particular, but also clergy of Shar, Talos, and to a lesser extent just about anyone else that catches their attention).
In Darkhold in particular, there is a simmering tension and constant vicious petty intrigue (maneuvering but no open bloodshed, thanks to a pact between the Pereghost and the mysterious [and VERY seldom-seen] senior Zhentarim mage known as Hesperdan, who act together to physically hurl anyone who does give in to open violence far from the fortress: actually teleporting them to high above a rocky ridge well west of the fortress, and letting them fall). So Baneites and Cyricists within the Zhentarim still work together, albeit with silken hatred, within the walls of Darkhold and while participating in its defenses (sentinels, wall- and gate-garrisons, and patrols).
Outside the garrison and immediately-patrolled perimeter of that fortress, however, Cyricists and Baneites ARE engaged in open warfare. Not with armies (yet), but in the form of small guerilla-style strike forces (adventuring band size), who vie for control of the wells and camps and caravan stops. Certain local Harpers, meddling Chosen, rangers, and faithful of other deities (such as Malar) delight in performing small, covert acts that set the Cyricists and Baneites once more into open, bloody battle upon each other - - because the two evil faiths are lacerating each other and the Zhentarim, and turning the attention of the Black Network more and more to this internal struggle, and less and less to oppressing the lands around.
This state of affairs can't continue, of course. Everything's escalating. The leader of the Cyricist faction the Pereghost is part of remains mysterious (it's not Dag Zoreth, but rather someone "behind and above" him. It's clear to Elminster that Hesperdan and Manshoon (the one "subservient" to Fzoul) intend to exploit the holy war for their own gain, when it erupts - - and Elminster's coins are on the Baneites, not the Cyricists, whom he decries as "vicious first, far-sighted planners second, whereas the senior Zhent faithful of Bane are schemers first, and vicious second."
So saith Ed.
Who as you can see, couldn't say much.
love to all,
THO
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July 27, 2005: Hello, all. Ed gives swift reply to Dargoth's questions:
1)Ed is Power of Faerun a book on psionics in the realms?
2)Ed is Power of Faerun a book on FR religion?
Let me state this, categorically and upon oath: I'm not aware of ever having written, or being about to write, a book entitled "Power of Faerun." I cannot speculate as to what a tome would contain with any more insight than any of you reasonable citizens.
It is within the bounds of possibility - - nay, reasonable probability - - m'luds, that someone who bears a passing resemblance to an upstanding bough of the family tree of Logan, together with your good and voluble servant, have collaborated our divers talents (such as they are) in the production of Realmslore intended for the printed page, to whit public circulation of same. By now all of you should be heartily familiar with Non-Disclosure Agreements and all that they entail, and I must warn you that I shall not entertain an endless series of ever-more-pointed questions designed to lay bear that which should now remain mysterious.
However, to answer thy specific questions, questor Dargoth:
1. No.
2. No.
With the usual caveat that any screed bearing the names Boyd and Greenwood tends to cover many topics in passing, and may include mentions of both of the above. M'luds, I'll try thy indulgences no farther. If I may? Yes, same again, thanks. Don't bother with the glass, just the bottle, thanks...
So saith Ed.
So let the wild speculation veer from this book being "all about" either psionics or religion.
love to all,
THO
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July 28, 2005: Hello, all. (Good point, Dargoth; I'll have to remember to type my own "primitive" versions back in.)
Ed makes reply this time to the VERY patient scribe Borch:
Hi, Borch. Shavinar time at last. There is very little extant lore in my private notes, I'm afraid, and you already have the only two published Realmslore sources I'm aware of.
Here then, is "everything" on Shavinar:
The realm of Shavinar was founded in the Year of the Raised Banner (227 DR) by a local adventurer, Orluth Tshahvur (possibly-exaggerated bards' ballads describe him as a "swift sword" who "won many blood victories" and was smart as well as deadly in battle), in an attempt to unite human steadings (ranches and farms) for common defense against marauding monsters, frequent troll raids, and outlaws cast out of more southerly Sword Coast cities.
Tshahvur built a crude keep near what is now Baldur's Gate (and was then a nameless cluster of fisherfolk huts), lured a shipwright fleeing from Calishite persecution to settle, and established what was really a pirate port: he was ruthless with anyone who used violence against anyone else there, but otherwise "welcomed all and let anything pass."
The place became known as Gaeth (the Thorass local word for "rivermouth" or "inlet"), the obvious derivation of the "gate" part of the name "Baldur's Gate" today. Gaeth was home to perhaps 120 people (dwelling in fieldstone-and-thatch or wood-and-thatch huts, situated on three wandering dirt streets) when "Lord Tshahvur of Shavinar" died (in 242 DR), an iron-hard man worn out by almost countless hard riding and harder sword-swinging, as he fought trolls, trolls, and more trolls to keep Shavinar from being overrun.
Orluth's son, the proud and pompous King Arlsar (chiefly remembered for his indefatigable wenching ways and his mirror-bright, gem-studded, ornate "show" suit of plate armour) inherited a kingdom that stretched from the sea-mouth of the northbank River Chionthar along the coast as far north as the Troll Hills, and "four days' ride" east (probably 80 to 100 miles, as we moderns would reckon it). Arlsar abandoned most of his father's hilltop forts (little more than ring-ditches around summits that sported barrow-like "weather shelter" chambers) as too expensive (along with the warriors who defended them; as they fell in fighting, they weren't replaced), and during his short reign Shavinar shrunk - - under persistent troll and outlaw raids - - to less than forty miles across.
Arlsar was murdered by ambitious merchants (who'd begun to settle in Gaeth in some numbers, to carry on all manner of business too unsavoury or too highly taxed to be profitable "back home" in Calimshan and the Tashalar) in 256 DR, and the realm almost disintegrated in the struggle for power that followed.
A cabal of local families viciously poisoned and stabbed various outlander merchants to put forward one of Arlsar's many sons to be king. The glib-tongued, handsome, promise-all Raulovan reigned for four months before one of the Calishite factions ended his pretty words forever - - but a wizard who'd settled on the coastal headlands had grown weary of all the strife, and started spellslaying claimants to the throne and the outlanders promoting them, clearing the way for Arlsar's youngest son, sometimes called "Stonehead" for his terse manner and slow speech: Kondarar.
No one disputes that Kondarar was King in every sense of the manner: just, firm, and a tireless mountain of a man whose strength could overmatch most monsters in blade-to-blade battle, he almost single-handedly kept Shavinar in existence (just as his grandsire had done, by spending his days in the saddle, hewing trolls wherever he found them) from his ascension in late 256 DR to when it all ended in 277 DR, and Shavinar was swept away (Gaeth and all) by trolls and "monsters beyond numbering, all wandering in their own snarling bands."
In short, Shavinar was typical of hundreds of short-lived realms in Faerūn, that have risen and fallen again down the years: they founder if the successors to those who establish them are not stronger - - or far luckier - - than their predecessors.
So saith Ed.
Who's still doggedly forging Realmslore replies.
love to all,
THO
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July 29, 2005: Hello, all.
Zandilar, this time Ed replies to this query of yours: "Why is Darmos Lauthyr still in power? He comes across like a madman in the stories I've read that have included cameos by him... And his idea to "unite the church of Tymora" doesn't really seem... well Tymoran to me. Though, perhaps, it is a rather bold idea. Perhaps there's something about him I've missed?"
Ed speaks:
Yes, Darmos IS a zealot, close to frothing madness at times and just intense (a steamroller or bulldozer trundling through the world) most of the rest of the time. Even fellow faithful of Tymora fear him a little, and think him... unsuitable.
However, they also view him as "Touched By Tymora" and hence, in a sense, holy: he shouldn't be gainsaid or prevented in his words and deeds. Like a weapon wielded by the goddess, he may do much damage but also achieve much that more prudent, tolerant, mindful-of-consequences folk could not. The general consensus among other senior clergy of Tymora is that he will be a brief flame that ultimately consumes itself.
HOWEVER, both they and lowlier clergy of Tymora are quite prepared to cooperate with Darmos (even if they do so rolling their eyes behind his back and muttering under their breaths when they're sure he can't hear), because the man visibly radiates the Favor of the Goddess: if he drops something, it will never break. His errors turn into triumphs, he need only casually toss dice or a dart to win the best result - - the man EXUDES luck. For now.
(Note that I said he exudes luck, not tact or prudence, understanding, common sense, regard for laws or rules or customs or courtesies or the needs of others.) He's a walking disaster waiting to happen - - that just doesn't happen. Yet.
If it sounds like I'm hinting like fury that he has a destiny to play that may soon be fulfilled, whether or not you get to see it specifically dealt with in print: bingo. He does. NDAs prevent, and all that.
So saith Ed.
VERY interestingly, too...
love,
THO
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On July 30, 2005 THO said: The Srinshee was first seen in the pages of ELMINSTER IN MYTH DRANNOR by Ed Greenwood, most explicitly detailed in the CORMANTHYR sourcebook by Steven Schend, and most recently appeared in two different Realms fiction sources. Your "where is she now?" query should see part of an answer when REALMS OF THE ELVES appears, early next year.
love,
THO
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July 30, 2005: Hello, all. My, Faraer, that description looks like it might bear some passing resemblance to a few things my snooping has uncovered, in Ed's scribbled pencil notes on his desk. He's writing SOMETHING with Eric Boyd, I believe. However, he stands by his "that title is news to me" stance, and I haven't yet tried your message on him. There's this strong smell of incipient NDA in the air...
As for the Crimmor character ethnicities: good point, warlockco, and Ed thinks so too.
[Attention all scribes interested in more lore on Crimmor!]
Wherefore here are "expanded with ethnic derivations" character entries for most of the individuals specifically named in Ed's recent Crimmor article:
Aumra Sorntalar: LN female Tashalan human Com3 (hard-working, no-nonsense, "respectable" innkeeper)
Bustran Telbanner: NG male Chondathan human Exp5 (Str 16, a genial, burly carpenter who does a bustling trade making containers for caravan use; he drinks like two dwarves but doesn't show the effects, and secretly hires Jalantha and other escorts to paint them in the nude [becoming an accomplished portrait-painter, of full-length, life-sized depictions, is his secret passion, and he's getting pretty good])
Corlyn ("Corl") Braen, Alandor-Lord and Thaele of Crimmon (mayor): NG male Tethyrian human Rgr4 (pleasant, fair-minded, and well-meaning; burly, florid, swiftly getting both fatter and shrewder)
Darvo "the Dwarf" Lhoadren (sometimes called "Clan Lodestar" by bards, and now some clan members): LG male Great Rift gold dwarf Ftr6/Exp14 (Str 18, Dex 17, a gruff, swift-working smith who loves smithywork challenges, can identify metals at a glance or taste, and takes great pride in his work; secretly loves romantic books, ballads, plays - - and spying on real-life lovers [not sex, but flirtation, courtship, and quarrels]; has much hidden wealth)
Ethram Woazgoaz ("Woazgoaz the Weaver"): NG male Mulan human Exp10 (Dex 15, a wheezing, shuffling, usually humming man, now stooped and bespectacled with age [wears a headband with projecting arrays of curved and layered glass lenses], possessed of a very long, beaklike nose and a constant tic or habit of blinking; tends to be cynical but soft-spoken and forgiving, and is beloved by older female patrons, who feel safe and comfortable in his friendly presence; he serves teas and little nutcakes of his own making to his regulars, who often spend several hours a day in his shop, where he primarily sells little mats, shawls, and bed-curtains)
Imaego Invarr: LN male Calishite human Exp6 (well-respected, loves-his-work, tireless "always scuttling" butcher who also slaughters and prepares bulk meats by smoking and marinating; a practised hurler of knives and cleavers, with which he dispatches rats and meat-stealing dogs and thieves; so successful that he's quietly buying up Crimman and Athkatlan warehouses and rooming houses)
Jalantha Truard: CG female Tethyrian human Exp2 (good-looking, lushly-proportioned, vivacious "hostess," who makes a good living organizing revels - - and providing escorts and dancers thereat, including herself - - for hard-working Crimmans who lack the time or skills to arrange such entertainments themselves; on the side, concocts cheap scents and sells them cheaply in secondhand bottles)
Lady Lamia Crytrapper: NG female Tethyrian human Rgr6 (Int 17, a kindly, aging, shrewd and worldly country-loving lady of a prominent Amnian family; weathered and hearty, who loves Crimmor and has a long history in the city, sponsoring many minstrels and start-up businesses [particularly women-only, and concerns run by widows]; knows where many "skeletons are buried" and can wield great influence when she wants to)
Mandivvur Taeruld: LN male Tethyrian human Exp12 (sage, now deceased)
Melgor Darsander: NE male Vaasan human Rog3/Exp11 (Str 16, Dex 16, a sly, smiling crafter of expensive, cunning locks and fastenings; never lets slip any trade secrets or information about clients, but enjoys flamboyant revelry and hired lasses)
Mikaal Krimmevol: NG male Tethyrian human Wiz9/Rog2 (Dex 17, Int 17, Wis 17, Cha 18, consummate actor; is the lover of Tehrinna and best friend of the mayor, is also (secretly) the herald Sable; handsome and merry, plays the role of a wealthy idle hedonist; of a prominent Amnian family)
Rhieldra Zoldaftel: LG female Tashalan human Sor2 (unmarried daughter of Zan, and capable business manager of his wagonmaking business; quiet, "sees all," has glossy long black hair and pale good looks; dreams of rising to respectable prominence, and being like Lady Crytrapper in her "graying years")
Tehrinna "the Towering" Shuldar: NG female Illuskan human Ftr5 (Str18, red-haired, 7' tall; an adventuress growing restless in Crimmor, but unwilling to part from her lover Mikaal; alert, forceful, beautiful, and usually well-armed, even if apparently weaponless; forgets nothing, and "gets even" though she tries not to ever visibly lose her temper; loves an occasional dockside brawl)
Yauncel Darth: NG male Damaran human Exp7 (Int 18, Wis 17; tall and scrawny, near-sighted and murmuring; a sage whose library is small but whose learning is fairly close to this: Knowledge (arcana) +16; Knowledge (architecture and engineering) +18; Knowledge (geography) +18; Knowledge (history) +16; Knowledge (local) +18; Knowledge (nature) +16)
Lady Zharnn Ophal: CE female Tethyrian human Rog7 (Int 16, Wis 16, Cha 16, ruthless, icy-tempered, scheming, and oh-so-refined; a middle-aged woman possessed of all the good looks money can buy; delights in subtly exercising her influence [reassuring herself it remains strong and far-reaching]; seeks to eliminate the mayor and install her own puppet; of a prominent Amnian family)
Zan Zoldaftel: LG male Tashalan human Ftr2/Exp6 (Str 18, Con 17, aging but still-tireless and matchless famous wagonmaker; gruff, has many-times-broken fingers, seems to never sleep but always to be striding around his noisy wagonworks)
Zorn Selvyn: LG male Durpari human Ftr2/Exp7 (Str 18, Dex 16, Con 16, respected and always-busy finesmith; terse and devoted to his work, paying little attention to events in, and gossip of, the wider Realms)
Ed apologizes for not stuffing this level of detail into all of the NPCs presented in that article;