| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 09 Jan 2019 : 16:19:25
It occurs to me that Ed has been posting Realmslore on the Twitter, and not everyone has the Twitter.
So I thought a single place where such lore could be collected would be a good thing. 
Ed is a frequent poster there, adding all sorts of Stormtalons and Epic Fantasy stuff, but for the purposes of this thread, I'd like to keep it focused on his Realmslore.
(I'm also stickying this thread, to make it easier to find)
Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) on Twitter
The #Realmslore hashtag on Twitter |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| questing gm |
Posted - 15 Mar 2025 : 08:45:33
On color of half-orc nipples
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1900604565038198911
Mar 15, 2025
@Lazgar_lockman
Im gonna need a canonical color for Lazgars nipples
@Dracometeor89
Could always pull a Meli and ask AO himself. @TheEdVerse We beseech thee!
@TheEdVerse
Lazgar's a half-orc, so: brown. And wrinkled. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 13 Mar 2025 : 11:22:23
On personality of an alhoon and a lich
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1899844148972208519
Mar 12, 2025
@BaroqueGustave
@TheEdVerse As the creator of the Alhoon, do you think it would be suitable to play one with a camp, Vincent Price-esque personality, or would that work better with a classic humanoid skeleton lich? I love the aesthetics of both types of lich for that.
@TheEdVerse
Certainly. The classic humanoid lich would be more prone to that sort of personality, but both sorts of liches could greet the world as Vincent Price's frequent on-screen persona did. Neither of them would likely have his foodie side, though. :} |
| questing gm |
Posted - 10 Mar 2025 : 11:14:02
On new lore for Greyhawk and Realmslore
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1898857128426705278
Mar 10, 2025
@TheEdVerse
Interested in matters w...well, no, that would be SAYING, wouldn't it? You'll just have to tune in to get new Greyhawk lore and new #realmslore ...
https://x.com/LGosumba/status/1898464890698039560 |
| questing gm |
Posted - 05 Mar 2025 : 01:53:46
On Elminster retiring from magic
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1897047684495892501
Mar 5, 2025
@ProfNR100
Ed, I'm curious. I've heard rumors and stories – almost myths, really – that Elminster got tired of magic, retired, and started a little winery. Is that actually true?
@TheEdVerse
Tired of magic? Not true. Tire of living? Several times. Retired: three times, but Mystra won't let him stay retired. Little wineries started: two, so far. An ice creamery, last time. ;} |
| questing gm |
Posted - 05 Mar 2025 : 01:47:03
On Ed running live let's play of his Realms
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1897047202645860637
Mar 5, 2025
@Chuo_Dori
Have you considered doing a lives let's play one-off based in your version of the realms, wether as part of a charity event or as a self created event?
@TheEdVerse
Have done that a time or two, down the years, at various conventions, either free or as a your-seat-buy goes to a local charity the con is supporting. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 03 Mar 2025 : 01:24:46
On original maps of Undermountain
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1895990278600999327
Mar 2, 2025
@RexfelisCatlord
The published version of the Undermountain megadungeon did not use Ed Greenwood's original maps. Were these ever shared or published anywhere (whether in whole or in part)? If not, would it be possible to publish these at some point?
<https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gk_BHi6WIAAFjZj?format=jpg&name=medium>
@TheEdVerse
See all the orange areas, and the blue (flooded) passage? All part of my original map. What happened was that TSR didn't have time to redraw my original faint pencil maps (with my tiny handwriting all over them), so Dave Sutherland donated some of his gigantic rooms Empire of the Petal Throne campaign maps, and stuck them in all around the edges. Yes, the other nine levels of "my original" Undermountain never got published, but I submitted them so TSR owns them, so I can't publish them elsewhere now. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 24 Feb 2025 : 23:59:10
On forced cosmic balance in the Realms
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1893889416407494997
Feb 24, 2025
@MrScattman
Hey Ed, to pose a similar question, is the multiverse connected to the Forgotten Realms forced to maintain cosmic balance? Does the lady of pain administrate this herself or is she just a side effect of a wider cosmic principle?
@TheEdVerse
I posited this pre-D&D, and TSR agreed to it: the multiverse SEEMS to have an inherent balance or resting state that flawed mortals perceive as balanced. TSR established this internally, Planescape initial design: the Lady of Pain reigns in Sigil, and nowhere else. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 19 Feb 2025 : 01:36:45
On the Lake of Dragons being a lake or sea
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1891700671180665032 https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1891997274168836458
@Spike_4247
@TheEdVerse Me and my friends got into an argument lately. Is "Lake of Dragons" actually a lake, or already a part of the sea? We can't get to agreement on this topic.
@TheEdVerse
If you mean the Dragonmere, it is an arm of the sea, a "long bay" or arm of the Sea of Fallen Stars/Inner Sea. "Lake of Dragons" is the most popular name for it, but is fanciful, originating in a bard's ballad about dragons.
@StevenGarstone
This is super fascinating! Which Bard wrote it? Does this ballad have a name?
@TheEdVerse
The bard Ghellyn Mrustroke, of Chessenta, first began performing the ballad in 1296 DR, and expanded on and improved it over the next dozen years. It survives him as a seldom-performed but respected lay, “Wyrms All Around Us.” |
| questing gm |
Posted - 16 Feb 2025 : 11:51:20
On how do the mages of various types view each other
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1889395801530458164
Feb 12, 2025
@ShadyGrin
#129525;@TheEdVerse i am very curious if you have answered this in a video or plan to in the future, or even on here; what is the cutlure of magic in the forgotten realms, more specifically how do the mages of various types view each other?
ie, clerics, druids, sorcerers, warlocks and wizards...maybe even rangers, eldritch knights and arcane tricksters. And how does the common man or woman view them? is it as varied as the gods themselves?
i am loving the novels in The Avatar series (still working my way through), and fascinated by the spell plague, but it raised a question about current forgotten realms attitude towards magic
@TheEdVerse
This question comes up often, but my answer is usually a variation of the same thing: attitudes vary widely by individual and from time to time and place to place. If you live near a major temple, the “line” preached by local clerics affects you (pro or con), and if you’re in Cormyr, and the War Wizards are part of state enforcement, you may love law and order (their protection) or detest it. If local wizards protect you often against dragon or wyvern raids, you prize them…but what if a rumour arises that they ARE the raiding dragons or wyverns (transforming themselves)? And so on…
It’s important to remember two things: communications is slower and much patchier in the Realms than in our modern world, so “widely shared” attitudes can’t be changed quickly and are often influenced by gossip, and “everybody knows” magic is everywhere, like sunrises and sunsets and stars, not something that one can easily choose to shun or work against; you grow up with it, just like you grow up eating and breathing. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 16 Feb 2025 : 11:47:13
On a male crinti becoming a sorcerer
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1889392646608605366
Feb 12, 2025
@Numan_Ba_Alawi
Hello @TheEdVerse, i would like to create a campaign with a crinti battle sorcerer/rogue/spellwarp sniper, but i have a doubt : could a male crinti could officially be a sorcerer, or all form of magic is prohibed for males in Dambrath ? Thank you ! #Realmslore
@TheEdVerse
A male crinti could indeed be a sorcerer. The prohibition is on TRAINING males in arcane spellcraft, so those who wield magic without that sort of training get around it...and are tolerated in the society. Watched, but tolerated. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 16 Feb 2025 : 11:38:50
On mason's guild in Baldur's Gate
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1889390602837471370
Feb 12, 2025
@BrzenskaI
Hi, Mr Greenwood, just wanted to ask, is there a mason's guild in Baldur's Gate ? And if so, in which district would it be located ? Asking for a character with the Guild Artisan background.
@TheEdVerse
Yes. The Guild of Masons, Stonecutters, and Hard-Sculptors (“Stoneheads” in Baldurian street slang) is now newly headquartered on the northwestern edge of Stonyeyes district in the Outer City, and “runs” of dressed building stone from its sorting yards (the space needs of which have forced this guild to move several times, abandoning their initial location in Lower City’s Brampton district for progressively “distant” locations) run along Wall Lane between the Guildyard Gates and the city’s Basilisk Gate. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 16 Feb 2025 : 11:34:09
On name of hill near to Elturel
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1889375306051367099
Feb 12, 2025
@bengecartogrphy
So @TheEdVerse does this hill have a name?
<https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GjfYDkmWwAAgM0E?format=jpg&name=900x900>
@TheEdVerse
Yes, that’s The Hill of the Headless Dancer (see my sourcebook Prayers from the Faithful, pp. 26-27). |
| questing gm |
Posted - 06 Jan 2025 : 00:18:56
On Ed peeping at Elminster and Mordenkainen
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1876007200340254753
Jan 6, 2025
@FRWiki
Elminster (left) and Mordenkainen (right) having snacks in @TheEdVerse 's living room, with Ed hiding inside a suit of armor. #dnd #forgottenrealms #Realmslore
#128214;: The Wizards Three (Dragon #185) #127912;: Dan Burr
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/The_Wizards_Three
<https://i.redd.it/u5nuh04u7sha1.jpg>
@rhylthar
Who is the woman in the painting? #129300;
@AlbertoMagnus76
@TheEdVerse's alternative peeping spot when he is caught in the suit of armor
@TheEdVerse
Dang! Another secret sussed out! ;} |
| questing gm |
Posted - 19 Dec 2024 : 01:22:09
On topography of Waterdeep
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1869266052829597741
Dec 18, 2024
@CourierCall
@TheEdVerse this might seems a strange question but what is the topography of Waterdeep? Like what streets are actually hills you have to head up? Does the sea ward sit ON the coast or above it? Etc.
Thanks!
@TheEdVerse
See the beautiful foldout Val Valusek color drawing included in the CITY SYSTEM boxed set (Fr Wiki, City System entry, "Full aerial-view poster map." near the bottom of the entry). Sea Ward rise from a beach outside the city walls as one heads east/landward. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 19 Dec 2024 : 01:18:55
On how do people react to friendly monsters
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1869263578475491434
Dec 18, 2024
@CanyonGlac94388
@TheEdVerse In the Realms, how do people react to friendly monsters like, for instance, the famous kobold bard Deekin who lived in Neverwinter? Is he an outlier or is Faerûnian society (in general) welcoming or open to the concept of "good" monsters joining civilization?
@TheEdVerse
Tolerance varies from place to place and with individuals, but "everybody knows" there are "good" monsters. Of course, the first time Person X sees Monster Y, they're not necessarily sure they're looking at a "good" =safe to be near monster. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 15 Dec 2024 : 09:35:34
On Juniper's Companion to Venturesome Cookery
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1867401117295911333
Dec 13, 2024
@FRWiki
Announcing: The Forgotten Realms Wiki Presents Juniper's Companion to Venturesome Cookery, a #DungeonsandDragons saucebook of delectable dishes straight from the #ForgottenRealms, with #cooking tips, culinary spells and magic items, and #Realmslore, coming soon!
<https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GeHuC0PWUAAlfXu?format=jpg&name=medium>
@TheEdVerse
This is going to be AWESOME. Not to be missed!!!! Canon, canon, canon... |
| TBeholder |
Posted - 28 Nov 2024 : 07:40:29
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
Loving this response for specifically the "Ao uses propaganda to overblow his supposed own power level",
It is not.
quote:
and thus "the sages that know" may be talking out their hind ends.
Always the case, wasn't it? Trusting in Lore (* *), etc. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 28 Nov 2024 : 02:16:20
On taste of griffin milk
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1861843725992828998
Nov 28, 2024
@Th3FoxQu33n
What does griffin milk taste like? Is griffin milk a thing? It's vital for my campaign
@TheEdVerse
Yes, griffin milk is a thing, and it tastes like cream cheese or mild Gouda (stronger flavor as the mother gets older). |
| questing gm |
Posted - 22 Nov 2024 : 01:37:23
On lifespan of a child of a tiefling and an elf
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1859659956112457803
Nov 22, 2024
@Zanaji
@TheEdVerse Question for a friend! What is the lifespan of a child of an elf and a tiefling? ln our flailing guesswork, my assumption would be that since a normal human decended tiefling lives a little longer than human, a half elf one might live to 190-200?
@TheEdVerse
I agree with your guesswork. ;} Barring disease or violent early death, likely around 200 summers. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 21 Nov 2024 : 15:01:00
quote:
Originally posted by questing gm
On Ao the god of Kyrnn and Athas
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1856010807982567603
Nov 12, 2024
@RossDNear
@TheEdVerse Ao is the creator of the multiverse, but I'm confused about his extent of power. is he also the god behind Kryn and Dark sun? It would help me to have a better perspective on multiverses this as I am working on something.
@TheEdVerse
Ao's not the creator of the multiverse; that's propaganda. Ao was installed as Realms overgod by a greater being after the Realms existed; he answers to a greater being, as seen in the published lore. He's not a creator deity or a guardian for either Athas or Krynn.
Loving this response for specifically the "Ao uses propaganda to overblow his supposed own power level", and thus "the sages that know" may be talking out their hind ends. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 16 Nov 2024 : 12:44:34
On peoples of the Realms actually know the events of the Time of Troubles
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1857282102292525373
Nov 15, 2024
@IsaacBooth19
@TheEdVerse , quick question, how much of the events of the Time of Troubles do the peoples of the Realms actually know? Thinking about sending my 5e players back in time to experience the Realms during the time covered by the Grey Box when I started playing.
@TheEdVerse
They know a lot, but much of it is spun/slanted or falsehoods, thanks to various clergies spotlighting their gods and decrying others, and wild runaway rumors. However, sages trying to be dispassionate can piece together a very good overall picture. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 14 Nov 2024 : 11:37:47
On sonnets in the Faerûn
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1856540178346553667
Nov 13, 2024
@AAxelington
@TheEdVerse Hi, lm sorry this is a weird question but I wanted to ask about Faerûnian sonnets. In a game I’m playing that’s set in Faerûn, they mention Sonnets and I’m just wondering how they got there? Is that a Faerûnian version of Shakespeare? Are they structurally different?
@TheEdVerse
Sonnets got to the Realms through the gates (that are now largely "forgotten," hence the name Forgotten Realms. So, yes, they're structurally the same. I think I've written thirty-some sonnets that have been published, down the years. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 12 Nov 2024 : 23:46:49
On Ao the god of Kyrnn and Athas
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1856010807982567603
Nov 12, 2024
@RossDNear
@TheEdVerse Ao is the creator of the multiverse, but I'm confused about his extent of power. is he also the god behind Kryn and Dark sun? It would help me to have a better perspective on multiverses this as I am working on something.
@TheEdVerse
Ao's not the creator of the multiverse; that's propaganda. Ao was installed as Realms overgod by a greater being after the Realms existed; he answers to a greater being, as seen in the published lore. He's not a creator deity or a guardian for either Athas or Krynn. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 12 Nov 2024 : 23:40:06
On name of sentient mimic
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1856006156008714747
Nov 12, 2024
@Buckbee_W
@TheEdVerse Does the sentient Mimic have a name? My adventuring party named it Chester. What episode did you mention it?
@TheEdVerse
It calls itself “Melorurrumm,” which other mimics understand (to mean “Big One” or “Mess Not With This One” or “Formidable”), as many mimics that can’t speak can hear and understand a lot of Common. When talking with humans, elves, etc. it uses overheard human names it believes will lead them to treat it as harmless or eccentric rather than something to be instantly attacked, so it often calls itself “Humbert” or “Quilberforce” or “Jannatha.” |
| questing gm |
Posted - 12 Nov 2024 : 23:33:21
On solars versus powerful mages
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1856004745548153162
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1856539586429607958
Nov 12, 2024
@hgchujn1805
@TheEdVerse Greetings, Ed the Grand Sage!
I don't know if others had come up with this before, but… I seem to recall that it was either someone else who definitely had a say on a fraction of matters happening in the Realms (perhaps with doubtful precision without access to those powerful mages and such), or the Grand Mage he himself (and that's you!), said something like "Among all the editions, the stats back in AD&D portray the inhabitants of the Realms to the most accurate extend."
That set me off digging into materials concerning AD&D, and indeed, some of the settings were so different from those can be widely seen today. I saw in Dragon issue #91 El's stats for 1E, and in the boxed set lots of other interesting lores. However, what has shocked me about AD&D are some exceedingly powerful monsters back then that seem nigh invincible, so powerful that almost any attempt I can think of to translate these beings into later-edition versions would seem inappropriate as that would undoubtedly lead to a shrink in their capabilities. On top of my head, I recall solars, whose stats in 1E and 2E are, in a word, overpowered. Though I believe that, in the Realms, no one (or nothing) rivals great mages like Elminster in might, but these beings seem to stand a good chance.
So my question is… getting rid of the divine aid accessible to some of the powerful mages, in terms of overall power, does a solar have a fighting chance against anyone of the most powerful mages in the Realms (yeah, I know they're good guys…)?
Sincerely thanks.
@TheEdVerse
Certainly they have a chance. Solars are of course the D&D version of one tier of angels. I had no hand at all in designing them (they’re “outer planar,” not “Realms”), but the overpowered aspect is due to differing design philosophies among D&D game editions.
In early editions of the game, there were beings who were supposed to be “too powerful” for PCs to defeat; just “out of mortal league.” Later game editions shifted to: gods have stats so your PCs can kill them and take their places.
So some of my early monsters (and a lot of deities designed by many folks) are “gross” in power level. That was deliberate: DON’T mess with these beings through combat. Negotiate or die. Whereas later on it became: PCs can do anything.
Just as Gary’s original D&D was: your PC is this one class, the class has strengths and grave weaknesses, too, so for success you MUST band together in a party and co-operate. Successive editions have moved towards min/max your character can have it all.
@dmarcanist
Have you ever collaborated in the creation of character classes? Could there be a class native to the Realms, in addition to the classic ones?
@TheEdVerse
Sure. Look at old DRAGON Magazines for my incantatrix, smith, beastmaster, etc. classes (billed as NPC classes as there was a rule against adding PC classes to the game without going through the rules committee). Some of these were supposed to be unique to the Realms. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 06 Nov 2024 : 09:25:42
On the 'mess' in the Moonsea
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1853854862846443893
Nov 6, 2024
@YoDanno
Behold! When the Realms were born…
This beauty is Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) 's original hand-drawn map of the Forgotten Realms, sent to TSR in 1986.
#128506;#65039; from @GHC_and_Tacos collection
<https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GbbRchAboAApWAH?format=jpg&name=900x900>
@ectoterrestria1
What's that mess in the Moonsea?
@TheEdVerse
It's all of the Pirate Isles, individually named. Jeff Grubb added the blue marker to the photocopy I sent, to make it clear these particular lines are coasts, so it becomes a blue blob when seen from afar. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 06 Nov 2024 : 09:15:12
On what a myconid would order in a bar
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1853854248854839528
Nov 6, 2024
@Walkinthewood7
@TheEdVerse What kind of drinks would a myconid consume at a bar if they were inclined to do so?
@TheEdVerse
"Ironwater" for choice (ground water percolated through iron-rich [orange] soil), and other mineral waters for variety. Tree saps for dessert. |
| Athreeren |
Posted - 02 Nov 2024 : 16:02:51
quote:
Originally posted by Delnyn
Jander Sunstar schooled Strahd on the finer points of being a vampire. Concluding Jander is an older vampire than Strahd is extremely reasonable.
It is said explicitly in the book:
"Seven hundred?" He clearly thought Jander was speaking in jest. "Ah—I see. You are counting your years as a living being."
"Well, yes," Jander admitted, "but that's only two centuries. I've been a vampire for five hundred years."
Strahd was silent. "I cannot even conceive of such a thing," he said at last. "I am barely past my first century. You make me feel like a child again. What a great deal I have to learn from you!"
Strahd is the First Vampire of Barovia |
| questing gm |
Posted - 02 Nov 2024 : 15:20:19
On intention to connect Mystara with the Forgotten Realms
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1851778762469208079 https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1852027072014668134
Oct 31, 2024
@McCarthy_JT
@TheEdVerse I was looking over a copy of the old Principalities of Glantri gazateer earlier this year, and a peculiar idea sort of took up residence in the corners of my mind. Without putting it all out there, is there any chance that there was ever an intention or an idea of connecting Mystara and the Forgotten Realms in any sense through the Principalities?
@TheEdVerse
Yes. Unofficially, so DMs could run a high-level "across the worlds" campaign (like the later Planescape or the Spelljammer novels that involved travel from TSR world to TSR world), but the product lines remained distinct legally.
(Magic wielders controlling portals.)
@twitcher1979
Like the World Serpent Inn? Have one of the back rooms open up onto Mystara? Sure it isn't strictly mentioned that there's a portal there, but I've used it before as a connection. Between Mystara and Sigil and Mystara and Toril.
@TheEdVerse
Indeed. :} There are many "backdoor" connections between worlds. Knowing and controlling them (and fighting those who do) was the original Forgotten Realms high-level campaign. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 02 Nov 2024 : 15:14:45
On githyanki lactation
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/1852028746145943872
Nov 1, 2024
@GamingNekopark
@TheEdVerse I was not able to find this question on the previous replies, but wanted to ask, given that Githyanki are hatched, do they lactate and what of the taste ?
@TheEdVerse
They do, the breast milk serving to nourish for rapid growth, building of muscle tissue, and healing of organs and sinews. I am told (no personal experience here) that the taste is akin to rich chicken broth.
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