| 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 - 21 Mar 2026 : 13:24:06
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
On words for whip or lash:
@gkrashos
Hi Ed, having a play for Eric. As usual. What would be the elven word for whip/lash (noun), please? What about for the drow? If you are feeling generous, the Alzhedo (Calishite) term would be nice too. You know, slavers and all that...
@TheEdVerse
Whip or lash (the item): elven: nyrhlas; drow: neirt; Alzhedo: dazar
Whipping or lashing (the deed): elven: nyrtlassa; drow: neirtarr; Alzhedo: tuldazrim
#Realmslore
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1252369327749120004 https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1252373497248010240 https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2031863291484545465
Mar 12, 2026
@Lokali9
Drow for whip = elgluth
@TheEdVerse
That's the long "drover's whip" that can deal with/reach pack lizards or groups of slaves in harness, etc.
@M_M_Storyteller
oh, I always assumed that Elgluth was the name of the snake whips since it comprised the words Elgg (death, destroy/kill/slay) + Luth (cast/throw/hurl) which implies that the 'whip' not one that simply a tool to force compliance through pain is a 'caster of death'.
@TheEdVerse
The drow catch-all term for whips is neirt (singular and plural the same(, and whipping or lashing is neirtarr. Snake whips are kaptarr (from “kap” = fang + “tarr” = lash). Drover’s whips, which range from 30-60 feet long and are carried coiled on a drover's shoulder, so they come down at full or partial stretch at the direction of a skilled drover, are known as elgluth because they can readily kill a drow by breaking their neck or crushing their skull—or smash them to the ground senseless or with broken arms or shoulders, if the drover desires that, instead. Being as such whippings happen far more often in public than someone getting taken down deliberately with a snake whip (as snake whips are usually used for intimidation), drow in everyday usage dubbed drover’s whips with the “death through whipping” name, and it stuck. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 21 Mar 2026 : 13:15:27
On shadowstuff in the Material plane
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2033771458934067635
Mar 17, 2026
@franknsimmons
I have a very small lore question that for some reason has come up in my group's home game.
Are normal shadows, like from the sun, on the material plane made of shadowstuff, or have any connection to the Shadowfell, or are they just a dark spot like in real life?
@TheEdVerse
They are just a dark spot like in real life, UNLESS they happen to be located in a spot shadow magic was cast on that still strongly radiates that enchantment, or that a "shadow trap" spell has been cast on, to deliberately make a natural shadow into shadowstuff. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 21 Mar 2026 : 13:05:52
On who claims the soul of a sacrifice
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2033770085060403257
Mar 17, 2026
@FrozenFinder2
@TheEdVerse A recent Reddit post brought up the question of, where does a creature's soul go if it is sacrificed in the name of a deity?
If Sharrans sacrifice a Selunite in Shar's name, does the soul get stolen by Shar or does Selune retain her claim over it?
Thank you!
@TheEdVerse
Belated Realmslore Reply Department: back on Sept 10 of last year, Frozen @FrozenFinder2 asked me: A recent Reddit post brought up the question of, where does a creature's soul go if it is sacrificed in the name of a deity?
If Sharrans sacrifice a Selunite in Shar's name, does the soul get stolen by Shar or does Selune retain her claim over it?
Herewith, a lore reply:
Many deities, and their clergies because they have told their clergies so, believe that if a living mortal is sacrificed in the name of the deity, that deity gains their soul. This isn’t true: souls go to the control of the deity the living being cleaved to more than any other deity (served more, believed in more, etc.). |
| questing gm |
Posted - 21 Mar 2026 : 12:16:47
On tools for writing underwater
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2033772126923034751
Mar 16, 2026
@IanWanderer
@TheEdVerse Question. What methods did aquatic races, such as the tritons or sea elves, use to write underwater?
@TheEdVerse
Belated Realmslore Replies Department: IanTheWanderer @IanWanderer asked me: "What methods did aquatic races, such as the tritons or sea elves, use to write underwater?"
Herewith, a Realmslore reply:
The slime of the little brown tetcher snail, which is very abundant in saltwater shallows, can be harvested without harming the little critter (they’re about the size of the end-joint of a delicate adult human hand) by gently detaching them from whatever they’re resting upon and immediately pushing upwards on their “foot.” It will exude a purple-black slime that doesn’t dissolve in water, and can be scrape-collected, or “caught” in the same way one can scoop a cylinder of real-world toothpaste that’s squeezed out of a tube underwater, and put in any sort of slime-tight container (such as a cork-stoppered or screwtop-secured potion vial). Use a stone or fire-hardened wood stylus to dip into this and write with it; when applied to a shell or rock or mica surface (or even wood, though the wood itself can be eaten away by marine worms over time, or rot), the snail slime forms an ink that hardens and lasts, in both dry sunny or shady damp out of water conditions, and underwater (fresh, brackish, or salt).
@CoffellAle61257
What am I going to do with this silver stylus?
@TheEdVerse
Oho, it has SO many alchemical uses and material component uses that you should get yourself scores of the things, perhaps hundreds. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 21 Mar 2026 : 12:10:16
On resurrecting The Simbul
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2033336548498784404 https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2033365127500583271
Mar 16, 2026
@AshendaFiremyst
@TheEdVerse Is there any chance of The Symbul could be resurrected? Asking for a friend (me). She was, after all, my favorite of the seven. Red Wizards would be terrified! Teeheehee
@TheEdVerse
Belated Realmslore Replies Department: Back on a December 1st, Ashenda Firemyst I VTuber, Epilepsy Advocate @AshendaFiremyst
Asked me:
Is there any chance of The Symbul could be resurrected? Asking for a friend (me). She was, after all, my favorite of the seven. Red Wizards would be terrified! Teeheehee
Herewith, appending apologies for taking so long, is my reply:
While Mystra has thus far shown no signs of resurrecting any of her “fallen” Chosen, The Simbul exists as a Voice in the Weave, a sentience that can “ride the Weave” everywhere it extends (throughout Realmspace) and watch, listen, and speak. She has already, obviously with the full approval of Mystra, several times animated unconscious, feebleminded, disminded, comatose, and other living bodies that don’t have an active mind in charge, and used them for a time. Elminster has done this, too, sometimes with bodies whose resident minds he had to conquer. Leaving the ethics of doing so aside for the moment (it’s something I was deliberately exploring in Realms fiction), it is possible: so The Simbul could “come back” if she saw the need.
Will she? That’s up to your DM—and if you’re the DM, up to you.
@XynRaven
Is this standard for othere deities and their Chosen?
@TheEdVerse
No. Other deities might appoint new Chosen or Champions, but they lack any means of preserving the sentience of lost ones (the Weave is Mystra, and is Mystra's means). |
| questing gm |
Posted - 21 Mar 2026 : 08:23:13
On role of breast milk in alchemical practices
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2032341317699731555
Mar 13, 2026
@TheEdVerse
Belated Realmslore Reply:#128286;InterruptingOctopus @OctoInterrupter
You certainly don't shy away from answering questions pertaining to breasts and their functions within TFR, so lemme ask a question: What role, if any, does breast milk play in alchemical practices? Do magically innate species impart some of their energies into their secretions?
[answer begins:]
Being as many alchemists are making things up as they go along, experimenting from notes (written by predecessors) that are often very fragmentary, the role breast milk plays varies widely. In general, it can be used to spur an egg of SOME other species into hatching, as it’s protein-rich (for fuel) and filled with ingredients that actively spur growth and development. It’s also used as a component in some successful healing potion recipes.
Species that have innate magic do indeed impart their Gift into their secretions, as well as something of their innate powers (darkvision or flying or shapeshifting, for example), so these could be used, respectively, as part of ointments or potions that conferred darkvision or flying or shapeshifting.
The successes and failures of such alchemy should be a matter of roleplaying. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 21 Mar 2026 : 08:00:58
On Sossal and the Sossrim
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2032339836368011585
Mar 13, 2026
@Estilon01
I might be the only person on the planet that cares about this, do you have anything interesting to share about Sossal and the Sossrim? I'm interested in knowing about any notable places in the area and their culture.
@TheEdVerse
Yes, and I've put a lot of it into an upcoming video (on my Patreon and on my Facebook channel). |
| questing gm |
Posted - 21 Mar 2026 : 07:55:03
On temple of Torog in Faerun
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2031871877879058574
Mar 12, 2026
@BrzenskaI
Hi ! Mr Greenwood... I wanted to ask. Are there any temples to Torog in Faerun, where an acolyte of the King that Crawls would be able to learn their craft ? Thank you for reading.
@TheEdVerse
Long-ago Realmslore requests answer time:
Rico Brzenska Supremacy @BrzenskaI
Hi ! Mr Greenwood... I wanted to ask. Are there any temples to Torog in Faerûn, where an acolyte of the King that Crawls would be able to learn their craft?
Answer:
Yes. However, the Lowerdark is where Torog lurks, and the closest temple to the surface world is in the Middledark directly under Nethjet in Thay (about six miles straight down). This temple, known as Orog Nai, isn’t located near any city or town.
A much larger and better-known temple to Torog is Orog Goorth, in the Lowerdark. It’s in the Deeps, or Great Bhaerynden, some 20 miles beneath the Shaar. I you could stand on the surface and look down as if everything was translucent, and you drew a line due east from Oozing Ruin and due north from Lightdrinker, where the two lines met is the cavern that Orog Goorth fills.
If you’re looking for something near the surface, a cult of Torog (almost entirely composed of humans with an interest in mining, or spelunking, or the Underdark) has a shrine to the King That Crawls in a cellar of a dockside warehouse in Innarlith, and there’s another (a cult of the wealthy and self-styled nobles of the Vilhon Reach) that meets in member’s mansions in Mimph.
|
| questing gm |
Posted - 21 Mar 2026 : 07:44:35
On surviving Vyshaan
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2031095490469572978
Mar 10, 2026
@soulfire2570878
Are any Vyshaan still around, do they know their heritage and what are they up to? Thanks Mr. Greenwood!!! Been a fan since I did a book report on The Making of a Mage in 1995.
@TheEdVerse
You’re very welcome, and well met!
There are no Vyshaanti resident on Toril. There are a handful of sun elves descended from that house who lurk in Abeir and on other planes, using other names and with far less power-hungry aims and interests. Most of them are at work on various schemes to win themselves personal powers of great longevity, shapeshifting into forms that have their own abilities, and mastery of arcane magic, with a focus on mythals, planar travel, and the ability to call on the Weave for healing and protection (mantles) while on Toril. A few of them are making brief forays into Toril, posing as adventurers and traders as they explore, work with Harpers and other adventurers, and search for spell scrolls, spellbooks, and magic items they can use. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 21 Mar 2026 : 07:39:42
On deity venerated by circus performers
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2031093076303765600
Mar 10, 2026
@RebelTransbian
@TheEdVerse which deity in Faerun would circus performers venerate?
@TheEdVerse
Depends on the circus. If it includes a lot of beasts, add Malar to this list.
Primary worship: Milil, and Lliira and Oghma, also Lathander (creativity, athletics).
Lesser nods to Asmodeus (indulgence), Deneir (art, cartography, images, knowledge), Gond (inventiveness), Leira (deception, illusions), Sune (beauty), and Sharess.
Circuses that include exotic performers might also have staff who venerate Loviatar, Savras, and so on (mending services = Gond or a smith deity of the racial pantheon of the smith). |
| questing gm |
Posted - 05 Mar 2026 : 06:34:28
On boiled turds in Neverwinter
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2028915232001712339
Mar 4, 2026
@memeslich
in Neverwinter they serve boiled turds
https://x.com/JUSTcatmeme/status/2028675294601650556
@Zane732
@TheEdVerse Okay, I'm pretty sure this is a joke, but could you confirm that please? I can't think of anyone more an expert to ask.
@TheEdVerse
I have heard some wayfarers say some very harsh things about the cuisine in Neverwinter, but this is a jest. If you boil turds, they become powder: soup. (Don't ask me how I know this. ;}) |
| questing gm |
Posted - 27 Feb 2026 : 09:25:02
On captain Myrkrism and Myrkul
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2027165654751601006 https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2027167301313679758
Feb 27, 2026
@Doomprophet115
Does Vraevra's captain Myrkrism have any connections with Myrkul?
@TheEdVerse
Not particularly. They have similar names, but that’s it.
@XynRaven
Speaking of Myrkul, what's he up to since his revival?
You'd think he'd have plots for revenge on a certain devourer of souls, if what the stories are true.
@TheEdVerse
Heh. A video is coming (not soon), but the short answer is: Myrkul has decided to try stealthy intrigue (on his part and that of his senior clergy) because his earlier spread-fear-among-all tactics failed so deeply. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 27 Feb 2026 : 09:19:32
On pre-Spellplague Neverwinter
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2025957198673727655 https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2026471332423037022
Feb 23, 2026
@TheEdVerse
And with Monday upon us, herewith another Lost Lore of the Realms!
https://t.co/bY8LxJ7Ey9
@XynRaven
As per my oath, I must ask, have you been permitted to speak of pre-Spellplague Neverwinter?
@TheEdVerse
Yes, but there are NDAs aplenty, thanks to the publication of the Neverwinter campaign setting book, and the use of the city and vicinity in third-party computer games. So I refrain as much as possible. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 27 Feb 2026 : 09:11:10
On speaking Common in Sespech
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2025960494893285777 https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2026470599166464503
Feb 23, 2026
@TheEdVerse
And of course, it's Little Lore time! Another free lore snippet to enjoy...
https://t.co/7MoAcAbJbe
@XynRaven
This may sound like a foolish question, but I feel the need to ask: Is the common tongue used in Sespech?
@TheEdVerse
Yes. It is the prevalent tongue of the land. Most folk in the Vilhon speak the Common Tongue almost exclusively, larded with borrowed words and phrases from Elvish, Dwarvish, and various other languages, thanks to all the traveling merchants passing through all the time and bringing their words and pet phrases with them. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 27 Feb 2026 : 08:56:52
On Ed's darker version of the Realms
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2026460675313181082 https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2026461539755065853 https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2026469119931924820 https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2026469720212291613
Feb 25, 2026
@DungeonNoir
Would love to know what @TheEdVerse meant by "his own version of the Forgotten Realms, as run in his personal campaign, is much darker than published versions."
https://t.co/Ar8nSNrt6K
@TheEdVerse
I meant that TSR's Code of Conduct when they began publishing the Realms, prohibited evil winning and all mention of fratricide, torture, rape, incest or any darker moment of human behavior; everything had to be "brightened up."
I did NOT mean that FR life was grim.
@TheEdVerse
For instance, the King Lear plot Chris Perkins echoed in STORM KING'S THUNDER would have been impossible back then.
Or even mentioning that Lancelot and Guinevere had a fling while she was married to King Arthur; I had a DRAGON article killed for that very thing.
@DungeonNoir
Oh this is fascinating. Thank you. I did not realize it was so "protected" back then
@TheEdVerse
Oh, yes. Evil could never be seen to triumph (though it could have triumphed offstage, before the events of the presented fiction or game adventure). Not delving into chicanery meant no adult clashing philosophies, politics beyond "the shout and the sword," and so on.
@TheEdVerse
I once suggested a fiction subplot about propaganda: a ruler spreading falsehoods against a powerful noble family to make the public turn against them. The editors were HORRIFIED. Absolutely not! But carving someone up while feasting with them? That was just fine. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 27 Feb 2026 : 08:52:54
On dragon form of the Netherese Orogoth family
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2025809231442596126
Feb 23, 2026
@DevonSaggers
The original Netherese Orogoth family sought draconic power and wanted the ability to assume dragon form, and legend holds they succeeded and “transformed themselves into dragons.” If so, what type of dragons do you think they became? House Orogoth | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Fandom
@TheEdVerse
They became black dragons. Some of the first family arcanists to succeed in crafting rituals that would give them dragon form—and let them return to their human forms, so they could switch back and forth at will—were three Orogoth sisters. Eldest to youngest, they were Meireira (“Meer-REAR-ah”), Lashanna, and Olopé. As their brothers struggled to duplicate their magical successes (for the Orogoths of that time were very independent-minded, and although they might aid each other with material components, hints, and advice, they all wanted to master the necessary magics on their own, so they’d not be beholden to each other), the sisters all—working independently, but agreeing on a common goal and sharing information on living dragons they might approach, to play willing or unwilling parts in their researches—sought to duplicate the breath weapons and other abilities of other sorts of dragons, but enjoyed very few successes. Their mother, Rubaerra, did eventually learn how to become black, blue, and red wyrms, but not combine powers of one with another—and shared nothing at all of her magic, so when she eventually perished (torn apart in midair by Klauth) her secrets died with her. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 27 Feb 2026 : 08:48:02
On pregnant druids transforming fetus
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2025726556685869206 https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2026459517572075713
Feb 23, 2026
@LeahAsimov
.@JeremyECrawford If a druid is pregnant and transforms, what happens to the fetus? Does it transform too? Please advise.
@TheEdVerse
Yes, it does. And is not harmed in any way by the transformation. This can be done multiple times, and the only observed effect of a fetus being transformed multiple times is that the being it becomes is more than 70 percent likely to have the Gift (ability to work with the Art = arcane magic) manifested from birth.
@olde_basilisk
Follow-up follow-up question: if the mother Druid is impregnated by a wolf and then she shifts into human form to deliver, does she have a whole litter of humans?
@TheEdVerse
Usually not. She will usually have just one human child, though it may have unusually good eyesight or the ability to smell, akin to a wolf. If there were going to be multiple wolves of both genders in her litter, this may result in her having human twins. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 27 Feb 2026 : 08:34:29
On species names for Chultan squashes
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2025393660670476533
Feb 22, 2026
@Artie_Pavlov
@TheEdVerse can you give us some of the species names for Chultan squashes?
@TheEdVerse
So the Realms has summer squash and the harder-skinned, keep-longer winter squash just like our real world. In Chult, most squash varieties grow and can be harvested year-round.
The most common Chultan squashes are slarknuckles and kuabaun, both summer squash.
Slarknuckles are so-called because they are shaped irregularly, often like an orc’s fist with a row of knuckles. They are lime green, soft-skinned, and paler (yellow-white) inside. They are sweetish (somewhat like miniature cobs of corn), and can be eaten raw or cooked; the consistency is rather like water chestnuts, but they are otherwise like real-world Chayote squash.
Kuabaun are purple-skinned with yellow stripes that are dotted with irregular oval blotches,and the interior hue is orange, ranging to purplish right at the outer skin. They are fibrous and should be cooked to avoid cramps and dysentery. The flavour is like sweet potatoes; the closest real-world variety is Delicata.
The most common winter squash in Chult is the Raubral. It is very common to the northeast, in the jungles, less prevalent elsewhere. It’s large (up to 50 pounds, most being 12-20 pounds), teardrop shaped and bumpy, with a grayish hue that turns a dark blue as it ripens. Its rind is thick and tough, very hard, and the flesh inside is white to pale yellow when immature, and yellow-orange when ripe. It ripens in two to three months, then it lasts for up to 6 months on the vine or in storage. The flesh is sweet and dense, and gets sweeter if stored off the vine. It tends to be dry, so is best roasted, baked, mashed, and put into pies or seasoned and eaten from the bowl, or stirred into soups. The closest real-world equivalent is Blue Hubbard squash.
Rarer Chultan squash varieties include the summer squash Yathtlan and the winter squashes Chauncham, Dlauvro, and Rildrith.
Yathtlan grows in abundant clumps when it is found, and is bright yellow, bumpy, and have a curved shape with a bulbous bottom and a narrower cylindrical top. Their flavour is akin to real-world zucchini but more buttery, and yathtlan are one of the few squashes that ripen quickly and are at their best when small (a little longer than an adult human hand). The closest real-world equivalent is the Crookneck.
Chauncham are symmetrical pink ovoids with thin lines along their lengths. It peels well, having a soft skin for a winter quash, and has smooth, silky, pale orange to yellow flesh with a very subtle flavor—meaning it needs seasoning or its flavor can be lost. The closest real-world equivalent is the Banana squash.
Dlauvro are dark green, knobbly, fat teardrop-shaped squash with pale yellow-orange flesh that has a mild nutty taste with a sweet aftertaste; the flesh turns creamy when it is cooked. The closest real-world equivalent is Acorn squash.
Rildrith has a hard, knobbly dark green skin (paler when immature), and bright orange flesh, with its seeds down at its bulbous bottom and unbroken flesh above. That smooth flesh is sweet, nutty, and rather like pumpkin flesh. The closest real-world equivalent is the Butternut squash.
All of my comments here apply to “wild” squash growth; all of these can be cultivated and produce in abundance, to become staples of Chultan diets. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 27 Feb 2026 : 08:32:14
On the name of the big island in Brightstar Lake where Bhaluin is situated
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2025126456964071766 https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2025817784882479388
Feb 21, 2026
@gkrashos
Hi Ed! Given your love of all things Semphar and Murghôm, I was wondering if the big island in Brightstar Lake where Bhaluin is situated, has a name? Do the little isles to its east have names also? Any lore you can share?
@TheEdVerse
Sorry for the delay in replying, George! I was offline and incommunicado from Sunday past until late yesterday.
So, the five islands: the big one (the site of Bhaluin) is Maharaal. Rocky outcrops and ravines in its northern third, descending to a swamp, then thick jungle south of that (many rubber trees, lots of hunting snakes and birds of all sorts and descriptions, also a lot of perytons and a few reclusive ophidians, but no settlements or roads; it’s wilderness with wild bananas and coconuts galore).
The four smaller islands to the east are all rocky but forested, with many mango and orange trees (that due to the shallow soil, often blow over in storms and lean down into the sea), abundant tiny coves that offer good anchorages, and a rich population of clams and schools of fish of many sorts. They are uninhabited but much visited by fisherfolk sailing south from the mainland, and west from Harb, in small private boats. Wyverns roost on Keskrel, which discourages landings and explorations.
Collectively, these four smaller isles are known as the Vraevrar, after Vraevra Qoond, a long-ago “queen” who ruled Harb and considered them her personal property.
From Maharaal, looking east, the two nearest islands are Qoondan (the northernmost, so-named because it's beautiful and Vraevra Qoond wanted to be buried on it; history has forgotten if she was or not) and Irrace (the more southerly isle). Sailing east from them, one next comes to the largest of the four isles, Narvoresk, which was home to a herd of kevvar, small wild horses, during Vraevra’s time that seem to have died out since; nowadays, the island is said to be roamed by prowling monsters of many sorts who fight each other for dominance. There are said to be overgrown ruins hidden in the thick jungles at its southeastern end, that include “ways that go down deep, deep beneath the earth” (so, Upperdark at least, though nothing and no one seems to come up to the surface world here, from the Realms Below).
Lastly, the easternmost island is Keskrel, smallest and rockiest (rising highest above the sea) of the four islands.
@Doomprophet115
Can you tell us more about Vraevra Qoond?
@TheEdVerse
Vraevra Qoond ruled Tavurtalan, her own small coastal realm centered on Harb, before Mulhorand conquered Semphar. Her rule ended in -1502 DR when she was assassinated by one of the three houquan (barons) of her land; they were all ambitious men chafing under her strict rule (despite her wise decisions and the prosperity she fostered), and it just so happened that Saunril was the baron who got to her first; his rival Barraedur was making his own stealthy foray to do regicide, and was half a day away when Saunril proclaimed himself king. Barraedur butchered him—only to attacked by the third houquan, Yavrann, precipitating a bloody civil war that left Tavurtalan only a name, soon forgotten after the Mulhorandi conquest.
Vraevra was fair-haired, imperious, impatient with fools, lusty with both men and women but disinclined to marry, and reportedly brilliant, understanding household plumbing and irrigation and cisterns, boatbuilding, road construction, the need for seed vaults, how to stabilize natural pigments to derive new paints and dyes, and horsebreeding and -taming. She was on the plump and short side, is depicted in surviving mosaics with a prominent bosom and a riveting gaze from large brown eyes under heavy black brows, and was said to be good with both spear and shortbow in battle. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 15 Feb 2026 : 18:46:40
quote:
Originally posted by questing gm
On the Night Parade and the Quori in the Realms
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2020630213789622708
Feb 9, 2026
@SisterRose_
@TheEdVerse Hi Ed, we run a version of the realms with some Eberron influence - in particular my character follows a multiversal version of the Path of Light - in part because I noticed a striking similarity between the Night Parade and the Quori.
https://t.co/sSoHpJchCS
Obviously they're drawing from similar influences, but it does make me wonder how Dream/Nightmare creatures are created in general, and running with the Night Parade as a faction of the Dreaming Dark, originally from the Region of Dreams/Nightmares, in the realms seems to work?
Obviously our setting has been tweaked quite a bit from your vision, and similarly our version of the Path of Light from @hellcowkeith's, but I found a lot of fun areas like this where things slot in better than expected. Is there any more cool Dream/Nightmare lore in the realms?
The idea I'm running with was that the Jamdaath empire make contact with benevolent spirits from the Region of Dreams before it's collapse, which led to some version of Taratai ending up in the realms after she disappeared. We're based in Tethyr, so it fits with the star themes also probably out of your sphere of influence, but I'm taking some influence from Deltarune particularly the lore surrounding Titans, and Dark Worlds as Mindscapes.
Also taking influence from IRL Sufism(playing what I know to an extent), to things like Norse Seidr.
Cobbling together an equivalent "Dream Sufis with Dharmic & Sci Fi elements" religion out of Realms parts has been kind of fun, so looking for stuff we can use for world-within-world building with regards Dreams, Philosophy and the like(are there many named realms Philosophers?)
(unrelated, but part of my Deep Gnome Cleric's backstory is that her tribe are "Dragon Touched" being protected by a Dragon - I really liked the idea of a Serpentine Dragon like a Lindworm, but noticed most in the Realms are of the evil variety, any examples of the good ones?)
@TheEdVerse
To Sister Rose | Virtual Púca #127477;#127480; @SisterRose_ ...an apology for being so tardy in replying to your Aug 12 posts about the quori and Night Parade and Path of Light.
I've scripted a lore video that should appear before the end of 2026 that talks about all of those!
I think this is a really good idea to mix these two thematic groups. I know some people aren't big on Eberron / Toril crossovers, but this is one that fits quite well. Also, given the concepts in Eberron of the three dragons in the world creation... there's options that perhaps some of these dragons may have been involved in both worlds as "primordial beings". |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 15 Feb 2026 : 18:25:54
quote:
Originally posted by questing gm
On Velaharoon's recent activity
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2011930393524478302
Jan 16, 2026
@Fablemaster
Speaking of which, what has Velaharoon been up to?
@TheEdVerse
Vaeza Velaharoon, the notorious festhall madam and pleasure-lady-for-hire of Saerloon, is back in business after her fourteenth hired adventuring band brought her an actual potion of longevity that worked, and a mage she hired (going only by the pseudonym Veiled One) worked a long and painful ritual involving potions of vitality. A younger, more energetic, and far less wrinkled Vaeza is helming Vaeza’s Bower once more, and is the talk of that city these last few months for her—
Oh, wait. Did you mean Velsharoon (sometimes known as Mellifleur), the Archmage of Necromancy, patron of liches?
Ah. Well, in that case…
Velsharoon was restored to divine life by Ao after the Second Sundering, but returned to the Realms much changed by his humbling at the hands of The Simbul.
His arrogance, selfishness, and vanity are almost entirely gone, and his flirtations with Shar are fewer and tempered with fear: he’s now tasted loss, despair, and annihilation, and is far less fascinated by them. His fickleness is gone, too; he now clings to far more loyal service to Azuth and to Mystra, ignores Talos and Sehanine Moonbow, regards his former enmity with Jergal as folly, and despises Myrkul but reserves his disgust and energetic hatred for Szass Tam, whose “misuse” of undead “makes all the rest of we liches look like dangerous, reckless fools.” (He works to warn and otherwise protect some of the rebel Red Wizards inside and outside Thay, to further thwart Szass Tam’s schemes and ambitions.)
Velsharoon retains his clever wits and creativity (devising new undead creatures, processes for bestowing and renewing undeath, and self-renewal among liches), and still acts as a whispering dream-guide for would-be liches. Much of his time is spent in magical experimentations into various aspects of undeath.
He was genuinely touched when Mystra kissed him, imparting a wisp of silver fire into him that both empowered him and made known to him the Simbul’s sorrow at what she’d done to him (for the fire had been hers, ere her destruction). It shattered his old hatreds and world-view.
In short, Velsharoon is changed. He still exults in undeath in all its variety, and extending it into new forms and having new abilities—but is no longer a traitor to every deity he “serves,” nor arrogant in the slightest. He once muttered to Azuth: “I wasn’t just such a fool. I was an insane fool, worthy of being utterly destroyed. I shall strive to do better henceforth.” (Whereupon Azuth replied: “That striving is all any of us can ever manage.”)
I like this personality shift for him. Granted, I've done some other things with him (i.e. sending him to Abeir, wherein he actually helped restore Mystra.... and I had the body that got destroyed here actually be Mellifleur rerisen... but that was all "story" for me and not actual campaign). But the idea that he's very much a loyal supporter of Mystra but also an avid hater of Szass Tam... that is exactly my take on him. Of course, in my take of the United Tharchs of Toril returning from Abeir and subtly/indirectly challenging Thay, he's also a major deity in that society/culture and Myrkul has much less/zero hold. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 14 Feb 2026 : 14:09:13
On the gods' focus on mortal lives
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2022038027108069786
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2024685483670778141
Feb 13, 2026
@LeviathanND
@TheEdVerse Question regarding the gods of the forgotten realms: what is the scope of their focus into the lives of mortals? I love utilizing the divine, but outside of my upbringing in the church and I dont have a good idea for evident and present dieties.
@TheEdVerse
The Forgotten Realms is a world of many, many deities who are very real to mortals living in the setting. No one has to have faith to “believe in” the gods, because their avatars sometimes walk among mortals, they manifest (show tangible signs of their presence) or even speak directly to mortals, as voices heard out of altars or in the dreams—or even waking visions—of people. Mortals have faith in the gods to help them or hinder them, and give offerings or just prayers (or both) to appease gods who could harm them (a sailor to Umberlee not to drown him, or Talos not to send a shipwrecking storm), and to praise gods who can aid them (a farmer praying to Chauntea for good crops, a hunter praying to Malar for a good hunt).
So everybody believes in ALL the gods and prays (even if it’s just “Tempus be with me now!” shouted in battle) to them all the time. Only zealots, paladins, and clergy serve just one god, and not even all of those folks are monotheistic.
It follows that the gods are a daily part of everyone’s lives.
No one begrudges this or wants to be free of it; it’s just the way things are.
@NekNamirrem
The similarity of the names of Liira and Leira is curious to me (especially when I say them out loud) is there something about the transience and illusory nature of joy and happiness bound between these goddesses?
Or am I just a cynical humbug?
@TheEdVerse
No, the reason the names are similar is that the goddess of deception wanted to "steal worship" from the goddess of joy through deception. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 14 Feb 2026 : 14:04:27
On Malsheem, Asmodeus' palace in Nessus
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2022031139058397440
Feb 13, 2026
@Altohu2
@TheEdVerse, Loved your most recent video on the Cult of Asmodeus that lurks in Waterdeep! I was wondering if you might be able to provide some insight into Malsheem, Asmodeus' palace in Nessus? Even if it is unmappable, are there certain rooms to take note of? Thanks as always!
@TheEdVerse
Malsheem is a vast stone fortress, as large as a city, but it has no streets or open courtyards; it’s all one vast building, with rooms, lofty halls, and skylights here and there with fountains. Asmodeus loves high ceilings, and he loves them to be vaulted (curving stone ribs overhead, converging and joining at bosses that in his case are always adorned with stalactite-like downward-jutting spires).
Malsheem fills a large, bowl-shaped mountain valley, and is flanked by black, jagged peaks that are huge natural masses of chipped obsidian. The roofs of the fortress are steeply sloped tiles that rise into ridges and spires except where there are domes (skylights of fused-in-one-piece glass).
The ceilings and walls of Malsheem are of dark stone fused by magic into smooth, solid seamless surfaces (except where doors and archways are located). Asmodeus prefers ramps to steps, and loves staircases where two curving ramps descend to meet at a landing, from which a lone ramp descends “back” under the level where the two ramps came from. Windows are tall, narrow, topped with pointed arches, and contain stained glass scenes in their transoms but not their main panes, which are large and of single pieces of glass (like modern real-world windows, but not like most windows in the Realms).
The stained glass scenes move like slowly-writhing flames, and are composed of the staring, elongated faces belonging to souls trapped within the glass—for Asmodeus stores thousands of souls in Malsheem, and can call them forth into bodies he creates on the spot (almost always known forms of devils, or handsome humans).
Every doorknob in Malsheem—and it does have knobs, like real-world doors of the early twentieth century, not the pull-ring doors common in Faerûn—is of one human-fist-sized piece of glossy-polished ruby. Garderobes flush with running water, and have adjacent sinks with hot and cold taps.
Hangings in Malsheem (that is, curtains one passes through; there are no tapestries on walls as adornments, only portraits of moments when mortals were entrapped in contracts, or damned) are black, translucent, and ribbed like the wings of giant bats, but are of silk and bone ribbing; they are not real beast-wings.
The largest and most impressive room in Malsheem is the throne room. The high seat, an arch-topped highbacked chair atop a dais of nine steps, each representing one of the layers of Hell (and being a teleport to—but not from—its corresponding layer—is formally known as The Throne of the Archfiend, and the chamber itself is formally the Fane of Nessus.
It is reached by The Walk of the Damned, a high-vaulted, long straight hallway (usually lined with gelugon guards) that has a crimson marble floor, and runs (via hundred-foot-tall ironbound doors upon which magical glyphs glow in a slow, fitful sequence) directly from the Entry Hall of Malsheem, that its towering Front Gates (actually hundred-foot-tall double doors) open into. Most visitors to Malsheem never see more than these three rooms: the vast and echoing high-ceiling Entry Hall, with its domed ceiling painted with scenes of Asmodeus in triumph over the devils and dragons and tarrasques he’s just slain and humbled, and its internal balconies where guards stand watchfully; the Walk of the Damned, and the Fane.
Asmodeus himself inhabits far cozier chambers (with low ceilings, carpets, lounging furniture, floating animated orreries of various clusters of celestial bodies across the multiverse, and elaborate canopied beds and bathing pools, all in their own side-chambers) that visitors never see.
About halfway across the vast labyrinth of Malsheem is a big oval chamber that roughly marks the public rooms of the fortress (the “palace”) from the private ones (the “home” of Asmodeus). This is the Chamber of Iqarrlus, named for an archdevil Asmodeus slew here. That victory was why Asmodeus chose this site to build his home.
The Chamber of Iqarrlus is a smooth-white-gold-veiny-marble-floored hall with an oval pool at its heart of deep, cool, clear, drinkable water.
It’s rumored in the Nine Hells that a being that can speak to the living and rise up as an amorphous cloud dwells in the pool, and Asmodeus sometimes debates with it when lonely or depressed—and that it is mightier than the Lord of the Nine, and he can’t destroy or dispel or exile it, though he’s often tried. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 14 Feb 2026 : 14:01:35
On how did Augathra the Mad's predictions become the basis for the names of the years in the Realms
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2022026727225278479 https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2022386383315513455
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2022826341901500915
Feb 13, 2026
@colehartwig
@TheEdVerse how did Augathra the Mad's predictions become the basis for the names of the years in the realms, seems odd for them to go with the list of names from someone known for losing their sanity when there are presumably other divination mages in the realms?
@TheEdVerse
Augathra wasn’t mad when she began receiving her “dark dreams.” They slowly drove her mad over many years, but well before madness claimed her (and note: she was fully functional when insane, not seen by others as damaged until her final wanderings), her predictions had established an uncanny track record of always being right—just sometimes only being seen as such in hindsight, because what she dreamed, and wrote down, was in some cases so cryptic.
Augathra didn’t promote herself as a seer, but became known as THE seer of her time because of her unerring accuracy: those who wanted to look ahead had already come to trust “the roll” part of her regular scholarly writings, which after her disappearance (see the FR Wiki entry for her, for her fate) became known as the Roll of Years.
Augathra wasn’t a divination mage. She had the Gift and became an arcanist (wizard) of some accomplishment, but her main work was the study of Draconic spell incantations, focusing on word sounds of syllables and how much power they could draw from the Weave and shape (focus and turn to a specific school of effects). Her damaged mind is still of sufficient power that in the sharn body she now shares, she rules over the minds of both Shar Cormrael and the phaerimm Xeris.
@Doomprophet115
Did her study of Draconic spells lead her to the discovery of the Draconic Prophecy, hence her divination?
https://t.co/y05kCqijg0
@TheEdVerse
Nope. In the Realms, Draconic is the language used in most arcane spell incantations. When I wrote that lore, and Augathra, my good friend Keith hadn't yet crafted Eberron, for the very good reason that he hadn't been born yet. I'm OLD.
@XynRaven
Draconic? I genuinely thought incantations were fractions of Supernal, given their similarities to the Words Of Creation.
@TheEdVerse
See my YouTube video on exactly how to cast a trio of popular "standard" spells; I detailed incantations there. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 14 Feb 2026 : 13:57:19
On Hoarite monastries
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2021718261721595984
Feb 12, 2026
@TheEdVerse
Back on July 3rd, Rico Brzenska Supremacy @BrzenskaI asked:
"Are there any well known Hoarites monasteries in the Realms? Would be for building a character with the hermit background."
Herewith, a lore reply:
Yes, I know of two (and there are likely more, well to the south of these). The House of Vengeance, a small stone monastery that crowns a high crag in the northeastern Omlarandin Mountains (on the other side of the northern end of the mountain range from the city of Saradush).
and:
Doom House, which fills a cleft between two peaks at the northeastern end of the Deepwing Mountains, southwest of Aralent, at the western end of the Vilhon Reach (southwest of Turmish).
Both of these remote, harsh places are labyrinths of stone chambers and passages hewn out of bedrock long before Hoarites claimed them as monasteries. Privy holes and hermitages are outlying “satellite” caves near the monasteries (privies close, hermitages distant).
Both locales get hit fairly often by lightning, in stormy weather, and that’s why clergy of the Doombringer chose them. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 14 Feb 2026 : 13:54:03
On "The Faceless Lord" written by Tasha
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2021700884292370871
Feb 12, 2026
@TheEdVerse
Back on Feb 4 (Twitter won't me go back far enough to reply directly, sorry), Spik3 @Spike_4247 asked me:
" Is there any source of reliable information on what is in the short volume called "The Faceless Lord" written by Tasha? My players came along it in a campaign and they are very interested what's inside, but I can't seem to find any info on it."
Herewith, a lore reply:
The Faceless Lord has only eighty pages, and is “tall and thin” (its pages aren’t as wide as the proportions of most books). That’s because Iggwilv bound it herself, before writing anything on the pages, and she was still learning bookbinding and “ate” a lot of space with her binding and gutters.
Its contents are literally a compilation of earlier notes (on scraps of parchment) of her personal encounters and dealings with Juiblex, the Demon Lord of Oozes. These were her early, ongoing attempts to understand Juiblex. Her later Demonomicon of Iggwilv, which incorporates what she wrote in The Faceless Lord, details spells to summon Juiblex, and spells to compel, control, and if need be fight him. However, The Faceless Lord is a careful record of observations: lengthy descriptions of how she dealt with him, and what she guessed and confirmed of the “tells” of his behavior: what she could discern of the meanings of his movements, shifts in tones of vocalizations, and changes in body hues and shapes.
It extends to such details as how far he could reach when hurling globs of himself away from his main body, and so on.
Iggwilv sought to befriend him, later cajole him, even to romance him, in part because of the legends that particular secretions of his ooze-like body, in certain states, could affect human bodies in specific ways (such as healing, painkilling, turning ethereal, shifting density, making flesh translucent, and so on), and she wanted to both test the tales and harness any of these effects that turned out to be true.
The book is her “ongoing research” depository, and is written as a series of chronological reports rather than a coherent thesis or central idea (and it isn’t indexed and has no formal chapters no table of contents). The Faceless Lord doesn’t contain the true name of Juiblex, but it does contain words of summoning that work on him, and notes on spells and rituals that give him pause, interspersed with Iggwilv’s reasonings and “notes aloud to herself” to try this or that next time, to see what befalls.
There is a clear gap in her understanding of Juiblex between The Faceless Lord and the Demonomicon of Iggwilv: the latter has detailed, specific means of commanding Juiblex and other demon lords, but this earlier tome is a workbook whose writer has never, at any popint in its pages, managed to master and command Juiblex. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 14 Feb 2026 : 13:48:44
On changelings' shapeshifting in their perspective
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2021697177609712098
Feb 12, 2026
@TheEdVerse
Back on Oct 29th, Umbpeon @umbpeon asked:
"Hey @TheEdVerse, I had a question about Changelings in D&D.
How would you describe their shapeshifting abilities from their perspective? I always imagined it as akin to flexing a muscle or holding onto a specific headspace, but I've never heard any official word on the topic."
Herewith, a lore reply:
It’s both: you the changeling will yourself to shift shape, a particular feeling that’s a specific state of concentrating akin to deliberately shifting the focus of your vision from peering at something close up (trying to read tiny lettering on a label on a bottle, for instance) to trying to see a face watching you from the window of a distant building—a window where movement just caught your eye.
With this concentration (a mental “bearing down”) comes a surge of muscle adrenalin you can almost taste, as your body shape shifts. If you lack a mirror or reflective surface or magic allowing you to borrow someone else’s vision, so as to see your “new self,” you either have to be looking at a body you want to mimic the shape and appearance of (or partially mimic the shape and appearance of, such as one limb or two limbs, or the face or height or overall width of shoulders and outline of silhouette), or already have a clear image in mind of a creature you’ve seen earlier, or seen a good illustration of—so as your body shifts, your front-of-mind concentration moves from willing the change to keeping in your mind the image of what you want to turn into (if you lack this to focus on, you end up looking like you started, but with overall shape altered, so skin hue and texture and so on won’t change).
When I write it out like this, it sounds like it takes much longer than it does; changelings can shift FAST. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 10 Feb 2026 : 03:36:19
On settlements east of the Sunrise Mountains
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2020953338339303827
Feb 10, 2026
@gentlefell
@TheEdVerse Great Sage, are there any settlements East of the Sunrise mountains where a party of escaped slaves from Thay might begin their adventures?
@TheEdVerse
Certainly. East of that mountain range (if your latitude is south of The Eastern Way trade-road that runs across central Thay, linking Amruthar, Tyraturos, and Pyarados) is the realm of Murghôm, with small settlements (mining towns) located on the banks of rivers rushing down the eastern flanks of the mountains. From west to east, these towns are Shendra, Imasq, and Luqor. Poled barges and small skiffs navigate these rivers between these settlements and larger places in Murghôm to the south and east, such as (again, Sessim, Volor, Anghyr, and Voiwan. All of the rivers wind through the vast Ganathwood to reach this second band of settlements, which lie on the northern fringes of the heavily-populated (with many cities and towns amid verdant farms and ranches, and good roads ) Fields of Ganath. The Dragon Princes rule in Murghôm, and anyone coming east out of Thay is going to be noticed, as the Princes are calmly awaiting Szass Tam’s anticipated foolish attempt at conquest. (The one fear they have is that someone will be sent out of Thay deliberately infected with plague, to harm the populace of Murghôm—so your slaves should beware.)
West and north of Shendra, Imasq, and Luqor are only mule-tracks used by prospectors, mountain hunters, and miners bringing “roughblock” smelted metals south to those three towns—and the smelters the miners use, each of which is encircled by woodcutters’ huts and heaps of slag and waste rock.
The escaped slaves would likely reach those three mining-towns if they fought their way through the mountains after following the River of the Dawn to its headwaters (east of Moszabbar and upstream of Relladir), or if they followed the river south of that from Machzena east to its rising. (All in Thazalhar.) And then discovered and followed the mule-tracks south and east.
If the slaves instead went north of the east-west line of The Eastern Way, following the eastern leg of that trade-road as it crosses the River Thazarim and heads towards that river’s headwaters (through the Thayan settlements of—again, west to east along the road—Malutham, Carmin, Solvalena, Nythdal, and Thandhumas), to pass south of Thazar Keep and through the Thazar Pass (a much easier journey but far more watched and patrolled on the Thayan side than the more southerly mountain crossing I mentioned first), they would emerge east of the mountain range (the border of Thay) in a sparsely populated area north of The High Valley, and could choose to go south (to the aforementioned Fields of Ganath, in Murghôm, and eventually to the bustling rivermoot city of Murghyr) by taking or following Ganath’s River south from this area through the Ganathwood (which would plunge them into the same scrutiny and likely detention as a more southerly mountain crossing, as aforementioned), or go north along the river (which runs for miles and miles north, these upper reaches being known as the River Murghol or River Murghom, and having an eastern branch called the Clearflow River; as that name suggests, the cold, clear waters of this river are safely drinkable) or cross it, heading on east to the Mountains of Copper (and beyond them, the Ejen Horo, or Valley of the God, farther east).
This is wilderness country, ruled by the law of the sword more than any ruler (unless one of the Dragon Princes is taking wing, a rare occurrence); most of the copper mines for which the Mountains of Copper range is named are on its far (eastern) side. So in these lands, the escaped slaves might meet with prospectors, mining mule-trains, monsters galore, and—the more east and north they went, away from Murghôm—Taan, aka the Endless Wastes, gently-rolling grasslands roamed by the Taangan or Tuigans, nomadic tribes of horse-riders collectively known in Faerûn as the Horde (to folk of the Sword Coast, this area is “the Hordelands”). The Khassidi (Cassidi) and the Commani tribes claim the westernmost plains, and your escaped slaves would likely encounter them first.
East of the Mountains of Copper is the vast forest called the Shalhoond (the Great Wild Wood), which runs north to the Khopet-Dag, or Spiderhaunt Peaks. South of the Shalhoond is the realm of Semphar, and the lands of all the other horse-tribes. If those escaped slaves traverse all of this, they will have walked farther than across the continent of North America, in our real world, so that should be a fair amount of “elbow room” territory to adventure in. I wish them good luck!!! |
| questing gm |
Posted - 10 Feb 2026 : 03:33:18
On the Night Parade and the Quori in the Realms
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2020630213789622708
Feb 9, 2026
@SisterRose_
@TheEdVerse Hi Ed, we run a version of the realms with some Eberron influence - in particular my character follows a multiversal version of the Path of Light - in part because I noticed a striking similarity between the Night Parade and the Quori.
https://t.co/sSoHpJchCS
Obviously they're drawing from similar influences, but it does make me wonder how Dream/Nightmare creatures are created in general, and running with the Night Parade as a faction of the Dreaming Dark, originally from the Region of Dreams/Nightmares, in the realms seems to work?
Obviously our setting has been tweaked quite a bit from your vision, and similarly our version of the Path of Light from @hellcowkeith's, but I found a lot of fun areas like this where things slot in better than expected. Is there any more cool Dream/Nightmare lore in the realms?
The idea I'm running with was that the Jamdaath empire make contact with benevolent spirits from the Region of Dreams before it's collapse, which led to some version of Taratai ending up in the realms after she disappeared. We're based in Tethyr, so it fits with the star themes also probably out of your sphere of influence, but I'm taking some influence from Deltarune particularly the lore surrounding Titans, and Dark Worlds as Mindscapes.
Also taking influence from IRL Sufism(playing what I know to an extent), to things like Norse Seidr.
Cobbling together an equivalent "Dream Sufis with Dharmic & Sci Fi elements" religion out of Realms parts has been kind of fun, so looking for stuff we can use for world-within-world building with regards Dreams, Philosophy and the like(are there many named realms Philosophers?)
(unrelated, but part of my Deep Gnome Cleric's backstory is that her tribe are "Dragon Touched" being protected by a Dragon - I really liked the idea of a Serpentine Dragon like a Lindworm, but noticed most in the Realms are of the evil variety, any examples of the good ones?)
@TheEdVerse
To Sister Rose | Virtual Púca #127477;#127480; @SisterRose_ ...an apology for being so tardy in replying to your Aug 12 posts about the quori and Night Parade and Path of Light.
I've scripted a lore video that should appear before the end of 2026 that talks about all of those! |
| questing gm |
Posted - 10 Feb 2026 : 03:25:17
On dragons mating for life
https://x.com/TheEdVerse/status/2020187270448320819
Feb 8, 2026
@Seer_of_Sinners
@TheEdVerse Hello Mr.Greenwood :}
I am creating a gay dragon character based in your wonderful Forgotten Realms setting, and I was wondering if dragons marry/show long term affection, or if there is any credence to an obsidian dragon mating for life with a copper dragon.
Thx!
@TheEdVerse
Dragons are long-lived, intelligent creatures. Like all such, they exhibit a wide range of character traits and personalities, with two overriding tendencies: the natural aptitude and habit of “taking the long view” due to their lifespans (just as elves do), and an innate arrogance or at least self-centredness—how much, and how this affects their dealings with others, vary with the individual; at one extreme is narcissism and a fierce territoriality, tolerating no other dragons in the demesne they consider “theirs.”
At the other end of this scale are dragons who need the company of other dragons, or they feel lonely; when dragons “grow up” with three or four siblings, this is common among those siblings.
So, some dragons mate never, others mate once or twice in life, with brief courtships or just what we might call “horny one-night stands” ere they part again to resume their own lives, and about a third of all dragons show some sort of long-term affection. Faithful married pairs are rarer; perhaps a sixth of all dragons: partners who share a demesne, a lair, and a hoard; these usually hunt together and work together, so are particularly deadly to other dragons. Formal weddings are nigh-unknown, for lack of officiants or a desire to tell the world, but weddings of real personal performance (spending decades or centuries together) aren’t unusual at all. Published canon lore down the years, from RPGA adventures to Len Lakofka and Jim Ward DMing at tables I’ve played at, has given us quite a few instances of mixed-species dragon weddings/partnerships, though the norm is for reds to mate with reds, greens with greens. Dragons who can naturally shapeshift (as opposed to deliberately casting a spell) have a higher incidence of partnering and mating with non-dragons. So there’s nothing at all barring a partnership (lairing together, fighting together, flying together on food hunts) that isn’t based on laying eggs and having young (there are dragons who slay or even devour young, their own included). In other words, two male dragons could partner, or two females. Eggs can be bought, sold, or traded among dragonkind for same-gender partners who want to raise families. |
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