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| questing gm |
Posted - 05 Nov 2023 : 14:05:37
Since starting up his own Discord server (https://discord.onl/greenwoods-grotto/), Ed Greenwood has been answering Realms-related questions in the #q4ed channel. Although it's free to join the Discord and view his answers, but I believe it requires a subscription to Ed's Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/EdGreenwood) to be given access to ask him questions there.
So since his answers are free to view by anyone on his Discord and for the benefit of those who are not on Discord, I'm starting and updating my compilation of his answers in this scroll. I'll leave it to the wisdom of moderating scribes if anything should be changed or removed.
I won't be able to put down everything (I already have 300+ answered questions to put down), so consider updates here will be intermittent, and will take a while before it catches up to the latest questions answered. (Or just join the Discord if you want the latest  )
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| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
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Posted - 04 Feb 2026 : 17:47:54
On Silverymoon as the spiritual heart of Lurue’s faith
seemingly_cleverRole icon, Scribe of the Realms — 31/12/2025 11:53 AM
Saer @Ed Greenwood, you once mentioned that Silverymoon was intended as the spiritual heart of Lurue’s faith. Does this manifest in any way? For example, are her priestesses treated with extra respect, or do they undergo pilgrimages to see the Shining Towers?
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 27/1/2026 3:42 AM
Any clergy of Lurue, no matter where they’re from or what their visible heritage may be, are considered full citizens of Silverymoon (with voting rights and all), even if they’ve never been to the city before. Their presence is considered to be a part of what makes Silverymoon so welcoming and nurturing in the often-harsh northern landscape (Everlund shares this same “kind and gentle locale” reputation).
Three locations in Northbank Silverymoon, and one in Southbank, are known to have been places “where Lurue has danced,” and clergy and faithful of the goddess often go and stand upon them to seek guidance from the deity (in the form of manifestations and mind-visions, but in rare instances also healing or temporary imbuement with a spell they can unleash by act of will, regardless of class or abilities). These places are as follows:
1. The wide street space about six long strides SE into the city from the Moorgate (which of old was sometimes called “the Moongate,” and this was a spot where Lurue danced in the full moonlight, as a unicorn rampant = up on hind legs).
2. Just west of the Silverglen grove (between it and the backs of the buildings west of it that front on the Market).
3. Right behind (north of) the Stagstand, in the space between its rear wall and the (longer” flanking buildings.
The Southbank location is the heart of Mielikki’s Glade.
These places are all considered auspicious spots for anyone to stand and murmur a prayer to Lurue. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 04 Feb 2026 : 17:19:59
On grilling practices in the North
Juniper Churlgo Role icon, Scribe of the Realms — 26/1/2026 8:32 AM
with grilling being a thing, what are the grilling practices in the north? namely in Neverwinter? Like what does this stud grills? Rothe buttocks? Kobold shanks? Stenchkow burgers? https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Dragonborn_Grillmaster
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 27/1/2026 3:18 AM
In the Sword Coast North, you grill whatever you can get (after skinning it for its pelt, of course), but the most prized “sizzle-meat” most can get (assuming they can’t slay wyverns and dragons and the like) is rothé, and the best cuts are the ribs: rothé have widely-spaced ribs, and any decent butcher (including hunters, carving a kill “in the field”) can cut along one rib to make it into a handle, then leave all the meat adhering to it over to the next rib, so the result is a long, broad, curving strip of meat hanging from the long rib-bone. That’s why shields, other curving plates of metal, and staggered grill racks are used: to follow the curve of the meat and keep cooking coals at about the same distance from the meat all along its length. Rothé rib-meat is well marbled and tastes great as a result, and a cook who can rig up a means of catching the drippings gets fat that can be mixed with “pulled” lesser meat and mashed vegetables to make a flavorful trail-meal (that rots quickly in warm weather, but keeps very well in winter, on the trail).
Rothé kidneys, heart, and liver are highly prized by those in the know, such as the witches of Rashemen. They are very rich, and most “average trail cooks” dice them with celery or peppers or leeks or other water-storing green vegetables, and fry them with rice. Red wines mixed with rothé gravy make good sauces for such dishes.
However, a Grillmaster would do the very tricky “Whole Roast Rothé,” which needs a big cooking pit and multiple long boar-swords as end-to-end skewers, so a rothé carcass cut along the spine would end up with three or four parallel metal skewers all down its length, giving it multiple handles for turning. It is roasted over an open fire, with liquid seasonings poured down its flanks as it is turned, then dipped in sauces for a final “smoke-off” (hung over the fire for the heat to “sear off” the sauce). |
| questing gm |
Posted - 28 Jan 2026 : 15:38:46
On how non-elven worshippers of the Seldarine understand their afterlives
Spellslamzer Role icon, Patron of The Realms — 25/1/2026 9:04 AM
Good day, @Ed Greenwood. How do non-elven worshippers of the Seldarine understand or imagine their afterlives? Do they believe that they'll remain in Arvandor after death or do they believe that they will join the elven cycle of reincarnation (and if so, do they expect to reincarnate as their original race or as an elf)?
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 26/1/2026 5:53 AM
It varies with the individual. Remember, everyone sentient and sane in the Realms worships ALL the gods, not one deity. Individual belief, swayed most by direct dream-visions or manifestations or signs from a god (or things that are interpreted as those things), is paramount, advice or preachings from clergy is the second most powerful factor, and past history (as related by family members, the neighborhood, bards and minstrels and taletellers, and seers of various sorts) is the third most powerful factor.
Most sentient folk believe in some sort of afterlife, hazily. Some think they “come back” for another lifetime, and that the lifeform they will be for that is determined in part by what the deity thinks of them (in other words, their actions during their current life).
So in this case, some may believe they’ll “graduate” to Arvandor, but most will think they will have another lifetime to live—but won’t know if it will be as an elf, their original race, or some “thinking beast” or other species form. They may seek guidance over this, and even try to undertake missions or service to the deity to try to influence what will happen to them after death.
(In other words, their fate is up to the deity = the Dungeon Master’s decision.) |
| questing gm |
Posted - 28 Jan 2026 : 12:04:40
On Thadanthiir's Bridge in Silverymoon
GAMEtatron Role icon, Patron of The Realms — 25/1/2026 6:56 AM
Hi Ed!
In My Slice of Silverymoon, part 1:
We learn that in 631 DR, the Granitefang Orcs invaded Silverymoon, apparently through Hunter's Gate, but they were turned back after having breached the city. Or maybe the orcs breeched the walls, given that the guards air out their silken underthings on the Westwatch Gate Tower. #128516;
Anyway, the orcs were apparently defeated at Thadanthiir's Bridge.
Is Thadanthiir's Bridge in Silverymoon, and if so, where?
Thank you!
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — Yesterday at 5:11 AM
Just upstream (east, towards Everlund) of Striding Giant Rapids on the River Rauvin, there’s a bridge across the river. (It’s clearly shown, just beside the “Striding Giant Rapids” tag, on the Mike Schley map of The Silver Marches, from the WotC Encounter “The War of Everlasting Darkness,” …this map can be seen on Mike's website, in the regional maps portfolio.)
That’s Thadanthiir’s Bridge, named for the dwarf who led the team of dwarves that built the bridge (in the early 500s DR, to take heavy wagons of metal ingots from the then-busy Nether Mines south overland to Sword Coast markets). The Bridge is three wagons wide, of stone, and can take the weight of armies—as was proven in the early spring of 631 DR when the Granitefang orcs moved on from then-unwalled but fiercely-defended (by humans hurling spells the orcs liked not at all) Silverymoon town, to try to raid Everlund.
The orcs (who’d been raiding the fast-growing settlement of Silverymoon for more than a decade, preferring to attack by night in bad weather, so defenders couldn’t see their true numbers and precisely where they were—and on this occasion had gotten far down several streets before they encountered hasty wagon barricades that forced them into houses to fight, where the human defenders quickly turned the tide) sought food more than anything else, after a harsh winter.
The orc plan was to send a small force to assault Everlund (which was smaller and more lightly defended than Silverymoon, with more gardens, fields, woodlots, and “open ground to move in” within the settlement) from the north, and draw defenders there—and then with their main strength charge into Everlund from the rear, or south, after having outflanked Everlund by crossing Thadanthiir’s Bridge.
Unfortunately for the orcs, they were caught on the bridge by a force of elven archers who’d been heading for the Silverwood on a periodic “clean out the trolls and worse” foray (so the woods would be safe encampment and hunting territory for elves coming to Silverymoon and Everlund to trade, or to tarry and “stop the most stonebrained human woodcutters from taking every last tree”).
The archers were astonished to see what seemed to them to be an orc horde racing south. They loosed their shafts at will into the massed, trapped orcs, and wiped out all the Granitefangs there, then pursued the few who fled to the skirmish on the north side of Everlund.
Only handfuls of Granitefangs got away from this great slaughter.
The battle-leader of their raiding force, Thulgrod, died on the bridge with three of his five sons.
(So, no, the orcs didn’t get through Hunter’s Gate, because it didn’t exist yet. Nor did any city walls. Silverymoon was still an unwalled “Northbank” town at the time.)
Thulgrod was a battered old veteran orc war-leader, BTW, world-wise and cynical and revered by orcs of several tribes.
His surviving sons begat descendants the Sword Coast North has heard of, notably a great-great-grandson Thulgrar, a widely-traveled adventurer who forayed with human, elf, half-elf, halfling, and dwarf sword-companions.)
(Heh. I'd no idea I had so much in my old notes. Thulgrar had quite a career.) |
| questing gm |
Posted - 28 Jan 2026 : 09:51:12
On other slices of Silverymoon
seemingly_clever Role icon, Scribe of the Realms — 23/1/2026 12:18 PM
Alright, alright @Ed Greenwood, you've twisted my arm! I'll keep hounding you about the Gem of the North! I'm just kidding, this is how I have fun. ^_^ I found your series of articles, "My Slice of Silverymoon", to be absolutely fantastic. I especially enjoyed getting a sense of Hollowhar's identity and of the community of people living in that particular corner of the city. Would you find it in your hearts (and, perhaps, in your notes) to share some more about the communities in other slices of the city? Where they're located (i.e., which blocks), some element of their shared character, and the like — almost akin to the various wards of Waterdeep, though surely not so set in stone.
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 23/1/2026 1:42 PM
Heh. Sure, but when I have the time. That's crucial; I have sixteen major active projects going right now, and a day job, and family and friend obligations. Some lore queries are small in scale and I can answer them quickly; others take longer because of NDAs or because I need to find old notes, and some are more heavy-duty and will take still longer. This is one of them; I have wanted to share more of Silverymoon for some years, but haven't yet found the time. Just like Waterdeep, and Suzail, and dozens of other locales. So if you don't mind waiting, I love doing this, and will, if mischance doesn't take me first, get to it. If you don't mind piecemeal dolings out of lore, I can share some stuff much sooner. :} |
| questing gm |
Posted - 28 Jan 2026 : 09:29:18
On conditional demipowers a god can maintain
Zonesylvania
Role icon, Patron of The Realms — 23/1/2026 2:08 AM
dear saer @Ed Greenwood , around how many conditional demipowers (saints, demigods, chosen, exarchs, etc.) can a god afford to maintain depending on their divine power? does it increase linearly or exponentially depending on divine standing? thankee!
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 23/1/2026 9:49 AM
The number of entities a deity can maintain as loyal, linked-to-them demipowers (as opposed to imparting spells to clerics in response to prayers, or one-time imbuement of magic into mortals (“miracles”) varies with four variables:
- The power level of the diety (greater, lesser, etc.)
- How much power they infuse into each servitor (“superhero Chosen versus one-trick Chosen”).
- Their own sanity/nature/multitasking ability.
- Current workload: what else are they doing with their power? How many mythals/wards/holy areas/etc. are they maintaining, and in what strength.
So the “quick answer” is: around 6 powerful servitors (superhero Chosen) for a lesser/middle-rank deity, and around 9 for a greater deity
Modified by nature, so in the Realms, Mystra gets more, and so does Chauntea (the land used by sentient worshippers, so she’s “everywhere”), Shar, and Selûne.
A 5e quasi-deity may only be able to “maintain” one servitor and imbue one other mortal at a time.
Another way of looking at this is: manifestations.
Meaning, how many different locales can a deity manifest in (for example, Lathander appearing as a rosy glow in the air, music, and perhaps his voice), or mortals they can talk to, either out of thin air or in the minds of, at once.
These are usually IN ADDITION TO the number of servitors, etc., and starts at 2 for a quasi-deity, 4 for a lesser deity, and 7 for a greater deity. Again, Mystra and Chauntea and Shar and Selûne get more. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 28 Jan 2026 : 09:14:44
On the external roads of Silverymoon go
seemingly_cleverRole icon, Scribe of the Realms — 21/1/2026 5:56 AM
I concur with the Lady Bladesinger! :elminster_heart: Your answers are as illuminating as ever, Saer @Ed Greenwood of the Greenwood! #128154;
If I may ask once more about Silverymoon: where do all of its external roads go, and what are their names? We know the Silver Road goes to Sundabar (presumably departing Sundabar gate) and that the northeastern path from the Moorgate leads to the Herald’s Holdfast. What of the path along the Rauvin, or up northwards through the Hunters’ Gate? The northeastern path? There’s also, by the late 13th-century DR, the New Gate (later replaced by Blacklar Gate and Mulgate) of Southbank.
I’m curious, given how overland maps tend to simply show two paths — eastward, down Silverymoon Pass, and southward, to Everlund — in contrast to the more detailed city map. :elmwow:
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 21/1/2026 10:58 AM
Okay, here we go (the countryside around Silverymoon can be most clearly and accurately seen on the Mike Schley map of The Silver Marches, from the WotC Encounter “The War of Everlasting Darkness”...this map can be seen on Mike's website, in the regional maps portfolio):
Northbank, W to E:
Moorgate: Rauvin Road, runs NW along the north bank of the Rauvin to Rivermoot, where the River Rauvin joins the River Surbrin. (A sideroad, the Moonwood Trail or Moonrun, branches off to Herald’s Holdfast W of Rauvinwatch Keep.)
Hunter’s Gate: Hunter’s Road, runs N, curving NW, then splits: W trail to the Herald’s Holdfast, NE trail into the Moonlands up the E side of The Glimmerwood, crossing the Rider Redrun to curve back E and split again, N branch running NE through the Cold Vale,and S branch winding through the western foothills of the Rauvin Mountains and Citadel Felbarr, before crossing the Redrun again and running through Sundabar Vale to Sundabar
Sundabar Gate: Silver Road, runs through Khelb and Silverymoon Pass to Sundabar
Southbank, W to E:
Blacklar Gate: Blacklar Road, used to run to the long-burnt-down hamlet of Blacklar, still runs to its site: SW from the city to a trailmoot at former Blacklar site, where the trail splits to run W along the S side of the River Rauvin, to the West Rauvinbank farms, and the other leg of the trail runs S along the S bank of the Rauvin, to the South Rauvinbank farms, both sets of farms in the cleared land between the River Rauvin and The Silverwood
Mulgate: Ever Road, runs SE to the westernmost Nether Hills (old copper, tin, and zinc mines) then winds S through them, staying east of the River Rauvin, to Everlund |
| questing gm |
Posted - 28 Jan 2026 : 08:49:43
On followers of Mystra who died during the Time of Troubles and the Spellplague
Bladesinger Lily Role icon, Patron of The Realms — 18/1/2026 10:50 PM
Hale and well met Saer @Ed Greenwood …
a newer player asked a question that I couldn’t particularly sort out. What happened to wizards and other followers of Mystra who died during the time of troubles and the Spellplague wirh no goddess to claim them? Were they all automatically doomed to the Wall?
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 21/1/2026 3:37 AM
The Time of Troubles and the far-longer-drawn-out Spellplague both generated periods of what some sages call the Time(s) of Wandering Souls. The souls of the dead drifted everywhere, many becoming trapped in mythals, wards, magic items, and other magical entanglements they encountered randomly. Some were reincarnated in the bodies of other creatures, a few in the mind-shattered bodies of other (formerly sentient) spellcasters. Some are still wandering. No one was “automatically doomed” to any fate. Mystra died, but her preparations for her foreseen-by-her demise meant that the Weave went wild, but did not “go down” or fade away.
So for a specific soul, their fate is whatever an individual player, DM, or taleteller needs it to be. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 28 Jan 2026 : 08:39:42
On holy tongues in the Realms
seemingly_clever Role icon, Scribe of the Realms — 19/1/2026 5:19 AM
Hail, @Ed Greenwood! A bit of a broad question, but I’ve been reading The Name of the Rose and it made me think about holy tongues in the Realms. That is, are there any? Is there an equivalent to, say, the relationship between Latin and many Christian prayers?
I wonder, for example, if I walked into a Mystran service being performed in Silverymoon’s Tower of Balance, would their prayers be recited in Common, in the local Northern tongue, in an Alignment language, or in another language entirely?
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 21/1/2026 3:29 AM
Almost all of the current religions in the Realms are worshipped in the language of the worshippers (so, elves in Elvish, drow in their Elvish dialect we now call “Drow,” and so on). In human-dominated locales in the Realms, the Common Tongue is used. However, interspersed in the flow of Common speech are often some individual “words of the faith,” which may be Draconic and have their origins in spell incantations that were also prayers, or be jargon words specific to that faith or that organized church, in the same way many modern real-world niches of business or commerce have their own jargon terms (an example: a modern film will have credits naming a “Best Boy,” a “Key Grip” and one or more individuals holding the job title “Gaffer.” The words are clear, but you have to be familiar with the niche to know the true meanings of them.
Sometimes, specific alignment-tongue words are used (rough equivalent: “ascension” in some real-world Christian dogma or prayers), but more often, a few words or phrases that have acquired a specific meaning within the faith appear.
An example from a prayer to Tempus: “Lord of Battles, may my blade strike true! May my strivings be always guided by you, be seen as fitting by you, and further the Sarglaive!”
‘Sarglaive’ is one of these faith-specific words. It SOUNDS like a weapon thanks to the “glaive” part, but in fact, it comes from what a long-dead High Priest of Tempus said when making a life-sacrificing last stand to defend an altar of Tempus from an entire orc horde. “Sarglaive” means the “way of making battle that is blessed by Tempus because of our conduct and our choosing of the necessary-battles, with a minimum of cruelty and recklessness and unintended damage and casualties, and never indulging in bloodlust,” with the ‘our’ meaning “we who are pledged to Tempus,” his clergy and his most dedicated lay followers. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 28 Jan 2026 : 05:09:20
On the distance between Moonwood and Silverymoon
seemingly_clever Role icon, Scribe of the Realms — 20/1/2026 5:37 AM
I ask a bit of a silly clarification from @Ed Greenwood today, regarding the Moonwood and its distance from Silverymoon. All the maps we have of the city itself show the Moonwood coming right up the road that goes along Northbank’s wall, with one of Hunter’s Gate’s roads going right into the forest. However, all the maps that we have of the Savage Frontier show the Moonwood being quite a bit further north, with “clear” land between it and Silverymoon. How would you clarify this inconsistency? :]
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 20/1/2026 12:20 PM
This is a recurring query that has been explained before, but likely not where it reach many gamers, so: before the 1300s DR, the Moonwood flourished right outside Silverymoon’s walls. After too many orc and hobgoblin raiders had used the forest as cover to get very close to the city, so they could do real damage to anyone departing, the Moonwood was cut back to yield a lot of lumber, some ranch-pasture land and caravan-assembly ground (“walled” by ha-has), and relatively clear terrain so hostile approachers could be seen.
However, quite a few of the elves and half-elves of the city were firmly against the nearby trees being removed, so…the compromise solution was that a woodlot or copse of undisturbed forest would be left, hard by the walls, and the cleared area would begin beyond it, out of sight of residents in the city. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 28 Jan 2026 : 03:17:26
On "fist-scroll-blade"
Kokopelli Role icon, Patron of The Realms — 20/1/2026 11:07 AM
Well again, friend @Ed Greenwood! This one should be easy... Reading through Souls for the Taking, I have questions about "fist-scroll-blade." We see fist beat scroll, and scroll beats blade; is it safe to assume that blade beats fist? What are the related hand gestures? And are there other names for this game?
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 20/1/2026 12:11 PM
Heh. When Rhys wrote a renamed rock-paper-scissors into his first draft of that scene, it was my intention to jazz it up a bit so the game was slightly more complex. My attempts to do so didn’t survive the editing process, so, yes, you can safely assume blade beats fist.
The gestures are: fist is a fist, scroll is a handflip (go from palm down to palm up by twisting the wrist “outwards” with a flourish while spreading thumb and fingers, and blade is forefinger alone (other fingers curled, as if you’re pointing).
The Realms has several regional names for this game; in Murghôm and Semphar it’s warrior-vizier-assassin, and in Chessenta and the Shaar and lands south of the Shaar, it’s warrior-priest-slayer. (Some caravan merchants call it taxes-bribes-violence.)
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| questing gm |
Posted - 19 Jan 2026 : 10:41:24
On Souls for the Taking livestream
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 16/1/2026 9:58 AM
Going live with our launch stream in mere minutes! To hear all about SOULS FOR THE TAKING, and get your questions answered, please go to: https://youtube.com/live/K3aCklYAcCc?feature=share |
| questing gm |
Posted - 19 Jan 2026 : 08:40:14
On statues in Silverymoon
GAMEtatron Role icon, Patron of The Realms — 15/1/2026 4:19 PM
Hi Ed!
Silverymoon is highly cultured and highly sophisticated in art (in both meanings of the word).
Yet we know very little about the statues or fountains of the city.
From an image we know the battlements of Silverymoon Palace is lined with rearing unicorn statues, and that is all.
Can you tell us a bit about the statues of the city, or at least the most famous statue of Silverymoon?
Thank you!
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 16/1/2026 5:14 AM
To begin: the small illustration provided in the 3e FRCS (spire in foreground, tree of lanterns center background, curving run of stones stage right) is spot-on correct.
Much of Silverymoon is a “garden” of trees, herb-garden and “greenleaf floral bushes” beds, curving around (and in some cases over, as “living roofs”) fairly modest dwellings that sport many bay windows, porthole windows, skylights, and slender towers (cylindrical stone dwelling-spaces). I’ve often mentioned the real-life Welsh village of Portmeirion, and the architecture of artist Roger Dean, as “what Silverymoon looks like.” (If you’re looking at pictures of Portmeirion online, search for: Former Toll House, Gatehouse a.k.a. the Ladies Lodge, the Round House and attached arch, the “Villa Winch,” the public washrooms (loos), in particular the shapes of the windows in the lowest/fieldstone level, and a statue with plinth known as the Eagle and Serpent, in Battery Square.
As you’ll note from those photos, many statues are set into curved-back and arch-topped niches in the outside walls of buildings, and are about the size of a short adult human. Silverymoon’s sculpture is about delighting the eye, not impressing: there are no larger-than-life statues of deities or heroes, on tall columns, dominating anywhere or anything. Many of the statues are like the real-world Eagle and Serpent: they are realistic, strikingly “action posed” depictions of creatures “doing things” (a griffon about to pounce, wings back and talons outstretched; an octopus propelling itself along with many tentacles streaming behind it, but a handful curling up in front of it to grasp something unseen; a lion “rampant” as in the heraldic pose; a giant serpent rising in a menacing coil like a helix…and so on).
Where humans and elves are depicted, it is almost always as heads, shoulders, and reaching, expressive arms and hands, in groups, not full-figure. For instance, around the front doors of the Lady’s College, sculpted front walls depict female human, elven, and half-elven spellcasters gesturing as they cast spells, dozens of them one above the other, in the manner of what in the real world we now tend to call “irreverent angels” as seen on the façade of the cathedral of Florence (if you want to see a selection of them together, Getty Images has an iStock page entitled “Irreverent angel on the facade of the cathedral of Florence stock photo”…but those in Silverymoon aren’t surrounded by so much in the way of borders and adornments).
So in Silverymoon, everyone has their favourites, but there aren’t “most famous” or eveven prominent statues seen as such by everyone, because these small but beautiful statues are everywhere.
There is one notorious statue that can no longer be seen: apparently one sculptor, a timid gnome by the name of Ilgur Minstrelwish, once glimpsed the Lady Alustriel unclad, from afar, as she stepped out of a bath—and raced home, made sketches, and later carved a splendid, beautiful, and explicit life-sized nude likeness of Alustriel, in a pose of passion (or perhaps, dramatic spellcasting), for his own bedchamber ceiling.
After he died, his horrified daughter Ananthaya discovered it after her journey to the city to wrap up her father’s affairs, and wanted it destroyed—but the men she hired to smash it with hammers instead offered her more gold than she’d ever seen in her life (thrice the value of her father’s possessions) for it, intact. When she accepted, they carefully removed the sculpture and presented it as a gift to Alustriel.
Who was reportedly both amused and delighted, and installed it somewhere in Elminster’s Safehold “to give the old man something to look at.”
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 4:23 AM
Look for an in-depth lore reply to you in Lost Lore 42!! |
| questing gm |
Posted - 19 Jan 2026 : 08:34:07
On who created the Dawn Cataclysm
Kokopelli Role icon, Patron of The Realms — 13/1/2026 6:31 AM
Hello again, friend @Ed Greenwood! I have a query about the Dawn Cataclysm, but it's not one of the standard ones... I've long suspected it was just a throwaway line that wound up catching everyone's attention. Was the Dawn Cataclysm your creation, and if so, what was your idea for it?
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 13/1/2026 12:18 PM
No, it wasn't. I suspect Eric Boyd. ;} |
| questing gm |
Posted - 19 Jan 2026 : 07:55:25
On lichdom
Levente-CsikRole icon, Patron of The Realms — 16/8/2025 2:53 PM
Dear @Ed Greenwood ,
I heard in one of your Baldur's Gate 3 steams that you might make a video on liches and becoming a lich. If it would not be great inconvenience, could you perhaps also elaborate on the "unique defenses and means of destruction"?
In our games home usually most liches were easy to handle because the phylactery's destruction was usually a special weapon we had. I also run a more complex lich where the party needed to be in a certain plane of existance, in a certain time, attacking it with a certain weapon. I was wondering, only the imagination of the lich restricts the "mean of destruction", or the more complex phylacteries are much more expensive, harder (or almost impossible) to create?
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 13/1/2026 12:12 PM
I’m collaborating on a book on undead helmed by Rhys Yorke, and working on the ways and means of lichdom (and demilichdom, and archlichdom, and so on). Here’s the problem: the lich creates their own phylactery, so unless they can travel to that plane of existence, and so understand its cycles of life plus have sufficient magical might, making a means of destruction contingent on a particular time, at a specific location and on a particular plane, is going to be VERY difficult to achieve. So phylactery destruction conditions are far more often localized to: must be done with a tool, weapon, or crushing blow from something of a specific composition (e.g. electrum or coated in brown mold) brought into contact with something else specific (granite or lodestone) under a particular condition (e.g. bathed in moonlight). Unless the lich has developed special ninth-level spells prior to undeath to enable them to do so, they aren’t likely going to be able to even add something like “this tool doing that act in contact with lodestone in full moonlight BY A PALADIN, or commoner, or being of a particular gender or species”…because they simply lack the magical ability to specify the ‘who’ or “type of who.” And no one at all has ever managed to specify a particular individual (for example, the red dragon Klauth as opposed to any red dragon). So the lich’s imagination can only take them so far.
Stu | Toril Odyssey Project Role icon, Legend of the Realms — 13/1/2026 10:19 PM
Any books pertaining to FR not published by Wizards of the Coast have to be released on DMsGUILD.
Here is a link to a post about Ed's Collaboration with Rhys York #8288;#9997;#65073;general#8288;
Levente-CsikRole icon, Patron of The Realms — 14/1/2026 6:40 AM
Thank you very much!
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 14/1/2026 10:27 AM
Ah. That collaboration (that Stu linked to) is not the one I'm talking about! That (linked) collaboration, which should launch this week, is a Realms novella with lore about what's in the fiction, all inside the same covers. A perfect-bound paperback, 6"x9" and 147 pages, release as PDF and POD at, yes, DM's Guild. The undead project is something else...
kageura necromancer wizard Role icon, Patron of The Realms — 14/1/2026 11:36 PM
will the undead project list ways for players to learn lichdom as well? also is there any projected release for it?
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 14/1/2026 11:38 PM
A lot could change before publication, but what I've written thus far walks through the various ways to go from living to lichnee state, in detail. I'm doing a small amount of the project, and the "when" of its publication is still not set, because of other projects (when you're a small team, one project at a time is on the main stage, and the rest on various back burners). |
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Posted - 18 Jan 2026 : 15:13:17
On Paulorin Felinaun
seemingly_cleverRole icon, Scribe of the Realms — 11/1/2026 10:23 AM
A very short one for the wise @Ed Greenwood today: was Paulorin Felinaun, the Elf Mayor of Silverymoon, a woman? I noticed that The North: Guide to the Savage Frontier never refers to Paulorin by pronoun (that I've spotted, at least).
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 11/1/2026 2:30 PM
No, Paulorin is a masculine elf given name, and Paulorin Felinaun is male. He has a sister, Valoriarra Felinaun, who looks very like him.
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Posted - 18 Jan 2026 : 15:09:15
On breeding dragons with giants to make a half-dragon/half-giant
The God of Alchemy Heydan Seegil Role icon, Patron of The Realms — 9/1/2026 8:31 AM
Is it possible to breed dragons with giants to make a half-dragon/half-giant?
Ed Greenwood Role icon, Father of the Realms — 11/1/2026 1:29 PM
Possible, yes. Very rare in the Realms (for one thing, dragons and giants fought wars for supremacy in the remote past, and dislike and distrust each other thanks to cultural memories).
The half-dragon/half-giant offspring always favors one parent far more than the other, so you get a giant with scales, a fitful, unreliable breath weapon, and some draconic immunities—or you get a dragon with giant-parent abilities (the innate spellcasting of a cloud giant, the heat resistance of a fire giant), and so on.
A half-dragon/half-giant is almost always sterile, always has immunity to poison and disease, and is immune to the Frightful Presence abilities of all dragons. (They do not get legendary actions, and if they establish a lair, they do not get “lair actions.”) |
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Posted - 18 Jan 2026 : 15:04:16
On the Jarnsaxa
Stu | Toril Odyssey Project — 10/1/2026 1:22 AM
@Ed Greenwood
In the 1993 game Dungeon Hack we meet Neysea Snowwolf. A member of a tribe called the Jarnsaxa. The Jarnsaxa were a reclusive amazon tribe, also known as "The Iron-Crushers of the World", that resided to the north of Yal Tengri, the Great Ice Sea of the Hordelands.
In your opinion are the Jarnsaxa:
A.) Sossrim from Sossal
B.) Ulutiun from the Great Glacier
C.) Something else entirely
Or D.) Not worth learning about
Ed Greenwood — 10/1/2026 9:18 AM
They are something else entirely. And will feature in an upcoming Lost Lore! |
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Posted - 18 Jan 2026 : 14:59:14
On the creation of the Wizard's Pit near Crownpost in Cormyr
Zonesylvania — 23/8/2025 6:48 AM
Dear Saer @Ed Greenwood , could you tell us something about who created the Wizard's Pit located near the former outpost of Crownpost in Cormyr?
Ed Greenwood — 8/1/2026 5:38 AM
What Cormyr now knows as “the Wizard’s Pit” is the lair of a mage who mastered how to craft gates (portals) with precise controls, how to hunt and magically “snatch” monsters from other planes and bring them through the gates to prisons in that lair, and how to magically confine and experiment upon them. The mage is currently…elsewhere.
The result is a “dungeon” of sorts that the Wizards of War and some hired chartered adventurers haven’t yet fully explored (and may never, considering the costs thus far). There is a suspicion among the authorities that the lair’s creator can magically farscry their activities while in the lair.
When creating the lair, the mage made use of an existing dwarf clan stronghold, enlarging it with the aid of non-dwarves. The mage also made use of covert connections to the Crown of Cormyr at the time (this would be in the reign of Azoun III) to have the hill-fort of Crownpost built over top of their lair, to “hide” it so their own journeys to and from it wouldn’t attract attention (“Why is X traveling into the wilderlands? Always to the same area? And vanishing for a month at a time?”). Which of course points at the mage being someone of note in Cormyr at the time—but not known to be a mage. (Cue chords of doom here.) |
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Posted - 18 Jan 2026 : 14:50:28
On the Tower of Luck to Tymora in Waterdeep
Razzelmire — 24/8/2025 11:41 AM
@Ed Greenwood Curious about the Tower of Luck to Tymora in Waterdeep; having problems imagining what a tower to the goddess of luck and adventure would be composed of from its layout and purpose, to who is in charge and what is the role of the site in Waterdeep?
Ed Greenwood — 8/1/2026 5:04 AM
The Tower of Luck is a shrine to Tymora: an open cylinder inside with a consecrated altar in the center of its open ground floor. There are simple sleeping cubicles and a garderobe and bathing alcove around the inner ground floor walls, and a spiral stair climbing the inside walls to a lookout level (roofed, with ladder up to a trapdoor offering battlements access) at the top of the tower. Built by dwarf and gnome smiths out of fitted (beveled for stresses, five feet thick) granite stones.
These days, it’s always staffed, by an evershifting roster of traveling adventurer-clerics of Tymora, but it’s a shrine, no longer the temple it was in the early 1300s DR. There’s always a ranking priest in charge at any one time, but no one is formally the head of the Tower of Luck.
It serves as a place of worship, short-stay rest and recuperation, and meeting-place for the faithful of the Lady of Luck. No one steals from it or vandalizes it, thanks to the very powerful city belief that misfortune immediately and heavily befalls anyone who does so. |
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Posted - 05 Jan 2026 : 07:21:19
On Silverymoon sewers freezing
GAMEtatron — 24/12/2025 5:38 AM
Hi Ed! A follow up from the lore on the Tantras Sewers: Silverymoon's Northbank has a sewer. This part of the city is on an incline, and with the current of the river it is unlikely that there would be flowback, but does Silverymoon's Sewer freeze in winter, like in Tantras, or does Silverymoon's Mythal prevent that?
Oh, and Merry Christmas! #128578;
Ed Greenwood — 3/1/2026 4:25 AM
Hi. A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you!
Several springs rise in northeastern Northbank, one of them providing water for Alustriel’s Palace. Local mythals within the palace, and located in the cellars that now house these risings (buildings were erected over all of them, long ago), warm these springs to a rolling boil, which is pumped to hot-water cisterns within the buildings, and also into the general piping (where it cools, but prevents freezing in the pipes while doing so) as it flows out to the rest of the city (where folk get hot water only by hearth-heating their incoming water).
This residual heat, plus the heat given off by the residents of the city and their activities (remember that many of the city buildings are “dug in,” with flagstone paths curving down to cellar front doors, à la some of real-world Portmeirion—decaying human wastes do give off their own heat), keeps the water pipes, sewage pipes, and main trunk sewers flowing. |
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Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 18:38:15
On fuwflander
Kokopelli — 24/12/2025 9:10 AM
Friend @Ed Greenwood, re-reading the old "Moonrise Over Myth Drannor" piece, I have to wonder... What in Lurue's name is roast fuwflander? I'm inclined to think it a typo, though I'm not sure what the correct word would have been...
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:51 AM
Nope, “fuwflander” is correct. It’s a nigh-brainless ground bird, like a grouse but unable to fly (only flap its wings and “speed-run” along the ground, squawking). So it’s easy to catch and kill (children with sticks and stones can fill a family stewpot if they get lucky). When spatchcocked and roasted, the skin peels off, feathers and all, so it doesn’t have to be plucked and is easy to prepare. It has a taste very like breaded chicken (home-breaded, not “11 different herbs and spices;” so, saltier but less strongly spiced), and is popular with rural cooks and hungry wayfarers. |
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Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 17:50:47
On what do gods smell like
Night Fang — 22/12/2025 1:36 AM
@Ed Greenwood howdy this is s bit of an odd question but… what do all of the gods smell like?
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:43 AM
Personally? Only a few select mortals (such as Elminster, when asked about Mystra or Azuth) can tell you.
What most mortals smell, when an avatar or a manifestation of a deity is close to them, is an clear, minty/menthol-like ozone-like “tang” in the air that overwhelms anything else.
There are exceptions: Moander smells like festering rot (a very powerful rotting compost or landfill reek), Chauntea and Silvanus and Mielikki smell like green growing things, Eldath smells like wet moss and falling clen, clear water, and Malar smells like freshly-spilled blood and animal musk.
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Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 17:32:27
On theurglass
Zonesylvania — 21/12/2025 9:56 AM
Dear friend @Ed Greenwood , what's the market like for theurglass objects and curios these days in major city states and kingdoms of the Realms, and could you kindly add anything about a maker and/or reseller of the same? thankee!
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:38 AM
Theurglass is far less known than glassteel, and is far rarer and more expensive, so its market is small.
Some rulers have used it for “sally-ports” in fortresses: if a stronghold or castle is large enough to accommodate a walled paddock in which a sally-force (warband arrayed and prepared to emerge from the fortress in formation) can muster and form up, having a theurglass “gate” with a curtain or screen set up within it to block vision, that can be abruptly “taken away” by magic to allow the force to burst out, can be useful—and Amn, Tethyr, and the Vilhon now feature a handful of such installations, though mostly for bragging rights by the rulers who’ve had them constructed, rather than “everyday-useful military installations.”
At least one mercenary band, the Lawful Blades of Saradush (led by the human male veteran warrior Aldeglond Eraskabro), has experimented with using theurglass weapons and armor that can then be “vanished” so the mercenaries can blend in with “crowds of commoners” to get away from the site of the attack they were hired to make, but the notion hasn’t spread to others.
Folk who can make theurglass don’t tend to advertise their talent, but Volo knows of two: the human finesmith Halvun Ordrel of Athkatla (the man who employs over forty gnomes in his always-bustling smithies, who increasingly make cast-metal vent grates and window frames), and the one-eyed dwarf Yuskul Delvarr of Mirabar.
As for obtaining existing theurglass, the best sources familiar to Volo are: the busy manygoods traders Voebryn Dreer of Waterdeep (a quiet, serious human male best contacted via any of the taverns along The High Road in Trades Ward), Freskral Lancetree of Scornubel (a sly, handsome scoundrel of a rogue with a scar down his face from a wound that turned his right eye milky; ask for him at the tavern known as Truskan’s Talltankard), and Nuldur Zeskarl of Westgate, best reached by asking for “the Old Eye” at the Fairwagon tavern, which moves often from rented location to rented location along the westernmost inner edge of the walled city). Volo knows there are multiple theurglass sources in Saerloon and Selgaunt, but can’t name them as he’s unfamiliar with them. He also believes there’s a source in Nethjet (in Thay), but warns that this must be illicit, and Red Wizards are ever watchful. |
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Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 17:21:26
On why diamonds have an affinity for divination magic
cuddlypooface — 12/12/2025 4:59 AM
Well met @Ed Greenwood, I was wondering why diamonds in the realms have an affinity for divination magic? Are they related to the gods in a historic way? Do the dwarves know and protect this knowledge?
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:38 AM
The gods intend divination spells to be expensive to cast, to decrease the frequency with which mortals seek guidance rather than taking responsibility for their own decision-making and actions. So these spells require an expensive material component that the magic consumes. Diamonds were chosen partly for features, and partly for reputation: the diamond must be “flawless” (perfectly cut, and free from inclusions and variable hues, which are seen as imperfections). The reputation of the hoped-for guidance is to be perfect, and provide clarity of sight—matching the features of suitable diamonds.
Note that in a pinch, flawless (free of inclusions and hue variations, and perfectly cut) gemstones of high value can be used in divination castings, in lieu of diamonds. Doing so is simply riskier than “the way we know works.”
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Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 17:10:27
On the dangers of The Ride
LukasJP — 7/12/2025 4:01 PM
Hey @Ed Greenwood! Curious about the region known as the Ride north of the Moonsea - what is its fauna and flora like, and what are the hallmark 'dangers' of the region? Nearby Thar has its rather insidious creatures, and I have noted that goblinoids and orcs regularly attack towns such as Whitehorn, and that the barbarians are a notable threat as well, but I would love to hear if you have any additional information to share!
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:37 AM
“The Ride” gained its name because it’s open, rolling country suitable for mounted travel if one knows what terrain to keep to—not quite tundra, but trees (mainly pines) are few and stunted, long grasses give way to short grasses (heather and gorse-like bushes and ground cover), and there are frequent rock tors and outcrops: places where hillsides have fallen away to expose rock faces (where birds nest on ledges and small, furry ratlike local beasts make their homes in crevices and tiny caverns).
Cold winds are everpresent, and in the past, now-vanished dragons once hunted herds here, and the ogres (“beast-men”) of Thar when the herds were gone, so it’s largely uninhabited land.
Which doesn’t mean it’s empty. Caravans cross it constantly, carrying trade-bars and rough-smelted blocks of metal from the ores dug out of mines to the North, and orc and hobgoblin raiding bands and brigands (mainly outlaws from the Moonsea port cities, but also from the Vast, Sembia, and Cormyr) prey upon them, and when such pickings are lean (meaning: when caravans bolster their guards so attacking them becomes a near-certain death sentence), attack settlements within reach.
The Ride doesn’t lack water, but much of each year it lacks running water; ice and snow must be melted to drink (the result will taste unpleasant due to iron and other dissolved minerals in the water, but will not be unhealthy).
Thar is colder and rockier; the rolling hills and grasses become rarer than in the ride, and the trees rarer still.
Both regions have small but deep ravines where the winds don’t reach and—if there are also springs—trees and plants of all sorts are abundant. These provide the best cover and camping-places. Only idiots (and those seeking to lure foes) light big fires in either land. |
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Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 16:57:33
On silver dragon sauce
Zonesylvania — 22/11/2025 10:09 PM
dear saer @Ed Greenwood , what ingredients go into, and how does silver dragon sauce taste like (as served over sausage rolls in Braundlae's Best at Suzail from the cormyr novel)? thankee!
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:36 AM
Silver dragon sauce is a thick, lumpy, silvery-hued sauce ladled over sausage rolls.
Despite its colour, it’s what cooks call a “white sauce” (a roux of milk, flour, and butter seasoned with salt, sage, crushed dill and mustard seeds, white wine vinegar, powdered almonds, and a pre-prepared, precise “drake mixture” of lime juice, quince juice, crushed acorns, and distillate of silverfin skin; that is, the roasted “skin” or scales of the common silverfin fish).
If the drake mixture is made in the right proportions and simmered until the scales dissolve, it turns a bright, metallic silver, which gives the sauce its colour and its prevalent taste, which is like a gently spicy, savory roasted sharp cheese akin to real-world Stilton, with an aftertaste of mingled dill and almonds. (If this mixture is wrong, no silver results, and the taste is like a nutty cheese sauce; it might be served, but never as “silver dragon sauce.”)
Legends say that in olden times, real silver dragon scales were used to make this sauce, not fish. But then, legends say a lot of things… |
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Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 16:39:49
On mortalborn gods and ageless lifespans
Kim Kimera Kimes — 4/12/2025 2:23 AM
Hey @Ed Greenwood ! In your books you examine what happens to characters such as the Chosen of Mystra who have a very long lifespan beyond their mortal limits. The various characters get a bit of insanity. Now I wondered if this is also true with the once mortalborn gods and any celestial servants born from the souls of a mortal. Do they also suffer from their ageless lifespan?
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:35 AM
Oh, yes. They either grow bored and listless, or bored and whimsical (often dangerously so, doing reckless things just to enliven their lives; see Klorr, the Darklord of Klorr—and watch LEGACY OF WORLDS for a confrontation between Elminster and Klorr).
Most gods aren’t sane by mortal standards, simply because they see life, the multiverse, and existence so differently.
Mortalborn who become gods have their minds “stretched” by their new worldview, and some minds break when so stretched. Minds that don’t, and minds that already had enough self-awareness to be able to objectively analyze themselves, tend to patch up any mental instability or depression/despair/ennui troubles by fiercely embracing an ethos or aims to become “the ultimate” god of war, or justice, or whatever: the epitome of whatever portfolios they hold or aspire to hold. They “get busy” to move on from dwelling on their broken state, and often successfully drag themselves up by the bootstraps.
In doing so, some of them become power-mad menaces, such as Bane, Lolth, and Shar (who happened to head in the very worst direction—seeking to spread and sew loss and despair—for keeping oneself stable). |
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Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 12:47:33
On Runny Luiren cheese
Juniper Churlgo — 4/12/2025 7:33 AM
Ed, what’s “delightful Runny Luiren” cheese? Is it related to cheeeeese? Churlgo cheeses? Brie? Blue?
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:34 AM
Runny Luiren cheese is a soft-rind, brine-ripened cheese that looks very like Brie (and is usually made and sold in “handwheels,” flat circular discs ranging in size from about ten inches across to “three human hands” across, and in thickness from about two adult human fingers (the biggest two on a hand) to the width of an entire hand.
In consistency and colour, Runny Luiren also resembles Brie, but imagine Brie that’s spiced with cumin, pepper, and ginger, and already had a subtle “mushroom” taste before spices were added to the mix.
The result tastes almost like a very mild curry. It has a strong smell, but it’s not “stinky cheese” like Limburger. Most halflings love it when they can get it (which isn’t easy, the farther one gets from Luiren, with the exception of the ports of Waterdeep, Baldur’s Gate, Athkatla, Zazesspur, and along the Tashalar), and although it’s an acquired taste, it’s a taste that many humans and elves have acquired, down the years. To almost all drow, it’s a mouth delight that they rave about, nigh-foodgasm over, and will do almost anything to taste more of. (Can’t afford certain drow professionals in Baldur’s Gate? Offer them a palm-sized piece of Runny Luiren, and that will be more than payment enough.)
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Posted - 30 Dec 2025 : 12:08:22
On cheese that blends with herbs
Zonesylvania — 23/10/2025 4:22 AM
Good saer @Ed Greenwood , are there any cheeses in the Realms that use blends of herbs in their manufacture? Or any cheese with spices other than Calishite Green? thankee!
Ed Greenwood — 24/12/2025 10:33 AM
There are many, of both sorts. In fact, most Faerûnian cheeses use particular herbs, or two to three herbs in combination, in their making. Stronger-flavoured spiced cheeses are rarer, but they exist, from Runny Luiren to Stronkh (from Ashanath) to Ualacontur (“Oo-AL-ah-kaun-turr” from Murghôm). |
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