| 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 - 13 Apr 2024 : 08:35:40
On new realmslore on the Maraloi
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1778875737639944473
Apr 13, 2024
@TheEdVerse
I just released some new #realmslore
<https://twitter.com/i/status/1778875737639944473> |
| questing gm |
Posted - 11 Apr 2024 : 12:59:42
On Shadowdale today
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1777775963939414195
Apr 10, 2024
@ThePiazzaForum
Forgotten Realms fans: Not a Decepticon wants to talk about Ed Greenwood's "What has befallen Elminster's home of 650 years?" video: https://thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?t=33277
What do you think about Elminster's tower, what Elminster is doing in Waterdeep and Storm Silverhand nursing Mordenkainen?
@TheEdVerse
'Tis never unwise to get on the good side of a wizard of peerless power.
And Storm's good side has nursed many a mage and Harper back from death or insanity.
She's my walking tribute to nurses and caregivers everywhere. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 11 Apr 2024 : 12:55:03
On 3 hour discussion of factions and organizations in Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1777540348236931198
Apr 9, 2024
@LGosumba
Wonderful 3+ hour discussion with @TheEdVerse @anna_b_meyer with @Littlebird_84 & @CourtneyWads94 surprising Ed! Vid here on Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2113853118
And on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcJFfgifYXY
@TheEdVerse
Current intrigues and skullduggery amid factions of the Realms AND Greyhawk!!! |
| questing gm |
Posted - 08 Apr 2024 : 11:30:17
On Harpers in 5th Edition following the Code of the Harpers
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1777053981883187491
Apr 8, 2024
@MundoSociedade
Hi mister @TheEdVerse , Could you answer a question, I'm really delving into the lore of FR, do the Harpers, currently in the fifth edition, still follow the codes and questions of the Haper code, from the second edition? Are they decentralized, disorganized and free?
@TheEdVerse
They are still decentralized, though the western branch has more of a hierarchy (and uses Twilight Hall in Berdusk as their headquarters, as always) than the eastern "Senior Harpers." And they still follow the Code. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 06 Apr 2024 : 09:52:23
On the dangers of a drunken Elminster
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1775664276381765654
Apr 4, 2024
@colehartwig
@TheEdVerse ever since watching your video on iron spheres, i can't help but wonder if a drunken elminster is more or less dangerous? given the remark about pina coladas, if you are willing to answer such an admittingly silly question XD
@TheEdVerse
Theoretically, more dangerous because inhibitions gone so he might "cut loose" with powerful magic more easily. However, I've never seen him drunk, just "happy," and a happy Elminster seems a lot safer than a grim one.
Should I ask him? |
| questing gm |
Posted - 06 Apr 2024 : 09:16:58
On international law regulating war and humanitarian rights
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1775663319912767919
Apr 4, 2024
@optionalrule
@TheEdVerse Are there any concepts in The Realms similar to International Laws regulating warfare or humanitarian right in war?
@TheEdVerse
Oh, yes. If you make war the wrong way, Tempus Lord of Battles frowns on you...and victories of any sort become rare indeed. And everyone knows this. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 06 Apr 2024 : 09:11:24
On rarity of dragon population
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1775346013466685587
Apr 3, 2024
@MikeLamberti
@TheEdVerse if using item rarity as a scale, what are we talking regarding the general dragon population in the Forgotten Realms?
Thanks in advance!
@TheEdVerse
Outside of Laerakond and the realm of Murghôm, rare. In those places, uncommon.
There are local glitches, though: the number of dragons living in other shapes in Waterdeep, for instance.
@MikeLamberti
Thank you! And that’s an interesting point… is it maybe more common to run into shapeshifted dragons throughout?
@TheEdVerse
Likely. However, most of the time, you'll never know. They don't go "breaking cover" lightly. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 05 Apr 2024 : 15:07:29
quote:
Originally posted by questing gm
On a reliable method to grant the Gift
<snip>
@TheEdVerse
No. There is no reliable method of passing on the Gift. A tendency has been observed for parents who both have the Gift to have offspring who have a higher chance of being Gifted than the children of non-Gifted parents, with the children of unions between Gifted and non-Gifted being “in the middle” in terms of likelihood of each of their children being Gifted.
It seems to be something beyond mortals to figure out, or control. Some have even tried such things as ongoing contact with enchanted dildoes,
LOL.... yeah, THAT'S why they were walking around with enchanted magically vibrating/twisting dildoes inserted all day.... to see if it would make them magical ... there was absolutely zero other reasons. The Sharess worshipper that was attempting this did not gain the gift, however, it is believed that she received "visions from her goddess" as a result.... though others who were watching her moans would call it something else. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 05 Apr 2024 : 14:58:02
quote:
Originally posted by questing gm
On where do soul of gods go when they die
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1773533721800401030
Mar 29, 2024
@JaredMelo6
Hey, @TheEdVerse! I'm DMing in the Time of Troubles and a doubt came to my mind:
When a god dies (like Bane and Torm died in Tantras), does his soul go to the Fugue Planes (or Myrkul's Realm in this time) like mortals that died or it goes somewhere else?
What about the soul of the body they took as an Avatar?
@TheEdVerse
This is one of the innate, unusual elements of godhood: there’s nothing predictable about the destination of a divine soul, or a divine-touched soul (such as the soul of a body a deity, even a demigod, has inhabited). They can appear anywhere, and go anywhere, sometimes moving by what seems like instinct or deliberate will, and sometimes seemingly at random/confused. No one knows what causes them to appear or journey to a specific place, beyond the observed fact that “unfinished business” (like an undead revenant) seems to SOMETIMES have some bearing on this.
Just to add to this... the 3.5e concept of "the place where vestiges go" might be considered a place where the "divine soul" of some beings go .... and its debatable if the "beings" that are entrapped there even still possess what we would term a "body" while in that place. It could be that body and "divine soul" are separated and that becomes what makes the place so hard to escape.
Along these lines, I highly recommend Eric Boyd's adventure "Wells of Darkness" in Dungeon #148 where he introduces a planar layer with "wells of darkness" in which powerful beings can be imprisoned, and these "wells" can be linked to "shattered night"... which may be at least ONE of the places where vestiges "go" (because we don't know that they're all in the "same" place necessarily). In that product, it notes that entrapped demons and devils are constantly trying to be "reincarnated" in the fiendish forms by the lower planes and that beings (abyssal ghouls and chasme mostly) in the "fiendish prison" are feasting on their regrowing forms to gain power themselves and prevent their fiendish regenerations. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 05 Apr 2024 : 12:17:13
On Iron Spheres
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1775260496347668894
Apr 3, 2024
@TheEdVerse
Friends! I've released a new video explaining on of the #forgottenrealms's strangest and most mysterious magic items: IRON SPHERES.
Join me as we discover their origins and their capabilities! #dnd #realmslore
#127909;#9654;#65039; https://youtu.be/Jvy_hr1QLQE |
| questing gm |
Posted - 31 Mar 2024 : 10:18:14
On the concept of citizenship
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1774253207742554222
Mar 31, 2024
@Azounerella
@TheEdVerse I have a question for you, Wise Sage. Does the concept of citizenship (as opposed to just residency) exist anywhere in the Forgotten Realms? If so, could you please elaborate on where they have it and how it works?
@TheEdVerse
Hoo boy, citizenship matters in many, many places across Faerűn, as a basis for voting, for guild membership, for preferential tax treatment in some places and land/urban real estate ownership in others; if you count towns and city states, in HUNDREDS of places. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Mar 2024 : 03:03:07
On could Elminster rebuild his ancient homeland the Kingdom of the Stag Athalanter
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1773545428115403152
Mar 29, 2024
@TywinResists
@TheEdVerse if Elminster wanted to, could he rebuild his ancient homeland the Kingdom of the Stag Athalanter? I am only curious about his former homeland.
@TheEdVerse
He COULD, but it would wreak havoc in current Secomber and the lands around, and would be hollow to him: it would be a "stage set" evoking his past, not restoring it. So why harm folk now, to chase something he knows he can't get back? |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Mar 2024 : 02:58:43
On spells or other magic in the Realms that deal with paternity tests, or other DNA-type tests
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1773544337034371119
Mar 29, 2024
@webjr1981
@TheEdVerse Are there spells or other magic in the realms that deal with paternity tests, or other DNA-type tests?
@TheEdVerse
Yes, but they are rare, and most clergies that know such divine spells (they are all divine, and not arcane, though some arcane spells can detect enchanted blood; for these to have any utility, the caster has to know the nature of the blood that was “there before” a suspected contact or change or event) have ethical considerations about using them. In other words, if the requester (who must typically pay handsomely) doesn’t have a strong reason for knowing heritage/lineage/inheritance (such as a curse, or nobility, or royalty) that the clergy accepts, they won’t cast such spells. If establishing paternity will prevent local feuds or mistreatment of an individual, the clergy would likely cast such a spell. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Mar 2024 : 02:54:58
On a reliable method to grant the Gift
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1773543513201729633
Mar 29, 2024
@smolbep
@TheEdVerse
Hi! l've been thinking about the Gift with your tweets this past week, and I got to wondering: is it even possible to have a reliable method to grant the Gift? If so, has anyone figured one out yet? If not, why?
@TheEdVerse
No. There is no reliable method of passing on the Gift. A tendency has been observed for parents who both have the Gift to have offspring who have a higher chance of being Gifted than the children of non-Gifted parents, with the children of unions between Gifted and non-Gifted being “in the middle” in terms of likelihood of each of their children being Gifted.
It seems to be something beyond mortals to figure out, or control. Some have even tried such things as ongoing contact with enchanted dildoes, surgically implanted magic items, magical undergarments, and “treatment programs” of having spells frequently cast on pregnant women and their infants, to try to make the Gift manifest more often…but NOTHING is reliable. Mystra, Azuth, and Ao can grant the Gift, and overwhelming one’s own blood with that of creatures whose Gift is innate (dragon’s blood) often but not always works, but nothing more is reliable.
It's obviously, after all this time and experimentation, something that can’t be “figured out,” so…that’s why. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Mar 2024 : 02:51:20
On Vangerdahast's sanctum in "Elminster's Daughter"
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1773541509633028506
Mar 29, 2024
@ItalianKarsus
@TheEdVerse hey just checking... was Vangerdahast's sanctum in "Elminster's Daughter" the Stag Steads lodge near Mouth o' Gargoyles?
@TheEdVerse
No. It was near Stag Steads, but was a place he magically shielded from discovery (and magically reshaped) after discovering it. Unbeknownst to him, part of it consisted of caverns in the depths of the King’s Forest that in ancient times were lairs for dragons—and when Mystra’s vestige appeared in another cave, some of her “backup echoes” were in this sanctum. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Mar 2024 : 02:48:21
On how is Laeral Silverhand handling Waterdeep politics
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1773540460096581771
Mar 29, 2024
@AlecTheRitter
@TheEdVerse any hint on how is Laeral Silverhand handling Waterdeep politics?
Like, has the Waterdevian "Hegemony" expanded into the Wild Frontier? Are the finances doing good? Amy relevant change?
@TheEdVerse
Laeral inherited a city whose finances were a shambles, thanks to her predecessor (Neverember) spending lavishly and looting treasury budgets for his own ends, as well as a city of increasing tensions due to his habit of setting Masked Lords against each other, guild against guild, and trading coster against trading coster so he held the most daily on-the-ground power. She is trying to soothe tensions, restore trust (largely by fair and open rulings, kindness, and restoring rights or privileges that had been trampled upon). So her theme thus far has been more renewal than reaching out, aside from trying to achieve closer accord with such places as Silverymoon and Secomber (in other words, to revive the spirit of the Silver Marches if not any of its formal existence). The finances are doing much better, as she improves tax collection but refines the tax code so residents don’t feel oppressed, and the trust is coming back far more slowly. Currently, Laeral is leaving the “fix small conspiracies and blunt the reach of the Xanathar” to Elminster (who has achieved much by personally confronting the beholder crime lord and warning it that if it becomes too troublesome, El can and will personally destroy it, with ease—and might even make the demise "fittingly painful") and devoting herself to improving her personal relationships with Vajra (the Blackstaff), various noble houses, and specific Masked Lords and guildmasters. Her goal is not to win any popularity contests, but to make Waterdeep a happier place whose residents residents feel like a team, who like each other’s company, and not “a nest of competing vipers,” which is what one veteran merchant called it three decades ago. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Mar 2024 : 02:44:41
On do children's souls without a patron go to the Wall of the Faithless
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1773535174648594675
Mar 29, 2024
@JaredMelo6
@TheEdVerse a question, when children die in Faerun, and they couldn't choose a Patron in life, do their souls go to the Wall of the Faithless in the City of Judgement?
@TheEdVerse
No, “Faithless” are those who repudiated the gods deliberately. In the polytheistic Realms, no one has to choose a Patron. Dead infants and children drift towards the deity most often worshipped in their presence, even if they were asleep, too ill or comatose to know what was going on around them, and so on. If the parents or family they were directly part of/spent time within venerated a specific deity or several deities, those deities would have the strongest ‘call.’ |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Mar 2024 : 02:41:43
On where do soul of gods go when they die
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1773533721800401030
Mar 29, 2024
@JaredMelo6
Hey, @TheEdVerse! I'm DMing in the Time of Troubles and a doubt came to my mind:
When a god dies (like Bane and Torm died in Tantras), does his soul go to the Fugue Planes (or Myrkul's Realm in this time) like mortals that died or it goes somewhere else?
What about the soul of the body they took as an Avatar?
@TheEdVerse
This is one of the innate, unusual elements of godhood: there’s nothing predictable about the destination of a divine soul, or a divine-touched soul (such as the soul of a body a deity, even a demigod, has inhabited). They can appear anywhere, and go anywhere, sometimes moving by what seems like instinct or deliberate will, and sometimes seemingly at random/confused. No one knows what causes them to appear or journey to a specific place, beyond the observed fact that “unfinished business” (like an undead revenant) seems to SOMETIMES have some bearing on this. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Mar 2024 : 02:38:31
On "Those Mysterious Hovering Balls."
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1772680270329651345
Mar 27, 2024
@TheEdVerse NEW LORE discussing an interesting item in the Realms that has been baffling players for years.
Please ignore the title of this clip. It seems the automatic transcription made a mistake.
"Those Mysterious Hovering Balls." #realmslore #dnd
#128279; https://patreon.com/posts/those-mysterious-101109369?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link |
| questing gm |
Posted - 30 Mar 2024 : 02:32:52
On a readily-deployable list of NPCs that belong to the noble Cormyrian house, Crownrood
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1772700683105435859
Mar 27, 2024
@TheEdVerse
Today is a big day for #realmslore!
I've just released a new video which covers a readily-deployable list of NPCs that belong to the noble Cormyrian house, Crownrood.
Let me know if you deploy these characters in any of your adventures! #dnd #cormyr
#9654;#65039; https://youtu.be/3PpqHx_vEpk |
| questing gm |
Posted - 18 Mar 2024 : 00:11:29
On Self Training In Spellcraft & Psionics In The Realms
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1769379254322471222
Mar 17, 2024
@TheEdVerse
New video alert!
Today's Discussion: Self Training In Spellcraft & Psionics In The Realms! :}
If you're interested in giving your spellcasting character a narrative boost in both power and expertise, then please give this a watch!
#dnd #realmslore
#127909;#9654;#65039; https://youtube.com/watch?v=CQIveeMgHP8 |
| questing gm |
Posted - 14 Mar 2024 : 07:10:27
On the bladethirst spell
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1768050635222462749
Mar 14, 2024
@rwgs76
Dear Mr. @TheEdVerse , I have a question about the bladethirst spell from FR Adventures.
Is this spell effective against creatures that can only be hit by magical weapons? Is a common dagger under this spell considered a +3 magical weapon for the spell's duration?
@TheEdVerse
Yes and yes.
Those properties are the main reason for the spell's popularity. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 13 Mar 2024 : 12:57:44
On an insidious assassination plot against the one and only Mirt the Moneylender
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1767657448410694018
Mar 13, 2024
@TheEdVerse
New video alert!
Today, I'm telling another Edtime Story™#65039; that pulls back the curtain on an insidious assassination plot against the one and only Mirt the Moneylender!
Please enjoy On Old Lord Too Many. ;}
#dnd #forgottenrelms #realmslore
#127909;#9654;#65039; https://youtu.be/wdDPeDh3HZ0 |
| questing gm |
Posted - 13 Mar 2024 : 12:49:03
On good locations for a village in a marsh/forest terrain setting inspired by the stories of Livermore PA and Centralia, PA
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1767403072999866856
Mar 12, 2024
@imkerrusin
@TheEdVerse I'm working on a forgotten realms mystery/adventure that's inspired by the stories of Livermore PA and Centralia, PA. I have a village name and a marsh/forest terrain setting, but no place to put it in the faerun map. Any suggestions for good locations?
@TheEdVerse
Sure. Livermore was repeatedly flooded until it was abandoned (so the US Army Engineers could “fix” the river responsible), and the upper reaches of the west branch of the Thornwash, that flows south to empty into the Lake of Steam at Ankhapur fit that very well.
Centralia is abandoned due to a coal-seam fire beneath it that has burned for years. There are places in Threskel today, due south of Mount Thulbane, where the same thing is happening, and there are “Baking Rocks” (hot rocky terrain) and “Forging Rifts” (open cracks in the rock where lava seethes, and brave gnomes and dwarves come to work metals in the heat).
Now, if you want those two conditions in the same village, so in the same place, that’s much harder. You’ll have to go all the way east to southern Semphar for that. To the westernmost branch of the Goldenflow, where it tumbles down out of the Raurin Alta. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 08 Mar 2024 : 14:25:00
On items haunted by halflings that seek out the best pies or ultimate pranks
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1765096545412694386
Mar 6, 2024
@PrmusPilusXVIII
@TheEdVerse please tell me there are items haunted by halflings that seek out the best pies or ultimate pranks
@TheEdVerse
Oh, yes!
The "home" Realms campaign had a dagger +1 (also gave "double advantage" or two rerolls, once a day) that knew all the best eateries in Waterdeep and wanted to be dipped in sauces therein. Loudly demanding, often, like a hungry child whining. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 05 Mar 2024 : 02:52:14
On Halruaa and what those crafty wizards are up to today
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1764788153737523327
Mar 5, 2024
@TheEdVerse
My latest video is out!
This time I catch you up on a land that (to many readers and gamers) had been lost to time: HALRUAA.
Let's see what those crafty wizards are up to today. ;} #dnd #realmslore #forgottenrealms
#9654;#65039;https://youtu.be/t56Az0HNQXM |
| questing gm |
Posted - 04 Mar 2024 : 06:56:06
On the drow word for moon
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1764417664728908120 https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1764419023754739729 https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1764424976327721015 https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1765082964705128939
Mar 4, 2024
@Aphneia
@TheEdVerse what's the drow word for "moon", or the rough equivalent of it?
@TheEdVerse
alvassun (from: silver-light: alva = silver hue + ssussun = light, brightness)
@Aphneia
that’s so pretty #128557; thank you so much!
@TheEdVerse
My pleasure!
Surface elves of Faerűn, by contrast, usually say "teu" for both moon and the hue of silver. :}
@StarkMaximum
I get the eytmology (and the real world significance given the moon reflects the sun) but it's very funny that the word for moon has "sun" in it.
@TheEdVerse
It is, but remember that the moon is the only "sun" that most drow (raiding the surface from the Underdark) ever see.
This idea (but not the actual word) came from Gary Gygax, who gave us the drow as D&D depicts them.
@Xer0Dynamite
So that the night is their "day"? And they never go out during the day?
@TheEdVerse
Underdark-dwelling drow raid the Realms Above (the surface world) by night; they find the light of the sun blinding, and its brightness robs them of cover, whereas they function quite well in conditions surface dwellers find dark.
- Edited on 8/3/24 to add new tweet |
| questing gm |
Posted - 27 Feb 2024 : 13:05:32
On Hawkstone
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1762252840070688790
Feb 27, 2024
@TheEdVerse
My new video is out!
Join me as I revisit one of my earliest archetypes for a ranger from the "Old Gray Box" Forgotten Realms Campaign Set, HAWKSTONE. :}
Listen to the tragic tale of what became of this fascinating character.
#dnd #realmslore
#9654;#65039;https://youtu.be/vY0j5V7KsIE |
| questing gm |
Posted - 27 Feb 2024 : 13:03:18
On 11 hours of Realmslore
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1762224753148878920
Feb 27, 2024
@TheEdVerse
For those that haven't seen, I've just published over 11 hours of Realms Q&A footage to my Patreon that is chock full of highly detailed realmslore! It's been a hectic couple months, but I'm glad to be releasing all of this fun new content for my Realms fans. :} |
| questing gm |
Posted - 26 Feb 2024 : 14:17:09
On lore about Otiluke
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1761987559750545580 https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1761987561449210052
Feb 26, 2024
@gimme_grits
@TheEdVerse Hello Ed, I have a question that I’m not sure if you could help with. I am basing a new character on being a descendant of Otiluke from Greyhawk. There is very little lore about Otiluke. Do you know more on his lore? And do you know how he came to be known in Faerun?
@TheEdVerse
Otiluke (who, sadly, is no longer with us) covertly visited Toril several times to visit with Elminster. He became more widely known after his demise, when Mordenkainen was in Toril being nursed back to sanity by Elminster.
What lore are you most interested in?
I play a former apprentice of Otiluke in Lord Gosumba's Greyhawk games, Rhavalantar, a member of the Two-Drink Minimum adventuring band. |
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