| 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 - 23 May 2023 : 14:05:35
On rubber in Faerun
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1660856798092439552 https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1661566939251060736
May 23, 2023
@dreadhelm
It seems weird to me that Doric has that peculiar slingshot bracer on her arm in the @DnDMovie. Do they have rubber in Faerun?
<https://twitter.com/dreadhelm/status/1660740075863396373/photo/1>
@paladin_polite
Maybe it’s a rubbery tendon from some sort of exotic monster #129300;
@TheEdVerse
You have put thy finger upon the truth of it! However, this "monster" is narthea ["Nar-THEE-ah"], a "creeping" (mobile) semi-intelligent vine known to druids of the Sword Coast and Moonsea North forests.
@KyreneZA
Is that the Common or Elvish name for the plant?
@TheEdVerse
It's the Elvish name, but there's no commonly-accepted Common equivalent name yet, as so few humans (and non-human traders) know of the existence of the vine, let alone its uses.
- Edited on 25/5/23 to add new tweet. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 22 May 2023 : 03:45:47
Well, this is a Forgotten Realms forum, and I started this particular thread with an eye towards sharing the Realmslore Ed was sharing elsewhere.
I would not be adverse to having his Realmslore from Discord or any other places shared in this or other discussions here; it is my opinion, though, that we should stick with his Realmslore and only include other stuff if it connects back to the Realms. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 21 May 2023 : 13:35:46
Greetings all. Just a bit of housekeeping moving forward.
I was absent from the forums because I kept getting warnings that the site was unsecure, and since I was hit by a rash of hacking attacks on multiple platforms, I wasn't keen on taking chances where my security could be compromised. Having not seen any change to the situation here in the past few months (and the attacks having died down), I decided to try resuming some activity here, despite the risk, but you can bet I would hurriedly disappear again if I sense any compromise.
The other thing I wanted to discuss for the posterity of this scroll. Since the introduction of Mr. Greenwood's new Pateron, YouTube, and Discord, his Twitter account has increasingly been used as a promotional platform for materials that come out of the abovementioned platforms, and slapped with the #realmlslore tag during my searches.
These are often promotional tweets and links to said material, so while they don't always answer specific questions asked to him, I wonder if this is the sort of material that should be in this scroll (I've already filtered them for my last round of new updates). So should I include them here or not?
If this discussion should be taken elsewhere or to another scroll, I submit to the wisdom of the mods. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 21 May 2023 : 09:01:49
On the Luiren-Mystara portal
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1657965745723121670
May 15, 2023
@Artie_Pavlov
Hi @TheEdVerse the argument over the luiren-mystara portal as been going in circles. Could you please elaborate on its use and the halfling merchants passing through?
@TheEdVerse
Sure. See the realmslore channel in Greenwood's Grotto for my lore reply.
(Folks, it's a free Discord server, full of Realms fans having fun. Come on over, the spells and knights and crazed wizards and mumbling sages are fine!)
From Discord:
Sure. The portal was used in the 1330s DR for certain hin families to travel from Luiren to the Five Shires, and vice versa (emigrating), and thereafter saw use for about twenty years by enterprising hin merchants transporting small but valuable items (such as gems, medicines, drugs, rare material components for arcane spells, and wizard’s workbooks [that describe the casting of a spell in exhaustive detail, with all incantations and particulars of material components, so someone with the Gift and sufficient mastery {ability to handle arcane spells of that particular level} can read a workbook entry and write a spell scroll from it, though the workbook entry is not itself a spell scroll and so can pass through this sort of portal unscathed].
Then there was some sort of disaster involving the deaths of merchants passing through the portal; they were stabbed en passant, perhaps by someone lurking “within” the portal somehow, who stole some items from the merchants. So the use of the portal stopped, and one of the Seven Sisters “hid” the Luiren end of the portal magically, and a druid did a little work to hide it physically (it was in a forested ravine, which is now tangled with thick growth and crisscrossing fallen trees).
Elminster is of the opinion that the portal is still functioning, and can readily be found at the Five Shires end (in the forested hills north of Shadowgate and southwest of Ringrise), but there’s the little matter of the dagger-wielding murderer (who if mortal, is likely dead or old and feeble indeed now, but what if they’re an outsider or abomination or undead or a group of guardians rather than an individual?). |
| questing gm |
Posted - 21 May 2023 : 07:25:07
On why doesn’t Elminster have any spells named after him
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1657199163430273025
May 13, 2023
@OmegaNumari
I have always wondered, why doesn’t Elminster have any spells named after him?
@TheEdVerse
He has lots of spells named after him, and some are in the published lore: Elminster's evasion, Elminster's effulgent epuration, Elminster's multiple mouths.... |
| questing gm |
Posted - 21 May 2023 : 07:14:52
On Valarken’s coup
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1657091122781380625
May 13, 2023
@JRQMTM
I saw your BG video with Ivan on YouTube, and I had a question. You said that the Council of Four was restored in 1476 DR. Does this mean Valarken’s coup occurred in the same year? Murder in Baldur’s Gate and the 4e setting book don’t say the year but took place.
@TheEdVerse
Yes. Coup in the spring, is the summer before the Council is back in place (much intrigue/adventuring/vying for power in between). |
| questing gm |
Posted - 21 May 2023 : 07:12:38
On what is a group of cubes called?
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1657080714892828681 https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1657085607435288581
May 13, 2023
@GHC_and_Tacos
What is a group of cubes called? #Gameholecon Oct 19-22 Madison, WI
<https://twitter.com/GHC_and_Tacos/status/1656995834314076161/photo/1> <https://twitter.com/GHC_and_Tacos/status/1656995834314076161/photo/2>
@TheEdVerse
A wall. ;}
No, really, that's the term of venery for cubes we agreed upon at TSR, back in the day. (Causing Dave Sutherland to snort, "You guys never left fifth grade, did you?" Nope, Dave, nope we didn't. And are proud of that.)
@DarthJodoc
A tyranny of dragons
A wall of cubes
Curious to know what other collective names were used.
@TheEdVerse
There's a whole list of them, that I wrote up for The Dragon, but we never published.
A thirst of stirges, etc. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 21 May 2023 : 07:02:39
On what place in forgotten realms has the same climate as San Diego CA
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1655781315516542981
May 9, 2023
@Christo15851366
Question what place in forgotten realms has the same climate as San Diego CA? I appreciate your thoughts.
@TheEdVerse
San Diego is a coastal desert, and there are many FR places like it, including in southern Calimshan, along the northwestern shore of the Lake of Steam, and where Lapaliiya gets closest to Sheirtalar that are the same climate. |
| questing gm |
Posted - 21 May 2023 : 06:58:59
On the Sarrukh and the entomology of the race name
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1654175096083185678 https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1654276427972329473
May 5, 2023
@TheEdVerse
It would seem that a certain traveling mage caught wind that we are releasing a video about him tomorrow.
We received this note, and after reading it I suppose he wanted to make sure that we did his introduction "correctly." ;}
<https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1654175096083185678/photo/1>
@DNDMLunga
Mr. Greenwood, a question if I may, unrelated to this post. I have been making FR lore videos recently and I was questioned about the Sarrukh and the entomology of the race name. I have found Arabic surnames of Sarrukh, did this play a role and if not could you give some insight?
@TheEdVerse
Sorry, but I didn't create the Sarrukh, and don't know.
I avoid all direct real-world analogues when creating the Realms, but there are some inevitable overlaps (just today, I found a "Kossuth Road" 200-odd miles away from me in my home province of Ontario). |
| questing gm |
Posted - 20 May 2023 : 01:25:30
On diamonds "imported" from Earth work equal to ones from Toril for, say, resurrections
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1650537856039890950 https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1650545948198678537
Apr 25, 2023
@Warpmind
@TheEdVerse a question: Would diamonds "imported" from Earth work equal to ones from Toril for, say, resurrections? And would there be a difference between mined and lab-grown?
@TheEdVerse
They should, IF they're clear (unflawed) and of sufficient size.
Most lab-grown Earth diamonds are grown for their cutting/hardness qualities, not appearance/jewelry use.
@Warpmind
Hm, and how advanced is facet cutting along the Sword Coast? It would seem plausible present-day Earth can provide far more sophisticated cuts, or...?
@TheEdVerse
Depends on the place. The gemcutters in Athkatla and Mirabar are peerless. Topnotch ones in Waterdeep and Zazesspur, too. Elsewhere, the gamut is on offer. ;} |
| questing gm |
Posted - 20 May 2023 : 01:20:38
On any notes or recommended reading regarding running a campaign in the empire of Netheril, roughly a decade before Karsus's Folly?
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1650535109219549185
Apr 25, 2023
@TechnicalNitwit
@TheEdVerse do you have any notes or recommended reading regarding running a campaign in the empire of Netheril, roughly a decade before Karsus's Folly?
@TheEdVerse
I'd start by deciding High (floating city) or Low (farmers/loggers/smithies on the ground). Where and who, and how much communications/intrigue with rival cities/ground communities. What are the rulers aiming for?
From that, all else flows. (Dungeon crawl, monster 2) hunts, political intrigue for control of one flying city or a cabal of flying cities versus a rival cabal, with both vying for control of a larger, wealthier city, and arcanists struggling to develop new spells faster than each other, to use on each other and eccentrics 3) everywhere, indulging their weird hobbies (like trying to mate with beholders, or become dragons, or achieve new forms of lichdom, or talk with butterflies, or crochet animated minis).
And HAVE FUN!!! |
| questing gm |
Posted - 20 May 2023 : 01:18:00
On Rashemen inspired by the culture of the Slavs and the fairy tales of Ancient Russia
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1650526550918397952
Apr 24, 2023
@Nekros1990
@TheEdVerse, The question arose - is Rashemen a region inspired by the culture of the Slavs and the fairy tales of Ancient Russia?
@TheEdVerse
Not for me, when I created it. (I never want close real-world analogues in the Realms.)
However, Elaine Cunningham, when detailing Rashemen for her novels, did draw on her Slavic heritage, and it now reflects that. (Which I'm okay with!)
|
| questing gm |
Posted - 20 May 2023 : 01:11:27
On who (IRL) originally created created the villain Szass Tam?
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1650525918354460673
Apr 24, 2023
@RpgMatch
D&D History quiz: who (IRL) originally created created the villain Szass Tam?
@TheEdVerse
I did. He first appeared in a Realms short story I wrote in 1976, and was in the Realms turnovers I sent in 1986 to Jeff Grubb and Karen Conlin, to launch the Realms.
And he was undead all that time. ;} |
| questing gm |
Posted - 20 May 2023 : 01:06:38
On pronouncing difficult words in D&D and the Realms
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1649136078673047568 https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1649593153047986177 https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1650527219716956161
Apr 21, 2023
@TheEdVerse
How to pronounce difficult words in D&D and the Realms.
<https://twitter.com/i/status/1649136078673047568>
@_ChiariQueen
Omg, Otyugh is so fun to say for me! How would you try to pronounce it, if you had to hazard a guess?
@TheEdVerse
Guess what we've already recorded for an upcoming Realmspeak? ;}
Short answer: many pronounciations, from Oatie-yug onwards...which is why I coined "gulguthra" as the collective for otugh and neo-otyugh in a long-ago DRAGON ecology article.
@Sgtstumpy
I have been calling it "Fay-run" my entire life until I watched your YouTube videos
@TheEdVerse
And that's perfectly okay. There are lots of folk living in Faerûn who pronounce it that way. You're not wrong. |
| Italian Archmage Karsus |
Posted - 26 Apr 2023 : 03:21:34
Wow, you must be quite patient. I automated this, but Twitter suspended my application for whatever reason. I should've checked here! |
| Thauramarth |
Posted - 24 Apr 2023 : 11:05:39
Rogue Stones
(Or, why is everybody always banging on about rogue stones, but no one spares a thought for the stone who does everything by the book?)
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1647678871905370112
16 April 2023
@ItalianKarsus
I was curious as to the rogue stone, native to Toril. I've seen it described as "chatoyant" but also "iridescent", and as "naturally cleaving into facets", "brilliant cut ruby" yet also "blue" or "teardrop shaped".
Looks stump me; can you say on? Any pictures? Thx
@TheEdVerse
Rogue stones (which are so named, and defined, by their wild magic effect) can be all of those things: they can vary in size and overall outer hue (so, one can be blue and another ruby-red).
They are all translucent, and when sunlight falls upon them, are always chatoyant (= showing a band of bright reflected light, that’s caused by aligned “inclusions” within the stone) AND always iridescent, thanks to their translucence and one physical property shared by all rogue stones: their internal inclusions are all hues of the rainbow and flow (moving within the stone as it’s handled or moved) as if liquid.
Why? They are liquid, or rather, they’re mineral dust suspended in mineral oils in internal cavities within the stone that were formed by gas bubbles, the gas created long with the separation of the oils out of the mineral solids by intense heat and pressure when the rogue stones were formed (all rock crystals/gemstones are formed in this way). Some of those dusts are iridescent (= displaying luminous colors that seem to change when seen from different angles).
Also posted in Greenwood’s Grotto Discord (life’s too short for Twitter message limits).
@CatalogFantasy
Are these the same rogue stones used in a Gemjump spell?
@TheEdVerse
Yes.
|
| Thauramarth |
Posted - 24 Apr 2023 : 11:02:50
Halflings interbreeding with other Species
(Or, half-halflings. Or should that be quarterlings?)
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1646705763430064129
14 April 2023
@MrRhexx
Do you guys know if there has ever been a Forgotten Realm's source about Halfling's fertility / Unions between halfling's and other species?
Stout hafling's mention potentially having dwarvish blood, but I am curious about any human & halfling unions.
@TheEdVerse
Thanks to the Code of Conduct, you won't find much in print on cross-species fertility, beyond Gary Gygax's writings in DRAGON (when he was THE font of D&D). However, it's been said by TSR staffers at MANY GenCon panels that halflings are almost as fecund as orcs, and cross-fertile with most species, often imparting their height and their durability/hardiness. Halflings dwell in large numbers in most human cities in the Realms, and human-hin marriages, unions, and offspring are numerous. Most offspring favour one parent or the other, and human genes seem to "win out" over halfling in this superficial appearance (height, mainly) contest.
|
| Thauramarth |
Posted - 24 Apr 2023 : 11:00:17
The God of Summer
(Or, I can tell you the love of gods will still be as strong, after the gods of summer have gone.)
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1644883669381705728
9 April 2023
@groudon466
Is there a god of Summer in the Forgotten Realms? I simply can't find one at all. Myrkul for Autumn, Auril for Winter, Lathander for Spring, and for Summer... no one?
@TheEdVerse
In the Seldarine pantheon, Angharradh (Corellon’s consort) is The Summer Queen, and among humans, Eldath is the Lady of Summer. I have plans for Patreon posts on prayers and rituals for various gods and goddesses…
@azurecobalt
Huh, cool. I thought Amaunator was the god of summer.
@TheEdVerse
Amaunator is the god of Midsummer. "Lord of Midsummer," to use his proper title.
As in: the day. Not the night; Midsummer Night is under the eye of Selûne.
|
| Thauramarth |
Posted - 24 Apr 2023 : 10:55:07
What's that Man Saying?
(Or, sometimes a fat friar is just a fat merchant, but he's still a frier if he sells fries.)
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1636804922933903361
17 March 2023
@YoDanno
Looks like it's a cool, crisp day in Waterdeep. Can anyone tell me what our dear friar is yelling about?
Any ideas?
(Complier's Note: The post refers to the image featured on p. 22 of FR1 - Waterdeep and the North)
@TheEdVerse
That’s no friar, that’s a merchant! Aumanus Tulver, of Tulver’s Fine Textiles (northfront The Wide Way, Trades Ward), earning a handsome pay packet for an afternoon of street crying.
And the burden of his leather-lunging runs thus:
“Gentlefolk! Are thy coins too few? Doth the wolf howl at thy door? Come to River Square at six bells to hear Mirt the Moneylender, NOTED financial success, talk of how ye too can own SIX shops, and houses to boot! Sponsored by ‘Are You Troubled By Tentacles?’ Removal Services, of Ship Street, in Dock Ward! Ale for all at Felzoun’s Folly when Mirt is done!” |
| Thauramarth |
Posted - 24 Apr 2023 : 10:52:12
Realms Equivalent of Black Fungus
(Or, if not properly prepared, the black fungus among us will sicken the last of us.)
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1634721423028625408
12 March 2023
@Artie_Pavlov
Hi @TheEdVerse I’m trying to be more friendly w 2 limitations. food is just named but not described / the fact that non-sausages snake meat is like 800$. I used black fungus for it to honor the chinese (I think) snake soup. Is there a similar fungus in the realms to black fungus?
@TheEdVerse
Oh, yes. Black fungus (aka wood ear or cloud ear) grows on elder trees, hasn’t a lot of taste but has many crevices so can hold whatever sauce they’re cooked in, is dark brown or black, and is chewy. Can produce toxic bongkrekic acid poisoning if not kept refrigerated for overnight soaking.
A very similar edible mushroom that grows on shaded slender saplings across Toril (duskwoods, felsul, and the young versions of many other sorts of tree) is known as “moth mushroom” because to some long-ago forester, a clump of it looked very much like forest moths he saw in the same forest, resting on tree trunks with their wings folded into brown or black cones.
|
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 19 Apr 2023 : 14:41:46
Send me your email and it's all yours. |
| Thauramarth |
Posted - 19 Apr 2023 : 09:46:29
quote:
Originally posted by Gary Dallison
Cheers for finishing these. I've been compiling them into a word document from this forum, but i just cant deal with twitter myself.
It's a pleasure. Incidentally, I would not mind getting my hands on that Word document  |
| Thauramarth |
Posted - 19 Apr 2023 : 09:12:37
Choking off Healing Potion Production
(Or, no, you can't. But... Just no.)
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1634368332798255109
11 March 2023
@bbarlach
Hi Ed, I hope all is well! I have a question about healing potions in the Realms. What are the main ingredients? Where are they produced? If one wanted to cut the supply lines of it (and disrupt the creation of new healing potions), where would it happen? Thanks!
@TheEdVerse
If you wanted to cut the supply line of healing potions in the Realms, you’d have to destroy almost every temple in the world, and thousands of “hedge wizards” and “local wise women,” too; they all produce healing potions. There’s no one central source to target.
There are many different “recipes” for making and enchanting healing potions, but they can’t include alcohol or any acid or solvent, and they all include protein. (I’ve detailed a few of these recipes, down the years.)
One common healing potion recipe contains blood from a regenerating creature, balanced with dew droplets gathered from moonfern leaves, to prevent the potion imbiber from acquiring any traits, body features, or tendencies of that regenerating creature, and added to a base of spring water that’s risen out of limestone. When these are thoroughly mixed and chilled (NOT heated), add just one drop of waterglass, as a binder.
BTW, folks: Twitter is getting so rocky that I’m taking my long lore answers to my (free) Discord launched with my Patreon, where I don’t have to worry about wordcount limits and getting booted out in the middle of a long string of linked part-replies. Life’s too short to have to fight to speak.
@tcb_hailstone
Couldn't you theoretically try to reduce the quality of healing potions by targeting certain ingredients for them, thus forcing healers to use inferior replacements?
@TheEdVerse
Theoretically, yes, but there are far too many different recipes to target all the ingredients.
And many of the ingredients are either very common, so substitution is easy, or hard to find/harvest, so you'd spend all your waking time trying to find and destroy them.
|
| Thauramarth |
Posted - 19 Apr 2023 : 09:08:25
Mystra: No Need to "Fix" Spellfire
(Or, F. I. R. E. That's how you spellfire.)
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1634365805201686528
11 March 2023
@EckbergJon
Watched and hoped you'd elaborate on the current state of spellfire. Did new Mystra patch that bug and pretend it didn't happen?
@TheEdVerse
Spellfire’s not a bug, to Mystra. Remember, she’s all about EVERYONE using magic, eventually. Spellfire is a “wild talent” where “just plain folks” get to harness the raw power of the Weave the same (except almost always untutored, or less tutored) as her Chosen get to wield the silver fire. If spellfire use erupts everywhere, we’re closer to Mystra’s goal. She steps in when individuals use magic to coerce others, to keep them from having/using magic.
BTW, folks: Twitter is getting so rocky that I’m taking my long lore answers to my (free) Discord launched with my Patreon, where I don’t have to worry about wordcount limits and getting booted out in the middle of a long string of linked part-replies.
Life’s too short to have to fight to speak.
|
| Thauramarth |
Posted - 18 Apr 2023 : 21:45:42
Burial of the Poor, the Criminal, and Monsters in Waterdeep
(Or, give me your poor, your hungry, your clawed, your scaled, your horned, and your fanged.)
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1632508184995721217
5 March 2023
@HipstersDragons
Hi Ed, hope you're well! Just wondering where in Waterdeep would authorities bury a) the poor and b) criminals / monsters. Are there go-to alternatives to the City of Dead for those who can't afford a funeral, or are considered not to deserve one...?
@TheEdVerse
There are vaults in the city of the dead for the ashes of the poor. Criminals are mortals under the gods like anyone else, and still get ash-burials. Sentient, speaking "monsters" who die peacefully in the city, ditto. Only monsters who are killed after slaying, maiming, or trying to eat someone else get treated like animal carcasses (which are taken to the Rat Hills by the nightsoil wagons).
There's also always been a tradition of the loved ones of anyone who didn't want to be "housed in the City of the Dead," or if those loved ones don't want their dear departed to rest there (or if they don't want anyone to know a certain being is dead), of taking the body out of the city up the Amphail Road (riding or encoached as if everyone is alive), and having "a bite off the road" (picnic) at which they eat and toast the departed, and surreptitiously bury them. Sailors do this at sea: sew the body up in a shroud, drop it in a strongchest full of ale or brine to keep the air from it so no smell, then sail away on their next voyage and "give the body to Umberlee" when out of sight of Waterdeep, or later (the idea being to make sure the body doesn't wash ashore in any settled area). |
| Thauramarth |
Posted - 18 Apr 2023 : 21:42:33
Current Status of Emmech
(Or, sometimes even a blind squirrel catches a nut.)
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1632136983555309572
4 March 2023
@RpgMatch
Hey @TheEdVerse is the fortress-city of Emmech under the control of Thay and now called Undumor?
@TheEdVerse
Yes. Emmech fell in a big battle in 1432 DR, one of the few attacks by Red Wizards (plus bodyguards of living soldiers) that was swift and hit hard.
It came at the same time as the more usual “huge, plodding invading army of undead” advance through the Shyvar Pass, a massive show of force that included teleported live, bewildered monsters to rampage before the invaders, and golems striding with the Thayan army. This invading force was destroyed before it won free of the Tannath Mountains, but it was just a feint, to distract the Aglarondan defenders so that when the small strike force that assaulted Emmech burst in, no Aglarondan reinforcements could be swiftly sent to foil them. These foremost Red Wizards managed to bring down the wards of the fortress, allowing hundreds of less powerful Red Wizards to be teleported in, to hold the city.
Vicious street fighting went on for a month, during which many barges of undead soldiers, weapons, and other supplies came down the River Umber from Nethentir and Nethjet and poured into Emmech. In the end, the Thayans exterminated the citizenry and all Aglarondan relief forces, and held the city, though the Thayan cost was literally thousands of Red Wizards (“the greater part of the competent spellhurlers zulkirs commanded,” as Elminster put it), several thousand living Thayan soldiers, and tens of thousands of undead. This toll slowed Szass Tam’s ambitious plans for decades: he’d won Emmech but hollowed out his military strength in doing so. Had Aglarond known how weak Thay was left “at home,” and possessed the stomach for risking its own far-fewer spellcasters in hit-and-run raids all over Thay, they could have brought living Thay to lawlessness, a fallen realm unable to feed itself in the short term—but they did not.
The cost of taking Emmech convinced Szass Tam once and for all that undead legions were his best road ahead: they never tired and did not need to be fed or watered. For living Thayans, the lean years following the conquest of Emmech cost them their last vestiges of respect for Szass Tam—as opposed to fear.
Once Emmech was firmly in Thayan hands, Szass Tam installed a personally-loyal apprentice, Undumora (“OON-dew-MORE-ah”), whose magical mastery was lowly (4th level) but administrative skills great, to govern Emmech. She served capably, building the city into a formidable Thayan fortress from which undead armies could issue in strength at any time; Thay managed to hold it against Aglarondan counter-attacks precisely because it wasn’t functioning as a city for the living to dwell in, but only a fortress. Eventually (in the spring of 1466 DR) Undumora was destroyed—literally disintegrated—by simbarch spells (the Simbarch Council had formed the opinion that harassing attacks were the best way to “busy” the Thayans in Emmech, so whatever invasions they were planning against the rest of Aglarond would be hampered and delayed, and this was one such “harassment”), and Szass Tam, who was reportedly “wildly beyond rage” that he couldn’t recover enough of Undorma to bring her back as undead (many living Thayans are of the opinion that he wanted her as some sort of consort), renamed the city Undumor in her memory once he regained his calm.
Today, Undumor remains a fortress under Thayan command, and some Thayans call it “the Hollow City", precisely because it only has a few living inhabitants (the foremost Red Wizards and their warrior bodyguards). It has no one governor (to serve as a target), but six Red Wizards can all make command decisions; the most senior, but also the most cautious, is a conjurer named Ruralekh Prator (“RURR-ah-lek PRAY-tor”), who can summon up to five fearsome monsters (incuding a behir, a chimera, and a roper) to fight for him if he feels the need.
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| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 17 Apr 2023 : 20:58:08
Cheers for finishing these. I've been compiling them into a word document from this forum, but i just cant deal with twitter myself. |
| Thauramarth |
Posted - 17 Apr 2023 : 20:17:10
Mordulkin's Nearest Neighbour City
(Or, It's a Holiday in Mordulkin / It's tough, kid, but it's life / better than dying in old Luthcheq / where Karanoks take your life.)
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1632079403608858628
4 March 2023
@DankRedditMeme5
I got a question. Are there any cities close or similar to Mordulkin that aren't ruins? I'm mostly leaning towards Cimbar.
Context in Twitlonger: I have a brother and a sister PC. Their parents, an elf and a human, emigrated from Wa to... somewhere in Faerun. Mordulkin seemed perfect. A wealthy metropolis, cosmopolitan/diverse, a strong magical community, being mage-ruled and exporting magic (the PCs are an arcane trickster and life cleric, respectively), well-educated populace, the whole nine yards. So I decided that would be the best place for them to be from.
Except somewhat recently, after about a year and a half, someone told me that Mordulkin is a ruin, so they can't quite be from there.
@TheEdVerse
Mordulkin is in ruins by 1479 DR, though folk DO live there (harassed by adventuring bands who come looking for forgotten, buried-in-cellars treasure to loot).
Its nearest neighbour (and rival) is Luthcheq, spires JUST visible on clear days on the horizon, around the curve of the Bay of Chessenta from Mordulkin. Being as one of the PCs wields arcane magic, and mages are persecuted in Luthcheq, it’s likely that the PCs would have to flee that city, and might very well go to the ruins of Mordulkin to dwell, as a steady trickle of folk with the Gift have done before them.
Many of whom will proudly tell strangers that they hail from Mordulkin.
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| Thauramarth |
Posted - 17 Apr 2023 : 20:11:33
Random Musings from Elminster
(Or, no Chosen can be considered sane.)
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1632074704591749120
Found flloating in the Twittersphere...
4 March 2023
@TheEdVerse
Well, I do recall giving the good Master Mage my unicorn-head flask full of an Amaretto-flavoured potion of extra-healing, but I believe he customarily carries that in his belt pouch, as it refills via its own portal, so is perilous to carry in such a bag.
He did, ahem, "borrow" a carved amber bookend when he thought I wasn't looking, that contains a miniature castle within a carved ball that when touched and ordered emanates a mage hand (under the orderer's mental control). It hath another, more secret power that's best not spoken of.
So I shan't.
Oh, aye, where ARE my manners? (Gone wandering into a jar, I suspect, but ne'er mind...)
Elminster of Shadowdale, at thy service!
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| Thauramarth |
Posted - 17 Apr 2023 : 20:09:17
The Fate of the Twelve Dancing Wizards
(Or, the dirty dozen definitely dead and dancing in the Daleland of Deepingdale.)
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1630758050180001792
1 March 2023
@garethgarfoot
EdGreenwood Is there any additional lore you can reveal about the Twelve Dancing Wizards mentioned in the Deepingdale chapter in VGTTD. Many thanks
@TheEdVerse
Sure! The Twelve from Thay met their end in the early autumn of the Year 992 DR (the Year of the Watching Helm). They were one of many groups (“strike forces,” if you will) sent out from Thay in that time by ambitious zulkirs seeking to establish Thayan toeholds in many lands; farflung outposts for spying and storage, recovery refuges for traveling Red Wizards. (Not to be confused with the later “trading enclaves” established across Faerûn by Thay.)
Initially seen as a great way to establish Thayan reach without much investment, and to keep ambitious Red Wizards busy to boot, the notion fell into disfavour because so many attempts to seize these toeholds resulted, immediately or eventually, in Red Wizards lost—and no toeholds gained or at least kept.
The Twelve were all human males from the tharch of Eltabbar, sent forth by the Zulkir of Evocation/Invocation and well equipped with battle-useful magic items (see the footnote at the bottom of Page 95 of the Volo’s Guide). We know that two dominant mages led them but were bickering rivals: Thultos Draeve and Phorant Tashoond.
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