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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
 Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 21:42:12
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On the Eskult, Trammnur, and Yeldred families of Waterdeep:
@AVPalikhov
in Sardolphyn’s Gambit you mentioned other families of Waterdeep: Eskult, Yeldred and Tramnur. Can you please tell about them more?
@TheEdVerse
Sure. They’re all North Ward-resident families who have made their fortunes by “mixed mercantile means.” That is, they invest in some shops, rent out North Ward and Castle Ward buildings they own to other businesses (for shops and offices, not “workshops”/factories, and not residential) to make coin, invest in ship cargoes, and run their own businesses.
I’ll tackle just the Eskults, this time.
The Eskults make bulk glue from dead horses, run a successful locksmithing service, buy local farm crops for bulk shipping to the Ten Towns, Mintarn, and other “hungry-mouth” areas, and breed fine riding horses.
The Eskults live in three adjacent, knocked-together tallhouses on northfront Saerdoun Street, in the block between Whaelgond Way and Pony Way, and are led by Jaruldimond Eskult and his wife Laedra, who have three young, dashing (“idiot” is the term Hammrar prefers; for more about Hammrar, see hereafter) sons: Cloome, Dacer, and Parladane.
Jaruldimond also has three younger brothers who are increasingly dissatisfied with his handling of the family finances, and (separately) looking to strike out on their own (if they can figure out some practical way of taking a good share of the family wealth with them; they haven’t yet).
There are also two old, dotty, stay-at-home maiden aunts, Barathta and Joysa (who prefer to live in an older era), and a fat, jovial old rake of an uncle, Hammrar, who knows where all the family skeletons are hidden (and their closets, too), and who really keeps things running by soothing the three brothers (Jakazmur, Brandred, and Tolyn) privately, and cleaning up after the worst mistakes Jaruldimond makes. Hammrar is a sardonic heavy wine-drinker and scourge of local ladies, who love his company because he’s fun, and never controlling, cruel, or judgmental. Jaruldimond is a stubborn sort who clings to old ways and avoids the new and changes; his wife Laedra embraces the changes that must be embraced and tries to steer her husband to modernize, without much success.
Laedra also tirelessly attends every last noble feast and revel she can worm her way into, and tries to “cultivate” all nobles who’re there, trying to ingratiate herself and mention her family in hopes someone, anyone, will remember her the next morning and consider calling on the Eskults as “worldly helpers” when it comes to engaging guilded repairers or anyone else for anything practical. She sees this as the road to eventually being accepted as “one of us” by the nobles, so the Eskults can be ennobled. Hammrar sees this as idiocy; he (correctly) sees her tactic as the way to make the nobles think of the Eskults as commoner doormats and syncophants who can be endlessly used and then kicked aside a moment later.
#Realmslore
@travisholyfield
Can you tell us anything about the idiot sons?
@TheEdVerse
Sure. Cloome, Dacer, and Parladane are in their teens (Cloome is ten-and-seven, Dacer ten-and-six, and Parladane ten-and-five). They wear mock-uniform “dashing and heroic” tunics bristling with fake medals, wear gilded-hilt, chrome-bladed shortswords that they brandish a lot but never use in anger (their reaction to menaces is to flee), and constantly hire lady escorts as arm candy (and sometimes, when emboldened by not enough drink to make trying to pretend they are heroes but achieving nothing and learning no skills and taking no interest in the family businesses or learning about the world or in anything that might be termed “work.” Which is why Hammrar dismisses them as idiots (conveniently forgetting what he was like at their ages). There’s nothing wrong with their brains or perception; they’re just bored, lazy, chasing entertainments, and wasting their days in fripperies.
#Realmslore
@TheEdVerse
[[Ed: this time, the Tramnur family...]]
The Tramnur family’s wealth comes from diverse investing-in-Waterdeep-businesses, sponsoring ship voyages and cargoes, and owning ranchland and getting income from meat and milk sales, but increasingly, in recent decades: buying decaying buildings in Dock Ward, South Ward, and recently in Castle Ward, adding both floors and balconies, and repurposing them to have spacious rear entries and ramps for easy bulk cargo movements, retaining shopfront uses on the ground floor, converting the floor above from offices or rental living quarters to small-storage “strongrooms,” then putting new and more luxurious rental living quarters on two floors above that, with plumbing all moved to an internal ‘stack’ where any leaks should flood out the back, into the alley or sewers, and not into the strongrooms. Many of these upper floors are fitted with luxurious marble bathing tubs and large beds with skylights and ‘mood lighting,’ and have proven very popular with Waterdhavian nobles looking for places to stash mistresses, black-sheep family members, and guests (not to mention undercover ‘safe houses’ used for shady-work or by spouses who have furious fights with each other and need their own simmer-down spaces, or to carry on hobbies the other spouse finds objectionable, from drunken benders to the use of escorts to gaming all night while smoking and drinking with “louts” of fellow gamers).
As a result, the Tramnurs, who are quite willing to pay skilled guild workers very well for ‘top-goblet’ work, and to use that skilled labor to custom-outfit these luxury floors just as clients like them (many nobles want both floors, and to join them with internal circular staircases, as well as screens and winter shutters and windows for their balconies, not to mention fireplace flues opening onto the balconies, to keep them private and to give them some measure of winter warmth), have risen to the notice of, and in the regard of, Waterdhavian nobility.
Which has led the Tramnur matriarch and her six older aunts to entertain dreams of being ennobled (though the family patriarch thinks this goal very unlikely, and is unwilling to do anything “too forward” to try to push for it; he won’t attend the endless round of revels that his womenfolk so enthusastically dress up for—the aunts in a predatory “let’s catch me a noble husband, or at least a partner to dally with overnight,” the daughters of the family for entertainment and good food and drink and to meet interesting and powerful people of high station, and the wife to “let’s network like anything, to find someone willing to help me make the Tramnurs noble.”
The patriarch of the family is the calm, tired, up-to-his-bushy-and-graying-eyebrows in work Bhaerant Tramnur, who is married to Alyse Tramnur. They have three daughters, in their late teens aged a year apart, and one much younger son: in descending order of age: Maerthaya (19); Tarltaya (18); Lhammaethe (17); and Brand (8). The six older aunts are all a decade older than the patriarch, and are overpainted, heavily-feathered, gleeful hard-drinking cougars (as we would call them; current Deep parlance just speaks of them as “aprowl”), and in descending order of age are Thaeya; Myramiea (“Meer-ah-MY-ah”); Cantele (“Can-TELL”); Deira (“DEER-ah”); Yalantra; and Haetha (“HAY-thah”). Cantele is the real beauty and brains, who usually scores a willing noble for the night, Thaeya is a forcible sort who boldly dragoons folk (which works better with commoners than nobles, who have so many bold-dragoon family members of their own whom they deal with daily) and Yalantra is a dark beauty apt to be led astray by all manner of crackpot ‘mystical’ beliefs and fads, which has brought her to the attention of some doppelgangers covertly placed amid certain noble-mansion staff servants, as a possible candidate to be kidnapped (and held for eventual ransom) while in the short term she’s impersonated, with an eye to seeing what wealth and valuable items can be wormed out of the Tramnurs (and the nobles whose revels they attend).
#Realmslore
@TheEdVerse
[Last family!]
The Yeldred family of North Ward is perhaps the most interesting of the three “wannabe noble” families. They became fabulously wealthy over the past century by controlling quarries where flagstones, cobbles, and roof-slates were produced that much of Waterdeep is now (after rebuilding and renovations and the ongoing maintenance of the last six decades) built of, and by owning a shipping fleet and three caravan companies active in the Heartlands (mainly on short, fast, lucrative Amn/Baldur’s Gate/Waterdeep/Silverymoon runs), and by shrewd investments in various guilds, shops, and forges.
So the Yeldreds alive today have always known more coin than they know how to spend. What it won’t buy them is a noble title, and some of them very much want it. They tried “nobility on the cheap,” which meant settling their own wilderlands north of the eastern Amnian mountain barony of Hawkhill, calling it the “realm” of Vaeranth (Vaeranth Yeldred was the founder of this scheme), and styling themselves Lords and Ladies of Vaeranth, complete with elaborate blazons, but no one in Waterdeep would recognize or use the titles, no matter how many ornate maps of Vaeranth the Yeldreds hired cartographers to produce and distribute throughout the city. Vaeranth remains a wilderness today, albeit with three small stone keeps the Yeldreds built; they retain one by paying a garrison to dwell there that they must supply with food and chapbooks and strong drink and paid companions, and the other two were seized by brigands who from time to time are wiped out by monsters deciding to lair therein, until the next brigands come along and slay the beasts.
So now, the Yeldreds are trying to marry into nobility.
As of the 1490s DR, the Yeldreds consist of one boy (Paerand, who’s 9 years old), and six women: Paerand’s mother Esmarheldra, the matriarch (there is no family patriarch, as her husband Boldrael died 8 years ago), and her five daughters, who in descending order of age are Astrauva (21 years old), Vauntra (20), Jaerezra (19), Palone (18), and Sapraenra (17). All are good-looking, graceful, and polite, and Esmarheldra, Astrauva, Vauntra, and Palone are stunningly beautiful and superb natural actors (in complete control of their voices, facial expressions, and mannerisms, and able to weep at will). For the last four summers, they have deliberately set about getting invited to nobles’ revels, at first as arm candy for other non-noble guests, but they have slowly and deftly cultivated friendships with nobles of higher and higher rank, trying to build networks of eligible batchelor nobles they fancy, with an eye to marrying into the ranks of the nobility.
They don’t want to be saddled with dullards or brutes or insane/headstrong narcissists, and so are seeking to learn all they can about their quarries without being obvious about their prying or seeming to be pursuing mates, but nobles aren’t unperceptive when it comes to suitors, and have caught on. The fact that these oh-so-charming females are all from one family hasn’t gone unnoticed, and various covert tricks and hired spellcastings have been employed to try to make sure the Yeldred women are indeed human, and not doppelgangers or other shapeshifters, and self-willed rather than the thralls of illithids or anyone/anything else. Various nobles privately (but erroneously) suspect the Yeldreds of being sorceresses, members of a cult, and agents of various cabals and sinister organizations.
Thus far, the dance of flirtation and slow, subtle courtship hasn’t resulted in any Yeldred…getting hitched, or even serious interest, but the daughters are all firm friends—and, gossip insists, sometime lovers—of a dozen nobles (of both genders, and a variety of families) each.
Paerand is a quiet, happy-with-his-own-company boy who reads voraciously, plays board games against any handy opponent, and although he's far from feminine, loves women's clothing and prefers to wear his elder sisters' castoffs. His hobby? Sponsoring adventurers.
#Realmslore
@MissMartinsen
Paerand sounds a bit like yourself.
Can we assume he raids his late father's study to pour over his library, and then makes up his own tales when no sequels are to be found? :)
@TheEdVerse
I've never found any women's clothing I looked good in. There's something about the beard, and general hairiness, and the belly...
But yes, I think we CAN assume those things about Paerand. ;}
#Realmslore
@MissMartinsen
Nonsense. A few braids in that beard and a snood of glass beads and you'd be the prettiest sage in Canada.
This is, of course, if you presume hair accessories are counted as articles of clothing.
@TheEdVerse
Sometimes, my hair is my ONLY clothing.
Not during open hunting season for bears, of course.
@MissMartinsen
Tempting Sharindlar with that talk! Dwarven maids from here to Adbar will seek you out to confirm such beauty with their own eyes!
@TheEdVerse
Oh, dear. Thanks to Covid, I can't go out and get my beard permed. I'll have to settle for my teenaged ploy: filling it with live fireflies, to blink their soft come-hither glows. ;}
@MissMartinsen
Such advanced courtship rituals.
And here I thought all one did that far north was set aside some poutine and hot tea. Pheromones, I think.
@TheEdVerse
Oh, yes, the hot tea works every time.
I make my wife tea more than a dozen times a day.
Insatiable. Pheromones, indeed.
Poutine, not so much. She prefers chocolate.
@MissMartinsen
A woman of culture!
@TheEdVerse
Indeed. I put out Petrie dishes all over the house.
@MissMartinsen
An experiment to see which she'll go to first? Brilliant!
@TheEdVerse
My marriage duty is to provide diversions. I've been doing it for so long now that some of them have become wide detours. I lured her into the scullery the other day, and we don't even have a scullery.
I really do it to perplex the cat. Who now loves me (Nr. Foodbin) WARILY.
@MissMartinsen
Loving warily--can it even be called love if done any other way?
As for the scullery conundrum; extra-dimensional pockets are damn hard to find once you've mislaid them around the house! I do hope she didn't set off any dastardly traps.
@TheEdVerse
No, she walks through traps as obliviously (and as charmedly-safe) as Buster Keaton.
And as for love: oh, yes, there's madly (as opposed to warily). I still have the burn scars.
@MissMartinsen
...you wed Halaster's secret sister, did you?
@TheEdVerse
Ooh, don't let her hear you say that. Even at 84, she's not to be trifled with, if you're on the same planet.
But (leans close and whispers): yes. Yes, I did.
And it's been WONDERFUL.
A frigid Canadian winter is nothing, pitted against the flames of passion. He said with dignity.
@TheEdVerse
Ahem, speaking of which, I've just been summoned to bed.
(Hastily combs beard into a fetching arrangement with fingers, strikes heroic pose, and strides...)
Until next we parley, sweet lady!
I bid you goodnight!
Thinks: Snood of glass beads, now THERE'S an idea to conjure with..
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
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PattPlays
Senior Scribe
469 Posts |
Posted - 31 Dec 2020 : 06:42:19
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
On Gargauth:
@aarakocra84
I've a question about Gargauth. In terms of lore, he is persona non grata in Baator, having been exiled under threat of extreme pain. Why is it then, he believes that going back to Baator would allow his release from the shield?
@TheEdVerse
Gargauth believes he’ll be freed from the shield because when in Baator (only) he can shift into three other forms not available to him elsewhere: an amorphous ozzing inky-black mass of many tentacles; a tatter-edged, semi-tangible wraith-like form that visually resembles an allip; and a larva-like form with two tiny arms jutting from the sides of his head. He thinks “going wraith” will allow him to seep out of the shield.
#Realmslore
@aarakocra84
Secondly - how exactly did he get trapped in the shield? It used to be an artifact via which he communicated with his followers. What led to his imprisonment and why did he not direct his followers to take him to Baator if that's where he thinks he'll break free?
@TheEdVerse
Some details are NDA, but it’s very likely he got trapped in the shield due to an entrapment spell laid on it by a mortal mage seeking to imprison Gargauth and harness his power—that succeeded because Asmodeus saw that casting and thought that trammeling Gargauth would be a good idea. Gargauth doesn’t want his followers to take him to Baator because he can “feel” the hand of Asmodeus in the enchantment that has entrapped him, and suspects Asmodeus (because of certain words that passed between them, at their last meeting) will be waiting there to seize the shield and kill Gargauth slowly and in torment, draining his powers over some years to enchant various items. (You’d be surprised at how many powerful beings are being-drained captives, in various hands, scattered all over the planes of existence.)
#Realmslore
Gargauth has an inky slimy tentacled form?
This is not helping my Ghaunadaur mania..
//
Thank you for this thread. In just three pages I have a pile of copied lore to refer to later. Maybe I'll start working my way through the entire list sometime as well. ^_^ |
:The world's greatest OOTA fan/critic: :"Powder kegs within powder kegs!": :Meta-Dimensional Cheese: :Why is the Wand of Orcus just back?: :We still don't know the nature of Souls and the Positive Energy Plane: :PC on profile, Aldritch Elpyptrat Maxinfield: :Helljumpers, Bungie.net: :Rock Hard Gladiator, RIP Fluidanim, Long Live Pluto: :IRC lives:
https://thisisstorytelling.wordpress.com
T_P_T |
Edited by - PattPlays on 31 Dec 2020 06:59:34 |
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Zeromaru X
Great Reader
Colombia
2476 Posts |
Posted - 31 Dec 2020 : 15:52:06
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| Thanks for updating, Wooly. |
Instead of seeking change, you prefer a void, merciless abyss of a world... |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 31 Dec 2020 : 18:55:22
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quote:
Originally posted by Zeromaru X
Thanks for updating, Wooly.
Not a problem! I'm actually working this week, but it's been slow enough that I was able to spend a few hours getting caught up on Tweets and then a few more posting them.
Can't let myself get behind like that again, though! Chunks of time like that are few and far between, for me! |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Palant
Acolyte
14 Posts |
Posted - 02 Jan 2021 : 07:32:37
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
On the Eskult, Trammnur, and Yeldred families of Waterdeep:
@AVPalikhov
I am proud that i asked this question) |
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Qilintha
Seeker
76 Posts |
Posted - 08 Aug 2021 : 23:30:29
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| Ihave a question, does Ed answers on twitter to the many many CK questions stored during the years or he just focuses on answering tweets? So someone knows if a question asked here should be asked again through twitter. |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4689 Posts |
Posted - 09 Aug 2021 : 00:47:19
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quote:
Originally posted by Qilintha
Ihave a question, does Ed answers on twitter to the many many CK questions stored during the years or he just focuses on answering tweets? So someone knows if a question asked here should be asked again through twitter.
As best I can tell, the answers posted here on this scroll are only copied answers to questions asked there.
That though might be an interesting question for someone to ask on Twitter about the back log of unanswered questions on Candlekeep. HO managed them and we have not seen a post from her for a long time. |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
Edited by - Kentinal on 09 Aug 2021 00:48:00 |
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore
Australia
6666 Posts |
Posted - 09 Aug 2021 : 12:32:37
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quote:
Originally posted by Kentinal
quote:
Originally posted by Qilintha
Ihave a question, does Ed answers on twitter to the many many CK questions stored during the years or he just focuses on answering tweets? So someone knows if a question asked here should be asked again through twitter.
As best I can tell, the answers posted here on this scroll are only copied answers to questions asked there.
That though might be an interesting question for someone to ask on Twitter about the back log of unanswered questions on Candlekeep. HO managed them and we have not seen a post from her for a long time.
I suspect that the outstanding C-Keep questions exist somewhere on one of Ed's many computers, but may well have fallen to the wayside now.
Just today, on Lord Gosumba's Twitch Cannel where Ed spoke off many wondrous things, he mentioned he has a couple of hundred unanswered Twitter questions waiting as well!
It wouldn't hurt to dredge up any old, outstanding C-Keep question and ask it again on Twitter where Ed is now active.
-- George Krashos |
"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus |
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Qilintha
Seeker
76 Posts |
Posted - 09 Aug 2021 : 18:31:03
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Before piling up his twitter with maybe repeated questions maybe George, at the next meeting with sages you'll attend, you can point out "The problem", having a go ahead from Ed himself to post those questions again because the CK questions got lost or aren't easy to reach would be great.
(Also is it possible to post in this thread the lore he posted yesterday? Especially that new spellcaster ?) |
Edited by - Qilintha on 09 Aug 2021 18:32:07 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 09 Aug 2021 : 19:26:47
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quote:
Originally posted by Qilintha
Before piling up his twitter with maybe repeated questions maybe George, at the next meeting with sages you'll attend, you can point out "The problem", having a go ahead from Ed himself to post those questions again because the CK questions got lost or aren't easy to reach would be great.
(Also is it possible to post in this thread the lore he posted yesterday? Especially that new spellcaster ?)
I'm working through a backlog of Tweets again; my free time is not as copious as I should like, and I'm easily distracted by bright and shiny objects.
If you're so inclined, feel free to share the referenced Tweet. I started this thing, but there's nothing saying that others can't put stuff here. As long as Edlore is shared, I don't care who shares it.  |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Qilintha
Seeker
76 Posts |
Posted - 10 Aug 2021 : 01:58:19
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| Not referring to a tweet but on some lore he delivered during Lord Gosumba's twitch channel. He delivered a brand new NPC spellcaster but I couldn't write everything down T_T |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 10 Aug 2021 : 01:59:10
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quote:
Originally posted by Qilintha
Not referring to a tweet but on some lore he delivered during Lord Gosumba's twitch channel. He delivered a brand new NPC spellcaster but I couldn't write everything down T_T
I was not watching and cannot provide any of that info, myself.
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Kyrene
Senior Scribe
South Africa
757 Posts |
Posted - 10 Aug 2021 : 07:35:18
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Qilintha
Before piling up his twitter with maybe repeated questions maybe George, at the next meeting with sages you'll attend, you can point out "The problem", having a go ahead from Ed himself to post those questions again because the CK questions got lost or aren't easy to reach would be great.
(Also is it possible to post in this thread the lore he posted yesterday? Especially that new spellcaster ?)
I'm working through a backlog of Tweets again; my free time is not as copious as I should like, and I'm easily distracted by bright and shiny objects.
If you're so inclined, feel free to share the referenced Tweet. I started this thing, but there's nothing saying that others can't put stuff here. As long as Edlore is shared, I don't care who shares it.
Now that I'm back after my 10-year sabbatical, I'm adding any Twitter lore I find to the Glossary thread, but it is haphazard at best (and mixed with other sources) and only as it pertains to lore terms or phrases, so won't be anything relating to areas or NPCs of the Realms. |
Lost for words? Find them in the Glossary of Phrases, Sayings & Words of the Realms
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 12 Aug 2021 : 09:01:49
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quote:
If you're so inclined, feel free to share the referenced Tweet. I started this thing, but there's nothing saying that others can't put stuff here. As long as Edlore is shared, I don't care who shares it.
I practically check Ed's Realmslore tweets every day and share them on a Facebook group. If this is the right scroll to do the same, I don't mind adding a few more clicks a day, if provided with a template of presentation. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 12 Aug 2021 : 10:49:12
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quote:
Originally posted by questing gm
quote:
If you're so inclined, feel free to share the referenced Tweet. I started this thing, but there's nothing saying that others can't put stuff here. As long as Edlore is shared, I don't care who shares it.
I practically check Ed's Realmslore tweets every day and share them on a Facebook group. If this is the right scroll to do the same, I don't mind adding a few more clicks a day, if provided with a template of presentation.
There's no real template. You can look at the past ones I've shared to see how I do them, but there's no requirement to stick to that exact format. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 13 Aug 2021 : 00:14:35
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On population of Hastarl
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1425645311054258182
Aug 12 2021
@starsunder81
Hi Ed! How big was Hastarl in terms of population in The Making of a Mage? It seems like it was a pretty big city
@TheEdVerse
Hastarl was home to around 17,000 at the time of Making's early chapters (El's time as a thief in the city), and about 26,000 at its height. High density, not sprawl.
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 13 Aug 2021 : 00:23:46
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On insurances and keep safe fees
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1425643848664076291
Aug 12 2021
@AlexMcclay2000
Are there any other type of insurances in the Realms? I was talking with one of my players and they were asking if money lenders that do keepsafe (keepsafeing?) offer insurance. They also found it ridiculous that you had to pay them to hold your money.
@TheEdVerse
Has your player never used a bank? And paid bank fees? It may be ridiculous to pay someone to hold your money, but it's the way more than one world works. ;}
There are many godsfrown shields (insurance) available in the Realms, usually from temples + big guilds. |
Edited by - questing gm on 13 Aug 2021 01:24:40 |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 14 Aug 2021 : 02:31:33
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On standing up to Lolth as a champion of Eilistraee
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1426199870289940489
Aug 13 2021
@Gambit_Wildcard
I have a question, can a champion of Eilistraee still hold her standing if she is being used a a favoured pawn of Lolth and kinda digs the benefits?
@TheEdVerse
It depends on how Eilistraee views her conduct, and the usefulness to Eilistraee's aims of what she does and how she's used.
Likely yes, at least at first, because that's the Dark Dancer's way: avoid fierce confrontation in favour of twisting things to benefits. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 15 Aug 2021 : 02:11:54
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On the location of a store named after Karen Boomgarden in Waterdeep
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1426636417514590210
Aug 15 2021
@Sundered_Ant
Been researching a piece of lost Waterdeep lore and would like your thoughts on it
So the TSR employee Karen Boomgaarden worked as an editor on the sourcebook "City System" (1988), as well as an editor & author on "Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue" (1992)......
City System's map of Waterdeep features a street named after her and is the only map of the city to do so. Aurora's features a detailed store in Waterdeep named after her.
The location of the store has never been specified, nor detailed on a map, so could this street be it?
@TheEdVerse
It could indeed. See the big building fronting on the west side of The Boomgarden, its roofpeak walk centered between the two “Os” of “Boomgarden”? That’s the place. Sky-blue awning over the street door.
Rooming-houses dominate The Boomgarden, with “sorting houses” (where goods brought from a warehouse are assembled into specific in-city customer orders and crated for delivery) dominating the SE block fronting on “the Garden.”
The building on the NW corner of the moot of Fillet Lane and the Garden is Mhaalauvur’s, a “jug” shop where you can buy bulk (human-head-sized jugfulls) cooking oils, scented washing soap flakes, axle grease, “slicewash” (liquid disinfectants), and “droot” (a root-beer-like non-alcoholic drink made from nut and root distillates, often added to bad beer or spirits to make them more palatable).
The building at the head of the cul-de-sac (NW of the “T” in “The”) is Amalae’s, where Amalae and her six housemates offer baths, hair-washings and -stylings, “touches” (manicures and pedicures), and cosmetic applications, in their separate rooms, to separate clients. Sometimes they share beds with a patron for a night, for a fee, or sleep in the attic if a client wants a “safe house” space to sleep in, for a night. (Wizards have been known to rent a room here for private spell-study.) Look for the soft blue light of its door-lamp. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 17 Aug 2021 : 00:14:55
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On pronouncing the word Lapaliiya
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1427261345955782658
Aug 16 2021
@sevannah_storm
How do I pronounce the word Lapaliiya?
@TheEdVerse
Lap-all-LEE-ah.
Unless you're from Var the Golden or Ulgarth, who render it: Lap-all-LEE-yah. |
Edited by - questing gm on 21 Aug 2021 00:57:54 |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 21 Aug 2021 : 01:00:05
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On the ruins of Gate in the Frost Hills
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1428818973345394693
Aug 21 2021
@Sundered_Ant
@TheEdVerse am hoping you can shed some light on a location simply known as "Gate."
Detailed in the sourcebook "Savage Frontier," this ruin in the Frost Hills has an immense black cube, housing colored stone slabs that act as portals to other planes, even other Prime Materials.
@TheEdVerse
I will have to see if the NDA for that has been lifted, or no longer holds force (it's from a TSR-era license). The locale is part of my original Realms (hence what was published in FR5). |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 21 Aug 2021 : 01:47:42
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On the secret identities of and voting the Masked Lords of Waterdeep
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1428843299905867782
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1428847559439749136
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1428844755090296835
Aug 21 2021
@BrassikArts
So, Masked Lord of Waterdeep question.
No one's supposed to know their identity, right? What about their spouses? How do they not find out?
Followup - and thank you again for your clarifications!: What's the protocol for electing someone to the role? Secret vote given a small pool of candidates?
I'm so sorry for the follow-ups, but - what about in the time of Piergeron Paladinson? Our campaign (a modified Dragon Heist) is set in 1370-71.
Also, thank you- I imagined something more akin to "candidate gets unmarked package containing THE mask". This is far more civil!
@TheEdVerse
Masked Lord "secret identities" are for their own protection: so they don't get intimidated, mugged or assassinated, or just pestered/lobbied constantly. So if their families know, it shouldn't be a problem (though, if a marriage goes really bad...). Custom, not law.
Most spouses DO know. The Open Lord knows. Most Masked Lords know the identities of a handful of their fellow Masked Lords. The intent is to make finding out who they all are quite difficult unless you obviously hunt (so YOU come to the attention of the Watch).
Think of how much of a hassle it would be to be lobbied or spied on constantly. Especially if you're trying to run a business. Secret identities also lessen the temptation to assassinate or maim Lords to remove their votes...or just delay them so they miss a vote.
The second part of making it hard to sway all the Lords, and lessen the temptation to go after one or two or more of them, is that the public doesn't know how many of them there really are, so you don't know "how far you have to go" to be effective in influencing them or wiping them out in order to get rid of Lords with views you don't like, or to get your desired replacements in, etc.
The Lords are chosen by vote among the Lords (majority of the entire roster), with most Lords having just one veto they can use, once ever, to blackball a candidate. So the Lords nominate possible candidates (secretly) to all the Lords, there's discussion of who would be best or who shouldn't be asked (without a vote or veto), then when a slate of possibles is hammered out, the Lords, still secretly, vote to accept that slate, then the Open Lord (in private) asks every candidate if they'd be interested in being a Lord of Waterdeep (many refuse, for various good reasons), and reports back to the Masked Lords, in secret, and they then discuss, in light of that, who to "put to the vote" to be made Lords. Then the (secret) vote is taken, and a successful result means the Open Lord then informs the new Lord. In the time of Laeral, this is done by someone Laeral asks privately who would normally have business dealings or social contact with the Lord-to-be to invite them to dinner, or a business meeting, or a gathering on some other pretext...at which Laeral quietly shows up, takes them to her home (Mirt's Mansion) for a private dinner at which she makes sure they don't want to withdraw. If not, she then shows and tells them "the ropes," gives them their Mask (it's actually a full-head helm), and will arrange a meeting-place at which other Masked Lords will rendezvous with the new Lord to escort them to their first Lords' meeting (council).
Don't be sorry, I love talking Realmslore!
So Piergeiron had an easier time of making contact, and more influence within the Masked Lords. As a paladin, tirelessly working on social projects large and small (like nudging guilds to provide toys and food aid and "things to do" for street children), and having Madeiron as his personal envoy as well as bodyguard and servant of Waterdeep, he had more social pretexts for meeting people without the city at large saying, "OHO! Guess who's a new Masked Lord!" and more of a say in drawing up slates of candidates. And he used it during his long lordship to make sure the Masked Lords reflected all walks of life, ages, social classes, genders, etc. rather than being "this old boys network selects only old boys to join it." Which really means that ANYONE can be a Masked Lord.
Heh. The working title for my Realms novel DEATH MASKS was "Who Is Killing The Masked Lords Of Waterdeep?" ;}
EDIT - 22/8/21, found more tweets to connect the disjointed mess. |
Edited by - questing gm on 22 Aug 2021 02:28:01 |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11830 Posts |
Posted - 21 Aug 2021 : 15:57:39
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Hmm, that is an interesting note ... the part about them delaying a fellow masked lord to make them miss a vote. We always think "knives out", but that could be a really good adventure "Hey, I need you to get me to this vote on time or my vote won't count". Thus, its not about the party protecting the person, its just a push against time... but in a way that's different than other "time crunch" adventures where some horrible thing might happen.
Thinking the party comes upon a masked lord with a carriage whose axle cracked and a wheel off, all four horses that pulled it are dead.... there are signs that a glyph of warding of some sort must have exploded in the street as the horses passed over it.... there's 8 dead bodies around the masked lord, 2 of which are watchmen... and the masked lord says "I need you to mend my wheel and loan me your horses to pull it... I need to get to the vote and I have to bring what's in my carriage with me, and not let it die. The vote starts in 20 minutes. Hurry, if you value the city not losing its shipping rights to Baldur's Gate over some silly misunderstanding setup by its enemies." |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
Edited by - sleyvas on 21 Aug 2021 16:09:22 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 21 Aug 2021 : 16:34:26
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quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
Hmm, that is an interesting note ... the part about them delaying a fellow masked lord to make them miss a vote. We always think "knives out", but that could be a really good adventure "Hey, I need you to get me to this vote on time or my vote won't count". Thus, its not about the party protecting the person, its just a push against time... but in a way that's different than other "time crunch" adventures where some horrible thing might happen.
Thinking the party comes upon a masked lord with a carriage whose axle cracked and a wheel off, all four horses that pulled it are dead.... there are signs that a glyph of warding of some sort must have exploded in the street as the horses passed over it.... there's 8 dead bodies around the masked lord, 2 of which are watchmen... and the masked lord says "I need you to mend my wheel and loan me your horses to pull it... I need to get to the vote and I have to bring what's in my carriage with me, and not let it die. The vote starts in 20 minutes. Hurry, if you value the city not losing its shipping rights to Baldur's Gate over some silly misunderstanding setup by its enemies."
I didn't read that as the Hidden Lords delaying each other -- I read that as part of the reason their identities are kept secret from the wider world is so that non-Lords can't do things like that.
Which isn't to say it wouldn't be a bad plan, but it would require the person doing it to be able to identify the Hidden Lord, know that this Hidden Lord is going to vote a particular way on a particular manner, *and* when that vote is going to happen. So it's unlikely to happen unless another Lord stages it -- and it's going to look suspicious to the others if this kind of thing keeps happening. |
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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 22 Aug 2021 : 02:35:23
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On paste of secret ingredients dwarves use to inhibit hair growth from Dwarves Deep
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1429244006282801156
Aug 22 2021
@Sundered_Ant
@TheEdVerse while waiting to hear back on that NDA, I did have a simpler question that I had thrown away in place of asking about "Gate."
In your sourcebook "Dwarves Deep," you mention a "paste of secret ingredients" dwarves use to inhibit hair growth. Does it have a name?
@TheEdVerse
Yes. It’s “Staech,” after the name of the dwarf who devised it, very long ago. (Pronounced "STAY-ch") |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 23 Aug 2021 : 00:40:59
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On the map for the mystery adventure on Mages and Sages
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1429554937097334792
Aug 23 2021
@MarcoVolo9
Hi @TheEdVerse! I will ask a big favor: could you share the map of the place where the adventure takes place? I'm would love to DM it for my friends, but like @EricLoganBoyd at some point of the game, I'm a little lost without the map ^^ https://youtu.be/quqwRaBHtqI Have a nice day!
It is a great mystery adventure, and in 4 hours, perfect for me! I guess you can't share it with us?
@TheEdVerse
I have to redraw the maps ere sharing them, as I rejiggered some real old mansion maps, but the adventure is really an improvisation: the DM starts with "this character has these secrets and aims, and this one has those secrets and aims" and a set-up murder, and lets play unfold.
I think Jeff and Curry will be putting the DM's character notes up at the Mages and Sages site. Maps to follow when I get them ready, but they're way down the to-do list (think HUGE, many-roomed, three-floors-plus-cellars-and-attic mansion). |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 23 Aug 2021 : 00:55:03
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On humidifiers in the Realms
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1429468635123302415
Aug 22 2021
@WilliamTramp
“Humidifiers don’t exist in the Forgotten Realms”
@TheEdVerse you wanna weigh in on this? My fighter’s got bad allergies."
@TheEdVerse
Humidifiers exist in the Realms. As "steam bowls" placed near fires to cause the water placed in them to heat and "mist" throughout the room.
As do wood stove fans (the heat-powered simple blade spinners located atop a heat source), as "warmwhirls." |
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Brimstone
Great Reader
USA
3287 Posts |
Posted - 23 Aug 2021 : 01:16:35
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quote:
Originally posted by questing gm
On the ruins of Gate in the Frost Hills
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1428818973345394693
Aug 21 2021
@Sundered_Ant
@TheEdVerse am hoping you can shed some light on a location simply known as "Gate."
Detailed in the sourcebook "Savage Frontier," this ruin in the Frost Hills has an immense black cube, housing colored stone slabs that act as portals to other planes, even other Prime Materials.
@TheEdVerse
I will have to see if the NDA for that has been lifted, or no longer holds force (it's from a TSR-era license). The locale is part of my original Realms (hence what was published in FR5).
I have had that book for years, and never noticed it! The random pieces of Realmslore I am still learning about... |
"These things also I have observed: that knowledge of our world is
to be nurtured like a precious flower, for it is the most precious
thing we have. Wherefore guard the word written and heed
words unwritten and set them down ere they fade . . . Learn
then, well, the arts of reading, writing, and listening true, and they
will lead you to the greatest art of all: understanding."
Alaundo of Candlekeep |
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Ed Greenwood on Twitter
