| Author |
 Topic  |
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
 Posted - 20 Nov 2021 : 01:06:49
|
On half-dwarves and half-halflings
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1461830127814332424
Nov 20, 2021
@WillemJdeGreef
Out of curiousity, in your home campaign do you know of any half-dwarves or half-halflings (quarterlings?). We know humans and elves can tango, and humans and orcs. Why not dwarf/halfling, human dwarf, human halfling and such?
@TheEdVerse
Certainly. This has come up a lot over the years, and my answer remains the same: such individuals tend to favour/"pass" for one parent race or the other...and out of social convenience, almost invariably choose to "blend in" (e.g. a tall human/dwarf w/humans).
|
 |
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 21 Nov 2021 : 01:08:02
|
Another non-question post, but again since it had Ed's realmslore tag and recommendation, it is another product that might be worth looking into. I don't know how much involvement Ed had with this product.
On DMG product on Kryptgarden
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1462110868712435715
Nov 21, 2021
@Heimdayl
#NewRelease #DnD #DMsGuild #guildbulletin #ttrpg #ttrpgfamily
Just released "Kryptgarden Ascendant". (
> 80 pages
> A 5-part adventure.
> 13 random encounters.
> 21 creatures (8 powerful beings, 13 creatures - 14 new).
> 1 magic item.
> 8 detailed maps.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/377889/Kryptgarden-Ascendant
Also available in the "Kryptgarden Trilogy" Bundle, which includes "The Road Through Kryptgarden", "A Nightmare In Kryptgarden" and "Kryptgarden Ascendant".
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/377890/Kryptgarden-Trilogy-BUNDLE
@TheEdVerse
I enjoyed this one a lot. And it provides a nice toolbox for DMs to spin side-adventures and sequels with (nice deployable monsters). Recommended. |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 21 Nov 2021 : 01:21:30
|
On off days in a tenday for Waterdhavian workers
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1462150993739661327
Nov 21, 2021
@TheEdVerse
Tendays in the Realms, not weeks. No official “off days” but temple and local civic festivals (which ARE days off for all) are many, and it’s understood workers need time off, so almost all businesses are staffed in shifts to make this possible. (Some guilds require this.) Most can dicker with employers (it’s an expected thing) to work more days “on” in a row in order to get more days off in a row (to make a trip, visit family or nurse a family member, for weddings, etc.).
@gilgamesh_v9
Thanks for the reply!
I ask because I’m homebrewing some rules about operating a tavern in the new Waterdeep adventure. As a food service employee, I’m just wondering what the on/off day ratio looks like.
Because a tenday has 3 more days, is it as simple as 1 more off day?
@Indrasil1
i am running a campaign in FR and in Xanathar’s one of the downtimes says you need X amount of workweeks to gain a language/prof in a tool. What…is the work week for an instructor?
Would an teacher be teaching all ten days of a tenday? Or would they have some days off? Or is that more of a case by case basis and the DM should just give an estimate?
@TheEdVerse
In the 1490s DR, a typical Waterdhavian worker in a high-stress front-of-house position (a maid or server) with a stellar employer might get a half-day “completely” off every third day—but it would be understood that this would be cancelled/postponed for crises (someone displaced so an extra household is unexpectedly housed under your roof), unexpected important guests, or big events. If this happens, the custom (and for guild members, it’s a formal, enforced rule, with “won’t work for” blackballs for deliberate rulebreakers) is to later (but always “within the season,” meaning same half of the year) give a full day off in lieu. So if you give up two half-days in a row for a festival or the like, you’ll get two full days off later, not necessarily together and usually not at the same time as co-workers (times off are ”staggered” so SOMEONE is on duty).
Instructors are USUALLY, in Waterdeep at this time, except when employed on staff by the very wealthy or nobility (like a real-world “governess”), working for themselves. So they can fill every moment if they need/want the pay, or give themselves time off.
Again, there will be crises (mustering for a trading expedition, so suddenly a lot of folks need to learn a smattering of a particular unfamiliar-to-them language) that will upset the norm, but a usual situation for a working-for-themselves instructor (craft or tutoring) is a quarter-day off every fourth day, or a half-day off every fifth day.
Kitchen staff and stable hands and other “lowly” workers get a lot less time off; they’re usually on duty every day, nine out of ten, with a tenth day off to visit family, attend formal services at a temple, or just laze or sleep. However, it’s expected that such workers will get meal breaks and “ale breaks” throughout their workday, meaning that if an employer or client find them lounging in a back alley with a mug of something, they’ll be neither angry nor surprised; such time is accepted.
|
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 21 Nov 2021 : 01:26:32
|
Names of spoken languages
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1462155852673126402
Nov 21, 2021
@weston_rory
In your Realms what do their elves call their language? Espruar has always been referred to as the name of the Moon Elvish alphabet, what would the common elvish language be called?
Assuming there would be regional as well as Sun / Green elf dialects. Thanks!
I'm also interested in the native terms for the Gnomish and Dwarven languages in Gnomish & Dwarven.
Lastly - what is the Gnomish term for their people in your home Realms? Tel'Quessir, Hin, Ahrraem, ________???
Thanks again for years of entertainment!
@TheEdVerse
Elves call their own spoken language Lalur (“The Singing”). They refer collectively to other languages as Glahkery (“sound-strife”).
Dwarves call their own spoken language Arltah (”Dwarf-converse”).
Gnomes call themselves Doamun (translated as both “Enduring-Folk” and “Steadfast-Us”), and their spoken language (referred to in Common as “Gnometalk,” BTW) as “Munthar” (“us-clack” or “our-speech”). |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 21 Nov 2021 : 22:24:47
|
On Shandril Shessair still "around"
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1462261104869089285
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1462849809459695618
Nov 21, 2021
@laethyn
A question, if I may ...
Is Shandril Shessair still "around" with the ability to make herself known to wielders of spellfire?
@TheEdVerse
Oh, yes. She remains a “Voice in the Weave,” and so can speak to anyone within reach of the Weave who wields spellfire, or has the Gift (the ability to wield arcane magic).
@frank_oni_oni
Is she "anchored" to a particular place in the weave or has she the ability to jaunt about?
@TheEdVerse
She can be wherever the Weave reaches. However, unlike Mystra or Azuth, she can't spy and overhear everywhere in the Weave at once; the chaos overwhelms her. (She must hunt for someone, not use the Weave to find and eavesdrop on them. Syluné, a stronger Voice, can.)
- Edited on 23/11/21 to add new tweet. |
Edited by - questing gm on 22 Nov 2021 22:31:00 |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 22 Nov 2021 : 22:33:26
|
On Egyptian-inspired civilizations in the Forgotten Realms
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1462683738987499521
Nov 22, 2021
@Cyberjaeger
@TheEdVerse is there any Egypt inspired civilizations in The Forgotten Realms?
@TheEdVerse
Not in my original, but in the published Realms, the already-published Desert of Desolation adventures incorporated pyramids in a desert setting; from them other designers extrapolated ancient-Egyptian-like cultures at the southeastern end of the Sea of Fallen Stars. |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 23 Nov 2021 : 22:37:36
|
On 'sister of the heart' in elvish
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1462976546533163008
Nov 23, 2021
@GoldnWlf
Hi! I'm making my first D&D character ever. She's a foundling half-orc adopted into a Moon Elf tribe. I want her name to mean something like 'sister of the heart' in elvish. Her elf sister is also a player. Do you have suggestions on what that would look like? Thanks
@TheEdVerse
Sure. In Torilian Elvish, “nys” = sister, “arael” = heart, and “ever” is both “home” and “of the”
So “sister of the heart” is Nyseverarael.
However, this IS an Elvish expression, and over years of use, as a given name, has contracted into: “Nyseverael” |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 24 Nov 2021 : 23:03:38
|
On the Plea for Guidance from the Lady of Mysteries, Mother of All Magic
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1463327395688161283
Nov 24, 2021
@Pataphor1
Master @TheEdVerse,
If you would be so kind sir, I would very much care to learn the Plea for Guidance from the Lady of Mysteries, Mother of All Magic.
@TheEdVerse
Certainly! Should have shared this LONG ago.
Uttered while bathed in starlight or the light of a flame the petitioner (person praying) is leaning into, or concentrating on...or a conjured magical radiance like handfire
"Hallowed Lady, Mother Mystra, guide my thoughts now
Light my way
Inform my deeds
Enlighten me, as you enlighten all
Show me what is best to do
To deliver, succor, protect, and enrich
Blessed be thy will
I am [[petitioner speaks name]], and place myself in thy hands
Guide me" |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 25 Nov 2021 : 23:08:01
|
On special word/term for “dictionary”, “thesaurus”, et al?
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1463750058583670788
Nov 25, 2021
@gkrashos
Hi Ed! Before the Winter snows hamper your Realmslore foraging efforts, I was wondering if the Realms has any special word/term for “dictionary”, “thesaurus”, et al?
@TheEdVerse
In the Realms, a “constus” is any reference tome that’s organized for easy look-up of contents (either with alphabetized headings or a heading/subheading breakdown system).
A “canthroyal” is any work largely devoted to translations of words or phrases from one language to another (e.g. a Common-Elvish Dictionary or phrase book).
And a “theamus” is any guide to important published works on a topic, or in a genre (example, a history of books published about Cormyr, in sequence and compared and contrasted).
Oh, forgot the plural/collective forms: construth, canthroyae, and theamum. |
Edited by - questing gm on 25 Nov 2021 23:08:33 |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 27 Nov 2021 : 00:34:02
|
On Alzhedo word for master
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1464317275998199813
Nov 27, 2021
@Manual_Text
Uhm hello! Would you please tell me what the Alzhedo word for 'master' is? I play an indentured elf and I think it's important to know!
@TheEdVerse
The Alzhedo word for both master and commander (role, not formal rank) is "adha." An order or command is "ada."
A slave is "adhar" and to obey/be obedient is "alam" (loyalty is "amru").
Pronunciations, in order: ad-HA, ADD-ah, ADD-har, El-AM, and amm-ROO. |
Edited by - questing gm on 27 Nov 2021 05:30:54 |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 27 Nov 2021 : 00:36:02
|
On decent-quality printing presses in late 15th century
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1464268086304030720
Nov 27, 2021
@Warpmind
@TheEdVerse in the late 15th century, is it safe to assume decent-quality printing presses - though not movable type - are well established along the Sword Coast, for affordable mass productions of books and such?
@TheEdVerse
Yes. Formes set by hand, most type is TINY carved wooden blocks, with "dwarfstone" stone headers.
NOT in Calimshan, where calligraphy rules thanks to decrees (no presses, employ all of our scribes), but all points north. |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 27 Nov 2021 : 00:44:07
|
Another plug type tweet. Wooly, let me know if these types of tweets have a place in this scroll or not. I'm just going by because it has the #realmslore tag.
On current 5e Toril campaign guides
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1464034040235925506
Nov 26, 2021
@TheEdVerse
Fans of the Realms, don't miss this one! We'll get the surface of Toril covered yet! One glorious realm at a time!
(Thay's up next, thanks to @GHC_and_Tacos and @warfteiner, and @gmcalpin herding us and making things fit. And then there's Volo's Guide to...well, let's save that.)
<https://twitter.com/_Joe_Raso/status/1463968518777548800>
@WestMadaPlays
Im actually trying to compile a list of all the current 5e Toril campaign guides, I’ve got obviously SCAG, Rashemen, Great Dale, and Moonshae isles. What else am I missing?
@TheEdVerse
Well, The Border Kingdoms that @GHC_and_Tacos and I wrote, for one! It's official and everything. ;} |
|
|
|
Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 27 Nov 2021 : 04:11:14
|
quote:
Originally posted by questing gm
Another plug type tweet. Wooly, let me know if these types of tweets have a place in this scroll or not. I'm just going by because it has the #realmslore tag.
If Ed's plugging it, it's all good.  |
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!  |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 28 Nov 2021 : 00:59:55
|
On the complete lyrics to "Ever a Hero Be"?
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1464503176955142147
Nov 27, 2021
@DwaineSpradling
Hi @TheEdVerse, hope this finds you well on this turkey day. I was hoping to pick your brain. Do you by chance have the complete lyrics to "Ever a Hero Be"? It was a ballad written by Thalloviir Vaundruth in 1344DR, featured in your novel The Swords of Eveningstar.
@TheEdVerse
Yes, but give me a few days. They're stored in a box that's in the BIG shipping container out in the yard, and I have to fell a tree before I can safely go rummaging in there...lest it fall and pin me inside.
And I can't die yet; too many deadlines still to meet!
SUCCESS! So, here you go...
Ever a Hero Be
This ballad was penned by Thalloviir Vaundruth, Bard of Beregost, in 1344 DR. It consists of seven verses sharing the same rhyming scheme, and separated by a five-line refrain.
Until now, only the second verse has been seen in published Realmslore, as the header quotation of Chapter 13 of Swords of Eveningstar.
It was Vaundruth’s habit, shared by many traveling minstrels and bards of the time, to begin a performance by announcing the name of a ballad, speaking each word slowly and deliberately, with pauses between, thus:
EVER…
A…
HERO…
Be!
(Then the performer would strike an strange, complex opening chord, usually not one or even in a key heard in the ballad itself; ...listen to the opening of the Beatles song A Hard Day’s Night for an example of one such. This chord might seem random, but is repeated exactly at the end of the ballad, to signal to listeners unfamiliar with a tune that the song was at an end, not merely reaching a pause.)
O hovel rude or castle tall
Empty purse or having it all
We all need heroes lest we fall
For force creeps in through every wall
To dance on bones with glee
[Refrain:]
Home and hearth and loving arms
Food and friends all have their charms
But to defend and keep them you must evil see
And fight it fierce but thinkingly
To please the gods, and ever a hero be
But deep in halls dark and haunted
Even heroes bold, high-vaunted
Twice and thrice, to end up daunted
Think of loved ones deeply wanted
And much safer places to be
[Refrain:]
Way on seldom straight or bright as thought
For the truth you hear is sometimes not
And firm loyalties they can be bought
Stride once wrong and catch it hot
Die or learn right fast when to flee
[Refrain:]
Once young and eager, restless, I
Did yearn for gold and feasts to be my
Daily lot as my name soared high
’Til I had all the castles I yearned to buy
I think I’d want at least three
[Refrain:]
Wiser then I grew thanks to the gods
And many a kick square in the cods
Yet slowly won the approving nods
And learned to smell the subtle frauds
Well, enough to stay alive and free
[Refrain:]
So, now I’m old, no longer bold
My flame it sinks, to soon grow cold
My face no more here to behold
My tale’s end it shall be told
And the gods shall come for me
[Refrain:]
O, after many flashy things I have yearned
And many of my desires have me spurned
My share of bridges behind me burned
This hard lesson I have learned
But now share with thee for free:
[Refrain, but sung loudly and at half speed; the audience knows that the custom is that they can join in if they want to, chanting if they can’t carry a tune]
And there you have it. :}
Enjoy, I hope!
Ed
Oh, and the tune is pretty close to this:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=NX6dJgmof0E
(from the carol See Amid the Winter Snow, but a performance in the Realms would be much closer in sung style to this) |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 28 Nov 2021 : 01:03:54
|
On wyverns
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1464659204581605384
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1464659315038593040
Nov 28, 2021
@TheEdVerse
Overhead the wyvern flies
Deadly-taloned, and all too fleet
Yet when its snores doth bleat
I slit its throat, fast and neat
Grind it into juicy pies
And sell them in the street
@Zane732
I'd tend to think you'd have to cook wyvern meat for ages if you didn't want it to be tough as shoe leather.
@TheEdVerse
The trick is to poach it in dragon bile. The acid breaks down the meat into melt-in-the-mouth softness. You'll have to add the right seasonings, though, to counteract the licorice-like taste of the bile.
@mask_bastard
Do you say we-vern or why-vern?
@TheEdVerse
WIV-urn. ;} |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 28 Nov 2021 : 23:45:30
|
On Elvish (and drow) words for dark and shadow
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1464268086304030720
Nov 29, 2021
@BrainClouds
I'm going out on a limb here... Dear @TheEdVerse, I'm looking to name my BBEG something dark/shadow related without being an obvious rip of Wheel of Time or similar existing properties (formerly "Dark One"). Something short, to the point, and derived from Elvish. Any suggestions?
@TheEdVerse
Well, in the Elvish of the Forgotten Realms, nevae is both “dark” and “shadow” (and this word is commonly abbreviated in everyday speech to n’vae).
“Darkness” is ormaur, and “dark and eerie” is oumrae.
Dusk lighting and a sooty or shadowed appearance is imbur.
And if you want to say or allude to drow, there are other words, in Elvish and in the tongue of the drow.
For instance, elves disparagingly call drow and the dark elves of Ilythiir dhaerow, and this term can be translated as “face of shadow” or “heart of night” or “traitor” or worse.
Drow call shadows “veldrin” and natural darkness or total magical darkness are “oloth.”
As a name, any of these words could have modified endings.
@BrainClouds
Did I ever mention you're amazing? 'cause you are! Thanks!
@TheEdVerse
You're very welcome! (Thanks to @EricLoganBoyd and @erinmevans and @Owen_Stephens and many other creators who’ve worked on the Realms, and especially to @gkrashos for establishing and continually updating lexicons for them all, there are ever-growing compilations of the languages spoken in the Realms. I gleefully call upon them often, and augment them whenever the need arises.) |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 28 Nov 2021 : 23:50:49
|
On tree veneration by elves
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1465027956737257481
Nov 29, 2021
@robpasl
@TheEdVerse morning sage! A random thought from a segment on today’s @CBSNews Sunday Morning on California’s bristle cone pines, trees up to 4800 years old. So I wonder if an analogue exists on Toril, and being so long-lived, do these trees engender veneration from humanoids, perhaps elves?
@TheEdVerse
Oh, yes. Elves, particularly sylvan elves (wood/copper and wild/green) venerate long-lived trees (of all species) as sentient, “abiding” (patient, sentinels) foci of “good”/right (woodland) natural energies.
See Amarune’s Alamanac: Forests of the Realms (Vorpal Dice Press, available in digital form at the DM’s Guild) for examples of some druid spells that are akin to elven spells and the magics such trees can generate when asked in the right ways. An elf might ask a tree for guidance and then go into reverie to see what visions the tree sends, and might leave offerings of things that can nourish the tree, but this veneration does not mean the elf sees the tree as a god like Corellon Larethian. |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 28 Nov 2021 : 23:53:19
|
On Dunan (and Mirt) as Masked Lords
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1465030563488800770
Nov 29, 2021
@dmrob3
Oh wise one, @TheEdVerse. Do we know if Durnan is still a masked lord of Waterdeep in the Death Masks/Dragon Heist era?
@TheEdVerse
He is (as he never resigned or was stripped of his lordship, and still has his mask and robes hidden away, and Laeral regards him as a Masked Lord), but he chooses not to vote or attend meetings of the Masked Lords, these days.
He HAS both attended meetings and voted when he was privately tipped off by certain Masked Lords that decrees (laws) affecting the Yawning Portal were about to be voted upon.
Mirt’s still a Masked Lord, too, but also chooses not to vote or attend meetings of the Masked Lords, these days. He works with and for Laeral, though, and often gives her his advice on policies and politics (whether she wants it, or not ;} ). |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 28 Nov 2021 : 23:56:33
|
On gifts for Elminster (and other Realms characters)
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1465034728466169865
Nov 29, 2021
@SirWiseGuy
It is nearly at the holiday and Christmas season here, in the Realms it must be getting near Midwinter Festival, say that gifts are exchanged, what would Elminster and your other favourite Realms characters like to receive?
@TheEdVerse
Hoo, boy.
Elminster: quite a few less “addled mages trying to rule the world through idiot means that will mar it,” such as Szass Tam. The Sage of Shadowdale would like a holiday from all the extra work.
Mirt: to be young and strong again, and carrying a lot less weight around. No more wheezing! Oh, and Asper back alive, and many other old friends. Loneliness is a gnawing curse.
Storm: to have more Harpers visiting her and leave happily without her having to watch them go and think they’re hastening to their deaths, and instead may survive to visit again.
Laeral: to have certain Waterdhavians be a lot less selfish and greedy and shortsighted, and think of their fellow beings and future consequences and generosity and understanding. “Certain” as in ALL OF THEM.
Alustriel: to have the Silver Marches back and peace across the North, so folk everywhere can get back to planting and irrigating and tending the land, instead of sharpening swords and digging war-graves.
The Srinshee: to get back to Toril full-bodied and hale, as there’s a lot more work to do restoring the land, the forests in particular. Myth Drannor undestroyed would be nice, too.
Volo: Several wagonloads of formal pardons, so he can get back inside the gates of particular realms or cities. And a good disguise, so he can enjoy meals there without hurled stones or worse. |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 29 Nov 2021 : 22:38:56
|
On how far does the eye of the Xanathar thieves guild spread across Faerun?
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1465187668933947393
Nov 29, 2021
@re_tweeterer
Hey @TheEdVerse, how far does the eye of the Xanathar thieves guild spread across Faerun? My players managed to earn the wrath of Xanathar himself and I'm wondering where is safe: Athkatla? Thay? Or is it confined mainly to Waterdeep and surrounding areas?
@TheEdVerse
Well, there's safe and then there's safe.
Let's just say MOSTLY confined to the Deep and environs.
Both places you mention have their own crime lords who fend off the Xanathar's agents VERY effectively.
There's a real-world saying about frying pans and fires...
@re_tweeterer
Thanks heaps! So they may have to watch their backs in Neverwinter or Baldur's Gate?
@TheEdVerse
Oh, yes. That's not to stay that those places don't have their own crime lords, who may deliberately thwart the Xanathar's agents even if they're not certain precisely what they're thwarting, but the agents DO exist. |
Edited by - questing gm on 29 Nov 2021 22:47:19 |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 29 Nov 2021 : 22:41:25
|
On Ed's investment in Durnan
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1465364288101437440
Nov 30, 2021
@Azounerella
Hi, Ed! A bit of a blunt question, perhaps, but I often see Mirt mentioned on your Twitter, and he was central in Death Masks, but you seem to talk little of Durnan these days. Is he simply a character you're less invested in or does it have something to do with WotC?
@TheEdVerse
Mirt was my first POV Realms character in my oldest Realms stories (before D&D existed). Mirt and Durnan's adventures featured in a lot of those tales, but I rarely switched to Durnan's POV, as he's quieter and more sensible. (That's all, nothing to do with Wizards.) |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 01 Dec 2021 : 22:58:27
|
On Queen Raedra's roads, nobles and Elminster in Ath Cliath
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1465829266541752327
Dec 1, 2021
@CommonplacePub1
Well again @TheEdverse!
Three questions if I may:
1) Have you any idea if Queen Raedra intends to build a road north from Stag's Skull Bridge to the East Way?
2) Are her appointed lords properly termed "Queen's Lords"?
3) Has Elminster visited Ath Cliath?
Many thanks, Ed :)
@TheEdVerse
Heh.
1. That's been a planned improvement to the realm for nigh a century, but these darned invasions and wars keep happening, and drinking coin and good strong arms and time. The Queen has a LOT of plans to improve Cormyr, and it's on the list. We'll see.
2. Yes. And "crown lords" is the informal, everyday colloquial collective term for them.
3. I don't know. The Sage of Shadowdale keeps secrets from everyone, me very much included. He can't be everywhere (if the Weave doesn't reach it), but... |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 01 Dec 2021 : 23:21:04
|
On nobles in 15th century Waterdeep
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1465833319417929737
Dec 1, 2021
@RpgMatch
@TheEdVerse do you have a homegame list of 15th century Waterdhavian nobles you can share?
@TheEdVerse
I've been looking for the "big" list this last week, but think it's in the fortress of boxes I shifted to erect new bookshelves. May take months.
However, I have a much shorter list of the young rapscallions and poseurs who're giving the Deep trouble circa 1497-99 DR.
Finding that will likely take me to the end of the week (I am beyond busy right now, 3 hours sleep a night and running, running, running).
@RpgMatch
That would be awesome!!!
@TheEdVerse
Here we go:
DEPLOYABLE YOUNG NOBLES OF THE DEEP IN THE 1490S DR
These are all young ‘players’ among the nobles; restless ‘doers’ who habitually step outside their family compounds and the ranks of fellow nobility to truck with merchants, adventurers, and shady sorts. They are inquisitive, interested in new things and innovations and “what’s different,” and are apt to get mixed up in intrigues that go beyond who gets to dance with whom at the next revel, and who was most clever in their cutting rudeness to someone else at the last feast.
So here we have:
Three roisterers: a prank-player (Tanther Urmbrusk), a deadly “don’t get in my way, I slay” sort (Srandor Sultlue), and a merry, jovial drunkard (Rarantorn Argent)
A nasty “I get more than even” investor and manipulator (Anthaud Agundar)
An ambitious, “I want influence and a leading society reputation” social climber (Sameira Kothont)
A handsome intriguer, who’s both a con man and in cahoots with the Xanathar (Harlent Gauntyl)
A rival intriguer who works with monsters in Skullport, adventurers, and shady merchants/smugglers (Vrantavvar Ruldegost)
And...
A high-society nice young airhead who’s really a skilled actress playing that role, and behind closed doors is an accomplished, capable envoy (Dzarlantra Tesper)
Anthaud Agundar (NE hm Rog11): a dark-haired, dark-blue-eyed, short, slender, quiet man of tight lips and usually stone-faced-blank expression, who is ruled by greed tempered with patience. In life, he must get ever richer, but can take short-term losses and small gambles if he has to—so long as someone else is to blame, in his mind, and can be made to pay (often with their life, but he’ll settle for any city real estate they own, or other worldly goods if he must; if they have nothing, he’ll try to have them kidnapped and sold to slavers; he knows some covert “takers” in Scornubel). Anthaud’s a superb actor who can convincingly feign fear, confusion, naivety, and drunkenness—but if he’s awake, he’s hawk-alert and calculating, always coldly calculating. He tries to avoid personal combat, preferring to let hired swords do his dirty work or to lure pursuers into deadly traps he’s arranged. He carries a small personal arsenal of family-made weapons that don’t look like weapons, many of them poisoned, and is an energetic investor and manipulator, who calls on his mentor, his uncle Hamnaer, to help him get more than even against anyone. A nasty man.
And details of the others will follow, as I squeeze them in around everything else (Andrew Valkauskas and I are bringing to life an entire fantasy CITY, AthCliath, for his #FateOfTheNorns game, and I think it really IS alive by now!)
Rarantorn Argent (CG hm Ftr9): a merry, jovial and dashingly handsome epitome of the gifted, popular young noble, always prominent in news and gossip. A roisterer and a drunkard who doesn’t often get disparaged as a heavy imbiber as he’s a natural athlete with superb balance and coordination, so can deftly catch, throw, aim himself, and successfully attempt intricate intercepts of moving objects even when slurred with drink (unlike most folk, he doesn’t stumble or reel, just blacks out and collapses when he’s really overdone it). Naturally friendly to all rather than being haughty or adverse to associating with strangers, the grubby, or non-humans, he has friends and contacts all across the Deep, high and low, and makes more all the time—as he’s fun-loving, generous, and likes to aid others and has the knack of not offending them by how he gives that assistance. He loves informal celebrations, flirting, and lighthearted fun, will try to invite or draw servants and onlookers into it, and thinks that’s really what life is for. An unambitious drifter who deals with adventurers for the fun.
Harlent Gauntyl (NE hm Rog14): blond, green-eyed, burly and very handsome, Harlent plays the “idle young noble who likes revelry, drink, and ladies” but this is just a role he acts. Behind this mask, Harlent is a man who enjoys the embraces of just about any creature, and lives for the fun of swindling and deceiving those he despises (most folk), with fellow clever beings. He doesn’t mind if someone out-swindles him, the game of avoiding taxes and fencing stolen goods and besting others in business deals is its own reward. Being clever, and thinking up new ways of manipulating others, are what drives and truly delights him. He’s an accomplished “con man,” and has recently started working with senior agents of the Xanathar, for mutual benefit. He knows the crime lord is using him, and doesn’t mind in the slightest, as its interests, backing, and longer “many covert agents” reach enables him to pull off greater and greater cons. He loves fine wine and snails (the latter for eating, racing, and keeping as pets; he even has some that devour human flesh, which comes in handy for tortures and body disposals on some rare occasions, though he prefers to avoid killings; they take time that could be used for the fun of more manipulations). He tries new foods and diversions with an eye to their utility as manipulative tools.
Sameira Kothont (CN hf Ftr2/Rog4): A buxom blonde with knee-length hair who’s almost never seen without a lot of body jewelry and artfully-applied cosmetics that make her striking indeed.
Her family’s city real estate holdings and close, amicable work with the relevant guilds and the Palace to redevelop ever-larger, grander buildings on their lands have made them fabulously wealthy, and Kiyrn, his wife Roevaeryl, and Kiyrn’s sister Avanthra are influential and much courted for the investment funds they control. However, Kiyrn’s eldest daughter Sameira (unlike her younger brother Branthen and sister Vaerelle, who’ve moved to, and extended the family businesses to, Baldur’s Gate and Athkatla, respectively), has stayed at home and seems determined to become the next great Kothont in the Deep. She never misses a noble revel, wedding, or high-society feast, and her ambition is so hot and strong that the city can smell it when she glides grandly into a room—or perhaps that’s just the lush scents (mainly mingled fruit essences) she always wears. Always in danger of becoming plump, Sameira has turned to wizards to work spells on her to curb her hunger, but she’s always thirsty.
And restless, and horny.
She hates cold calculation, preferring to sail the hot tides of her emotions and enthusiasms of the moment, so chases fad after fad.
She’s terrified of boredom, and chases it away by taking up with this band of adventurers and that sinister rogue and yonder monster (and she never has any public romances or affairs, secretly bedding doppelgangers whom she aids with her influence to buy more and more buildings in the city, just as they aid her with deceptions and impostures).
Vrantavvar Ruldegost (NE hm Rog6/Ftr4): House Ruldegost is a popular noble family in Waterdeep, with many and varied interests and successes, and a wide variety of living members. They all bear the shining mantle of the far-traveled gallant adventurers, sponsors of adventurers, and very successful merchants of the last seventy years, including the nigh-legendary seacaptains Urtharl Ruldegost and Tansheira Ruldegost, “She-Wolf of the Seas.”
Ranthar and Tulvin and Lasheira Ruldegost are all popular, socially-busy, energetic younger Ruldegosts, but their younger brother Vrantavvar (like his namesake uncle, who long ago retired to Scornubel and has been a focus of disquieting rumors of monster-breeding and worse, in his declining years) is a quieter, more private person, with iron-strong control of his facial expressions and voice. The younger Vrantavvar was introduced to certain drugs by his uncle as a young boy, and has both enjoyed their effects and built up a near-immunity to them, so his uncle started dosing him with poisons so he’d become nigh-immune to them, too—with, Elminster informed the Harpers, great success.
The elder Vrantavvar did this because he wanted a young, vigorous sidekick to assist him in his smuggling activities to and from Skullport, and the younger Vrantavvar took to it like a natural, making much more extensive contacts in Skullport than his uncle ever did. Including quite a few “monsters,” with whom he works frequently on activities “of mutual benefit” (a favourite phrase of the younger Vrantavvar).
Over the last decade, the young Vrantavvar Ruldegost has built an empire of trading connections between various folk of Skullport and shady merchants of Waterdeep—and calmly fended off repeated attempts by the Xanathar’s agents to eliminate him, or take over this or that strand of his trading network. Vrantavvar’s own agents of choice as go-betweens and to thwart the Xanathar’s agents are hired bands of adventurers who came from outside the city, and are seeking hirings or their fortune in the Deep. He provides steady employment for many, and in return they have pruned so many branches of the Xanathar’s network that the crime lord sent Vrantavvar a formal, explicit “I’m going to leave you alone now, please stop” message. Which Vrantavvar was quite happy to do; he much prefers to spend his time making everyone illicitly richer. He hates paying taxes, has no qualms about trading with beings who eat humans, and thrives on the thrills he gets from the dangers involved. He’s also become incredibly personally rich—so much so that he’s buying city real estate in Baldur’s Gate, Athkatla, and now in Cormyrean and Sembian cities, and hiring distant agents in such places to act as his landlords and reinvest the rents in their own sideline businesses (he doesn’t care if they cheat him, he’s already made more than he can ever spend in his life).
He’s toying with the idea of toppling any local rulers who cross him or harass his agents or trading partners with converging bands of anonymously-hired adventurers.
@capslock1979
Thanks @TheEdVerse this fits perfectly into a skullport plot I am working on. Can you see Vrantavvar working with/manipulating a Cult of the Dragon Cell? Any Deep noble families have connections to the Cult (Sammaster's version, not Tiamats)
@TheEdVerse
I can indeed.
And this is by no means comprehensive as a survey of such connections, but I do know that young “wild one” Rohdlandrar Margaster is up to his neck in working with the Cult. Certain older Margasters would be horrified if they knew how much.
@TheEdVerse
Srandor Sultlue (CE hm Rog12): is an urbane, outwardly pleasant person who inwardly keeps constant score in life, calmly and cold-bloodedly; he has to best everyone he meets (over time, not necessarily within every deal, conversation, or encounter), unless he exempts them (as he does his own kin). If you seriously impede his wants and doings, he arranges your death (preferably dealt to you in person, but he’ll employ agents or arranged “accidents” if he’s busy with more pressing matters (or foes he respects more). Deadly with a blade, he won’t hesitate to slay anyone if he thinks he can avoid blame and consequences, and will make very sure of kills (beheadings or repeated impalings trump a single stabbing thrust) and enjoy doing it. His other pleasures include gambling (he must win, so cheating is fine), “wenching” (seduction and sex that preferably involves inflicting pain; he most enjoys this when partners seem to enjoy receiving it), and revelry. Srandor is a notorious roisterer who often still goes from revel to revel to feast to club to tavern, until past dawn. His stamina never flags.
And another, so only one left after this...
Dzarlantra Tesper (CN hf Rog8): A skilled actress who plays a carefree, rather brainless young thing who loves beautiful clothes, pretty things and shopping. However, behind closed doors, she acts as a accomplished, shrewd, forgets-nothing (so, can read a long, complex document, memorize it, and quote it accurately from memory) envoy/go-between for many noble matriarchs and patriarchs behind closed doors, to deal with each other, guildmasters, senior courtiers, and others. It’s rumored she has some sort of bodyguard or family guardian angel who stalks her, watches over, and steps in to save her skin when need be. (These rumors are true: her aunt Taura, who’s really the steel dragon Arantaryltaura, scries “Dzarra” and steps in at the last moment to let her escape, or keep her life.
Dzarlantra is an accomplished dancer, singer, and handharpist (but she’s not a Harper, though they’ve several times tried to recruit her). She’s perky, lithe, beautiful, and eversmiling. She adopts all the latest hairstyles, changes her wardrobe constantly, and is very much part of the “high life” social whirl of Waterdeep.
And the last.
Deplorables, now… ;}
Tanther Urmbrusk (CE hm Ftr9): a good-natured, easygoing, well liked and fairly good looking “friend to all” who is a joiner of fellowships, clubs, and causes, always up for a new entertainment (way of wasting time, from a card or party game to a risky sport like sneaking aboard ships by night to climb their rigging and leave rude trophies on mast tops. He’s notorious as a player of pranks, which betimes go wrong or even cause fatalities but are never nasty or intended to maim. (Among his family, whose ranks include some really sinister sorts like his uncles Korthul and Morland, Tanther’s considered a softie who’ll never amount to much and who mars the reputation of the family with his “too-friendly frivolities.”) Tanther likes a party, has a large and veteran capacity for drink, a strong stomach for all manner of food clashing in it, great stamina (he can roister for days and nights on end and not grow weary or even yawn, though when he crashes, he’s out like a light and snoring heavily for long periods, if left uninterrupted), and is skilled and enthusiastic when it comes to the ladies.
@RpgMatch
This is wonderful. Thank you!
@TheEdVerse
My pleasure!
Enjoy.
(This is how I do all my nobles. Which is why we've never had wordcount in an official Realms book to cover them. With aging aunts and uncles and grandparents stashed away in back rooms, it's a rare noble family that numbers less than 16 members.
- Edited on 3/12/21 to add new tweets |
Edited by - questing gm on 02 Dec 2021 23:19:15 |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 02 Dec 2021 : 23:41:21
|
On festival food and drink in Evereska
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1466202190285004810
Dec 2, 2021
@LusRicardoSilv5
Hey there Mister @TheEdVerse, would you mind enlighten me with your delightful knowledge?
What kind of food and drink (besides wine, of course) would an elven festival in Evereska feast on?
@TheEdVerse
If the festival has light “finger foods” rather than huge, sit-down formal banquets, it would likely feature the following (all from local ingredients):
Thammaera (mint salads: mixed broadleaf plants and brassica buds [think “Brussels sprouts”] flavored with a fermented mixroot dressing, which the crushed, sprinkled-on mint leaves react with to create a sweet-sour taste).
Bowls of pynchanar (we would say antipasto) of chopped, diced particular types of olives, nuts, and forest roots.
Sorren (fried, salted rhubarb shaft).
Tathkaer (fried, salted plantain).
Mint jelly (bonded as well as American canned cranberry jello, and served in cut slices; dark green translucent).
Mixed-berry jellies, some curried, some nut-roast, and some sweet (these are loose spreads, that go on marangar [see #7, below]).
Lathklan (fried, salted dew-worms [thick, white before frying, segmented]).
Murlathan (fried, salted ground-worms; brown, small, segmented, and when fried are like crispy potato fries, but with a walnut taste).
Brathaer (think of flatbread, but made by making an omelette of particular forest-bird eggs atop leaves of particular forest vines [randreen and horlthra] that half-melt, bond with the egg, then harden when cool into a cracker/biscuit-like rigid consistency).
Marangar (this is like cabbage in its looks and structure, but tastes like semi-sweet mango if left raw, layers torn apart for eating, but more like cornbread if torn apart and the pieces fried). This is everyday “fill up” food, but when served at feasts, the cooks go wild in seasoning it, so everyone’s is different, and feasters may be offered six or seven very different tastes. |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 02 Dec 2021 : 23:57:21
|
On customs of half-elf, gnome, and halflings weddings
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1466212685083725828
Dec 2, 2021
@Allalinor
I was curious if there are any particular wedding customs that might be common within the FR, especially the Sword Coast.
In our almost 2 year long campaign we are trying to figure out what a wedding between two of the characters would be.
To be more specific it would be between a noble forest gnome (previously half-elf) and noble half-dragon (previously elf) without either one having any strong connections to any deity.
So my interests lies more in possible traditions/customs of the wedding ceremony itself.
@TheEdVerse
Half-elf, gnome, and halfling weddings tend to be far more free-form (partners “craft their own”) than the ceremonies of other races, particularly when there isn’t strong deity or clan/family representation, so the key parts of it will be:
A processional to the place of the ceremony, ideally a woodland glade or streambank, but failing that, under a tree. Whoever is officiating sings the couple in, separately, or stands with a singer if the officiant can’t sing or the couple wants someone else to sing (often, a family member or mentor). If the union is between male and female, male approaches (is sung in) first, then female; if same-gender, older is sung in first, UNLESS the couple wants unison. Dress as they please, veils not a thing for these races, face towards/watch each other during the second approach.
The singing is known as a “calling song,” and there are both traditional songs and newly-written ones; it’s common to rewrite and personalize the lyrics.
When the couple-to-be are standing face to face, the officiant calls on any audience to witness the union, or speak against it (the only socially acceptable reason to do so is if the clan/realm of one or both of the couple-to-be only recognizes one marriage at a time to a person, and someone in the audience believes one or both are still married to someone else; there are tales of that “someone else” being in the audience and uttering a challenge at this time).
Absent any objection, the officiant delivers a very brief “sermon” that talks about the purpose/benefits of a union, and loyalty to it, and how loves grows within it if the couple work at it [if religious part of a wedding is strong, this is where the advice/commandments/views of the deities involved are uttered]. Then the older member of the couple-to-be is asked to speak to the person they’re going to wed, to make any promises they wish to, and profess their love (they sometimes say why the other person caught their eye and then won their heart, but this is entirely a personal speech, its form and content not dictated by tradition).
Then the younger member does the same thing, UNLESS the couple-to-be have decided beforehand on “younger first.”
Then the officiant calls again on everyone watching, and “all the gods” and “any spirits of this place” to witness the union, and the couple-to-be put bodily fluids on their left palms, and raise them vertically to touch each other (any sort of bodily fluid, but it’s usually spittle unless one of the couple-to-be is moved to tears, which will be used instead). They hold them firmly together as the officiant chants an ancient good-luck charm, in Thorass (it’s NOT deity-specific, but sounds like a prayer), and the couple embrace and kiss. They may exchange tokens (such as rings) at this time, or not, and half-elves have a custom of putting a token in their own mouths and kissing their new partner to transfer it into their mouth, but this is optional, and of course assumes the tokens are safe for such handling (i.e. not needles or blades).
And that’s it.
Traditional followups to the ceremony are dancing with music, that leads to a feast, followed by the couple going somewhere private to consummate and do a “first thing” together: plant a seed, go to a shared favorite place, or even undertake an expedition or quest. |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 04 Dec 2021 : 01:47:26
|
On Mask's Purse in Waterdeep
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1466560345548509184
Dec 3, 2021
@RpgMatch
@TheEdVerse how widespread was the practice of a “Mask’s Purse” in Waterdeep? Is it something a noble would know about or more a thief thing?
“Mask’s purse,” a small, cheap cloth pouch worn in plain sight (thus easily cut or lifted) containing a small offering of coin.
@TheEdVerse
Very well known, among Waterdhavians of all walks of life, and very widespread in use.
A citizen may have 2 "false" purses, an inner moneybelt or codpiece (women sometimes keep sharp daggers in theirs, for "personal" defense), coins in bootheels, and a throat-purse.
@RpgMatch
…and I’m going to integrate a random table into the looting of the bodies my players seem to keep doing.
I’m ruling most folks also wouldn’t keep more on them then would be required for their errands.
A “night on the town” would rarely yield more than a dragon, unless someone were heading to Gounar’s Tavern or the Ship’s Wheel.
@TheEdVerse
If you're going to a pre-arranged feast or revel at a club, you'd likely prepay up to a tenday earlier, in the well-lit middle of the day, so you can avoid carrying "large coin" at night...and much of the city knows this. It cuts down on muggings of the tipsy. |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 04 Dec 2021 : 01:50:35
|
On iconic fictional holiday character in the Forgotten Realms
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1466561369403101185
Dec 3, 2021
@gothstaff
@TheEdVerse Saludos Ed! Wanted to ask you: Is there an iconic fictional holiday character in the Forgotten Realms? kinda like the equivalent of Santa or the Easter Bunny?
Thanks!
@TheEdVerse
There are many. The Reaper who stalks on Deadwinter Day, the Maiden who dances at Greengrass, seeds sprouting wherever her bare feet touch, and so on, including many local "folk figures" (and they DO appear; they're all place-spirits). |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 04 Dec 2021 : 02:03:18
|
On when Waterdhavian workers get paid
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1466639611770269700
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1466653098890481672
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1466800869916258304
Dec 3, 2021
@RpgMatch
@TheEdVerse would laborers in Waterdeep (maids, butlers, storekeepers, etc) typically get paid their wage at the end of everyday or on a payday?
@TheEdVerse
Storekeepers, dockworkers and warehouse loaders, etc. usually get paid at the end of every day. Household servants (maids, doorjacks) typically get paid once/tenday whether they get room and board or not..but if they work in a noble household, it varies by noble.
@RpgMatch
Thank you! And are they charged rent for their servants quarters? I would assume, yes.
@TheEdVerse
Again, it varies with the employer. It's unheard-of for a Waterdhavian noble to charge rent to household staff, because it signals to other nobles that the rent-charging noble must be skint.
@RuneK2015
I find it phenomenal they get a wage. You would expect they belong to the household they serve and get remuneration in room, board, and rare gifts. I mean soldiers get salary as a recognition of the danger of their work, maids and servants aren't even tradespeople.
@TheEdVerse
Unpaid people can't afford to buy anything. Waterdeep's prosperity depends on folk buying things. Most (noble or not) citizens who can afford servants derive income, directly or indirectly, from lots of folk buying things..and for centuries all have realized this.
@RpgMatch
I’ve always considered maids part of the “trusted” category of workers that would earn 5 sp/day. They do have access to nobles who have every reason to value discretion and loyalty.…nobles or other influential and powerful individuals…
@RuneK2015
My point isn't the existence of money, and I'm certainly not going to argue about coin vs. barter in the realms where they're clearly minting coins, but the surprisingly modern idea of wages.
As I understand it the Lords of Waterdeep are traditional inherited aristocracy, not mercantile princes, and so aren't actually required to pay anyone. That they invest in the local economy by paying their staff rather than simply extracting taxation is remarkably farsighted.
@NotLikeMonopoly
It's interesting but 'farsighted' might be a stretch. Aristocracy is rooted in feudalism but isn't wholly dependent on it. Ancient Athens had slavery but if they escaped to Sparta, say, they were free.
The existence of a merchant class implies economic choice. Unless they were outright legal slaves, a staff member could always take their chances working in the private sector. Thus the Waterdeep Lords needed to compete in order to be served.
@RuneK2015
Generally not. A feudal lord owned the property his people lived on, the tools they used, and usually the facilities that fine goods were made through licensing. Guilds were chartered and those guilds empowered franchisees. Homesteaders or self-starters were extremely rare.
@TheEdVerse
One of the reasons I continually and patiently tell folks that I have never based the Realms directly or closely on any real-world history or culture is because of misunderstandings like this.
Waterdeep has never been feudal, and real-world feudalism is about service to rulers on the part of the nobility. The specifics about local land ownership, jobs, and customs in feudal societies varied widely from place to place and over time.
Specifically, in Waterdeep, household servants are salaried, can be hired away from someone, and there are retired governesses, hostlers, and even doorjacks (not to mention, of course, guards) who train novices to become "new" servants, so they can be hired by either nobles, or the large and growing segment of the Deep's citizenry who are wealthy and rising and want to live like nobles (such as most guildmasters and senior guild members, and a huge number of successful "self-made" entrepreneurs). Yes, there are lifelong loyal servants to some noble families, but their numbers are small and dwindling. |
Edited by - questing gm on 04 Dec 2021 02:12:47 |
|
|
|
questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1452 Posts |
Posted - 04 Dec 2021 : 02:18:43
|
On tankards and mugs
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1466796333717667845
Dec 3, 2021
@Sundered_Ant
This is probably the most pedantic thing I’ve ever asked of you @TheEdVerse, but it’s been bugging me for a while.
Do all people in your setting refer to mugs as tankards or is this just a tavern thing? And is there a Realmsian word for mugs?
<https://twitter.com/Sundered_Ant/status/1466789061868371972/photo/1>
@TheEdVerse
?
No. Tankards are "tankards," and mugs are "mugs," in the Realms. [And a mug without a handle is a "cup."]
If your mug is double-height and (the important part) has a lid that can be flipped up out of the way or down over the interior, it's a tankard.
Taverns "always" serve ale in tankards to avoid flies and such falling into the liquid (I put "always" in quotes because rural taverns often serve regulars with mugs, saving the lidded tankards for strangers.) No one uses the word "mug" when ordering or serving, they speak of "an ale" (Another ale, saer?). Oh, and in the passage you attached, editing glitched one thing: "tall glasses" should be "tallglasses"...in the Realms, a "tallglass" is rather like a flared-from-the-base (no stem) champagne flute.
But if you were washing, buying, or handling the thing you get your ale in and it happens to be a mug, as an object, it's called a "mug." (And kaethe, soup, etc. comes in it, in taverns, where in an upscale eatery, soup would come in a bowl.) |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
|
|
Ed Greenwood on Twitter
