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Purple Dragon Knight
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1796 Posts |
 Posted - 27 Jan 2008 : 02:33:10
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quote:
Originally posted by Charles Phipps
Hey Ed, Sir Gareth the King of Damara was supporting the buying of Goblin ears in The Sellswords by Bob Salvatore. This has lead to some controversy at my table. It's inclination that Sir Gareth's treatment of the humanoids in the land of Vaasa is pretty much the equivalent of ethnic cleansing and he's become a Fallen Paladin that's LN despite the fact he's otherwise a nice guy (and might be working towards LE because of his racism).
My players are suspecting that King Gareth may be just ignorant of what bounty hunters and so on are doing in his name.
Hey Charles,
I think this kind of gaming is horseradish. Shining knight kills dragon, saves princess, lives happy ever after. Cool! Now, are you going to be running the kind of game where the "Stop-Racism-Against-Dragons" treehugger hippy druids are going to give trouble to your shining knights for doing what they do best? I hope not, for the sake of your players.
This whole "racism vs monsters" ideology is pure crap if you ask me. There's the good guys and the bad guys. Period. Done. |
Edited by - Purple Dragon Knight on 27 Jan 2008 02:34:01 |
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createvmind
Senior Scribe
490 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jan 2008 : 03:19:43
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Hey Purple
Clearly in Much of Ed's writtings its not that black and white and I agree that the characters should be considered prejudice if they have no issue slaying a race of creatures simply because it's condone in a region. If I was a half-orc, I think I would have an issue with any type of creature that was trying to stab me in the back or slay my family, kill my livestock and so on. I think I would have an even greater concern though if the region I lived in decided to try and exterminate a race, whats to prevent that same region from suddenly deciding that my race is not acceptable and should be slain on sight. A goblin that has turned from it's kind and simply wants to live out it's days as a hermit is screwed in Vassa since it will be slain on sight. Perhaps having the characters witness this or seeing goblins who surrender still slain may cause the paladin to rethink the edict given and choose not to be a part of it.
And again just cause it might not be your type of play doesn't make it horseradish, we have a community of various players of various ages who may be elvoling into a different type of player/DM, that too is ok. |
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Purple Dragon Knight
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1796 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jan 2008 : 04:09:09
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Still crap! 
Goblins are evil little pricks who run around and steal your babies at night, then slow-roast them, eat them, and plant their tiny innocent skulls on pikes at the edge of the forest for all other farmers to see.
Oh, and they worship evil, dirty, maniacal fiends too.
Did I say they smell real bad too?
[PKD goes into serious mode: but seriously, do you guys even hear yourselves? the fantasy fiction goodly races - humans, elves, dwarves, etc. - all have overarching traits that held in high regard or thought as "noble" in our real-world, human society... this is no accident. The authors of various fiction medium who created goblins, orcs, ogres, trolls, made them dirty, smelly, ugly, and made sure we understood how EVIL these things were. If you want to spend half of your gaming time patronizing your players and insult their intelligence with the good old "fantasy trap" of putting a "good" goblin in the midst of 30 evil ones that are attacking them, just to prove your stupid, inane point that your players have acted in a racist way, then you just fall short of what a DM's job should be, and you shouldn't be DMing... and if you don't come to that realization yourself, then your players, one day, will have a nasty habit of pulling a "no-explanation" no show on you. Sorry, tough love for some of the creative folks out here I guess...] |
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Arkhaedun
Senior Scribe
869 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jan 2008 : 04:18:46
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| Please everyone, lets remember this thread is for asking Ed about the wonderful Realmslore and tid bits of information that he shares with us, and as such, discussions about things like this, since they aren't questions or discussions with Ed about his lore, should be for other scrolls or for PMs. Thanks all. |
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Charles Phipps
Master of Realmslore
1425 Posts |
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createvmind
Senior Scribe
490 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jan 2008 : 20:49:25
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Hello All,
Ed are the vampires in Blackstaff your creations, Kaeth and Manshaka? If so can we get any info on them, history possibly, secondly in your home game do the events that occur in Blackstaff happen or any variation of it? In your mind what areas would you have affected, damaged by the lightning storms that aren't mentioned in the novel?
Ok now about to years ago I was correct in my dedcution that Mystra had Elminster placed in stasis of a sort to avoid him spending/sacrificing himself trying to defend Myth Drannor and possibly other places. In Blackstaff, one of Khelbens memories has him fighting back to back with Elminster during the fall of Myth Drannor, is this a mistake made by Schend or did Mystra hoodwink him shortly after that?
Thanks. |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jan 2008 : 02:58:45
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Hello, all!
To Charles Phipps, PDK, and createvmind, this:
Similar discussions have arisen in-character among the Knights in the past. I should mention that we customarily broke for a recess in mid playsession for green tea, potato chips, and Ed's artery-hardening chip dip (take 2 tubs of sour cream, 2 bricks of Philly cream cheese, beat together with a trace of ketchup and hot sauce and worcestershire sauce and a LOT of ground dried leeks or Knorr leek soup mix, plus Ed's secret ingredients, and . . . have a coronary, soon after. ).
Ahem. The important thing is: we talk over all sorts of things, including metagame matters. Ed has always reminded us: it doesn't matter what WE think, or our modern real-world society thinks. It matters what our characters (or various rulers, or various churches [remember, we had both PC and NPC priests to readily consult] or NPC races) IN THE REALMS think. Forget modern real-world "politically correct philosophies" and try to settle into Reams-think.
Then, from that starting point, if you want your character to strive for a take on a situation, morals of slaying intelligent critters or a specific race or creature, and so on, have your character articulate it . . . and bear the consequences.
As Henry puts it in Henry V: "Oh, Kate, Kate, we are not the slaves of fashion. We MAKE fashion" etc. etc. (I'm slightly paraphrasing the Bard here, but NOT changing his meaning, and Henry was speaking of royalty, but in the Realms it applies to royalty and adventurers. You CAN act differently and sometimes even change prevailing opinion (slowly: that is, as Ed once put it, "Opening one closed mind at a time."), but the campaign should "begin" from the tolerances and viewpoints held in the Realms. As a rule, these are broader and more tolerant in large, cosmopolitan trading centers (e.g. Waterdeep) and where rulers encourage such tolerance (e.g. Silverymoon) and narrower and less tolerant in rural areas, particularly where there's a history of strife (e.g. folk of rural eastern Aglarond won't be at all disposed to be kindly towards Thayans).
So saith me.  (But echoing Ed.)
love to all,
THO |
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Charles Phipps
Master of Realmslore
1425 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jan 2008 : 03:37:32
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Thanks, THO.
Honestly, I just wanted to know Ed's Opinion (canonical or not) whether King Gareth was a Paladin or not still but that's a very important insight into the nature of the Realms. But it's a controversial question given the multiple media nature of the Bloodstone Pass lead.
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My Blog: http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/
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Purple Dragon Knight
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1796 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jan 2008 : 04:14:14
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createvmind
Senior Scribe
490 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jan 2008 : 05:18:39
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Hey all,
Ed you've talked of spells that activate when words are said and begin scrying the speaker, used by War Wizards to keep tabs on whoever, I would like to know if you could post such a spell because I'm trying to understand how it works. Does the wizard cast it on the target or just create a zone where he hopes the words will be spoken like "kill Azoun" using that only as an example as I'm assuming others use these type of spells as well.
I'm assuming the various Yaun-ti and their creators also have such magics that alert them when someone is speaking about them and thus may give them the heads up and I assume it's divination magic.
Thanks for any info you can provide. |
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wakaman
Acolyte
12 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jan 2008 : 05:29:52
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Hey Ed, and others!
I have not been able to buy the Shining South, and so I apologize if the answer to the following question is contained within it.
I would like to know if floating structures/ buildings exist on Toril - not on a large scale as with the Netherese mythallars, but with individual buildings. While the mythallars naturaly don't exist anymore, surely there are magics that can suspend individual buildings/structures in the air? I was looking through some online information about Halruaa, and saw allusions to the existence of such magics (a picture was most convincing, as well), but have not been able to confirm this.
If they exist, where do they exist and how is this excecuted? without a mythallar, my theory is that one could use the Reverse Gravity/levitation/fly spells combined with a Permanency variant and some powerful transmuters. But I'm much more rooting for your expert opinions!
Thanks up front,
wakaman.
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Edited by - wakaman on 28 Jan 2008 05:39:17 |
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jan 2008 : 05:39:37
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I don't know if Otiluke's NDA Screen is still protecting all aboleth Realmslore, but can Ed ay least tell us whether or not Torilian aboleths have "ancestral" memories which "seem" to pre-date the Age of Thunder?
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I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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tauster
Senior Scribe
Germany
399 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jan 2008 : 09:47:20
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quote:
Originally posted by wakaman
Hey Ed, and others!
I have not been able to buy the Shining South, and so I apologize if the answer to the following question is contained within it.
I would like to know if floating structures/ buildings exist on Toril - not on a large scale as with the Netherese mythallars, but with individual buildings. While the mythallars naturaly don't exist anymore, surely there are magics that can suspend individual buildings/structures in the air? I was looking through some online information about Halruaa, and saw allusions to the existence of such magics (a picture was most convincing, as well), but have not been able to confirm this.
If they exist, where do they exist and how is this excecuted? without a mythallar, my theory is that one could use the Reverse Gravity/levitation/fly spells combined with a Permanency variant and some powerful transmuters. But I'm much more rooting for your expert opinions!
There are definitely flying structures in the realms.
The city of Halarahh in Halruaa:
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/ssouth_gallery/84389.jpg
And then there is the Temple in the Sky, a huge rock, levitating over the Flaming Tower somewhere north of Daggerdale. It houses a banite/cyrician/xvmite/banite again temple and is, as I understand it, one of the places of choices for the Knights of Myth Drannor when it comes to having fun with the Zhentarim... You can find a very detailed description of the Temple in "Finder's Bane", a novel by Kate Novak and Jeff Grubb.
I suspect that other magocracies like Thay and Nimbral have flying buildings as well, but I don't recall having ever read about the processes and spells that make them fly.
...oh, and WotC had a "Steal This Hook" article last week about flying fortresses, but I didn't really like the way they [i}realmsified[/i] (anchored them in the setting) them...
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4hook/20080125a
Great question, and hopefully one that Ed can speak about without having to evade NDA's! |
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crazedventurers
Master of Realmslore
United Kingdom
1073 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jan 2008 : 10:10:23
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quote:
Originally posted by wakaman
my theory is that one could use the Reverse Gravity/levitation/fly spells combined with a Permanency variant and some powerful transmuters. But I'm much more rooting for your expert opinions!
Just my thoughts:
Your theories seem sensible to me as a starting point. There was the Netherese 'cut the mountain top off and make it float spell' (name escapes me) and there are examples of floating buildings in Realms Canon:
Th Falling Tower in Kirinwood from Volo's Guide to Cormyer which is available for free on the Wizards website
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads
The Temple in the Sky is here
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=fr/fx20010912a
*****************
and Ed's answer about it was:
March 16, 2004: Dargoth, the Hooded One once more reveals unto thee the words of Ed:
Okay, let me deal with the smaller matters first:
The large, unlovely levitating rock whose hollowed-out interior was The Temple In The Sky was also scoured by the Knights, though again, several beholders in succession took up residence and had to be slain. The Zhents see this site as far more strategically important, and are very reluctant to relinquish it. The magic that causes it to 'stay up' is almost certainly Netherese, given its location, but could possibly be even more ancient. What is certain is that no one alive today has quite deciphered what that magic is (it resists normal dispels, attempts to manipulate the Weave in its location, and so on -- and utterly prevents the operation of all translocation [teleport, dimension door, etc.] spells within its confines and between any part of it, including the outer surface of the rock, and anywhere else in the known planes). Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice might say. :}
*****************
Which suggests that more than 'simple' levitate/repulsion/fly and permancy is required for long term stability as they may still make the object vulnerable to concerted efforts to dispel them. From my perspective the minimum required would be a ritual of magics similar to what you have mentioned concluded with at least one very carefully worded wish. This would give you a better than average chance of having something that would be fairly hardy to folks trying to bring it down.
The Flying Ships from Halruaa are other examples of large objects moving about, and they were vulnerable to being grounded, in the old Forgotten Realms comic a certain ship had one of its power rods tweaked, resulting in an explosive encouter for the ship as it crashed and burned.
Nice first question and welcome to the Candlekeep Look forward to see if Ed has any more official Hidden Lore he wishes to add to this.
Cheers
Damian |
So saith Ed. I've never said he was sane, have I?
Gods, all this writing and he's running a constant fantasy version of Coronation Street in his head, too. .
shudder,
love to all,
THO
Candlekeep Forum 7 May 2005 |
Edited by - crazedventurers on 28 Jan 2008 10:13:40 |
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wakaman
Acolyte
12 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jan 2008 : 10:45:19
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"Which suggests that more than 'simple' levitate/repulsion/fly and permancy is required for long term stability as they may still make the object vulnerable to concerted efforts to dispel them. From my perspective the minimum required would be a ritual of magics similar to what you have mentioned concluded with at least one very carefully worded wish. This would give you a better than average chance of having something that would be fairly hardy to folks trying to bring it down."
Thank you for the help, mate!and thank you for the greetings and the speedy reply, to both you and the one who repleid before you!
Yes, that sounds like a much more robust spell combination. I myself don't see why a building -can't- be suspended in the air without the help of netherese magic. The spells to be used already exist, as I've suggested and we all agree to be quite plausible.
However... I myself would realy appreciate the final word from Ed himself on this - It is quite a central debate in my circle currently, and I want to be able to answer this question definitively.
Is it possible to, theoretically, suspend a building in the air (permanently)? If so, what process are we looking at? and, in a connected topic, -are- there floating buildings in Halruaa as the pictures show? |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jan 2008 : 16:22:03
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Hello, all. This time I bring you a brief Realmslore reply from Ed of the Greenwood to wakaman’s query: “I have not been able to buy the Shining South, and so I apologize if the answer to the following question is contained within it.
I would like to know if floating structures/ buildings exist on Toril - not on a large scale as with the Netherese mythallars, but with individual buildings. While the mythallars naturally don't exist anymore, surely there are magics that can suspend individual buildings/structures in the air? I was looking through some online information about Halruaa, and saw allusions to the existence of such magics (a picture was most convincing, as well), but have not been able to confirm this.
If they exist, where do they exist and how is this executed? without a mythallar, my theory is that one could use the Reverse Gravity/levitation/fly spells combined with a Permanency variant and some powerful transmuters. But I'm much more rooting for your expert opinions! Thanks up front, wakaman”
Ed replies:
There are many, many floating buildings on Toril, most of them ancient and ruinous, and the majority are now disguised in some way (even if it’s only inadvertent, such as overgrown in jungle growth, as in Chult) so their levitating nature may not be immediately apparent. Future magical cataclysms, either localized or wide-ranging in area of effect, may cause a given floating building to fall and crash.
In magic (even a single way of using magic such as arcane spells that draw on the Weave) there are usually multiple ways to a particular desired result. The various ways will lead to subtly different achievements, in the same way that a refusal, spoken in English, can be phrased in many different ways for differing impacts (from “Sorry, but I’m afraid not” to “X$%#$@! What $%$%&*!! What part of ‘No’ don’t you understand?”).
Most of these ways do involve, as you say, some sort of Permanency effect and some means of staying aloft in midair, such as Tenser’s floating disc, reverse gravity, levitate, or fly. Spellcasters tend to “build” their own methods according to what magics are available to them, and which spells they can successfully adapt and experiment with.
In the case of floating buildings, the spell “Trustan’s skyhand” (portions of which were later “reversed” and altered into the well-known dimensional anchor spell) is one means of fixing an object or assembly of objects at a precise location in the air. Combined with a modified reverse gravity incantation (that provides a stable set-distancing effect from the ground below) and Ortaun’s steadfast (a permanency-like effect that isn’t permanent at all, but greatly prolongs other magics, failing - - typically centuries after its casting - - when its fuel runs out, in the same manner as Phezult’s Sleep of Ages melts away gems to power itself), this was used to keep many structures aloft.
Structures treated with this combination of magics will descend a bit if the ground surface below them sinks or is dug away from some reason, and rise if the topography is built up, but the structures will “float” until their fuel is used up. It should be noted that in many instances, limited wish spells were worded so as to make most magical effects (read: most spells that try to affect the floating structure, as opposed to spells that just send a pre-existing physical missile, such as a huge boulder, crashing into the structure) be twisted by an invisible magical aura around the structure into fuel for the steadfast spell, to prolong the structure staying aloft.
In some cases, this has resulted in buildings (even fortresses) being reduced to a few planks or a door (or even doorknob!) floating upright and alone in midair, with the rest of the structure now entirely gone. Such orphaned “floaters” usually become nest sites for various birds, and have in some desperate situations been used by falling persons to save themselves from death.
Centuries ago, in the days of Ortaun and Trustan. it became very popular for wizards to dwell in floating towers of their own making, but rumors that both of those mages could somehow at will either tracelessly enter or move and control buildings to which their spells had been applied ended that popularity. The passage of much time since then has left most of the towers empty of their builders, and forgotten by most of the wider Realms; remote vales in the Sword Coast North, all around the fringes of the High Forest, are claimed by some adventurers to hide scores of such floating abodes, most of them crumbling and well hidden by trees that have grown up around them to overtop them or even thrust through them.
So saith Ed. Spinning essential Realmslore wherever he goes.
love to all,
THO
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Edited by - The Hooded One on 28 Jan 2008 16:24:38 |
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crazedventurers
Master of Realmslore
United Kingdom
1073 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jan 2008 : 20:26:35
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quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
Ed replies:
There are many, many floating buildings on Toril, most of them ancient and ruinous, and the majority are now disguised in some way
Just awesome
THO please thank Ed for a quick and very detailed response, made my day
Cheers
Damian |
So saith Ed. I've never said he was sane, have I?
Gods, all this writing and he's running a constant fantasy version of Coronation Street in his head, too. .
shudder,
love to all,
THO
Candlekeep Forum 7 May 2005 |
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wakaman
Acolyte
12 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jan 2008 : 23:47:30
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Indeed. Thank you mue macho!
That was very comprehensive, and I realy appreciate the speedy response. This is my first time on this forum, and the efficinacy and proffesionalism is amazing. :-) |
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maransreth
Learned Scribe
Australia
157 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jan 2008 : 07:22:58
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quote:
Originally posted by Jamallo Kreen
I don't know if Otiluke's NDA Screen is still protecting all aboleth Realmslore, but can Ed ay least tell us whether or not Torilian aboleths have "ancestral" memories which "seem" to pre-date the Age of Thunder?
While not Ed (at least not the last time I looked  ) I'm going to take a stab at this -
I think it will depend upon when aboleths came to the Realms. Were they a race created by the Batrachia (sp, hopefully you know the race I mean), did they arrive wholesale from somewhere else. etc
Then it would depend upon the first aboleth's memories from their victims. Were their victims able to remember before the Days of Thunder?
So personally I would say no, they would not have memories pre Days of Thunder. |
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Vangelor
Learned Scribe
USA
183 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jan 2008 : 12:49:01
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Even if they did, how likely is a given aboleth to want to revisit the memory of the ancestor who ate something that long ago?
"You don't know how lucky you are! In my day, we ate nothing but the primordial ooze, and we were grateful to have it!" ;) |
Edited by - Vangelor on 29 Jan 2008 12:50:23 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jan 2008 : 13:37:30
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quote:
Originally posted by Vangelor
Even if they did, how likely is a given aboleth to want to revisit the memory of the ancestor who ate something that long ago?
"You don't know how lucky you are! In my day, we ate nothing but the primordial ooze, and we were grateful to have it!" ;)
And we had to slither uphill -- both ways! -- for twenty miles, thru ten feet of snow, to get to that ooze!  |
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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Ergdusch
Master of Realmslore
Germany
1720 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jan 2008 : 20:54:18
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Hello Ed! Hello THO!
I have to pick up on this particular reply of Ed from Jan 14th about the portal in Tesaril's tower leading to the hidden house. Here is the reply (somewhat shorter though ):
quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
[...]Ergdusch wrote:
[...]I do have a question, however, regarding the entrance to the Hidden House: Is Shandril already in the Hidden House after Tessaril shoves her through the portal? Or does she reach the House after passing through the many rooms? Thanks in advance."
Ed replies:
[...]
The portal is one way into the Hidden House, so Shandril is in it the moment Tessaril shoves her through. Note that sometimes doors within the House open into one place, and at other times (or when traversed in other directions) to other places. There are many ways into and out of the House, but they tend to "hide" or disappear for periods. In short, next time someone plunges through that portal, it might not take them to the same place it took Shandril, if they don't go through it at just the right time, or in just the right manner, or carrying the right "trigger token."
[...]
I have a map of Tessaril's Tower at hand from Haunted Halls of Eveningstar. Is it possible to place this portal in one particular room of that map?
Best regards and thanks in advance, Ergdusch
P.S: From reading and comparing with the map I'd place it in Room 22 (Lofty Landing). But of course this might be totally off the mark. |
"Das Gras weht im Wind, wenn der Wind weht." |
Edited by - Ergdusch on 29 Jan 2008 21:00:11 |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2008 : 03:05:14
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Hello, all. I bring a Realmslore reply from Ed to Ergdush, as follows:
Your reading has led you to identify the right "room," all right. :}
The door is concealed and trapped thus: if Tessaril doesn't make the right gesture (dig-stroking her left palm with one of the fingers of that same hand) whilst treading on the correct step on the stair or spot on the floor when approaching that landing, the door can't be found at all. Spellcasters seeking to force or destroy it (when it's in this hidden state) by tracing its magic will discover that it reflects their spells right back at them (this is a Weave "slapback" effect, not a ward spell that can be easily undone or dispelled).
If the door is properly approached, it's still invisible unless or until Tessaril (or certain other persons who know how, or who can "see" the Weave with the right keeness, such as all Chosen of Mystra) touches its area and wills it to appear. It can be opened and used while invisible, though its presence will be readily revealed as observers "see beyond" it to areas it is accessing.
Note I said areas, plural. This is a weightless magical door, and can be opened either on its right side, or its left side, by pulling or pushing (as it if had hinges on either side); it has handles. Depending on how it is opened, one can reach any of four destinations. One is: the Hidden House (works in both directions). Another is: the back of a deep walk-in closet in a certain other structure in Eveningstar (outbound only, and I'll leave that building secret so you as a DM can have it be anywhere you want it to be). A third is: outbound only, to a particular small glade in the King's Forest, JUST west of The Way of the Dragon, about a bowshot south of Waymoot (there's a game-trail from the glade to the road, but the glade is almost always deserted, because it's very small and surrounded by boggy ground that's usually home to lots of stinging insects except in winter; literally only the game-trail itself is solid ground). A fourth is: outbound only, to somewhere on a rooftop of an old multi-storey, rental-apartments building in western Suzail (now a rather seedy district). Again, just which one I'll leave to you.
The War Wizards know of the three non-Hidden-House destinations, but only a few senior ones know of that last destination (everyone else is told the fourth way through the door is a deadly trap). The Hidden House itself has always been little-known local lore in Eveningstar, that spreads from time to time across Cormyr in the form of various wild rumors (the War Wizards spread the wildest of these so as to make Cormyreans think all talk of the House was wild fancy; they have succeeded in making your average Cormyrean distrust every detail of what's said about the House, but also in believing one of many dark conspiracy theories, and being darned sure there's SOMETHING behind all of them.
So saith Ed. Essential lore of Cormyr, laid bare at long last. Ed stresses that this is by no means "all" about even just this one way into the Hidden House.
Heh-heh, and so forth. 
love to all,
THO |
Edited by - The Hooded One on 30 Jan 2008 03:09:41 |
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Charles Phipps
Master of Realmslore
1425 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2008 : 03:29:38
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Hey Ed, are the Triad worshiped more like their own separate pantheon and/or as a single religion or do people tend to worship the gods separately but allied?
Also, just as a purely fun question, are Tyrites and the like more conservative regarding the bedroom than average Faeruners?
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My Blog: http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/
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gomez
Learned Scribe
Netherlands
254 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2008 : 07:52:04
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quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
Ed's artery-hardening chip dip (take 2 tubs of sour cream, 2 bricks of Philly cream cheese, beat together with a trace of ketchup and hot sauce and worcestershire sauce and a LOT of ground dried leeks or Knorr leek soup mix, plus Ed's secret ingredients, and . . . have a coronary, soon after. ).
Ehm... do we want to know the secret ingredients?
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2008 : 15:26:33
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Now, now - - if you did, they wouldn't be SECRET, now would they, silly?
Seriously: we're talking a few pinches of off-the-shelf, "normal" spices from your average North American kitchen spice rack, not anything weird or illicit. I think I espied Ed reaching for celery salt or garlic powder a time or two.
The aim is to make sure the "twist" of the ketchup can be tasted WITHOUT its sweetness being too strong.
love,
THO |
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Vangelor
Learned Scribe
USA
183 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2008 : 17:56:26
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Sounds much nicer than primordial ooze, by all accounts!
Question for Ed:
Are natural hot (or "warm", e.g. not actually scalding/boiling) springs made much use of as natural spas in the Realms? One would assume that Neverwinter has some access to geothermally heated waters. What about elsewhere in the Realms? Particular areas of interest include the Silver Marches, the Western Heartlands and the Dales/Cormanthor/Moonsea environs, but any bathing-related lore is appreciated. |
Edited by - Vangelor on 30 Jan 2008 17:57:13 |
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Caedwyr
Seeker
87 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2008 : 18:57:24
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Greetings,
Something I've been wondering for a while, is are there plate tectonics in the Realms, and in general how geologically accurate are things (with respect to following the various rules of how a geological system works)? This is one area that often seems to be skimped over in fantasy literature or gets used as a plot device without following any sort of framework. Are there zones where earthquakes are more common, chains of volcanic activity, volcanic hot spots and island chains of old volcanoes (like Hawaii)? |
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2008 : 22:48:35
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quote:
Originally posted by Caedwyr
Greetings,
Something I've been wondering for a while, is are there plate tectonics in the Realms, and in general how geologically accurate are things (with respect to following the various rules of how a geological system works)? This is one area that often seems to be skimped over in fantasy literature or gets used as a plot device without following any sort of framework. Are there zones where earthquakes are more common, chains of volcanic activity, volcanic hot spots and island chains of old volcanoes (like Hawaii)?
There are A LOT of volcanoes just on the continent of Faerun. Two which spring to mind immediately are the one which keeps Neverwinter warm, and the one which swallowed Solon (near Mulhorrand).
Caedwyr, have you read Evermeet, by Elaine Cunningham? She describes how the Elven High Mages basically chucked natural geology out the window and remade most of the planet to suit themselves. Other Elves did the same by drowning the human empire of Jhamdaath, causing a sea to swallow thousands of square miles of land -- and probably hundreds of thousands of humans, too, but who's counting? I suspect that the natural geology of Toril has been so thoroughly mangled by magical alterations that spellcasters are still a more significant factor in Torilian geology and geography than mere natural fores.
But ... "what do I know?"
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I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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Blueblade
Senior Scribe
USA
804 Posts |
Posted - 31 Jan 2008 : 01:26:33
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Hmmm. I seem to remember Ed answering a question about tectonics here at the Keep before (Kuje?), but that there are several outstanding queries about volcanoes still outstanding.
I also remember a GenCon seminar years ago (in the MECCA years in Milwaukee, pre-Midwest Express Center) where Ed detailed a lot of Realms geology and biology for some university profs in the audience, who I think were quite surprised at the extent of Ed's real-world knowledge in "their" fields. I remember him telling them: "I DO think about these things, you know. No rivers running uphill."
BB
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Questions for Ed Greenwood (2008)
Topic Locked
