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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
 Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 16:49:35
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On places to forge powerful magical items:
@LysbethRaven
Right now we are on hiatus to let another DM run his game, but my game set in Forgotten Realms is turning out to be a favorite of our group. Right now I am having several Chosen of Mystra having the party go out and craft powerful magic items. The whole point of this campaign is to craft legendary magic items that haven't been seen on the Sword Coast in ages. Each player is crafting a different item tailored to that character. I am having them gather items of extraordinary natures that when combined create the magic items. Each chosen of Mystra hands them a list that updates as they collect each item and once they have all the items, it tells them where to go to craft the item. So far, I have used the primordial forge in Gauntlgrim and the loom of a noble djinn to craft a holy avenger and robes of the archmage. I was wondering if you all had any other suggestions for crafting of legendary items, such as legendary or mythic forges or other crafting facilities on or accessible from the Sword Coast?
@TheEdVerse
Sure! (More, later!)
Within the permanent magic circle in The Tenebrium (the windowless spellcasting and research vault of the Sable Accord) under the Midnight Spire in Darkhold. Warning: the circle holds captive a powerful occupant (see DARKHOLD: SECRETS OF THE ZHENTARIM).
In the hellgate (volcanic rift) in the Fields of the Dead (Miirym, the spectral guardian silver dragon under Candlekeep, knows how to reveal this hellgate; see ELMINSTER’S CANDLEKEEP COMPANION).
The “Far And Gone” curving west wall of a room in Shadowdusk Hold, the deep level of the dungeon of Undermountain (partially-breached portal to the Far Realm); see [285 of DUNGEON OF THE MAD MAGE].
(I'll tweet more for you later; wildly busy today!)
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 16:50:21
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On pockets of active Spellplague:
@TheNervousGM
Follow up question to the one before about spellscarred, @TheEdVerse: Are there still active pockets of spellplague in the Realms, either on the surface or in the Underdark?
@TheEdVerse
Oh, yes. Rare, and fading in intensity, but they exist. Some reckless (insane?) spellcasters have even tried to harness them, thus far (thankfully) unsuccessfully. I hope.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 16:50:51
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On psionics:
@Bear_Jew67
Hello there @TheEdVerse! Long time fan and long time seeker of advice on all things Forgotten Realms. I was wondering if you ever incorporated Psionics into FR areas, lore, etc. Is there anything you can tell me off handed (or in depth) so I can color in my world? Thank you!
@TheEdVerse
Yes, I’ve used psionics a lot. The most prevalent and widespread way it’s found in the Realms is as a “wild talent.” Meaning, a “just plain someone,” from a shepherd boy to a fishwife to a warehouse cargo handler, can do one spell-like thing by exerting their will and concentration. If they can keep this power secret, they usually do, unless they can make a living out of it, like being a healer, or bending bars to open coin vaults or escape from prison cells. Individuals with such abilities are often captured by local rulers or even kings, and forced to use their talents on behalf of their captor. In Cormyr, the War Wizards recruit such folk, giving them careers.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 16:51:14
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On Sardior:
Dec 7, 2020
@DnD_Ideas
Sardior is still active in the Realms, but does he have any particular mission, other than simply knowing more? Does he have any particular foes? Does he actively oppose any specific Elder Evil or anything?
@TheEdVerse
Oh, yes. He has always worked covertly against the Phaerimm and certain human rulers who sought to imprison and make use of psionicists, and openly against giants who seek out and try to destroy dragons, dragon eggs, and to occupy and hold dragon lairs.
Some of what he’s up to are among “the” Great Secrets of the Realms (still NDA), but I can share that he works to manipulate unions in all sentient races that will increase the number of individuals who have psionics (in other words, Sardior is trying to “breed” widespread psionics into existence, deeming this better for the world than users of arcane and divine magic coercing or ruling beings who lack access to these magics, without widespread psionics to ‘balance out things’).
And I'll add just this: why do you think the likes of Xanathar keep a low profile, rather than encouraging daily strife in the streets?
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 16:51:45
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On strong-man types:
@MarvelF89471649
Hi Ed. I have always liked the strongman archetype. Who would you account to be the Madeiron Sunderstone or Haldyn Stormkin types in the 1490's era of the Realms? Thanks so much!
@TheEdVerse
In the 1490s era Sword Coast lands, there’s
1. A 7-foot-tall, broad-shouldered, terrifically strong man known as Dunthur, in Scornubel, who makes a living lifting (sometimes loaded) wagons so axles and wheels can be replaced/repaired, lifting bulk cargoes onto storage racks, and lofting stones, timbers, and other building materials to upper levels of buildings being constructed or repaired. Bald-headed (he shaves it), brown-skinned, and brown-eyed. Deep gravelly voice, kindly, doesn’t say much, has six girlfriends who like each other and like to hang out with him together. He has a prodigious capacity for strong drink (can drink many dwarves under the table without apparent drunken effects), and seems to be more resistant to poisons and drugs than most folk, too.
2. A 6-and-a-half-foot-tall, VERY broad-shouldered (has to turn sideways to step through most doorways), bulgingly-muscled woman in Athkatla named Thaeria Turnfeather, who “just grew” (odd genetics; she towers over her parents and siblings). She’s very strong, and became a personal bodyguard for hire (to a succession of various wealthy merchants whom she’s outlived) after the tale got around the city of her pursuing someone who’d attacked a friend, having them flee through a stout wooden door and slamming and locking it in her face—and she simply punched out its panels in mere moments, shot its inside bolt open, and gave chase. Unmarried, and seemingly a contented loner, whose off-duty entertainment is hearing tales of adventure and merchant swindles in taverns.
3. A 6-and-a-half-foot-tall, thin, but astonishingly-strong Shou named Hulurmun Ravraun, of Waterdeep, who came to the city in the mid-1480s as a sailor, but remained to make a living as a cargo loader, dockside and in the warehouses of Dock Ward and South Ward.
Notorious in Dock Ward for picking up and hurling a wagon into the harbor, cargo and handlers and all—but wrenching apart harness first, so the oxen pulling it didn’t make the wet trip—after a wagon merchant he was having a dispute with tried to run him over with said wagon.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 16:52:09
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On Sunite adventuring clerics:
@Fundor_Stas
@TheEdVerse, tell us more about Sune adventuring clerics. Something about hierarchy and so on. I started to play as aasimar sune cleric and found lack of information disturbing. Thanks!
@TheEdVerse
The Realms sourcebook FAITHS AND PANTHEONS (particularly p66) details what Sune’s clergy must and should do, to combat vandalism and create, protect, and promote art and the creation of new things of beauty.
On a personal level, this usually manifests as a Sunite adventuring cleric acquiring beautiful icons, statuettes, jewelry, and other portable works of beautiful art, and gifting them to Sunite shrines and temples, and to folk (e.g. the rural poor, or street beggars) who lack such things (it’s just fine with Sunites if such a recipient then sells or barters or regifts the art). A Sunite cleric will want to dress in “dashing” (eyecatching and flattering) outfits when adventuring, may make up doggerel or recite the apt verse of others, and may whistle, hum, or sing their own musical motif (the equivalent of the James Bond theme) during moments of heroics, action, or crucial decision-making. Speech should be elegant, movements stylish, gestures noble.
As for hierarchy, the Sunite church is one of the most decentralized and UN-authoritarian/rank-based clergies. Rank is based mostly on artistic achievements, and secondarily on length of service/experience in the field, and lastly (especially for adventuring clerics, who may do dirty and dangerous work) on personal beauty and adornment. Senior clerics advise junior ones, and may assist them with artistic endeavours or carrying off stylish maneuvers.
In Faerûn in the 1490s DR, the Sunite clergy consist of (ranks, from the bottom up): Novices, Acolytes, Esthetes (= full confirmed-in-the-faith priests), Craefters of the Third Altar, Craefters of the Fourth Altar (and so on, up to Craefters of the Ninth Altar), Philocalist, Archphilocalist, Enrapturand, and High Enrapturand.
However, some temples cling to older rank naming conventions, and all Sunites prefer personally-achieved and held titles, such as “Creator of the Bronzen Rose of Scornubel” or “Patron of the Sixteen Striking Portraits of Athkatla.”
Most adventuring Sunite clerics are Craefters of one rank (= character level) or another, who strive to earn a personal title—which MUST be bestowed by someone else NOT of their clergy (e.g. an adventuring companion or lay worshipper of Sune). This is a commandment of the goddess (who does not force any of her clergy to bear or use a bestowed title they don’t like, such as mocking or crude nicknames).
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 16:52:29
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On tacos:
@LeslieCourtne14
Dear Ed, are there tacos in Faerun, or something like them at least? If so, where would someone find them and what culture would they be in? Asking for my taco loving players.
@TheEdVerse
“Taco” is not a name known on Toril, but fried hardcrust roundbreads (what some real-worlders might call pitas, but fried crispy-hard) that have been stuffed with a hot cooked mix of minced-meat, spices, vegetables (diced and fried onions and/or potatoes, and/or Brussels sprouts, and/or asparagus, and/or leeks, and/or artichoke hearts, and/or radishes, and/or mushrooms) and sauces ARE known and devoured eagerly in many eateries, especially in the Vilhon, the lands south of there to the Shaar and beyond (so, places like Innarlith and south to include Luiren and Var the Golden), and are slowly spreading along the trade routes in all directions, to Chessenta and eastern Tethyr and Amn, to Calimshan and the Lake of Steam cities, and to Scornubel. You can even order them in some inns and taverns (yes, they’re becoming “the new thing” in tavern fare) in Secomber.
The meat tends to be whatever’s plentiful and cheap locally, from lamb to rabbit and all manner of small scurrying things, from “tree-cats” [squirrels] to rats, and the flavor profile varies from merely savory to hot-spiced; most establishments will ask “hot” or “warming” (= fiery or mild) when you order.
So, a folded-over, exposed-spilling-edge taco is a rare thing indeed, and cheese-drenched tacos are a special variant version anywhere they can be had, but the same sort of ingredients in essentially the same combination (so, a flat, closed taco, which varies from a “handpie” in that it was never full of gravy, and its outer pastry is thin and fried crispy-hard) can now be had in many places.
What it’s called varies from place to place; along the Sword Coast it tends to be called a “fryhard,” in the Vilhon, a “crunchtart,” in the South, a “hotbite,” and along the trade-routes, any of these three or even something else.
Elminster and the Seven all like “handfry pies” made with six or seven sorts of mushrooms, parsnips, leeks or spring onions (all diced), and strong cheeses (no meat).
The shell of a Torilian taco, whatever it’s called, is often rather like cornbread in its composition. Or a crisp naan (and is sometimes made by “gluing” two round-tortilla-like discs together with cheese).
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:27:53
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On Thayan enclaves:
@pdurlej
Hi Ed... I have a question only you can answer-are Red Wizards of Thay still creating and maintaining their enclaves after their civil war? If yes what they are selling now-fresh health potions from your friendly necromancer doesn't sound right
@TheEdVerse
No new Thayan enclaves have been created for some time, and many have been abandoned by Thayan traders (usually, being valuable urban real estate, they get converted into housing, with Thayan caretakers collecting the rents, and maintaining some lodgings and modest cargo warehousing and stables facilities for visiting Thayan traders).
Thay remains a bulk exporter of glass vessels (mainly bottles), perfumes, cooking oils, tapestries, dyed and woven fine fabrics, food, statuettes, and wines, and a small-volume exporter of many, many other things, from small finely-carved coffers and decanters, to livestock and dressed stone.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:28:21
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On the colors of Elturgard's flag:
@ShayanFilmStuff
We've seen the crest of Elturgard in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide on some Armour, but what would the colours of it be on a flag? I can't seem to find that information and I'm making my own flag for it currently. Thank you!
@TheEdVerse
The larger sun (the circle, on the right) is scarlet (light red/flame red), and the rays of the smaller sun (including the two larger, vertical ones) are canary-yellow with a thin red outer border; another thin red line, like that outer border, outlines the central circle of that smaller sun, which is a very faint yellow (in some depictions, white) in its interior.
However, that’s its full-on detail, as done on flags and banners. It’s far more often depicted as a simpler badge, all in gold, as seen on p65 of Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:29:03
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On the Faithless:
@jmhpowell
Two questions about the Faithless: 1) It’s said that those who had no patron deity end up in it. But I thought many, perhaps most Faerûnians worship many gods more or less equally; who would be their “patron”? 1/2
I’ve seen (non-FR canon) a several claims that true Faerûnian atheists—those who deny the existence of any gods at all—would be a vanishingly small minority. A minority, certainly, but I’m curious just how rare this is. 5% of general population? 0.5%? What’s the ballpark? 2/2
I mean the Wall of the Faithless by “end up in it”
@TheEdVerse
A very small handful of sentients in the Realms truly don't believe deities exist (less than 0.5%); they would be the "Faithless." Most DO "believe in" all the gods, even if they profess to repudiate them. Many 'cleave to' one deity above others, even if slightly.
That 'ever so slightly favored' deity is their patron deity, if they don't openly profess and embrace a patron (as clerics and paladins do). The Wall of Faithless is more of a bugaboo tale told by priests and spread over tavern tables than it is a Great Big Doom.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:29:36
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On the destruction of the Griffon Uthgardt tribe:
@twitcher1979
where would I go about finding information on the destruction of the Griffon Tribe of Uthgardt (the year it happened etc)? I have a player wanting to use the Griffon as their tribe and they would like information to use in their backstory.
@TheEdVerse
The Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide tells us that the Griffon tribe came to an untimely end when it rose against the forces of Luruar allied with giants and orcs. Then, in Storm King’s Thunder (p68), we learned that they survive. So they were on the losing side of a confused, bloody war, in which almost all of their warriors perished in various battles and skirmishes.
The (relatively) few who did not go to war live on, mainly in the depths of the Lurkwood, slowly rebuilding their numbers and strength.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:30:53
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On the mushrooms grown in Blustich:
@sanishiver
Good morning @TheEdVerse.
Are there any types of mushrooms the villagers of Blustich harvest from the edges of The Hermit’s Wood around the start of Winter in Cormyr?
Thank you, Ed, as always.
@TheEdVerse
Took me a long time to find my notes on these; sorry for the delay. Take heart, all questioners who’ve been waiting a long time for a lore reply; I hang on to all questions, and answer all I can, no matter how long it takes!
These villagers harvest three edible sorts of mushrooms; luckily, they are easily distinguished from locally-growing poisonous fungi. I’ve listed them in descending order of abundance. They are all very rare elsewhere.
1. Uttercaps (“fairy clusters”), which are small clusters of 5-8 nut-brown mushroom caps about the size of the end-joint of an adult human thumb, all growing on very dark brown (almost black), slender stems about as long as an adult human hand. These taste like roasted almonds, and can be eaten raw or fried in butter or boar fat. Some folk add them to brandy, which they ‘taint’ into a nutty, buttery, almost cinammony taste. Children of Blustich habitually eat these as snacks when playing outdoors.
2. Khondyn (“mushroom pies”) are dun-brown, flat-topped circular mushrooms that look like perfectly horizontal plates, set on stalks. As they pass pleasant edibility, they turn dark brown, then black and glistening as they rot (still edible, without harm, but no longer pleasant to the taste). A Khondyn, unlike most mushrooms, is a full meal for an adult; very filling, and with a taste very like breaded chicken. Can be eaten raw, or fried (sharpens the taste into a “sharp cheddar cheese”-like quality), or baked atop bread or flatbread dough to give it a cheesy taste.
3. Thoud (pronounced “thood”) are rare, unpleasant-looking fungi spikes that look like gray-white shucked corncobs growing vertically up from the ground (their tough, strong stalks are so short that the rest of the mushroom hides them from all eyes that aren’t right at ground level, but are as strong as, and look a bit like, the stalk a pumpkin grows on). Their looking-like-corn-kernels tiny outer-surface pustules are spore-sacs, not kernels that can break off; these eventually dry out, rupture, and release smoke-like threads of fine, dust-like gray-black spores for the wind to spread. Raw thoud have the consistency of raw potato, but baked thoud turn fluffy; raw or cooked are equally edible, and share a “buttered popcorn with dill or garlic or chives dressing” taste. The taste varies in herb-like quality depending on their soil (sandier is closer to dill, rich soil is most like garlic, in between is like chives).
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:31:18
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On the origin of Valkur:
@KpPayden
Hi, I have been researching Valkur, and was curious of the origin of his name. Do you happen to know it's origin? The other sages, Eric Boyd & Jeff Grubb did not know. Valkur happens to be Hungarian for Valkyrie, and am now curious of any connection there. Thanks.
@TheEdVerse
Back in the 1970s, when playing D&D with September as my DM, I created Vulkur, a Breckenridge Elkins-like amiable meat-mountain barbarian, bewildered by civilized ways but a faithful sword-brother to his adventuring companions.
After September died, we ended that campaign by imagining all of our PCs literally sailing off to new adventures (offstage). One fellow player joked that Vulkur likely drowned, when his ship sank in a fierce storm at sea.
I did NOT want that fate, so I imagined he sailed into the Realms, across the planes, and a deity there saw his ship safely to a far shore. That deity I named “Valkur” as an echo of Vulkur, and in memory of dear September.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:32:25
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On Weave anchors:
Aug 15, 2020
@CatalogFantasy
I'm interested in something you published on Twitter a few months ago. Do you have any Twitter postings regarding Weave Anchors. I believed there were some mentions about certain wizards who serve in the function and purpose for Mystra, Lady of the Weave.
@TheEdVerse
Ao commanded Mystra to vest some of her divine essence (the silver fire) into mortals, in part to lessen her power, which in magic-rich Toril far outstripped the other gods. She did so, but had the foresight to anchor the Weave in these mortals, as well as in more static natural concentrations of magic (such as the Athora) to keep the Weave (herself) from collapsing if anything happened to her. (This is also something Ao expected and wanted her to do; it isn’t just insurance for Mystra, it increases stability for the world.)
Many of these Weave anchors are also Mystra’s Chosen (the mortals who loyally serve her, whom she trusts the most) and are Weavemasters (know how to manipulate the Weave directly, not just through arcane spellcasting), but not all, and many of them (such as Volo) may even be unaware they are Weave anchors. Being a Weave anchor doesn’t involve doing anything except existing; your presence focuses and stabilizes the Weave around you if you’re a Weave anchor. Disjunction and anti-magic and dead magic effects tend to fail or fade in your immediate vicinity because you’re a Weave anchor, but otherwise you will experience very little difference in your life if you aren’t also attuned to the Weave. (That you know of; in reality, you will live longer naturally, and Mystra will watch over you and rescue you miraculously from time to time if need be, which is why Volo seems to lead a charmed life).
So Elminster, Storm, and The Simbul are all Weave anchors and know it, but there are also plenty of mortals serving as anchors who are less likely to be seen as likely anchors and targeted by a foe of Mystra, or someone wanting to wrest control of magic to themselves, or just to destroy (like Shar). These “less likely” anchors include the likes of Mirt and Durnan, as well as Volo, but most of them remain secret for their own protection and so as not to interfere with their lives (if they don’t know, it doesn’t influence their thinking, dreams, or actions; much kinder to them). This also, of course, makes it very easy for a DM to have anyone be, or not be, a Weave anchor, as they see fit.
#Realmslore
@CatalogFantasy
I'm tinkering with the idea of having two of my characters function as Weave Anchors without their knowledge, or rather one is ignorant of the fact, one has a clue (or three), and the other is fully aware of his predicament and a fourth W.A. is a very old lich. My second question is, can a weave anchor function in lieu of a location, say a parcel or three, of monotonous unassuming real estate? I had an idea about the fate of one my characters and the current activities of another.
@TheEdVerse
Weave anchors are natural or created magical nodes that are (usually, relatively) stationary, like a mythal or the Athora; or they are beings, mobile by nature, so location doesn't matter and can shift constantly without affecting status/functioning as an anchor.
#Realmslore
@CatalogFantasy
I see. One of my ideas involves a wizard, one Ashe Dellendale, by class but an alchemist in practice. His home and laboratory rest atop of a node (Weave Anchor) and somehow the "divinity" had kept him healthy, sane, and functional from the devastating effects of the Spellplague from 1385 DR to its end in 1480 DR. A second character was murdered in Calimshan some eight years prior to the Spellplague. Her body was cast in the harbor of Calimshan, but only to be retrieve by a Mermaid Priestess of Mystra then transformed into a statue of yellow and red coral. Her soul in death now having been bonded to her new form remained as a ghost in a sea-water temple consecrated to the Lady of Mysteries. The weave itself, (her relationship to it has remained unexplained) repaired to damage done to her mind and body. She was found on a stretch on beach just outside Calimshan, draped in a simple silk yet wet garment and necklace of sea shells. Her humanity (as she was a half-elf) was starkly changed. She could breach water as easily as a wild stallion breaths air. Her memory however was gone. She had to no clue as to how she came ashore, save she dislikes Sharites and shows them no quarter when encountered. Her last whereabouts as of 1483 DR were reported in Derlusk in the Boarder Kingdoms.
@TheEdVerse
I like all of this. And the "memory gone" PC starting state is a classic with so many story/play-possibility upsides. ;}
@VikGray
Can anyone be plot important and not to be a weave anchor?
Mystra doesnt seem to have a good personality imo, and the thought you are either tied to her or you are nothing kinda worries.
@TheEdVerse
There are many, many "important" NPCs in the Realms (millions of them) who aren't Weave anchors. Our interest in game and fiction on magic, rulers, adventurers, villains, and martial leaders skews our focus and views.
@VikGray
1. Understood, just it seemed that the most huge powers on realms are either evil, or Mystra. Which created some narrative problems for my fanfiction XD.
But, on the other side, I really want to examine an ark where compassion will be given to Mystra.
@TheEdVerse
Their nurturing, tied-to-the-land tends to relegate truly mighty-in-daily-influence powers like Chauntea and Silvanus in the 'often overlooked' status. And your average adventurer who isn't an arcane spellcaster tends to look to Tymora before Mystra.
#Realmslore
@MoodyLoner
I'm still back on "Weave anchors". When did this become a thing? And I assumed some sort of chronomancy shenanigans for why we still have Volo, but Elminster has been more direct than inserting notes in Volo's inaccurate reference works?
@TheEdVerse
Weave anchors became a thing back in 2012 when Wizards cooked up the idea of the Spellplague and time-jump (4e), and I had to explain why ALL magic didn’t collapse AND keep certain characters alive for the planned Sundering series. Already in Realmslore, from 1986, to explain why Mystra wasn’t THE goddess, ruling all other deities in such a magic-rich world, was the concept of Mystra being forced (by an Overgod who turned out to be Ao) to distribute some of her divine fire (power) among mortals who were not beholden to her (she couldn’t force them to yield it up, and if they were destroyed she lost the power they held). So it was logical that she would use the mortals invested with her fire, that she did have influence over (her Chosen) as Weave anchors—so if she went down, being herself the Weave, the world wouldn’t be destroyed with raging-everywhere wild magic (in an all-destroying “Big Bang” if you will). So certain places of power in the Realms (moonwells, for one) would anchor the Weave, and certain mortals would. Mystra did NOT want all of the latter to be “expected” individuals who would become immediate targets (like the Chosen), so she covertly made some very unlikely individuals (such as Volo, and others who were neither arcane nor divine spellcasters, like Mirt) unwitting Weave anchors, too, to spread the anchors of the Weave so widely that the likelihood of its total collapse, even if under direct attack by the likes of Shar, would be unlikely. |
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Edited by - Wooly Rupert on 30 Dec 2020 21:06:52 |
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Wooly Rupert
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Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:33:11
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On the origins of Tempus:
@gkrashos
Hi Ed, this just got posted on the Sages site on FB. This might be a quick answer.
"Ed Greenwood, can you or some other old time FR sage (Jeff Grubb?) confirm that the god Tempus in the Forgotten Realms has no connection to Janet Morris's character Tempus, from the Thieves World and Sacred Band book series?"
@TheEdVerse
Yes.
I'll repost here what I said on FB: "Certainly. The Realms (with Tempus in it) started in 1966; so far as I can recall, the first Mirt tale in which I mentioned Tempus was written in 1968. Thieves World first saw print in 1978, the Sacred Band envisaged as a series later. "Tempus" is Latin for time, and I named my wargod for time as a nod to the 'history is written on the battlefield' saying, and for this: my father was in signals (radar) and military intelligence with the Canadian forces, and did work on missile guidance in the Cold War, in which accurate targeting in tests was written down as "YTIO" in case 'the wrong eyes' saw the writings; YTIO stands for "Your Time Is Up." So I borrowed the word tempus for my wargod. Years later, I asked Bob Asprin where he came up with the TW pantheon from, and he said Poul Anderson and Andy Offut cooked up the pantheon between them (or rather, one contributed a single page of ideas and the other "fixed" it by fleshing it out), and the gods' names were ALL in-jokes, allusions, and literary references, some very obscure. My connection with Asprin came through Hugo-winner Mike Glicksohn, my wife's nephew, who received an original "wanna contribute?" TW package, and much later showed it to me while we were drinking an evening away Roger Zelazny over a poker game (more talking storytelling than playing, and more devouring pears and Stilton than drinking).
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Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:34:41
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On the parentage of Helion Moonstar, and Waterdhavian nobles:
@LilacClorceta
New petitioner! 1-Am I correct in guessing that Helion Moonstar is the son/grandson of Rober Moonstar? If so, who is his Drow mother? 2-Are there any canon named Waterdeep nobles alive in the 1490s who aren't in the 5e WoTC books/novels?
Where do I find them?
@TheEdVerse
Helion Moonstar is the grandson of Rober Moonstar. The family doesn’t publicly discuss his parentage, but Elminster is of the opinion that Helion’s father is Helve Ammanion Moonstar (son of Rober, whose father is also named Helve, though in full he’s Helve Runathan Moonstar), and Helion’s mother is most likely the priestess of Eilistraee (and noted painter and sculptor; her specialty is beautiful picture frames whose corners sheath daggers) Muaranthra Euarvrinn. However, Elminster cautions that he could be mistaken; Muaranthra has two close friends and fellow priestesses she’s seldom far from, first names Emteirla and Yanthrastra (El knows not their surnames), and one of them could also be Helion’s mother.
Thanks to the briefly popular practice of selling titles (see the superb Rosemary Jones novel CITY OF THE DEAD), there are scores of Waterdeep nobles not specifically named in official 5e published sources, including, confusingly, rival nobles of the same surname (the “blood nobles” of that name, and those that bought a title and adopted the same surname and refuse to relinquish it), or those who’ve agreed to use another surname, but refuse to relinquish their nobility; these include the Houses of Haladaunth/Haladauntur, Haelandor, Meldron, Nahalrycorm, and Rampance.
And then there are bastard sons and daughters who sometimes style themselves “Lord” or “Lady” and invent their own surname, or use their own birth family name, and sometimes adopt the surname of their noble mother or father and aren’t compelled by the family to stop using it or go far, far away…so all in all, you can invent any nobles you need to, for your own campaign.
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Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:35:30
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On the price to travel by ship:
@rwgs76
Dear @TheEdVerse, how much the boatmen of the Sword Coast and the North charge, on the average, for transportation of people, goods and animals on navigable rivers? How does one calculate their fee? Do they charge additional fees on dangerous waterways? Thanks in advance!
@TheEdVerse
This isn’t something that a table to roll on or a blanket statement can cover, as the real answer is: it depends. Most navigable rivers are traversed by barges or skiffs, mainly crewed by brawny half-orcs, and the captains (almost always the owners of the vessels) tend to be human or dwarven women. (Ferries are an exception: they tend to be owned and crewed by surly or professionally-heartily-jovial men, though again this is a broad generalization.)
For all of these “helms” (the term skipper is unknown in the Realms, but “helm” is used whenever we would say skipper) fees are derived like this: do I want any passengers on my boat? If no, VERY high. Do I want THESE passengers on my boat? (And all passengers are politely spoken of as “fares,” but in private are called “meat cargo.”) How much trouble are they going to be? How much cargo or cargo space, and therefore carriage fees, will I lose? How long do I have to put up with them? Do I have to feed them? Will they need a sit-bucket (place to defecate)? Will they want to talk to me or otherwise distract me? Will they want to do REALLY stupid things, like light a fire on my raft to sit around and cook at? Will they want to bring mounts or beasts of burden (mules? OXEN?) aboard, which will have to be sedated, fed, hobbled, tied down, and cleaned up after? [This is a big one; some helms charge three times the price of a person, per beast, as a base.] Are they wanting to go somewhere dangerous? (Either destination, or through rapids or shoals sensible helms would steer well away from. This is another big one.)
And last but not least: do I need their coin, just now?
Apply ALL of these “push the price up” factors to a base of: 2 sp/head for a short, simple trip (“take us over THERE, please) or 1 gp/head/day-of-travel for longer voyages.
Many adventurers find it easier to buy the skiff or barge, at swordpoint, for a set “all-in” price, then give it back to the owner for free, when everyone has safely disembarked at the end of the trip. Oh, and happy voyaging! ;}
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Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:36:14
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On the privileges of Waterdeep's nobility:
Aug 9, 2020
@AVPalikhov
can you help me? What exactly are the privileges of Noble Houses of Waterdeep?
@TheEdVerse
It’s mainly a matter of prestige/fawning treatment, but…when charged with a crime, trial by a jury of Masked Lords (or, at the noble’s request, ALL of the available Masked Lords) rather than by a magister (and in practice but not formally, almost all sentences being transformed into fines of varying amounts rather than any harsher on-the-books penalties); certain tax deferrals in return for specific investments in civic works programs; front-of-the-line for personal, private audiences with the Open Lord save in times of war or dire emergency; appeal to the Masked Lords for judgment in disputes with guilds; and some additional powers that are still NDA, I’m afraid.
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Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:38:06
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On the recovery of mortal spellcasting, post-Spellplague:
@RedNoBlue
Also in 4th, who discovered the new way to manipulate magic? Did the Arcane users realise you could still pour an encounter’s worth of power into an effective yet weaker version of the Vancian magic, or did the Gods have to tell them?
@TheEdVerse
So here we are at the last of that batch of your questions (not last posed, but last for me to get to answering).
Arcane magic, aside from the direct guidance of tutors and the indirect guidance of watching others successfully cast spells, and following the spellbooks and scrolls written by dead and gone predecessor wielders of the Art, has always been a matter of experimentation.
Working from the ‘bones’ (structure, relevant verbal, somatic, and material components) of what has gone before, a spellcaster experiments to try to cause a different effect. Even many wizards who never deliberately experiment, or set out to create a spell, do so when they substitute, like a cook in a kitchen who lacks basil but tries to make do with oregano, one material component for another.
So what happened after the Spellplague hit was that arcane spellcasters discovered their magic didn’t work, or did things they didn’t anticipate it doing (so when they cast a Fireball, what happened was instead a random Wand of Wonder effect). Moreover, other mortals, now terrified at what these out-of-control arcane spellcasters might do, or wanting to settle earlier scores, slew or maimed a lot of wizards. If an arcane spellcaster survived this tumult, they may well hide their Gift to wield magic, and just not try to work any magic at all, forever or for a long time.
Eventually, in private, they might dare to try casting something—and discover that the casting worked. If they did it again and got a reliable result, they’d discovered on their own that magic worked again.
That’s who discovered magic “had returned” or, when it was still unstable, new ways to cast that were more or less reliable for them. So there was no grand discoverer whose name should be written into the history books, there were many wielders of the Art all over Toril discovering what worked and didn’t work, and daring to use magic again.
The Gods were in the same boat: when the Spellplague hit, as I described in my previous reply, the Weave suddenly didn’t work as they were used to it working. Some of them kept trying, until eventually the Weave started working again (poorly). So the gods couldn’t tell mortal arcane spellcasters what to do, because they didn’t know what to tell them. The deities of Toril aren’t infallible and all-knowing; far from it. Many of them aren’t even expert on their own portfolios. Having a lot of brute-force power contributes to that; most of the time, they don’t need to be experts, they can batter down and overwhelm problems and situations, rather than deftly dealing with them.
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Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:39:05
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On the seven truths of Velsharoon:
@Nred00047
Has anyone managed to learn the seven truths of Velsharoon, if so what are they?
@TheEdVerse
If they have, the truths haven’t become public knowledge, so they are still NDA.
Let me hint about just one:
Sentient minds may die, enter undeath, live anew, and die again, and may shift radically in sanity, scope, and views, but are rarely utterly destroyed.
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Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:40:34
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On the Shadowfell:
May 9, 2020
@ivstinus
I just learned that Shar apparently made the Shadowfell? Is this different from the Shadow Plane we used to be familiar with? Since 5E I had always assumed their similarity and simply a renaming via Realms perspective. Then of course Ravenloft was *in* it...
@TheEdVerse
“Made” is a strong word (remember that almost all we know of what the gods did, except what their avatars do in front of mortal eyeballs while striding around Toril itself, is told to us by deities, their servitors, and their clergy, and just may be propaganda).
If I was writing down history about this, I would change the word “made” to the word “caused.”
What Shar did was successfully manipulate Cyric into murdering Mystra, causing the Spellplague (as the dying Weave ‘went wild,’ great ripples crashing across it from Weave anchor to Weave anchor). As existing wards and spells failed all across Toril, and wizards went mad, Shar was busy elsewhere. Out among the planes, to be precise.
Where, caused by the widening ripples, the Elemental and Energy Planes collapsed, merging roilingly into the Elemental Chaos.
Shar played lockkeeper, exerting all of her personal power (and she’s one of the few deities who can work with necrotic energies without being diminished or altered by them, and understands the properties of necrotic energy) to steer as much as she could of the necrotic energies flowing from the collapsing Negative Energy Plane so that rather than being lost into the stew of Elemental Chaos, they flowed into her home plane, the existing Plane of Shadow (we wrote of this on page 69 of the 4e Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide).
This changed the Plane of Shadow, and clergy of Shar will tell you that “the Shadowfell” (Shar’s name for the altered Plane of Shadow), was her “creation.” So it is, but she didn’t create it out of nothing. If I took the outer panels off my old tractor and replaced them with pieces of a Ferrari, I have ‘made’ something new, but it’s still my old tractor, that I bought rather than made from the ground its tires sit on, up, underneath.
With its new necrotic energies, the altered Plane of Shadow gained some new properties. Many souls of the dead came now to the Shadowfell, and had to pass through it to get to the Fugue Plane. And—and this was the entire reason why Shar acted as she did, hoping to increase her own power and reach thereby—the necrotic energies of the Shadowfell were the new energy source for, and root source of, all shadow magic. The power and reach of shadow magic cast/called upon in the Prime Material Plane (on Toril) had been subtly ebbing and fading for some time, and by this move Shar boosted shadow magic and her own might, in the Realms.
All planes change, over time, influenced by energies leaking from, and actual invasions from, adjacent planes; the planes don’t exist in isolation, but affect each other constantly (though post-Spellplague, the Astral Sea and the Elemental Chaos surround and separate the other planes, and so act as buffers between them). So the Plane of Shadow has been called many things by sentient mortals, down the ages, such as Shadowland, Shadow, and “the demiplane of Shadow,” and these different terms don’t always merely denote different mortal ways of viewing the same thing, they actually describe different versions of the same plane as it evolves.
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Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:41:19
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On the Silvershield family of Baldur's Gate:
@arautomestre
In Baldur's Gate Descent into Avernus nothing about the Silvershield family is mentioned. Could you clarify how this family would be on the adventure date?
@TheEdVerse
Descent into Avernus is set in 1494 DR. At that time, the Silvershield family hold no noble or governing offices in Baldur’s Gate, and keep a low public profile, dwelling quietly in their city estate and devoting themselves to investments, book collecting, reading, and becoming as expert in genealogy and local history as many sages. Several Silvershields (sons and daughters of Alana Silvershield and Entar Silvershield III) departed the city in the 1470s DR, and their current whereabouts and fates are unknown.
The Silvershields still in the city are led by an elderly Skie Silvershield II, the imperious and stubborn family matriarch, who recently buried her second noble husband, Atelburt Maerbraunt. She had no children by her first husband, Ostrand Beldaerhallow, who died some twenty-four winters ago, but had a son and then two daughters with Atelburt.
The son and heir is the handsome, dashing, jaded Ralagondar, a twenty-two-year-old scourge of the local ladies who is stylish, an accomplished mimic, a swindler and scoundrel, and is ruled by his utter boredom, which drives him to do all manner of outlandish and stupid capers on whims. He’s tall, slender, darkly handsome, and is an increasingly accomplished actor who more than once has escaped justice for a misdeed by dressing in drag and playing femininity so successfully as to fool folk as to his identity. He gambles, is usually in debt as a result, and is a friend to many who has built quite an extensive, if shadowy, network of loyal friends across the city in all walks of life. He conceals as much of his conduct as possible from his mother for fear of being disowned—and is genuinely unaware that her spies, in particular the doppelganger Seldrorn, keep her informed about almost everything Ralagondar does, and she is greatly amused by his antics and is fast becoming an avid fan of him.
The eldest of Skie’s two daughters is the plain, withdrawn, studious and incredibly smart Paerevelle (“Pair-uh-vel”), who is lightning-swift at sums, calculating margins of profit and engineering loads, stresses, and strains in her head in a trice, and steers the family finances honestly and to great profit; under her quiet guidance, the Silvershields have become landlords in many cities up and down the Sword Coast, renting to businesses more than tenants, and becoming VERY rich in the process. Paerevelle has no interest in marriage, is suspicious of all attempts by anyone to befriend or become intimate with any Silvershield, and prefers the company of females if she must speak to anyone not a family member; she just turned twenty, and is tall, thin, almost silent in her movements, has floor-length glossy dark hair she always wears piled up and interwoven in ornate tiara-like combs, and dresses in plain, old ankle-length gowns (she doesn’t care about her appearance).
The younger of Skie’s two daughters is pert, mischievous, agile (much given to climbing mansion walls and running along ramparts and swinging on tapestries, draperies, and even awning-ropes) and a scamp—because, like her brother, she’s bored and doing all sorts of wild things to try to alleviate that. Her wildnesses rarely take a romantic turn, but are apt to be carefree pranks that damage little and hurt no one physically, but often toy with the emotions and status of others (she’s forever starting rumors that this or that acquaintance has seduced a shapeshifting monster, or joined a secret society, and will sometimes even hire actors to pretend to be a shapeshifting monster or secret society members, to drive the escapade along). This nineteen-year-old guffawing and shining-eyed banner of trouble is Elnantra Silvershield, and she has two close female friends (and eager participants in most of her escapades) who are fellow young wealthy nobles of Baldur’s Gate, and are both her age: Malamarta Delvair, and Jancszra (“JANCE-rah”) Telnweather. Gossip in the Gate is certain the three are lovers; if true, they’re certainly not faithful and exclusive-to-each-other bedmates.
There’s also a “fallen” Silvershield in the city, a grim and nigh-coinless skulker amid the caravan beast-paddocks: Parendarkh Silvershield, said to be the oldest son of Entar Silvershield III. He turned his back on his family after some hushed-up betrayal or falling-out, years ago, and has lived by his toil and wits in the darker alleys of the city ever since. He’s said to maintain small gardens on various rooftops not his own, and dine on what grows in them (mainly tufts of saltwater wild cress) as well as clams he digs, and fish he spears expertly from the river. City rumor whispers he hurls spears into backs with deadly effect from afar, when paid to slay.
And that’s what I know of the Silvershields in 1494 DR.
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@arautomestre
Wonderful! You are great! Thank you very much master! A quick question: Murder in Baldur's Gate would take place in 1480DR, 82DR or 84DR. This will help in understanding the ages of the members of this magnificent family! Thank you again!
@TheEdVerse
Murder In Baldur's Gate fell into the "undated" era, but it must (by internal content evidence) take place in 1480 DR or later, and most discussion has (subsequently) placed it in 1482 DR.
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@arautomestre
I don't know how to thank you for the information, but know that it cleared a big doubt that many of my RPG groups had.
1) What was in doubt was the age of Alana and Entar lll in relation to the children they would have....
At Murde in Baldur's Gate he informs that they would both be in the nursery yet (page 17)! And for your information they would already have children in 1494 DR! Would MiBG have been wrong?
@TheEdVerse
No. At the time of Murder (1482 DR), Skie II is almost 18 years old, Alana is 7 and Entar III is 6.
Skie was arrange-married to her first husband, Ostrand Beldaerhallow, when she was 5. He died months after that ceremony, and she was married to Atelburt Maerbraunt later the same year. (Arranged marriages when one or both partners are very young isn't unusual among the nobility, usually to cement inheritances and alliances, though it's becoming less and less popular as the years pass due to widespread unhappiness in such unions.)
In this case, powerful (and frowned-upon) magic was used to age Skie II because her new, second husband wanted heirs/children right away, which is why she's now "elderly" and he and she are estranged. (And other Silvershields are gone from the city and the influence of all of its nobles, to lead their own lives far away.)
It's almost as if there's a big family saga here, just waiting to be told. ;}
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Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:42:10
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On The Splendor of the Sleeping Dragon:
Aug 13, 2020
@OzurtheOzarian
Sir @TheEdVerse, I am about to lead my party through the Evermoors in search of a newly formed Hag Coven (thank you @DeborahAnnWoll, Witch of Blackbriar is a perfect campaign beginning) and I’m wondering... wtf is up with that Sleeping Dragon artifact?
I love it and can’t wait for my party to come across it. Is there any more lore from ol’ Elminster regarding The Splendor? And when the dunks inevitably cast at the SD or hit it, do you have any advise on where to teleport the sorry fool?
@TheEdVerse
Elminster chuckled and said: “Though how to call upon it will have to be a matter of experimentation, as there’s nothing written down and I’ve never done so myself, the Srinshee told me that, properly activated, the Splendor can raise dead, or regenerate, or reincarnate, and can also mend/restore/renew minor enchantments on items (and physically mend the items themselves), all of these activations being subtly different from each other.”
As for teleport destinations, my advice would be to NOT be so cruel as to split up the party in this manner, nor to send them to a locale that will doom them, or ruin the campaign. I have used it, as DM, to dump parties down in dungeons, so they have to find a way out, and usually fight to survive to find that exit. Three levels down in Undermountain, for example, or in a back corner of the Haunted Halls if they’re lower level or weakened, or pick your own dungeon that the party would otherwise never willingly have entered, heh-heh. (I hasten to add that THAT was Elminster chuckling, not me. Oh, my, no.)
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Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:42:50
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On the Standing Stone:
@PlouffeAdam
What is your thoughts on the destruction of the Standing Stone? I really hate that it was torn down "off camera" and hope it is back in the current timeline. To me it represents the classic Realms!
@TheEdVerse
Don’t worry. Bruce Cordell, Chris Sims, and I all felt the same way, so when writing the 4e Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, we made sure that the people of Ashabenford, the then-permanent home of the Dales Council, rebuilt it (to mark the reaffirmation of the Dales Compact with the restored city of Myth Drannor).
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Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:43:34
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On the symbol on the cover of the 3E FRCS:
@TraylorAlan
Hi @TheEdVerse - I was wondering if you could answer a #dnd question. Does the symbol on the cover of the 3rd ed. Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting book mean anything? I've long wondered.
@dms_party
Hi Ed, how are you? Can you help me with your vast knowledge? I would like to know more details about the elements that appear in this symbol. Can you help me ?
@TheEdVerse
There’s a lot to unpack in that cover sigil, and believe it or not, there are still NDAs relating to some meanings (what I can say is that one of the messages is akin to “Behold and enjoy your Realms”). So let’s look at that writing, and we can readily see that it’s a ring of Dethek runes with a ring of Espruar script around it. The Dethek runes read: “The secret fires of our hearts burn with the memory of wars lost and heroes slain, but like the stone from which we came, we endure” and is an age-old saying of the dwarves. The Espruar runes read “We remember cities now in ruin and forests murdered, yet still we sing to the stars and hope for renewal,” and is an elven saying during the time of the Retreat (“cities” being spelt “sities” as there’s no “C” in Espruar).
These rings of script encircle a central symbol of three linked rings that denote the Multiverse or the Cosmic All or Ao, depending on your tradition (who in the Realms taught you what those rings stand for). The three diamonds are from the sagecraft, and denote the Realms Below (the Underdark), the Realms Above (the surface world), and the Starry Void (Realmspace, or what we might call the heavens, or the Outer Planes of Existence, again depending on your tradition).
You’ll see a “bump” between the 7-o’clock and 8-o’clock position on the innermost ring around Ao, that’s a crescent moon with a dot ‘above’ the crescent/between its horns. This is, of course, the symbol of Elminster, and it’s there because he is, however unreliably, our main source of information about the Realms.
There’s another symbol that stands out as immediately recognizable, between the 4-o’clock and 5-o’clock position, jutting out of the outermost ring. It’s the symbol of Mystra, and she’s there as “the” deity of the Realms, for she is the Weave that almost all beings use to source magic.
The sword symbol at the 9-o’clock position of the outer ring is the Sword of Tyr, but is also there to represent Tempus, and war.
The symbol at the 10-o’clock position similarly stands for multiple deities and concepts, one of them being Lolth (her web); I can’t find my old notes on this at the moment (they’re likely in a box out in the larger shipping container, so expect more revelations months from now).
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:45:00
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On the temple of Tchazzar in Chessenta:
Oct 5, 2020
@FallenWyvern
@TheEdVerse and @rleebyers a #realmslore Chessenta question for either of you:
Would the temple of Tchazzar have been allowed to complete construction by the current year or would that have caused strife between followers of Entropy and Tchazzar?
@TheEdVerse
There was indeed, and still is, strife, but the temple stands complete. Except when there’s a battle over the exact site of a temple (claimed by/considered holy to more than one deity), thwarting the construction of a temple or shrine to any deity is a no-no regardless of faith (so decreed Ao, and it’s against the pantheistic beliefs of most mortals). So despite the fact that some deities (such as Shar, Moander, and Entropy) by their nature would want to destroy other gods, their holy places, and their works, and might order their followers to carry out marrings or destructions, they are essentially dooming those followers, who will be attacked by all other deities and their followers. So the temple was completed. However, that doesn’t mean Tchazzar is granting spells or otherwise heeding his clergy and worshippers, so his faith is dwindling; his clergy do get spells granted (by Tiamat).
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:45:49
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On the the Frozen Forest, Turnback Mountains, and surrounding region:
@arkanjil
Hello n thank you for your great work; meantime I would ask: the 5e Sword coast map has some wide lands in the north and east; do you have current or past lore on such places as the Frozen Forest, Turnback Mountains, or the lands about these?
@TheEdVerse
Fifty-odd years of past lore, much of it published in earlier editions. Not much recent, as play in the home Realms campaign hasn't visited those locales recently. What are you most interested in?
@arkanjil
I have much of the old materials, but it s a slow slog to dig through- if you say its
@TheEdVerse
When I come across mentions, I'll tweet them to you. (Just am very busy right now.)
@arkanjil
More than I can hope for, that; thank you agian, and grace to you n yours.
@TheEdVerse
Long Reply Thread 1:
The best coverage of this area is in Dungeon 170, in the superb MONUMENT OF THE ANCIENTS adventure by Brian R. James and Matt James. Complete with maps of the city of Phlan, the gnoll-held settlement of Frozen Flindyke, and a closeup map of the region (full-page map on pg 56 of the magazine).
If you’re venturing north from the Moonsea, you’ll come to the Dragonspine Mountains first. Beyond them is the Ride (cold grassy plains roamed by rothé and wolves and fierce, nomadic, feuding tribes of human barbarians), then the White Mountains. North beyond that range are the Tortured Lands (The Leewai), and then the Abbey Mountains; Turnback Mountain is a distinctive tall peak about a third of the way west along the range from its eastern end, and in the heart of it (it’s a “middle mountain” with other peaks north and south of it).
Beyond the Abbey Mountains is the Frozen Forest; a chillingly-cold icewater river, the Alaphaer Run, flows north out of the western Abbey Mountains into the Frozen Forest (and almost right to the step pyramid known as the Monument of the Ancients).
The Moonsea North region is known for its sudden changes in weather, often marked by fast-moving fronts that bring violent storms on their leading edges, usually blowing to the northeast. The fiercest weather occurs in afternoon or early evening, and in spring is often marked by thunderstorms with racing, widespread lightning strikes. Winter storm fronts often bring abrupt flash freezes, temperatures plummeting and slaying unprotected creatures caught out in the open, only to rise slowly over a matter of days ere the next “icejaws” front hits.
Where the Ride is grassy and verdant, naturally well-watered (so growth is inhibited largely by the cold climate and short growing season), the Tortured Lands are for the most part parched, though the River Pelauvir does rise at about its east-west midpoint, to run east, bolstered by the Shattersoul River draining out of the Great Glacier; Flindyke stands on its north bank at the only bridge over it in the region, Maram’s Span. The western Tortured Lands are rocky, windswept, and largely bare of all life but stunted shrubs and ground-hugging mosses and lichens, a place of foothills, and canyons where water once flowed, in warmer times.
The eastern Tortured Lands are mainly dunes of frozen sand, sculpted by the fierce winds into jagged, strange shapes (hence the region’s name). The rugged landscape and severe night-day temperature swings make the Tortured Lands a place to traverse as quickly as possible, not to try to tarry or dwell in. Caribou herds and the thick-pelt wolves (and well-armed gnoll hunting bands, with their fierce dogs) that prey on them are the most numerous living things roaming the Tortured Lands.
The Abbey Mountains have had their name since the days of ancient Netheril, when Netherese worshippers of Selûne built the Abbey of the Moon (now a toppled ruin of shattered stone columns, foundations, and monster-haunted storage cellars) atop Selûne’s Crest, the highest peak of the range. To the gnolls, these are the Rabrae Hyuk (“hyar” is rock or loose stone in the gnoll tongue, “hyukla” is a crag or spire, and “hyuk” is a mountain or range of mountains; “Rabrae” is the name of these mountains, an obvious echo/corruption of “Abbey”). The peaks are frigid and windswept, only the topmost peaks snow-capped (in contrast to the White Mountains range to the south, whose name comes from their permanent cloaks of snow) and hold relatively few veins of ore worth mining; “Turnback Mountain” got its name when a group of long-ago prospectors guarded by several bands of hired adventurers against the gnolls and ogres of Thar and hobgoblins, finding little of worth but endless creatures wanting them dead, got disheartened by heavy losses and nigh-ceaseless attacks, and decided to turn back.
Perhaps they were prudent, but more recent explorers have reported no less than two dragon lairs and three shattered but extensive ruins—perhaps remnants of fallen Netherese flying cities—in the deep and nigh-unvisited-by-humans valleys in the heart of the range.
The foothills along the northern face of the Abbey range are known locally as the “mammothbacks,” and for centuries have been where treasure is cached, Ride barbarian chieftans are entombed, and gnolls lure rothé and caribou herds into natural “killing trap” funnels caused by the topography.
[Thread 1 ends]
@TheEdVerse
Long Reply Thread 2:
The frigid tundra between them and the Frozen Forest was once extensively patrolled by ice archons, now (in 5e) more commonly known as “ice elemental myrmidons,” and a few still roam the area, attacking all intruders.
A greater peril on these plains are marauding remorhaz, who come south out of the Great Glacier to wander and devour. They concentrate most on attacking gnoll caravans (ore-laden sledges coming along the Remorhaz Ride caravan trail from Mount Ghaethluntar, a huge mountain honeycombed with caverns linked by natural and carved-out tunnels, and inhabited by thousands of flind and gnolls).
The Alaphaer Run is a fast-flowing, icy river of drinkable water that’s normally iced over (it runs under a roof of ice thick enough to support a heavily-laden sledge, or even a landing dragon). The river is blessed by the goddess Auril (“Alaphaer” is one of her older names), and runs through the Planes of Existence as it descends from the mammothbacks, flowing into and out of Auril’s Deep Wilds home realm several times as it heads for the Frozen Forest.
The Frozen Forest itself gets its name from the glittering ice that sheaths the needles and boughs of its close-standing conifers (at the forest’s edge, most are bent over under the weight of the ice; in the forest depths, the trees stand too close to bend, and are in fact often welded together by ice, high up, and can’t bend much). Almost entirely evergreens (the few hardwoods tend to be long-dead, bare trunks), the Frozen Forest is vast and has very few clearings (the Monument of the Ancients occupies one) and animal tracks, and no human-cut roads or trails.
The Forest is wreathed in everpresent, drifting ground fogs, which persist for the same reason the trees of the forest don’t shatter and die of the cold, and their roots can drink flowing water: warm magma flows near the surface of the earth, beneath the forest (the presence of these flows, and the running-water and forging opportunities their warmth provides, are the reason why such subterranean cities as Forlarn of the gnomes, and Glanderultok, can exist in the region).
Caribou winter over in the Frozen Forest, lynx (and even a few giant lynx) dwell in it, preying on the abundant hares, “tree-cats” (squirrels), voles, foxes, and grouse. Owls and a handful of giant owls also make this forest their home, as do fey who do not love sentient intruders of any sort. Moose, elk, and rothé forage endlessly along its verges, moving constantly to where they can find and eat new growing shoots, and moving to the lee of the forest when the worst storms hit.
At various warmer times in the past, humans have tried to settle in the Frozen Forest, and found the tumbled ruins and foundations of even more ancient settlements, in which enchanted weapons (including a crossbow of speed known as “The Army Scythe,” encountered in the Baldur’s Gate computer game) were found. Persistent hobgoblin attacks decimated these settlers, until the few survivors fled south to the cities of the Moonsea shore. Not all of these ruins (from early Netheril?) have been thoroughly explored, for even then, fell monsters lurked in their deepest underground passages and cellars. SOMETHING, Elminster warns, has prevented dwarves and gnomes from establishing permanent settlements or forges under the Frozen Forest.
And there you have it. [Long Reply Thread 2 ends.] Hope this is of help!
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:46:33
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On Luskan's population, and the Wall of the Faithless:
Dec 6, 2020
@JNiklasBerse
Hi, @TheEdVerse! I hope you can answer this three questions:
1) Does the Wall of Faithless still exist?
2) Who came up with that original, but messed up idea :D?
3) How did Bane turn into a Demigod? Not complaining, I think he works god with the other two, but how and so fast?
Oh, sorry and another one:
4)) How big is the population of Luskan as of 1494? Back in 1485, it was what, 4000, but has the town grown again?
And thanks for all the work you put in the Realms over the years. I recently got back playing in them and they are even more awesome than I remember! Thanks and take care :-).
@TheEdVerse
1. I don’t think so, but I’m still trying to find out.
2. My guess is that it was “slade” Henson, as I saw it first in a manuscript for a then-not-yet-published Realms product he was designing.
3. I’m told that’s NDA right now.
4. Luskan’s population is depressed due to its most recent century of lawlessness and troubles (you have to be hardy to want to live there!), and its climate, like all of the more northerly cities, falls as each winter comes and those who can “winter over” in warmer places head for them, then rises again after the chill muddy part of spring is over, and the warmer stirrings of summer come, but in 1494 DR it never falls below 4,600 in the dead of winter (and is usually well over 6,200 in the height of summer).
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:47:25
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On the Wealdath and Myth Rhynn:
@LVBluePigeon
Just a short question for now. I'm a big fan of the Elven Folk of the Realms and I wonder, What is the current state (post-1374 DR) of Myth Rhynn and the Wealdath? Source material is from Volo's Guide to Baldur's Gate II (post 1374 DR) after the Spellplague. I know the Mythal was corrupted, but how is the integrity of Myth now in the modern Realms setting?
@TheEdVerse
I answered this here on Twitter a few years back: that mythal lingers, but is more corrupted than ever: wild magic effects, astonished monsters teleported in and out between Myth Rhynn and distant locations on Toril, the Wealdath more monster-ridden and alive with wild magic than ever. The elves who dwell there have dwindled greatly in numbers, some as casualties and some just relocating for safer wild forests elsewhere. Those who remain are wary hunters, always ready for battle. And something is stirring in the Underdark beneath the Wealdath, displaced frightened Underdark denizens up onto the surface to join the dangerous mix.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2020 : 20:47:58
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On the weight of dragon bones:
@PastorGall
just a random question, maybe you cant comment but would you know the weight of dragon bones at various size categories? There is no reference online anywhere for apecifica like that. If NDA stops you, thats fine too.
@TheEdVerse
Well, dragons do vary from individual to individual, but here are some general guidelines, attested to by Faerûnian wizards and sages who specialize in such things.
So a Wyrmling (Medium) dragon averages 3 tons live weight, a Young (Large) dragon averages 4.5 tons, an Adult (Huge) dragon averages 6.6 tons, and an Ancient (Gargantuan) dragon averages 8.8 tons. The bones of a dragon average only ten percent of its total body weight (some dragon bones are hollow, reducing its weight so it can fly more easily), so if you clean and gather an entire skeleton, the total weight will be these living weights divided by ten.
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