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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
 Posted - 23 Dec 2021 : 04:20:05
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On tapdancing
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1473815669019918337
Dec 23, 2021
@smparlin
Heya, Ed - is tapdancing a thing in the Realms? If so, what culture does it come from and where is it popular circa 1300s DR?
@TheEdVerse
Not that I’ve ever heard of. The closest thing: gnome and korred slap-dancing; in which the dancers (and a ring of watchers) slap their own upper front thighs repeatedly between steps, in a syncopated rhythm. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 23 Dec 2021 : 04:23:05
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On size of Klauth
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1473811849477042183
Dec 23, 2021
@HambergerJojo
How big is Klauth? I’ve recently seen the sculpture of him by Pop Culture Shock and it looks like he is 10 times the mass of a regular gargantuan red dragon. Just curious.
@TheEdVerse
I’m not sure. Most sane folk don’t get close enough to him, with anything they can accurately measure with and an unobscured view, with him in a relatively stationary state, for long enough to judge. But he’s BIG.
Ten times regular mass sounds about right to Elminster, and that’s good enough for me. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 23 Dec 2021 : 04:26:18
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On identifiable marks on Elminster, Laeral, Mirt, Volo or Durnan
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1473811494039076869
Dec 23, 2021
@nessus88
Hello @TheEdVerse, I hope you're having a wonderful day. I have a question I wonder if you could answer. Does Elminster, Laeral, Mirt, Volo or Durnan have any secret tattoos or remarkable scars that one could possibly use to identify them? Thank you...
@TheEdVerse
Elminster is weathered and wrinkled all over, and has lines of scarring up the outside of both of his pectorals that climb over his shoulders, where long ago his arms were torn off (at different times), but he’s such a wreck that they don’t “stand out.” Someone has to look closely at him in good light to notice the lines in the midst of everything else.
None of the five have any large and distinctive tattoos (Mirt has some, on insides of elbows, armpits, and below the bulge of his belly, that store magic, but they were made to blend in to his skin, not stand out, so they usually have to be pointed out to someone, but be noticed at all). Laeral and Volo are remarkably unscarred and unweathered, due to repeated skillful magical healing, but the hips, chest, back, and biceps of Durnan are crisscrossed with old sword-wound scars that are clearly visible ridges (puckers) but which aren’t a different hue than the surrounding skin. There are a lot of them (sixteen or more), and they don’t form any distinctive pattern. Many of them DO cross over each other. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 23 Dec 2021 : 04:29:17
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On elves “latching on” to a dwarven feast
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1473810491659202568
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1474796959416389650
Dec 23, 2021
@Warpmind
@TheEdVerse
Dwarves enjoy a sort of communal reverie when they drink together (according to Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes). Elves have, as I understand it, a similar form of recollection in their trance.
Would it be plausible for an elf to “latch on” to a dwarven feast?
@TheEdVerse
It’s possible, but only with training and magical preparation and an in-direct-mental-contact dwarf guide “steering” the mind of the elf, or by a fluke accident involving roiling wild magic in an area containing both the elf and some drinking dwarves. It won’t “just happen by chance.”
@Warpmind
Fair… so an alcoholic elven wild mage invited to participate in the choosing of a new high priest of Mithral Hall *could* accomplish this feat, but it would be a once-in-a-lifetime event if so?
@TheEdVerse
Yes, or nearly (it might happen two or even three times in a long, long life, if careful prep was made for all occasions after the first). So no one should ever even begin to think "I can do this whenever I want to."
-Edited on 26/12/21 to add new tweets |
Edited by - questing gm on 26 Dec 2021 01:59:48 |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 23 Dec 2021 : 04:35:06
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On the Vast Deeps
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1473809995766673410
Dec 23, 2021
@EricLoganBoyd
Hi Ed! In FR4 - The Magister, 54, you wrote: "One is thought to have been lost in the Vast Deeps when the sorcer Alamanth was slain in battle aboard a ship off of Port Llast.
How deep is the Vast Deeps? Given it’s close to the coast, I imagine it can’t be as deep as the Uldeep.
@TheEdVerse
The Deeps are deep, but nowhere near as deep as the Uldeep.
What they are, to earn the name “Vast,” is complex: an unmapped, chaotic large expanse of deep trenches with knife-edged ridges in between.
MOST of them are parallel to the coast, but not all. This tortured terrain is home to many unique and rare undersea creatures, including eyes of the deep (marine beholders). |
Edited by - questing gm on 23 Dec 2021 04:36:31 |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 23 Dec 2021 : 04:42:20
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On "Weird Magic" of hags
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1473808539458146308
Dec 23, 2021
@Sundered_Ant
@TheEdVerse there are many types of magic in your setting, the Forgotten Realms. From arcane and divine, to elemental and rune. So with the recent uptick in Feywild interest, I was wondering, is the "Weird Magic" of hags its own unique type of magic independent of the others?
@TheEdVerse
The magic of hags is still calling on the Weave—but hags can call on the Weave slightly differently than other creatures casting formal, shared arcane spells, so it can SEEM at first observation a “different” magic system. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 23 Dec 2021 : 05:07:37
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On novels set in the 5th edition time period
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1473807505331572741
Dec 23, 2021
@EBCornell
Honored sage, are there any novels set in the 5th edition time period of the Forgotten Realms. I started reading these works as a kid before I even knew D&D existed!
@TheEdVerse
Sure, the entire Sundering saga, my Sage of Shadowdale trilogy and Spellstorm and Death Masks, the Brimstone Angels books by @erinmevans, the more recent @r_a_salvatore novels, some of @erikscottdebie’s books, the Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep series, and more…
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 23 Dec 2021 : 05:11:40
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On portals to Greyhawk in Candlekeep
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1473806678319673350
Dec 23, 2021
@RRavensflame
Any chance Candlekeep has a portal or two to Greyhawk, semi-secret of course.
@TheEdVerse
No. Down the years, the monks have been very careful about such things—and after the recent debacle (see THE HERALD), the Chosen of Mystra have scoured, using the Weave, to make absolutely sure.
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 23 Dec 2021 : 05:13:59
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On exarchs and dying of old age
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1473806265142939653
Dec 23, 2021
@MartonCarungay
Ed, if an Exarch is below a Demigod (e.g. Hercules), but higher than a legendary mortal, then would they be considered "immortal" beings? E.g. they cannot die of old age alone.
@TheEdVerse
SOME, likely most, exarchs will never die of old age alone, but they do vary in specific nature/characteristics as well as power level, and some details remain mysterious to mortals. (See also my Oct 13, 2021 tweets about the nature of exarchs.) |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 23 Dec 2021 : 23:52:31
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On The Shadow of the Avatar trilogy
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1474142125587632129
Dec 24, 2021
@LiamQDH
@TheEdVerse how exactly does the Avatar series line up south The Shadow of the Avatar trilogy?
@TheEdVerse
The Shadow of the Avatar trilogy shows why certain powerful Realms beings didn't show up to save the day in the Avatar trilogy (i.e. what they were busy doing at the time, and why), and gives you a glimpse of the many intrigues overlapping in the Realms at all times. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 24 Dec 2021 : 01:33:59
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On spelling Fraz-Urb-Luu
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1474168445767987207
Dec 24, 2021
@TyphosTheD
Hi, @TheEdVerse! I had a question about Fraz-Urb-Luu, and was hoping you might be able to help. I’ve seen a few instances of his name written with an “I” rather than an “L”, do you know if there is any particular reason for that? Eg., this is from the Encyclopedia Magica for 2E.
<https://twitter.com/TyphosTheD/status/1474034934713135104/photo/1>
@TheEdVerse
Yes. The entity is and has always been Fraz-Urb-Luu, pronounced “FRAWZ-urbb-loo,” but some scribes recopying ancient writings in Thorass were confused by the script (the difference between a lowercase “L” within a word or name and a capital “L” that begins a word or name).
Later scribes, trying to prevent introduction of errors, clung to whatever source they were copying from (copying out by hand being the only way to hand down writings, before printing was devised), so we end up with both “I” and “L” in use (being passed down to us). Thorass/Old Common isn’t an exact equivalent of modern English script, but there are some close resemblances, and many of them, thanks to borrowings from dwarven runes, center on vertical downstrokes in written letters, and how they’re modified to derive different characters/letters. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 24 Dec 2021 : 01:45:26
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On Elminster's favorite winter solstice recipe for hot cocoa
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1474174395338084352
Dec 24, 2021
@WyrdhavenArts
@TheEdVerse since my polycule is finally doing Yule together in one place, could you ask El if he's got a favorite winter solstice recipe for hot cocoa or something like that? We'd love to give it a spin.
@TheEdVerse
Elminster doth. Here you go, and enjoy!
Gather ye:
2 cups high-fat milk (Elminster recommends the source be Deepingdale or Mistledale cows)
1 cup of almonds, pulverized with mortar and pestle into a flour or paste
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Dark chocolate, in any form (lump, shavings, chopped), 1 cup or a little more, as rich as ye can get
Whipped cream (again, Elminster recommends the source be Deepingdale or Mistledale cows)
{Optional spices, see end of recipe}
Then:
Boil thy milk over a few coals for a three-count (three seconds), then move to a lower-heat part of the hearth (boil briefly in a medium sauce pot over medium-high heat, then lower heat to medium).
Add in the chocolate and whisk with vigor until it is all melted.
Then add in the almond paste and cornstarch, whisking throughout, until all is dissolved (thy pot should contain a smooth, thick mixture).
Pour into mugs or tankards that will not shatter, and top with the whipped cream.
Optional: over each, sprinkle the tiniest pinch of pepper, a pinch of nutmeg, and a generous pinch of cinammon (powdered form, all, of course)
Elminster adds that if ye have imbibers who cannot have nuts, omit the almonds (and mayhap the nutmeg, too, though it’s a seed and not a nut), and make a slightly less rich drink flavored by pouring it over dried cherries (cranberries, if ye cannot get cherries) put at the bottom of each mug and allowed to steep for “a long song” (four to six minutes).
@WyrdhavenArts
Give El our thanks. We'll need to pick up some almonds, and I'm afraid heavy cream and whole milk from standard earth supermarket sources will have to suffice, but we'll happily try this concoction. What should we call this delightful brew?
@TheEdVerse
Whole milk and heavy cream should be fine; that's what I use. ;}
El calls this Chocolate Thickflagon, and I suspect he didn't create the name, and is just quoting it.
He also said he sometimes roasts the almonds before crushing them.
And thanks shall be conveyed. :}
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Edited by - questing gm on 24 Dec 2021 01:49:56 |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 26 Dec 2021 : 01:48:03
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On the mythal of Myth Drannor and Anorrweyn Evensong after Thultanthor's crash
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1474798405704683520
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1474841540686229506
Dec 26, 2021
@Artie_Pavlov
Merry X @TheEdVerse! a question that you might've already answered: After Myth Drannor went kabloey in 5e, what happened to the mythal and Anorrweyn Evensong who became one with it 100 prior? Is it still there? or with Speculum destroyed its been dispelled too?
@TheEdVerse
The central business district of Myth Drannor was flattened by Thultanthor/Shade landing atop it and shattering, but the flying city's footprint isn't nearly as large as that of the heart of Myth Drannor, and the mythal and all entities tied to it survived, as did the outer ring of the city and the crypts and underways even right under the crash zone. Rebuilding since has reduced the devastation to a few central blocks (remember, Myth Drannor is a living city, trees and vines and mosses all taking a role).
@Artie_Pavlov
Good to know! Hope poor elves get to rebuild! Also, are dungeons under MD’s center collapsed in the enclave’s fall? Or are they sturdy are still accessible in the 15th century? Asking for a friend who wants to go there.
@TheEdVerse
They didn't collapse, but some of the ways down into them in the city center are now blocked and filled with rubble/collapsed earth and stone. A few have been dug out, but most are currently accessed by farther out entrances/exits. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 26 Dec 2021 : 01:58:20
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On family meals in the Dalelands
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1474845668162387970
Dec 26, 2021
@jwill9311
@TheEdVerse what would a family meal look like in the dalelands. Something like a family reunion or marriage or granny's 100th birthday? Or a religious feast?
@TheEdVerse
Religious feasts can differ markedly depending on what deity, and the customs adopted and promoted by the clergy (e.g. Silvanus: wild bounty, eaten raw, Chauntea: baked grain goods), but large family get-togethers in the Dales tend to follow this general pattern: huge amounts of food, prepared by many family members and any invited guests (if you’re a guest, you bring something) and with the majority of them being baked savoury pies (think:casserole but in a dish and cover made out of thick, durable hard-baked pastry) or stuffed roast fowl or sausages of all flavours or seasoned loaves of bread (i.e. baked with added cheese or strong herbs and spices or berries). The “sides” include lots of pickled veggies and preserved fruits. What’s done to make things “special” are to break out exotic, expensive foodstuffs from afar kept in the “precious larder,” to call on aged wine or ale or strong drink, and to make really flavourful fresh sauces to slather over everything, especially the pickled and preserved stuff after it’s been rinsed, so its taste will differ from “how it usually tastes when you open a crock.”
Also, folk in the Dales pride themselves on the cheeses they make, so strong and “different” cheeses will feature prominently. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 27 Dec 2021 : 08:16:34
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On Elminster's favorite movies
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1475301017432604674
Dec 27, 2021
@Jobe00
How familiar is Elminster with cinema, and does he have any favorite movies?
@TheEdVerse
I'm surprised by how much he's seen, which suggests he's been sneaking here for years. He loves action epics like EXCALIBUR and THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING, which he thinks are deliberate farces. I once played a "real" comedy for him, and he found it unfunny. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2021 : 00:43:32
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On Elbulder
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1476010210594590722
Dec 29, 2021
@Artie_Pavlov
Ok this one is throwing me for a loop, @TheEdVerse ...Elbulder is said to be a regular town in most books but Prayers of the Faithful and Magister both say the city was a monster-infested ruin... R there 2 Elbulders? Was there a period of time when it was hidden from folk? Help?
@TheEdVerse
You have stumbled on an untold tale of the Realms. As in, a computer game license (back in the days of cartidges and consoles) that, AFAIK, never got made.
There are indeed two Elbulders.
The older one is the monster-haunted, abandoned ruin that was going to be the setting for the game (which was a mainly-above-ground dungeon; think of the up-and-down and around corners streets we see in the fighting in Dale, in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies), that was never rebuilt after its abandonment because of the wild magic and living spells still active in it (it got that way after both sides in a pitched battle to rule it used reckless magic, that collided and combined and got away from their control, utterly).
The newer one is “just next door.” What happened was: old Elbulder had a stream running through it that got put into pipes and used for drinking water, and then passed out of Ebulder and drained into the River Arran. Elbulder couldn’t expand upstream/east, along the banks of the Arran, because of a second stream, that rose as a spring to form a big marshy area.
When Old Elbulder was abandoned, a new and much smaller community (“new” Elbulder, or just “Elbulder”) was built east of this marsh, on the banks of the Arran, and the Old Road was re-routed to reach the Arran through it, at a spot that like old Elbulder took the road across the river via a wagon-ferry (big barge on cables), but unlike the old site, was situated at a spot where the river was narrower and shallower, so over time a ford could be built by dumping stones into the river in a raised but submerged roadbed.
Because this was going to be the basis for an outside-license game, and therefore hush-hush until the game's big release, this local Realmslore just never got mentioned in print. Until now. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2021 : 00:49:08
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On murdering a cleric of Mystra
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1476029699054882818
Dec 29, 2021
@ItalianKarsus
I was wondering, would murdering a cleric of Mystra make it less likely for a faithful's soul to be accepted in Dweomerheart after death?
@TheEdVerse
Less likely, indeed.
Yet any deity judging a soul looks at the entire mortal life, and so, context and balance. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2021 : 00:52:57
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On Halagaster Brutheen trespassing the power of the Ahghairon's Dragonward
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1476219687117676546
Dec 29, 2021
@GaroTTi
Great wise of the Realms @TheEdVerse, can you enlight me about some that I bumped into while researching on the City of Esplendors? How the shapechanged red dragon Halagaster Brutheen trespassed the power of the Ahghairon's Dragonward and became the owner of the Ships Prow Inn?
@TheEdVerse
Sure. See the Volo's Guides; there are such things as "ward-tokens" (sometimes called pass-tokens), that let someone wearing/bearing/holding them pass into/out of/be in a ward/warded area. A surprising number of dragons have ward-tokens for the Dragonward. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 30 Dec 2021 : 00:58:24
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On The Shining Lands/Golden Ocean, but in -23,040 DR
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1476224893687582723
Dec 30, 2021
@rsmv2you
Heyo, I'm planning on doing a FR 5e DnD campaign and focusing it in The Shining Lands/Golden Ocean, but in -23,040 DR. Is there any major things of note to know about that area/The Eastern Shaar for such a DR date?
@TheEdVerse
Sure. Far more precipitation in the local weather at that time, so abundant scrub forests and swamps as well as grasslands. Many small roaming loxo, centaur, and wemic tribes (roaming to follow and feed on the HUGE wild herds of various cloven-hoofed edible critters). Small “vestpocket” countries (like the many small Border Kingdoms of today) galore, most being conglomerations of mixed beasts that humans would deem “monsters” (later, these coalesced into Veldorn, and today are the Beastlands, but at the time, rakshasa were just beginning to show up and become rulers here, often called “satraps”). The adventurers and explorers in the area are halflings, faring forth from Luiren. Gold dwarves inhabit the Great Rift. Beholders and illithids are only legends in these lands, as they’re almost never seen on the surface, thanks to the dragons who lair to the east persistently and ruthlessly hunting them down. Dambrath doesn’t exist yet, but many of what would become its ports do, as tiny “monster-inhabited” fishing villages. Elves are rare. Wild horses are experiencing a population explosion.
There are several small leucrotta kingdoms, which would later annihilate each other in bitter feuds. And certain powerful human archwizards are seeking isolated valleys in which to build towers to live and experiment with magic in. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 31 Dec 2021 : 01:27:15
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On Elminster vs The Simbul
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1476702336903184384
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1476703175960842241
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1476708564064509955
Dec 31, 2021
@pauloalmeida074
@TheEdVerse, I wanna hear it from the master himself. Who is more powerful: Elminster or the Simbul? If you could answer it comparing both in the average of their force and at the peak of their might, it'd be great. Thank you in advance.
@TheEdVerse
In sheer power, The Simbul. In wiles and experience, Elminster.
Which means, in a confrontation, the outcome is "it depends" (on locale and situation). The Simbul resorts to her sheer power, whereas El has mastered the Weave far more and has more contingencies.
To go back to the peak of their might, El was a little less powerful but a little more deadly: calmer in battle and more precise, he's always known nuances of magic use (e.g. outcomes of collisions between magics) far better than The Simbul, who's "let 'er rip."
They both know The Simbul is stronger in raw power, but also that El has mastered spellfire and the Weave more. So if the battle is in a locale where El can reach the Weave, my money's on him.
Not that archmages of power are often foolish enough to fight directly.
@WyrdhavenArts
(and I think we all know that they decided there's things more fun than fighting to do together)
@TheEdVerse
Indeed. I've written some scenes, but they remain unpublished for reasons of good taste. (I often write never-to-see-print passages to understand characters better.)
Let's just say that when individuals who can magically fly and shapeshift feel lusty, things can get..spectacular. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 31 Dec 2021 : 01:35:42
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On younger folk who help the clergy in temples
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1476705122973786112
Dec 31, 2021
@smparlin
@TheEdVerse Sorry for bombarding you with Qs
What are younger folk who help the clergy in temples called/what is their title? I imagine they'd separate them and their duties by hopeful clergy and laypeople?
I envision they hopeful clergy being paiges/clerks to the clergy.
@TheEdVerse
The formal titles vary by church, but a "novice" is someone recognized as on the path to priesthood, whereas a "lay brother" or "lay sister" (collectively, "Lay devout") are temple/abbey/monastery/shrine workers not priests or on a path to priesthood.
In many faiths, the lay devout are actually addressed as "Devout" (as in, "Devout Brandor" or "Devout Aslanna" if Brandor or Aslanna was their given name...whereas a novice would be "Faithful X," with "X" being the name of a saint or historical distinguished-service cleric. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 31 Dec 2021 : 01:39:05
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On Malar, his goals and the High Hunt
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1476707314421977088
Dec 31, 2021
@KetracelBlack
@TheEdVerse anything to flesh out about Malar, his goals and the High Hunt?
@TheEdVerse
Malar's current goals are to work against law, order, and "civilization" everywhere, to curb destruction/"taming" of wild nature, and make sentients fear creatures and cut back domesticating them.
He also seeks, through dreams and the murmured words of his clergy servitors across the Realms, to foment bloodlust in sentients, to make them more bestial/give in to their wilder nature.
His clergy still covertly let herds out of enclosures, and free captured beasts from menageries.
As for the High Hunt, I'll have to check some NDAs before I say anything more... |
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PattPlays
Senior Scribe
469 Posts |
Posted - 31 Dec 2021 : 03:27:25
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[Scrubed, OP mentioned Magister as one of the two sources. Misread the soruces as a single source with a longer book title.]
In addition: did the -23,000 DR human archwizard blow anyone else's mind? Just me? Still so much to learn.. |
:The world's greatest OOTA fan/critic: :"Powder kegs within powder kegs!": :Meta-Dimensional Cheese: :Why is the Wand of Orcus just back?: :We still don't know the nature of Souls and the Positive Energy Plane: :PC on profile, Aldritch Elpyptrat Maxinfield: :Helljumpers, Bungie.net: :Rock Hard Gladiator, RIP Fluidanim, Long Live Pluto: :IRC lives:
https://thisisstorytelling.wordpress.com
T_P_T |
Edited by - PattPlays on 31 Dec 2021 03:35:11 |
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore
Australia
6666 Posts |
Posted - 31 Dec 2021 : 03:55:49
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quote:
Originally posted by questing gm
On The Shining Lands/Golden Ocean, but in -23,040 DR
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1476224893687582723
Dec 30, 2021
@rsmv2you
Heyo, I'm planning on doing a FR 5e DnD campaign and focusing it in The Shining Lands/Golden Ocean, but in -23,040 DR. Is there any major things of note to know about that area/The Eastern Shaar for such a DR date?
@TheEdVerse
Sure. Far more precipitation in the local weather at that time, so abundant scrub forests and swamps as well as grasslands. Many small roaming loxo, centaur, and wemic tribes (roaming to follow and feed on the HUGE wild herds of various cloven-hoofed edible critters). Small “vestpocket” countries (like the many small Border Kingdoms of today) galore, most being conglomerations of mixed beasts that humans would deem “monsters” (later, these coalesced into Veldorn, and today are the Beastlands, but at the time, rakshasa were just beginning to show up and become rulers here, often called “satraps”). The adventurers and explorers in the area are halflings, faring forth from Luiren. Gold dwarves inhabit the Great Rift. Beholders and illithids are only legends in these lands, as they’re almost never seen on the surface, thanks to the dragons who lair to the east persistently and ruthlessly hunting them down. Dambrath doesn’t exist yet, but many of what would become its ports do, as tiny “monster-inhabited” fishing villages. Elves are rare. Wild horses are experiencing a population explosion.
There are several small leucrotta kingdoms, which would later annihilate each other in bitter feuds. And certain powerful human archwizards are seeking isolated valleys in which to build towers to live and experiment with magic in.
This sounds more like -2040 or -3040 DR.
-- George Krashos |
"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus |
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lsls
Acolyte
34 Posts |
Posted - 31 Dec 2021 : 12:22:45
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quote:
Originally posted by PattPlays
[Scrubed, OP mentioned Magister as one of the two sources. Misread the soruces as a single source with a longer book title.]
In addition: did the -23,000 DR human archwizard blow anyone else's mind? Just me? Still so much to learn..
ED/THO once said there were powerful human wizards before elves' arrive.
quote:
Damian, in answer to your May 8th comment in this thread, I think we ARE seeing some elven propaganda regarding the “history” that tells us they lifted humankind on Toril out of barbarism and first gave them magic. I believe some few humans of sophisticated spellcasting powers survived an earlier ‘great war’ among human civilizations, and lured the elves into Faerun through the gates so the Fair Folk could by their very presence hold the land against rampaging monsters, overly-grasping dragons, and innumerable orcs long enough for these few sophisticated humans to return to lives of contemplation, study, and pursuing pet magical projects rather than endlessly defending themselves merely to survive.
The elves did find the great majority of humans as nomadic, brawling barbarians (albeit with a great adaptability for magic and everything else), but some Fair Folk MUST have known about the few human sorcerers and wizards . . . and their xenophobic lore since has “forgotten” this, despite the evidence of the gates, half-elves (hence human/elf interbreeding, and we can’t all be fascinated by smelly savage barbarians, right?).
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11829 Posts |
Posted - 31 Dec 2021 : 19:33:55
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quote:
Originally posted by George Krashos
quote:
Originally posted by questing gm
On The Shining Lands/Golden Ocean, but in -23,040 DR
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1476224893687582723
Dec 30, 2021
@rsmv2you
Heyo, I'm planning on doing a FR 5e DnD campaign and focusing it in The Shining Lands/Golden Ocean, but in -23,040 DR. Is there any major things of note to know about that area/The Eastern Shaar for such a DR date?
@TheEdVerse
Sure. Far more precipitation in the local weather at that time, so abundant scrub forests and swamps as well as grasslands. Many small roaming loxo, centaur, and wemic tribes (roaming to follow and feed on the HUGE wild herds of various cloven-hoofed edible critters). Small “vestpocket” countries (like the many small Border Kingdoms of today) galore, most being conglomerations of mixed beasts that humans would deem “monsters” (later, these coalesced into Veldorn, and today are the Beastlands, but at the time, rakshasa were just beginning to show up and become rulers here, often called “satraps”). The adventurers and explorers in the area are halflings, faring forth from Luiren. Gold dwarves inhabit the Great Rift. Beholders and illithids are only legends in these lands, as they’re almost never seen on the surface, thanks to the dragons who lair to the east persistently and ruthlessly hunting them down. Dambrath doesn’t exist yet, but many of what would become its ports do, as tiny “monster-inhabited” fishing villages. Elves are rare. Wild horses are experiencing a population explosion.
There are several small leucrotta kingdoms, which would later annihilate each other in bitter feuds. And certain powerful human archwizards are seeking isolated valleys in which to build towers to live and experiment with magic in.
This sounds more like -2040 or -3040 DR.
-- George Krashos
Indeed. I would actually be surprised (but not entirely taken aback) even with the loxo having arrived 3 1/2 (or more) millenia back via spelljamming.... but the number of other things (elven civilization, dwarves in the great rift... considering it didn't collapse in yet, halflings in Luiren) definitely make it not prior to the elven sundering in my book. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jan 2022 : 00:59:36
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On humanoids having offspring with each other
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1477075976945348608
Jan 1, 2022
@vjhcreations
@TheEdVerse hi sorry to bother you i feel like i read this somewhere but can all or majority humanoids in FR have offspring with each other?
Like orcs and elves. Dragonborn and dwarves etc?
@TheEdVerse
Yes. That was baked into D&D from the outset, and reinforced in Gary Gygax's early DRAGON columns. REAL diversity. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jan 2022 : 01:05:33
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On besieging Waterdeep
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1477080115792252930
Jan 1, 2022
@Azounerella
Dear Ed,
If I (hypothetically speaking of course) were to besiege Waterdeep, where would I want to hit it from? North Gate, to make a base of the Field Ward, River Gate, to get to the Castle quicker, or would it be possible to scale Cliffwatch? Any hidden defenses?
@TheEdVerse
Getting into Field Ward would be smart, yes (once embedded, hard to extricate/eradicate w/o harming many citizens). But you can't really besiege unless you can cut off air access, Underdark access (from Skullport) and sea access, or the city can be endlessly resupplied/reinforced.
You can see glimpses of an attack from the sea on Waterdeep in the Threat From The Sea fiction and the opening of the novel Elaine Cunningham and I wrote, CITY OF SPLENDORS.
As for defenses, the city has...its wards, its griffon cavalry (based in Mount Waterdeep), ballistae on the wall towers, the Walking Statues, and the city wall parts that can be magically "brought in" from their extradimensional storage to interlock and entirely ring the city, including walling across the inside of the existing city gates. The Watchful Order and the Blackstaff have some additional magical defenses (communications and "fast teleport" networks for moving troops, ammo, barriers, and weapons around), some of which date from Ahghairon's time.
And if you're attacking right now, you have to deal with Laeral and Elminster as residents, and their mastery of the Weave and the aid of Azuth and Mystra and the other Chosen they can call on, plus Halaster and the magics he can call on, down in Undermountain.
I'm not saying that besieging Waterdeep is doomed to failure and a death sentence for anyone foolish enough to persist at it...but then again, I AM saying that besieging Waterdeep is doomed to failure and a death sentence for anyone foolish enough to persist at it.
If you MUST assault the Castle, the best way to do it is commando style, using swift, small "hit teams" who assemble in the city over time, then attack from within when weather is bad and you've goaded idiot nobles or guilds into providing an unwitting diversion. |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jan 2022 : 07:26:56
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On filling up Waterdeep's sewers
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1477143126154301444
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1477331713915334656
Jan 1, 2022
@Thenightgaunt99
Ed, if most Waterdavians commonly use chamberpots, then how does the sewer fill up? Are there household drains or something else?
@TheEdVerse
The sewers fill from the "bottom" with the incoming tides (which also wash the sewers out, though there are catch-gratings), and fill from the "top" with rain and (very frequent) shore-fog/seamist runoff from all the streets (which are fed by roof downspouts, etc.).
@Thenightgaunt99
Ok. So its more like a modern storm drain than a sewer meant to primarily move sewage around?
@TheEdVerse
That's right. Most Waterdhavian people-manure goes from chamberpots or garderobes/jakes to cesspools, then to nightsoil wagons ("honey wagons" in modern North America) and out to the Rat Hills for dumping.
- Edited on 2/1/22 to add new tweets |
Edited by - questing gm on 02 Jan 2022 01:38:55 |
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questing gm
Master of Realmslore
Malaysia
1449 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jan 2022 : 07:32:40
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On Elvish name for "keeper of boundaries"
https://twitter.com/TheEdVerse/status/1477141500802838529
Jan 1, 2022
@GoldnWlf
HI! I have a moon elf character that is a diplomat & secret spy. I'd like his name to mean something like "keeper of boundaries" referring to his role as a bridge between his elf clan & human kingdoms. Do you have any suggestions on what that would look like? Thanks!
@TheEdVerse
Hi! Sure!
The name “Arsringisir” means “one who” (ara) + srin (limits, boundaries) + gisir (keeper)
or
“Estasringisir” (where “esta” means one who can be trusted and/or is staunchly loyal) |
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Ed Greenwood on Twitter
