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Athenon
Acolyte
USA
43 Posts |
 Posted - 23 Jul 2006 : 09:15:10
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Ed and THO,
Two quick questions: 1) Do you anxiously await GenCon each year?
2) Any plans to do a reading from Swords of Eveningstar at GenCon?
Thanks as always! |
Will Maranto
Representing the Realms in the Wilds of Northern Louisiana |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jul 2006 : 15:24:29
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Will, it’s like this: I can rarely swing the time off from my job to attend GenCon, but I often, ahem, detect something we just have to “deal with, right now” in the vicinity of the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, on a few specific dates, if you know what I mean . . .
Ed doesn’t anxiously await GenCon so much as he writes like heck and hopes he can get done whatever he has to get done, before GenCon rushes up to meet him. He loves attending GenCon, yes, despite the cost (writers don’t make all that much, and Ed is one of those rarer sorts of guys who loves to shop), and says it “recharges his batteries” seeing old friends and meeting fans.
He wasn’t planning on doing a SWORDS OF EVENINGSTAR reading at GenCon, except perhaps informally, to friends (because all GenCon events have to be carefully planned and cleared with the GenCon staff, and it doesn’t seem that WotC included such an event on their request list), but Ed usually doesn’t know his “final, final, FINAL” con schedule until mere days before he starts the drive down. So, if you see him at the con, ask him to do a reading. If he gets the chance, he will. 
love,
THO
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jul 2006 : 01:34:53
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Hello again, scribes. Herewith, the second half of Ed’s replies to Blackwill, beginning with another two species of whales:
• The Karrask
This is an armored-headed, fearsome-looking monster of many seafarers’ tales, the whale that “likes to fight,” ramming ships, shearing off oars, and even leaping out of the water to land on and swamp small boats. Karrask have large, glistening black-and-gold “false eyes,” but actually see out of many tiny orbs studded here and there in the fissures between their armor plates. A karrask has a head like a giant horseshoe crab (except that where a crab has an unbroken plate as its “shoe” snout, a karrask has the same shape made up of many overlapping plates), and an adult is usually around 80 feet long, with some old warriors reaching 120 feet or more. Karrasks are loners, meeting in shoals and deserted islets far out to sea to mate, with only the males “cruising the coasts” (where they’ll eat anything organic, including sailors fallen overboard). Karrask yield almost no oil, but have thick white muscles under their skins (feet thick) that’s said to resemble but surpass the finest white pork in flavour. A single slain karrask can feed a village very well for almost a month, or make a merchant’s fortune if the meat (white flesh that hangs together very well, and is often cut into blocks about the size of a handkeg, by men wielding double-handled saws and holding the meat in “coffers” made of boards while they work on it) is brought fresh to a port market.
• The Browntail
The most common sort of whale, found in large pods swimming slowly around harbours and along coasts, “grazing” on weed (and the algae that bloom on sewage). Small (most adults are between 30 and 40 feet long), placid, and bony, resembling large trout in shape. Their skins are mottled light and dark brown, and white on the underside, with the tails being darker, unmottled brown. Browntails are easily caught, even by whalers working harpoons and nets from ashore, and yield much edible but oily beige-hued flesh that despite their diet, doesn’t taste bad. It is, however, heavy on the stomach and an acquired taste. Browntail oil is gained by boiling the hide, and yields a fitful, flickering, brownish light when used in lamps; its horrible taste bars it from cooking use (except by orcs and goblins, most of whom drink the raw oil avidly). It is, however, ideal for “waterproofing” canvas (it makes the cloth resist being waterlogged, protects it from rotting, growing molds or breaking down in the sun), and when mixed with several other (secret) ingredients, works as a very effective sealant on leaky wooden hulls, and so is much prized by pirates, who often come into harbours to hunt whales more than raid shipping.
Now, as for your second question: I honestly don’t have a single favourite region in the Realms, because I can’t choose between the Dalelands, Cormyr, Waterdeep, Silverymoon, the Unicorn Run, and the Border Kingdoms. I love ’em all. (This is like asking someone to choose which of their children is their favourite!)
So saith Ed, who can talk “Salty Old Cap’n Highliner Pirate Seadog” with the best of them. No, DON’T encourage him.
Especially if you’re a flirtatious female.
And even vaguely human.
love,
THO
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Skeptic
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1273 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jul 2006 : 01:42:31
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quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
I can’t choose between the Dalelands, Cormyr, Waterdeep, Silverymoon, the Unicorn Run, and the Border Kingdoms. I love ’em all. (This is like asking someone to choose which of their children is their favourite!)
Now that the Border Kingdoms are well covered, maybe Ed could talk us a bit more about the Unicorn Run ? (The others are well-covered in published realms)
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Neriandal Freit
Senior Scribe
USA
396 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jul 2006 : 02:25:10
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quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
Will, it�s like this: I can rarely swing the time off from my job to attend GenCon, but I often, ahem, detect something we just have to �deal with, right now� in the vicinity of the RCA Dome in Indianapolis, on a few specific dates, if you know what I mean . . .
Ed doesn�t anxiously await GenCon so much as he writes like heck and hopes he can get done whatever he has to get done, before GenCon rushes up to meet him. He loves attending GenCon, yes, despite the cost (writers don�t make all that much, and Ed is one of those rarer sorts of guys who loves to shop), and says it �recharges his batteries� seeing old friends and meeting fans.
He wasn�t planning on doing a SWORDS OF EVENINGSTAR reading at GenCon, except perhaps informally, to friends (because all GenCon events have to be carefully planned and cleared with the GenCon staff, and it doesn�t seem that WotC included such an event on their request list), but Ed usually doesn�t know his �final, final, FINAL� con schedule until mere days before he starts the drive down. So, if you see him at the con, ask him to do a reading. If he gets the chance, he will.
love,
THO
Sounds like the 4 or 5 Candlekeep Members who are going this year should ask  |
"Eating people is wrong...unless it's on the first date." - Ed Greenwood, GenCon Indy 2006 |
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createvmind
Senior Scribe
490 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jul 2006 : 06:45:32
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| I'll be there, hoping to at least get a photograph of the man. |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jul 2006 : 07:00:20
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quote:
Originally posted by createvmind
I'll be there, hoping to at least get a photograph of the man.
Did you see my gencon thread on the general boards? we decided to do a small meet up of keep posters/authors/game designers..... |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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Na-Gang
Learned Scribe
United Kingdom
348 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jul 2006 : 12:38:41
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Dearest Ed & THO
I've been looking for information on the Island of Tharsult in the Shining Sea. The most I've found is from you on the WotC website here : http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fr/20010509b
Is there any more? Anywhere?
Hungrily yours,
Na-Gang |
Edited by - Na-Gang on 24 Jul 2006 12:40:21 |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jul 2006 : 13:46:04
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Na-Gang, I replied in your "Tharsult" scroll, but I'll repeat myself here as well...
Tharsult isn't a heavily detailed locale in the Realms.
The 2e Forgotten Realms Adventures hardcover has a few brief mentions, as does the 3e Races of Faerun. There's the odd tidbit in Empires of the Shining Sea but these mainly relate Tharsult to places on the coast.
Additionally, Eric had this to say -
"Tharsult is not detailed in Serpent Kingdoms (at least I didn't write it up due to space considerations), although I have a few ideas regarding it. Maybe I'll put them together someday.
As for a tie between Tharsult and the scaly folk, discussions with Ed suggest it was once a lizardman kingdom, but the lizardmen have retreated into the Underdark via the hundreds of limestone tunnels that honeycomb the island. Their descendants now dwell in an isolated region of the Underdark beneath the island but may or may not be thriving.
--Eric"
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Na-Gang
Learned Scribe
United Kingdom
348 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jul 2006 : 14:58:01
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| Thank you learned Sage. I'll feel even more free to flesh it out and imaginatively embellish than I would with other locales. Hurrah! |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2006 : 14:58:34
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Hi once again, fellow scribes. Ed herewith tackles a query from Naeryndam: “Do you have any information detailing Antarn the Sage's life or perhaps stats (if he is still alive)? The only information I can seem to find on him are quotes from "The High History of Faerunian Archmages Mighty".”
Ed replies:
You have found the only in-print Realmslore on this individual, but here’s more:
Antarn the Sage is indeed still alive and flourishing, as a wealthy sage in Athkatla. It’s hard to get to see him these days, as he grows elderly and increasingly reclusive in his modest, always-shuttered tower in the east end of that city, and deals with would-be clients through two trade agents: retired adventurers (fighting-men) named Hyelan Zorandel and Drethtar Wildtree, who take turns dining at Taerandamlur’s feasthouse (we would say “restaurant”) of early afternoon and evenings on Antarn’s coins, awaiting anyone who wants to drop by their table and try to hire the sage to provide information on a matter. Zorandel and Wildtree are empowered to engage Antarn’s services, setting very stiff fees (10 gp minimum, even if no lore is given; refusal to pay means Antarn will never entertain another query from the same source; on top of this, 10 gp per name, yes/no answer, or location provided, plus 25 gp per identification, simple description, or simple explanation; fees escalate for more complex lore, usually starting from a base of 50 gp and easily reaching 80 gp). They later bring back written results to the same tables in Taerandamlur’s (which stands on Sardel Street, and is a many-lamp-hung, haughty place of marble pillars, many wines, and superb food), for clients to return and collect. Throughout such dealings, the short, slender, dapper, brown-bearded (he dyes it to retain its chestnut hue) Antarn is never directly seen.
Antarn does go out to buy his own provender (he cooks for himself, Zorandel, and Wildtree), to (rarely) stroll and see the evening sights, and to seek highcoin (refined, quieter and older) ladies-of-the-evening, with whom he likes to play board and card games before “bed games.” On such occasions, he avoids identifying himself to anyone, and goes about protected by an [[ironguard ring]], a [[ring of shooting stars]] and an assortment of minor magic items. Antarn is a loner who has devoted his life to study, and copies stolen books (except for actual spell text) for various Athkatlan thieves (whom he deals with through Zorandel and Wildtree) in return for their supplying him with whatever books he wants to consult (temporarily stolen from Athkatlan private and temple libraries). He’s perfectly content to live out his days reading and writing, with Zorandel and Wildtree as his only real friends (as well as employees; they also serve as his bodyguards and errand-runners when he wants them to), having other human contacts only on his terms. He faces danger calmly (“fatalistic” is a good description), and can’t be moved by threats of torture, ruin, death, and maiming. Book burning will enrage him, but he will remain in firm control of his outward emotions and speech, turning to inwardly plotting doom . . .
In game terms, Antarn is a LN male Tethyrian human Exp14 [sage: Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (history), Knowledge (local), Knowledge (nobility and royalty)]. Antarn will provide lore about the deeds, lineages, and descriptions of practitioners of Art, but NOT about spells or arcane lore, pretending to know “regrettably, almost nothing about magic.” His major work thus far is THE HIGH HISTORY OF FAERUNIAN ARCHMAGES MIGHTY, but he has also penned the chapbooks DURSUNDER STREET: A LOCAL HISTORY and HUNTSILVER ERRANT: A LIFE OF ONDAMARR HUNTSILVER (about a young male adventurer of the Huntsilver noble family of Cormyr, who came to Athkatla almost a century ago and made his fortune, ending up transformed into human female form and the wife of a very rich Amnian cloth merchant, Harstel Maunkvaer).
So saith Ed. Who roleplayed a meeting between the Knights and Zorandel (an amiable but formidable individual), once. We never had dealings with Antarn, though. As Torm put it, “Hire some stuffy sage to tell us something when it’s much more fun to find the right person to tell us for free - - after we’ve taken hold of his throat and shaken him long enough?”
love to all,
THO
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2006 : 15:17:57
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A postscript, to Na-Gang: Ed DOES have notes on Tharsult, because I've seen them. He probably stopped hammering them into Realmslore web-columns when Eric Boyd asked for Tharsult info (figuring Eric would use them). I'll add your request to the heap on his desk, but right now he's so blamed busy that anything that involves a search for something may not happen until after year-end.
But then again, maybe he has it right in front of him, right now.
love,
THO |
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Na-Gang
Learned Scribe
United Kingdom
348 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2006 : 17:09:13
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| Thank you Lady Hood. |
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RodOdom
Senior Scribe
USA
509 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jul 2006 : 21:56:45
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| Quick question: is Ed still working his full-time job as a librarian, on top of the gazillion things he's doing in publishing? |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jul 2006 : 00:36:30
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No, Ed "retired" from Toronto Public Library (North York Public Library) when his wife did. He now works part-time in a different library system (in Port Hope, Ontario; Ed's there about 15 hours a week or so; sometimes more, sometimes less). He's also chair of his local library board.
Ahem. Hello again, all.
This time Ed pulls together parts of two widely-separated posts by createvmind (don’t worry, neither he nor I have discarded the rest of those posts; they, too, will get answered in the fullness of time): “Side question, the Skindancer in MM3 does it exist in YOUR Realms?” and the earlier “One last thing, do half-vampires exist in YOUR Faerun?” and replies:
Yes, both half-vampires and skindancers exist in the Realms, but both are rather rare (the latter only as guardians in certain ancient “dungeon” tombs).
Ed also responds to this, from createvmind: “Looking forward to hopefully meeting you at Gencon.”
I hope we can meet, and talk Realmslore somewhere. Aside from buying gaming goodies and seeing old friends, meeting fans of the Realms and enjoying the Realms together is the reason I come to GenCon. I’ll look forward to it!
So saith Ed. Who can certainly talk.
love to all,
THO
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Neriandal Freit
Senior Scribe
USA
396 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jul 2006 : 00:44:33
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| I'm just going to really listen in and ask a few questions if we manage to be together (that meaning the people of Keep) with Ed at the same time. |
"Eating people is wrong...unless it's on the first date." - Ed Greenwood, GenCon Indy 2006 |
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createvmind
Senior Scribe
490 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jul 2006 : 01:36:33
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Thank you for response Hooded one
And same here Neriandal, actually debating whether I should arrive on Wednesday. |
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Neriandal Freit
Senior Scribe
USA
396 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jul 2006 : 02:56:39
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I would, only because I have a concern for someone else that they are going tobe rather tired and waht not when they come in Thurday Morning.
But hey, I've got just an hours drive so hehe :P |
"Eating people is wrong...unless it's on the first date." - Ed Greenwood, GenCon Indy 2006 |
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Blackwill
Seeker
55 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jul 2006 : 10:55:41
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Thank you muchly for answering my question lady Hooded One and lord Greenwood.
Onwards to my next few questions. 
1) In the old 2e book "The Moonsea" the beholder Xulla is mentioned to have taken the place of it's predecessor within the temple in the sky, which is bound to the Flaming Tower. And there acted as a voice of Bane.
Within a more recent binding, "Lords of Darkness" if I'm correct, she's mentioned as a caravan lord of the Zhentarim.
How did this transition take place, and who's taken her place, if anyone, within the temple in the sky as Bane's voice?
2) I haven't found next to no mention of Manxam, the beholder, within any 3e bindings. Does Manxam still live? If so, what is he up to?
3) With Manshoon's great inflence over these, and other powerfull beholders, why did they not aid him when he fell from power within the Zhentarim? And what is their relation to Fzoul now he runs the show?
4) Do Manshoon and Sememmon still have any contact at all since Manshoon's fall of power?
5) Is there anything we can know which is in the works for Fzoul's possible purge of Darkhold?
Thank you muchly for regarding my questions.
~Blackwill |
~Blackwill |
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Dargoth
Great Reader
Australia
4607 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jul 2006 : 11:15:34
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quote:
Originally posted by Blackwill
Thank you muchly for answering my question lady Hooded One and lord Greenwood.
Onwards to my next few questions.
1) In the old 2e book "The Moonsea" the beholder Xulla is mentioned to have taken the place of it's predecessor within the temple in the sky, which is bound to the Flaming Tower. And there acted as a voice of Bane.
Within a more recent binding, "Lords of Darkness" if I'm correct, she's mentioned as a caravan lord of the Zhentarim.
How did this transition take place, and who's taken her place, if anyone, within the temple in the sky as Bane's voice?
2) I haven't found next to no mention of Manxam, the beholder, within any 3e bindings. Does Manxam still live? If so, what is he up to?
3) With Manshoon's great inflence over these, and other powerfull beholders, why did they not aid him when he fell from power within the Zhentarim? And what is their relation to Fzoul now he runs the show?
4) Do Manshoon and Sememmon still have any contact at all since Manshoon's fall of power?
5) Is there anything we can know which is in the works for Fzoul's possible purge of Darkhold?
Thank you muchly for regarding my questions.
~Blackwill
Im not Ed but I can direct you to answers for Question 1
Check out the Temple in the Sky Write up in Powers of faerun |
“I am the King of Rome, and above grammar”
Emperor Sigismund
"Its good to be the King!"
Mel Brooks |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jul 2006 : 19:53:59
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Hi, everyone. Ed tackles two related posts this time: first, from RodOdom: “Have the Malaugrym had any dealings with that other shape-shifting race, the dopplegangers?” and second, from createvmind: “The above post just made me wonder if there are female Dopplegangers and what would be offspring of her and Malaugrym?”
Ed replies:
Oh, yes, the Malaugrym have had dealings with dopplegangers (mainly enslaving them; quite a few dopplegangers have ended up as agents of Malaugrym). And yes, Malaugrym and dopplegangers are cross-fertile and have had offspring, but NDA as to just who, and on what powers that who has. :}
So saith Ed. Who’s sitting on something VERY interesting. About which, of course, I cannot say more.
love to all,
THO
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createvmind
Senior Scribe
490 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jul 2006 : 20:03:44
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Thats a start and something to look forward to.
Thanks |
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Chosen of Moradin
Master of Realmslore
Brazil
1120 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jul 2006 : 20:06:43
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quote:
Originally posted by createvmind
Thats a start and something to look forward to.
Thanks
Really! Thanks Ed and THO! |
Dwarf, DM, husband, and proud of this! :P
twitter: @yuripeixoto
Facebook: yuri.peixoto |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jul 2006 : 01:56:58
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Hello again, everyone. This time Ed makes reply to Kuje’s post: “Hey Ed, I've always wondered if you could tell us more of Kyrial Alathar Pellinore, son of Chiros Pellinore. Third Lord of Everlund and proud servant of Tyr.
This guy always interested me ever since I saw him mentioned a few times in the Spelljammer black boxed texts in some of the Spelljammer material but I've never really seen any FR logo'd material on this person.
Does Everlund have some spelljammers? Does Kyrial captain any spelljammers? Or what's the deal with him? :) So basically, I'm just asking for any general details about him....”
Ed speaks:
Yes, at least two (and probably more) of the mansions of Everlund are grounded and overgrown (but still usable; in emergencies, they’d come bursting up out of the ground, shedding garden earth, vines, and the like) spelljamming vessels. One of these (which looks like a simple three-floor stone keep, bulging out into a cylindrical tower at its northeast cormer) is Kyrial Pellinore’s home.
Kyrial is a much changed man, in recent years. He “fell away” from Tyr, and then returned to the god, but not before faking his own death (over a decade ago), to get out of all civic duties and end a dispute with an angry husband that was shaping up into something that might have riven the ranks of Everlund’s Elders.
He now poses as his own cousin, come back “from afar” to bring up “the young Pellinores” (Aunglautha, Neerelle, and Jahanrisse, the three daughters, now beautiful but rebellious teens, of Kyrial’s now-deceased younger brother Bran; Bran and his wife Klarra were killed fighting off wolf-riding orcs who raided Everlund in a howling blizzard some years back). The three young ladies know his secret, but haven’t let it slip out. Yet.
Kyrial is tall, aging but still athletic and handsome, broad-shouldered and goatee-bearded. He was once stern, just, and warlike, then became a scourge-of-the-ladies, and is now just, kind, gallant, and now much less driven to conquer all the good-looking females in sight. (His spelljamming is also largely behind him.) These days, he’s interested in covertly defending Everlund (avoiding much of its society and politics, and working with Harpers and local druids and rangers to patrol the surrounding countryside as scouts, so no raiding bands will ever get close to Everlund again without its defenders being warned and ready), and in living quietly with his new lady: Emmura Silverlock (LG female moon elf Rgr6/Wiz7/Bladesinger4), whom he rescued from Zhentarim captivity while adventuring (she had been “experimented upon” magically by Zhent mages and beholders, and is under a “curse” [recurring magic Pellinore has not yet found a way to remove] that every few days causes one of her limbs to alter into scaled snake-body form or taloned, furred panther-like form (transformations that cause her agony), and stay that way for 1d4+1 hours, changing back with the same pain. Aunglautha, Neerelle, and Jahanrisse know of this affliction, but no one else in Everlund does - - because no one in Everlund has ever knowingly seen Kyrial’s mysterious “Lady Silverlock” (there’s much rumor about her). She (or one of the three younger ladies, pretending to be her) dons an iron mask and an all-concealing cloak and ankle-length robes, if anyone visits unexpectedly.
Obviously, there’s a tale here I’m not telling anyone, yet.
Time . . . I need to find a spell that will give me a lot more writing time . . .
So saith Ed, Master Spinner of Realmslore, Cryptic and Otherwise.
love to all,
THO
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jul 2006 : 02:16:31
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Interesting. :)
Hmm silverlock..... that names sounds familiar from something else... hmmm. |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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createvmind
Senior Scribe
490 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jul 2006 : 20:14:21
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Blackstaff................"Wow"
I mean really wow, stayed up until 3am, couldn't put it down till I finished.
WOW |
Edited by - createvmind on 28 Jul 2006 20:16:21 |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jul 2006 : 01:15:52
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Hi, assembled scribes. Ed herewith tackles createvmind’s queries: “Hello Ed, How does one find out the all the secret names of a deity that they don't serve especially if the person is not evil therefore above torturing that deities loyal follower? And does this knowledge confer any power or leverage to the person?”
Ed replies:
As to your first question: I don’t know. You’ll have to roleplay it to find out. (Hint: joining the priesthood of that deity and ascending its ranks to receive names in instruction, study of religious tomes, and through prayer is the best way to discover ALL the names of a deity. Those unfriendly to a faith, who try to learn about the deity of that faith, will encounter hostile and prepared resistance from worshippers of that faith as they gain more and more names, because the deity will become aware of it and instruct its faithful accordingly. Peeking at holy texts in temples one sneaks into - - and then leaving, without taking or desecrating anything, is the swiftest way to learn more than one secret name at a time . . . provided, of course, that you search the right book in the right place in the right temple, and manage to get in and out whilst doing the minimum amount of harm to any priests encountered.)
The answer to your second question is: Yes. First, knowing some names makes possible the performance of certain prayers, leading to the granting and casting of otherwise “forbidden” or “restricted” spells. Second, knowing some names confers actual rank within many priesthoods (“Oh! If you know THAT, the god must consider you fit to be a THIS!”). And third, knowing more and more secret names of a deity draws you closer and closer to understanding their true nature, falling under their sway, and becoming a fanatical worshipper of them. [Yes, this IS a roleplaying instruction to DMs. :}] In short, learning a few secret names of a deity can be useful in PC dealings with clergy of that deity, give a PC lore they can sell or trade to NPCs, and help in PC understanding of what said clergy is doing, locally. Learning more than a few secret names of a deity is only helpful to PCs who want to embrace that deity and rise in the service of that deity. As a weapon to use against that deity or that deity’s clergy, it’s more dangerous to the wielder than to intended targets (deities make sure of this).
So saith Ed. Creator of the gods of Faerûn, from Shar to Mystra to Eilistraee to Lurue.
love to all,
THO
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GothicDan
Master of Realmslore
USA
1103 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jul 2006 : 01:26:49
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quote:
So saith Ed. Creator of the gods of Faerûn, from Shar to Mystra to Eilistraee to Lurue.
love to all,
THO
Wonderful commentary, THO. :) |
Planescape Fanatic
"Fiends and Undead are the peanut butter and jelly of evil." - Me
"That attitude should be stomped on, whenever and wherever it's encountered, because it makes people holding such views bad citizens, not just bad roleplayers (considering D&D was structured as a 'forced cooperation' game, and although successive editions are pointing it more and more towards a me-first, min-max game, the drift away from 'we all need each other to succeed' will at some point make it 'no longer' D&D)." - ED GREENWOOD |
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RodOdom
Senior Scribe
USA
509 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jul 2006 : 04:50:13
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Dear Ed and Lady THO,
Thanks so much for revealing that relationship between the shape-changers. I am very suprised about their cross-breeds and hope to find out more about them one day.
Here's a question about Elminster, but not really about Elminster. If I understand correctly, the Old Sage is not so much Superman, zipping around saving the day, as he is the Kevin Bacon of the Realms. All the good guys are linked to him somehow, and he uses his connections to put the right people together for the right challenge. Has there ever been anyone in history who comes close to Elminster's role in the forces of good? |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jul 2006 : 05:19:39
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I don't think of Elminster as a "Superman" figure, either. |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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Questions for Ed Greenwood (2006)
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