The work contained on this page has been penned over time by the creator of the Forgotten Realms - Ed Greenwood, and kindly provided to us here at Candlekeep by The Hooded One on the Candlekeep Forum. The collection presented here is a digest version which has been collated by Scott Kujawa, presenting all Ed's responses and omitting other posters discussions which followed.

(Answers from Ed Greenwood)

Jan - Mar 2006

Again, the Q & A format:

Dargoth: Does the Thayan enclave in Triel still exist?

Ed: Yes. However, it's now operating differently. Picture a few shops inside a walled compound, with very polite, benign-seeming personnel. There are some well-hidden portals to: a citadel where Red Wizards with battle-spells to humble most adversaries dwell and work, in hiding. Adventurers (and the local authorities) have yet to learn this.

Dargoth: In SPELLFIRE Lhaeo says that Elminster told him that he was the last Member of the Tethyr Royal family, how then did Elminster miss Lady Thione (and her daughter)?

Ed: Elminster didn't miss them. He lied to Lhaeo, the better to manipulate him into behaving exactly as El wanted him to (become my cook and fetch-and-carry servant, let everyone think you're a "simpering man-lover," et al) because "you're IT," the last hope of your kingdom. Manipulating people is what El does, daily. Unfortunately, the nature of Realms fiction is that we tend to see the conflicts and confrontations rather than the far more frequent subtle (and not so subtle) manipulations.

Dargoth: In CROWN OF FIRE Mirt says that Lady Duskreene had ruled here before Cormyr was founded. Now before Cormyr was founded Hullocks Forest would have fallen within the borders of The Lands of the Purple Dragon and the lands won by Iliphar Nelnueve. Neither of whom are likely to allow humans to setup in their mists... [dates snippage]... Given this I can think of the following 2 options: A) Mirt has Netherese ancestors (The Netherese would probably have been powerful enough to keep Thauglorimorgorus and his dragons at bay long enough to establish Tethgard), B) Mirt has Draconic ancestors of some sort

Ed: Mirt does indeed have some Netherese ancestors (Lady Duskreene and her people). He may also have draconic ancestors that he (and we) don't yet know about (suggesting that Lady Duskreene and her people may have been under the protection of one or more dragons who were romantically linked to one or more of said people). I dare not say more at the present time [big cheesy grin].

Dargoth: What Deity do the Malaugrym worship?

Ed: None. That's the conceit of the shapeshifters: that they are above mere flawed mortality, and need not worship gods (as opposed to horse-trading with gods when necessary). Some of the younger Malaugrym revere Malaug (swearing by him, and believing his invisible soul still watches over them, judging them), and a handful of younger Malaugrym believe worshipping other deities, purely for the personal gain that their aid may provide, might be tactically wise. However, the Malaugrym are essentially godless.

Dargoth: There seems to be quite a few similarities between the stories of Malaug and the Malaugrym and Lord Shadow and Shade enclave. After reading the Shadow of the Avatar trilogy again I was begining to suspect that Malaug and the Netherils Lord Shadow may be one and the same.......

Ed: There do seem to be many similarities between Malaug and Lord Shadow, but they are just that: similarities. The two are not the same being. I, too, would love to read fiction dealing with Shade - - or for that matter, with the doings of the Malaugrym. As for the Magelords, [NDA] [second big cheesy grin].

So there you have it. Much grinning and hinting, so I used my womanly wiles (okay, I thrust my ahem, chests into Ed's face) to ask him directly if any of his evasions were due to malaugrym or Magelords featuring in SWORDS OF EVENINGSTAR, and he gave me a clear "No."

Hmmm.

Great question Eric, and nice message, Blueblade: I'll fling them Ed's way without delay!

love to all,
THO

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January 2, 2006: Hi again, fellow scribes! Ed makes reply to EvilKnight's query: "Hello Lady THO and Ed, I have had the pleasure the past few months (as part of WW DnD Day and hosting a library program) of introducing DnD and the various campaign settings to new players. I'm sure I didn't do the Forgotten Realms justice. I would like to hear what Ed would say to a group of teenagers (that know very little of DnD and the FR setting) about the Forgotten Realms. Maybe just what he would he emphasize about the realms that makes it unique."

So, heeeeere's Ed:

The Realms is a vast, very detailed world with a long and still-vigorously-unfolding history, and many, many characters. The Realms IS those characters, and if a DM doesn't present it as a vast, everchanging webwork of intrigues and clashing interests, where caravans move from A to B for good reasons, and rulers (unless mad) don't operate in a vacuum of whims but grapple with issues (the competing interests of their subjects, not just attacks from rival realms) small and large every day, the DM isn't really showing players the Realms.

Any style of gaming can be accommodated by the Realms, even the simplest dungeon-crawls or "exploring your own small village and the haunted keep on the hill," so those who play in it need not memorize huge reams of facts or have its entire bewildering complexity dumped on their heads at any time - - but unlike all of the other available published settings, the Realms has a LOT of detail available for the DM who wants to know WHY two noble families have been feuding for centuries, or who around this crowded royal council table has family or business ties or personal loves and hatreds with who else around the table, or what will happen diplomatically, as one consequence leads to another, if the PCs murder this envoy and frame a local bailiff for the killing (or the bailiff frames the PCs). In the Realms, people live 'real lives.' They need food (and usually money), they need water, they have to defecate somewhere, they usually have to obey local laws or customs (or flee to live "outlaw"), and almost all of that has been covered somewhere, in Realms fiction or DRAGON articles or Realms gaming products.

The trade routes (and winds, currents, shortages, and exports that affect them) are outlined, and a lot of Faerûnian laws and customs, slang, and even fashions have been written about: if you love detailed lore, or have a need to plunder that detail for your own gaming world or for any other purpose, it's there. This much detail isn't what all gamers want or like, but unlike most other settings, the Realms offers you a choice, because the information is there; we've done the work.

EvilKnight, I hope this helps.

So saith Ed.

Whew. More lore next time!

love to all,
THO

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January 3, 2005: Hi again, fellow scribes. I believe Eric Boyd has the original artwork for the Faiths & Avatars cover; I'll certainly pass this query to Ed, but why not ask Eric?

In the meantime, Ed replies to this from George Krashos: "I just finished the "Best of Eddie" collection. Why is it that the 'Maimed Wizard' story made me think that Elminster has been masquerading as Hesperdan for a long time? Or may even be Hesperdan? That does make things interesting - the former postulation more than the latter. Wheels within wheels, Mr Greenwood. Thanks again - for about the millionth time."

Ed speaks:

You're very, very welcome, George. As always. I salute you as a tireless Lorelord of the Realms, rescuing us all time and time again.

As to why "How Wisdom Came To The Maimed Wizard" made you think Elminster has been masquerading as Hesperdan (or may be Hesperdan)? Must be the very broad hints I wrote into it.

I'll keep to hinting rather than confirming outright, but someone dwelling in the Realms who attended certain Magefairs would insist that El and Hesperdan are two separate people (because they were seen in the same place at the same time, though not actually standing and talking together). Which of course strengthens the "masquerading as" possibility (the other weakening further when one considers how hard it would be to do all that El does and still have time to put in any appearances as Hesperdan at all: a Zhent whose survival may well be imperilled, in such an authoritarian organization, by unexplained absences). Which in turn raises the why (exactly) is Elminster adopting the guise of Hesperdan, and also HOW is he managing it (is Hesperdan in cahoots with him? Under his total domination? Can be subsumed mentally, as El "takes over" the body, due to some already-cast spell or curse or...?

We just don't know. Yet. I can let slip that Hesperdan has an important future role to play, but we may not see much of it "onstage," as it were.

Which should leave a lot of scribes going: Hmmm.

Which is as good a place as any to take my leave. :}

So saith Ed.

Slyly bailing old dog that he is.

Oh, yes: he hasn't forgotten that Gerath Hoan asked about Hesperdan, too, and hopes G - H will see from this reply that for the nonce Ed can't be more specific about the mysterious Hesperdan...

love,
THO

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January 4, 2006: Hi, all. Har, har, Krash.

Ed makes reply this time to this Wooly Rupert query: "Was the Underdark always part of the Realms, or was it something that was added later? Ditto for drow: did the Realms always have dark elves, or were they a later addition? And if dark elves in the Realms pre-dated drow, what were they like?"

Ed speaks:

The Realms always had multi-layered underground "realms atop realms," though I called them "the Realms Below" or "the Deep Realms" (the latter being a dwarven term for their kingdoms, that humans had corrupted into applying more broadly to all subterranean lands), with glowing fungi, underground glowing magical radiations (that among other things made mosses, lichens, and myconids grow with incredible speed), lava flows, convection currents (deep to near-surface and back again) among water flows, fungi that derived nutrients from the waters and cleaned them of creature dung and taints in the process... and so on. I just hadn't coined or heard of the later (TSR, Greyhawk) term "Underdark," and so didn't apply it to my underworld. (You may someday see more of my original subterranean lands concepts in a novel or novels from another publisher, BTW, though that's very much still "up in the air.")

The Realms always had subterranean-dwelling (with fortified "forward bases" on the surface, e.g. the Twisted Tower of Ashaba), evil, jaded, and sophisticated elven families - - very much akin to the Borgias or to the drow houses as we first saw them in the series of modules that were much later collected and updated as Queen of the Spiders, though mine were neither dark-skinned nor called either "drow" or "dark elves" (exception: in certain ballads that I penned circa 1970-72, they were POETICALLY referred to as "dark," meaning fell or evil rather than skin pigmentation, which I envisaged as dead-pale pearly white). My subterranean elves needed foodstuffs, wood, and textiles from the surface, and so had to trade (gems, magic [especially potions], poison antidotes derived from underground plants, fungi and potent cordials made from fermented fungi) with certain bold and unscrupulous surface-world merchants, for such needs.

I saw my elf houses (the Starym, retreated from Myth Drannor, among them) as haughty esthetes who viewed dwarves as their true foes, gnomes as degenerate dwarves, and humans, halflings, orcs, and all crossbreeds as "children" so far beneath elves in their intelligence and cultural development as to be dismissed as little better than animals able to follow instructions (hence, ideal slaves who could be collected, bred for traits, experimented upon with herbs, poisons, magic, and surgeries, hunted or used in races, fights, and other sports for amusement / entertainment / betting purposes, and so on).

As you can see, once the Code of Ethics swept away most of the nastier details of how my under-elves treated other races, all of this could easily be squared with the "official" D&D drow, when the Realms became an official TSR setting.

I eventually had great fun doing the Menzoberranzan boxed set, especially the maps and spells, and still consider Bob Salvatore's HOMELAND a "classic" fantasy novel, not just one of the best (if not THE best; I recently described Rich Baker's THE FORSAKEN HOUSE as the best-written Realms book yet, but that's not quite the same thing) Realms novel. (Please note that neither is my personal favourite; though it's hard to pick just one title for that honour, I still best love going back to Elaine's ELFSHADOW every so often.)

So saith Ed.

Until the morrow...

love to all,
THO

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January 5, 2006: Hi again, all. This time, Ed tackles this question from Pardan: "How are "monstrous" - meaning clearly nonhuman - creatures/adventurers usually treated in cities and lands across the North and the Sword Coast? Basically, I am asking for information about how "cosmopolitan" cities and people in the aforementioned regions are. What would happen if, say, a Loxo or Wemic (a creature largely unknown and perhaps not cursed with a bad reputation like certain dark elves) wandered into a town? How used to the strange and unknown are people in the realms - from the lord to Joe-Average-Commoner?"

Ed replies:

Hi, Pardan. You're very welcome; hope you enjoy the Realms for years to come! Looking at the earlier answer that Wooly Rupert kindly reposted for you, it looks like your Wild Magic queries should be answered, so let me answer your attitudes towards monsters one.

The short, flippant answer is, of course, it depends. As in: it depends on the experiences individuals the loxo or wemic meet have previously had with loxos or wemics, or what wild tales they've heard about them.

In general (and that caveat should here be raised, too: we ARE of necessity speaking in gross generalizations), folk in the realms who are on trade routes are VERY used to seeing a variety of talking, intelligent "non-human" creatures, and rural backlands folks have seen a smaller variety. Unless they see a creature they immediately identify as a foe (slavering dragon-like or other large beast that snarls or roars or looks hungry or has big jaws, or an orc or goblinkin of any kind), they will USUALLY react with careful, wary courtesy - - or "vanish" if they can (children and their mothers will scamper off and hide from, say, a lizard man or even an otherwise normal-seeming man who happens to be covered with scales). The reason for this is as follows: even if not everyone sees magic in use every day, everyone has HEARD plenty about what magic can do, and those cautionary tales tend to warn about wizards or sorcerers taking animal shapes, or being cursed into having scales or wings or glowing eyes (and as elders and mothers say: how would YOU like to be treated, if you got cursed by some spellhurler?).

The timid will run and hide, and every wary person who has or can get a weapon will get it and have it ready to use. However, innkeepers, tavernmasters, and shopkeepers of all sorts will greet and deal with the "strange" person with courtesy, trying to conduct trade with "it" without giving offense, until the moment (and of course it'll be a moment they're carefully watching for) it seems to launch an attack or begin to cast a spell. Then the stool or knife will be hurled, the crossbow will be lifted above the countertop and fired, or the cord will be pulled to release the chest of rocks from above...

"Monsters" who get into fights, or scare someone into shrieking flight, will often get "run out of town," yes, the likelihood of this happening decreasing sharply as the size of the settlement increases. Really fearful folk (as in: villagers facing a shapechanging monster, or individuals whom they believe to be a group of armed, hostile foes) will strike to kill. In larger places, the Watch or equivalent will be summoned.

Please note that "everyone" has seen or heard of elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings, and won't consider individuals who look like these races (or closely resemble these races) to be "strange." However, local temples may have preached sermons or issued edicts, local authorities issued decrees, or events (skirmishes, killings, rumors) in local history may have led to, attitudes sharply different in one place from another. In general: the more bustling with trade and visitors from different places that trade brings a place is, the more tolerant its folk are (Waterdeep is VERY tolerant, as are Athkatla, Scornubel, and the Sembian ports, but Silverymoon, Suzail, and Calimport - - for different reasons - - a step less so, and Arabel, Iriaebor, Elturel, and Westgate another step or grade less tolerant, intolerance increasing as one moves to smaller and more 'dangerous frontier' areas or settlements.

So saith Ed.

Who promises not to be so verbose with every single answer.

love to all,
THO

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January 6, 2005: Hi, fellow scribes. Faraer, I couldn't have put that better myself!

Ed tackles Skeptic's recent query: "Hi, I'll try this one, but I'm pretty sure that I'll hit an NDA. (little spoiler from Hunter's blade trilogy) Knowing that the Companions of the Hall (Drizzt & co) will be heading to Gauntlygrim soon and that the 1ed FR set mentions that the Knights of Myth Drannor have visited this forgotten place, maybe we could learn a little more from their experience there?"

Ed replies:

Yes, maybe we could. :}

However, the published lore about Gauntulgrym has already started to drift away from my original version, and I'm certainly not going to hand my good friend Bob Salvatore any difficulties whatsoever by penning lots of lore that might get in the way of any storytelling he may be contemplating. So, sorry, the brick wall you expected to hit is indeed standing there in front of us all. :}

So saith Ed.

Unsurprisingly. If you poke around in Ed's past writings (Wyrms of the North, et al) you will find some lore about Gauntulgrym. We Knights did visit the place, but our memories aren't particularly fond, so I'll say no more about it, too. No matter how hard anyone wheedles (though it's always good fun to see you try).

love,
THO

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January 7, 2006: Hi again, all. Ed tackles Kuje's 'quick question:' "... who that is on the cover of Faiths & Avatars? I always assumed it was Lathander.... Or maybe it's Sune? I figured that it is a deity since the other 2 companion books have images of deities on the covers."

Ed speaks:

The printout I received from Julia Martin at the time we were writing the book refers to the cover in passing, a cryptic note that can be expanded into proper English to say this:

The bones flying around in the foreground are from an anonymous skeletal undead who's just been blown asunder by a spell cast by the impressive figure standing backstage right - - who is not a deity at all, but a haughty high-ranking cleric (deity unspecified).

So there you have it. Another little detail of Realmslore from the Master himself.

love to all,
THO

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January 8, 2005: Hi, everybody. This time, Ed replies to Jamallo Kreen re. this: "Thanks to THO and Ed for the provisional answers to my many questions. They are of great importance to my campaign in its present stage. With your blessings and Alaundo's I would like to reprint some of the Realmslore which you have supplied to me in the "Files" section of the Yahoo "Waterdeep1360" group, so that my players can read the lore, too. If there is a strong demand from the sagely, I may pen a faux numismatic guide to Faerun some day. I have some small knowledge about numismatics and might find such a project amusing to myself and edifying to a loremaster or three. Mine eye was caught by a line in THO's reply vis-a-vis coin collecting. Are the upwardly mobile in Faerun collectors of "marvels" and "wonders" for "wunderkammern" as so many Renaissance nobles and scholars had?"

Ed speaks:

You're very welcome. So long as it's fine with Alaundo, it's certainly okay with me if you reprint my Realmslore replies online. I'd love to see that faux numismatic guide, though I'd warn you that there's still a lot of lore to be revealed, so you might want to go on poking me with specific questions for some time, to get more of it out of me. :}

And yes, I've revealed before in Realmslore that nobility (and merchants aspiring to be nobility) do indeed collect Marvels and Wonders. Longtime scribes: where have I done so? Both online and in print?

One more thing: I've not forgotten your music query, and will get to a reply. When my overflowing "shoulda done last year already!" platter is a little less mountainous.

So saith Ed.

Aha, a challenge! Well, not a hard one, but Ed's right in saying he first mentioned Marvels and Wonders years back, and a time or two since. Where and when, fellow scribes?

love,
THO

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January 9, 2006: Hi again, scribes. This time, Ed makes reply to Asgetrion's question: "What kind of phrasing do merchants/craftsmen use in important business contracts (such as in a "pay me an X sum of gp's and I will make three greatswords for you in three months"-type of contract).

Can you give an exact example (ahem, a whole contract ;)"

Ed speaks:

Contracts vary widely from place to place in Faerûn, thanks to local laws, temple influences, and differing social norms.

In the Dales, among Dalefolk born and bred (excepting Archendale), a handshake deal is considered to bind fast participants as solemnly as an altar-sworn pact (one of the usual ways of gaining witnesses to a deal; the other, as I've written in the past, is by using priests, sages, hedge-wizards or mage-guilds as witnesses). Hence the Dale expression "boundfast" ("There's nothing as I'd like better than to sell thee yon, sir, but I be boundfast over it, so 'tis good as gone out o' me hands already").

However, I know quite well what you're seeking, so here's the simplest form of fully formal contract:

"Before all the gods there be, this tenth day of Ches in the Year of the Prince, I, Thordran Rocklar of Daerlun, being Thorl's son and the sixth Rocklar of my name, miller by trade, and doing that business in Stonelamp Street, do bind myself and undertake to provide six rondel daggers of the finest making I can manage, like unto the sample Nasker Lorl hath examined this day, of blued steel thrice-quenched, and acceptable to him, by the first day of this Eleint. The which acceptance he will at taking of same pay me 2 golden lions of recent Cormyr minting and bright-shine condition, for each dagger. Whereof I make my mark: XXX.

I/we, XXXXX, being officers of the Crown, to whit: XXXX, do bear solemn witness that this is the mark or hand-sign of the same Thordran Rocklar.

Before all the gods there be, this tenth day of Ches in the Year of the Prince, I, Nasker Lorl, merchant of the city of Selgaunt, having business premises under the Sign of the Scimitar on Horl Street in that same city, agree to the precise agreement set forth under the hand of Thordran Rocklar above this my writing. I pledge to make the specified 2 lions each payment if the three daggers are acceptable. Whereof I make my mark: XXX."

As you can see, the "writ" consists of clauses bounded by commas; if something doesn't apply (such as witnesses), its clause can simply be omitted. Witnessing, by the way, usually involves a SMALL fee (in Cormyr, it's legally set at 2 cp: one for the Crown and one for the witness; temples and guildmasters and the like can charge more, but 2 sp would be about the maximum, split evenly between the person and the organization they represent).

Oh, and I haven't forgotten your earlier follow-up fields and boundaries questions; I'll get to 'em, promise!

So saith Ed.

Who has provided dozens of such contracts for the Knights PCs over the years - - and forced us to draw up our own a time or two, too!

love,
THO

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January 10, 2006: Hi again, all. Ed makes reply to qstor's question: "Ed, Any chance a 3.5 version of the Haunted Halls in Dungeon kinda like what Rob Kuntz has done with Erik Mona?"

Ed replies:

Hi, Mike; thanks for the good wishes! I'm afraid a 3.5e presentation of the Haunted Halls in DUNGEON is unlikely, because I'm just too busy, and if I tackle the Halls again, I want to restore it to what it was supposed to be: a 96-page-minimum campaign base: the entire village of Eveningstar, with fully-detailed feuds, family trees, and local rumours, the local temple detailed with daily prayers and rituals, all of Starwater Gorge detailed, plus the Caverns of the Claws side-dungeon, the local Zhent intrigues, and ALL of the dungeon itself described (well over half of it was missing from the published version: a lower level, lots of room descriptions, a coherent history of the place, and so on: in my pencil notes, all intelligent "monsters" had an agenda, a reason they were there in the first place, and "if the PCs do this, the monster's attitude towards them from then on will be X"). Updating all of this into 3.5e is something I don't see any time for in the next two years of my schedule (at least!), and the result would be something very useful to novice DMs but out-of-step with the current "preferred style" of DUNGEON adventures, which get through a lot more action in a lot less space.

On the other hand, if there was a huge outcry for this (including from Paizo and WotC - - who would have to give their permission), I'd eagerly plunge in and do it.

In the meantime, I have to eat, and these days, that usually means novels. :}

So saith Ed.

Who will return faithfully with more Realmslore replies, in the fullness of time.

love to all,
THO

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January 11, 2006: Hi again, fellow scribes. This time, Ed tackles Asgetrion's query: "I have a couple of questions to Ed (who will probably grow weary of my "too-much-attention-to-small-details"-attitude ;). Here we go: You have kindly responded to my questions about the Sembian walled compounds, but do they have any kind of wooden gates, or just an "opening" in the hedgerow walls for entrance? How about the moats/ditches - do they usually build bridges over them?

Then about farms and fields... how many acres of land does a typical/average Heartlands family farm? I am an urban person, so it is hard for me to grasp the concepts of medieval farming. You also wrote about "checkered-field" farms... did you mean fields separated by empty spaces/woodlots between them (and connected to each other via corners - sort of like a chessboard with "dark spaces" in between the fields) or smaller fields side by side in a roughly square-shaped area (sort of boxes within a box)? What an odd question, I know, and poorly phrased, but hopefully you understand what I am asking here ;)

Many of the Realms communities (Shadowdale, for example) also seem to have "irregularly" shaped fields... which type of farm field is more common in the Realms - the "checkered-chessboard"-type or "the irregular"-type?"

Ed replies:

No, I never weary of discussing small details of the Realms. At least, I haven't so far, in thirty-eight years. :}

Kuje and Kentinal have provided you with good direction and a good answer, respectively, so here I'll just plug up the gaps.

Yes, there are always barriers of some sort in the entry-gaps of hedgerows (in a maintained and worked farm, at least), from something as simple as fencerail bars (felled saplings) that a farmer puts into sockets in sideposts, or hauls out of those sockets, or an old rusty chain hung with scraps of waste metal to clang and clatter and scare away beasts (only where the presence of old battlefields makes such worthless-due-to-advanced-rust metal plentiful) up to stout, high, and elaborate wooden gates, some with lock-bars or even stiles. The idea is to keep deer and other crop-stealing vermin out, and keep farm animals in, so there are always barriers of some sort. (Many stand open most of the time, and see use only on certain annual occasions, such as musterings, brandings, and shearings.)

Moats and ditches are usually bridged by simple rail-less bridges, just wide enough for either people or carts and livestock to cross, made by felling three to ten trees and binding (or nailing, with crossbeams beneath) the trunks together, side to side, in a door or wall configuration, that's then laid across the moat or ditch (or halfway across, to a cairn or islet or timber crib in mid-water, from which a second such bridge spans the rest of the way). There are occasional fords, sometimes furnished with "swordblades" (in the real world, these are sometimes called "cattle-grates") of felled saplings (note: not swords at all) fixed crosswise but close together like bars, with no comfortable space between for setting down a hoof, so cows or oxen will avoid walking across this gap - - but again: yes, there's always some way across.

As for farm size: in the Heartlands, there is no meaningful "average" farming family to discuss. Most families till six acres or less, though they may own or claim far more, because woodlots are a vital part of their farming (source of firewood, poles by coppicing, etc.), and so is 'wild' grazing land ("meadows"). One works what one can manage, but starves if not enough vegetables or grains are gleaned from the land (animals are usually slaughtered when they are too old to continue producing milk or eggs or piglets or calves for sale or eating - - or on special "feast" occasions; few farm folk frequently eat the 'meat animals' they keep).

In villages, there's usually room for little more than small private vegetable gardens and a dovecote or henhouse, but in wild backlands several families (or an 'extended family' of the families of brothers and sisters) often together own, dwell on, and work a large collective farm of as much as twenty acres (again, the majority of this will consist of wild meadows, woodlots, orchards, and ponds). Fields tend to be small and irregular in shape (conforming to the contours of the land, to avoid steep slopes and gullies wherever possible, and to give room to turn teams and ploughs), and are, as Kentinal says, chequered due to crop rotation / fallow. Even when we're speaking of a long, narrow strip that seems to have a checker pattern because of different crops being grown in different sections, there will be cart-tracks separating these sections (so one COULD consider the result to be a strip of separate fields). How much land you have to work depends on how many mouths you have to feed and how much coin you must earn (to pay landlords, taxes, your living expenses, etc.). Again, Kentinal is right: "the best answer is: it depends."

So saith Ed, creator and master of the Realms.

And a handsome fellow, too.

love to all,
THO

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January 12, 2006: Well met again, fellow scribes. Asgetrion, thank you for your library efforts on Ed's behalf. Great work!

This time, Ed replies to Createvmind's questions: "Can a spellcaster duplicate a doompits effects, create a doompit elsewhere, and can a spark be moved about?" later restated as: "I was curious if a "Spark" from Magic of Faerun can be moved from one location to another or it it connected to the place it's discovered. Second question is can a "Doompit" from same source book be purposely created by a mage or combination of casters?"

As you can see, Createvmind, Kuje did post it, and Ed speaks thus:

There's no known way of moving either Sparks or Doom Pits, nor of creating them by means of spells.

The very nature of a Spark means that can NEVER be possible to deliberately create or move one, because they're spontaneously caused by resonances in the Weave 'grounding' to a certain spot, in a rare, thus-far-unknown manner.

Mystra will personally counter any attempts to disrupt the Weave enough to shift its resonances. Working magic of any sort on a Spark to try to move it will either destroy the Spark by changing local conditions of the Weave sufficiently, or destroy it by succeeding in shifting it away from its causal grounding, so that it collapses.

Mystra (and her servitors of all sorts, from Azuth through the Chosen to spectral spirits) frown upon and try to stop all such experimentations with Sparks (they see it as attacking the Weave, regardless of the motives of the experimentor), and this often visits fatal or violently transformative results for experimentors [once changed to a rock, a spellcaster has a hard time continuing to work magic].

In theory, once similar - - and similarly dangerous! - - experiments have resulted in spellcasters achieving understanding of the nature of Doom Pits and crafting the right spells to create and control one, it may some day become possible to create a particular sort of Doom Pit (just one of the effects, from Sleep through Maze, listed in the table on page 44 of MAGIC OF FAERUN). There have been no signs of any spellcaster succeeding at such endeavours yet, but that doesn't mean secretive attempts aren't underway.

Please note that there are already exceptions to these prohibitions: Mystra and Azuth can both create Sparks and Doom Pits at will (and at very short range, so it follows that any mortal spellcasters who manage to create Doom Pits will only be able to manage to do so at very short range). However, they largely see no need for doing so, although they may inform mortals of the whereabouts of Sparks as a sort of reward to boost what the mortals can accomplish.

In theory, a Chosen of Mystra possessing a sufficient amount of Mystra's divine power (such as Elminster did, during the events chronicled in my 1995 novel SHADOWS OF DOOM) could also create a Spark or a Doom Pit - - IF they knew how. However, they don't, and the disapproval towards experimenting to find out 'goes double' for them.

So saith Ed, the very model of a personage high-magical (whose eminence increases in a manner scatological)

... and so on.

love to all,
THO

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January 13, 2006: Hi, all.

Dargoth, before I hand your latest on to Ed, "richest" how?

Most loved? Most influential? Owner of the most land and hard assets? Possessor of the most coins? Gems? Raw ore, as yet unmined? Human, demi-human, and humanoid races only? Or dragons and giants, long-existing liches, et al included?

Ed answers Jamallo Kreen's August question: "Apropos of the Seven Sisters thread, Ed, can you you cite a particular instance in which a potted plant is definitely known to be godspawn - - if that information isn't NDA, that is. ;)"

Ed replies:

No, this time I can give those dreaded NDAs the slip, and nimbly prance forth to tell you: although this has hitherto been one of the gravest secrets of their churches (still unknown to most priests of either faith, who will dismiss word of it as pure fabrication or deliberate heresy), both Eldath and Silvanus have spawned spare bodies for themselves in the form of various plants that remain small, exquisitely-shaped, never-dying (no matter how abused or neglected) specimens unless or until either deity sees the need for a new avatar-body in Faerûn - - whereupon they manifest within the plants, able to see, speak, cast spells, and so on normally as the plant swiftly expands in size and grows human-like limbs.

At any given time, either deity will have over forty of these 'proto-bodies' waiting, all over Faerûn, and some of them may well be found and "harvested" for houseplant use thanks to their superb appearances and vigor. They may never see divine use, and possession of them gives a being no power over, or direct link to, the deities at all - - but the deities can sense what happens to each of these plants, and can travel into any of them at will, either perceiving, speaking, and casting spells through it (which need not affect its appearance at all), or actually possessing it (which will cause it to grow and transform).

So PCs beware: while leaning over your potted plants, don't murmur any curses against Eldath or Silvanus - - or you may taste retribution.

And you thought I was joking, didn't you? :}

So saith Ed.

So Hearken, All: Ye Have Been Warned.

Ed adds that he hasn't forgotten the second question you asked - - or rather, revised - - that day, Jamallo Kreen (about the music of Ivy Mansion), and will make reply when he gets to it.

love,
THO

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January 14, 2006: Hello again, all. This time out, Ed tackles Eric Boyd's New Years question: "What one bit of Realmslore or one story do you wish someone had asked you to relate?"

Ed speaks:

Hi, Eric! And happy very belated New Year back to you! (And to all who wished me thus.) As usual, you've handed me a toughie. The longest-standing answer has to be: I wish TSR had asked me to write endless novels of the adventurous life of Mirt, progressing from his early days to his Conan-like exploits with Durnan to his mercenary career to his present wheezing old rogue days. I STILL want a chance to write at least one Mirt novel. Dang it.

But then, I wish I'd been asked to do a long series of Knights of Myth Drannor novels (at least a dozen), so I could have explored their lives properly. I'm getting a "sort of" chance to do that now; scribes will understand that comment better by the time the third book is published.

As for the Realmslore: in general, I wish there had been a chance to explore, at length in print, what products get produced where, and all the trade routes, flows of goods, currents and prevailing winds, major underground and portal transportation routes... all of that.

Perhaps I can address all of these deficiencies, in time. However, I'm not getting any younger. :}

So saith Ed.

No surprises for me here, but a good solid answer that I hope the folks at WotC read and heed. Well.

love to all,
THO

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January 15, 2006: Hello again, everyone. This time, Ed makes swift reply re. the Latin question (egads, sounds like international geopolitics: "Tensions over The Latin Question deepened today when..."):

George, Jamallo Kreen, and all:

To save you looking up the Latin, the two opening quotations from ELMINSTER IN HELL in that tongue are as follows:

"confutatis maledictus, flammis acribus addictus" is from Mozart's Requiem, and translates as "The damned and accursed are convicted to the flames of Hell."

"etiam sanato vulnere cicatrix manet" translates as "Even when the wound has healed, the scar remains."

So saith Ed, who adds that "pertinent to the tale" Latin epigrams decorate most of his Realms novels, awaiting the unwary.

love to all,
THO

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January 16, 2006: Hi again, all. Ed replies to these queries from Firhyanda: "Assuming that the star elves were to return to the Yuirwood en masse from their extradimensional exile, what would the reaction of the Aglarondan people and / or The Simbul be to such an event? Can you imagine any set of circumstances that would cause the star elves to annex Wizards' Reach in the name of Aglarond kicking out the Red Wizards? How inclined would star elf society be to oppose slavery and / or the Red Wizards on moral grounds? How well did magic lore survive the exile of the star elves? Do they still have the ability to do high magic and are they inclined to? Thank you so much for the Realms, Mr. Greenwood."

Ed speaks:

Firhyanda, you're very welcome (though "Mr. Greenwood" is still my dad; I'm "Ed" :} ), and I hope you enjoy our shared playground for years to come. As for your questions (wince), I hope you'll appreciate that NDAs prevent me from answering any of them too closely, theoretical or not. So with that said, here we go...

The reaction of The Simbul and the folk of Aglarond to any mass return of the star elves would of course chiefly depend on the behaviour of the star elves.

Assuming the elves weren't openly hostile, it would one of (cautious) welcome, hoping the star elves would 'cleanse' the Yuirwood by inhabiting it and governing it, eliminating prowling monsters and preventing Thayan spying and creeping expansion.

I could indeed envisage the Wizards' Reach being taken over by the star elves, who would immediately begin to "re-green" it, eliminate the worst monsters, pirates, brigands, and Thayans. This would occur because the star elves would want the space to expand into, and freedom from having Red Wizards on their doorsteps, not as part of officially allying with Aglarond (The Simbul would do her best to steer any hotheads among the folk of Aglarond from treating or speaking of the star elves as Aglarondan subjects at all, trying to establish the star elves as friendly independent allies and ignore the traditional claims of Aglarond to rulership of the Yuirwood).

Of course, all of this depends on the star elves not making war on Aglarond. If they were foolish enough to do so, they would wreck the human kingdom, but pay a huge price in doing so (thanks to The Simbul and all the arcane aid she could call on) - - and the Red Wizards would gleefully pounce on the weakened remnant and seize the entire peninsula.

Star elf society would oppose the Red Wizards out of disgust at the brutalization of the land (every bit of it put to agricultural or industrial use, remember?) the Thayans practice, the Red Wizards' use of magic to dominate and oppress, and out of fear of being taken as slaves and worked to death or mind-reamed for their magical knowledge. They might or might not justify this on moral grounds (I don't know, but strongly suspect they would dress up the reasons I've just listed in a "These Red Wizards are an abomination that must be shattered and swept away before all Faerûn is despoiled" guise).

I also don't know how star elven magic (and the remembered lore and history of magic) has developed during their 'time away.' They DO retain powerful magic, but whether it's "high magic plus" or twisted into something different is an open question at the moment; to some extent, high magic depends on being rooted in the land in which its practitioners dwell.

This all boils down to this: the morals, attitudes, social organization, and precise magical powers of the star elves remain largely mysterious, though we can safely assume they'll be different from other elves, and will be magically powerful. As to all specifics: we'll just have to wait and see.

So saith Ed, master of Realmslore.

Who often spends hours at GenCons and with we Knights happily discussing "Realms what ifs" just like these, over mugs of hot soup, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, or cider (Bailey's for me, thank you). Think I'll get out a mug now in celebration: here's to you all!

love,
THO

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January 17, 2006: Hi, all. Hoo-boy, Karth, THAT'S a Realmslore question! (I'll send it off to Ed straightaway.)

In a recent reply to Dhomal, I posted: "Maztica was not in Ed's original Realms, but flying ships (elven defenses of Evermeet, plus a 'flying Dutchman' style ever-sailing-the-air-haunted-vessel) were" and Wooly Rupert promptly pounced on this one, asking to know more.

Ed obliges:

Ah, yes. Our Lovely Lady Hooded was speaking of "The Lost Ship," a skyship (yes, George Krashos was right, Wooly; he almost always is!) as described in that long-ago DRAGON article, that just MIGHT be described in a forthcoming Realmslore column or two on the Wizards website. Watch for it!

So saith Ed, tireless spinner of Realmslore.

love to all,
THO

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January 18, 2006: Hi, all. A few notes from me:

Firhyanda, thank you. I'll try that, and let you know who takes advantage of mXXX ahem, what happens.

Skeptic, I recall several references re. the Roaring Dragon House, but I can't find your original question. Consider it removed, in any case. Verghityax, your Iriaebor locations question remains under NDA. Sorry. Ed will provide lore pronto when he can, but the time is not yet.

Beirnadri Magranth, if you can e-mail the essay, send it to: (Kuje's Note: I removed the email address.) (the account of a friend of mine, from whom I'll snatch it up and flip it along to Ed). If you're talking a paper hard copy, Andrew, I can dig up a WotC mailing address that will EVENTUALLY get it to Ed. Let me know, okay?

And now 'tis time for Ed to speak, this time in response to this from Kuje: "I've been reading a Mesopotamian mythology book and came across An, who is a creator deity that sounds a lot like Ao. Also there's mention of the tablets of fate from this mythology.

"An (Sumerian) A primordial sky-god, regarded as the creator of the world and progenitor or ancestor of all the Gods who followed Him. His attributes are obscure and his rulership of the heavens is vague and ill-defined; He seems to have been a distant figure without much immediate impact on the human world."

So Ed,

Is that where TSR got the idea for Ao, the tablets of fate, and the like for the ToT's?.... or you have no idea. If not, where did they come up with Ao? A lot of people believe that his name is based off of Alpha and Omega, but that seems off to me."

Ed replies:

I have no idea where TSR got the idea for Ao or the tablets, for that matter (tablets bestowed by the gods and having inherent power appear in many religions). I have heard the Alpha and Omega theory before, yes, but this seems to me more likely; bear in mind that I'd heard of An from my readings, and I know (from poking around in it) that the TSR library had several world mythology and ancient gods "encyclopedias," so it's hardly surprising that someone might have found this and "borrowed" it for the ToT. However, this is pure speculation on my part; as I said, I have never heard where Ao came from (even hints), other than obviously both Troy Denning (who wrote the third Avatar novel) and Jim Lowder (who edited the Avatar novel trilogy) must have been involved.

So saith Ed.

Who'll return with more Realmslore on the morrow.

love to all,
THO

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On January 18, 2006 THO said: No, Elturel is under NDA for comics and computer games purposes (outside license), and Iriaebor is under NDA for different computer games purposes and for novel purposes.

Note that I whispered that, and was never here at all to tell you anything about it.

love,
THO

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January 19, 2006: Ahem. EXACTLY.

Hello, all.

From time to time Ed does some swift housekeeping re. replies, so here we go:

To Pardan, Ed saith:

Hey, you're welcome. Ask me questions anytime. In fact, asking early is good, because as the questions pile up it's taking me longer and longer to answer. :}

To Scarabeus and to Dargoth, Ed makes reply:

No, all three SPELLFIRE dracoliches were created by me before I wrote the book; the third was dragged in after the editor asked me to add in the last dracolich battle. I had to do all the writing on SPELLFIRE, just not all the rewriting. Faraer is quite correct in his answer to you. I'd put it this way: because of wholesale changes in Book Department personnel from when I was asked to write the book (and among other things introduce a huge cast of FR characters, "everyone you think is important who can conceivably be dragged in to your story; don't worry about word count, you can make it as long as you please," so other writers could pick up and use those characters in later books), there was a lot of miscommunication and changes. My original novel was way too long, and two-thirds of it got cut. It was picaresque, with authorial asides and many a soliloquy (mocking commentary) to the reader, and every time a guard or monster got killed, I delved into their life and aspirations so their death would have some impact. All of this was swept away, including the dark horrors ("darkenbeasts") scene that references to remained in the text, although the worst cuts, in my opinion, were the entire Malaugrym scenes; taking them out made it seem as if Elminster and the Knights heartlessly abandoned Narm and Shandril halfway through the book.

When I redid the book, I was told it couldn't be a word longer: for every word I added, one had to come out. I did that, sweating blood to put back in as much Malaugrym stuff as I could. And then, when everything was done, the book was editorially shortened to make it thousands of words shorter to match the (shorter) length of line paperback books WotC was then publishing. Grrr. If people would just stick to what they promise and agree on, the world would be a better place.

As for your bonus question: no, I don't have a new house, I have the old one doubled in size. Which is to say the original basement remains the low-ceilinged horror that it's always been (except that the furnace and oil tanks were replaced, and a lot of old lead piping cut away and discarded, the glowing mold-covered long-dead spiders skeletally clinging to those pipes going with them). However, I'm typing this at my homebuilt (with some help from IKEA, who sold me a desktop slab) computer desk, while sitting in the "new" half of the basement, in my brand-new dungeXXX study, surrounded by about 14,000 of my 80,000-plus books, so I'm fairly happy. Yet still unable to take the time to hunt down and find a lot of my Realmslore. So Dargoth's right (and I WILL get to your dracolich question, Mister D) in reckoning that part of my basement (the old part) looks like the warehouse at the end of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK - - squished down to a five-foot-high ceiling size, of course. :}

So saith Ed.

Who will return with more Realmslore with his usual enthusiasm, on the morrow.

love to all,
THO

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January 20, 2006: Hi again, fellow scribes.

I'm sure Ed won't mind about the pictures, George (or do you prefer Krash?). The volunteer help on turning stuff out in the basement, though, might perturb Ed a bit. Some of those spiders are his FRIENDS.

Speaking of whom (Ed, I mean), this time out, Ed replies to Vangelor's question: "It is implied that the forest of Cormanthor was chosen as the meeting place for what came to be called the Elven Court after the 4th Crown War because none of the embattled peoples lived there, or anywhere closer than (at nearest) the Chondalwood.

Does this mean that there were no elven settlements in the great forest before that time? I ask because I'd like to site a small, isolationist, pre-Crown Wars green elf enclave in its ages-old decaying mythal somewhere under Cormanthor's eaves, with the notion being that while the delegates to the original Elven Court may have believed the forest to be "undiscovered country" it was already home to this sylvan people, who wanted nothing better than not to become entangled in the building of kingdoms, much less in the horrific kinslaying that came of it. So is Cormanthor big enough (and long-settled enough) to accommodate a "lost mythal"? Or am I better off putting it elsewhere?"

Ed speaks:

There were indeed elven settlements in the forest before that time, and sitting a green elf enclave is the "best" (in terms of matching logic and Realmslore) sort of enclave to place there. Cormanthor is indeed large and long-settled enough to accommodate a "lost mythal." As to putting it elsewhere: remember that at the time of the fourth Crown War, far more of Faerûn was covered by forests, so any place remote from substantial current human habitation, or "unexpected" (e.g. a now-sunken land, so the mythal remains floating above what is now ocean, or a now-inundated locale, so the mythal and its city are now buried under tones of rock from a long-ago landslide) to folk in the Realms today, could host a "lost" mythal. Whatever best suits your campaign. (The latter choice I outlined can more easily be squared with future Realmslore, because it's unlikely WotC is going to raise land up out of the ocean, say, just where you've put your mythal. But then again... :})

So saith Ed.

Unmatched tease that he is.

love to all,
THO

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On January 20, 2006 THO said: Just to confirm: yes, Ed has written this article (at Erik's request), and turned it in. Those who recall the later installments in the saga know that Dalamar disappeared, and a female apprentice of Mordenkainen, who was going to search for him, ended up being the third mage at the get-togethers. So she is in this one, which features the usual banter, depletion of Ed's viands and drinkables, and new spells.

love to all,
THO

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January 21, 2006: Hello, all. Intriguing question, Firhyanda. Off to Ed it goes.

This time, Ed's reply is to Dargoth, re. "A question about the fates of the 3 Dracoliches that Shandril slew in Spellfire:... Shandril vanquishes 3 dracoliches (Rauglothgor, Aghazstamn, and Shargrailar), however dracoliches of course aren't truly dead until their Phylacteries are destroyed. While Rauglothgor's Phylactery was probably destroyed by the Balhiir (which would have finished him off), Aghazstamn and Shargrailar would have retreated to their respective Phylacteries when their bodies died. Have either Aghazstamn and Shargrailar returned from the dead by possessing a dragon's body? (It has been 10-15 years since they "died.") Also, can you provide any info on the 3 Dracoliches' history? Thanks in advance."

Ed speaks:

Dracolich phylacteries are almost always gems of very large size (too heavy and bulky for a human to easily lift), encased in decorative metal cages to keep them from being shattered, cracked, or chipped in handling, and to discourage plundering adventurers from ever thinking about "just smashing this really big stone that we can't carry or get out through the doorway, and taking the chips to cut many smaller ones from, and make all our fortunes, lads!" They're usually fashioned in this manner because to have any hope at all of a dracolich ever being able to find a "new" dead dragon body within range, the phylactery must be located within the hoard-pile it lies upon (so a dragon will seize and claim the phylactery along with the rest of the riches).

This was the case for all three dracoliches featured in SPELLFIRE. Rauglothgor's phylactery was indeed present in its cavern, and the balhiir did indeed destroy it. Neither Aghazstamn nor Shargrailar the Dark have yet reappeared in the Realms, but their phylacteries survive, so they could quite possibly do so. As for the histories of the three, I'll be happy to provide career outlines for the trio here, but I'm afraid that topic lies under NDA right now). Which is quite a strong hint in and of itself, yes? :}

So saith Ed.

Who is as cunning a rogue as always, I see. (twinkle)

love to all,
THO

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January 22, 2006: Hi again, fellow scribes. This time, Ed makes reply to Milith holder of HB8, regarding Shar and the Shadow Weave:

As Wooly Rupert said, Shar controls the Shadow Weave... "and it's composed of shadows within the proper Weave." Which means that if any being attempted to wrest control of the Shadow Weave from Shar, they'd have to fight and defeat Shar - - and immediately (in whatever weakened condition they were in) face attack from Mystra, Azuth, and Mystra's Chosen (all of them seeking to defend the Weave by preventing any new power gaining control over the Shadow Weave), aided and abetted by any other deity who felt like upholding the stability of Toril (in other words, any lawfully-aligned greater deity, and any nature deity, who would act either to stay on top in the current power structure, or against chaos and resulting natural destruction). Which is a polite way of saying your Godling hasn't a chance.

As a DM, I'd doubt the Godling could achieve any result better than being duped into thinking he'd (or she'd) emerged victorious over Shar, when in fact Shar had totally subsumed the Godling, transforming him or her into a servitor.

As I said, that's the best possible result. More likely, of course, would be instant destruction.

Given the nature of Shar as I see her (and I *did* create her, way back when), I'd say no being, divine or otherwise, could even concentrate on the Shadow Weave (let alone "reach out for it" or try to even practice any attempt at trying to achieve control over it, without coming to Shar's attention. Which would inevitably mean, through the Shadow Weave, that your Godling's INTENT would become clear to Shar... and then you might not have a choice about fighting her. In other words, no, you couldn't just take the Shadow Weave "from under her nose without a fight." Shar is one of the most powerful, subtle, patient, and street-smart of all the greater deities; if you really must go after a greater deity, I'd try an insane one, like Cyric. It's still playing with (stellar, chain-reaction) fire, but at least the deity's insanity gives you a shred of a chance.

So saith Ed.

Whew. Well, Milith holder of HB8, it's your character's funeral, as the saying goes.

More Realmslore next time, all.

Love,
THO

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January 23, 2006: Hello, all. Ed e-mailed me this for Dargoth (re: "This particular NDA wouldn't happen to expire in say August 2006 would it?"):

"No."

So there you go.

In more substantial news, Ed makes VERY swift reply (which makes me guess he was at work on something that touches on this topic, though I really have no idea what) to Feanor, who posted: "Greetings. A question for Ed : - which would be the best swordsmen in the Realms ?"

Heeeere's Ed:

Well, now. "Swordsmen" you say, so I'm going to narrow my reply down to: male living (not dead or undead) humans.

I'm going to further qualify my reply by saying that among the most skilled masters of bladework, "best" becomes a matter of opinion regarding style, and the average observer can't identify (let alone properly interpret) most subtle differences because they're either dead too quickly, or too dazzled by things that happen too swiftly for them to see properly and too deftly for them to measure or grasp the implications of (matters of shifting a foe just a little off balance, or forcing a movement in stance or location, that will lead to a killing stroke three or four maneuvers later).

Moreover, "best" is a steadily shifting title, even when one sets aside divine and magical meddling, because (as with real-world tennis) youthful speed and acrobatic suppleness, plus freedom from injuries and the slowing and crippling effects of aging (on, say, the human knee), must always be balanced against the experience gained in duel after duel after battle: young swordsmen are always rising to the fore, but only step into the ranks of the "best" when those more expert through real-life practice grow too slow to defeat the most skilled younglings (or the younglings overcome their inexperience).

I'm also going to restrict myself purely to matters of bladework, in a one-on-one fight in surroundings that favor neither combatant. In other words, I'm minimizing "street smarts" or dirty fighting or the adventurers' experience in exploiting traction, lighting, obstacles, distractions, and all of that: factors that seasoned adventurers (like Durnan of Waterdeep) can use to defeat foes who might be a shade faster or a whit better in pure bladework. This will work against Artemis Entreri, for example, but also against a host of other adventurers whom I won't even mention in this reply, but who might otherwise show up in my answer.

(Personally, I'd rather not do any "best of" rankings, because I think they're subjective, snapshots of moments in time that are dated even as they're made, and a bit pointless. Even in pure-skill tournaments, upsets occur, and if a DM wants to create an unknown who's better than the individuals mentioned here, go right ahead.)

However, I probably possess the best overview of the entire tapestry of the Realms of anyone (though not all that far ahead of, say, Messrs. Boyd and Krashos, closely followed by Schend, Hunter, and Grubb), and can speak from that strength - - not being limited, for instance, by published Realmslore.

So you're really going to have to trust me here, when I say that the best bladesman in the Realms right now (1375 DR) is: Harmel Artru, a darkly handsome, agile, glib-tongued and lady-charming merchant seacaptain (and sometime pirate), who sails The Winsome Lady independent caravel out of Saerloon (and a secret base somewhere in the Pirate Isles).

Only a whisker-width behind Artru is Loaros Hammarandar, a broad-shouldered, grim giant of a man who can hurl his prodigious strength and bulk around like an acrobat, and is an ever-wary-of-treachery mercenary warmaster currently under hire by Narubel, who commands "the Swift Sword" cavalry force used to quell bandits and unrest in that city and its surrounding farms (and dedicates himself to quietly eliminating all threats to the current rulership, prosperity, and status quo in Narubel).

Close behind Artru and Hammarandar are Skoalam Marlgrask and then Sraece Telthorn.

Skoalam Marlgrask is a professional duelist who travels Chessenta as the champion of whomever sponsors him in duels, making huge sums (because everyone locally knows he's "the best" in duels, and so tries to outbid opponents seeking to hire his services) that are usually paid in gems and used by Marlgrask to immediately buy property, notably an ever-expanding string of inns and taverns. Marlgrask is polite, saturnine, nondescript of looks but quietly luxurious of dress, and seems able to sense danger (crossbow snipers, for instance) before it can reach out for him. He's known to be resistant to many natural poisons (having learned this the hard way), but now takes great care regarding what he eats and drinks (hence his purchase of many inns and taverns).

Sraece Telthorn is a smallish, agile, almost feminine man who can dance, tumble, balance, and spring with a skill and precision matched only by the greatest acrobats (once leaping off a parapet to land perfectly balanced on a sloping, protruding flagstaff far below, for instance, and often springing over the slashing swords of opponents). He teaches "swordplay" (fencing) in Yhaunn and Waterdeep, and is believed to travel between the two by means of secret portals of unknown origin and location. Telthorn lives simply, is unambitious (avoiding power and important patrons, and giving much of his coins away), and is beloved by many pleasure-lasses of Waterdeep, who regard him as a kind friend or honorary brother as well as a frequent client.

I'd put the infamous Artemis Entreri after Telthorn, though I could be persuaded to rank two other male human bladesmen between them: Ulmaer Rivrymm of Sheirtalar (a smiling, wax-mustached man of good nature but lightning-swift reflexes and keen sight, who is personal bodyguard to the Overking of Lapaliiya, and can juggle scimitars to entertain), and Aka 'the Questmaster' (the mysterious sponsor and trainer of adventurers) who dwells, these days, in the wilderlands of the Sword Coast North.

If I widen my reply to include human females, two must be inserted: Ember Tsartaera between Hammarandar and Marlgrask, and Lyaunthra Aldegal between Marlgrask and Telthorn.

Ember Tsartaera is the tall, cool of manner and sparing of words Knight of Arms (weaponsmaster, or trainer of bodyguards and soldiers) to Lord Albin, ruler of Furthinghome in Aglarond, where she dwells. Ember dresses plainly, lives in spartan surroundings, and is always under iron self-control, keeping to herself and crafting masterwork swords when she's not practising using them or training others to do so; she never raises her voice (though she can be coldly, cuttingly firm), is always alert and anticipating trouble, and has an acrobatic fighting style; she's famous in Furthinghome for catching hurled daggers and arrows in flight.

Lyaunthra Aldegal has recently settled in Waterdeep, though she still retains homes in her three previous bases: Silverymoon, Neverwinter, and Secomber. "The Lioness" is a superb maker of bladed weapons and tools (who learned her skills from her now-dead parents), who can resharpen and balance almost any fragment of a mistreated item. She owns and travels between small weapon shops in Waterdeep, Silverymoon, Neverwinter, and Secomber, and specializes in finding just the right weapon for a client, and in weapons-training and -practising with select clients. Known to have ironguard protection afforded by a wearable item (a choker or anklet, most believe), she's also known to be able to withstand great pain, once (in the days before her ironguard protection) slaying a killer who'd put his blade through her hilt-deep, and then (despite being hit by both acid and fire magics) staggering through four rooms to get healing potions, managing to drink them and pluck forth his blade without passing out. Aldegal is a fire-haired, rugged-looking woman who takes numerous lovers, arrives and departs quietly and unexpectedly, and is seldom to be found where one expects to find her.

Quite a roster.

If I now widen my reply further, to include elves, half-elves, dwarves, halflings, and gnomes (note that I'm still excluding shapechanging races and multi-armed intelligent "monsters"), I'd put Maethrammar Aerasume between Artru and Hammarandar, and Drizzt Do'Urden JUST behind Marlgrask.

However, ask me this a year from now (Realms time), and - - even if there haven't been fatalities - - these rankings may have shifted around quite a bit. As I said, among individuals of this skill, determinations are whisker-thin.

So saith Ed.

Whew. Warned you, didn't I? What Ed and all of we original players share when reading or listening to debates about "bests" and most this or that of the Realms is that there's so much as-yet-unpublished Realmslore about this everchanging world that Ed crafted and continues to detail and expand, right alongside other writers (so the argument that "well, we can't go by Ed's original, we can only discuss the published Realms, that's diverged so much from his original" goes right out the window). I happen to agree with Ed that rating "best" bladesmen is a bit pointless because it's so subjective, changes so fast, and has such little practical roleplaying value - - but I fully understand Feanor's curiosity in wanting to know. It's a longing to know and understand the Realms more fully that we all share.

And I hope we will always continue to do so!

love to all,
THO

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January 23, 2006: Hello again, fellow scribes of the Realms. This time, Ed makes (the first part of his) reply to Karth's queries: "... I am here with the need to know what a person cornered in a tavern/nightclub privy in the heartlands - Marsember, The Masked Merfolk, if we must be specific - would find ready at hand. Realms equivalent of toilet paper? What is the Realms equivalent of toilet paper anyhow, and how would it be stored/dispensed? A cupboard with cleaning gear and supplies? Some variation on a bidet? A small plate of gravy? Think: MacGyver (or THO herself, apparently) in a Realms privy. Also, what stops various deadly slimes/oozes from crawling up the average privy plumbing from the sewers beneath and turning an urgent visit into a sudden grave for various unsuspecting folk?"

Ed speaks:

I could, of course, go on for pages on the specifics of these related topics, but I'll try to be brief. Toilet facilities across the Realms vary, from plain "seat with hole over pit" (some caravans carry along portable fold-flat wooden benches with hole-seats; folk who "need to go" tramp away behind cover, with folded bench under arm, and unfold it on any more-or-less level ground to "do their business;" many less equipped rural Realms inhabitants simply shuck clothing and squat) to the more elaborate outhouses and city facilities.

Aboard ships, chamberpots - - emptied by being let down into the water and "trailed along," and then scrubbed with "swab-sticks" if need be - - are used (for seasickness as well as elimination), and there are "thunderchutes" in the overhanging cabins, or out on spars shrouded in tents of sails, for defecation directly down into the waves.

In city buildings, most toilet facilities consist of under-bed (or -inside chair, or inside-handy-cupboard) chamberpots. After use, these get emptied (and then rinsed out with jugs of water, and "swab-sticks") into covered nightsoil buckets for dumping into cesspools, or into street wagons to be taken away. The grandest homes have "sluice-privies" (go into a closet-like room or into a curtained-off corner, sit on a permanently-emplaced seat, and flush when done by pouring jugs of water down the hole, perhaps sprinkling some flower-petal-scented water about to quell odours), though these facilities may be called anything from "jakes" to "garderobes." In warm-clime cities, pull-chains may bring wash or flushing water down from roof cisterns.

As for the wiping of the behind, we have everything from "hand and sand on the riverbank" (or creekbank) to the "skid your bum along in the snow" practiced in rural areas, right up to elaborate scented brown "thareea" (wiping cloths).

Generally, in the wild away from handy water or snow, certain fresh-plucked green leaves are used (those that don't have spines, cause skin reactions, or disintegrate in use), and the most popular leaves in the Heartlands are thallow leaves (think: really tough, almost rubbery green rhubarb leaves), which are large and so tough they can even be rinsed clean and re-used (if carried along in a pack or on a wagon, they dry up and shrivel into ragile uselessness in about three days). Smaller and less long-lived (but more plentiful) alternatives are the leaves of the arch-head and the yahllavur-fern; other regions of Faerûn have their own equivalents. "Skid your bum along the moss" is one alternative, but to avoid painful itching or worse, one must be careful just what moss.

Typical inn and tavern privies will only have stacks of leaves (kept in covered wooden buckets to maintain the damp and therefore keep them usable longer) if close to fairly safe large wooded areas and having plentiful labour (children) available for gathering.

Most inns and taverns have "garl-sticks" or thareea. "Garl-sticks" are smooth, stout, usually slightly curved sticks whose lower ends are wrapped in old scraps of cloth (sometimes tacked on, but usually the stick is slit in several places and the ends of the cloth are firmly seated in these clefts before the rest of the cloth is wound tightly around and around the stick). Garl-sticks "live" (cloth ends submerged, handles standing free) in buckets of red-wine vinegar, with another bucket of scented mintwater (or a sink with a pump, if well-water is plentiful enough) lashed in place beside it.

The user defecates, then takes the stick out of the vinegar, dips it in the mintwater to "cut" the vinegar, uses the stick to wipe their bum throughly, and then plunges it back into the vinegar for the next person. The wet but clean behind is dried on a "long-roll" (a bum-height shelf, all around the room, over the edge of which old cloth scraps have been tacked, and against which folk rub themselves; soiling a long-roll is the insulting height of boorishness), the clothes are restored to position (I covered Faerûnian undergarments in this thread two years back, I believe), and the relieved individual departs.

Thareea are almost always deep brown in hue, so as not to "boldly show forth" human excrement, and range from rough old scraps to washed-after-every-use, scented fineweave linens, depending on whose facilities you're using, and either discarded after a single use, down a (dedicated to this purpose only) laundry-chute into a metal-lined cellar basin, for some poor servant to wash (in most palaces and noble mansions), or stacked on a handy stone (marble or polished granite) or tile counter inset with metal sinks and lined with rows of scented "cleaning waters," for washing them clean after a use (there will be a broad drying rail to hang them on).

By contrast, a typical person dwelling alone in the countryside somewhere in the Heartlands will have an outhouse (a shovel of earth after every use keeps the flies and smell down, and the privy gets moved when the hole fills up), with a single seat-over-the-pit, two wooden buckets (or stout earthen jars set into hole-frames to keep them from being spilled or broken), and some hanging pegs. Most of the pegs are left vacant, for hanging cloaks and perhaps a lantern at night, but one will have the "guest yarhand" (a bum-scrubbing sponge for guests) hanging from it, dry and clean. One bucket will be full of water, for cleaning hands and the guest yarhand. The other bucket will be full of vinegar (usually soured wine), in which is soaking the owner's personal yarhand, awaiting its next use. Yes, defecating involves a stinging behind - - but everyone's used to that, from childhood.

There are other variants in various corners of the Realms, but that generally covers the subject.

So saith Ed.

Who will return on the morrow with the second part of his reply. Hmm, election time here in Canada, and fittingly, we're talking about hurling excrement around.

love to all,
THO

January 25, 2006: Hi again, all. Ed continues his reply to Karth re. toilet matters, to whit:

As for The Masked Merfolk, specifically: servants (young lads and lasses sitting on ready-seats in the right locations, behind translucent curtains) know from observation when patrons are using the various facilities (there are gender-specific "mercy halls" [privies] on each floor, adjacent to the main stair).

After anyone exits, a servant works a foot-treadle pump that "jets" water from an overhead seawater cistern (the reeking harbour water is treated with strong perfumes in every cistern) down the sculpted-stone sloping trough (a narrow but smooth-bottomed channel) that underlies every row of sitting-stalls. The urinal "golden holes"-in-the-wall at the high end of the slope provide another rinsing stream, and from time to time the servants pop in, between guests, to smell; they have handy cupboards with buckets of powdered lime and scrubbing-sticks they can thrust down the holes to do more thorough cleaning. Excrement is sluiced out of the privies down pipes into the cellar, where the pipe takes it into the open hatch of a tank on a little barge (one of two such barges) floating in its own little slip in the cellar, walled off from the rest of the covered-over "undercanal" that services businesses all up and down that street with its own barred and chained doors. When the tank nears full, very late at night (or, if you prefer, early in the morning), a bell is rung in every mercy hall, the relevant servant closes the hall, the cellar doors are opened, and the full-tank barge is poled out. The other barge is moored in its place (and the mercy halls above re-open for business), the full barge is poled through the undercanals out into the harbor and lashed to other barges (the "stinkboats"), and then towed well out to sea AWAY from where the prevailing currents and winds would bring it back into the city, and barge after barge is overturned (by means of handles in their sides and long reaching-hooks) and dumped. In severe winter weather and in storms, the stinkboat fleet simply gathers in the center of the harbor, growing larger as more and more barges join it; Marsember's harbour never truly freezes thanks to the warmth of all the people, their activities, and the underwater rottings their presence and filth causes. The next evening, the emptied barge is brought back, the mercy halls close again, the two barges are swapped so the newly-emptied one is waiting 'above' the now-filling one, and so the process continues, in the Merfolk and in many, many other places in Marsember (poorer abodes and establishments are served by wagons taking away full nightsoil buckets, for small "dumping fees").

So saith Ed.

Who will (for now) finish with this rather noisome subject next time, when he covers Karth's 'why nasties don't crawl up the hole' question. Something we should all stay tuned for, I think.

love to all,
THO

January 26, 2006: Hi again, all. Ed finishes with Karth's related plumbing questions, specifically: "what stops various deadly slimes/oozes from crawling up the average privy plumbing from the sewers beneath and turning an urgent visit into a sudden grave for various unsuspecting folk?"

Ed replies:

The obvious answer to this is that the "average privy" isn't directly connected to any sewers beneath: it either empties directly into a small pit (and some have foot-treadle or floor-pull collapsing or sliding-aside "underfloors" a few feet under the seat, to be opened momentarily for dumping-down purposes only after the defecator is finished), or it empties into some form of storage that's taken in buckets (sometimes via a wagon or barge) to a cesspool or dumping place elsewhere. In "dungeons" (and cellars built over known caves or Underdark connections, where monstrous intrusion may be feared or historically known), the aforementioned moving underfloors are usually built in.

In certain cities (Waterdeep or Zhentil Keep, for example; see scenes in CITY OF SPLENDORS or CROWN OF FIRE), an average privy may well be connected directly to sewers, and the danger you point to may be very real. Which is why places like that have sewer patrols, and hire adventurers or call in mage-guilds or wizards-for-hire to deal with nasty monsters - - sometimes, yes, after Aunt Aurauma has met with an unfortunate and undignified fatality.

Such bad things happen, but not as often as popular lore (where, like real-world "urban legends," tales get told and re-told with local embellishments and additions) would have one believe.

So saith Ed.

Who can now obviously add dunghandler to his resumé, if he's minded to. Or not, as the case may be.

love to all,
THO

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January 27, 2006: Hi, all. This time, Ed replies to Jamallo Kreen's post: "Thank ye kindly for the answers thus far, and rest assured that I shall continue to poke, prod, and otherwise disequilibrate the applecart in the future.

There was one tripartite question of mine which may have been answered and the answer lost in the shuffle of my cyberdesk, and which I therefore repeat: What the heck was that magic black curtain across Yellow Snake Pass during the Time of Troubles; what happened to things that passed through it; is it still there?

I await your answers on tenterhooks. (Or at least on osteophytes.)"

Ed speaks:

Oooh, tenterhooks. This's going to hurt, because I'm going to have to leave you hanging. However, feel free to disequilibrate away... :}

Seriously: I hadn't forgotten your query, but was sitting on it in hopes the NDA would end when the project that was going to pick up on this "loose end" was published. However, it hasn't yet, and so the NDA continues. For now. Sorry.

So saith Ed.

Hmmm, I THINK I know what project this might be, but if I speculated in print, I'd offend against one of MY lovely little NDAs. To quote Ed: sorry.

love to all,
THO

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January 28, 2006: Hi again, fellow scribes. Ed replies to this, from BobROE: "Do governments determine the layout of the land? In that the size and shape of people's lots of land and the such (I assume this varies from place to place, and depends on the type of government).

Or is it a more of a farmer has claimed an area, and other farmers must work around what the first one claimed.

And do places follow an Upper Canada or Lower Canada plot breakdown system?"

Ed speaks:

The trite answer to this is: it depends.

Meaning: different places in the Realms have different rules (generally stricter, the longer settled). In some places (most areas of Tethyr, for example), the land was owned by the duke or baron or whatever the local ranking nobility was, and purchased from him (once purchased, it was owned outright by the buyer, who could hand it down to descendants, divide it freely without obtaining permission from anyone else, resell some parts but not others if desired, and so on). In most frontier or wilderland areas, people simply "squat" on land, clear and till it or fence it for ranch pasture, and it's "theirs" (until someone comes along and takes it by force). In rural areas (such as much of the Dales and upland Cormyr), strict laws have developed over the generations regarding who can do what with lands, but the ORIGINAL human landowners were simply squatters.

Now, as a fellow Canadian, I'm guessing that by "Upper Canada or Lower Canada plot breakdown system" you mean this:

Upper Canada: divided into concessions and sideroads with equal-sized rectangular "sections" in the blocks between them surveyed, every so many granted to the church, and the rest sold or granted to settlers;

as compared to:

Lower Canada: seigneurial system (actually practiced only along the St. Lawrence River, mainly in what are now known as "the Eastern Townships"): narrow strips of land fronting on the river (or road, or church) and running inland a fair way (thus, long and narrow), over time radiating out in pinwheels from the seigneurial manor and being subdivided among farmers' descendants into ever-narrower strips of land.

My reply to this one has to be: neither. It's extremely rare in the Realms for surveyors as good and as "rectangular-minded" as the British army guys who did the Upper Canada layout, and of course the Realms lacks the single powerful church to demand and receive granted sections (and also lacks the "pay off retiring soldiers with land, so they'll settle it and thus hold our claim to this timber-valuable but otherwise God-forsaken wilderness" urge), and the Realms has never had a seigneurial system with the long-narrow strips, either.

Instead, it's had the aforementioned "squatting" practice, with the laws coming later. Please remember that in the Realms a LOT of people live on a farm and work it, largely with their own sweaty labour, and marauding monsters keep most of the Realms underpopulated; outside cities, it's rarely a problem, if you want to start your own farm, to just start walking for a few days, until you reach a suitably "wild" area, and start clearing what is now "yours." There are exceptions (Amn, Tethyr, Calimshan, Sembia, most of Cormyr), and in many places you'll soon get a visit from local authorities who want to know what you're up to (so they can tax you), soon after you "squat."

Thus far, this and similar practices have given rise to a lot of irregularly-shaped farm fields, like much of medieval England, all over the Realms. (Think medieval England for a lot of matters when trying to decide what the Realms is like, and you usually won't be far wrong.)

In crowded places with lots of money and people and a strong government, of course, things are far different. Yet in most locales in Faerûn, lot sizes are irregular. In most cities, having any land beyond a few steps "out back" 'twixt your back door and your stables is very unusual, and living in a building that touches the buildings on either side is common. I'll be dealing with land use in villages in a LITTLE more detail in an upcoming Realmslore web column.

So saith Ed, THE Master of Realmslore.

Who will of course return soon with more lore

. love to all,
THO

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January 29, 2006: Hello again, all. Your friendly neighbourhood Lovely Lady Hooded here, with some verbiage to spill.

To Dargoth, no. I'm NOT "suggesting Ed has aspirations to be Prime Minister of Canada." Slime Lord, you're correct in saying it might be fun, but I'm not sure for whom. Ed would hate every minute of it, but he'd shove the whole country into recycling and cleaner alternative power and rebuilding local "community" feel and food-self-sufficiency, or try to, and that would slam him hard into the brick wall of all those folks who get quite rich on the status quo, and don't want any large change. I can see him achieving little but massive frustration for himself. And he's too darn nice and kind for politics the way she's played these days.

However, if you want insightful political opinion, Ed's your man. He can see through male cow excrement harder and faster than most, though he keeps quiet about things unless asked.

He's hard at work on a whole bunch of projects right now, by the way. (Yes, as usual.)

With all of that said, I now bring you Ed's lightning-swift response to Phillip (sleyvas), about how Elminster would react to this situation:

"Elminster receives a sending or a projected image, etc.... The person contacting him is a mage that he is familiar with from rumors and scrying. He does not have a very good reputation, noted as a Thayan bounty hunter skilled in both sword and magecraft. He is known for having murdered a paladin of Impiltur, supposedly as vengeance for accidentally killing his first wife. Its also noted that he has explored some magics similar to cloning in attempts to create "children"... in a method somewhat similar to Alias... unfortunately, all of these children except one have also taken the dark paths their father took. You also know that he has recently (in the past few years) met up with a child of his from a later wife (said wife having mindwiped memory of his own son from him), and that said son is of special interest to Mystra (of what, she has not revealed even to you). Also, it is rumored that the Thayan mage has somehow recovered his wife from the past and has since been trying to wean himself away from the dark paths.

Apparently there was some falling out between The Simbul and this son over the fact that he refused to work with her again his own father (who is a Thayan mage). This falling out turned nearly lethal for the son, and the Thayan mage found out about it. You believe he (the Thayan Mage) may have been behind the slaying of one of The Simbul's court mages at a dance held just a few months back, but you have no proof as yet.

Ok, knowing these things, the projection and/or sending would request of Elminster aid. He would tell Elminster that he has gotten involved in a situation that threatens the lives of innocents (specifically that of his true son by his 2nd wife and the life of his 1st wife). He needs them to believe that he is dead, and he needs Elminster to provide them some means of moving onto a new life where they will not be tracked down and killed. He doesn't want to consciously know where they are, but he would like Elminster to provide him some means of discovering it for himself if he needed to. He would also like Elminster to give him the means to provide for these people without them realizing where the aid is coming from. In return, this notoriously brazen Thayan bounty hunter would gladly serve Elminster as a spy or a weapon with which to strike against the red wizards or whatever enemy he deems necessary.

Anyway, may not be the best of places to put this, but I've found that Elminster is a truly... different... sort of personality. I can honestly say I believe I know how the Blackstaff would handle this situation, but I don't know how El would react. Especially with throwing in the fact that he's involved with The Simbul."

Whew.

Here's Ed:

Hi, Phillip! I have no hesitation whatsoever in saying that Elminster would assist Sleyvas of Thay as far and as closely as possible, as if he and Sleyvas were old and close friends (and his price would probably be no more than a promise of future aid in some small matter involving Thay, probably the snatch-rescue of an innocent non-mage NPC out of slavery there, or Sleyvas agreeing not to harm, slay, or capture [and surrender to other Thayans] a certain person).

El would do this for three reasons: his own personality, which would make him naturally sympathetic to a mage in such troubles, as he has been himself; Mystra's private commandments to him, which involve helping Thayans wherever possible to balance against The Simbul's wholesale slaughter of them (to preserve the maximum number of magic-using beings; note that this doesn't prevent Elminster from slaying Red Wizards himself in an instant IF he deems doing so desirable or necessary, and he often does); and his curiousity, which would make him want to know more about all of these Machiavellian family machinations (Sleyvas's family, that is), and hope to discover, down the road, a little more about Mystra's plans for the 'special' son. El would also judge that Mystra would want him to aid Sleyvas because of the better (than otherwise) future prospects for that son that should result.

El would tell The Simbul all about rendering this aid if (and only if) The Simbul asked him about it directly (meaning she'd somehow discovered it on her own); otherwise, he'd say nothing, because they both operate independently, respect each other's independence, and know that each is keeping many little "daily operational" secrets from the other (this matter definitely falling into that category). El also has a soft spot for mages who lead interesting, shady, authority-challenging lives, like Sleyvas and [cough] Old El himself. Moreover, he would place a high value on protecting the two wives and getting them out of harm's way into new lives, and would relish the fun of "setting them up" in those new lives, and watching over them (something he already does for literally scores of folk, all across the Realms). In short, Sleyvas is asking him to do something he'd naturally enjoy doing and be eager to do, so El will aid him without hesitation, teasing, or deception. (Sleyvas will probably be covertly watched by Mystra's spectral servants - - see SECRETS OF THE MAGISTER - - from the moment he asks Elminster for aid, onward for the rest of his life, but these beings will report what they observe only to Mystra and Azuth unless tipping off Elminster or another of the Chosen seems immediately necessary to keep the special son or the wives alive. They may even help protect Sleyvas from time to time, wherever possible in small, subtle ways.

So saith Ed.

Great question, and a great answer that shows us a little more of Elminster's true nature. Soft heart of gold hidden under that gruff bearded exterior, yes. Sniff. I recall El's reaction when one of my characters tried to give him what is vulgarly known as a blow [ahem]... but I think I'll keep that private for now. And what I saw in my glimpse under the Old Mage's robes, too.

love to all,
THO

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January 30, 2006: Hi again, all. This time, Ed answers Rolindin:

I'm sorry, but I can't reveal the topics of DRAGON articles before they're published. Right now, I'm working on the Cities of the Realms series for Erik Mona (and have turned in another city, though I'm still at work on its map). As for your last question, "do you have any plans to make such a place, or maybe one of the other evil organizations?"

(adopts grandly sinister tone): I have MANY plans.

Bwoohahahahah (and so on).

Seriously, NDAs and agreed-upon professional practice prevent me from "spilling the beans" prior to publication, UNLESS WotC (or Paizo, or whatever relevant gaming company is in play) has already started doing so. For that reason, I also can't tell you more about future coverage of Netheril, if any. I CAN impart that I have more lore and plans about Netheril that haven't yet been published, yes. And no, morally and legally I can't just post them here.

So saith Ed.

Short and emphatic, I'm afraid.

(P.S. to Kuje: Ed is now just one editing job away from getting to work on that which you sent me for him to look at.)

love to all,
THO

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On January 30, 2006 THO said: I found it a fun tale just for all the cameos from famous Realms NPCs. Very realistic in the way I believe people really would speak and act under stress.

It's not strong on plot, and I'm sure Ed's depiction of a certain powerful undead (of his creation, I should remind all) will generate some controversy.

(I'm being a little vague because I'm not sure if the book is out yet.)

love,
THO

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On January 30, 2006 THO said: Hmmm.

One point I'd like to raise right now, given Volo's Severash query and RevJest's Eilistraee-related query: please don't lose sight of the fact, scribes, that in the Realms (aside from priests and the most dedicated of lay worshippers), no one dedicates themselves to one god. Everybody worships a variety of deities (if only in appeasement). They may recognize a patron deity or dominant god, yes, but they AREN'T monotheistic. (So the answer to Volo's question is almost certainly: "Yes.")

love,
THO

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January 31, 2006: Well met again, fellow scribes. This time, Ed tackles this query from crazedventurers: "was there an 'original' name for the ruling family of Cormyr? and if so, why did it get changed?"

Ed replies:

Hi, Damian. Jeff Grubb named the ruling family of Cormyr because I hadn't (I had them using "Cormyr" as their surname, but TSR wanted things more clear-cut and less confusing, for the "12-year-old American male" audience they were aiming for; obviously they thought 12-year-old American males were more stupid than I think they are). Jeff and his wife Kate fell in love with Cormyr, that most lovable of my original kingdoms, and in a way 'put themselves' into the Realms as the Wyvernspurs, so I just stepped back out of the way and watched the resulting fun (what's sometimes called the Azure Bonds trilogy) with a big grin. Later, of course, Jeff and I collaborated on CORMYR: A NOVEL. We remain close friends, and I hope someday to see new Grubb & Novak (or even just Grubb, or just Novak) Realms novels.

So saith Ed.

Folks wanting to keep current with what Jeff's up to should check out his blog, at: www.grubbstreet.blogspot.com.

love to all,
THO

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January 31, 2006: Hi again, everyone. This time, Ed steps up once more to matters godly, to make reply to this, from Skeptic: "First, according to the flavor of the Realms (and not the current editions rules) must a cleric include the name of his deity in the "verbal component" of his spells? If yes, can he use a more obscure alias? Second, when a spell mentions that the cleric must show his deity's symbol, can this symbol be disguised as a mundane item or even as another deity symbol ? (Of course in respect of the deity's dogma!) These questions come from the cleric of Bane in my current campaign who doesn't like to live in Waterdeep. (The party forced him to add a "illusion" effect on his full plate carved with his deity symbol.)"

Ed replies:

Many lesser spells don't require that the deity be mentioned by name; the incants are prayers or prayer fragments that don't happen to include the name of the deity. For most more powerful clerical spells having a verbal component, the deity IS called upon by name, and although the priest can in many cases use aliases without ruining the spell, few of those that apply to Bane, the relevant deity here, are truly going to be "obscure" to most folk in the Realms (remember: every human in the Realms knows of, and believes in, the same gods, albiet with some local name differences, rather than cleaving to a single deity, so the PC priest you mention CAN'T hide what he's doing effectively from people in Waterdeep). And no, he CAN'T disguise his holy symbol and still have the spell work, if it's a spell above 2nd level. Bane expects him to publicly bear witness to his faith, so as to impress (or cow) others. Bane is the god of tyranny, remember?

Yes, that can lead to problems. Which is why so many priests of evil deities cast spells indoors, at night, in cellars or other hidden places. If they don't want their activities to be traced to their homes, they often rent a room in a bad inn or upstairs room at a Dock Ward tavern, or even take a room at a good festhall, send the pleasure-lass out, bar the door behind her, and get to work.

Of course, being a priest of Bane, he might just harshly order the pleasure-lass around, and then tie her down, blindfold her, and cast his spells (if doing so isn't going to impart names and information to her that she can specifically report to the Watch for, later, and incriminate him) while she cowers, wondering if she's going to be sacrificed or molested, so he can please Bane with her fear and his tyranny.

And yes, such deeds can indeed lead to other problems. Playing a priest in the Realms often shouldn't be easy.

So saith Ed.

*I* remember being tied down and blindfolded, both in the Realms as a character and in real life. I don't recall cowering, though.

I'll try it again, tonight, and see if I do.

love,
THO

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February 2, 2006: Hi again, fellow scribes. This time, Ed makes reply to this post, from Dragonstar: "My question pertains to Silverymoon's Wards. In the FRCS and Silver Marches, the how and why of the wards are mostly explained, but the only distance covered for application of the ward's effects is to 1,000 ft outside the walls of the city. Protection is listed as applying both above and below the city, but how far? This is relevant to my campaign, as I need to figure out how far down to send the players before they can get to a portal that will work without having a ward token."

Ed speaks:

Looks like a little detail got edited out of the wards descriptions. They're not precisely mythals, no, but they ARE spherical, both above and below ground (and, yes, extending through the flowing waters and bed of the River Rauvin). Picture a sphere with its outer edges a thousand feet beyond the outermost walls ("the farthest point out" of those walls) north of the city (in other words, travel a thousand feet outwards in a straight line from the point on the Northbank Silverymoon walls that's farthest from the river, and construct the sphere using that "thousand-foot-out" point as the boundary of the sphere, and a point on the riverbank, reached back along the straight line you've already traveled outwards from the walls, as the centre of the sphere). Southbank Silverymoon is smaller than Northbank, but the sphere extends invisibly (except when glowing faintly with reflected starshine or the radiance of the Moonbridge) beyond it regardless, the size of that sphere determined by the extent of the Northbank walls (in other words, the wards extend MORE than a thousand feet out from the Southbank walls).

Mark both of those outermost beyond-the-walls points, and then redraw your "sphere" using them as two of the outer limits - - because Silverymoon's wards AREN'T a proper sphere, you see. They actually take the shape of an ovoid. To determine its precise extent, go a thousand feet downstream (from the west wall) and a thousand feet upstream from the east wall) of the spots where the outer walls reach the river, and make your ovoid by joining these two spots and the two "outermost" ones you already have.

So Arivia's instincts were right in her comment "From what we know about mythals, I'd suggest that it's spherically shaped..." (though Hoondatha was also right to say: "My feeling is that a mythal takes whatever shape it needs to in order to cover the city.") Again, Silverymoon's wards aren't quite mythals, for reasons that are still under NDA right now (hint: think SECRETS OF THE MAGISTER, involvement of some of Mystra's servants, tales yet untold, etc.).

So saith Ed, tireless hinter of Realmslore.

love to all,
THO

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February 3, 2006: Hi again, fellow scribes of the Realms. (Thanks for the messages, Kuje; I'll pass them on.)

This time around, Ed tackles Sanishiver's question about overflowing magic: "Suppose an area just north of Suzail (say a half-day's ride) were to become so overripe with heavy magic that the magic burst forth from its containment into the weave and spilled outward in all directions for several miles, inundating everything in that area with so much magical energy that magic items glowed and became warm (if not hot), hidden or 'sleeping' wards became visible and virtually every magical effect's aura could be seen in the visible light spectrum, by mage and non-mage alike.

Now suppose this effect lasted a good tenday at least, to the point that charged items gained back a few previously spent charges, echoes of spell battles from the past could be heard (as well as the voices of the mages who participated in them), and old, forgotten, previously dispelled and/or nearly-spent wards/portals/magics were rejuvenated at least somewhat (where such wards might go as far back as the elves of the Wolf Woods who ruled before the first Obarskyr set foot in them).

Were such a thing to happen, what are some of the things you suppose might occur in Suzail, so far as men and magic are concerned?"

Ed replies:

Oooh, lovely.

Right: you'd have some spontaneous wild magic effects (discharges) from time to time, and as a result, swift action by the Purple Dragons, under the supervision of the War Wizards and upon the orders of Vangey or Caladnei (depending on who's in charge of the Wizards of War in your campaign), backed up by whoever's on the throne. They'll be worried about Zhents, Red Wizards, or someone else magically powerful somehow harnessing these energies or doing something unintentional that spreads out of control, so they'll be trying to keep unauthorized folk away from it.

In this, they'll be completely successful when it comes to magically-adept beings (NOT normal folk carrying magic items), not because they have the power or competence to be, but because Mystra's Chosen and lesser servants (spectral harpists and all of the others detailed in SECRETS OF THE MAGISTER) will be 'on the job' to back the War Wizards up (keeping themselves hidden from both the War Wizards and everyone else, as much as possible).

The exceptions, of course, will be Red Wizards, Zhents, and anyone else teleporting to known locations very close to the magic-strong area (INTO the magic-strong area will mean random "deflections" to anywhere embarrassing - - but unwarded - - in Cormyr you'd like such intrepid individuals to end up). Some battles would almost certainly erupt (again, the assistance of Mystra's servants should determine decisively who 'wins').

I'd say every noble family interested in boldly sticking necks out in a bid for more power would send family members (with bodyguards, of course) riding to "go for a look-see," using the excuse that they're pledged to guard the security of the realm and MUST see what they're up against, no matter what some officious War Wizard or Purple Dragon might say. Again, those who bring magic items along should have no difficulty in getting most of them recharged (exceptions governed by the specific nature of the item), and smart noble families will arrange loud attempted visits as diversions whilst the magic-item-carriers go alone, perhaps in guises of common folk with (normally) good reason to enter the magic-strong area.

Sages and mages desiring to legitimately study the magical phenomenon will naturally show up, just as swiftly as word spreads, and some of them will be dodderers and crazies, just as some of them will be cunning schemers seeking an advantage even if allied to no power group.

Mass arrivals in any place focus interest on that place, even after the reason has gone - - meaning, in this case, that after the magic-strong glows fade and the Weave is back to normal in the area, you'll have a lot of interested-in-magic (or carrying-valuable-magic-items) people gathered in Cormyr, who may not all go away again soon, but tarry and try to explore the Forest Kingdom, and make trade deals or perform thefts or otherwise take advantage of their new surroundings. All in all, a superb campaign event, of the non-RSE, Bartholomew Cubbins things that "just happened to happen" and can be talked about for years afterward (and give your PCs, caught in the midst of it, years of headaches and leads and new foes, allies, or trade contacts, starting right now). Nice!

So saith Ed, sounding like the grinning-with-glee DM I know and love.

He'll be back with another Realmslore reply on the morrow, all, so until then:

love,
THO

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February 4, 2006: Hi again, all. This time out, Ed tackles createvmind's query: "The Armand from MM3 is said to occupy Faerun within the Anarouch desert, my question is how would you depict them culturally, does a female have breast/multiple breast-teats and give birth to one offspring only. Would twins or triplets be considered good fortune within a tribe? And what names would they have within their own language and within common if their names were translatable. Would their vocal speech be high pitched or guttural, all these things I ask from what you see within your mindseye. Thank you."

Ed speaks:

I see the Armand as few: three or four tribes at most, with no tribe having more than sixty individuals. They are well aware of the perils of the desert (from the Bedine and the other border-desert human tribes, through various desert monsters to the Shades and the Zhents) and keep a low profile, avoiding open strife with any armed, organized groups they see (move along rather than standing their ground, no raiding of caravans, et cetera). The Armand are hunter-gatherers (who set traps as well as pursue prey with spears and slung stones and clubs) AND maintain some wild "plantings" (olive and nut trees, grains). They have treasure gained from sand-swallowed Netherese cities (that desert storms uncover from time to time) and know the areas they range over very well (always knowing where the nearest cover or water or place they can dig down into, to REALLY hide, is). They can remain patiently motionless for hours, they don't itch or sneeze, and their voices are soft ("burbling") mucous-thick hissings that range in pitch about the same as human female voices (female and young armand have higher pitch, adult males have lower). The Armand have their own fragmentary tongue (about the same in extent and usage as Thieves' Cant), but mainly speak Common, with a smooth, lilting, archaic accent.

Females have breasts (nipples unplated, the plates covering the rest of the breasts growing and 'rising' in shape as the breast tissue beneath them does), and have "finer" (narrower, more angular, and smaller) ears, snouts, and hands. Their plates are more often mauve, blue, or emerald green, whereas males more often have darker shades (dark brown or deep purple). [In other words, someone who knows how - - and of course all armand - - can easily tell males and females apart, but genders aren't obvious at a glance to someone who doesn't know the differences.] The harsh desert conditions make single births per season the norm, and if food and water becomes scarce or winter cold comes down, a female's body automatically 'suspends' the growth of a fertilized egg at any stage, within her, without aborting or developing the unborn farther. At puberty, females are very fertile, but after their first childbearing, they grow less and less so - - because unlike human females, an armand 'she' won't conceive a subsequent time until her body is completely physically recovered from a birth (in other words, many armand females can't become pregnant again for as many as three years after giving birth). Triplets would be almost unheard-of, and twins considered a sign of divine favor upon the family, obligating the entire tribe to closely assist in rearing and tending both of the twins.

Armand are naturally curious (lifelong, they seek to "experience everything") but they aren't naive innocents, easily tricked or lured into being captured, slain, or even readily attacked. They WILL accompany humans they befriend and trust out of the desert (away from their families) to experience things, and if possible return to share stories of all they've seen with their tribe. The tribes DON'T fight among themselves or even have rivalries, and all call themselves "urr" (which means "us") rather than having distinctive names (they call the other tribes names like "daen-Urroe," which means "them-[once] led-by-[a warden named] Urroe," "daen" being them; "daerr" means not-armand, and is their deadliest insult when said of each other). Armand are slow to anger and don't hold grudges, tending to share property and be physically affectionate within their tribe, not just strictly with mates.

Their names don't have literal meanings in Common, but are based on the sounds they most often used when very young (the parents adopt a common name closest to a favourite sound their youngling uses or responds to), with family names based on the names of family founders (typical family names: Burlurr, Laeren, Murrnarr, Urrlan).

A few common male names: Brurl, Durl, Eskyss, Forl, Hooud, Iysskurr, Jhasskurr, Murrep, Norl, Orroe, Resskurr, Urroe, Zorrusk.

A few common female names: Baerra, Doolaerra, Evdarr, Faen, Haela, Imriss, Javaen, Maerl, Noovae, Ohhnd, Raeza, Uoumraa, Zauvae.

[Note the letters names do NOT begin with; these are the sounds not often found in armand speech.]

All of this is, of course, just the way I see them.

So saith Ed.

Expert on all sorts of odd things, by now, and possessor of a beard that regularly has really small children calling him "Santa" in supermarkets and stores.

Failing extreme mischance, he'll be back with more Realmslore tomorrow.

love to all,
THO

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On February 4, 2006 THO said: Yes. Ed has been talking to the relevant WotC folks, and Legendology is on "temporary hiatus" because some changes to it are planned, and because of shortage of WotC personnel (the last layoffs). It's NOT dead, and the stories (such as Ed's "Oroon Rising") will be seen. Eventually. I understand there may be a message to that effect posted on the Legendology boards soon. Ed knows something of the future plans but of course cannot share them.

love,
THO

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February 5, 2006: Hi, all. To createvmind, Ed says:

My pleasure. You're quite welcome, and glad to be of help.

And then Ed answers Aquanova's question: "... are you currently planning a Telflamm version of the Uthmere series (or just one article) for WotC, or further magnification and detailing the Shadowmasters and their current state of affairs or the sinister and crime-filled world they dwell wherein?"

Ed replies:

At the moment, I'm not planning any Telflamm or Shadowmasters coverage soon, in part because of NDAs. I direct you to the superb Telflamm piece by Realms loremaster George Krashos in one of the Candlekeep Compendia. That's not to say that I don't have unpublished lore, and as-yet-unrevealed plans, regarding Telflamm, mind you. :}

So saith Ed

(chuckling mysteriously, by the sounds of that last sentence).

love to all,
THO

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On February 5, 2006 THO said: I'm afraid SiriusBlack is quite correct.

Years ago, Ed drafted a huge document detailing the Royal Lineage of Cormyr, which scribes such as Eric Boyd, George Krashos, Grant Christie, Tom Costa, Bryon Wischstadt, and Garen Thal (among others) have checked, re-checked, amended, gone over again, revised over again, and so on. It was never officially published, and if it has leaked out, you can only be looking at an early, fragmentary version.

From Ed's point of view, that large and vital scroll is now NDA, being as WotC specifically asked for it (again) more than a year ago. I wish (oh, how I wish) it could be published for all. The depth of detail now woven into it is simply... awesome.

Cormyr is where we Knights first assembled and began our adventures, too, and I ache at how much Cormyr lore Ed's spun over the years that has never been published (small stuff, like flows of goods through Suzail, Marsember, and Arabel, and what it's like to live in those places, or Immersea, or Espar, not wars and the endless noble intrigues). At one point, Ed started in on the lineages of the nobility, too, but had to leave off work purely because of time constraints.

Hopefully, one day, we'll all see a [NDA].

In the meantime, I'll whisper in Ed's ear (using a lot of tongue, of course) to see if there's a tidbit or two Cormyrean that he could toss your way. (And as Asgetrion says, CORYMR: A NOVEL is a good light overview of the "feel" of the "passing parade" of royalty in Cormyr.) Perhaps if you ask a series of small, specific questions (about individual rulers, say, or a specific year), Ed could sneak forth some small, specific answers...

love,
THO

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February 6, 2006: George: HAH. Wait'll you see the scrambling that follows SWORDS OF EVENINGSTAR!

Ahem. Hello again, all!

Ed forthwith tackles Kajehase's queries: "Wonderful answer about the swordsmen Ed My heartfelt thanks to you for writing it, and to our dear Lady Hooded One for bringing it to us. I hope none of you mind if I come with a few follow up questions brought on by the details in Ed's reply:

How common are fencing-tournaments in the Realms (or other athletic competitions for that matter)?

Come to that, are there any recurring competitions - say an All-Dalelands competition held at each Shieldmeet? And how are athletes generally regarded by the general populace - adulated and adored, or seen as little better than travelling entertainers (assuming there are in fact people making a living by attending various competitions)? Oh, and how far up the list of fencers would my favourite Knight of Myth Drannor, Sharantyr, be, with no dirty tricks (like the baring of breasts) allowed? Upper half? Mid third?"

Ed replies:

As far up as her breasts could reach, of course.

Ahem. Belay that. Bad joke, sorry.

Seriously, now: Wrestling and archery tournaments are common at moots, markets, and festival-days (with dart-throwing and arm-wrestling being the everyday indoor tavern equivalents, joined by "shields" ["slideshields" in full, the Realms name for "shove ha'penny"] as the sole athletics in most taverns).

"Swordplay" (fencing) tourneys are rare in many places, thanks to either widespread dueling or prohibitions on dueling (it can be hard to convince the local Watch that you were just fencing, and not dueling, especially if someone gets wounded - - and if people bet on the fencing bouts, that's often the root-of-evil the anti-dueling laws were put in place to stamp out. Jousting (for commoners, on their own nags and using padded-end "blodge-poles" to buffet each other and targets), and horse-archery (gallop and fire shafts through smallish holes at targets to one side of the rider) are far more common. There are always competitions of the latter two at Shieldmeets, and in some places "swordplay" too; winners are often given a prize of a fine sword - - and offered high pay (and what we would call a "signing bonus," but in Faerûn goes by the name of "a champion's cloak") to enter the service of the competition sponsor as a bodyguard, armsmaster (trainer) or guard commander (the latter two professions applying in cases when temple high priests or local rulers are the sponsors).

However, fencing and knife-throwing EXHIBITIONS (like juggling and tightrope-walking) aren't so rare.

Very few folk make a living from competitions, but many (like a travel carnival or "feast of wonders") do so with traveling exhibitions. Athletes are respected for their skills (and may "win a warm night" with local lasses, either young and ardent or old and desperate), but not really "adulated or adored." And yes, some of them are travelling entertainers and seen as such, though "travelling entertainer" is NOT a term of disparagement in the Realms.

Sharantyr is 'bladeswift,' lithe, and acrobatic, meaning that she wins most blade-contests by moving around quickly rather than with sheer precision of bladework. She can move her sword VERY quickly, but is already starting to lose that speed as she ages, and it will "fall off" quite quickly. So in daily swordfighting effectiveness she's about a 7.7 on a "1-lowest, 10-highest" scale, but in terms of pure swordplay skill she's only about a 6. If this rating seems harsh to you, compare it to my rankings on the same scale of an average well-trained soldier, fighting alone rather than in formation (daily effectiveness 4.5 and bladework 2.8), and an average militia member or merchant who's taken blade lessons and practises briefly, every tenday or so (daily effectiveness 3 and bladework 2).

So saith Ed.

Who for fun ranked me (with a sword) at daily effectiveness 6, and bladework 4. A ranking I'm very proud of, by the way. (And I'd put him at about d.a. 4 and bladework 3.5; his knees and weight have robbed him of much agility; when he was a teenager, and fenced regularly, Ed was probably about a d.a. 6.5 but bladework only 3.)

love to all,
THO

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February 7, 2006: Hi again, all.

Yrch, I think Dargoth's correct about Paizo having the map available. It will take Ed a fair while to get to your request through the huge heap of requests already in front of him, so I'll answer one little bit of it right now: the Lightless Lamp is just one of many "street-lanterns" in the often-befogged port, but it's broken (and so, "lightless"). In Ed's novel ELMINSTER'S DAUGHTER, it's used the same way most citizens of Marsember use it: as a landmark (meeting-place).

This time, Ed makes reply to Verghityax, re. this: "I just finished Troy Denning's "The Siege". In chapter fourteen (in the scene when phaerimms seize control over minds of most soldiers in Laeral's army) it is said that Bloodaxe Company from Sundabar has suffered severe damage and their entire camp has been destroyed. Does it mean that the company doesn't exist anymore? What is their current status?"

Ed speaks:

The Bloodaxes were reduced to just under twenty percent of what their strength was prior to the events of THE SIEGE, and lost much of their gear. Their morale was even more battered, and most fled, finding their own various ways home to Sundabar.

Where they have since reformed, battlewiser and grimly determined to become even stronger than before. Wherefore they are recruiting new members (adventurers! all races and classes - - though not all alignments; lawful definitely preferred - - welcome!), training these hard (adventuring forays into - - and under - - the mountains), and seeking to be a proud Company once more. They have a long way to go, being at about 24 percent strength right now, but for adventurers offer some glorious opportunities (for those who can stomach being bullied by hardbitten "scarred dwarf" drillcaptains day in and day out).

So saith Ed, Warcaptain Glorious of the Realms.

And owner of at least sixteen pairs of black socks.

love to all,
THO

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February 8, 2006: Once again Ed delves into the fascinating subject of wiping oneself after defecation, answering this from Scarabeus: "What do adventurers do for the wiping of the behind when deep into a dungeon or similar areas? No leaves, no vinegar, no moss... hummm... what about my cloak of protection +3?"

Ed replies:

Adventurers typically carry along (in a belt pouch, or sometimes strapped to boots [under the cuffs of turned-down bucket-top boots, for instance]) a thareea (the scented brown bum-wiping cloths, for those who missed my earlier replies) folded and wrapped in an oiled-innards leather pouch.

Wipe with just one side of it, fold it up around that soiled side, and rinse (in a pool, stream downstream from where drinking water's taken) or wipe (on grass, for example) it clean, the first chance they get - - and wash it properly as soon as they can.

So saith Ed.

Nose-picking details, next time? Just kidding.

love to all,
THO

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February 9, 2006: Well met again, fellow scribes. I prodded Ed, and finally got him to reply to this, from Karth: "Yes, Ed's ranking of top fighters is eminently useful on its own. That said, I'd still like to see Ed's 2E-style quick summaries of that list, such as the ones he did for the FR Adventures hardcover, Volo's Guides and various other 2E products he designed.

Example: Laspeera Naerinth (NG hf M14)

Always a treasure to be sure about the general size of the ballpark you're manufacturing detail in - straight from the man himself... ;)"

Ed speaks:

I'm with George: I care far more about the stories and essential characters of NPCs rather than their stats, but all right, I'll (reluctantly) provide barebones (i.e. lacking weapon specializations and a lot of the later 2e added frills) 2e-only (as Sanishiver posted, it's easy for those using 3e to craft game-precise versions of these folks using the right combinations of feats, prestige classes, et cetera) capsule stats, for the "new" characters only:

Harmel Artru (NE hm Ftr9/T7: Dex 17, Cha 16)

Loaros Hammarandar (LN hm Ftr14: Str 17, Dex 17)

Ember Tsartaera (LG hf Ftr15: Str 16, Dex18)

Skoalam Marlgrask (CN hm Ftr18: Dex 17, Con 17)

Lyaunthra Aldegal (CG hf Ftr17: Con 17)

Sraece Telthorn (CN hm Ftr16/Thief-Acrobat7: Dex 18, Cha 16)

Ulmaer Rivrymm of Sheirtalar (LG hm Ftr14: Str 16, Dex 18)

Aka 'the Questmaster' [[NDA, sorry]]

Now, some may say that the levels given on this list are a bit low for "best" wielders-of-blades, but I say again: the only meaningful way I could answer Feanor's question was to narrow my consideration of best to a definition of: supreme technique (superior finesse, if you will) in bladework. Otherwise, there are too many variables (X is alive today because Y slipped, or a deity who smiled on X MADE Y slip, or because X knew the darkened room they were fighting in just a little bit better, or because when the guards burst in it was Y who got his swordarm jarred for a critical moment, not X, or because it was X whose friends burst in, or Y the startled guard happened to stagger into... and so on). I believe THO and I have sufficiently communicated the difficulty of choosing "best" bladewielders to Feanor, our most important point being that there are another forty or so individuals, some famous and some publicly unknown, who are so close in skills to those I mentioned as to be "practically as good" if you don't happen to be the Creator of the Realms and thus able to split Faerûnian hairs better than anyone else. :} (And, I remind you, I'm leaving out creatures - - mariliths, just to give one example - - who have more than two arms, and so can fence with a forest of skillfully-swung blades.) There are certainly combat-active beings in the Realms with higher levels than these folks, who would probably beat them in most fights; the "best" swordsman doesn't always win. (3e DMs can of course - - and should - - load up the above-listed NPCs with Weapon Finesse and other rules touches to enhance their combat superiority.)

Oh, one more matter: I'll get to Gerath Hoan's request for more about Sraece Telthorn as soon as I can. Promise.

So saith Ed.

You heard it here first.

love to all,
THO

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February 10, 2006: Hello all. I bring you Ed's reply to BobROE's query: "When farmers claim some plot of land do they tend towards square/rectangular areas (barring a geographic feature preventing it), or just whatever they can claim with the minimal amount of clearing? And do they fence/hedge their plots or do they use natural features as edging (so what I mean would you find a fence/hedge up against the edge of a forest [and lets assume the farmer is growing something, not keeping livestock])?"

Ed speaks:

Ranchers use natural boundaries (rock outcrops, creeks, gullies) as much as possible, trying to guard against wolves and other predators and wandering livestock by hurling up barriers made of felled trees and heaped-up brush, stumps, rocks, and other "cleared from the land" rubbish; few beasts like to try to traverse a huge heap of sharp sticks that soon get covered in thorny vines. In the Savage Frontier and dales, a VERY common field boundary is a creek, with such a tangled hurled-up barrier on its far (untended) side.

Where trees are plentiful, "lazy" (or zig-zag split-rail) fences are often constructed by felling trees and crisscrossing the trunks, to form a barrier on the edge of a woods. The barrier won't stop anything determined, like boar or owlbears; it's there to keep deer from casually grazing their way out of the forest and into the farmer's precious crop fields (he'll starve if they're denued, remember).

A farmer keeping livestock would probably NOT fence a forest-edge, so as to let his beasts graze the tree-leaves (yes, I know modern real-world agriculture frowns on letting animals graze in woodlots; Faerûnian farmers don't know modern real-world agriculture). Everyone in the Realms knows the futility of trying to fence out wolves, leucrotta, and other agile "prowling predators," and instead will band together with other farmers to mount hunts in the forest, to try to "keep down" such "wildjaws" (in the real world, "varmints" is the linguistic equivalent of "wildjaws").

Kitchen gardeners and those who raise poultry (that they fence in) begin with small, whatever-they-can-manage plots, and expand only as necessary.

Anyone who ploughs fields, however, ends up with a vaguely rectangular tilled area, consisting of long straight "ploughruns" (furrows), with a rounded area at either end where the ploughing team or single beast is turned; even if the farmer himself is pulling the plough, he needs a turning area.

So saith Ed, whose grandparents and cousins farmed in his youth.

Ed now lives out in the country, amid farms, but admits that it's been a long time since he "drove" a plowing team. Er, except the game-product-writing kind.

love to all,
THO

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February 11, 2006: Helpless, darling? (Chuckle) WELL, now

Ahem. Hi again, fellow scribes. This time, Ed answers Jamallo Kreen's query: "I have been doing much poking about in several books serially, including El in Hell, and I wonder if there are detailed, otherwise published write-ups of some of the "lesser" memories which El recalled -- the ones which didn't rate mention in the prefatory pages? If so, where might they be found (aside from Ed's collection of 3x5 cards, that is)?"

Ed replies:

I wrote up a LOT of memories that didn't make it into ELMINSTER IN HELL, some of them short-story length, and many, many brief snippets that broke off abruptly as Nergal roared and ranted. However, they were trimmed from the book to make it fit the word count, and I'm not at liberty to publish them elsewhere (WotC owns them). I may sneak a few of them onto the WotC website as supportive material for future novel releases, if certain book projects (which some of them "fit with") bear fruit.

Of course, by then I probably won't be able to find my computer file equivalents of those 3x5 cards you mention... or computers will no longer exist that can read them. :}

So saith Ed.

Who's humming along on divers Realms projects for us all right now. No, dad's the word on that (mum's used to be the word, but we wore her out).

love,
THO

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On February 12, 2006 THO said: Hi, all. I forwarded Steven Schend's Friday the 13th double-query to Ed, and he tossed the second half back to me with the words, "Modesty forbids. You answer this one."

So I will.

Steven asked: "First or best memories of early Realms gaming sessions where something uttered by the players or the GM stopped everyone in their tracks in wonder. (Yes, I'm sure there's many comments that stopped everyone before the laughter started or something ribald was said--I'm thinking of those moments of serendipity where you collectively tapped into what the Realms has become for all of us). There. That explanation at end probably made it too odd, but I'm still curious and you two are the only ones who can tell such tales (and we don't have to worry about pesky NDAs...)."

Well, I know there were many times, but it's been well over twenty years for me, now (more for Ed and my elders among his players). Let me try to recall a few.

First, one 'handed down to me' by said elders: The day Ed first introduced the concept of charters for adventuring companies, and we all looked at each other and said, "Of COURSE that's what kings would do. Why didn't the designers of the game think of this before?"

The day Victor (as Torm) was conversing with a shopkeeper (played by Ed, of course), and noticed verbal patterns he thought he'd heard before. He looked up sharply at Ed and asked, "You said I didn't think I'd seen this particular shuffling old man before, but I'm taking a good hard second look at him now, and asking you: does he look like someone I've seen before who was younger, more hale... hey?" And Ed smiled and said, "Y-e-s-s-s, as a matter of fact. Niggling in your memory. [Ed rolled some dice] Yes! In Essembra, three summers back: the seller-of-swords. This just might be the same man." And it was, and we started to realize that Ed didn't just shuffle a few stock NPCs around (though we already knew he could "wing it" with the best DMs): he kept track of the ongoing lives of hundreds of NPCs, changing their locations and professions in accordance with THEIR aims, ambitions, and reactions to world events. When we started asking him about this, he blinked and said, "Well, of course. All these folk: they ARE the Realms, not maps and town names and sages' histories. All of that's just the clothing I dress these real people up in."

Myself, I was wonderstruck several times in my first play session with Ed, at just how good an actor he was (and is, though now that he's heavier and his knees are going, he doesn't stride and hurl himself around the way he used to, to give us all the body movements). It didn't bother him to play a cringing fool or ardent seductress, with a verve that startled several of our various parents when they happened to walk into the rooms where play sessions were going on (in the early days, Ed didn't host most of them; we moved around, inflicting ourselves on household after household). When Ed started doing two-hour ad-lib sessions as Elminster at GenCons, a lot of gamers were awed by his ability to answer completely unexpected questions in character and with full-on wit, but I wasn't. I'd seen it all before, Realmsplay session after Realmsplay session.

There. That's just three, out of scores of them. And then, as you say, there were all the funny moments (see the early pages of the 2004 thread for some of them), jokes, and ribald comments. Of which I'll share one of MY utterances, that got the biggest laugh.

It involves becoming orally acquainted with a certain PC's manhood. I decided to have some fun with the player, and acted out what my character was doing. Victor was being Torm to the hilt, of course, and asked teasingly, "Taste good?"

And I lifted my head, held out my hand in request, and told him, "Hmm. Needs mustard."

And on that note, I think I'd better stop before I get myself in REAL trouble. Sorry, Alaundo.

love to all,
THO

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February 13, 2006: Hello again, fellow scribes of the Realms. Ed confirms that there's no "secret unpublished" map of Nesmé in existence, so the NJ one will serve admirably.

This time Ed will no doubt please both Mkhaiwati and Sanishiver by tackling Mkhaiwati's eight questions:

"1. The Path of the goblin army and Devil Dragon. In the Death of a Dragon, there is a fight at Calantar's bridge after Arabel is lost. Looking at the maps, the easiest way for a retreating army would be along Calantar's Way, and I would assume the goblins and dragons followed. What happened to Blisterfoot Inn, Immersea, and Hilp (which Volo mentions has a wall)? Would anything be left, or would the goblins ignore since they were being driven by the Dragon?

2. What percent of Cormyr is still blighted at the time of Elminster's Daughter? I seem to recall that the cleric of Chauntea saying something along the lines that if they discovered the ruined fields early, they could repair them.

3. What happened to the Red Raven company in Arabel? Did they try to fight the goblins and get destroyed or did they flee and regroup later?

4. For that matter, what is the current policy towards adventurers in Cormyr, still the status quo? I ask because on one hand Cormyr really would need help with the Stonelands and roving bands of goblins, but on the other hand, with Gondegal in everyone's minds, would they (Alusair) actually be more strict towards adventurers, feeling that with Cormyr weakened parties of armed adventurers could make more trouble?

5. What actually is the policy towards mages. In the Cormyr accessory, is says every mage of 5th level on up needs to register, but it seems (I could be mistaken) that I read in a later publication that it was every mage, or just Cormyr born, or something different (memory is a tricky thing).

6. Which power groups still operate in the Stonelands? In my mind, I would think the Zhents would still be there, but might be pushed out by the Shadovar if the Shadovar thought they could weaken Cormyr. Of ocurse, the Shadovar would also operate behind the scenes and maybe just have the Zhents thinking they still have control of the Stonelands.

7. How about the "Pauper's Town" and bands of refugees near Arabel that are presented in the last of the Archwizards book. What becomes of them? How long did it take for conditions to even become close to being normal (or at least as normal as it could be in Cormyr)?

8. I expect a BIG NDA here, but what about Tilverton? A story in Realms of Shadow presents a view of a nasty Tilverton that could at least still be entered and exited, but other sources (Campaign Setting, Doorway to Everywhere adventure in Dungeon) suggest that anyone going in does not come out. I don't expect a full rundown of what is going on, but instead how it is best to incorporate the ruins into the world would be good, as well of a good description."

Ed replies:

1. Blisterfoot Inn was pillaged (and all livestock devoured) after the folk there fled, but not torched or destroyed. Hilp and Immersea were largely bypassed, though the swift-moving goblins did slay everyone they saw and pillaged where they could - - and the goblins struck so lightly because they were indeed being driven on, hard, by the Devil Dragon.

2. By the time of ELMINSTER'S DAUGHTER, Cormyr's farms are only about 8 percent blighted: in the wake of the defeat of the Devil Dragon, Filfaeril called in some favours, and the priests of Cormyr pleaded with their brethren - - and the call was heard and heeded: clergy of Chauntea, Eldath, and Silvanus came to the Forest Kingdom and worked tirelessly together for some months to "turn the tide."

3. The Red Ravens fought the goblins and took heavy losses until the decision was made to empty the city by the magical means seen in DEATH OF THE DRAGON, whereupon War Wizards bolstering the Purple Dragons as a rearguard on the Arabel end of the link allowed the exhausted Raven survivors to flee through the link to Suzail (they were in fact ORDERED to get out). As a result, they're back in Arabel now, and busily rebuilding.

4. Alusair is as strict with adventurers as her father was: meaning, she comes down hard on those who don't report in, don't peacebond, and don't get charters if they're residents, but turns a smilingly blind eye to adventurers who hurl spells and draw blades in aid of anyone against marauding monsters, brigand attacks, and the like. She's VERY wary of adventurers turning brigand or becoming the sponsored "swordstrike" forces of ambitious nobles seeking to take advantage of the weakened realm, and has opened the coffers (drawing on the Crystal Grot) to hire adventurers she (or her mother, through Dove and other regular Harper contacts; you'll see a glimpse of what Filfaeril's been up to, down the years, in SWORDS OF EVENINGSTAR) "knows" and trusts. So a lot of adventuring bands, each closely watched over by War Wizards to make sure they don't "go bad," are busy in the northeastern part of the realm right now.

The Harpers, the royal foresters, the War Wizards, and the Purple Dragons have all teamed up in a hitherto-unknown close and cordial manner, to scour out the King's Forest of goblins, monsters, and other perils, and are well on their way to doing so (the Hullack, I'm afraid, is another matter). That's not to say things are back to normal, yet, but the "dozens of beast raids every night" that typified conditions in locales "in the shadow of the Forest" in the days after Azoun's death have faded to one or two every few nights.

In Marsember, the authorities are VERY keen-eyed and intolerant of weapons and skulking, but in Suzail, the war against the Devil Dragon has made everyone a little more relaxed when they see a sword or dagger discreetly sheathed at a belt (folk no longer run to tell the authorities, they just keep a quiet eye on openly-armed folk, to make sure no one draws steel). Moreover, adventurers buying arms or coming to Cormyr to seek commissions as bodyguards, caravan escorts, and "scour-outers" for private estates in the countryside are welcomed far more than before. Purple Dragons still stop armed bands riding past and ask to see charters or commissions, but are far more friendly while doing so, and faster to accept explanations like: "We're on our way to see Lord Truesilver right now to obtain the commission he said he wanted to hire us for, when we met last month in Daerlun."

5. Every arcane spellcaster must, by law, register with the Crown (or, if passing through the realm, inform Purple Dragon officers or local lords of their names, reasons for being in the realm, and where exactly they intend to go in Cormyr). Children can, of course, plead ignorance of their powers, as can sorcerers of all ages who don't hurl magic where they can be seen by a War Wizard or Purple Dragon, or someone who'll report them to such folk. Ignorance of the law is no real defense for anyone, but obvious outlanders who aren't seen using magic for hostile purposes tend to get a stern warning and forcible registration, these days, rather than automatic "jail and then deportation." Those who can hide their spellbooks and scrolls (by having someone else in their party carry them, for example) can claim to have given up wizardry after having their minds harmed during the "Devil Dragon War," but they'd better not be seen hurling spells around if they want to escape detention or worse. Suzail is the most tolerant place in the Realm for such transgressions, Marsember (and the guest quarters at High Horn) the worst, with Arabel close behind. A day's ride east of Arabel, the law of Cormyr now ends, it's considered lawless country, and so even Purple Dragon patrols will expect groups of travelers to be well-armed and ready to fight (in other words, they're not enforcing registration, peacebonding, or anything of the sort in the vicinity of Tilverton, which in practical terms is no longer within the reach of Cormyrean law; rather, the 'law of the sword' applies).

6. Bingo: your speculation "the Shadovar would also operate behind the scenes and maybe just have the Zhents thinking they still have control of the Stonelands" is spot-on correct. The Zhents are still operating there, and (as usual) skirmishing in the Stonelands with Harpers, adventurers sent out by Cormyr, and the like, but (although they don't know this) are doing so purely at the pleasure of the Shadovar, who are hiding behind them whilst proceeding with something covert nearby in the region which is firmly NDA'd.

7. The refugees were swiftly and forcibly resettled in Arabel and other areas around it that suffered heavy casualties from the goblins. This process went quickly and smoothly because Vangerdahast set his War Wizards to mind-controlling anyone who objected. Few did, because most were only too glad to step into ready accommodations and jobs before a hard winter could hit them. So, no more Pauper's Town or refugee camps or addled / desperate scavenging wanderers, which is the way Alusair wanted things, as swiftly as possible (because having such would aid unrest and provide cover for any brigands, Sembian or Zhent expansions, or any other mischief anyone schemed into being regarding the borders of her realm).

8. Always happy to oblige expectations: behold (splot!) one bright, bold, robust NDA, right in your lap. Treat it well, and in time it shall become thy friend. :}

Tilverton is a shattered ruin, in a permanent gloom (a fog-like shadow, by night and day), wherein many opportunistic monsters prowl and undead created in the devastation roam - - and the Shadovar watch, magically capturing those who interest them and letting others fight the perils of the ruins and find what fates they may. So most who go in don't come out. Adventurers had best defeat monsters with a minimum of splashy magic, or they'll be "collected" by watching Shadovar. Those adventurers who go in and prevail against the dangers can find a lot of little treasure (coinage) that can survive explosions and building collapses relatively unscathed but shouldn't expect to find any magic that the Shadovar haven't left as lures or tracer-items. Of course, folk in Faerûn don't know any of this; I'm just murmuring it in confidence to you the omniscient DM. :}

Anyone desiring to rebuild, inhabit, or refound Tilverton is destined for swift doom and disapppointment, and there's a lot more to come in the future for Tilver's Gap, the Shadovar, and [oooh, there's that NDA again - - see how shiny 'tis? Um! Sharp, too!]

So saith Ed.

Who hopes all of that helps. Enjoy!

love to all,
THO

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February 14, 2006: Hi again, scribes of the Realms. Herewith, Ed answers Volo (the scribe) in this matter of Volo (the character): "Is Volo a Harper? I've seen a lot of evidence in both directions, but for some reason I've never been able to quite suppress the belief that Elminster wouldn't put up with his annoyances if he weren't in some way beneficial to the Old Mage, and given his (pseudo-)encyclopedic knowledge of backwoods Faerun, and the fact that he seems to know some things about the inner workings of said organization that would seem to require personal interaction with same, I'm tempted to say that he is, but I desperately want the truth from the horse's mouth."

Ed replies:

Horse's mouth. Yup, no problem. Mister Ed here, on the case ("Oh, a horse is a horse, of course, of course...")

Ahem.

No, Volo isn't officially a Harper, though he often works with them and likes to think of himself as one. He has a Harper pin, yes, in fact he carries half a dozen, and has more hidden in various "favourite spots" around the Realms, but then: he's stolen all of them.

He COULD be a Harper (if anyone was folish or daring enough to accept him into the fold), and many Harpers treat him as if he is a member of Those Who Harp - - not because he's fooled them into thinking he really is, but because he's useful to them as what I'd better call "a Harper dupe." He's the Inspector Clouseau character who crashes into a delicate situation, blundering about and creating a diversion that WORKS (because he's not acting a role, in his mind, he really is doing his best and "being a Harper") while the real Harpers get the job done.

Volo isn't stupid, nor particularly venal. He's just accident-prone (in large measure because he annoys various gods, who have come to look upon him as a source of amusement as well as an irritant, and delight in causing that endless parade of accidents) and at times astonishingly insensitive (in a patriarchal, "Oh, isn't it quaint out here in the Colonies!" sort of way). He is a kindly person who wants to improve the Realms and right wrongs, but wants even more to be worldly-wise and "in the know," and as a result ends up ruled by his cynicism and his whims. Volo has to rush everywhere and see (so as to know) EVERYTHING, and so can never stick with things long enough to see them to satisfactory conclusions (unless someone else steps in to do the necessary work). His personal views are sufficiently close to those of most Harpers (act against large, powerful governments to mitigate their inevitable corruption, and so on) to make him work with them, towards the same goals, but his methods (ways of working) drive most Harpers wild. Volo's the sort of guy who, when the Harpers are creeping up on someone, will step out into the light and say brightly, "Hello, Mister Villain? You don't know me, but I have to say that if *I* could get this close to you without your knowing it, then there could be an entire army creeping up on you right now, also without your knowing about it! You really should..." [while a dozen Harpers, crawling on their bellies in the grass not four paces away, clench their teeth and turn purple]

Volo is very bright, but (perhaps a mental deficiency related to an alcoholic mother drinking heavily before she gave birth to him?) often seems unable to see obvious consequences - - or rather, he understands them when they're pointed out to him, or sees them in the deeds of others, but utterly DISREGARDS them when he himself speaks and acts. He often stays alive by the grace of those same amused gods (where others would be slain brutally and swiftly), most often by dumbfounding foes (in the manner that Doctor Who has so often been portrayed in his latest revival [both actors]: bouts of saying and doing things so outrageously loony that adversaries pause to wonder what he's REALLY up to).

So Volo might tell you he's a Harper, because he wants to think he is, enjoys the power or regard from others who might be impressed, or obey him, or let him get into somewhere and see something they'd otherwise bar him from. He's got the pin to prove it, after all, and can reel off reams of Harper names as contacts, little hints and half-knowledge about recent and ongoing Harper missions, and facts that "prove" he's an insider (though a suspicious Harper who's been very active and moved about geographically and interacted with many other Harpers, as opposed to a stay-at-home local agent, could soon satisfy themselves that Volo can "talk a good streak" but doesn't really know what he's talking about). His manner might well, however, make those suspicious of him think he's mind-mazed (addled in his wits) rather than an impostor.

Hmmm. Maybe I should just give you the short answer.

Is Volo a Harper?

No.

So saith Ed

Nicely put at the end, there, dear.

More Realmslore on the morrow,
love to all,
THO

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February 15, 2006: Hi again, fellow scribes! This time, Ed tackles Gerath Hoan's Sraece Telthorn request: "Wow, this character sounds amazing! I don't suppose we could trouble Ed for slightly more detail on him, could we? I'd love to get any more detail you could give, but a bit more physical description and what his favoured weapon(s) and fighting style(s) happen to be would be very helpful. Is he a native of Sembia who frequents Waterdeep or vice-versa? I could really use this character, especially since he happens to frequent Yhaunn, a city I've become increasingly fond of in the last few months.

Ed strikes again, throwing out some sample pieces of Realmslore that helps to captivate the scribes here at Candlekeep and it certainly reminds me why the Realms is such a great place to explore. Thanks in advance if any more detail can be supplied, GH"

Gerath posted that query after reading these words of Ed, in the Bearded One's "best bladesmen of the Realms" reply to Feanor: "Sraece Telthorn is a smallish, agile, almost feminine man who can dance, tumble, balance, and spring with a skill and precision matched only by the greatest acrobats (once leaping off a parapet to land perfectly balanced on a sloping, protruding flagstaff far below, for instance, and often springing over the slashing swords of opponents). He teaches "swordplay" (fencing) in Yhaunn and Waterdeep, and is believed to travel between the two by means of secret portals of unknown origin and location. Telthorn lives simply, is unambitious (avoiding power and important patrons, and giving much of his coins away), and is beloved by many pleasure-lasses of Waterdeep, who regard him as a kind friend or honorary brother as well as a frequent client."

So, here's Ed:

Well, now. You already know that Sraece Telthorn is a CN hm Ftr16/Thief-Acrobat7.

So here we go...

He's Str 15, Int 15, Wis 13, Dex 18, Con 12, Cha 16, stands 5'4" in height, weighs 129 lbs or so, has pale white skin, delicate and one might even say beautiful features: thin nose and chin, small ears, and large steel-gray eyes (go greenish at moments of great emotion), wavy brown hair cut shoulder-length, and a white sword-scar across his left shin, just below his knee. With proper dress and cosmetics, he might well pass for a comely lass. Aside from his behind, he has almost NO body fat.

If you were describing his looks, voice, and manner, you'd probably end up saying something like: "quietly, glidingly graceful, but dignified. Always looks like he belongs, and is brooding on some important purpose or other that he's confidently heading to deal with. Rarely smiles, and chuckles more often than he laughs. Can perfectly control his face and voice, and mimic the voices of others, if need be (in his early thieving, he often eavesdropped on guards, owners, and neighbours so as to imitate them in the darkness, if challenged during his thefts).

Sraece Telthorn's favourite weapons are the longsword and dagger. He's adept at fighting with sword and dagger, with two daggers or with two longswords, and at throwing his daggers; some winters back, he ruined an entire wall of wood panelling in a now-demolished former noble villa that he broke into, practicing running full-tilt at that wall throwing daggers as he came, to form a 'stair' of projecting blades he could swarm up to reach a balcony as swiftly as possible. He's also adept at fighting in darkness and near-darkness (blindfighting, in game terms), and experienced at correctly interpreting the sounds of stealth (he can usually tell EXACTLY where anyone creeping up on him is located, and what they're doing). Although he prides himself at his precision with a blade (ability to fence, parry, and get past an opponent's guard), he's not personally interested in fair fights: whenever possible, he avoids open battle (except to train others, for fees), or sees to it that foes are harmed by toppled crates or other "objects at hand," or have to fight when hampered by draperies dumped over their heads, darkness, or when slipping and sliding on bags of glass beads he's emptied all over a floor.

Yet Telthorn's kinder and fairer than most thieves (or hireswords, for that matter); he simply prefers efficiency in disposing of foes, rather than relying on his dazzling swordplay skill to see him to victory.

These days, Telthorn steals almost nothing, though he's willing to slip stealthily into bedchambers by night to leave messages or warnings from those who pay him well enough, to keep what he calls his "creeping" skills polished. He's wealthy enough, now, to live quietly for more than a score of summers, without lifting a finger in work, but enjoys training others in swordplay, and spends much of his time doing so (and much of the rest whimsically helping those he regards as his friends - - many of whom happen to be Waterdhavian pleasure-lasses he's hired for a night, and discovered he really likes.

So saith Ed, but he's not done; you'll get to read a lot more about Sraece Telthorn next time.

love to all,
THO

February 17, 2006: (Giggle) Gently with that jaw, there...

Of COURSE there's more, GH. And Ed isn't finished even with this second post!

Hi again, all. Yes, Ed herewith continues his Sraece Telthorn reply to Gerath Hoan:

Sraece was born on a farm not far north of Yhaunn, to tenant farmers who were poor and heavily in debt, and from a young age was acrobatic and agile, able to run along tightly-stretched ropes, climb fearlessly, leap and land in small, precise spots, and so on. He ran away when creditors seized his parents (and covertly sold them into slavery, where they were worked to death somewhere in one of the Wizards' Reach cities, in the household of a Thayan fleetmaster) and all the family goods, and made his way south, falling in with carters (caravan merchants operating only between the cities of Sembia, on short, fast runs) and making his living largely with his wits, often leaping from the top of a moving wagon into upper windows of nearby buildings by night, stealthily stealing what he could, and racing over the rooftops to rejoin the moving wagons. He soon discovered his acrobatic bent, good natural sense of balance, and aptitude for throwing daggers and for swordplay, and offered himself as a sparring partner for some of the caravan guards, quickly gaining sword-skills with practice. Eventually he found himself involved in a war between rival investor-merchants of Saerloon (one of whom, Onstur Haeriven, wanted to end up controlling the carters Telthorn "ran with," whereas the other, Albregh Muirl, wanted to ruin anything "Old Onstur" had an interest in, including the carters). One night, the carters ended up ambushed by "brigands" (adventurers covertly hired by Muirl), who succeeded in slaying most of the carters and wrecking their wagons. Telthorn astonished everyone involved by slaughtering most of the brigands in the fray.

That battle triggered open warfare between the two merchants, and Haeriven soon sent Telthorn to slay Muirl. Slipping into Muirl's strangely-unguarded mansion late one night through a lofty window, Telthorn discovered he'd come too late: Muirl, along with most of his guards and household, had been slain by the agents of yet another merchant, this one evidently not above hiring poisoners to slay indiscriminately. Finding several secret cupboards in Muirl's office (hidden behind slightly-less-secret cupboards in the walls), Telthorn swiftly pilfered what he could of their contents: a small cache of gems and a dozen deeds (to buildings in various Sembian cities), and went into hiding, caching his loot in a rooftop hiding-place in Yhaunn and settling down patiently to live and work under a variety of names and guises, once using his feminine build and looks to take hire as a "governess" (actually a bodyguard) to a rich merchant's two daughters (and heiresses). Whenever short-hire jobs took him to a place where one of Muirl's deeded properties was located, Telthorn took it along and quietly hired local agents to collect rents to his credit (in return for a share in those rents), and so slowly became moderately wealthy. In time he sold the least desirable (most run-down and rent-trouble-prone) properties and used the funds to buy better properties, avoiding all other forms of investments and commerce.

Eventually Telthorn managed to arrange his affairs so that two competing professional "factors-for-hire" (both in Yhaunn) each handled a share of his rents. He set them to watching over each other for signs of fraud, with the expectation that the one found cheating him would lose his business.

And so matters stand now, with most of Telthorn's gems converted into properties in all of Sembia's cities (although only in Yhaunn is he assembling entire blocks of buildings). From time to time, he hires independent investigators to ask tenants if they'd be willing to move out so said investigator could move in, and thereby learn just what rents are being charged, to ensure neither factor is raising rents without telling him. He's cultivated friendships and professional "rush to my aid on this signal" deals with several adventuring bands, and "be my tight-lipped messenger" arrangements with several younglings he feels he can trust, and otherwise invests (aside from property) only in small, struggling-for-coins builders and repairers (he puts money in their hands when they need it, and in return eventually gets slightly larger payouts when they get paid for finished work).

All of this has mounted up, purely through an increase in the number of owned properties, into quite a considerable income. Telthorn teaches swordplay because he wants to, not because he financially must, to feed himself, and he's been able to purchase magic items such as an ironguard ring, a ring of regeneration, and carried (in special boot-sheaths, that hold steel vials) healing potions.

So saith Ed; so that's how Telthorn got to where he is today.

Of which more next time, when Ed wraps up his 'potted life of Sraece Telthorn.'

February 17, 2006: Hello once more, fellow scribes, and hearken to the conclusion of Ed's reply to Gerath Hoan about the NPC Sraece Telthorn.

Ed writes:

Despite his now-considerable wealth, Sraece lives simply (he likes soups, stews, and other farm-folk food, well cooked) and gives away coins when his whims move him to do so (though, lacking easy laundry facilities, he often buys new clothing - - flowing shirts, vests, and tight-fitting breeches are his usual garb - - and gives away his worn garments to street beggars, retaining only a favourite greatcloak [ankle-length wool winter-wind cloak], hat, and boots).

Though the other tenants are unaware that their landlord dwells among them, Sraece now "lives" (if he can be said to really live anywhere) in two tallhouses in Yhaunn, keeping spartan, well-locked rooms for himself in each (equipped with a cot, easy chair, rows of spare boots and clothing, crocks of pickles, wheels of cheese, and loaves of bread), and renting all the rest out. He owns no Waterdhavian property, but has been thinking of acquiring "something" for three or four seasons now.

Telthorn knows of two portals linking Waterdeep and Yhaunn; he found one by accident, while fleeing a gang of thugs, and the other by seeing a dying, transfixed-with-swords thief appear "out of nowhere," stagger a few steps, and die at his feet. He has no idea who created either portal, and they don't seem (to him) to be known or used by anyone else (in fact, both are known to the Harpers, Moonstars, and Blackstaff Tower - - all of whom know Telthorn uses them, but take no action against him). Both portals operate automatically (silently and without limit), in both directions, whenever any living creature steps into exactly the right spot while touching (any part of) the wall immediately to their left.

One portal-link goes from the cellar in one of these tallhouses (it's the reason Telthorn bought the place, when he already owned another) in Yhaunn, to the attic of the (S side of Horn Street, North Ward) rental (shops in cellar and street level, living suites on the three floors above) tallhouse that's right next to The Silent Shield inn (on its east side) in Waterdeep.

The other links a particular spot among the rocks below the northern arc of the city wall of Yhaunn (operates "to Waterdeep" only when someone stands or lies on just the right rock while touching a particular knob of bedrock above and to the side of it) with the cellar of a ramshackle rental storage warehouse (S side of Coach Street, South Ward) that's right next to The Full Cup tavern (on its east side) in Waterdeep.

Telthorn has always spent most of his time in Yhaunn, but is increasingly exploring and falling in love with Waterdeep, these days, and spending four days (and their nights) per tenday there, where formerly he might have spent two at most. In winter, he prefers Yhaunn's deeper, calmer cold to Waterdeep's damper, windier, more chilling (and ice-rime-coated) "frozen months," and spends more time in Yhaunn - - though when he does visit Waterdeep, he buys firewood and food, knowing his "lasses" (see below) suffer most in their (mainly in Dock Ward) upstairs rooms at that time of year; he's even been known to take one of them, if he finds her sick or miserable, to a good inn for a night or two, to "warm and feed her up."

Rather than running an official "school" of swordplay in either city, Telthorn goes to the clubs, gambling houses, and taverns he knows Waterdhavian nobles and wealthy merchants (or the rising-in-coin merchants of Yhaunn) frequent, and offers his personal training services at 7 gp/day (typically two sessions of about three hours duration, each). His reputation is such that he's known on sight (in Waterdeep especially), never has to wait long for hire, and sometimes encounters a rush of eager would-be patrons upon entering an establishment. Most of his clients find him pleasant, quiet and unassuming, and quietly confident (never servile, but not arrogant); most of them like him very much, and will hail him if they see him in the streets or at a club.

When not working, Telthorn likes to hear bards telling sagas at clubs, and to see plays (though he dislikes tragedies and the noisier sort of slapstick comedies, most enjoying satires and farces). He's an accomplished dancer, and can acquit himself with grace if invited to even the most upper-crust revels.

Telthorn uses Mirt the Moneylender as a 'banker' in Waterdeep, and in Yhaunn sees "Old Mother" Yanthaera (a craggy-faced crone who's both a Harper agent and a VERY shrewd investor) in Saedre Street for the same purposes. Telthorn typically carries a small purse of coins inside his codpiece, a "go ahead and steal me" purse of odd change at his belt, and another 8 gold pieces in each (hollow) boot-heel.

Sraece Telthorn is kind-hearted, and gives coins freely to those he sees in need (on the streets of Yhaunn and Waterdeep), otherwise giving the pleasure-lasses he frequents an ample fistful of gold coins at every visit (wherefore he seldom has to rent rooms at an inn; he merely drops in on one of his "lasses" for the night, often bringing wine and a meal with him). Said lasses love him because he's a good and sympathetic listener who cares about their lives and troubles (and shows it), likes giving shoulder- and foot-rubs, and won't shrink from nursing someone who's sick.

Telthorn's aims in life are subjects he doesn't trouble to think about much, and only discusses if one of "his lasses" asks him. He's content with the life he now leads, desiring no high public profile, influence, or political power. However, he's feeling increasingly lonely, and toys idly with the idea of building a mansion and living in it with half-a-dozen or so of his favourite lasses - - IF he can somehow get them to "get along" with each other. If they want to go on working, that's fine with him, but if they want to do it in the mansion, he sees having a very good security force as vitally necessary... which ties in with his other idle dream: establishing (he knows he'll have to recruit, assemble, and train them himself) a well-armed, capable strike force of adventurers who like keeping a low profile, and will obey him absolutely, acting not only as security for him, but giving him an instrument to use against Waterdhavian nobles and ruthless Sembian merchants whom he feels have "stepped over the line" in their greed or trade battles, into behaviour that threatens what he likes in Waterdhavian and Sembian society. (He sees both places as far too "wolf eat wolf," and present vigilante forces as controlled by those in power, and hence all too often 'part of the problem.')

So saith Ed, and there you are: Sraece Telthorn, a tailor-made NPC for all your Realms campaigns. Gerath Hoan, Ed would be interested in hearing what use you make of him, in yours.

Larloch, Ed will be happy to participate. How do you want to do this? Via e-mail?

love to all,
THO

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February 18, 2006: Hi again, all. This time around, Ed takes a look at this, from Archwizard: "Hey Ed, since this is my first question, I would like to thank you for giving us the Forgotten Realms. It has been and continues to be immensely enjoyable.

I would like to ask if you had any information on the fairly large island north of Icewind Dale shown on the rough map "A Scholar's View of Abeir-Toril" on page 231 of the 3e FRCS. It is the northernmost island off the coast, sort of set in a shallow bay. It is kind of at the same latitude as the entrance to the Great Ice Sea, but on the Sword Coast rather than at the other end of Faerun.

Since it is in the Scholar's View map, it's probably off scale. Some of the sages at Candlekeep say it might be the isle named Umukek in an update for the FR Interactive Atlas. Others disagree and think it is an island or iceberg north of that. I can't confirm either since I don't have the Interactive Atlas. Any information would be appreciated, I was planning on using it for my own campaign, but would like to know what's already there, if there is anything. Thanks in advance."

Ed makes reply:

Hey, you're quite welcome. I hope we all continue to find the Realms enjoyable for years to come. Even if I don't ever get around to writing all the background lore I want to, and that scribes keep asking for.

The island you refer to is Duuthskor, and there's nothing on it but frozen ice. Or, to put it another way, it's solid rock, frozen (and thus easily shattered) down forty feet or so, and then thawed by the (comparative) warmth of lava flows that are MUCH deeper in the Underdark. On top of the fissured, scoured-bare rock is sixty feet or so of solid, never-melting (these days) ice.

It's north of Umukek, but doesn't appear in the map views of the FR Interactive Atlas for the very good reason that it's entirely hidden by pack ice, and so seems part of the arctic "mainland." So despite its size, there's nothing to interest adventurers - - on its surface, at least; in the Underdark, its fissures are one of the many sources of falling water that eventually join in rivulets and then underground streams (drinking water to Underfolk) and flow to join great underground lakes.

Folk of surface Faerûn today have entirely forgotten about this huge island, and don't know where "Duuthskor" (a place in the oldest Uthgardt legends, and mentioned in some dwarven chants) is.

In other words, at some point in the past (circa Netheril, at the very latest, and probably much earlier), it wasn't covered by pack ice, and so was mapped, and preserved in maps now at Candlekeep and various temple libraries (notably those of Oghma and Deneir)... which is how it found its way into the Scholar's map in the FRCS.

All of which means you're free to make any use of it in your campaign you'd like. Just devise some reason, magical (big spell, or perhaps a crashed Netherese city that someone gets to and "restarts" the climate magics of, which would give you buildings and gardens and so: trees and greenery and prowling monsters and treasure, or at least something other than cold, broken bare rock) or otherwise (volcanic eruption? doesn't have to be explosive or form an ash cone { = volcano} but can just be a welling-up of magma to the surface, that melts the ice from below, and lays bare the rock beneath), to clear the pack ice away, and (as Volo would say airily) "there you be: smiling!"

So saith Ed.

Who is grinding away at his ever-heaping platter of work, and still some chapters of editing away from seeing to you, Kuje, but has NOT forgotten you.

love to all,
THO

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February 19, 2006: Hi again, fellow scribes. This time, Ed tries to give a useful reply to Nevorick's query: "Lady Herald, I will take thy advice and ask for small kernels of knowledge from the Sage, Ed. After thy whispers, what can Ed say on the Cormyrian Kings, Belmuth and Arathra?"

Ed speaks:

I'm afraid NDA concerns will render me much more terse than I'd like to be, but here we go:

Belmuth "the Bastard" is considered the 35th Obarskyr monarch in Cormyr's royal lineage. Born 304 DR, died 334 DR (reigned 328 DR to death). Succeeded the infant king Baerildo, and was succeeded by his son Sargrannon. Belmuth was called "the Bastard" because he was the illegitimate (and eldest) son of Ulbaeram (the 31st Obarskyr monarch).

Belmuth was a reluctant king, commanded to the throne at the height of the Thronestrife and wanting none of its perils for himself or his family. He spent much of his time vainly seeking a way to secretively flee Cormyr and go into hiding. His tormentor and the cause of his death was [NDA].

Belmuth was a tall, burly, quiet man, more interesting in hawking, riding the backlands, and tramping the forests (he liked hunting with the bow, but had little taste for spearing boar or any sort of hunting involving beaters, large groups of men, and chases) than chatter and intrigue and fine wines and luxuries. Awkward in public and at dancing, he would have changed his face and name in an instant if he'd ever found any magical means of so disguising himself and his family, so as to escape a life he wanted no part of.

The Cormyr he 'ruled' was a land of unease among the commoners and terror at court, thanks again to [NDA].

Arathra "the Little Spider" is considered the 45th Obarskyr monarch of the royal line. Born 322 DR, died 348 DR (reigned 347 DR to death). Succeeded Jasl "the Royal Jester" (so called thanks to his cruel practical jokes) and was succeeded by Barander. Arathra's nickname came from her (inherited) small, frail build, and from her venomous disposition (she was softly-smiling cruelty personified, and intrigues and treachery were her fascination, delight, and entertainment). In the years before ascending the throne she took a consort [NDA] and bore him three sons, two of whom, [NDA and NDA], in the fullness of time, wore the crown.

As you can see, skeletal lore indeed. I must warn that I'm not going to say much more about these monarchs, and not give much greater depth if asked about others, either, because although I'd love to share everything freely with all scribes of Candlekeep and Realms fans, I'm NOT going to imperil the chances of getting the lore of Cormyr featured in some sort of official WotC print publication. Nevorick, you must rest assured that the Lineage as it stands now (although we'll always want to add more detail to it, of course) presents a line of succession that has no holes in logic. Weirdnesses, yes, but everything's explained if you read the entire document - - and the scribes THO named have done yeoman service in that regard.

So saith Ed.

Who may be as curious as I am as to why these two monarchs in particular interest you, Nevorick. If you're interested in setting a campaign way back during their times, you'll have to concoct a LOT of information about the wider Realms around Cormyr yourself, and there's a dark shadow hanging over the Forest Kingdom that Ed's trying to avoid saying too much about. If you're planning to have someone or someones around today who's directly descended from either of these, forget it. That same shadow handily eliminated that possibility, although there are "loose end" Obarskyrs from this century who COULD serve that purpose, especially if the descent was illegitimate and secretive. If you were just curious about the stories of Belmuth and Arathra (because of their nicknames, perhaps), I'm afraid that's just what Ed has to be so sketchy about. Sigh. Let us parley.

love,
THO

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February 20, 2006: Hi again, all. Glad to be of help, Nevorick. This time, Ed (who happened to have this topic in mind for WotC Realmslore reasons) starts to tackle Kuje's query: "I've always wondered about Shyrrhr. What does she look like? What does she like to wear both as formal dress, which I'm assuming she has one? Her casual dress? and.... evening wear, shall we say. What is her history? What does she like to do for entertainment/fun? Again, besides the obvious. :) Why does she have the title she has? What does that title entail, besides the obvious? What does her home look like in Castle Ward? And of course, anything else Ed might want to add about her."

Ed speaks:

Shyrrhr was born Larelda Shyrrhr Mallowdar, to a family of cloak- and gown-makers in Deepingdale (her mother's name was Larelda, so Shyrrhr never used her first name; "Shyrrhr" is what her family called an elf lady, Telshyrrhr, who married into the family centuries earlier, and the Shyrrhr of today, namesake of this long-dead kindly elf, uses only her second name; few Waterdhavians know she has any other names at all).

Shyrrhr is tall, and would be striking and commanding if she wasn't so quiet and self-effacing (good at remaining still and silent, and blending into the background). She's very good at judging people, reading body language, and being sensitive to the likes, dislikes, moods, and changing emotions and thoughts of everyone she meets, and from early childhood has controlled her own face, speech, and behaviour (being a consummate actress, if you will) accordingly.

She genuinely likes to make people - - even strangers, and folk who repel her or whom she finds odd - - happy, and set them at her ease, and has a knack for doing so. Through practice she's become very good at smoothing over awkwardnesses, and making individuals contented who are feeling awkward, lonely, or socially uncertain. She's even good at getting foes to talk together, on matters of safe common ground, so as to see each other as people and not just as enemies. As she once told Mirt (who was concerned after a visiting envoy bound and beat her during sex, and he saw her bruises before priests set about banishing them), "This is what I do, and what the gods made me to do."

She so served (setting at ease and nursing when injured, not becoming his lover) Piergeiron several times during his youthful adventuring travels, and much later came to Waterdeep at his request, to become the city's "Lady of Court" and fulfill her hostess role. Piergeiron saw the great usefulness of someone like Shyrrhr in advancing Waterdeep's interests and defusing difficulties with its trade rivals and foes, by setting envoys at ease and giving many folk fond thoughts and memories of Shyrrhr's hospitality (hence the title, residence, and financial support the Palace gives Shyrrhr).

Her tolerance for strong drink began in childhood, too; her uncle made the best hard cider in Deepingdale, a very strong quaff that she sampled nightly, building up an ability to control herself thanks to exposure and to practice in the alertly aware self-control she'd always had. She hates being grimy, and likes making and mending clothes; she's always designed and made gowns, shawls, and stomachers for herself and for sale, but grew bored doing only this in Deepingdale, hungering for the excitement and bustle of fabled Suzail or Selgaunt or Waterdeep - - so when Piergeiron sent her a message by herald, and then visited, she eagerly agreed to relocate to the City of Splendors.

So saith Ed.

Part two of his three-part Shyrrhr reply (yes, it's going to be that long, but then he wouldn't be the ladling-rich-Realmslore Ed we love if he wasn't verbose) tomorrow.

love to all,
THO

February 21, 2006: Hi again, scribes of Candlekeep. (Great questions, Dargoth, and I know from campaign experience that Ed already has the answers at his fingertips for most of them.) Herewith, Parte Ye Seconde of Ed's Shyrrhr reply to Kuje:

The Palace purse installed Shyrrhr in her home (a narrow house dominated by a formal dining room opening off its entrance, with a spiral stair leading up and kitchens behind; a lounge floored in a sea of fur rugs with low couches, tables, subtle magical lighting Shyrrhr can alter at will, on the floor above, and two palatial bedchambers (for Shyrrhr and a guest, though in truth she more often sleeps with guests than alone), with soaring ceilings, on the top floor, all of these rooms having large fireplaces opening into a central chimney core (which has a food-delivery dumbwaiter opening on all floors built into it) at their backs, and beautiful paintings and statuettes (flowing elf-work and forest scenes, mainly). Her pantry is the rear half of her cellar (which has a hidden bedroom behind panelling, for hiding guests who need to temporarily disappear, and a lounge and privy used by her bodyguards), and the rear of the house has a second set of stairs rising from the cellar through the kitchen (just inside the back door, which is as strong as a castle door), to a bath-chamber and garderobe on the lounge floor, another bath-chamber and garderobe on the top floor, and the attic (which has another hidden bedchamber, this one low-ceilinged and spartan).

Outside the house is, in back: a very tiny walled back garden, full of herbs and vegetables that grow up frames affixed to the inside of the two-men-high wooden garden wall. In front are iron railings enclosing a tiny yard with a fountain - - a sea elf soaring up out of water, who endlessly sheds water from her outstretched arms - - set in a pool, and a flagstone path bending around the pool to link the front gate with the front door. The Palace owns this house (and provides cleaning staff; a personal maid who mainly washes (and helps bind) Shyrrhr's hair and lays out and cleans her clothes, as Shyrrhr always dresses herself; a slender, handsome, well-spoken young page, Asdagh [a LN male Tethyrian human Rog4/Harper Scout 1] who runs errands and messages to Piergeiron and various city officials (and is scrupulously honest with Shyrrhr, whom he loves, so she knows he's a Harper); four bodyguards, who are veterans of the Guard augmented by a Watchful Order magist; and a superb kitchen staff of three cooks and two servers) but it's Shyrrhr's home until she dies (for the last time; the agreement provides for her resurrection, if she ever dies "serving the city"). The Palace purse covers all of her needs (food, drink, flowers or clothes or anything she needs to entertain, give gifts, create good impressions, and so on), but pays her no salary - - and as she never abuses this privilege, and is a good friend to Palace officials high and low, they leap to provide her with coins, never questioning or delaying any demand, no matter what the time of night or how strange the request may be.

It's rare for Shyrrhr not to be entertaining of an evening (her bodyguard will be out of sight in the cellar, "at the ready," whenever she has guests in the house), because even when she's not serving as a hostess of some guest, she's serving as a comforter, willing listener, and 'mother confessor' to Piergeiron, Mirt, or any Palace official, Lord, or personage of the city who has need of her (this does NOT mean she goes to bed with an endless procession of Waterdhavians, every day and night; it does mean she drinks a lot of spirits and tea with a lot of people, while listening to them and speaking with them, revealing by her questions and comments that she, yes, genuinely cares).

Many wonder how she keeps from depression or even suicide, given all the troubles folk share with her almost daily, but Shyrrhr is a merry soul, and whenever she feels the need ascends to her attic in private, spreadeagles herself on a rough stone slab set into the floor there, and prays to all the gods, pouring out her emotions until she falls asleep, exhausted, or feels at peace.

So saith Ed.

Who will return with more about Shyrrhr on the morrow. Torm of the Knights, by the way, once slipped into Shyrrhr's house through the oval window at the front of the attic (by using magical means to slice it right out of its frame), and was hiding in the attic when she came in, tore off her nightgown, and flung herself down on the slab, writhing, sobbing and calling out to the gods. He was so moved that he came out of hiding to comfort her - - and she DIDN'T scream, but rolled over calmly in his embrace to ask him his name, bid him welcome, offer him tea, and otherwise (astonishingly) turned right into the full hostess act, with her face still covered with tears and her mouth trembling. She even blocked an attack by one of her bodyguards, who came pounding up the back stair to her aid. Torm stole her nightgown without meaning to (he was carrying it and ended up with it still in his hand after a battle erupted not involving him), but later returned it, using that errand as an excuse to slip in and visit her again.

love to all,
THO

February 22, 2006: Well met again. Ed concludes his Shyrrhr reply to Kuje:

Interestingly, Shyrrhr has recently discovered she enjoys wrestling. Hard, bruising wrestling, though she doesn't like eye-gouging or weapons or being wounded by hard clothing or sheathed weapons (so such are usually removed before the mayhem starts). She often battles her bodyguard with fierce abandon, and then gets healing from a priest "called in" by the Palace; this pursuit is almost certainly another way for her to "let off steam" from the weight of all the confessions and troubles shared with her. (When she makes love, it's often to comfort someone, so - - when she can, as with certain visiting adventurers she's come to trust - - she enjoys 'cutting loose' and dominating in bed, too.)

Shyrrhr uses cosmetics and scents only lightly and subtly, so her skin is usually "her own" hue: very pale tawny. She stands over six feet tall (taller in heels, of course, and she wears many shoes and boots with spike heels), has a slender, sleek build (small breasts and hips), green eyes, and glossy bronze-hued hair that falls to the backs of her knees when unbound (it's washed at least every second day, her bath having a large sloping marble shelf for that purpose: she can lie in the water while her hair, spread out in a great fan on the marble, is cleaned).

Shyrrhr has a kind, pretty face, with small but tufted eyebrows of the same bronze hue as her hair. Her green eyes can dance with merriment, but are usually grave and gentle, as is her speech and expression. She gives hugs and kisses without hesitation (and wears magical rings and anklets provided by the Watchful Order that protect her against many poisons).

At night, she prefers diaphanous, flowing, translucent ankle-length silk gowns over her bare body (she goes barefoot, and sleeps nude under her bedcovers), and by day is almost always "dressed up" (because the need to entertain can arise at any time). "Dressed up" doesn't necessarily mean stunningly glamorous or formal; Shyrrhr's style is quiet good taste, welcoming rather than forbidding, and "classic" in style rather than bold or cutting-edge fashion. On the rare occasions (usually just if she's ill or nursing someone) that she can be said to be clad in "casual wear," around the house, she'll be barefoot, with warm gowns that unbutton from ankle to throat, with a simple chemise or slip worn underneath.

Her formal wear consists of the aforementioned elegant shoes or boots, all manner of classy underwear, sometimes a flower pinned in her hair, a few pieces of simple (never gaudy or gemstone-heavy) jewelry, and gowns - - almost always ankle-length (though they may be quite daring; Shyrrhr doesn't mind showing the world her skin), always fashionable and flatteringly cut (clinging closely to her flat stomach and slender waist, and with sleeves long enough to reach the wrists of her long arms), and of almost any sort of beautiful fabric and trim. She has some striking gowns (which she wears when escorting a guest who wants to impress others by making a splash with a trophy lass on his arm), but when left to her own preferences, prefers quiet elegance to any bold and gaudy show. She'll give clothing to anyone who needs it, or even guests who fancy a memento of their time with her, but otherwise keeps everything, and so has several "hidden halls" of hanging gowns (situated between the bedchambers, and entered through doors concealed as part of the paneled walls of the passages that link the rooms, along that central chimneys).

For entertainment, when alone, Shyrrhr reads (trashy spicy romances, true mystery tales of the Realms, and heroic tales; she also likes looking at maps and floorplans, new and old), sings (badly), and paints (VERY badly; she knows this, giggles at it, and gleefully burns her paintings, often before they're anywhere near finished). When with someone, her entertainment will be whatever they want to do, from reading together to going shopping, to long walks on Mount Waterdeep, to going to festhalls...whatever.

She spends a lot of time with Piergeiron - - as a friend, remember, someone he can talk freely with, debate upcoming decisions and policies with, ask advice of, and joke with - - and he likes to sip tea quietly with her, in private (away, for a little while, from envoys and nobles and everyone else who can burst in with a problem), or go walking up the flanks of Mount Waterdeep with her, even during storms.

There are rumors of a secret passage linking her house to the Palace, but these are mistaken. There are two separate passages connecting the cellar to the cellars of other house (also owned by the Palace, and used as residences for Palace staff and officials), so as to faciliate covert departures and arrivals from Shyrrhr's house, but these routes are as a rule kept secret from non-Waterdhavian guests, and even few Palace staff know about them, let alone most citizens of Waterdeep.

The Lady of the Court is quiet and graceful in her movements, hasn't a trace of arrogance, treats everyone from street urchins to heads of noble houses as an equal, is a patient, kind, and understanding listener, and "always knows just the right thing to say" to calm and quell and show warmth and lift spirits. Her voice is pleasant, low-pitched, and sometimes husky, her laugh is a soft chuckle, and she likes to play with children but rarely does so (she can also play with adults and elderly folk as innocently as if they were children once again). It seems impossible to embarrass her, and nudity or the crude language or behaviour of others doesn't bother her. She's also not ambitious, and doesn't aspire to "higher things;" she's doing exactly what she loves to do.

In short, Shyrrhr is a fascinating woman, and one I'd very much like to know as a friend in real life.

So saith Ed.

I think you'll agree, Kuje, that she's a lot more than "the obvious" you referred to. Ed can, of course, bring darn near every NPC of the Realms to life like this, if he ever had the time. I join with Ed in this addendum, from his e-mail to me:

I both hope this has been of help, and that both Realms writers and DMs using Waterdeep will use Shyrrhr more, now. She's not a paragon, mind: she's not brave, she's too fastidious for most work, a lot of people (like most drunken sailors and similar "unthinking louts," and the majority of "far too nasty for their own or anyone else's good" nobles) bore her (though she's skilled at not showing it), and she's lazy when not comforting or doing things for others. There are also personalities that irritate her, like Kitten of the Lords (again, she'll call into play all of her acting skills to conceal her true feelings, and work with Kitten and even to comfort Kitten as ably as she does anyone - - but left to her own devices, she'll never seek out Kitten to spend time with her).

So saith Ed again.

More Realmslore next time, all.

love,
THO

February 27, 2006: Hi, all. This time, a swift reply from Ed:

To Jamallo Kreen (and Kuje, and everyone else interested in Shyrrhr): Waterdhavians in general, and Palace officials "officially," always refer to her, and address her directly in converse, as "Lady Shyrrhr" or "Lady." Her friends call her "Shyrrhr," and to her face address her as "Shurr" or even "Softness" (a nickname coined by Mirt some years back; she likes it and it's now affectionately used by many of her friends, though she seldom shares it with clients).

And to RodOdom: you're quite welcome, and thanks for the kind words. Yup, I always try to think of the Realms as real, and so treat it as real, and hopefully continuously improve the illusion for us all. May you have years of happy gaming in it!

And while I'm at it, Jamallo Kreen, "Ed of the Green Wood" was coined by THO years ago to refer to the three-acre-or-so forest behind my home (yes, it's mine, so I suppose you could call it my backyard); she meant that it was a pleasant place to sun herself in the nude, so I guess the "verdant forest" is the right answer, though she hasn't made love in every last little corner of it yet, so perhaps the OTHER meaning holds true, too. :}

So saith Ed.

Ahem. No, I haven't, and while the snow's this deep I think I'll stick to my favourite horizontal treetrunks, and your cozy little cabin...

love to all,
THO

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On February 20, THO said: Just a gentle correction here: Ed didn't create Elaith for (or in) FR1. Elaith was a living, breathing NPC in the original Realms campaign for YEARS (at least 8) before FR1 was published. I have read three early, never-published Realms short stories by Ed, set in Waterdeep, that have Elaith in them. (And yes, they're as good as any other fictional depictions of Elaith I've read, though much shorter.)

love to all,
THO

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On February 21, 2006 THO said: Agreed. The Realms I adventure in (with Ed as the DM) is far different from the Holloywood-medieval-with-patriarchal-attitude Realms I see in some Realms novels by other writers. Elaine Cunningham seems to "think Realms" very much as Ed does, but some writers come at it from widely different POVs.

Faraer is right (as usual): the "real" Realms is NOT a thinly-disguised view of our medieval real world. Ed did indeed come at it "from the other end," so to speak.

Males and females are equals in Ed's Realms, except in specific cities and local cultures where laws and customs of inheritance and tribal behaviour have things otherwise.

And as for MY position, to answer the comments made off the top of this thread: any position I want, of course.

love,
THO

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On February 21, 2006 THO said: I'm going to tell a little tale largely without names, for reasons that will become obvious.

Group of fans want to write a NWN mod and have it "approved." They write it, submit it, and word comes back (from the WotC scrutineer): "not sufficiently Realmsian enough."

Fans dismayed, privately disagree with judgement, but want to try again. At a convention Ed Greenwood is attending, they privately take their idea to Ed, who sits down with them for a couple of hours and, detail by detail, shows them how to root it in the Realms and make it "quintessentially Realmsian," with plot and play elements that fit the Realms and no other setting. Fans delighted, rework and resubmit.

WotC enthusiastically approves, and hands it on to the software company, who in very impolite language labels it "not Realmsian," and rejects it.

When the fan authors protest that they lore-consulted with Ed, the software rep (I won't name him, but he's been named already in this thread) e-mails back: "Who?" with a stick-tongue-out smiley.

So I think Faraer's "attitude" point stands. If I was working on a Disney project and deliberately and pointedly went out of my way to publicly diss Walt Disney himself, I'd expect to hear from the Disney lawyers, not just lose the project.

And said software company DID lose the project. Interestingly, the company staff includes some longtime Realms fans who rushed to apologize to Ed about it (he was more amused than anything else, and hadn't demanded any apologies), and e-mailed him about their own anger over confronting said rep over his damaging behaviour (not over his views or attitude, but publicly expressing it, as bad PR), and his "obscenity-off" response to THEM.

So I, for one, am glad NWN has moved on, into more reasonable hands. It is to be hoped that brighter releases and mods await us all.

love,
THO

P.S. Disclaimer: I am not one of the "fans" I refer to here, and neither Ed nor I knew these fans before they approached Ed at that convention, or had anything to do with presenting that fan mod to anyone.

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On February 22, 2006 THO said: Oh, Ed knows that, all right.

His problem is threefold:

1. Total lack of time. Ed is actively writing or editing SIX projects (plus yours) right now, with another eleven sitting on his desk staring mutely at him, waiting. This means he just CAN'T go off into the basement (or the library of diskettes and Zip disks in his study, either), looking up older Realmslore. It also means he often has to drop everything to deal with emergencies (and the recent WotC layoffs have spawned a lot of those). Ed loves to answer your questions, but he's as busy as the head of any major company or country - - without having any staff to support him. That means some of the larger-scope questions, or the really, really obscure points, just have to wait.

2. The minefield of constantly-shifting NDAs, and unfolding WotC and Paizo projects and articles Ed is aware of, but can't publicly talk about. And doesn't want to screw up.

Many scribes ask about matters that a lot of Realms fans have wanted "cleared up" long ago. Other scribes ask about interesting things unfolding in recent books (e.g. the Shadovar). Still others ask about basics (agricultural practices, land-law).

All of these things SHOULD be answered, and Ed wants to, but often other folks are already at work on answers, or MIGHT answer them as their novel or game sourcebook tromps through relevant real estate, or uses relevant NPCs. So Ed is duty-bound (and legally bound) to keep quiet. Sometimes even admitting that he's keeping quiet will tip off Realms fans about something in the future that shouldn't be revealed yet. So he waits, and waits.

3. Rules queries that shouldn't be directed to Ed in the first place. You know, the "let's use Ed's opinion as a weapon in my ongoing argument about X" requests.

4. Questions about the gods, ditto. Yes, Ed created the great majority of deities specific to the FR setting. Yes, he detailed them, and provided spells for them. No, he's never had the chance to put into print their prayers and rituals properly, or what daily life is like both for a humble priest and for an ambitious upperpriest in the upper echelons of church hierarchy. Yes, he wants to. No, he can't move on this without WotC cooperation. And everyone, from other fiction writers to WotC designers to every FR fan, has their own, different - - often fiercely different - - ideas of what's "right" and "true" about the gods. To Ed, most of this (arguing about the Dawn Cataclysm, for example, or Eilistraee) is just like arguing about the weather: fun (when it doesn't turn nasty), but ultimately useless to the roleplaying experience (mortals can never know the truth, so the truth doesn't matter: what matters is what priests and fiathful worshippers IN THE REALMS think).

And so on. Yes, these are basics I'm reiterating, but it's time to repeat them for all. Ed has a huge electronic file of ALL the queries not yet fully answered that have been posed in this thread. Not one gets forgotten, and Ed tries to answer one a day no matter how busy he is. So he'll get to them, unless the gods take him from us first. Promise.

(No matter how lovingly I have to persuade him. And you know how lovingly THAT can be.)

love to all,
THO

On February 23, 2006 THO said: No, folks, no. Don't stop sending questions; Ed loves them, and the more "easy" ones that cross his desk, the more he can answer right away.

Meaning: some scribes happen to ask about matters Ed has just researched, thought about, or created material for, either for our home campaign or to help a WotC staffer or licensee. The latter matters are themselves NDA, of course, but Ed's a clever lad, and can usually spin you SOME sort of answer that doesn't offend against the NDA or do what the NDA is designed to prevent: tip everyone off about whatever the future official project is.

I just thought Kuje's gentle joking reminder was a good cue to remind scribes why Ed can't "receive-question-answer-question" in any discernable order. Ed is in danger of falling silent again due to workload, but if scribes answering questions fall silent, too, everything will just grind to a halt.

Ed's a guy, and guys are like magpies or kittens: their attention and interest is easily drawn by bright, shiny, new objects.

So keep those new bright shinies coming...

love to all,
THO

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February 23, 2006: Awwww, George. How nicely said. He is, indeed.

Hi again, fellow scribes. This time, Ed gives createvmind's mirror questions the exhaustive treatment. Here's createvmind:

"I was curious as to the nature of mirrors in the realms, I seek to make use of them in a spell but I'm not clear if they are "true mirrors" in the sense of what we use in RL. Also are mirrors rare across the lands and would a true mirror give people pause, create superstitions, I'm assuming Barbarians of most races would find mirrors disconcerting etc.... If I had a spell that created a wall of mirrors before a group of low to medium intelligent humanoid monsters would that give them pause. Do mirrors reflect any type of magic rays, spells besides the obvious like light spells, I'm assuming a ray of light before a mirror would be reflected back at caster. Are Faerun mirrors crafted well enough, flat surface, etc..... to be able to do such things describe above. More importantly who makes mirrors and what would the cost be of a very well crafted medium person full length mirror?"

And here's Ed's reply:

Hi! Most mirrors in the Realms are an everbright or similar glossy reflective silver metal coating ON METAL (as opposed to most modern real-world mirrors, which are silvered glass, subject to breakage and to "foxing" (damp or even mold attacking the reflective coating). So their images tend to be "softer" (less sharp and precise in outline) than our modern real-world mirrors, though they function just fine (yes, as "true mirrors" in the RL sense, too).

Mirrors aren't particularly rare. LARGE mirrors are, because they're expensive and heavy (if metal) or fragile (if glass). So every peddler, most priests, and most women of what we might call middle or upper class will have hand-mirrors (shaped metal reflectors, the size of their faces or smaller, fashioned all of one piece, handle and 'glass.' Shopkeepers and wealthy and noble persons are quite likely to own one or more stand-up, ankle to head mirrors, set in tilt-frames (what is often called a "cheval glass" in our real world), and put one in each robing room or bedchamber.

Certain folk believe (with justification, in the form of tales spread about spells) that spells, souls, and even fell creatures can be 'trapped' and stored, either imprisoned or for stealthy release at some opportune later time, and may be wary of a magic-using stranger with a mirror, or a mirror positioned in a room (or carried by a being) they're already apprehensive about. Barbarian tribes of the North are among these "wary" folk, though it's the rural folk of the South who fear mirrors more (thanks to more fell tales about mirrors making the rounds of the coasts of The Shining Sea and the Golden Water).

Anyone (barbarian, humanoid monster, or otherwise) will be disconcerted by mirrors suddenly appearing where they aren't expected - - because "everybody knows" magic is everywhere in the Realms, and this is obviously magic (potentially - - and even if sudden, 'probably' - - hostile), right? Are these traps I can get sucked into, or a foe will step out of?

So, yes, "a spell that created a wall of mirrors before a group of low to medium intelligent humanoid monsters would" certainly "give them pause." They wouldn't fear the mirrors so much as they fear whatever force or intellect that put them there, and the aims or intent that mirror-provider might be pursuing. Unintelligent monsters are startled and spooked by anything that appears suddenly, and anything that presents an image of themselves (or something they perceive not as themselves but rather as a specimen of their own kind) to them is something that will spark fear or apprehension or anger (or all three).

As for "Do mirrors reflect any type of magic rays, spells besides the obvious like light spells, I'm assuming a ray of light before a mirror would be reflected back at caster," my response can only be: some do, some don't, and there's only one way to find out. Usually non-magical mirrors can't "beat" magic, but magic that can by its own nature be deflected or reflected will be. Most Faerûnian mirrors are crafted well enough to reflect, "bend" light, and even focus light (this is a world of gemcutters, remember), though it should always be remembered that crafting a land lens that magnifies is easy; crafting one that magnifies by a particular amount or degree is hard, and it's even harder to make identical lenses. (Which is why a jeweler's loupe costs 20 gp in D&D, and a magnifying glass 100 gp.)

Most Faerûnian mirrors have a curved-back-at-the-edges cross-section and aren't deliberately fashioned to be concave or convex (i.e. they're not intentional "funhouse-distortion" mirrors), and they can get scratched or marred readily. If made by someone not skilled and practiced in making mirrors, they tend to have a slightly 'rippled' surface (like modern real-world bathroom tiles that are glossy-bright but have surfaces that aren't quite flat).

Armorers make mirrors (and train their apprentices to practice buffing armor to a sheen by having them work on mirrors). Finesmiths and glaziers make mirrors, and in some towns and cities other crafters "also do" mirrors - - folk you might not expect to make mirrors, but their guild somehow took up this field long ago, and of course will never willingly relinquish it. See Table 4-2 in the ARMS AND EQUIPMENT GUIDE: mirror-makers and repairers can include any or all of: armorer, brazier, coffinmaker (in a thorp, hamlet, or village only), coppersmith, gemcutter, goldsmith, horner (rarely, usually in small settlements where folk 'double up' on professions), jeweler, limner, locksmith (rarely), pewterer (note that everyday pewter can't take a reflective finish, but superior pewterers can concoct pewter-like alloys that can; these tend to be brittle, especially in cold temperatures), polisher, sculptor, silversmith, weaponsmith.

Prices of mirrors vary with demand, time taken to fashion them, the skill of the maker (i.e. what else they could be earning, if they used the mirrorcrafting time for something else) and the cost of the base materials, of course, but a "new" steel hand mirror, in good condition, costs 10 gp (DMG Table 3-8), and a really classy, decorated large masterwork mirror 200 gp (note that a masterwork heavy steel shield, on the same DMG table, costs 170 gp, so an unadorned mirror would be in the same range, probably 150 gp, and extrapolate up from that for the adornment). "Rainbow" reflection mirrors, and magical mirrors, of course, go up in price from that base area.

So your "very well crafted medium person full length mirror," of steel but unadorned, would be about 150 gp (mounted in its own standup frame, and with fitted wooden protective carry-covers). The mirror alone, probably 120 gp. The mirror "blank" (unpolished), or a marred mirror, 80 to 100 gp. Smaller or larger sizes would of course affect these ranges, too.

Note that really small mirrors, sewn into clothing (such as the sleeves and bodices of eyecatching gowns), soar up in price from mere "small palm-sized or smaller mirrors." So do matching sets of mirrors.

So saith Ed, who's (ahem) more than scratched the surface of this bright topic with his reflections.

(All right, I'll stop now. Not mocking the question, just being playful.) More Realmslore next time.

love to all,
THO

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On February 24, 2006 Eric Boyd said: Ed says:

Evermeeters are the elderly blue-vested folks who push a shopping cart at you just inside the doors of every Elf-Mart, so you can carry off the elf maiden of your choice (and that have to frisk you if the Voice of Doom tells you, on the way out, that you forgot to pay for her).

:-)

And then Ed sent a serious answer:

They are "Everaer." This means "elves born on Evermeet who choose to remain there" (not counting brief forays to the mainland), NOT "anyone who visits Evermeet from time to time." (So Florin and Dove weren't "Everaer.")

--Eric

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February 24, 2006: Heh-heh. Yes, we met Marimmar, all right. He was staring so hard at the bosom of a local tavern dancer that she pulled open her bodice, snapped, "Like 'em? Can't have 'em!" and restored things to place and went on, leaving him going purple.

Hi again, fellow scribes. George (she whispered breathlessly), I hope you've noticed how I ahhh, RESTRAINED myself in not replying to the recent opening you left me, about your contortions.

And as for this, from Foxhelm: "Perhaps that's the next anthology: Realms of Elminster. Another best of Ed Greenwood anthology." I have to say: don't tempt the man. Actually, he's too busy with divers top-secret projects right now to even contemplate such a thing. REALMS OF WAR is the next "Realms of" anthology (though it's currently just that title, nothing more; Ed apparently knows the title of the one after that, too, and also who the next 'Best of' anthology features {no, it's not Ed; it's someone else's turn}).

This time, Ed tries to answer Mkhaiwati's question: "When children (or adults for that matter) are being taught writing, math, geometry, gem-magic powered rocket science, whatever: What do they write upon? Do they use wax tablets, chalkboards, paper, etc?"

Ed replies:

Kentinal was quite right in posting: "It depends. FR has all the materials you list. Regional aspects both culture and resouces will effect what is available for writing." As it happens, this is a topic I just wrote up for the Realmslore columns on the WotC website, so ere long my answer should appear there, but I'm afraid it's NDA here and now.

So saith Ed.

Sorry, Mkhaiwati, but this is one of those unfortunate coincidences. Sigh.

love to all,
THO

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February 25, 2006: Hello again, all. This time, Ed tackles RodOdom's question: "Baldur's Gate is more centrally located in relation to the North, the nations of the South as well as the Moonshaes. Also the River Chionthar links it to just outside Cormyr. Why then is Waterdeep of greater wealth and importance than Baldur's Gate?"

Ed replies:

The primary reason Waterdeep grew to outstrip Baldur's Gate in wealth and importance is its location: for years it was the best "free port" (meaning a port open to all, not just particular captains or vessels of specific races or nationalities) for ships from more southerly lands and cities to reach the great mineral wealth (and abundant herd animals and timber, too) of the Sword Coast North. That same wealth drives much of the commerce in the area even today.

Mirabar, Luskan, and Neverwinter are alternative ports now, of course, but thanks to winter ice, the natures of those who rule those places and control their wharves, and orc and barbarian attacks on the routes from those places into the interior, they have never been able to equal the ease of trade, and hence prosperity, of Waterdeep.

Once Waterdeep became a large, tolerant, cosmopolitan trading center, its success "fed on itself," and it grew very swiftly in size, with a population of crafters and investors who could collectively provide not just a vital market, but ready connections to a 'black market' and the goods of the Underdark (via Skullport), and a means of working with goods to create "value added" goods (in real-world terms; what I mean here is that Waterdhavians don't just buy and sell uncut gems, they can cut the gems into dazzlingly marketable form, and also craft elaborate jewelry with them; or take raw ore and not just smelt it into metal, but forge and otherwise craft fine metal tools, or counterfeit coins). All of this made Waterdeep far more attractive to seacaptains than the smaller, more isolated market of Baldur's Gate, which hadn't much to offer aside from the curios its farsailing explorers brought back, except for goods (crops and livestock) that many, many ports can provide.

You're overestimating the importance of overland trade between the Sword Coast and the Sea of Fallen Stars, back at the time Waterdeep was founded and started to grow so swiftly. The River Chionthar was and remains a dangerous route, now dominated by Scornubel (a link with north-south overland trade into the Sword Coast North), and earlier by Iriaebor. Because goods out of the Sword Coast interior were more needed (by the hungry lands and cities of Calimshan and The Shining Sea coasts) than goods flowing into the interior, and because what is now Amn (so close to Baldur's Gate) sought to dominate this trade, and could easily outspend its next-door rival north of the mountains, relatively-isolated Baldur's Gate was secondary to other trade routes that bypassed it.

Again, Baldur's Gate (and its hinterland) lacked huge stands of timber, and most importantly, lots of metal and gems, whereas those things poured through Waterdeep.

Baldur's Gate is growing in both size and population now, but Waterdeep has established its preeminence long since. Part of the reason Baldur's Gate "lost the battle," as it were, is that its seacaptains sought to compete fiercely with the merchant shippers of Amn, the Moonshaes, Tethyr, Calimshan, and everyone else, whereas Waterdeep welcomed everyone, and initially had only local inshore fishing fleets, hosting the ships of everyone else rather than competing. Many noble families and wealthy merchants of Waterdeep have their own fleets now, of course, but for years Mintarn and the Moonshaes saw Baldur's Gate as an unfriendly rival, not a desirable port of call. Waterdeep WAS welcoming, and the shippers could get higher prices for their goods in Waterdeep, because as the Sword Coast North opened up, there were more hungry mouths and needy hands faring forth into the Savage Frontier, than there were settled around Baldur's Gate.

Amn has always sought to control and dominate the overland trade between the Sword Coast and the Sea of Fallen Stars, and both the Zhents (through Anauroch, or failing that, the Stonelands) and independent caravan costers and merchants (working through Scornubel) have competed with Amn by creating shorter, faster routes. The Chionthar is a shorter, faster route only from Scornubel to the sea, giving Scornubel more influence over Baldur's Gate than vice versa. So Scornubel grows swiftly, when Baldur's Gate does not. (Both Waterdeep and Scornubel initially benefitted from somewhat lawless, rough-and-ready conditions conducive to entrepreneurs, whereas Baldur's Gate had controlling interests that liked to restrict and control, so as to remain 'on top' in Baldur's Gate, and hence were inherently unfriendlier to outlander traders.)

If Baldur's Gate had been the capital of a militarily-mighty east-west kingdom that included Elturel, Scornubel, and Iriaebor, and there'd been no marauding Zhents or monsters along that route, so they really could have almost touched Cormyr, things might have been very different. But Baldur's Gate has always stood alone from choice, and so remained smaller and less influential than it might have been.

The series of computer games (and associated novels) have focused more attention on it than it might otherwise have merited (originally, that locale was chosen for the computer games because it was isolated enough that elements presented in the games wouldn't unavoidably "screw up" the print game products and novels).

In the end, I'm afraid you'll have to trust me on all of this, RodOdom. I created both places, and all the land and sea around them, and that's just the way I saw it.

In real-world (as opposed to in-the-Realms) terms, once Baldur's Gate was given over to licensees (various computer gaming companies and studios), I had to step back from detailing it and spending a lot of time on it (just as I had to avoid Neverwinter and Elturel). So Waterdeep received even MORE attention, in TSR and later WotC novels and game products, and because it was one of the most heavily-detailed parts of my original Realms, other creators (such as Jeff Grubb and Elaine Cunningham) could quickly step in and use it, fall in love with it, and add even more detail that in turn made it more attractive to still other writers. While Baldur's Gate sat off-limits to us all, and therefore couldn't be the site of important events outside the computer games. There are NDAs hampering me from detailing Baldur's Gate even now (see some of my replies in the earlier years of this thread).

So saith Ed, settling things quite thoroughly.

love to all,
THO

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February 26, 2006: Hello again, fellow scribes. This time, Ed tackles createvmind's questions: "The dwarf bridge called Stone Bridge on the River Dessarin, who lays claim to it, Waterdeep or Yartar? Also what lays claim to or roams the land east of the Graypeak Mountains, basically between the mountains and the River Delimbyr and a mile or so below the waterfall and raised plateau I gather is there. Basically if I sought to establish a town in either one of those places besides the nearby towns/cities what else would I contend it. I see the area above Llorkh and Loudwater as more viable land even though I'm aware of the turmoil in and around it however the NPC wants to secretly build in 1372 and prefers a location that sees little current traffic. A situation he hopes to fix after he has establish a secure-what occurs during building process will be reflective of Dragon rage and of course fiend, demon elf movements,etc..... I don't know if this is contractual stuff but the gem dragon that lives within the Graypeak who does all the scrying would you say he sleeps through the rage or will further info on him come up at the wotc site or in upcoming Dragons of Faerun book?

One more thing, would children born with physical disabilities and left at a monastaries doorstep be trained to the best of their ability despite handicap or just utilized in basic chores? Deaf, mute, blind, deformity etc.......... Is there any sign language of any kind for the deaf that YOU created?

Sorry so here and there but it's actually all relative to me. Thanks."

Ed replies:

Neither Yartar nor Waterdeep claims The Stone Bridge. There's a village called Beliard just east of it, and a settlement called Westbridge northwest of it (both detailed in VOLO'S GUIDE TO THE NORTH). Various dwarves from all over Faerûn would rise up and resist you or anyone else establishing a settlement (or even building a keep) closer to the Bridge than Beliard (though you might get away with a small inn or fortified home on the road to Westbridge). It's a sacred site to most dwarves. Bear in mind also that when orc hordes sweep down the Dessarin, anything in this area gets razed (and no matter what Obould may have done or not done, we're overdue for another orc horde).

As for the other location you mention: the Zhentarim control the region (RPGA members have played The Green Regent campaign right spang in this area, too) and run armed patrols and little "wagon runs" splitting from, or mustering into, caravans through it regularly. So it's certainly not an area of "little current traffic," and they'd be your primary instant foes if you tried to found a town there (they might let you build and then move in brutally to take over, of course, but be aware that their spies and agents would make up most of yours townsfolk, from the beginning). There are also (see my Wyrms of the North series, and Klauth in the FRCS and elsewhere) dragons that raid the Delimibyr valley for food, although the Rage would have them attacking more populous areas (presumably to the death, or tracking on from city to city). As for the effect of the Rage on specific dragons, or the contents of DRAGONS OF FAERUN, sorry: NDA.

Also NDA are the two sign languages and the Gnome language details I created, because TSR/WotC purchased them (though they haven't yet published them, and have been sitting on them for years, now). Children born with physical disabilities and left at a monastery would be trained both in useful chores (yes, often drudgery like washing dishes, peeling potatoes, and tending and gathering plantstuffs) and instructed in the faith of the god so they could worship the deity as fully as possible. Many faiths view deaf, mute, blind, and deformed individuals as "godstruck" and in a sense holy: they are living tests sent forth by the gods, who judge the living by their treatment of such "godstruck." So mistreatment of the disabled in a monastery will be rare (less so in the wider world, where many end up as beggars, or shop-slaves in fact if not in name, or "twisted:" freaks, displayed as attractions in shows or used in brothels for specialized pleasures).

So saith Ed.

Who's hard at work on secret Realms projects for our common future entertainment, right now.

love to all,
THO

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February 28, 2006: Hi again, fellow scribes. Kuje recently posted this: "Ed, This comment from THO to me back in 2004 has caused some heated dislike on the WOTC boards because people feel that it's not "fair" to those who wield spellfire that they can't absorb Shadow Weave magics and so I was wondering, via a lore stand point, if you could expand on why spellfire wouldn't be able to absorb Shadow Weave based magics.

The comment was: November 24, 2004, "kuje31, Ed wanted me to reiterate that he's not the right person to ask about official 3.5e games rules questions (he'd refer this one to Rich Baker), but if this arose in a situation where he was DM, Ed would not allow access to both Shadow Weave and Weave-based effects (including spellfire). In his words, that's like the 'greedy-greedy' space soldier who wants to fire a matter-ray and an anti-matter ray at the same time. Nuh-uh."

Also, some people feel that comment really isn't an "answer" to use when someone asks for lore on if a spellfire wielder can't absorb Shadow Weave magics. How those posters believe that, I'm not sure. Since it seems clear, in that comment, that you wouldn't allow a spellfire wielder to absorb Shadow Weave based magics, but er, they claim that isn't what you meant. :)"

So posted Kuje.

Ed replies:

Uh-oh. Kuje, I'm afraid I MAY to have to pull the old rug out from under you here. Those posters are correct in asserting "that isn't what I meant." I was responding specifically to a situation where someone wanted to wield/hurl Shadow Weave-based magics AND wield spellfire (or any Weave-based spells) at the same time. My answer to that is NO, for game balance reasons. Like the kid at GenCon 14 who got angry when someone disallowed his homebrew character in the Open tournament that was a good priest, necromancer, wizard, and assassin all-in-one, and the kid wanted to heal himself, blast foes with a flame barrier, blast the same foes with negative energy, blast the same foes with a Meteor Swarm, AND sneak attack one of them from behind for triple damage, all in the same round, claiming "there isn't anything specific in the rules that prohibits me from doing that." He was right, there wasn't, BUT... :}

So I say again: one character can't both wield spellfire and cast Shadow Weave spells; the two will war with each other in the character's body and disintegrate him or her (whereas if spellfire and a Shadow Weave spell both struck the same character as a target, both would take effect; just what effect would depend on what the spell's usual effect was - - in other words, can it act before the spellfire "drinks" it?).

However, spellfire trumps all magic. A spellfire wielder CAN absorb Shadow Weave-based magics. Note that the spellfire just destroys the magic on contact, "sucking in" the spell or spell effect. Unlike a Weave-based magic, the absorbed energy is just "gone." It doesn't fuel or aid the spellfire user in any way (aside from obliberating or preventing whatever effects the Shadow Weave-based magic would ordinarily have had). Spellfire simply causes Shadow-Weave magic to cease to exist, upon contact. So if the posters meant, "Can a spellfire channeler (or other spellfire-wielding character) absorb Shadow Weave magic to power their spellfire?" the answer is no, and you're right. But a spellfire channeler (or other spellfire-wielding character) CAN absorb Shadow Weave, without harm to themselves [without being themselves disintegrated], automatically upon contact between spellfire and the Shadow Weave magic, and such absorption is silent, instant oblivion for the magic.

So saith Ed, creator of spellfire (oh, yes, and the Realms, too).

love to all,
THO

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On February 28, 2006 THO said: Ed runs dryad lifespans this way: if a tree grows old and starts to die, but throws up suckers, the dryad can transfer to the suckers and live on - - but if the tree is chopped down, rots, is shattered by lightning or in a storm or calamity, the dryad dies with it.

As for the ritual... knowing Ed, he'll eventually find a way to start sneaking all those rituals into print (on the website if nowhere else).

love,
THO

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On February 28, 2006 THO said: Two scenes of Storm harping and singing (complete with lyrics) were cut from STORMLIGHT, unfortunately.

And I second what Chosen of Bane said about ELMINSTER: THE MAKING OF A MAGE being one-third a rogue novel - - especially if you "add in" all but one of the outtake chapters from that novel, that are posted on the WotC website (fastest way to find them is to call up Ed's Author Bio, scroll to the bottom of the novels list, and there are the links, to all but his first Spin A Yarn, which seems to have fallen off the server for good.

love,
THO

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On February 28, 2006 THO said: A-hem.

Yes, it's been a cause of some wry hilarity among we Knights that TSR editors managed to chop seven or eight scenes of Storm being a bard, over the years, but left in (and made so much fuss about) one nude woodchopping scene.

On the other hand, Ed used to write some REALLY over the top sex and banana peel/British bedroom -style farce scenes that he sent just to the editors, for fun, not as part of novel manuscripts, and at least they had the good taste not to publish those.

I imagine some of them got pinned up on cubicle walls for years, though...

love,
THO

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On February 28, 2006 THO said: Most Netherese would hide from the Cultists, too.

I ventured this opinion to Ed, and he agreed. And said certain Netherese might try to manipulate Cultists by feeding them information, both true and false. Out of whim, out of decaying sanity,and to see if they could be forged into some sort of weapon or outreach organization (witting or unwitting).

The scary thing is,

Ed CHUCKLES a lot whenever I mention Netherese. As if he's got more up his sleeves than just his arms...

love,
THO

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March 1, 2006: Hi again, everybody. Ed sails into Wooly Rupert's question: "I was reading the Dragon Magazine article on fantasy astrological signs, earlier this eve... It made me ponder a couple of things. Though both topics have been discussed, I don't believe anyone has ever thought to ask Ed. So... Does astrology exist in the Realms? Is there a zodiac? And what constellations exist in the Realms?"

Ed replies:

Yes, Wooly, there's astrology in the Realms, though not by that name and not as we know it. Rather, soothsayers and fortune-tellers use the position of the stars (and sometimes, especially in the Shining South and Calimshan, by the position of tokens tossed blindly onto a star-chart) as one influence in predictions and divinations. There's no zodiac by that name, nor are people deemed to have characteristics because of the "sign they're born under" (as real-world astrology has it) or "year they're born in" (as in real-world Chinese beliefs). Rather, individuals are said to be marked by a "guiding star" or "falling star" (comet or meteor shower), or by a conjunction of constellations that may have occurred at their birth (particularly if this conjunction is rare, or has a fell reputation).

There ARE constellations in the Realms, and I've provided some sketchy star-lore in print over the years, Elaine and others contributing more. As Eric said, AJA has done a very good job of gathering it all together (as well as weaving in his own lore) - - and I'm afraid I can't comment too much more on the constellations, because, again, TSR is sitting on paid-for but unpublished Ed Greenwood lore, so an NDA applies.

Sigh. Sorry, Wooly dearest (may I stroke your fur here, where it's so soft? Just a little lower? Yes?).

More Realmslore next time,
love,
THO

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March 2, 2006: Hi, all. This time, Ed responds to Rowan's question: "Are there going to be any Moonstars classes in any upcoming sourcebooks so players can join the organization? It would be great to have a few classes like those for Harpers." and to his follow-up comments in the lively discussion that ensued: "The whole idea of the Harper Schism seems a bit contrived to me. Having worked with Khelben for so long and knowing who and what he is, wouldn't Harper leadership be a lot more lenient and ask him to explain his actions, knowing that he would never do anything to endanger the organization or its members? It's especially strange that Bran Skorlsun would be against him. Isn't that just a little bit ungrateful, considering Khelben had a major hand in saving his daughter? Surely he and others would have more faith in Khelben than that..." and "Yes, Khelben is a powerful archmage and Mystra's Chosen, so it's obvious he can vaguely see into the future and is attempting to manipulate events so the Realms are prepared for whatever he sees, which must be dire indeed for him to make a deal with the Zhentarim."

Ed replies:

Rowan, even if I knew the contents of upcoming sourcebooks, I'd be legally unable to reveal them. Sorry. Helpful scribes have pointed you to the relevant published prestige class, and I hope you're eager to read Steven Schend's forthcoming BLACKSTAFF: it's stunning!

Yes, Khelben is far-seeing and arrogant, having little time for fools and, as he grows older and detects the first irrefutable signs of his own aging (slightly lessened memory, concentration, temper control, and deftness), less and less patience with delays and with actions on the part of others that he deems foolish or self-serving. It's not strange that Bran Skorlsun would be so dead-set against Khelben if you knew the whole story of their relationship (which we've not yet managed to properly and fully get into print, though the highlights have been laid forth for all).

Remember that not only do Khelben and the rest of the Chosen play "deeper," longer-payoff games (manipulations) than almost everyone else in the Realms does (Larloch approaches their league, and Szass Tam is another rung lower, but most of the Harpers are many rungs lower down, well below Manshoon and even Fzoul in their impatience and their tendency, however much they wrestle with it, to see things in too simple, clear-cut, good-and-evil a manner, with an impatience for results and a tendency to label individuals as "bad guys"), but that all of the Chosen are consummate actors (when they bother to be) and try to manipulate their allies, friends, and intimates as well as the wider world (both in the Realms and, ahem, us readers). The Harpers don't know the depths of Khelben's games, but they know he jerks their chains with every word and deed of his that touches on them, and so don't trust him at all. Like a treacherous bay fisherfolk sail in daily, he's something that can turn on you and rend you utterly at any time, and so is to be warily watched. Always.

I wish I could say more, but I don't want to stumble over what has become Steven's baby, nor run into NDAs or anything that could lessen your enjoyment of his upcoming novel.

So saith Ed.

Who's still hard at work pounding out Realmslore (and other lore, too) in his basement, as the days pass, and his beard grows ever-whiter...

love,
THO

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March 2, 2006: This just in, from Ed:

To Archwizard and HunterofStorms, you're very welcome - - and thank YOU for loving the Realms and playing in it. I've been INCREDIBLY busy these last three weeks adding to (official, but not yet published, of course) Realmslore, polishing things, and generally adding more depth, so it feels good to be thanked.

To The Sage: please, go ahead and ask. (Always.) We'll worry about the NDAs when your queries are laid out before us all.

Ooops, must rush and finish something else. Later!

Ed

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March 3, 2006: Hi again, everybody. Hoondatha asked Ed: "It's late, and a band of adventurers tramps through a dark forest. They see a campfire up ahead, and based on what they see, are fairly sure the people there will be friendly, provided they don't spook them too much coming up. So the band's leader approaches the firelight, opens his mouth, and...

What does he say? What's the Realms' version of "Hail the camp!"? Are there special procedures or etiquette that comes into play? How is this different between the North, Tethyr, and the Dalelands/Cormyr? Also, what about racial differences (a party of elves, of dwarves)?"

Ed replies:

The usual practice is to speak loudly, some variation on: "Ho! Peace be upon you! May we approach?" or "Firebright, swords sheathed, are we welcome?"

In Cormyr, this would change to: "In the name of the Dragon, we come in peace!" unless the speakers are Purple Dragons, War Wizards, or royal courtiers, who would say, "In the name of the King, we are [they'd identify their professions], and we come in peace!" A noble party (of one family and their retainers) might say: By the Dragon, we are of House [family name], and we come in peace! Let there be peace between us!"

In the Dales, the greeting is usually: "I ride peace, and it rides me! Ho for a place at the fire!"

In both the North and Tethyr, there's some sort of "Hail!" and self-identification, followed by "Let there be peace between us!"

Pilgrims and clerical parties usually say, "In the name of [the deity; usually a descriptive phrase such as "Lady of Mysteries" is spoken here, rather than the name], let peace live (or flower) between us!

Elves and dwarves, within their own lands, have short sung (elves) and chanted (dwarves) phrases that boil down to "Hi, we're approaching, but we come in peace!"

The elf phrase translates to:

Fair be our meeting, for our hearts are light and our swords sheathed, we hold peace in our hands and its light guides us.

The dwarf chant translates as:

We come, walking on, just walking on, no trouble here, no axe-hunger here, no feud nor fight sought here. We come. We come, as passing breeze not invader. We come.

So saith Ed.

A little bit of essential Realmslore, I'd say. Well done, Hoondatha; you've aided us all.

love,
THO

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March 4, 2006: Hello again, fellow Realms scribes. This time, Ed answers Torkwaret's question: "Are there any "Bandit Lords" active in the Western Heartlands ?? By this term I mean warlords who possess a title (baron, count, etc.) and command their own bands or even small armies and indulge in waylaying caravans ?? If yes, could you give me some samples of such individuals ?? I'd be very, very grateful to you for an answer."

Ed replies:

Yes, there are indeed, though they tend to be very local, low-profile, and not to last long (particularly if they're foolish enough to operate within easy reach of Baldur's Gate, Elturel, Scornubel, or Iriaebor; there are just too many folk in that vicinity who have a vested interest in untrammeled, profitable overland trade, and will hire or manipulate adventurers into attacking and wiping out such 'robber barons.'

However, I can give you one prominent example of a current Bandit Lord who's going for 'the big time.' He's NDA right now, but watch the Realmslore web columns for "The Vigilant Baron."

So saith Ed.

Ho ho, goodies await!

love to all,
THO

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March 5, 2006: Hi again, all. This time, Ed tackles Dargoth's query: "A Fortune 500 Question for Ed/Who are the richest 10-20 people/beings in Forgotten realms and what do they do?/Presumably Mirt would be one of the wealthiest/Thanks in advance."

Vvornth chimed in: "I would put my money (no pun intended) on prominent members of the clergy of Waukeen," and Arivia added: "I'd bet you money we'll see a note on this in Power of Faerun..."

However, I took one look at Dargoth's question and asked, "'richest' how? Most loved? Most influential? Owner of the most land and hard assets? Possessor of the most coins? Gems? Raw ore, as yet unmined? Human, demi-human, and humanoid races only? Or dragons and giants, long-existing liches, et al included?"

To which Dargoth responded: "Mainly "Owner of the most land and hard assets, Possessor of the most coins and Gems Gems"/So rich Finicially/Who are the Bill Gates, Rupert Mudorchs and Donald Trumps etc of Faerun./They can be of any Race."

Right. Got it. Heeeeeere's Ed (I've chopped his answer in half so as not to hit the post-length limit):

Sigh.

The trouble with this question is that some individuals truly don't know or realize (or care) how wealthy they are, and don't use their influence. Others, such as Larloch or Manshoon, have great behind-the-scenes influence and have the means to seize property almost at will. Still others have the high public profiles you allude to (Donald Trump isn't wealthy at all compared to most Saudi oil sheiks, having built his empire largely with other peoples' money, but he does have a high public profile - - whereas far more wealthy men like J. Paul Getty went to great lengths to avoid publicity when alive), though most REALLY wealthy individuals in the Realms want to keep their wealth and lives, and so keep themselves as hidden and low-profile as possible, sometimes faking their own deaths and adopting several "identities" to "hide in.

Some rulers claim to own all land and wealth in their country, and so could claim stupendous wealth, even though they can't really touch most of it. Others (high priests of faiths) could make the same claim, and augment it with wider influence than the rulers, too - - but although they may control the wealth of their churches, it isn't "theirs," and attempts to use it in ways their deity, or just other powerful followers of their deity, disagree with, can also lead to their sudden loss of power or life.

And what about dragons and their hoards? Some of them are very rich (though they'll never willingly spend anything) and VERY powerful, if they choose to wake up and emerge to scourge lands or try to exert influence - - yet they are unknown to most folk in the Realms, and will probably stay that way.

So, you see, this is a nigh-impossible question to meaningfully answer. Almost as fruitless as "name the ten best movies of all time."

So, of course, I'm going to try. ;}

First: Arivia, exactly how MUCH money would you like to wager? I'm a poor game designer, you know, and a windfall would come in mighty handy about now, what with RRSP deadlines and property taxes and first income tax instalment payments... never mind. That should be hint enough at a reply to your speculation.

Vvornth, you wagered rather more wisely, but see my comments above. I'm disqualifying clergy (though I'm NOT disqualifying devout lay worshippers), but otherwise you'd have been right about eight out of ten. (Well, only two out of ten if I hadn't also tossed rulers out of the mix.)

I'm also leaving influence right out of things (no matter how much using it allows its wielder to increase their profits in a given field, market, season, or situation). Sorry, Dargoth, but in terms of wealth I'm largely also going to exclude fixed assets (land and buildings), to leave just cash or cash equivalents (like crops and warehouses full of swords or plowshares that were bought with cash for resale at a profit) - - though I WILL include rents (from owned or controlled rental properties).

Which brings us to the following ten "coin mountains" (yes, that's what folk in the Realms call anyone who's "stinking rich"). These are the richest ten, but I'm not going to say how rich, because I haven't enough years left in my life to start counting - - so they aren't listed in any ranked order, just as I came to them in my notes (yes, I've expanded the notes and updated them to 3.5e).

* Colnd Hurthblaer of Amn (NE male Chondathan human Rog7/Exp6), a middle-aged, nondescript recluse who lives quietly (spending little on himself and even less on public show) in Athkatla, running five shipping fleets and two trading costers (most folk, even trade rivals, don't know he owns more than just one fleet, Brightstar Sails Trading, the one he built from nothing). He's a large landlord in Amn and, during the Interregnum, became one in Tethyr, too. He particularly likes owning gem mines, and (through various intermediaries) has been hiring adventurers to travel all over Faerûn buying or seizing control of same.

* Ralan Razhiirym of Calimport (NE male Calishite human Ftr6/Ari5/Exp4), a black-bearded, now-ailing adventurer and rake born into wealth and (through smuggling, extortion, and forcible acquisition of drug trade concerns and costers) become much richer. Still acrobatic, he has the remains of flashy good looks, and formerly wenched his way across half Faerûn, shamelessly using the women he seduced to gain favours, information, contacts, and administrative decisions and permissions that his traders profited from.

* Sabbalad Asnam huul Marouk of Darrak'shar (CE male Calishite human Rog9/Exp7), a one-eyed, scarred former gem thief who fell into the service of the Syl-Pasha of Calimport, and was rewarded with his present rank (mayor of a fictitious settlement, which allows him to speak in support of the Syl-Pasha's aims and policies as a mayor rather than an agent of the Syl-Pasha, and to appear as a selfless patriot, rather than a mouthpiece of the Syl-Pasha, when he travels The Shining Sea region as an unofficial envoy or diplomat for Calimshan, amplifying or backing up the official emissaries). While on his travels, Marouk never misses a chance to enrich himself. Strangely, he's a friend and sometime ally and partner of Sammereza Sulphontis of Waterdeep, and he's been known to trade with, and act for, yuan-ti in the region. All of which has armed him with antidotes for most snake venoms that most humans can never get, enabled him to control a lot of drug and ivory trading, and (through hired adventurers who soon fell prey to "accidents" of his devising) plunder rich tombs and dragon hoards (the dragons were slain in the process). He has several hidden lairs in caverns and cellars around The Shining Sea coasts, and most of them contain more gems than a man can carry.

* Stort Melharhammer of Mirabar (NE male shield dwarf Ftr4/Rog12), a black-bearded, honey-voiced, well-groomed trader who acts as a moneylender, moneychanger, and go-between for dwarves and visiting shipcaptains, smoothing out negotiations (but often engineering false "shortages" so as to increase gem-prices for the dwarves; he always takes a cut of any increase he engineers). Stort is completely amoral, doesn't drink, enjoys only watching elf maidens dance and hearing harp music, and lives and breathes to scheme and manipulate and "win the next deal." When he can't move in his underground abode for the accumulated coins and gems, he hires some trusted young dwarves (paying them handsomely) to go and buy him some more property in Neverwinter, Waterdeep, and Baldur's Gate (in each city, he's now a landlord of more than a dozen buildings, though he's never seen any of them). If he didn't spend money to influence politics in Luskan and Ruathym so as to prevent widespread warfare, he'd be even richer than he is (unless, as he judges, said warfare would have hurt trade through Mirabar, and thus cost him more).

* Elmraeda Gondoalyn of Iyrynspire (CN female Mulan human Ari9), the quiet, elegant, shrewd, and aging rich widow (of three wealthy merchants, all of whom she loved and had nothing to do with the deaths of) in Chessenta. Gondoalyn is now gaunt and frail, but protects her person with some powerful items of magic (mainly rings; takes vary as to which ones, which probably means she has a large collection). She dwells in Iyrynspire (a castle in the countryside built for her by her first husband, the shipping merchant Yarlos Melrorn) with a devoted staff and a strong bodyguard of "knights" (a sixty-some-strong private army of full-plate-armored Ftr3-8s), and entertains herself by watching others live their lives through her crystal ball (that can detect thoughts). Elmraeda lavishes money on "her people" (staff and bodyguard; her steward Deln Maerintor is a LN male Mulan human Wiz13 who's devoted to her) but spends little on herself. Her wealth increases steadily through rents from properties in a dozen cities, and (through several trading costers) ownership of over forty trading caravels. It's rumored that one of the towers of her home is in truth the only privately-owned Halruaan skyship in Chessenta.

So saith Ed.

I've chopped him off after giving us all five of the ten richest "coin mountains" this time, and will give you the others tomorrow. Right now, I'm off to bed (coming, Wooly? KnightErrantJR? anyone?)

love to all and for all,
THO

March 6, 2006: Ahem. Yes. WARM in here, isn't it?

Heh-heh. Hi again, fellow scribes. Herewith, the second half of Ed's "coin mountains" reply for Dargoth (i.e. the other five of the ten richest individuals):

* Fuorn "Fallingstar" Avilanter of Elventree (CG male moon elf Sor19/Exp9), a seller of spells and enspelled gems of his own making (gems of spell storing) who trades discreetly with rich Sembian buyers through trusted adventurers of the Dales. A reclusive master of disguises who wears teleport rings and makes himself impossible for those who come seeking him to find, Fuorn spends all of his profits buying up city properties in Yhaunn and Saerloon, operating through agents and largely-fictitious Sembian trading companies. He also owns a few buildings in Suzail and in Teziir, and spends his free time magically spying on certain humans he's found by accident, just watching their intrigues and achievements and pratfalls, enjoying their lives vicariously as entertainment in much the same way Gondoalyn [[note from THO: see my previous post]] does.

* Burnyl Talongar of Phsant (LN male Turami human Exp14), known to most Theskians only as "The Lord of Gems," this unusually tall and thin, taciturn gemcutter and appraiser secretly acts as a bank and sponsor for many merchants through Thesk. His loans and deals are single-handedly responsible for slowing the spread of the Shadowmasters' influence in the region, but they tolerate him because certain senior priests of Mask owe so much to him that the deity has personally ordered them to "keep him untouched-by anyone." Talongar is unaware of this, and simply goes about his business, which is to make fair deals with everyone, and adhere to them strictly, dealing always with politeness and honour. As a result, he's trusted by everyone, gets a LOT of business, and grows steadily and inexorably wealthier. Operating through seacaptain clients, he regularly invests this wealth in farms and warehouses in Impiltur, Alaghôn, and Westgate.

* Gelkul "Goldhands" Alanskul of Heldapan (LN male Durpari human Exp11), the wealthiest trader and investor in Durpar, a bald-from-birth, coldly calculating man who's always eager to learn more of events, feuds, trade, and the investments of others. As they say in Heldapan, "no one breathes without Alanskul knowing it." He owns most of Turelve (though he takes some pains to keep anyone from knowing this, owning properties under dozens of aliases and through various merchants' partnerships), and many of the best upland wells in the country (he covertly sells water in very dry times). Goldhands grows edible broad"moonleaf" (white broadleaf lettuce-like fungi that flourishes in the dark) in damp cellars under his holdings in Heldapan, and makes good coin daily by selling this staple (the poor fry it in various fats and oils, as a main daily 'hearty vegetable') in its markets; again, he takes care that no one knows he's the source. Most Durpari think Alanskul is just what he started out as: a moneylender and landlord to the wealthy.

* Indamu Dundardir of Chavyondat (NE male Arkaiun human Ari10/Exp5), a noble of Estagund, is a darkly handsome glutton of a man who keeps his thin frame (and resists poisons) only because he allows a small beast (of unknown identity) to live symbiotically with him, fastened to his body. A loner, he gets his satisfaction by successfully manipulating everyone and outdealing rivals. Dundardir secretly controls an ancient portal network linking various cellars in his home city with a trading compound he owns in the countryside east of Sheirtalar. One of the cellars belongs to a rival, and Dundardir's men use it (very rarely) to pilfer certain cargoes; the others all belong to Dundardir, and he shuttles goods (usually wines, cheeses, and other perishables, or contraband) back and forth, concentrating on items of high worth so that the volume of goods passing through the portals need not be high to bring handsome profits. Dundardir spends a lot of coin training, paying, and rewarding (with perks) his personal bodyguards and armed staff, to buy their loyalties. Thus far (aided by the spying his hired wizards do, on everyone else) he's kept betrayals to a minimum and earnings VERY high. Much of Dundardir's profits are put into discreetly buying up property all over the Tashalar.

* Nalune Tassarat of Ormpur (CE female Tashalan human Rog7/Exp6) is an aging former prostitute who invested her earnings lifelong in shady smuggling, slaving, drug-dealing and thieving concerns, making much coin that in later life she invested in building luxurious brothels and palatial city towers that were from the first split into rental housing, floor by floor, and proved a huge hit with Ormpurrians who weren't quite wealthy enough to own and maintain large mansions, but wanted luxury and haughty addresses. "Old Nalune" always wanted hidden tunnels and chambers in her buildings, and made quite a lot of sideline coin servicing persons who needed to go into hiding for a time, or who wanted to meet pleasure-lasses VERY discreetly. Now, in the twilight of her years, she's increasingly investing in clever traders from Tharsult and Lantan, sponsoring them on fair terms - - and raking in coins as a result. It's said she sleeps on a bed of cabochon-cut (smooth-polished) rubies, and is beginning to consort with necromancers with an eye to achieving undeath for herself.

So saith Ed.

And there you have it, Dargoth: ten moneybags characters for PCs to whack, shake down, or cozy up to. Avilanter is the one who most intrigues me; I'll have to see if I can pry more details of him out of Ed with a little lapsitting, purring, and backrubbing.

Wish me luck, all.

love,
THO

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March 7, 2006: Well, Steven, you may seen Ed's basement, but I can top (err, bottom) that: *I've* made love in Ed's basement.

(After that, a few bullets were nothing.)

Ahem.

Oh. Heh-heh. Hi again, all. This time, Ed tackles this query from Firhyanda: "... what would scholars in present day Faerun consider to be the Seven Wonders of the World? Is the Faerunian sensibility in general more inclined to be impressed by a natural wonder say a two mile high waterfall, or some construction of magic like a flying city? If I were to ask a waterdavian and a thayen these two questions would I get the same answer or at least an overlapping list? And what would the oldest living or unloving creature in the world consider the seven wonders of the ancient world to be?"

Ed replies:

The short, simple reply is that no Faerûnian creature would have any "Seven Wonders" list. It's not something they'd ordinarily think about or speak of, certainly never in terms of a ranking of rival "wonders." Folk in the Realms DO speak of wonders they've seen in distant lands, in taverns (usually when explorers or other far-traveled wayfarers are vying with each other to entertain the locals for some drinks or to seem important or to manipulate someone into investing in a venture). If you asked a particular Faerûnian, his reply would depend on him: if he was a farmer or rural person who's never traveled far from his home village, he'd probably say so, and disqualify himself from relevant comment on the grounds that "they talk of many wondrous things, but I've not been and seen enough to tell you anything useful. I saw a melon as big as a cow once, in yon market, but then I've heard tell of bigger melons'n' that, in bigger markets, see?"

Even alert, informed merchants or soldiers would say some variation on this, recognizing that they've hardly seen enough to venture a useful opinion. Priests and devout worshippers of one god above others would list the wonders associated with their deity ("the little stone stop Tharun's Mount that bears the shape of Eldath's hand, where she touched it when weeping over the death of a flower"), and that points at the key to Faerûnian attitudes towards wonders, and the reason my answer is taking the shape it is: in the Realms, everything's slanted by the fact that EVERYONE knows the gods are real, and respects their power even when considering gods they fear, hate, or shun worship of; the knowledge that the gods walk the world (from time to time) and make changes to it colours everything. So various individuals might give you wildly different "seven wonders" lists, if you asked them to pick seven (and why seven? the concept has no significance to them, of course), UNLESS they were stay-at-homes from the same village, and so shared the same life experiences ("well, we've both been to Suzail once, and there were some pretty wondrous mansions THERE, let me tell you!"). So, yes, the Waterdhavian and the Thayan would probably give different lists based on different life experiences, NOT on nationalistic (or even cultural) grounds. (By "cultural," I mean that unless they were more stupid or self-centered than most folk, both would recognize and say that they've not seen enough in their travels to be sure they weren't missing important "wonders," as a preeminent factor over seeing things as exemplifying a slave-based culture [as good or bad] or a mercantile, cosmopolitan crossroads trading center [as good or bad].)

"The Faerûnian sensibility" is "in general more inclined to be impressed by a natural wonder" than a magical construction, with one caveat: the most awe is evoked by natural wonders for which no explanations are generally known, or no god is directly and clearly attributed as the cause of (so the waterfall or the natural arch NOT "known" to have been created by the god is generally more impressive than the one this or that god altered or created - - except to a devout worshipper of that god, of course. Everyone is impressed by major magical constructions like walking colossi or flying cities, but not as "wonders" UNLESS the means of making them is now unknown or forgotten (i.e. unless they're now unattainable or mysterious). Yet this sort of "gosh wow" admiration is a step down and to one side of "the great wonders." It's more a "How did they DO that?" marveling (which is, to resurrect some very old Realmslore, why folk differentiate between "Marvels" and "Wonders;" the former being man- [or rather, sentient-being-] made items and magics and processes, and the latter being things that occurred naturally or mysteriously.

So saith Ed.

Increasing our understanding of the Realms daily.

love to all,
THO

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On March 7, 2006 THO said: Well, it's SUPPOSED to be (left to right): Jhessail, Islif, Florin, lich-looking-thing (can't reveal true nature; the surroundings are the Haunted Halls). Does look like a leather jack on Jhessail, doesn't it? Maybe they were in the midst of an S&M session (dungeon, after all) and got interrupted.

It can't be Merith, elfboobs or not, because "Swords 1" is set long before any of the Knights have even met Merith, let alone him joining the Knights.

Hmmm. Oh, well, I keep hearing this new fiction in the industry: "The cover isn't about selling the book." Guess WotC bought into that. Sigh.

love,
THO

On March 12, 2006 THO said: No disagreement here. I spoke to Ed about the art, and he said it wasn't a surprise to him, as he'd seen sketches and done the usual "three possible scenes" incredibly-detailed art order he gets asked for. However, he also said that he'd secretly hoped for a gorgeous forest setting for the scene; his exact words were:

One should NEVER pass up the chance at doing a really beautiful, sun-dappled, huge-old-trees "deep in Sherwood Forest" scene. Not only are they breathtakingly beautiful, if properly done, they draw browsers in a bookstore like nothing else. Old folks who never buy "those crazy fantasy books" stop and pick the book up and stare at it. If just one in twenty gets swayed by the sell copy and buys it, the paying audience grows by so much - - and every Realms fan wins, because as the line's sales get stronger, Hasbro execs get more eager to do more and more FR novels.

Nuff said.

love,
THO

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On March 7, 2006 THO said: Ed did the ORIGINAL maps, yes. The PUBLISHED maps of Undermountain use Ed's originals around the "entry shaft" from the Yawning Portal (all those neat-looking little rooms), but quickly mate them to old maps, I believe by David C. Sutherland III, but definitely from a TSR staffer's Empire of the Petal Throne camapign (hence all the HUGE rooms). Ed and Steven Schend and then a lot of divers TSR hands fiddled with those EPT maps to break up some of the starship-hangar-sized chambers. :}

Ed did (and does) have 9 levels and 12 sub-levels of original maps, but TSR only wanted a little bit of his uppermost level maps (and nott including the "really" uppermost bit inside Mount Waterdeep, either).

love,

THO

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March 8, 2006: Rory, you're very welcome - - and of COURSE you count!!!

Ed and his wife are, of course, long-time library workers (one is now retired, the other - - Ed - - now working part-time as a circulation clerk in one library, and busy being chair of the library board in another jurisdiction, as well as a frequent guest speaker at ALA Annual Conferences (and CLA, and OLA, and...)

Oooh. Almost went off into library heaven there. Also known as Ed's house.

Enough bad library jokes. Oh, well, just one more; my own personal favourite: "The girl on the floor will help you."

Hi, all. Ed responds to this question from Asgetrion: "Could the Bearded One reveal anything about the strange "ruins of glass" (perhaps build of Glassteel?) in Farsea Marshes, and perhaps if there were any ruins in the Vast Swamp in the "Home Realms"?"

Ed replies:

Sorry, those ruins are NDA at the moment. Yes, there are many ruins in the Vast Swamp. No, I'm not going to say one word more about them right now, because of Realmsplay in those very same "Home Realms." Sorry.

So saith Ed.

Short and not-so-sweet this time. Ah, well.

love to all,
THO

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March 9, 2006: Ahem. I really MUST reply to this, from Jindael: (Then there are the perks; "Why, Hello Lady Hooded. That's a lovely skirt you're wearing. Oops, I seemed to have dropped my pen.")

Sigh. Librarians.

You don't have to go through that charade and all that unpleasant bending. It can be hard on the pens.

Just say, "Why, hello, Lady Hooded. That's a lovely skirt you're wearing, but I'd like to see what's under it even more." And I'll smile and strip. It's that easy.

With me. You probably wouldn't want to try that conversational gambit on most other females.

Hello, everybody.

Yes, I do bring another reply from Ed. This time, an almost instantaneous one, to Rory Weston's queries (oh, and Rory, you're quite welcome; yes, I'd be a Harper if there were Harpers in the real world): "Ed I'm interested in how (or if) you dealt with gem magic in your home campaign? I'm referring to the gem powers described in Volo's Guide to All Things Magical - one of my favorites by the way. Many of the gems described therein allowed their possessors to be protected or wield powers automatically (one shot magic missiles when held, one provided ironguard protection to the wearer, etc.) and I've wondered if you used them as such in your home game, or if players had to uncover certain spells/prayers/achemical treatments to release the gems's powers. Thank you for years of entertainment! It was alluded (way way back in a post somewhere last year) that in your home game Lurue(sp?)/Silverymoon was essentially the goddess of magic. The post went on to explain TSR wanted a more "human" face to magic for the published Realms thus Mystra was elevated/emphasised and Silverymoon danced off to the side. In your home game was Mystra always a goddess of magic, or was she something you added as a result of publishing with TSR? Did you always use the elven & dwarven pantheons? I suppose I'm asking if the gods you listed in the article way back in Dragon #50-something the actual list you were using in your game, or your list + offical add-ons for the article?"

Ed replies:

Skeptic was quite right; gem magic was and is present and used in the "home" Realms campaign. Rory, you mentioned house rules; well, here's one of mine: unless you as a player SAY "player to player" (e.g. player to player: pass me the chips) or "player to DM" (e.g. player to DM: I've lived here all my life; have I ever seen this guy before? [referring to an NPC in play], what comes out of your mouth, comes out of your character's mouth, too. So, no "PC huddles" wherein they discuss how to attack an officer of the Watch or a beholder or dragon or drow commander, five feet away from said foe. Of course, over the years, we stopped saying "player to player" and "player to DM" and replaced them with a gesture (hand waved over one's own head; take whichever hand is free, raise it until the back of your own wrist is touching the top of your own head, twist the hand upright, and wave hello to the world).

Ahem. Now, then: gem magic. Of course all of those powers applied in my home campaign, without a lot of unlocking magic (except for a very few types of gems). However, the PCs had to uncover the gem LORE by themselves (asking sages, watching NPC behaviour, researching in libraries and sometimes by experimentation), long before anything was published in DRAGON (the first time around) or in official Realms products like the Volo's series (the second time around). This is typical of the "home" Realms campaign: there's a lot of PC acting to manipulate information out of people, spying, directly asking things or trading information or valuables for information (or even tasks for information: "We'll kill the stirge if you tell us the name of - - -"), and NOT a lot of hack'n'slash time.

As for your gods questions: yes, Mystra was always a goddess of magic (and so was Azuth; they had very similar portfolios; my original gods had a lot of "deities vying for the same portfolio" situations that TSR changed to simplify and clean things up, into more clear-cut 'THIS is the god of stoplights, and THAT is the god of road signs' situations); she wasn't added when the Realms was being prepared for publication. I always used elf and dwarf pantheons, but mine were rather nebulous, because it was obvious that Gary Gygax and the other TSR designers of the time were revealing more and more of the relevant lore, so (as I explained in the DRAGON 53 article you refer to) a lot of my deities were "placeholders," awaiting "official" deities to step into the slots.

My elves were "The Fair Lords and Bright Ladies," manifested as dancing motes of light that wrote things or infused things or left gifts or moved things, and (by night only), full-sized, glowing silvery taller-than-two-humans elven figures. I later gave these names (Rillifane and Corellon creeping in as TSR imparted details), and then adopted Roger Moore's elf pantheon published in DRAGON the moment Gary Gygax said (in a letter to the editor) that it was darn near official (the rulebooks soon made it so). Same with the dwarves (who began as The Bright Axe, which appeared upright, stark, surrounded by a glowing halo, and was sworn by: "By the Bright Axe!" and then got Clanggedin and Moradin 'creeping in' as detail, and so on.

When I decided to 'balance' the deities by alignment, and round out their portfolios (not a new idea in folklore, but new to D&D at the time), I developed them, and only later offered it to DRAGON as "one DM's approach" to creating a pantheon, providing only Tempus as a "more-fleshed-out" sample deity because cramming all the details for all the gods would have taken about three years-worth of DRAGON issues, back then. So, yes, the DRAGON article presented the "actual list" of deities I was using in-game, though as noted in the article, I was using my elementals as placeholders, and of course the article concentrated on human deities.

What never got properly put into print (largely because TSR management didn't want real-life kids or pranksters imitating what I wrote and getting the company into legal trouble) were all my details for priests ("As a cleric of X, you have this creed, these taboos, these "must do" tasks, and you worship like this, praying with these words at these times and situations, and in this fashion"). Largely, these details are STILL missing (in the case of Ilmater, Loviatar, Sharess, and Sune, just to pick four, I can quite understand why, though the Lady Hooded has in the past demonstrated some rituals for visiting gamers, usually to their shocked delight).

So saith Ed.

Yes I did, didn't I? Although the rest of you played along marvellously. I recall in particular my star turn as the priestess of Loviatar, plying my whip whilst all of the male players (and the DM; hello there, Ed) stood in a half-circle in front of me, facing away from me, and took turns bending, dropping their drawers, and pleading, "For the glory!" just as fast as I could turn and swing the scourge. The faces of the visiting gamers' parents ("important" lawyers and businessfolk, and dressed to match) were a PICTURE. And to give them their due: when their children begged to be allowed to go on playing with us, they allowed it. Reluctantly, and demanding full reports. I understand several of the fathers wanted to hear every last glowing detail of MY shenanigans, including exacting descriptions of what I looked like in my various states of dress and undress.

love to all,
THO

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On March 9, 2006 THO said: That wasn't Ed's mistake, Mace, it was an editorial rewrite mistake. And once established, it was decided (not by Ed) that it was now "reality" for the Wizards Three articles, and should be adhered to in later articles.

This entire series was written at editorial request, as a way of representing all three TSR campaign worlds in every issue of DRAGON. Gamers often jump on this mistake as a sign of Ed screwing up, when it's nothing of the kind.

(Nor, as some gamers have suggested over the years, is it a sign that Ed's Wiz3 articles get published without editing; on the contrary, every single Wiz3 article has been shortened, some of the earlier ones by quite a bit.)

love to all,
THO

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On March 10, 2006 THO said: Dargoth, dear, I'm visiting Ed right now, so I snuck a peak at his copies of POWER and am able to report that:

Wolfwatch Manor (p95) is one of the "Ghost Holds" of Battledale. It bears a striking resemblance to Castle Krag in Shadowdale (NOT to be confused with "Castle Crag" in Cormyr); must have been raised by the same builder.

Stormhawk Keep (p97) is the center of the village of Stormhawk, northwest of Proskur. It looks similar to Ed's original "Castle Crag" in Cormyr, and presumably shares a builder with THAT fortress.

"The Court of the High Tower" is the name of the section of text detailing the courtiers; the map accompanying it is The High Tower of Iriaebor (p23)

I can also tell you that Ed drew all the originals of these three maps, because I found them on his desk.

love,
THO

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On March 10, 2006 THO said: Oh, well, being as you ASKED for it:

Ah, but George, there IS a "Mage Who Shall Not Be Named" in the Realms, and he... NDA!

No kidding. Ed even has a short story (written in 1977) about such an individual, but it'll have to be heavily rewritten to match the published Realms. And it's not like the man has any free time for - - oh, the next year or so.

love,
THO

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March 10, 2006: Hi, all. Jamallo Kreen asked several questions back on January 15th, and Ed has replied to one of them, to whit: "I also have a question about Mystra/Midnight's memories: does Mystra-sub-2 remember the lives of Mystryl and Mystra-sub-1 as if they had occured to Her? Does She have a personal recollection of what it felt like to have Karsus attempt to usurp Her powers?"

Ed replies:

The latest Mystra (the former Midnight) is awash in a sea of memories, so bewildered most of the time that she's nigh-insane or perhaps helplessly overwhelmed (think of being blindfolded and put in an unfamiliar room with ALL of your own clothes [yes, the socks and underwear and all the childhood things that don't fit that you may be keeping for sentimental reasons] poured in loose around you, on top of all the clothes of two other persons who had much, much larger wardrobes than you did... and then be expected to blindly sort out of all those heaped clothes half a dozen particular garments and put them on... too easy? Well, new clothes keep getting added [both by you and every one of the Chosen whose mind you touch], and the old ones, of course, move around constantly, as all the clothes change subtly). The first Mystra's memories often scare Midnight/Mystra 2, because they come with emotional baggage that she sees as changing HER upon contact (for instance, pull up a "Mystra 1" memory of Elminster, and with it comes the intense love and lust of Mystra 1, welling up inside Mystra 2 and changing how she regards Elminster). However, the memories of Mystryl feel so alien and different that Mystra 2 shuns them instinctively; when they happen to be memories charged with great emotion or tinged with great flows of power, they literally overwhelm her and can't be "viewed" directly. So, she DOES "have a personal recollection of what it felt like to have Karsus attempt to usurp Her powers," but she's never experienced it, and probably never will.

All of this is why she's so uncertain of herself (see the mountaintop scene I put into ELIMINSTER'S DAUGHTER) and so withdrawn (as compared to Mystra 1).

So saith Ed, who plays Mystra in a manner that evokes real awe around our gaming table.

love to all,
THO

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On March 11, 2006 THO said: Elminster (some 1,100 years after the events of MAKING OF A MAGE) has only used a sword twice in all of our play sessions: once to spank Torm with the flat of it, and once to scare the squidgy stuff out of a haughty visiting Red Wizard by (after a subtle, VERY swift casting the Thayan missed noticing) taking hold of a sword in his bare hands and bending it effortlessly into a clove hitch. :}

Oh, and you don't "forget" being a priestess of Mystra. Ever. From what I've seen of Elminster, he hasn't given himself the chance to forget being a thief, either. :}

As for the illustrations you cite, I asked Ed to give you an answer, in-character as Elminster, and here it is:

The Lion Sword? Makes a good walking-stick.

love,
THO

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March 11, 2006: Of COURSE it counts. C'mere, big boy; *I* like to count with my fingers.

Ahem.

Hi, all. Kaladorm recently responded to this from Ed: "And no, he CAN'T disguise his holy symbol and still have the spell work, if it's a spell above 2nd level. Bane expects him to publicly bear witness to his faith, so as to impress (or cow) others. Bane is the god of tyranny, remember?" by asking: "How would this apply to a priest of Mask say? (or in older times a priest of Leira (sp?))"

Ed replies:

Mask loves deceit, but loves himself and the power of his enhanced reputation even more. Mask wants mortals to fear and respect him, and so wants his clergy to use his holy symbol in their spells (though, as it's a mask, a sly priest can often downplay what he's doing, wearing the mask and just pulling it down to his lips to kiss as the incantation begins, putting it back up into place on his face as the casting continues). Many priests of Mask try to do all of their "formal" castings and devotions by night in concealment (secret cellars or other spaces reached by concealed or secret ways are most favoured, but rooftops will do if nothing else is available).

Leira, on the other hand, prizes deception, so any holy symbol could be used as long as it contained a real holy symbol of Leira (the smoky-mist triangular plaque), of any size (yes, tiny would do; some clergy glued such symbols to their fingernails and covered them with bandages or gloves, revealing them only during castings). For the spells to work, such concealed holy symbols had to be consecrated to the goddess in prayer, touched by the user's spittle or tears or blood, and put into direct contact with the user's skin for at least two continuous days and nights (most priests made several at once, taped them to their bare bodies, and then went to sleep, in seclusion [a hermitage vigil or retreat], lying still and praying whenever awake, for the requisite time).

Spellcasting constructions were even created and practiced by Leiran clergy that purported to be one spell, calling on another god, when they were really a different spell, calling on Leira: there were "empty" or false words mixed with "true phrases" (not something that would fool a priest familiar with either the real spell or the spell it purported to be, or a priest of the god falsely invoked, but most "average mortals" would be fooled or misled).

So saith Ed, creator of the gods.

(Not something most of us can put on our resumés.)

love to all,
THO

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On March 11, 2006 THO said: The best physical and character descriptions of Caladnei and Alusair are definitely in Ed's unpublished "character sketches" of them, done in preparation for his Realms of Shadows short story.

Being as you can't get to read that, the next best thing is reading that story and ELMINSTER'S DAUGHTER. For one thing, it's the only place you'll find hair and eye colour, descriptions of how they move and their physical habits (poses, etc.), and speech between them in relaxed (as opposed to public, formal) moments.

love,
THO

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March 12, 2006: Hi, all. Trace_Coburn, rest assured that your question was received by Ed, and his reply is probably only about five posts (in this thread, from me) away. The strange thing is that he was both enthusiastic - - and he groaned. I don't know what that means. Yet.

Kuje recently posted this: "Ed, I saw this on the WOTC boards. selunatic2397 said, "I always tell the local dm's in my town that the constant creation of new names is the hardest part of my job. I am in a constant state of awe regarding the ability of Ed Greeenwood to literally pour out new names in a tsunami-like torrent and to always have them fit the situatuation and locale seamlessly [Kuje if you are reading this please pass my kudos to Ed for me and I will be eternally gratefull]""

Ed replies:

Thanks, Kuje, and please thank selunatic2397 for me. Yes, it seems to be a knack I have, and as the FRCS name charts (for space reasons) chopped out a LOT of the names I'd generated for them, I have lots of names in reserve to sneak into various posts, such as those here and the columns on the WotC website. I've actually been spending a lovely week thinking up new ones and sticking them on new characters that you won't see for a while, for still-secret purposes I'm very excited about (and no, won't say more about, so please don't ask). Rest assured that even if I get run over by a mad reindeer tomorrow (the snow up here is fierce again), a flood of new names is still to come. All DMs should remember that their home campaigns don't have to follow the please-don't-confuse-us-all needs of the published Realms: lots of characters can (and should) have the same names, and be easy to confuse with each other. (Heh-heh.)

So saith Ed.

Yummy, yummy, floods of Realmslore to warm us all well into the future. Love the sound of that.

love to all,
THO

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On March 12, 2006 THO said: Hi, all! Rory's quite correct guess neatly sets up this, from me: be sure to buy and read POWER OF FAERUN. Wherein heralds, marshals, and divers diplomatic matters are lightly covered. Earlier in this thread, Ed gave some 'general conventions/popularly-accepted general behaviour' lore, too.

love,
THO

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March 13, 2006: Hello again, fellow scribes of the Realms. Tor Drakeclaw posed this "fairly simple" question: "Do black halflings exist? Are there variations in skin colour within that race like there are between humans with different ethnic backgrounds?"

And Ed now makes reply:

In a word, Tor: yes.

The halflings of Faerûn are of three 'breeds' (sub-races), detailed in RACES OF FAERUN: the ghostwise, the lightfoot, and the strongheart.

The most common halfling, in the eyes of other races (because they're most often seen by other races, dwelling with them and wandering the Realms) is the lightfoot. They're about three feet tall, with athletic build, ruddy skin, brown or black eyes, and hair that's black and straight. They're also the breed of hin most likely to interbreed with other races, and so acquire different hues of skin, hair, and eyes.

And they've done that, which is why you'll encounter hin in the Realms with (natural, not just dyed, though if you see vivid purple or green, you're seeing a dye job) straw-yellow, deep blue, or even flame-orange hair (and many treatments can make that hair curly, too). You'll also see eyes that range from butter and soft yellow through to sapphire-green (green and blue are rare, amber less so, but the vast majority of hin have black, brown, or deep red eyes). And you'll see skin hues from pale white with blue tinges (like certain elves), through snow-white, all the way to black.

However, "black" in this case really means skin of a deep purple hue, not obsidian (drow) black, and often goes with red eyes. Hin with this colouration usually have chestnut or darker hair (though they may streak or dye it lighter), and usually come from Raurin and places south and east of that. In other words, in the Heartlands, Inner Sea lands, and the North, they're VERY rare.

Please note that in a world that often sees magical disguises and also often sees hin making coin as traveling entertainers (acrobats, clowns, et al), a black halfing is something to stop and watch, but NOT something to draw sword and slay, or shout for the Watch or the nearest wizard to do something about.

The game rules describe norms, and acceptable "tournament, at conventions" standards, just as real-world biology texts describe humans as having two genders, and two arms and two legs - - ignoring the fact that hermaphrodites and individuals born with more or fewer limbs do exist. So there ARE black halflings, but:

* 85 percent of halflings have ruddy skin, black straight hair, and brown or black eyes

* another 5 percent have lighter (tawny to tan) skin, black straight hair, and eyes that are brown, black, or so dark red as to look black except at closest examination

* another 5 percent have still paler (but not white) skin, brown or black straight or wavy hair, and eyes of yellow, amber, butter, brown, red, or black

* the last 5 percent is "everybody else" in terms of coloration and build, including, yes, your black halflings.

So saith Ed.

And lest you think this is all invented on the spot, we Knights encountered a traveling tumbling troupe of entertainers in Voonlar, who'd been hired by the Zhent garrison (and were robbing said Zhents blind) soon after our arrival in Shadowdale. In other words, in the real-world year 1980 or so. (Always remember, folks: the Realms predates D&D.)

love to all,
THO

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March 14, 2006: Hi, again, all. Ed responds to Kuje's WotC-board "withdrawn" question: "Someone was asking about the use of the spells that help create life for two people that want to get with child or even spells that create life whole cloth. Or spells that change peoples gender so they can get with child. The two posters that are arguing with me about it claim that using those spells is unnatural, evil, or in bad taste, when I said that the best way was to use divine magics, which was based on one of your past replies. Do you care to expand on this and answer on why or why not those spells would not be evil, unnatural, or in bad taste."

Ed replies:

Certainly. :} Hi, Kuje. Whether or not the use of any divine magic is "evil, unnatural, or in bad taste" is up to the deity from whom you get the magic (presumably the deity you [the character desiring to get pregnant, change genders, or kindle life] primarily worship). Anyone who takes a good look at the array of Realms deities can readily see that deities can be found who would encourage the sort of spell use you've described, and deities can be found who would discourage it.

Moreover, it's probably time to remind the sort of gamers who get upset about moral issues (i.e. who tend to have strong personal moral codes, which in turn means they tend to have strong religious beliefs) that the Realms is polytheistic, not monotheistic: few characters in the Realms (except zealots and clerics) worship just one god; most folks worship many, and believe in all (that their race recognizes, at least). So characters choose which religious creed overrides which other religious creed, for them, in any given situation, and those choices are limited only by the game concept of alignment (and a watchful DM enforcing it), and by the players' own views of the evolving character of the PC they're playing.

Yes, it will be "natural" for some characters to go "god-shopping" (akin to real-world "doctor-shopping," wherein a patient goes from doctor to doctor seeking medical opinions they like or agree with), consulting with priesthood after priesthood until they get the guidance they want. However, that behaviour should be tempered by the facts that every god is "real," and everyone "knows" that, and many, many NPCs will have tried such tactics (over centuries) before the PC does, and the relevant priesthoods will have evolved policies regarding how they respond to such behaviour. Unless the PC takes some trouble (by concealing his or her identity or geographically moving some considerable distance from the temple of one deity to temple of the next to do the asking, word of the PC "making the rounds" of temples WILL get around; priests of one faith do learn things from priests of other faiths, and from their own informants, too).

If we discuss this matter "in-game," then it's not for gamers to judge situations or schemes with THEIR ideas of what's "evil, unnatural, or in bad taste," it's up to the deity. Who unless personally sending a message, will be involved in the form of a priesthood in the Realms who can quote dogma, or turn around and ask the deity for a ruling. (If you the character strongly worship that god, then that priest's ruling will just as strongly apply to you.)

If the deity's attention is attracted, they can send a direct message to the characters involved by what the divine magic accomplishes when the PCs try to cast it (i.e. does it work, does it turn into a puff of smoke with the bellowed sky-voice, "YOU have SINNED!" or does something else happen). :}

Now, stepping back out of the game setting, none of this compels a DM to allow any magic use in his or her game that he or she personally considers "evil, unnatural, or in bad taste," as all he or she has to do is "speak for the god" and so deny or discourage it. A good DM won't (if they know their players' views beforehand) shove anything that will greatly upset his or her players down their throats, in campaign play.

On the other hand, it's a ROLEPLAYING game, in which players voluntarily take part, "buying in" to a fantasy world in which magic works, dragons and other mythical monsters show up, and, yes, players take on roles of characters with ages, genders, and/or races different than their own, in very different societies from real-world ones. Real-world, all-too-familiar "human nature" in all its variety may be displayed in the Realms, but that doesn't mean players should be wholly unwilling to explore views different from their own, in which the very definitions of "evil, unnatural, or in bad taste" differ from their own.

On yet another hand [oops, octopus time for me again], the game is supposed to be entertainment, and no one need feel compelled to take part in something that is repeatedly unenjoyable for them.

Please note that I said "repeatedly." In modern North American society, there's far too much "I want instant gratification, and that means getting my own way, RIGHT NOW, and all the time! I don't care what you want, it's all about what *I* want!"

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).

Simply put, divine spells that create life, induce pregnancy, or change gender aren't intrinsically "good" or "evil" except as the deity involved decides (and if the deity was wholly against their use, the spells would never come to exist, because such prayers would never be granted, or would only be answered with a strong "No" or with punishment, never with the desired result). So you are quite correct to say that the divine spells themselves aren't good or evil.

If players and a DM playing together agree that any USE of such spells to make life is evil, unnatural, and in bad taste, that's fine - - for them and their campaign play together ONLY, and NOT as a judgement or commandment to apply to any other players, DMs, or to the Realms for that matter [because, hey, for the Realms *I* get to play 'the' god, and I have spoken!].

Otherwise, they are prime examples of the worst sort of human sin: "I get to decide things for you, and force my opinion or decision on you, because *I* know what's right or good, and if you disagree with me you are wrong, perhaps evil, and your opinion can be ignored or set aside in favour of mine." There are good reasons why 'church' and 'state' have been made as separate as possible in democratic constitutions, and this is one of them: laws that force a particular definition, decision, or judgement on everyone should not be made on the basis of any one person's (or faith's) moral code.

As for the sideline matter you raised ("If a being is created without semen and an egg, is it unnatural?"), the answer is: of course not. To argue otherwise is to misunderstand real-world biology, where much life is created by asexual means ("budding") and by methods of fertilization that would leave your average human straining to discern where the "semen" and "egg" are, in the process; as these things clearly exist in nature, they can't be "unnatural." Even less so in fantasy settings, where creatures (monsters, constructs such as golems, undead, and so on) may be created in all sorts of strange manners, and end up as being both "alive" and "sentient." (These concepts existed long before the D&D game, and long before the Realms; many of them go back decades or even centuries, popping up in Amadis of Gaul, the William Morris fantasies, the Eddas, Gilgamesh, "fairy stories," the Arthurian tales, and many other folklore and mythic places, to say nothing of being re-examined by pulp writers and then a veritable flood of modern fantasy writers, post-Tolkien.)

As it happens, the Realms even has cases of liches who fell in love with each other, wanted offspring, and worked spells to infuse their own blood (thus, DNA) into the living flesh of a third being, to 'grow' a child symbiotically, that could (shaped by spells and then surgically removed from the host creature by spells) 'become' their living flesh-and-blood descendant. Or pawn. Or slave 'host' creature. I'm not saying these latter practices are "good," mind you; I'm saying they should receive examination and exploration of the ethics and morals involved.

Ultimately, arguing about such things tends to be a waste of good gaming time that gets the individuals involved in the argument more upset than anything else. Of course, lots of arguments on various gaming boards could be viewed as such. :}

When it comes to religious arguments (as opposed to moral debates in which everyone involved is trying to leave emotion and religion out of it, and just explore the finer points, definitions, and boundaries of relevant moral concepts), I rarely see any need to argue with someone, because it won't change their mind and may well upset them. (And to me, personally, unnecessarily upsetting anyone is itself a sin.)

However, when (and only when) someone tries to force their religious judgements on me, my life, or the Realms, I will fight and refuse to back down, because on those three battlegrounds *I* am God, and bow to no one. (And to all who respond to that statement with cries of "Blasphemy!" I respond: Anyone who labels that 'blasphemy' either needs to go look up the word 'blasphemy' in a good dictionary, or to simmer down and go seek a healthy dose of sanity.)

So saith Ed, divine philosopher with the best of them.

Who will return with more "less divine" Realmslore on the morrow.

love to all,
THO

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March 15, 2006: I sent this threat to Ed Greenwood for the definitive two coppers' worth, and he's replied.

Here's Ed:

The concept of darkfire or shadowfire is attractive, but to champion it requires a misunderstanding of what the Shadow Weave really is. It's NOT (despite the propaganda betimes put out by the clergy of Shar) a separate (and equal) system of magic to the Weave; rather, it exists as an echo of the Weave, matching and surpassing the Weave only when Shar personally feeds it with her divine power (and, being an essentially a selfish, ruthless entity, such feedings will be rare acts indeed; she doesn't CARE what happens to mortal worshippers).

Spellfire is the raw energy of magic, a taste of the way magic was before there was a Weave, restricted (in some small ways) by the Weave (that is, by the will of Mystra). The Shadow Weave works by drawing on this same energy, so there is no shadowfire: there is only spellfire. Shar as a divine power could give certain of her mortal followers a "darkfire" analagous to the silver fire of Mystra (sharing her divine power, in other words), IF she desired to.

She could not give the Shadow Weave users spellfire, because it, by its very nature, consumes and rends shadow weave-magic far more swiftly and more widely than it does Weave-based spells.

To those who argue that Shar could kill Mystra or destroy the Weave: those two things are the same, as Mystra IS the Weave. No mortal yet knows what would then happen, but it should be obvious that as an echo of the Weave, the Shadow Weave itself would also be destroyed (or would collapse).

Remember, the Weave isn't the energies of magic. The Weave is magic: that is, a system of harnessing those energies by means of an existing body of spells.

The new TOME OF MAGIC presents three other "systems" of harnessing energies ("magical forces," most sages would call them). One of those systems is Shadow Magic, and it provides magic that followers of Shar could well turn to, either if the Weave is gone, OR if a DM wants to postulate that Shadow Weave users can tap into this system. Unfortunately, one of the things that Shadow Magic as presented in that tome doesn't provide users is "shadowfire" or darkfire as it's been discussed in this thread thus far.

Various TSR and WotC designers and fiction writers and I have discussed these matters many times over the years, to hammer out agreement on the specifics of what Mystra can and can't do, what Shar can and can't do, and what the Weave and the Shadow Weave can and can't do. Please remember two things: divine situations in the Realms aren't static; there will inevitably be "developments" in the struggle between Shar and Mystra. And as the creator of Shar, Mystra, AND the Realms, I'm in a position to see things more clearly than anyone else.

So saith Ed.

Interesting, VERY interesting.

love to all,
THO

March 15, 2006: Good point, Arivia.

Ed was of course working from an electronic file draft of the Tome, not the published work (though he could legally speak of its details because the book had shipped).

We've both (since my posting) purchased "real" copies of the book, in which that sidebar (absent from the electronic version, Ed tells me) appears.

As you say, this doesn't invalidate his views set forth in my post, above.

Ed does want to stress that the opinion sometimes expressed on these forums (that Mystra and her Chosen are his "personal favourites," and are Mary-Sues because of that) is wrong. The focus on these Realms characters has been created and nurtured by TSR and WotC editors, in the same way that gamers (and other Realms writers) continue to be fascinated by matters godly. Ed is just as much of a "fan" of Shar, who is also his creation. The Shadow Weave (not Ed's creation; it came from an orphaned Birthright novel by Rich Baker) had always meshed "awkwardly" with the Realms, and Ed would love to banish that awkwardness somehow, NOT get rid of the Shadow Weave.

love,
THO

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March 15, 2006: Hi again, all. A swift one from Ed this time, in response to Jamallo Kreen's query: "Volo's Guide to All Things Magical mentions that safeholds are an ancient magical technology. Can extra-dimensional containers such as bags of holding be safely brought into them or do they follow the same rules as "modern" extra-dimensional spaces which rupture space-time when bags of holding are brought into them, landing adventurers in courts presided over by white cats? (For the benefit of the non-cognoscenti, the last comment is a reference to The Order of the Stick,.)"

Ed replies:

Yep, got the reference. I hope the Paizo booth will have both Order books for sale at GenCon Indy this year, because increasing numbers of Canadian gamers want me to "pick up copies for them, too" when I go down. Not to mention Girl Genius books, Excellent Prismatic Spray issues, and all sorts of other goodies. I still fondly remember the year when a certain fantasy artist gifted me with a quite startling nude fantasy female painting (looking like a self-portrait of her, too), and I jauntily rolled through Customs with it because I'd quite forgotten it amongst all the OTHER stuff... and got away clean, because the grandmotherly Canadian Customs officer who examined it just blinked, winked at me, and said gruffly, "Sure looks like she eats HER Wheaties! Don't be waving that out the window until you get home, now!"

As for safeholds, I'm afraid they are NDA right now, for reasons that will eventually become apparent on the WotC website.

So saith Ed.

Ho-ho! Something ELSE to look forward to!

love to all,
THO

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March 16, 2006: Hi again, all. To Purple Dragon Knight, Ed replies: You're very welcome. I'm glad you liked ELMINSTER'S DAUGHTER. As usual, I tried to do too much, ended up slighting Narnra and Darkspells far too much and darn near every character a little, but managed to set a book before readers that is at least a "fun read" and for fans of Cormyr rounds out their mental views of the realm a bit (not imparting much solid lore, but giving everyone some "looks behind the scenes" not hitherto more than hinted at). Great to hear that it'll be of some practical campaign help. I'm plunging right back into Cormyr again, of course, though at an earlier time, in SWORDS OF EVENINGSTAR, wherein we see the stalwarts who became the Knights of Myth Drannor as young friends coming together in an adventuring band. I hope you'll enjoy that one, too. :}

And to Trace_Coburn, Ed replies to this: "... I'm hunting after a little more detail about the elven settlements in the Semberholme/Lake Sember region, especially those on the lake's northern shore or towards the West Starwoods, and their status between, oh, Dale Reckoning 1100 and DR 1370. I've already downloaded several free .pdfs from the Wizards website - including Cormanthyr, Myth Drannor and Volo's Dalelands - but the timeframe of the former two makes them less than completely helpful in this particular matter, and we all know how hit-and-miss Volo can be.

Are (or were) there any 'sizeable' settlements of elves in that area (say, ~200 people or more)? (There's one named 'Aluiantl' marked on the Cormanthyr map, but I can find no reference to it elsewhere.) I'm not asking for full-page write-ups (though such would certainly be very nice and muchly appreciated): simple one-sentence sketches along the lines of "village of Wayouthere (located Justoverthere); population ~450 (mostly wood elves), fortified trading post; welcoming to elves, coolly civil to N'Tel'Quess" would give me ample foundation to build on. Mention of any such settlements which were abandoned during The Retreat (or extirpated by hostile action during the 1100-1370DR period) would also be helpful."

Ed speaks:

The short answer is that thanks to elven thinking after the fall of Myth Drannor, there aren't any settlements of the sort you're seeking detail of, anywhere in the area (though that may change quickly now, and individual elf families departing upland Sembia and the Dales may have banded together with other elf families in tree-home clusters that might be described as very small "settlements"). For the long answer, see some forthcoming Realmslore columns on the WotC website about Semberholme. I'm sorry, but your question was posted just days after the latest batch of Realmslore articles was completed. Wince.

So saith Ed.

Well, the bad side is you'll have to wait a bit. The good side is that you'll get a full-fledged answer, when it appears. As one of Ed's original players, I know a bit more, but (as they say) NDAs forbid.

love to all,
THO

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March 17, 2006: Well met again, fellow scribes of Candlekeep. This time, Ed addresses this, from Asgetrion: "My humble greetings again, Lady Herald and Master Ed! I wish to send my heartfelt thanks to Ed for writing the 'City of Splendors' with Elaine! It is an amazing book, filled with juicy details and a massive amount of essential Realmslore :) It was nice to get a glimple at the everyday life of a guildmaster's family, and particularly I enjoyed the interaction/intrigue between differents social classes (merchants, watchmen/guardsmen and nobles). Or how rumours start and spread in a city like Waterdeep, and what are the consequences of those rumours. I wish I could thank you properly, but words seem to fail me. Let me just express my gratitude and say that every word in this book was well worth its price (and more!) I have been playing the scion of House Tesper in our longest-running campaign since the days when the only members of the Waterdhavian noble houses listed in "canon" Realmslore were the patriarchs. Thus, I was delighted (and a bit relieved) to find that short reference to the unnamed (young?) "Lord Tesper" in a dragon outfit - I have to shamelessly admit that I imagined my character being there... :D And you provided lore about wellhouses just as I was thinking to ask about them ;) (just kidding...) But seriously, am I completely wrong in assuming that most wellhouses would be built on top of burnt down or dismantled/taken down buildings? (on top of their cellars - which have wells - that is) Another question regards addressing nobility... I had assumed that 'Sir' or 'Young Master' was the proper form of addressing a young nobleman, and that 'Lord' was reserved only for addressing the Masked Lords? Can you give any additional information about the Amalgamation? Its history, bases of operation, the gods they worship, etcetera :)"

Ed replies:

Asgetrion, it was a great pleasure both to work with Elaine and to get to play in Waterdeep (something I'm scheming even now to try to arrange again, beyond a brief scene in SWORDS OF EVENINGSTAR, that is). We certainly tried to pack CITY OF SPLENDORS with Realmslore and bring life in the city "alive" for readers, so it's lovely to hear from folks who think we managed it. Thank YOU! And yes, it's a wonderful feeling to see your own character stroll into the story, isn't it? (Which is why we kept things as vague as possible, so your Lord Tesper - - AND someone else's - - would "fit" with our depiction.). As for your question about the Amalgamation, I'm going to bow out on that one because Elaine is working on an article (for DRAGON, I believe) that should provide game details on the cult.

As for wellhouses: in most buildings in the city, wells are in the cellars, because most people lack the space for a separate wellhouse (that someone else could contaminate, block access to, and so on). However, in both the poorest parts of Dock Ward AND the wealthiest parts of North and Sea Wards, separate wellhouse buildings are common. In Dock Ward, they're communal, located in the interiors of city blocks, and usually too small to be shown on the maps (they're usually sited near the back wall of a building in the interior of the city block or jutting into the interior, in a location where there isn't a sewer manhole [or, ahem, 'person access cover'] - - and several Waterdeep products, down the years, have mapped the sewers so as to show you precisely where those access points are). In the wealthy north end of the city, they're located in their own outbuilding in the gardens or the stable yard, or along the interior of the villa "compound wall." In the better parts of Dock Ward and much of South Ward, Castle Ward, and the southern bits of North and Sea Wards, one is most likely to encounter what you saw in CITY OF SPLENDORS: a little hut of a wellhouse 'back behind' a streetfront building, either private or shared with one or two neighbours. Most wellhouses are damp, low-ceilinged, plain places that lack secret passages to anywhere. In situations where access to them can be controlled (in a walled yard, for example), they may have washbasins, hooks for hanging really muddy or filthy boots or cloaks to dry, and shelves to serve as an overflow 'root cellar' (storage for fruits, vegetables, and preserves). Only the bold store ale or wine in their wellhouses, because conditions aren't the best for longevity of such drinkables, and because if ANYONE not of your household sees you trundling to and fro with the quaff, you're VERY likely to get it all stolen.

So saith Ed.

I chopped his reply off here so as not to run into the post-size limit, and will post the second half (all about nobles, and juicy) on the morrow.

love to all,
THO

March 18, 2006: Hi again, all. A public service announcement: It's looking increasingly likely that Ed will be a Guest of Honour at the 25th anniversary AD ASTRA sf convention in Toronto (March 31st through April 2nd, 2006: see www.ad-astra.org) as a replacement for Ray Bradbury, Ray Harryhausen, AND Rowena Morrill (! Jeez, Ed's going to be exhausted; don't worry: Terry Brooks, Betsy Mitchell, and Kelly Armstrong are also going to be GoHs). Things aren't quite finalized yet, but if you're going to be in the Toronto area...

Also, Aquanova, Ed has posted the rules for some of the games in that list (Strikedragon, Old Wizard, etc.) in earlier years of this thread. Others are in Volo's Cormyr (a free download, I believe; a wiser scribe please help) and elsewhere in published sources.

On to the Realmslore at hand! Here's the second half of Ed's reply to Asgetrion (specifically to this: "Another question regards addressing nobility... I had assumed that 'Sir' or 'Young Master' was the proper form of addressing a young nobleman, and that 'Lord' was reserved only for addressing the Masked Lords?"):

And as for addressing nobles: no, anyone of known noble status is addressed as "Lord" or "Lady" (toddlers and young children usually as "Young Lord" or "Young Lady") by a Waterdhavian; "Saer" [rather than "Sir"] is used by those uncertain of a persons's status but signalling that they don't want to give offense - - or even that they know they're addressing some who's not noble, but believe the person has behaved nobly, and is worthy to stand with the best, and wants to signal that respect.

So a typical noble family will have THE "Lord Bladderblat" (the head of the house, who may or may not be its eldest male) and several "Lord Bladderblats" (his sons, cousins, brothers, and uncles). "Old Lord Bladderblat" always refers to a previous head of the house, so it's either the dead father of the current head, or someone dismissed from being head of the house [e.g. exiled, deposed, vanished, fled, or locked up as dangerously insane]. In the same manner, the family can have multiple Lady Bladderblats; it should be noted that widows are usually referred to as "Dowager Lady Bladderblat" when speaking OF them, but just "Lady Bladderblat" when one is speaking TO them.

To address a Bladderblat as "Young Master" or "Young Mistress" [the word "Miss" in the Realms means you didn't hit what you were aiming at; it's unknown as a form of address] is a form of admonishment, and will be regarded thus: when spoken to an infant, toddler, or misbehaving youth (up to about the age of eight or nine), it's quite acceptable in the eyes of the noble parents, even if the speaker is a servant, outlander, or the dirtiest of "low commoners." When used to address an older noble, it is an insult, tolerated - - though not with pleasure - - when used by the Watch or Guard or Palace officers, and also tolerated when used by a very old noble to a younger [doddering, eighty-year old Lady Glunder may say it disapprovingly to an infant Lord Bladderblat and not discomfit the Bladderblats at all; as an elder noble, it's Lady Glunder's perfect right to speak thus].

Among adult Waterdhavian nobles (who, after all, all know each other and see each other often at feasts, clubs, and revels) it's an insult to address someone by the wrong or a lower title than they deserve: they WILL take offense if called "Saer" by another noble, when they wouldn't take offense at all if a "commoner" or "outlander" addressed them as such (nobles usually refer to non-noble Waterdhavians as "citizen" when being polite, and "commoner" when not).

Most Waterdhavians rarely have the opportunity to speak to Masked Lords directly, outside of VERY formal settings (as in: trials), and when they do, it's usually a row of multiple featureless masks they're speaking to, and they say, "Lords." When speaking to the Open Lord, darn near every Waterdhavian who isn't his personal friend will say "Lord Piergeiron" in full, shortening it to "Lord" only if they converse together for a time.

By the way, in this reply to you I have used the two entirely fictitious noble surnames most popular among Waterdhavian satirical broadsheet writers, minstrels, and tellers of street jokes [e.g. "How did Lord Bladderblat decide if young Lady Glunder was a suitable match for his son?/He tried her out himself, of course. Several times."]. They began as one acid-penned noble's way of decrying the antics of certain other nobles, generations ago (when everyone knew the specific real individuals who were being described and made fun of), and have evolved into general archetypes.

So saith Ed, the foremost expert on Waterdeep (though Lord Boyd and Lady Cunningham stand at his shoulders).

I should perhaps mention to scribes who didn't want to spring for the hardcover of the superb CITY OF SPLENDORS novel that the mass market paperback release is imminent, and it really is "essential Realmslore," as well as cracking good entertainment.

love to all,
THO

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March 19, 2006: Hello again, fellow scribes. This time, Ed makes answer to Solomon in these matters: "Can you tell us about Arkhon "the Old", who was referred to in the old 'Hall of Heroes' sourcebook and then again in the manual for the 'Baldur's Gate' computer role-playing game as a former tutor of El's in what is now Waterdeep. When did (or did) this happen? Other interesting references are to El learning from merchants and "fences" in Scornubel, the merchant-mage Lycon "Wolf-beard", and (later) "such mages as Torose and Shalane of Taerloon". Care to shed any light on this? Finally, can you tell us about Alais, "an elven lady" with whom Elminster left the city of Myth Drannor "to begin an epic travel about the Realms to learn its lands and lore". What was their relationship, and would you be willing to share details of their time together? Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions, and for the gift of the Realms. Thank you also to THO, for gifting Ed's responses to us."

Ed replies:

Solomon, you're very welcome; it's my pleasure. Here we go...

(The first) Mystra saw in the early Elminster a spirited character and resilience (seen in ELMINSTER: THE MAKING OF A MAGE) she both admired and deemed eminently usable. She took Elminster as a lover not just for her personal pleasure (please read here not orgasmic release but a return for her to the close, affectionate human contact she'd known as a mortal), but so as to be able to fine-tune his assimilation and development not just of the silver fire she imparted to him, but his knowledge of magic. She did NOT want a Chosen who turned into a martinet (or worse, a petty tyrant) because they gained too much magic, too fast; she wanted someone tempered by the experiences of slowly gaining, learning, and using magic the way all 'ordinary' mortals do. She needed her Chosen to FEEL independent of her, and so the very one she was holding closest she wanted to be the most independent-minded. She got that, in spades. :}

Wherefore she watched over Elminster and saved him from certain death many a time, but tried to do so unseen, so he'd not be aware of her guardianship. He was free to make his own way in the world, and do as he pleased (for one thing, this allowed her to judge his continuing suitability and loyalty to her causes). She very much wanted him to become worldly-wise and "street smart," and if he consorted with rogues and poisoners and took many lovers in the process: why not? It was all part of tempering her tool to become stronger and more worthy, because she needed a 'first among her Chosen' (though she would never acknowledge this to him or them) in case a situation ever befell that he had to assume most of her power for a time. This of course eventually happened, in events chronicled in my Shadows of the Avatar trilogy (the working title for the first book was "Elminster's Doom," and that's just what that task was: the fate and role he'd been prepared for).

Hence all the mages, sorcerers, rogues, and other expert tutors that El sought out and consorted with (the latter because many of his tutors required service in return for their teaching). You've uncovered just a handful among the many other mortals El learned magic, thieving techniques, and divers other lore and skills from, down the centuries. I don't intend to ever make an exhaustive list or fully game-detail all of them (most are long dead, and I always have heaped platters of "detail this NOW" Realmslore matters pressing me more urgently). Of the specific individuals you ask about, let me say this: Torose (a hermaphrodite), Shalane ("his" sister), and Alais (an alias used by an elf 'she' of high birth and station) are all going to remain mysterious for now, because I just might get some future opportunity to tell their tales in some manner or other.

However, you certainly deserve to know more of Arkhon the Old.

I've chopped Ed's reply in half here, to avoid the post-length limits, and will post it here tomorrow (obviously, it's all about Arkhon, whom you'll see is just one more of those Realms characters who is just a name until Ed lays details of them before us all, and you realize this is one more character who's fascinating, and worthy of featuring in novels galore, just like Mirt, and Durnan, and - -). I of course add my "you're welcome" to Solomon, echoing Ed, and await more keen questions of Realmslore from him and like-minded scribes.

Yours in Realmslore,
love to all,
THO

March 20, 2006: Hello again, everybody. As promised, here's the second half of Ed's response to Solomon:

However, you certainly deserve to know more of Arkhon the Old.

Picture a man with a mellifluous voice, a flowing white heard and shoulder-length hair, striking eyes, and a burly beard (okay, Lorne Greene plus beard), who always wears plain black robes (eventually revealed to be a huge symbiotic creature that could fly while wrapped around Arkhon, and also underwater give him the same sort of abilities conferred by a cloak of the manta ray, though this creature wasn't magical). Thanks to this still-mysterious creature and his own robust constitution, Arkhon lived for more than eight centuries (hence his nickname; despite what you may have read and I or editors may have written elsewhere, his lifespan is now BELIEVED [i.e. this may someday change again] to be the late summer of -14 DR to halfway through 1004 DR), aging and dying as his "companion" did (his last spark of sentience is one of the twelve bound into the guardian wards of the Vault of Sages in Silverymoon in the early years of its existence). Said creature drank trifling amounts of life-essence, human sensation, and magical energy, and so wanted to be in the presence of someone who often used magic and experienced both physical love and strong emotions.

Arkhon was that extremely charismatic someone. He was born in Calimshan (and given quite a different name, of course), but fled his family and that society to wander the world, going first to Tethyr and then all over the Realms as a servant (not apprentice, but a drudge) to various wizards, showing from the first an innate grasp of languages, a shrewdness in judging the true intentions of others, and an unfailing, exacting (we might say "photographic") memory. On the sly, he experimented with magic, and discovered he had an aptitude for the Art (i.e. he could become a wizard, with the proper training).

Eventually he found himself the last survivor when a powerful mage he was serving "fell out" with his apprentices, and ended up the possessor of numerous spellbooks, scrolls, magic items, and coins. Arkhon hid most of this, and set about apprenticing himself to wizard after wizard, paying for his training with item after spellbook, and with superb skill playing the part of a nervous, shy, 'bookish' non-threat to anyone.

A role he dropped like a cloak in 27 DR, when he judged himself powerful enough, let his true charisma and spell-mastery show, and set himself up as an advisor to petty ruler after petty ruler (mainly city-states in the Vilhon and Tashalar), emphasizing that he wasn't looking for personal power, but merely for a temporary role to 'set things right,' whereupon he'd move on. And so he did, gratifying courtiers and rulers alike (and using his station to plunder the libraries of the rulers he selected - - for having such libraries - - of the spells he wanted, copying their spells into his own books).

When he wearied of the perils of political life (read: repeated attempts on his life, and the misplaced hatred of folk who didn't even know him, but had been convinced by others that he was the reason for this or that ill or decision), Arkhon left it behind him to become a tutor of mages in various Sword Coast cities, moving north from Tethyr over the years. During this time he "acquired" his symbiote, providing it with nearly ideal conditions (what with his constant spellcasting, numerous lovers among local ladies of high rank or wealth and his apprentices, and passionate personal nature; Arkhon was a man of mood swings, sudden rages, and great love and tenderness; he was also reportedly, aided and abetted by the extra 'appendages' his symbiote could fashion, a peerless lover). Those passions and romantic involvements made him unwelcome, over time, in city after city, and eventually he came to the Sword Coast North, with many female apprentices, to dwell 'in the wilds' and work magic. He was always friendly with elves, and became a liaison between various elves and dwarves in many matters, while continuing to attract "followers" into his household.

Seeking to avoid being seen as a threat-to-rulers in his new chosen 'home' region (and being pushed into becoming a rival to the newly-arrived Halaster Blackcloak by those who wanted him to take on this role, or getting involved in the almost ceaseless skirmishes of the North), Arkhon began to emphasize his learning rather than his spell-mastery, and set himself up as a sage. He successfully 'withdrew' in the public eye into the role of scholar, moving often and retaining a dwindling number of mistresses and apprentices, but (much as Elminster later did) worked hard to establish his departing "followers" in the places and professions they desired to have, and retain them as friends in an ever-expanding network of supporters and contacts. Arkhon sponsored many businesses and provided "short -tutoring" (as in: I'll teach you this one spell, throughly, or this one magical process), and profited handsomely thereby. On several occasions, former followers designated him their heirs-of-property, and so he gained various keeps, smallholds, and caches of funds. This in turn inevitably brought him into conflict with raiding dragons - - and his symbiote seemed to become addicted to dragon blood, so Arkhon became a hunter (slayer) of dragons on the sly, while retaining the public profile of a mild-mannered sage (and the more private roles of short-tutor of magics and lusty lover).

He lived like this until 994 DR, when something happened that caused him to come alone to Waterdeep, where he promptly romanced Laroun (the ruling War Lord) and became her behind-the-scenes confidant, refuge, and save-the-day protector. He was never her consort nor sole lover, and in public he completely hid his connection with her, setting himself up in a secluded and modest walled home in an unfashionable part of the city, as a "short -tutor" (see above) of magic. Elminster was just one of many pupils who traded coins and magic for his teachings, though they became fast friends and Arkhon occasionally called on Elminster for backup, just as Laroun called on Arkhon. (There's no evidence that Arkhon ever knew of Elminster's relationship with Mystra or the true extent of Elminster's developing powers.)

Arkhon began to fail and grow feeble very quickly in 1004, when his symbiote did, and Elminster was called upon by a certain lady elf (herself a powerful mage, and one of Arkhon's longtime lovers who visited him by chance and found him dying) to help convey the failing man to Silverymoon, where he perished happily, seeing his entry into the guardian magics of the Vault as "a way onward." It's rumored Elminster later bound his awareness into a magic weapon or item, so he could 'see more of the Realms' in the ever-passing years, as he was borne about the North.

So saith Ed.

So have a care, ladies: the next time you pull out that hand-mirror and activate its glow so you can inspect the pimples on your backside, you just may be holding old Arkhon out for a better leering look at the view.

love to all,
THO

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March 21, 2006: Hi, all. Ed herewith replies to Jamallo Kreen's question: "Unfortunately I do not have the 2nd edition "Anauroch" handy, but I have a question regarding the Bedine glossary. One word is listed as meaning "tell." Is that "tell" the verb meaning "to inform," or "tell" the noun meaning "heap of dirt over an ancient ruin"? If the former, does the Bedine language (or any Torilian language, for that matter) take linguistic notice of heap o' ruins tells?"

Ed replies:

The word given in the glossary means "tell" as in "to inform." Most Faerûnian tongues have words for "ruins" and words for "burial mounds" (some use euphemisms like "ancestral mounds" or "sleeping-place of ancestors"). A mound with an association with past settlement will always be assumed to be a "tomb" rather than a "ruin," unless at least fragmentary walls or stone blocks can be seen aboveground, or there's a very strong, vivid (and thus, surviving) local legend about the site, to the contrary.

So saith Ed.

Who's not quite yet a ruin himself.

love to all,
THO

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March 22, 2006: Hi again, all.

Penknight, rest assured your request is on Ed's e-desk already.

Back in July of last year KnightErrantJR posted thus: "Speaking of Farthest Reach... In said novel a certain NPC that my PCs know fairly well popped up in there. Since they live in Mistledale, they have come across Haresk Malorn very often, and that leads into my questions... Haresk is mentioned to have daughters (no specific number) in the FRCS, and in the Dalelands 2e supplement he is mentioned as having two daughters. I was wondering, does he have more, does he have any children that are older and have moved on, and what is his wife like, and is she still alive (I can't seem to find any references to her). Thanks in advance for the information, if it is forthcoming, and once again, thanks for creating him in the first place!"

And Ed makes reply:

Haresk Malorn [and all Realms scribes please note: it is indeed "Haresk" and NOT "Heresk," despite what's appeared in print in various places; "Heresk" was Haresk's grandfather; Haresk's father was Rhoundal] is married to Soumra Malorn (formerly Soumra Hethcastle of Battledale; the Hethcastles were formerly a wealthy, influential family of that dale, having the traits of good looks, entrepreneurialship, and far-traveled inquisitiveness; most surviving members are now in distant Sword Coast locations or in Yhaunn, in Sembia).

Soumra, a LN female Chondathan human Exp5, Int 17, Con 17, Cha 14, born 1330 DR) is a sharp-tongued, swift-witted woman of short stature, lush build and good looks (though she has a very long, straight nose that has earned her the behind-her-back nickname "the Shark" among Mistledale women jealous of her intelligence, wealth, and social influence), who has blonde hair with natural dark streaks (she's JUST beginning to gray at the temples), and is now some forty-three summers of age. Her private hobbies are reading steamy romances and fine embroidery; her VERY private dream is to one warm, moonlit summer night ride a pegasus nude and bareback for miles through the starry sky, low over the countryside so she can see as much as possible. She's not a Harper or a member of any merchant cabal or alliance, but sometimes gives Harpers shelter or minor assistance in return for any gossip they're willing to share: she very much wants to "know what's going on" behind the scenes, across the entire Dragonreach.

Haresk values his wife's mind and shrewd judgements, and they have a happy marriage: around the house and in matters of what they'll wear when outside or when they'll do what in bed, Soumra dictates, Haresk gives in, and both are content with such roles. In turn, Soumra defers to her husband in public as demurely as if she was a pleasure-slave, often kneeling on the floor to cuddle against his legs when he's seated, keeping her eyes downcast except when she wants to turn the full power of her impassioned gaze on him or anyone else as a warning or signal. Aside from social occasions (local funerals, weddings, worship, and evening feasts given to welcome envoys, caravan masters, or other important visitors), Soumra is rarely seen in public with Haresk. She keeps to the house, where she has six bodyguards (inherited Hethcastle servants, Ftr 3s to Ftr 5s; these are in addition to the household cook, cook's lass, cellarer [whose real job isn't so much maintaining a wine cellar as it is going out to Hillsfar or even Sembia to procure all exotic foodstuffs, in a wagon with the hostler's body] two maids, hostler and hostler's boy, and clerk) and maintains many investments in Sembia (these days, more land rents than active business trading, though she keeps the latter channels open in case she needs to bring goods into Mistledale that possible Zhent or other trading embargoes or "arranged shortages" have made unavailable or outrageously overpriced).

Soumra has borne Haresk four daughters (and only four, all still at home; she's had no sons, stillbirths, or even affairs):

Ardanthe (LN female Chondathan human Exp2, Int 16, Cha 14, born 1354 DR) is named for Haresk's long-dead mother. She's a level-headed, shrewd businesswoman, eagerly learning investments and holdings from her mother, while running Haresk's store on a daily basis. She's also a non-nonsense hard worker with jet black curly hair, a snub nose, and Soumra's build who has no interest in men, romance, or any of that "frippery." 'Doing well' is her dream and her goal. She's very well respected in Ashabenford, though considered a bit of a "straight stick" (so humourless that she misses things; this by the way is untrue: she PRETENDS to miss things, because doing so causes people to betray more of themselves than they otherwise would, and Ardanthe very much wants to "know" the true characters of her neighbours).

Rhoysil (CG female Chondathan human Rog1, Int 16, Cha 16, born 1356 DR) is named for Soumra's recently-deceased mother. She's the rebellious "trollop" of the family, rebelling against her oh-so-respectable parents with such antics as making love to seven local lads of her age in one (memorable) night, while leading them on a "nightstalk" around Ashabenford's roofs and stables, seducing a lonely, aging farmer who shared his ale with her, and learning thievery from several peddlers and passing-through caravan merchants in return for her favours. She's not evil, she's just desperately bored and craving both acceptance and excitement (though she doesn't want to leave Mistledale to get it), and wants attention from her parents - - attention that seems most forthcoming only when her latest misdeed has been discovered. Both of her parents have been known to tan her behind with a leather strap, and she's discovered she likes it. What she DOESN'T like is her mother's sharp tongue and shrewd remarks, that judge her for the attention-seeking, do-only-what-I-want-to scamp that she is.

Khestra (LN female Chondathan human Com1, born 1367 DR) is a fat, rather plain and petulant young lass who likes eating, stealing food, and, well: eating. She hates being cold or dirty, she doesn't like breaks in routine or strangers, and the greatest prize life has to offer is a cozy kitchen (staffed by hard-working others than herself) and the freedom to eat everything that comes out of it. This may of course change in her later years, if she doesn't burst from gluttony first. She's currently very plump, but is also very active, and loves riding and playing with horses, and wrestling dogs (as long as she can wash herself promptly afterwards, to banish the smell and the fleas). When she feels ill or depressed, she soaks for hours in warm, scented baths.

Larleea (LN female Chondathan human Com1, born 1369 DR) is a slim, plain, quiet, see-EVERYTHING-with-those-big-solemn-eyes toddler. She spends her days toddling everywhere around the Malorn household and grounds, as softly and stealthily as possible, trying to see and hear everything private. She'll often hide under beds or in closets so as not to miss arguments, lovemaking, Rhoysil's punishments, or anything else - - and stay hidden (unless discovered; family members are learning to check) until everyone is well and truly gone, so as to move on without arousing any suspicions of what she observed. Unlike her mother and eldest sister, she doesn't judge anyone; she just watches and learns. What she'll do with her steadily-growing wisdom is anyone's guess - - except Larleea's: she doesn't think about such things, living in the 'now' and the 'this evening' rather than looking at anything farther off.

So saith Ed.

Note how he gives you enough about each character to roleplay them properly. The way, ahem, all published roleplaying products should.

love to all,
THO

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March 23, 2006: Hello again, fellow scribes. Back in August of '05, Jamallo Kreen asked this of Ed: "I amend my earlier question about what composers best typify various regions of the Realms to ask specifically about Ivy Mansion. What composer's work is most similar to that of the (apparently unnamed) Harpell who conducts the house's phantom orchestra?"

Ed now replies:

This one's very hard to answer, but if you twist any real-world envisionings of our bowed stringed instruments into more Realmsian ways (wherein lutes and their larger and smaller variants are bowed, as well as - - far more often - - picked or plucked, metal "talon" slip-on fingerpicks for many fingers of the hand being the rule), and revise any thoughts you may have of orchestras accordingly, the Ivy Mansion music - - the work of Harghondrahn Harpell - - is a cross between Antonin Dvorák and Albert Ketèlby (please forgive my inability to convey accents properly in this crude e-mail program, hence a "plain" r in Dvorák), with a dash of Ottorino Respighi. (See why I said this was hard?)

I lack the time right now to properly delve into the differences in traditions and instruments between real-world period music and the Realms, so The Sage and others who've asked or speculated will, I'm afraid, have to wait a little longer. Yet now at least you can try to envision what your ears may hear in Ivy Mansion.

So saith Ed.

Who before various operations was a stirring bass, raised by parents who were both professional classical choral singers (though aside from operettas such as G&S, and the usual teenaged flirtation with rock music, Ed himself seldom sang anything but church choir stuff, such as the inevitable Messiah (as Ed puts it: "Handel's and everybody else's, too").

Oh, and a note for Nynshari: Ed replies: "I don't have any time to spare at all - - so OF COURSE put some questions to me, and I'll try to answer as best I can, okay?"

Ahh. That's my Ed.

love to all,
THO

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March 23, 2006: Sage, Ed says:

You're very welcome. I'm not finished all of the entries yet, but I believe the plan is to take the 100,000-word-plus end result, when it's all been posted, and turn it into a downloadable pdf. These last few months have been exhausting, and the next few will be just as tiring, but I'm smiling. :} See?

So saith Ed.

Who added, to me: Yes! BK at LAST! I outlasted a magazine, I outlasted a company, to bring them to everyone! Mwoohahahahaha!

love,
THO

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March 23, 2006: Mace, here's Ed Greenwood's take on this (and he created the whole shooting match, so is the paramount expert, so to speak):

None of us can fully trust any of the creation mythos (i.e. where Mystra came from initially). All we know is that the current system of arcane spells that work, works through Mystra, who IS the Weave. The Weave is an infinite series of handles that let mortals harness the natural energies of Toril. The Weave is magic, but only part of magic (the arcane spells sort of magic), and "magic" is really only a mortal term for "a way I got power from somewhere to do this and that and this other effect." There. Clear as mud. :}

So saith Ed.

As he said: clear as mud.

love,
THO

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March 23, 2006: I passed this thread on to Ed, and here's his response:

Mystra IS the Weave. The Shadow Weave is an "echo" of the Weave, deriving its power by reflections and amplifications of the energy spillages of the Weave. As such, it's neither sentient nor controlable by anyone (Mystra's very existence prevents another deity from controlling it, and if Mystra attempted to control it, she would nullify it [think positive energy meeting negative energy] at the probable cost of destroying the Weave in the process (i.e. destroying herself). So neither Shar nor any other deity can truly control the Shadow Weave.

However, Shar can control access to the Shadow Weave, because she "set it up to be this way" when creating it. In other words, she created a door (which she controls the use of) opening into the heating ducts of an existing house controlled by Mystra, that she (Shar) can neither touch nor enter.

So saith Ed.

TymoraChosen, does that help?

love,
THO

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On March 24, 2006 THO said: Hi, all! My turn, this time, to answer this, from George Krashos to me: "... a question to THO popped into my head the other day when reading about Torm's activities in Waterdeep. It seems like some of the KoMD engage in solo adventures. If so, how did Ed handle such situations as DM and how did you know what was going on as players? Did you learn about Torm's adventures "in character", from him presumably, or did you learn of them OOC and just separate game and outside-game stories from what your character "knows"? Oh, and one last question: Did the KoMD ever fight or face off against any dragons (the events in the novel "Spellfire" obviously not included)? Thanks THO, to quote my younger cousin: "You rock!""

I rock? Good to know!

The question is, of course: how well do I roll? [rimshot, hi-hat, insert groans here]

Ahem. Solo adventures are handled thus: players write Ed little notes about their intentions (regarding, say, investments or training or specific spell studies). Ed either writes another note in reply, or judges this merits roleplaying, one-on-one. If said roleplaying is small in scope (that is, easily completed in half an hour or so) it's often taken care of by the player "coming early" to a Realmsplay session, to get it out of the way before the rest of us roll in.

Although we're close friends (and in some cases lovers, partners, or siblings), and free to discuss anything we want with each other, over the years we've kept pretty well to discussing things in character, in-game - - though if anything really juicy or hilarious happened, we've often asked Ed's permission to tell everyone, usually during our chips and green tea (or at the cottage, beer) break. We can all, I think (John Hunter is notably "noble" in this regard, when playing Florin), firmly separate what we know and our characters know, and always have done.

And yes, we've faced down or fought almost a dozen dragons (in one case, whilst on dragonback, and in another, with some of us having the magically-bestowed temporary ability to take on dragonshape ourselves). No, PLEASE don't ask me all the gory details. And believe me, some of them were gory (for the dragons, not so much).

love,
THO

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March 25, 2006: Hi, scribes. This time, Ed replies to khorne's question: "What is the tightest spot Torm has ever been in? He seems to have a talent for nearly getting himself killed."

Ed speaks:

Oooh, that's a toughie; there have been SO many tight spots, including four times in which Torm would definitely have died if he hadn't had potions and/or healing spells pumped into him right away, and countless times where his survival depending on saving throw and/or damage rolls, AND being one of a group of capable fighting adventurers, rather than alone.

Possibly the very tightest was the time Torm got two awesomely beautiful sisters drunk at a revel so he could bed both of them at once. It worked, but their very sober (and VERY unamused) husbands burst in on him at a moment of blissfully groaning climax, with swords in their hands and every intention of using them.

Torm normally kept daggers within reach whilst lovemaking, but on this particular occasion he'd been 'carried away' just that little bit too far, and found himself naked, encumbered by two nude and terrified women, and unable to get to his clothes, footwear, weapons, or much of anything else - - while being cornered in a high turret bedchamber, in the midst of days' rides-worth of rugged terrain ruled by said angry males. He "wore" one of the women just long enough to avoid being sliced open on his way to the window, and did a high dive through it (without opening it first) into the moat some sixty feet below.

Instead of trying to flee (and inevitably going down under the jaws of hunting dogs led by mounted men with lances and crossbows), Torm dressed as a maid he'd seduced earlier, and took over the task that maid hated: the annual forking out of the cesspool. He toiled messily for three days while she hid in her rooms and enjoyed a long-overdue rest, and then made his escape in an outgoing wagon of uncured hides bound for a tannery (still inside the ruled lands), switching wagons (as they bounced past each other) onto a load of turnips (heading out of the ruled lands). He was wearing only a ragged old maid's shift with an uncured hide over it as a covering and night-blanket, and escaped detection, decamping onto the roof a wayside inn some days later to steal food and drink and a series of horsepond baths while he awaited some wagons he thought he could ride undetected on top of. When they came (a convoy of fast-goods coster wagons), he rode them to the nearest market town, where he stole clothes, food, quite a lot of coin, and a good horse, to get safely home again by another route. Typical Torm. [Here's just one typical Torm moment: the Knights are staying at an inn in a wayside village wherein the inn doubles as the local restaurant; when the locals come in for their evening meal, one of them recognizes Torm and storms over to him, snarling, "You! You're the one as stole my daughter's maidenhood!" and Torm looks up, wearing a concerned look, and asks, "You want it back?"]

So saith Ed.

I can attest that what Ed's told you here is MILD Torm behaviour. The character makes ME look demure.

Er, if you can believe that.

love to all (and often),
THO

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March 26, 2006: Hello again, fellow scribes of the Realms!

Why, Neriandal Freit, how right you are. 6969yessss!

Wooly, your "John Doe" question has several replies. By coincidence, one of Ed's soon-upcoming replies will answer it (regionally).

To Purple Dragon Knight, The Sage, Kajehase, and everyone else who has posted thanks and expressed enjoyment for POWER OF FAERUN and the (serialized) Border Kingdoms web enhancement, Ed tenders his thanks and hopes you go on enjoying it for years. Both of them have been large parts of why he's been so busy these last few months, but he warns that he's still just as busy (read: you all have loads more FR goodies in your future).

Now, in the spirit of answering all Realmslore requests in the fullness of time, we go back to May of last year, and several Cormyr-related posts by Zandilar, which I've compiled hereafter:

What I'm trying to say is that the perception of the clawing, biting, hair pulling cat fight is an illusion perpertrated by daytime soap operas, and when pushed we women are more than capable of defending ourselves. The only times I've been involved in fights with girls, they've always used their fists. I have always been perplexed by the perception that women are so "whimpy" that they only scratch and bite and pull hair in a fight.

You also seem to imply here that Alusair is truely an exception. That women are raised to be weak and fragile and know that their place is in the home having children. Cry otherwise if you like, but I'm on to Cormyr! As much as I love the country, it's a patriarchal nation! Where are the women warriors? Where are the noble females who fight for King and Country? Alusair can't be the only noble female of her age that is a warrior, surely?

quote [Ed G's words]: "Tanalasta, when both she and Alusair were young, was a perfect example of the scratch and bite school, and Alusair knows full well that most females she'd dare show this side of herself to have been raised to do little else."

It's a matter of how you are raised and how you are trained, each to differing degress depending on who the person is. Tanalasta, in Death of the Dragon, had a couple of really strong fight scenes if I recall correctly - and I don't think she scratched and bit and hair pulled in them.

[Ed G's words]: "The attitude towards Alusair (the wanton slut) as opposed to Azoun IV (our rampant king, chuckle chuckle wink wink) is indeed holding the royal house to a different standard to the 'decadent' nobles ("wallowing in it, and each other" is a common Cormyrean saying, regarding the raffish behaviour, or at least reputation, of the nobility in general), but it's not a negative attitude towards bastards (children born out of wedlock), or even towards females (Alusair can rut all she wants before becoming Regent and after Azoun V is on the throne, or if he dies and she becomes Queen, after she marries and produces 'an heir and a spare'). The "good folk of Cormyr" (i.e. general public opinion) just doesn't think a female who sleeps around is the right sort of person to be a good Regent."

I am not sure where this double standard might come from, because you've basically eliminated all the reasons why that might be. They don't have a problem with "bastards" (which is the major issue with a female who sleeps with lots of men - but it's not as if Alusair has even proven herself fertile... I am sure the general populace has been asking questions about her seeming lack of fertility by now - after all, no form of contraception is 100%... though this is the Realms we're talking about, so it might be foolproof), and they don't have a problem with Alusair because she's female, and finally they don't have a problem with a male in the same position being randy. So why else might this be? I'm scratching my head here, because try as I might I cannot see a good reason (aside from the two already eliminated)... Ah well, time to think about it a bit - maybe I'll think of something on my own that is just not obvious to me at the moment.

But this reminds me of something else. In all my recent readings of Cormyr, I found and re-read the Dragon Annual magazine article "After the Dragon"... In it, it basically says that Azoun at two points in his life vowed not to philander... I must admit that this took me by surprise, because it was not my impression that he "toned down" his wanderings in the least. The first time was after his marriage to Filfaeril in 1329 DR, and then again when he came to the throne in 1336 DR. So maybe the common people do have problems with a randy male in a position of authority...

[Ed G's words]: "Of course, her blades and the Purple Dragons she's fought alongside judge her very differently, and already have as much or more personal loyalty towards her than they ever had towards her father. In my opinion, if Alusair produced two healthy children, in 'untainted' married circumstances, I think her strong sexual appetites would be accepted even if she then remained unmarried. However, we'll have to see."

I must admit that this paragraph is confusing. Are you saying she marries, has children, then the children's father dies or she divorces him and then she remains unmarried? Or are you saying she has children out of wedlock people are not likely as much as blink about it?

Though I also find this very interesting in light of what you say a bit later about the fertility or lack of polymorph and similar spells. You mention that basically only divine magic has the power to make such a change a fertile one. Are you implying here that it takes a less divinely guided hand to meddle and make someone infertile? So a wizard or a sorcerer with the ability to alter their form could do so in such a way as to render themselves infertile?

The Hooded One said these words by Garen Thal were correct: "Speaking of Alusair, all of this is why there is so much pressure on her to be married. Azoun is still young, and there is no telling what kind of man he will grow up to be. Alusair is approaching the end of child-bearing years, and it is vital that she be able to produce a member of the royal house before that occurs. Azoun needs at least one royal cousin (in the mode of Bhereu and Thomdor), as an aide, advisor, means of grounding himself, and as a backup heir."

Not only is she approaching the end of her childbearing years, but she's also barren (so it's not like she has child bearing years in her anyway!). So I don't see how her getting married might make a difference to that, unless getting married is the condition which triggers the removal of Vangerdahast's "magically enforced barrenness"... And wouldn't that be a surprise for Alusair? Though it has been implied that she somehow suspects something (I think it was in a recent Ed via THO post to this forum, but danged if I can find it!)... But still, I can't see she would be too pleased.

So saith Zandilar.

Ed now makes reply:

Yes, she's not too pleased, but it's been "the way things are" since she's been old enough to be told about (ages four through six, as the explanation was gently expanded and deepened; all folk in the Realms know the 'mechanics' of sex a lot better and earlier than we real-world moderns, and the Obarskyr princesses were raised from knowing what words meant onwards with continual "this is what it means to be a princess of the Dragon Throne" lectures), but think of it this way: if Alusair WANTS to "have fun," sexually, she needn't fear unwanted pregnancy, and so can trust in Vangey's magic - - until now, of course, when his 'retirement' leaves her wondering if he's undone any enchantments, or if they've failed or started to fade. I believe Vangey (or Laspeera, or Caladnei) would have to magically 'do something specific' to end the spell, which will survive Vangerdahast's death - - but yes, I believe his intention was to remove it on her wedding night, and I believe enough hints have been handed her over the years that she 'knows' that.

Such magical meddling, by the way, is why the general populace aren't speculating as to Alusair's fertility; they generally assume that the royal family, like most of the nobles, hire spellcasters to make sure they have children just when they want to (because, as [usually] hard-working but coin-poor commoners, that's what THEY'D do: have childbirth when they're financially ready for it).

[[And before divers scribes start energetically posting "but that's contraception! Or abortion!" objections, let me answer firmly: NO. To 'go there' is to completely misunderstand the Realms, and blindly apply real-world mores. Use of such magics is part of what many churches in Faerûn do as a matter of course, and debates about life are avoided because lay worshippers are NEVER told if the spells are making wombs barren, blocking access to the wombs, or permitting conception but putting development into "stasis;" it's all considered "the will of the gods," and the priests you pay to cast the spells are "putting in a good word with the god on your behalf" regarding either having a child right now, or delaying having a child, NOT deciding things (the deity does that).]]

As for the hair-pulling, clawing, and biting: it's wrong to think of Cormyr as patriarchal because that's the general perception of how women fight, because it isn't, and it isn't. :}

The "clawing biting scratching thing" is the country-wide perception of how NOBLE WOMEN fight, raised to spit and slap faces and deliver barbed insults and pull hair, scratch, and bite when they either lose their tempers or are being beaten or raped. It is NOT how most of Cormyr sees common-born women as behaving. Alusair is unusual because she's noble and female and still wants to "ride to war with the boys" (in other words, behave in an "unladylike" manner).

You questioned the meaning of these words of mine: "Of course, her blades and the Purple Dragons she's fought alongside judge her very differently, and already have as much or more personal loyalty towards her than they ever had towards her father. In my opinion, if Alusair produced two healthy children, in 'untainted' married circumstances, I think her strong sexual appetites would be accepted even if she then remained unmarried. However, we'll have to see."

Yep, confusing. I certainly could have said it better. I did mean the hypothetical case of Alusair marrying, having children, and then outliving the father and deciding not to remarry (ever). Children out of wedlock aren't as much a social stigma as they ever were in our real world, but they are a serious problem to the succession, and would be seen as "regrettable" lapses in judgement on the part of either Obarskyr princess, and therefore colour public attitude towards said princess (in Cormyr).

Yes, I did say that only divine magic has the power to make a change in shape result in a "new" body or form that is reliably fertile. Most shapechanging magics are cast by individuals who haven't "lived" in the form they're taking before, and so only have a vague idea of the creature's innards and workings. They often end up changing shape to a form that turns out to be infertile, without even knowing it. If skillful enough, a wizard or a sorcerer with the ability to alter their form could certainly do so in such a way as to deliberately render themselves infertile. However, if they lack the necessary knowledge (gained through dissection, mind-melding with beasts, or shapechanging and living among beasts, or casting the right "peek and probe" spells and using them properly) to do so, shapechanges are always going to be "possibly fertile but then again, possibly not."

So saith Ed.

Who can peek and probe me ANYtime. Er, ahem.

love to all,
THO

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March 27, 2006: Hi again, all!

Kajehase recently posted: "Incidentally, two new words in Chondathan to invent if you'd like: Border, and Kingdom(s)."

Ed makes reply:

In Chondathan, border or boundary is "auba" (fences or barriers have their own words), and kingdoms are "oerlar" [singular: "oerl"]. Lands, by the way, are "luth" [singular and plural are both the same]. However, to utter "auba oerlar" would be to say "kingdoms along a border" and would lead most hearers to think you meant either the string of lands along the edge of the northern ice or a large desert (depending on where you were, when you were speaking), or that you meant the lands where Faerûn ends, and other places start ("Karatur whence the caravans come" or the unknown-to-most southern lands). If you wanted to refer to THE Border Kingdoms, you'd say "Daerlardul Taertaer"

from "daysur" (folly or foolishness or a doomed striving, process or construction) plus "oerlar" plus "dul" (of the, or belong to, or pertaining to) plus "taertaer" (beasts or persons who are crazed, mad, or berserk)

In other words, you're saying: "Folly-realms of the Madmen."

As good a place to hail from as any, I suppose. :}

So saith Ed.

Who's hard at work on ANOTHER surprise for you all, in time to come.

love to all,
THO

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On March 27, 2006 THO said: While I'd rather not take sides in this thread (as a longtime fiction editor, I've been pleased at a lot of the points made by various parties here), I do have to comment on this last post by Charles.

I don't know how many years you've run the Realms, but I've played in them with Ed Greenwood as a DM for more than 25 years.

Almost ALL of our Realmsplay has been intrigue, intrigue, and more intrigue. Many game sessions don't involve a single character drawing a weapon or casting a spell.

Now, there are many differences between the published Realms and Ed's original, but when I look at TSR's/WotC's Realms I see a great deal of the intrigue at least mentioned, that Ed put in there in our game sessions.

I'm afraid you'll probably be as extremely offended at this as you were at Blueblade's posts, but I see more intrigue in the Realms than in any other game world I've read or used. And he's right: it DOES have a lot of city-states.

I was a little surprised to read that statement about the Realms being "Intrigue Lite," too. It's like saying the Realms is "Magic Lite."

I'm glad to see we agree on the Chosen, though.

(I wonder what you'll think of BLACKSTAFF, when it comes out?)

love,
THO

On March 27, 2006 THO saod: I mentioned BLACKSTAFF, BTW, because it IS that "book about Khel" you were expecting.

One of the ongoing debates in-house at WotC, according to Ed, is the balance between showing us novice heroes (social "nobodies" when their tale begins), and too often putting the focus on rulers, royalty, guildmasters, and Big Wheels. That dovetails with the debate about "small heroics" versus Realms-Shaking-Events.

You've mentioned heroes "changing the world" in some of your posts in this thread. Where (for your tastes) would you put the balance?

Or is it over here for some books, and over there for others?

(I'm not trolling or waiting to pounce on your reply; I'm honestly curious.)

love,
THO

On March 27, 2006 THO said: Ah. So you're seeking as heroes characters who do (sometimes small, that turn out to be) "things that matter" in the wider Realms, as opposed to Things That Shake The Realms.

I think the Malaugrym are great foils for Elminster, too.

Interestingly, Ed never wanted to write the Elminster books (just as he never wanted to kill off Shandril).

He wanted El to be a supporting character only.

Me, I'm looking forward to SWORDS OF EVENINGSTAR and its sequels, wherein Ed shows us the genesis of the Knights of Myth Drannor adventuring band ( *cough* our PCs plus some of his NPCs *cough*), as they start out as adventure-seeking teenagers.

love,
THO

On March 29, 2006 THO said: I'm not going to echo Blueblade's comments, because he said it well enough. Darn right, BB. Sorry, Charles, I misread it the same way until I read your reply.

Instead, Charles, I want to respond to your comments about the ending of CITY OF SPLENDORS (which I won't get specific about because you quite rightly "spoiler hid" them).

You didn't like that ending, you said, because the heroes didn't get all the rewards, but some of the villains (or at least the undeserving) did.

I think that was the whole point: that Ed and Elaine were able for the first time to shrug out of the old TSR Code straitjacket to say: "Yep, sometimes evil DOES win. Or heroes don't triumph in a swift, neat fashion because we're at the end of our pagecount."

Are you really just looking for "good guys win!" books in Realms novels? I ask because that's the very same thing a lot of longtime Realms readers have been complaining about, all these years. :}

love,
THO

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March 28, 2006: Hi again, scribes. Kajehase recently posted this: "Here's one for Ed to answer when he's done with all the proper Realms-questions (which I suppose, would be at least a decade or so after he's turned into an arch-lich) that I came up with whilst doing my paper-route in a freezing -18 degrees Celsius last morning: How does all those bearded inhabitants of the Realms' northern parts deal with the frost forming in their facial hair on a cold winter day if they can't get inside?"

As a bearded cold-climate man himself, Ed couldn't resist answering:

They put up with it. :} Hence the Sword Coast North word for "bloke" or "mate" or "average joe" or "some guy": "snowmouth." Ice and snow on long beards can be sucked to derive drinks of water, and of course ice roughly broken off takes embedded hair with it. Many in the North cultivate beards and a completely unshaven state to keep as warm as possible, so the "snowmouth" image is common. It tends to keep mustaches trimmed so the mouth isn't covered with snow or ice.

Which reminds me of Gerath Hoan's hirsute question; I'll get to that one tomorrow. Er, as you say: when I'm done with all the proper Realms-questions.

So saith Ed, thy bearded Realms oracle.

love to all,
THO

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March 29, 2006: Hello again. As promised, Ed herewith tackles Gerath Hoan's question: "With one question answered, I thought I might ask Ed another, this one with much potential for humour, if handled in a certain way. Some fellow gamers and myself were discussing facial hair and the conversation predictably turned to styles in the Realms. Therefore my question for Ed is could he elaborate on the fashions of facial hair, as sported by human men, throughout the "Heartlands" of the Realms? I'm particularly interested in the differences between the various classes of folk (eg commoner, merchant and noble) and between lands (by the "Heartlands" I'm mostly thinking of Waterdeep, Cormyr, Sembia and the Dales, with the Sword Coast and Western Heartlands to a slightly lesser extent). If that question is too vague and there's too much information to give in one answer, then I'd like to hear about the styles adopted in Cormyr, Sembia and Waterdeep by nobles and rich merchants above all other categories. I hope Ed finds this question as fun as I do, I'd like to think that he finds answering our Realmslore questions just as much fun as we have asking them."

Ed replies:

Of course I have great fun answering Realmslore questions; it affirms my reason for existing (and doing all the crazy gamer things I do, by telling me other crazy gamers need me).

This time, I feel moved to answer this question rather seriously: in the Heartlands of the Realms, a majority of men have facial hair, in a wide (or wild, if you prefer) variety of styles. In Calimshan and the South, hair may be oiled or perfumed to keep it smelling nice and free of bugs, and this practice tends to get sneered at in the North, but other than that, all fashions prevaill; other than on the local "in this particular royal court" level, there's no really "fashionable" sort of beard.

In general, eastern and southern folk in the Realms (and hirsute women) tend to shave the chin bare and have more long mustaches, "daggerboard" long sideburns, and the like, than do northern folk (who tend more to full-coverage beards, cut either long or short as profession and daily safety or practicality dictate). Van Dyke or longer "lipspike" beards also tend to be fashions of the Vilhon and the Shining South more than they are seen in the North. But as I said, these are gross generalizations.

Hair length confers status (or is linked to manhood, puberty, or reputed properties) generally only in barbarian tribes, and men whose "full beards" consist of cheek and/or chin fuzz aren't sneered at as somehow inadequate for "not being able to grow" full beards.

It should be noted that many cantrips and TRULY EFFECTIVE (if expensive) ointments (all having long and fanciful names like "Embelder's Efficacious Divine Dew," and a collective name of "thurdrixes," singular "thurdrix") exist in the Realms for altering hair colour and stimulating hair growth (sometimes at astonishing speed: inches per day), and those who make use of them can markedly alter their appearance. There are even drinks reputed to affect hair growth, but most of these are useless, or are skin dyes or even recreational drugs sold as hair growth treatments to avoid stigma or legal bans.

Something entirely edited out of the Realms until now has been the popularity in Calimshan and more southerly regions of bearded courtesans and pleasure-dancers: beautiful, scantily-clad women who have neatly-styled beards, often of vivid blue, purple, or mauve hue. These are known as "sarken," and some men go wild at the sight of them. Some sark-women cover their beards with face-veils except when performing or engaging in intimacy (they eat and drink only in private), and others dispense with all veiling and masking, considering their sarken to conceal their modesty (they'll shave themselves in front of a partner, to excite him). This Realmslore was handed to TSR back in 1986, but seemed to REALLY upset someone, because it vanished, completely and repeatedly (as in, several times over the years I was asked to send the same notes to them because of the geographical areas covered in them, as new people tackled new projects, and each time all mention of sarken immediately disappeared).

Skilled barbers (as opposed to "saerfell" or hairdressers) are rarer than they should be; many families cut each other's hair crudely, as needed, or even shorten hair by the backwoods method of soaking it in mud at the desired length, and burning off the (kept clear of mud) length of hair below the muddy part. Body hair is often trimmed or removed, particularly in the South, by oiling and then scraping the body, and women often pluck unsightly hairs (around their nipples, around moles or scars, and the like).

However, it's wrong to think that the presence or absence of beards or their styles in the Realms is linked to class, wealth, nobility or royalty, or any other status, aside from minor religious fashions - - beyond the "passing popularity" of a populace adopting beards like the beard of a popular leader (such as Azoun IV of Cormyr).

So saith Ed, the Bearded One

(I've seen him in harem costume once, for a fancy dress ball, and he's more the fat-bellied, hairy-all-over stereotype than he is the shapely dancer, I'm afraid).

love to all.
THO

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March 30, 3006: Hello again, all. First, a public service announcement: as I mentioned earlier, Ed's trundling off to be a Guest of Honor at the 25th Anniversary AD ASTRA sf convention in Toronto (www.ad-astra.org) from now through Monday, and so will probably fall e-silent until Tuesday - - because I'm going to pull some strings and zip down there to join him (in disguise, of course). His family, who will be housesitting, love to play computer games, so Ed's phone lines and computer will probably be tied up morning, noon, and night until he gets home (unless they melt down first). So Ed's lore replies will have another little hiccup.

However, scribes, PLEASE don't stop those questions coming. They keep Ed happy (I was going to say sane, and then thought better of that) and amuse me, too - - and I'm going to see if I can hack into a certain handy computer system and read this thread, though I certainly won't be able to post.

Now, to Realms matters. This time, Ed makes reply to The Sage in the matter of Brazilian publishing and this: "Ed, you've talked a little about the duties of the courtesan and courtier in terms of function in royal courts and places of power and how they relate to visiting foreign dignitaries and the like. But I'm actually more curious about actual royalty visiting other realms... to keep this specific, how would a visit to the Forest Kingdom by a foreign royal ruler from another realm be handled inside Cormyr itself? Obviously, there are traditions to satisfy and the usual security measures and political wranglings to get out of the way first... but what happens during an actual visit? I'm looking for more lore than the few snippets that have been hinted at in both novels and sourcebooks in the past."

Ed makes reply:

Hi, Sage. As for the posting from the gentleman from Brazil, WotC of course owns and controls all of my Realms work. The only other significant fantasy fiction series I have to offer, if he's interested, are the five Aglirta novels (1. The Kingless Land, 2. The Vacant Throne, 3. A Dragon's Ascension, 4. The Dragon's Doom, and 5. The Silent House), and my agent for those books is Mr. Andrew Zack, The Zack Company, Inc., 243 West 70th Street, Suite 8-D/New York, NY 10023-4366/USA, phone 212-712-2400, fax 212-712-9110, e-mail: andy.zack@zackcompany.com

[The physical address will probably change around the end of April or in May.]

(To anyone else reading this: the website www.zackcompany.com should give you an idea of the sort of clients Andy's looking for, and the relevant protocol. I'd strongly suggest you have a thorough read of it before just deciding to phone him!)

Concerning your royal visits question: as this is lore I worked up for Chapter 1 of POWER OF FAERUN (but didn't use) AND for a certain secret writing project by someone other than me, I'm afraid it's already wrapped up nicely as a (forthcoming) 2-part Realmslore WotC web column, and so I can't repost it here. However, I can say this much:

Obviously, visits vary greatly depending on who's involved, the purpose of the visit, and what's going on in Cormyr at the time (public mood), but in general, there are "private visits" (show up without any public fanfare or proclamations, go to the Palace or a royal castle as the guest of the monarch or regent, and then do whatever the visit is for, either hunting in the King's Forest or negotiating a treaty or plotting future diplomacy and trade stances with each other and against a third country, or whatever) and there are "state visits."

As I've alluded, private visits are just that, and can involve almost anything. They're informal, and generally only occur between rulers who are friends or at least long acquaintances.

State visits, on the other hand, follow itineraries that I've baldly summarized in the aforementioned Realmslore columns.

So saith Ed.

Who is now even busier than before, with some non-Realms stuff awakening and landing on his head. As he put it, "Ah, but it's nice to be wanted - - but do they all have to want me at once?"

BTW, he just voted for the Nebulas, and says there are some great tales on the final ballot this year (novels in particular). Me, I can't help but chuckling over one of the short story titles: "Still Life With Boobs."

love to all,
THO

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