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Brimstone
Great Reader

USA
3285 Posts

Posted - 24 Nov 2009 :  16:19:00  Show Profile Send Brimstone a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by Blueblade

Gods, I love this thread! Ideas and more ideas that I can swipe for my campaign...
Ahem.
Dear Ed and THO,
This time I'm after the name of a really high-class cloakmaker (or seller, or alterer) who does business in Suzail. Someone with name recognition like the real-world Dior or St. Laurent or [insert your widely-known fashion designer, whose name will at least be recognized even by someone who cares nothing for fashion and may not even known if the named designer makes gloves or boots or belts or gowns or whatever]. Like Chanel in perfume or Hugo Boss or . . . the Realmsian equivalent, anyway. I'm after someone associated with great expense and almost reverence among fans, not someone derided for scandal or excess.
Thanks!
BB


I like that!

PS. If you can THO add someone derided for scandal or excess also.

Sorry BB I couldn't resist it.

"These things also I have observed: that knowledge of our world is
to be nurtured like a precious flower, for it is the most precious
thing we have. Wherefore guard the word written and heed
words unwritten and set them down ere they fade . . . Learn
then, well, the arts of reading, writing, and listening true, and they
will lead you to the greatest art of all: understanding."
Alaundo of Candlekeep
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crazedventurers
Master of Realmslore

United Kingdom
1073 Posts

Posted - 24 Nov 2009 :  20:31:53  Show Profile  Visit crazedventurers's Homepage Send crazedventurers a Private Message
Ioun Stones?

Well one may think they are related to Peltasts. Perhaps the next stage on from Greater Peltasts, the Ancient Ones perhaps, who have fed on other intelligent beings for so long that they take on a characteristic (the dex bonus/spell storing etc) of said 'being' and slowly 'die' hardening and becoming what we know as Ioun stones?

Just a random thought

Cheers

Damian
ps who thinks they would be better as immature peltasts, slowly feeding on their owner before being 'born' as a Peltast. The hard crystalline shell (IOUN stone) is their cocoon until they are ready to emerge?
(Though this does not fit with the lore we already have about them from the 'Halls of the High King' module)

So saith Ed. I've never said he was sane, have I?
Gods, all this writing and he's running a constant fantasy version of Coronation Street in his head, too. .
shudder,
love to all,
THO
Candlekeep Forum 7 May 2005
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Brimstone
Great Reader

USA
3285 Posts

Posted - 24 Nov 2009 :  22:53:37  Show Profile Send Brimstone a Private Message
THO, I just saw the "Cover" to Elminster Must Die. It was in the WotC Summer Catalogue. August 3 2010, just in time for Gencon.

I was wondering if that was a Mock Up or the real deal. It shows El in front and the Simbul behind him surrounded by blue/silver fire. It also had some Warriors facing them. All, in all really nice cover.

The blurb said that El has to "feed" The Simbul Magic Items so she wont go insane..., and that their stash is running out!

So what if any can Ed share on that tid-bit?

It also said that when you have been alive as long as Elminster you tend to get alot of enemies. So is this Ed's version of the FR Master's of Evil teaming up against El and The Simbul?

August needs to get here now!

"These things also I have observed: that knowledge of our world is
to be nurtured like a precious flower, for it is the most precious
thing we have. Wherefore guard the word written and heed
words unwritten and set them down ere they fade . . . Learn
then, well, the arts of reading, writing, and listening true, and they
will lead you to the greatest art of all: understanding."
Alaundo of Candlekeep

Edited by - Brimstone on 24 Nov 2009 22:55:03
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BadCatMan
Senior Scribe

Australia
401 Posts

Posted - 25 Nov 2009 :  00:45:15  Show Profile Send BadCatMan a Private Message
Trying again. I don't mean to be annoying, I just thought this was fundamentally important to the setting, and I'm deeply curious to know.

Weekends in the Realms - do they have them, and if so, how many days are there, and how are they arranged in the ten-day week? Is there a set-aside "holy day" (I know some deities have weekly ceremonies, presumably this will vary according to which deity is most popular) or day of rest? And is there a common market-day, or does it vary from town-to-town?

I did some research on 10-day-week calenders. Ancient Egypt, Tang Dynasty China and Revolutionary France all had 10 day weeks, with the latter two having one day off at the end (rather unpopular, I imagine). And I know Turmish has a day off to "chase the sun" every seven days.

BadCatMan, B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc.
Scientific technical editor
Head DM of the Realms of Adventure play-by-post community
Administrator of the Forgotten Realms Wiki
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore

5056 Posts

Posted - 25 Nov 2009 :  01:28:32  Show Profile  Visit The Hooded One's Homepage Send The Hooded One a Private Message
Hi again, all. BadCatMan, I've sent your queries to Ed, but I can tell you off the top that there's no set-aside "holy day" in the Realms; everyone believes in just about every deity (that their race venerates), and worships them energetically or marginally, depending (if you're a farmer, you'd pray a lot to Chauntea, but if you had to send your grain or hogs by ship to market, or ever had to make an ocean voyage yourself, you'd sure worship Umberlee and Talos energetically, to try to make that passage safe), all the time. Yes, there are particular important festival days and holy days for each faith, but there's no once-a-tenday "day of rest" (that's a real-world Christian feature). Which would argue that the weekend as a time off routine work doesn't exist, either (we Knights have never encountered a commonly-observed "every-tenday-hiatus" that would correspond to a weekend in the real world, to be sure) - - but I'll leave it to Ed to explain more fully.
love,
THO
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore

5056 Posts

Posted - 25 Nov 2009 :  01:38:26  Show Profile  Visit The Hooded One's Homepage Send The Hooded One a Private Message
Oooh, and an astonishingly swift reply from Ed just landed in my inbox! Brimstone, re. ELMINSTER MUST DIE!, Ed shares this with us all:


Well, Wizards of the Coast has the perfect right to spill whatever teasing beans they want to about ELMINSTER MUST DIE! (and in a pre-order catalogue is the sensible and time-honoured way of doing such spilling), but I'm contractually bound NOT to. So I can't say anything at all, beyond explaining I haven't seen the cover you mention, and if things work the way they usually do, I wouldn't know if I was seeing a prototype or a final anyway, and couldn't confirm anything.
As for your last question, re. Masters of Evil: No.
Regarding sharing: Sorry, but I Iegally can't. Other than to comment that what you paraphrase of the teaser blurb certainly isn't inaccurate, but of course teasers usually can only hint at a small part of what's in a book.
And * I * can't wait for August to get here, either! By then, I hope to have the first draft of my NEXT Realms novel done!
I will blurt out this much, because I don't think it offends against what I've agreed to say and not say: Susan Morris, my editor (editrix, if you prefer) on this book, loves the Realms and is a GREAT and enthusiastic editor. I very much look forward to working on a lot more books with her!


So saith Ed. Who tells me he's loving all the work he's doing on ELMINSTER MUST DIE! Now I'll tell you all something: true Realms fans, DO NOT MISS this book!
love to all,
THO
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore

5056 Posts

Posted - 25 Nov 2009 :  02:02:36  Show Profile  Visit The Hooded One's Homepage Send The Hooded One a Private Message
Hi again, all!
This time I bring yet ANOTHER lightning-swift Ed Realmslore reply, this time to Blueblade and Brimstone:


Suzail has dozens of importers who sell cloaks made in Sembia and Amn, and will alter them or add trim at a local shopkeeper’s (or walk-in client’s) request, or more often on their own, to try to create a stylish new look to differentiate their wares from everyone else’s. Many, many seamstresses toil in the poorer parts of the city altering and recycling (cutting down into other garments) clothing of all sorts, and there are at least four clothing shops on the Promenade and central-city streets immediately south of the Promenade that routinely dye and adorn all manner of clothes to make them flashier, to stimulate sales.
However, Suzail has only one “known” high-class cloakmaker: Antheava Maeroara, who has an extensive second-floor shop above the premises of Harlthas Oamurburl, a custom boot maker, in Pendle Street (the two floors above Maeroara’s shop and workshop are the living quarters of rental tenants, mostly workers in the two shops).
Antheava is a tireless, eager-to-please, seemingly ageless thin and supple woman who for decades has been a custom cloak designer and maker to the nobility and to all others with coin enough to pay outrageous prices for their cloaks (four times what a fine cloak costs elsewhere, and more). At all hours of the day or night she’ll respond to their entreaties for emergency repairs, cleaning, or alterations; scores of noblewoman adore her and consider her a “quiet” (close-mouthed keeper-of-confidences) friend.
There has never been a breath of scandal associated with her; she’s known to prefer the company of women, and to gently but firmly dissuade all advances from clients or other nobles of either gender.
Many Suzailan designers of other items of clothing or accoutrements have been touched by scandal, however, and the majority of these seem to deliberately behave outrageously (indulging in many excesses) to repeatedly gain attention and so gain notoriety. The undergarment-maker Haelaera Immermoon is perhaps the most currently (just pre-Spellplague) infamous of these. A sexually voracious lover of seemingly-endless fondlings and orgies with anyone and everyone (both genders, and many races and species, from snakes to orcs to drow), who seems to enjoy feeling pain and having some means of healing herself from even grievous wounds, she delights in all manner of salacious behaviour that usually begins with the “personal fittings” she demands all of her clients take part in. Most Suzailans either avoid her entirely or can’t afford her wares, or enjoy dealing with her but find her “exhausting, simply exhausting - - and you MUST hear what she made me do!” Haelaera is a young-looking, thin-to-bony, blonde human Aglarondan woman who seems never to sleep, or need to do so.



So saith Ed, tireless revealer of all manner of sidelines and oddities of the Realms.
love to all,
THO
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High

Australia
31701 Posts

Posted - 25 Nov 2009 :  02:21:23  Show Profile Send The Sage a Private Message
Heh. I think Haelaera will be making an appearance in my Realms campaign very soon. The party's nowhere near Suzail, but it'll be worth the trip if a meeting with the infamous undergarment-maker is the result.

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Sandro
Learned Scribe

New Zealand
266 Posts

Posted - 25 Nov 2009 :  02:58:49  Show Profile Send Sandro a Private Message
quote:
The blurb said that El has to "feed" The Simbul Magic Items so she wont go insane

The Simbul, go insane? Surely that could never happen.

"Gods, little fishes, and spells to turn the one to the other," Mordenkainen sighed. "It's started already..."
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Brimstone
Great Reader

USA
3285 Posts

Posted - 25 Nov 2009 :  05:35:48  Show Profile Send Brimstone a Private Message
Thats THO.

"These things also I have observed: that knowledge of our world is
to be nurtured like a precious flower, for it is the most precious
thing we have. Wherefore guard the word written and heed
words unwritten and set them down ere they fade . . . Learn
then, well, the arts of reading, writing, and listening true, and they
will lead you to the greatest art of all: understanding."
Alaundo of Candlekeep
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Zandilar
Learned Scribe

Australia
313 Posts

Posted - 25 Nov 2009 :  07:43:38  Show Profile  Visit Zandilar's Homepage Send Zandilar a Private Message
Heya,

quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
Many Suzailan designers of other items of clothing or accoutrements have been touched by scandal, however, and the majority of these seem to deliberately behave outrageously (indulging in many excesses) to repeatedly gain attention and so gain notoriety. The undergarment-maker Haelaera Immermoon is perhaps the most currently (just pre-Spellplague) infamous of these. A sexually voracious lover of seemingly-endless fondlings and orgies with anyone and everyone (both genders, and many races and species, from snakes to orcs to drow), who seems to enjoy feeling pain and having some means of healing herself from even grievous wounds, she delights in all manner of salacious behaviour that usually begins with the “personal fittings” she demands all of her clients take part in. Most Suzailans either avoid her entirely or can’t afford her wares, or enjoy dealing with her but find her “exhausting, simply exhausting - - and you MUST hear what she made me do!” Haelaera is a young-looking, thin-to-bony, blonde human Aglarondan woman who seems never to sleep, or need to do so.



This is quite amusing. There was a running "joke" in my other half's version of the Realms that the (vast majority of) seamstresses of Faerun were all controlled by the Church of Loviatar (some more willing than others). Loviatan seamstresses loved to feel up their clients, mis-stick pins, overly tighten corsetry, and otherwise get up to other sorts of mischief depending on how permissive the client was (with an eye to getting them more and more involved in S&M type activities). Many of them specialized in fetish-type wear. Haelaera sounds like she might fit in well in that organization (the seamstresses ran the full spectrum from sadist to masochist and every combination in between).

Later on, one of the PCs managed to break the power of the Loviatan controlled seamstress's guild... But there are still a few of the more willing ones around, if one knows the signs to look for.

Zandilar
~amor vincit omnia~
~audaces fortuna iuvat~

As the spell ends, you look up into the sky to see the sun blazing overhead like noon in a desert. Then something else in the sky catches your attention. Turning your gaze, you see a tawny furred kitten bounding across the sky towards the new sun. Her eyes glint a mischevious green as she pounces on it as if it were nothing but a colossal ball of golden yarn. With quick strokes of her paws, it is batted across the sky, back and forth. Then with a wink the kitten and the sun disappear, leaving the citizens of Elversult gazing up with amazed expressions that quickly turn into chortles and mirth.

The Sunlord left Elversult the same day in humilitation, and was never heard from again.

Edited by - Zandilar on 25 Nov 2009 07:46:54
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Sandstorm
Seeker

Canada
80 Posts

Posted - 25 Nov 2009 :  20:13:51  Show Profile  Visit Sandstorm's Homepage Send Sandstorm a Private Message
Hey THO, and to Elmin...err... Ed ;)

I just wanted to say thanks once more for all the advice. I've been browsing the BAEN, TOR and EOS websites about submisison guidelines as much as I have been working on my novel. I feel very confident in my approach for the first time in a long time.

A question for Ed and for yourself as well if it interests you THO. Just for fun, what Fae'run city, whether you've dabbled with it or not, would you find fascinating to set a story within, if it had to be based around the city itself, incorporating it's personality into the plotline... ShadowDale? Thentia? Mossstone? Athkatla? Other?

I DM every sunday for my friends, and we're always setting our campaigns in Fae'run. We find it a blast to travel to and from. Had them doing Firefingers in THentia's bidding one time... had them clearing Frost Giants from the outskirts of Castle Tethyr... beating their way through the wilds of Chult one time, and are now surviving the streets of Athkatla. Its such a wonderful world to play within as well as to read.

Also, in response to Blueblade, if you or anyone else wants to chat it up about dnd campaigns, and where the story can go...i love to chat REalms, bounce ideas back and forth. doc_holiday4@hotmail.com msn me if youd like to chat.
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Baleful Avatar
Learned Scribe

Canada
161 Posts

Posted - 26 Nov 2009 :  23:47:21  Show Profile  Visit Baleful Avatar's Homepage Send Baleful Avatar a Private Message
Dear Ed and THO,
Another quick, simple question (thanks to the unfolding needs of my Realms campaign): in Suzail, if I need to buy a "catwalk" (rope-and-board walkway with rope "rails" both sides, that can be strung from building to building high in the air), about eighty feet long (enough to cross a major city street but not a really wide one like the Promenade; I'm talking one of the arterial grid streets in the heart of the city), can I? On short notice, "walk in and pay" rather than having it made to order?
If so, how much, where would I buy it, how widely would this source be generally known, and how widely or quickly would "the city at large" (or just the Watch) learn that I'd bought it? Would they come calling to ask me questions as to where and how I intended to use it?
In other words, can I, as a citizen of Suzail, quietly buy a catwalk of that length or longer, without attracting lasting attention (do shops keep records of who buys from them, or just coin and stock inventory tallies?), for later use? If I buy it and try to use it in an assault or thieving job that same night, how soon would the authorities learn who bought such an item?
Whew. Turned into a whole raft of questions. Sorry.
(Well, not REALLY sorry, but . . . you know what I mean.)
Thanks.
BA
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Broken Helm
Learned Scribe

USA
108 Posts

Posted - 26 Nov 2009 :  23:56:03  Show Profile  Visit Broken Helm's Homepage Send Broken Helm a Private Message
Dear Ed and THO,
Zandilar's post, just above, makes me think of something: some real-world "Goths" or "Emos" (or whatever the current term is) I know are "into" the practise of sewing real stitches into their flesh, as adornments (to make themselves look wounded and on the mend or stitched up like Frankenstein's monster, some of them after cutting themselves, and some of them after just drawing on a fake "cut" with cosmetics.
I seem to remember Ed once mentioning devout of Loviatar doing something similar; am I recalling correctly? And if so, would this be seen in Westgate, Suzail, Marsember, and/or Arabel? How do Dalesfolk react to travelers having such adornments? And does the existence of healing potions encourage masochistic revelers to "hurt themselves farther" knowing the pain and visible wounds can be wiped away?
Thank you.
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Malcolm
Learned Scribe

242 Posts

Posted - 26 Nov 2009 :  23:59:03  Show Profile  Visit Malcolm's Homepage Send Malcolm a Private Message
Dear Ed,
I'm mightily intrigued by what little I saw of ELMINSTER MUST DIE! in the Wizards 2010 Summer Catalog. I'm sure you're sharply limited in what you're allowed to tell us, but I just wanted to ask you to please share all you can, when you can, with us scribes here in this thread, okay?
Feed the hunger . . .
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Blueblade
Senior Scribe

USA
804 Posts

Posted - 27 Nov 2009 :  00:00:02  Show Profile  Visit Blueblade's Homepage Send Blueblade a Private Message
Hear! Hear! Heartily seconded: fan those flames!
BB
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gomez
Learned Scribe

Netherlands
254 Posts

Posted - 27 Nov 2009 :  08:18:01  Show Profile  Visit gomez's Homepage Send gomez a Private Message
Does Haelaera travel?
She sounds like an interesting ally to Kira Nenthyn (of the Fall of stars).
I could give her a cameo in a future adventure.
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Kajehase
Great Reader

Sweden
2104 Posts

Posted - 27 Nov 2009 :  09:04:21  Show Profile Send Kajehase a Private Message
Something else I've been wondering about lately - what is the ratio of land-owning farmers to farmers paying someone (probably a noble or religious organisation, I'm guessing) for the privilege of working their homesteads in Cormyr, the Vast, and the Waterdeep uplands respectively?

Note: Question may be reformulated in a more elegant way once I'm not too tired to come up with a better sentence-structure in Swedish, let alone English.

There is a rumour going around that I have found god. I think is unlikely because I have enough difficulty finding my keys, and there is empirical evidence that they exist.
Terry Pratchett
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Broken Helm
Learned Scribe

USA
108 Posts

Posted - 27 Nov 2009 :  22:34:04  Show Profile  Visit Broken Helm's Homepage Send Broken Helm a Private Message
Ah, another question occurs to me: do any buildings in Waterdeep have "fire escapes" as we would recognize them? Or just outside "zig-zag, wall-mounted" staircases connecting to various floors of the building, regardless of what they were built for and what the "ground end" looks like?
Thanks!
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createvmind
Senior Scribe

490 Posts

Posted - 28 Nov 2009 :  00:37:04  Show Profile  Visit createvmind's Homepage Send createvmind a Private Message
hello All,

Ed, are there any creatures whose dung is considered valuable, what are dangers in acquiring it if any?
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore

5056 Posts

Posted - 28 Nov 2009 :  03:05:52  Show Profile  Visit The Hooded One's Homepage Send The Hooded One a Private Message
Hi again, all. A quick Ed-reply to Kajehase’s question: “. . .what is the ratio of land-owning farmers to farmers paying someone (probably a noble or religious organisation, I'm guessing) for the privilege of working their homesteads in Cormyr, the Vast, and the Waterdeep uplands respectively?”
Ed replies:



The owners versus tenants ratio is about 85 percent owners to 15 percent tenants in Cormyr (with almost all tenant farmers in the southeast; if you expand the definition of “tenants” to include the household staff of nobility working the nobles’ farmland, AND include farmers who farm their own land but also farm a field or two owned by absentee landlords [[usually city folk or nearby nobles]], the ratio shifts to about 70 percent land-owning farmers versus 30 percent renting farmers).
In the Vast, it’s 75 owners to 15 tenants, but if you use the expanded tenant definition above, matters shift to about 67 percent owners to 33 percent tenants.
In the Waterdeep uplands (Goldenfields and similar temple-farms farmed by the resident clergy specifically excluded), the ratio is 82 percent owners to 18 percent tenants, but if you use the expanded definition, things shift only slightly (to 79 owners vs. 21 percent tenants).



So saith Ed. Who adds that Amn is the land where tenants widely outnumber owners, except in the hilly and mountainous borderlands.

love to all,
THO
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Kentinal
Great Reader

4684 Posts

Posted - 28 Nov 2009 :  03:53:40  Show Profile Send Kentinal a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by Broken Helm

Ah, another question occurs to me: do any buildings in Waterdeep have "fire escapes" as we would recognize them? Or just outside "zig-zag, wall-mounted" staircases connecting to various floors of the building, regardless of what they were built for and what the "ground end" looks like?
Thanks!



Not Ed and no way connected to him, however it does appear Waterdeep has no building code. I am also unsure of what you consider a recognized fire escape. Where I live they are hard to see and of those found some are made of wood, the theory being that metal get too hot to walk on (apparently ignoring that wood burning is also hard to walk on).

All in all odds are on the Ed will reply with it depends. that is where the building is and how important the building is considered to the Lords of Waterdeep.

"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon
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Blueblade
Senior Scribe

USA
804 Posts

Posted - 28 Nov 2009 :  04:08:07  Show Profile  Visit Blueblade's Homepage Send Blueblade a Private Message
I don't know about fire escapes, but I do recall Ed talking about buildings in South Ward and Dock Ward that have wooden outside stairs that connect from balconies on various levels, and to the ground. Used for egress, entry, laundry hanging, and "rail-box" gardening.
BB
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Kajehase
Great Reader

Sweden
2104 Posts

Posted - 28 Nov 2009 :  15:45:12  Show Profile Send Kajehase a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One

The owners versus tenants ratio is about 85 percent owners to 15 percent tenants in Cormyr (with almost all tenant farmers in the southeast; if you expand the definition of “tenants” to include the household staff of nobility working the nobles’ farmland, AND include farmers who farm their own land but also farm a field or two owned by absentee landlords [[usually city folk or nearby nobles]], the ratio shifts to about 70 percent land-owning farmers versus 30 percent renting farmers).
In the Vast, it’s 75 owners to 15 tenants, but if you use the expanded tenant definition above, matters shift to about 67 percent owners to 33 percent tenants.
In the Waterdeep uplands (Goldenfields and similar temple-farms farmed by the resident clergy specifically excluded), the ratio is 82 percent owners to 18 percent tenants, but if you use the expanded definition, things shift only slightly (to 79 owners vs. 21 percent tenants).



So saith Ed. Who adds that Amn is the land where tenants widely outnumber owners, except in the hilly and mountainous borderlands.

love to all,
THO




Tenants *facepalms* I couldn't remember the word for the life of me, and when I went to check a Swedish-English glossary, the Swedish term eluded me Very frustrating.
Anyway

My thanks to Ed and The Hodded One both. A quick follow-up: How are the tenants usually paying their rent - coins (not very often I'm guessing), giving part of "their" farm's produce, or by working a set number of day's on a property run by the landowner?

There is a rumour going around that I have found god. I think is unlikely because I have enough difficulty finding my keys, and there is empirical evidence that they exist.
Terry Pratchett
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Menelvagor
Senior Scribe

Israel
352 Posts

Posted - 28 Nov 2009 :  16:32:17  Show Profile  Visit Menelvagor's Homepage Send Menelvagor a Private Message
Haelaera Immermoon sounds like an intriguing character, What more can you tell us about her, Ed? Is she Human at all? Does she have any secret allegiances, to Shar, Loviatar, Sharess, or any other sect/religion/cult?
Zandilar - fully agree with you regarding Semstresses. And anybody who's read enough Terry Pratchett will also find the inner humor in this...

"Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly.
How much less them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation in the dust, are crushed before the moth?" - Eliphaz the Temanite, Job IV, 17-19.

"Yea, though he live a thousand years twice, yet hath he seen no good: do not all go to one place?" - Ecclesiastes VI, 6.

"There are no stupid questions – just a bunch of inquisitive idiots."

"Let's not call it 'hijacking'. Let's call it 'Thread Drift'."
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore

5056 Posts

Posted - 29 Nov 2009 :  02:52:51  Show Profile  Visit The Hooded One's Homepage Send The Hooded One a Private Message
Heh. Seamstresses as something more sexual is far, far older than Terry (he's looking back some centuries at our real world).

Kajehase, Ed tells us:

Tenants have all three of those options open to them in Cormyr, and usually choose the third (but sometimes the second). This is the norm across the Realms, wherever tenant farmers exist.
In Amn, however, only coin is accepted by the landlord, so the farmers have to sell their crops or labour as dearly as they can, to get coin enough to pay (or be forced into a period of unpaid labour, in lieu).


So saith Ed. Who is busy busy busy with Realms writing, these last few days.
love to all,
THO
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Aysen
Learned Scribe

115 Posts

Posted - 29 Nov 2009 :  05:14:56  Show Profile  Visit Aysen's Homepage Send Aysen a Private Message
Hi Ed, THO, and fellow scribes,

It's been some time since I visited, and I see that the lore-pile hasn't suffered for my absence in the slightest

My curiosity has led me to ask you questions on two separate areas:

1.) With respect to the entrepreneurial mage Aurora (she of the oh-so-useful Catalogue), was she your creation? If so, are there any other notable members of her former adventuring band (aside from Jhegaan the Maestro?) as of 3.5 edition? I'm interested in whether any of them have become as prominent as her.



2.) In the novel "The City of Splendors", after Khelben is laid low by a magical backlash, his apprentice Tammert Landral prays to Mystra for guidance and reassurance and sacrifices one of his memorized spells in the hope that his prayer is heard. (Mystra does later answer him in a somewhat direct fashion.) This whole scene intrigued me, as this was the first I'd ever read of a wizard doing this.

Was Mystra moved to respond more because the situation involved a Chosen who happened to be the apprentice's master, or because Tammert had made a personal sacrifice of one of his spells? Is this practice common among mages who wish to show the depth (or urgency) of their devotion? Does the number and power of the spell(s) sacrificed cause a bigger reverberation in the Weave so as to draw the attention of Mystra or Azuth? And accordingly, would such a sacrifice be similar to "lighting a votive candle" for giving up a simple spell, all the way up to "offering the fatted calf on the holocaust pit" for a major sacrifice of the Art?


Thanks Ed!

Edited by - Aysen on 29 Nov 2009 05:17:57
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
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Posted - 29 Nov 2009 :  05:44:35  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message
Oh, I like that second question!

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Brimstone
Great Reader

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Posted - 29 Nov 2009 :  06:12:31  Show Profile Send Brimstone a Private Message
Thirded! The second question that is THO.

"These things also I have observed: that knowledge of our world is
to be nurtured like a precious flower, for it is the most precious
thing we have. Wherefore guard the word written and heed
words unwritten and set them down ere they fade . . . Learn
then, well, the arts of reading, writing, and listening true, and they
will lead you to the greatest art of all: understanding."
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High

Australia
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Posted - 29 Nov 2009 :  06:14:13  Show Profile Send The Sage a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One

In Amn, however, only coin is accepted by the landlord, so the farmers have to sell their crops or labour as dearly as they can, to get coin enough to pay (or be forced into a period of unpaid labour, in lieu).
Actually, this ties in somewhat, with my current campaign. Thus, my question.

Ed, have there been any officially documented cases in the past, whereupon coin wasn't accepted by a Amnian landlord? Perhaps because the landlord was feeling generous, or agreed to other more "special" types of payment...

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