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Blueblade
Senior Scribe
USA
804 Posts |
 Posted - 01 Dec 2010 : 01:31:08
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Oh, goody! I happen to have a quick new question: are there any wharves or small private docks nearby Suzail but not in the city, on the Cormyrean south shore, circa the 1360s and 1370s? If so, are they patrolled/guarded/watched over by the authorities, most of the time? Or - - ?
Thanks,
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BEAST
Master of Realmslore
USA
1714 Posts |
Posted - 01 Dec 2010 : 03:10:28
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For all,
I recently PM'd The Hooded One inquiring about Ed's view of Gauntlgrym. As many of you are probably well aware, there has arisen what seemed to be a conflict between the lorebooks' description of the place, versus Bruenor Battlehammer's/Bob's description of the place. For a time, that conflict could simply be chalked up to Bruenor having a murky memory of Gauntlgrym lore. But in the latest novel of the same title, Jarlaxle tells Bruenor that he has found the real Gauntlgrym. Hence, my inquiry to THO/Ed.
Unfortunately, my PM Outbox did not keep a copy of my sent PM. In general, I had suggested to THO that perhaps part of the reason why we have been told about so many different types of monsters inhabiting the ruins of Gauntlgrym was because adventurers might be overly quick to claim that the ruins they had stumbled across constituted the real Gauntl.
But THO was gracious enough to invite me to post her response, here:
quote:
PM, dated 28-NOV-2010:
Hi, Beast.
Here's the truth: "Gauntulgrym" was a dwarven-built subterranean city constructed to human scale, for humans, JUST under the surface (and connected to the surface by several cavern "caravan-ramp" routes, and an air shaft up the heart of an extinct volcano, later taken over by a dragon as its lair). This city was intended as a trading-moot for humans, gnomes, and dwarves in the region (coastal Sword Coast lands) before Mirabar's rise, and was built ABOVE "Gauntlgrym," a much older dwarven city.
All of this was written up, not in all that much detail, by Ed, who precisely located (and mapped, for D&D play use) the upper city, circa 1979.
(In other words, long before Bob was writing Realms fiction.)
Ed never detailed the deeper city, but the uppermost one's map was purchased by TSR, and the "discovery" of the city was an in-play event for us Knights around 1982, echoed by later library Ed-DM play (the Company of the Gryphon), and then MUCH later RPGA D&D players, who used a tiny corner of the uppermost level of the upper city of Gauntulgrym (you may recall my post earlier in this thread about the disgusting dragon remains).
So, yes, the news about the discovery is correct, monsters and all; the news-spreaders are simply unaware (as are, frankly, MOST "alive-now" dwarves in the Realms) that there are two places, one linked to the other (note: Ed tells me my "above" refers more to their depth into the Underdark, not necessarily that the two places are EXACTLY above each other).
So from the first, Ed's lore allows for both the confusion and Bob's freedom to detail a "new" (or "the original") Gauntlgrym, and has always done so (the dwarven name is "Gauntlgrym," the Common Tongue mispronounciation of it is "Gauntulgrym"). It's one of the many, many little complexities of Ed's Realms that TSR has smoothed away or ignored, to banish confusion (like both a demon and a devil being called "Ashtaroth," much to the chagrin of careless PC summoners), over the years.
Ed doesn't mind Bob doing a different Gauntlgrym in the slightest, BTW. He and Bob are old and good friends, and Ed believes that writers tell better tales when given maximum freedom to spin stories.
BTW, feel free to republish this. Ed doesn't mind at all. Ed suspects that some of the confusion arose because younger replacement Books editorial staff were simply unaware of what older, retired/dead veterans (like Bill Larson) knew, or forgot. Most written company records (probably including Ed's Gauntlgrym maps and notes) were destroyed when TSR shut down and Wizards acquired the company and moved the "survivors" out to Renton.
I hope this helps.
love,
THO
So, at least one of the ruins identified by various adventuring parties--that found by the Company of the Gryphon--is the real deal (the overcity, I guess one could call it?). This would apparently be the location of the lorebooks, the history of which George Krashos and others detailed so painstakingly in Lost Empires of Faerun.
But this leaves us with another older, wholly-dwarven fortress/city ruin site below that ruin, which lay hidden until Bob/et al rediscovered it in 1451 DR.
I suppose that dwarves never paid much heed to adventurers' tales of a rediscovered "Gauntul" intended for humans, instead preferring to reminesce upon a proper dwarven settlement: "Gauntl". Leaving the pretentious humans be could've allowed them to foolishly lay claim to more than one would-be Gauntul, which could help explain why we have so many different types of critters supposedly haunting the same durn place...
BTW, <a map of sorts of Gauntulgrym/Gauntlgrym> can be found in the Neverwinter e-zine, though I do not know if this was based in any way on Ed's earlier maps. It does appear to depict a fortress/throne/path to the forges that is separated, vaguely, from two upper and lower city levels.
Thanks, THO/Ed! I love being able to read about both the lorebooks' tales and Bob's novels' tales, without having to pit one against the other. |
"'You don't know my history,' he said dryly."
--Drizzt Do'Urden (The Pirate King, Part 1: Chapter 2)
<"Comprehensive Chronology of R.A. Salvatore Forgotten Realms Works"> |
Edited by - BEAST on 01 Dec 2010 03:11:22 |
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Elseenon
Acolyte
3 Posts |
Posted - 01 Dec 2010 : 04:50:58
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| Can anyone point me to the old word files of Ed's Answers which were hosted on Kuje's former website? While the pdfs are lovely, it was good to be able to search a single composite document. |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 01 Dec 2010 : 05:10:14
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quote:
Originally posted by Elseenon
Can anyone point me to the old word files of Ed's Answers which were hosted on Kuje's former website? While the pdfs are lovely, it was good to be able to search a single composite document.
I think I'm the only one [aside from Kuje] with copies of those old files. I'm still compiling the 2010 file, but the rest are all up-to-date.
Do you have a valid email I can send them to?
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Elseenon
Acolyte
3 Posts |
Posted - 01 Dec 2010 : 05:53:42
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| I do. The clicky one on my posts is valid. Thank you very much. |
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Sandro
Learned Scribe
New Zealand
266 Posts |
Posted - 01 Dec 2010 : 07:20:08
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quote:
Most written company records (probably including Ed's Gauntlgrym maps and notes) were destroyed when TSR shut down and Wizards acquired the company and moved the "survivors" out to Renton.
Many thanks for the Gauntlgrym clarification, though; I was aware that RAS's use of it contradicted existing lore (or appeared to), but it was such a good story it didn't bother me much. Still, good to know everything still "works" -- that's one of the best things about the Realms, I think: there's always a way to make things work, even without (necessarily) falling back on the unreliable narrator aspect of it all. |
"Gods, little fishes, and spells to turn the one to the other," Mordenkainen sighed. "It's started already..." |
Edited by - Sandro on 01 Dec 2010 07:25:40 |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 01 Dec 2010 : 20:26:26
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Yes, The depth of Ed's lore has always been the saving grace of the Realms. Wheels within wheels, layers upon layers...and you only have to use the ones you want to.
love,
THO |
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uaintjak
Acolyte
14 Posts |
Posted - 01 Dec 2010 : 23:26:08
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One of the things I always loved when I purchased Realms-related items authored by Ed was when he would include information about adventuring companies (much like he did in the Grey Box book). It's also one reason I'm so obsessed with the Knights. Yes I can (and do) make up my own companies, but I've always liked using Ed's for flavor, since they are part of his creation.
Any chance we'd ever see some information on the old adventuring companies that Ed created and others have played? Not just info on the Knights of Myth Drannor, but lore and membership rolls of say, The Knights of the Unicorn, The Company of the Gryphon (and other library groups he's run), and other ones he's invented through the years.
Oh, and along those lines, while I'm thinking about it...in the Heroes Lorebook (I forget if that's actually the name, the one where the Knights of Myth Drannor and also the Company of Eight are detailed), I know that the Company of Eight are not Ed's creation, but their backstory (the written part before the members are detailed) seemed distinctly...Edian, I guess, for lack of a better term. Especially the names of former Company members (Chiaelin Frendel, Mirthal Aendryr, and Kaleene Thalwood in particular). Did Ed have any part in that? |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 02 Dec 2010 : 02:16:11
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Hi again, all.
uaintjak, I don't think Ed had anything to do with the Company of Eight. However, there's nothing like asking The Man himself, so I've relayed your query to Ed for a definitive reply. I hope it'll come soon, but no guarantees...Ed's plunged into a flurry of busy-ness this week . . .
love,
THO |
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Sage of Stars
Seeker
USA
59 Posts |
Posted - 02 Dec 2010 : 02:18:14
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Dear Ed and THO,
I heard some gossip today about a certain Ed of the Greenwood working with a certain George "Railroad" M . . . any truth to it? Anything you can tell us at all?
Or more wild fancy, on someone's part?
Inquiring minds . . .
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Broken Helm
Learned Scribe
USA
108 Posts |
Posted - 02 Dec 2010 : 02:20:38
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Dear Ed,
I was just re-reading EL MUST DIE! (GREAT book, thank you again) and some of the names of characters instage in that revel in the Palace near the beginning of the book sounded a wee bit familiar. Have you used any of them in Realms adventures you've run at conventions, in the past?
Thank you in advance. |
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Malcolm
Learned Scribe
242 Posts |
Posted - 02 Dec 2010 : 02:22:26
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Ed and THO,
is the contest to guess the author of FILFAERIL BOUND AND WILLING still open?
I can't even remember if I've used up all my allotted guesses, yet.
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Hoondatha
Great Reader
USA
2449 Posts |
Posted - 02 Dec 2010 : 05:04:47
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Hey Ed. That bit about you ghost-writing other fantasy books is fascinating. As if you didn't have enough projects going that everyone already knows about! I'm going to poke a bit around the edges of this one, but if you can't say anything, just let me know and I'll subside.
Is there any way enterprising scribes could figure out which books these were? I understand that you probably wouldn't be able to hint, broadly or otherwise, but are there places we could look, people we could ask? And a more general question, how would you generally be approached to ghost-write, and how have you approached such projects in the past?
Many thanks, as always. |
Doggedly converting 3e back to what D&D should be...
Sigh... And now 4e as well. |
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Bakra
Senior Scribe
628 Posts |
Posted - 02 Dec 2010 : 13:14:17
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quote:
Most written company records (probably including Ed's Gauntlgrym maps and notes) were destroyed when TSR shut down and Wizards acquired the company and moved the "survivors" out to Renton.
Woah, was this accidentally or intentional? Does the NDA’s still apply to something intentionally destroyed?
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I hope Candlekeep continues to be the friendly forum of fellow Realms-lovers that it has always been, as we all go through this together. If you don’t want to move to the “new” Realms, that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with either you or the “old” Realms. Goodness knows Candlekeep, and the hearts of its scribes, are both big enough to accommodate both. If we want them to be.
(Strikes dramatic pose, raises sword to gleam in the sunset, and hopes breeches won’t fall down.)
Enough for now. The Realms lives! I have spoken! Ale and light wines half price, served by a smiling Storm Silverhand fetchingly clad in thigh-high boots and naught else! Ahem . .
So saith Ed. <snip>
love to all,
THO
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 02 Dec 2010 : 15:34:57
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NDAs would still apply, because Ed provided this lore in response to a TSR request, while he was being paid as a consultant.
(Oh, and I didn't mean to imply that corporate written records were destroyed, just printed notes etc. for "past projects" [TSR-published material].)
love,
THO |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7969 Posts |
Posted - 02 Dec 2010 : 15:50:48
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I'd briefly imagined a scene of suit-wearing infernals laughingly pitchforking piles of paper into their glowing furnace. Fortunately not the case.  |
[/Ayrik] |
Edited by - Ayrik on 02 Dec 2010 15:51:36 |
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Mr_Miscellany
Senior Scribe
545 Posts |
Posted - 02 Dec 2010 : 16:36:33
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Hello All,
I was wondering if Ed has any notes on (or if THO has any in-play remembrances of) NPC War Wizards who were bumbling mages? Or just really unlucky?
For example: a War Wizard who gets perpetually ambushed in the wilds of Cormyr, rides headlong into low hanging branches (assuming he or she didn’t fall right out of the saddle already), trips over robes all the time and regularly bumps into people and things. Someone who fumbles his or her spell components, forgets the words to incantations and just makes things up to keep the spell going, and is as likely to blow up a castle's walls as he or she is to successfully unleash a devastating magic to blast orcs sieging that same castle.
Also, is there a term used by Priests of Tymora to denote individuals that non-priests are roundly convinced are unlucky, but that the priest believes is in fact blessed with a great deal of luck?
Thank you! |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 03 Dec 2010 : 02:26:55
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Hi again, all.
Oooh, I recall some bumbling War Wizards...and better yet, Vangey reacting to them with snarls about them being "all too like" someone who was apparently a far WORSE bumbler, in the past. So, yes, Mr_Miscellany, there is indeed an answer to your query, when Ed replies to it. (And I think Ed already has coined a Church of Tymora term for the sort of individual you describe, too!)
love,
THO |
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Menelvagor
Senior Scribe
Israel
352 Posts |
Posted - 03 Dec 2010 : 07:45:33
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| Quick question: Is there anyone alive/undead/whatever in the current-day Realms who knows/can cast either version (the lesser and the greater) of the Srinshee's Spell Shift except Elminster? If so, who and where? Lastly, since part of the spell is based on manipulating the Weave, would there be any changed effects due to Mystra's death/disappearence? (there's a rather subtle question hidden in the first and second questions... I hope it's subtle enough...) |
"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'." |
Edited by - Menelvagor on 03 Dec 2010 07:46:37 |
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Brimstone
Great Reader
USA
3286 Posts |
Posted - 03 Dec 2010 : 13:33:12
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I really enjoyed the Silent Sail DDI Article. |
"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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Bakra
Senior Scribe
628 Posts |
Posted - 03 Dec 2010 : 14:18:19
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I do believe the Scribes here would find this offer from Ed interesting.
This is a direct quote from the Wotc Novel Book Club from Oct. 4th :
All the Realms are a game table, and we are but PCs. What's your character like?
Ed Greenwood (author of The Sword Never Sleeps): With the approval and connivance of certain TSR staffers, I wrote myself up as a character in the Realms back in 1979, and I’ve been in the Realms ever since. No, I’m not Elminster. (Or Mirt.) “I” live in Waterdeep (at least in the 1350s DR), am in published Realmslore but not at all prominent, and if someone guesses who I am, I’ll reveal more. As in, a tale or three.
My guess is Chef-for-hire Brazaun of Baldur’s Gate. |
I hope Candlekeep continues to be the friendly forum of fellow Realms-lovers that it has always been, as we all go through this together. If you don’t want to move to the “new” Realms, that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with either you or the “old” Realms. Goodness knows Candlekeep, and the hearts of its scribes, are both big enough to accommodate both. If we want them to be.
(Strikes dramatic pose, raises sword to gleam in the sunset, and hopes breeches won’t fall down.)
Enough for now. The Realms lives! I have spoken! Ale and light wines half price, served by a smiling Storm Silverhand fetchingly clad in thigh-high boots and naught else! Ahem . .
So saith Ed. <snip>
love to all,
THO
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Tormtar
Acolyte
20 Posts |
Posted - 04 Dec 2010 : 12:03:17
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My guess would be Fylgard Onister, dealer in ropes, quality fastenings, harness and trail-leather of South Ward.  |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 05 Dec 2010 : 02:52:53
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Heh! Keep those guesses coming, folks!
Mr_Miscellany, I've received the fragmentary beginnings of a reply from Ed about bumbling War Wizards. He promises to provide us with more details soon, but for now:
From the early years of the War Wizards, one "Forndel Leshingbroke" was a notorious bumbler.
A far more recent bungler, who often caused Vangerdahast to erupt in seething rages, was "Vorn Nuskarm."
THE legendary/infamous paramount War Wizard accident-prone incompetent, known to all Cormyreans thanks to expressions like "a real Doraunk, he was" and "worthy of Doraunk himself!" that are daily applied to pratfalls and screwups by citizens the realm over (who may not know who Doraunk was) is Phelndur Doraunk, who flourished, if that's the right term, chronologically between Leshingbroke and Nuskarm.
So saith Ed. Who will add more when he can.
love,
THO |
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Jakuta Khan
Senior Scribe
496 Posts |
Posted - 05 Dec 2010 : 20:13:48
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Dear Knowledge-Keeepers,
have you got any Information about a possible connection between the Hobgoblin Kingdom of Holorarar and the Sythilisian Empire?
Or maybe a bit more detailed history about the above mentioned than what is in Drizz't's guide to the underdark?
Thank you in advance for a short reply. |
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Jakk
Great Reader
Canada
2165 Posts |
Posted - 06 Dec 2010 : 04:04:41
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quote:
Originally posted by Menelvagor
Quick question: Is there anyone alive/undead/whatever in the current-day Realms who knows/can cast either version (the lesser and the greater) of the Srinshee's Spell Shift except Elminster? If so, who and where? Lastly, since part of the spell is based on manipulating the Weave, would there be any changed effects due to Mystra's death/disappearence? (there's a rather subtle question hidden in the first and second questions... I hope it's subtle enough...)
Ooh! I'm interested in this one too. I also have a related multi-part question: will the forthcoming volumes of the Elminster series reveal anything more regarding:
(a) the Srinshee?
(b) Halaster?
(c) Larloch?
(d) Szass Tam?
(e) Dove Falconhand?
I know how the game works, and I expect nothing more than a simple "Yes," "No," "Maybe," or "NDA".
I know better than to ask any of the other several dozen questions regarding those five aforementioned luminaries.
Many thanks again, Ed and THO! |
Playing in the Realms since the Old Grey Box (1987)... and *still* having fun with material published before 2008, despite the NDA'd lore.
If it's comparable in power with non-magical abilities, it's not magic. |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 06 Dec 2010 : 18:52:56
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Heh. Here's a swift reply from Ed:
a) Maybe.
b) Maybe.
c) Maybe.
d) Maybe.
e) Maybe.
Or if you prefer: NDA.
As much as I'd like to, I really can't spill the beans about the contents of forthcoming books. Your use of the phrase "anything more" allows me to hint that it's likely a reader will learn more, perhaps not much, about most of the proffered list of characters.
So saith Ed. Who's hard at work on the third of the new Elminster books right now...
love,
THO |
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Mr_Miscellany
Senior Scribe
545 Posts |
Posted - 06 Dec 2010 : 20:01:09
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Hello THO and Ed,
quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
From the early years of the War Wizards, one "Forndel Leshingbroke" was a notorious bumbler...
Thank you very much for the information! Now to set about on my own by filling in some details. :) (And looking forward to any elaboration from Ed.)
A follow up: are there any ghost stories or fables told amongst the War Wizards about mages of their order? Like something about a War Wizard who was lost under mysterious circumstances and never heard from again, only to be glimpsed a decade later, drifting along under the moonlight like a ghost, deep in the heart of the Stonelands or some other far off or inhospitable environ, or maybe "always just around the corner" in a dark, unused hall of the Royal Court?
Thank you again as always! |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 06 Dec 2010 : 20:18:16
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If this has been asked before, forgive me (and someone point me to the answer).
Who is The One, and is there is a reason he choose the Star Mounts for his base of operations?
And here's another I probably won't be able to get a straight answer to - is Filfaril a Chosen? 
She seems to hang with them an AWFUL lot.
And a guess - Ed is the one that wrote that chapbook about Filfaril, wasn't he? 
EDIT: How bizarre! The correct last page to this thread is displaying correctly! That's a FIRST! |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 06 Dec 2010 20:19:49 |
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Blueblade
Senior Scribe
USA
804 Posts |
Posted - 06 Dec 2010 : 21:06:14
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I seem to fuzzily remember that "The One" was a Paul Jaquays character, and was something to do with his Dragonquest campaign, or "home" D&D campaign.
BB |
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The Red Walker
Great Reader
USA
3563 Posts |
Posted - 06 Dec 2010 : 21:42:47
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quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
If this has been asked before, forgive me (and someone point me to the answer).
Who is The One, and is there is a reason he choose the Star Mounts for his base of operations?
And here's another I probably won't be able to get a straight answer to - is Filfaril a Chosen?
She seems to hang with them an AWFUL lot.
And a guess - Ed is the one that wrote that chapbook about Filfaril, wasn't he?
EDIT: How bizarre! The correct last page to this thread is displaying correctly! That's a FIRST!
Fee very well could be one......but just maybe the only reason she hangs with them so much is because "a daughter of Elminster" and is just chillin' with her family Though that's awfully straight forward and maybe too simple!
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A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men - Willy Wonka
"We need men who can dream of things that never were." -
John F. Kennedy, speech in Dublin, Ireland, June 28, 1963
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Questions for Ed Greenwood (2010)
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