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Originally posted by Ralf

What do would you define as the "look and feel" of the Realms? Sure, the setting is big enough that it encompasses many styles, cultures and ect, but do you think something seems to always come up, even when you got an Egypt analog and a Lankmar-like city in the same continent?

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Originally posted by Seethyr

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Originally posted by Ralf

What do would you define as the "look and feel" of the Realms? Sure, the setting is big enough that it encompasses many styles, cultures and ect, but do you think something seems to always come up, even when you got an Egypt analog and a Lankmar-like city in the same continent?

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Magic everywhere. I mean, you watch a fantasy movie and it’s pretty much the main characters are magic, perhaps there’s some other individuals and even societies and organizations.

In the Realms, I feel like you can’t look at a simple mushroom or brick and not suspect that there is magic in it somewhere. I like that a lot about the realms.

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Originally posted by the Forgotten Realms Conspectus

I set down these words out of love -- love of this my world, called "Faerûn" or 'home' by folk hereabouts -- for it shall endure when you in turn have passed away, as it has bustled and sparkled and roared out the fury of its storms and earthshakings and eruptions of fire from below, while its beauties have entranced elves and dwarves and men alike these thousand years.

If you are but newly come to the Realms, or are setting out for the first time from the place of your rearing to taste its beauties and perils, I envy you. So much glory awaits your eyes. Hearken to some few of the things I have observed in Toril...

I have seen deep green glens where the Dancing Folk gambol amongst the ferns, scudding mists, and ancient gnarled trees -- using magic to sink into the very stones beneath their hooves when danger comes too close. Some of them dwell in forests so vast that an elf straying not from a chosen straight route could walk for a summer and not cross through from one treesedge to the other.

I have seen dragons erupt out of the sea and surge into the air to strike with breath, fang, and claw at rival wyrms, aloft -- while terrified sailors strain to sail their ships intact through the raging heart of such a battle.

I have seen knights -- lords and ladies both, their armor bright -- riding along forest paths with proud pennants fluttering from their lances, as they thunder down to jousting fields where crowds wait, kings' envoys among the press of excited bodies, alert to see which of these fair combatants will make good agents for the crowns they serve.

I have seen forgotten castles crumble to ruin amid choking brambles, sprouting trees, and the claws of chill winter. Towers crash to the ground, stones larger than men crackling and rolling...and when the dust settles, monsters slither in to lair in the shadowed inner chambers. Chests of gold and coffers of gems stand in some of these hidden rooms -- and in others, old magic lurks, flickering feebly over scrolls and wands and enchanted things as it awaits those brave enough to intrude.

I have seen ghosts and worse things rising from graves to menace the living. In dark cellars and desolate places skulls fly about at night, and in some crypts skeletal hands chill intruders with their bony clutchings. Not all of the fallen lie peacefully in the earth.

I have seen men in the crowded cities of Faerûn whose fingers have gained great skill over long, painful years of labor, so that they can set a gem scarce large enough to see into the eyeball of a carved statuette no taller than my hand...or fine-forge a lock so intricate that six keys must be turned to make it yield.

I have seen close-beamed and smoky taverns where women dance in the firelight and sing laments so sad and sweet among harping or piping that hardened dwarves howl in grief and proud elves weep silent tears that glisten back the leaping flames, as all folk under those roofs are briefly brethren, close-knit and moved by the same stirrings.

I have seen villages where heavy-laden haycarts groan along lanes that roam almost lazily across rolling hills farmed by halflings, gnomes, men, and half-elven alike, and folk come out at dusk to sit and smoke pipes or sing softly and toast the setting sun with vintage of their own making, while their barns and byres fill up with food to feed realms they've never seen...and gentle brooks chuckle endlessly past the hooves of lowing cattle as night comes softly down again.

I have seen proud men striving to seize such verdant lands by the sword, or defend them against such reavers or the grunting orcs of the mountains...and I have seen adventurers ride laughing to their dooms because to dare perils is to truly live.

I have seen gatherings of sorcerers known as MageFairs, where hundreds of spells flash and sparkle as beings of all races strive to impress each other with their powers, make pacts for employment or to strike down thrones and feuding families and foes half a world away, and sell their magics or teaching to those who would grow more mighty in the Art. And I have observed what such magic has wrought...

I have seen ships that sail the skies, bridges that float forever in the air, and gleaming spell-driven metal monsters that walk or dig or climb until their enchantments fail or they are rent by rival constructs or struck silent by the deaths of the artificers who dreamed of them.

In the end, all dreamers die, and it is the proud tasks of those scribes around me, here in Candlekeep, to see that the dreams don't die with them. For it is the doom of men that they rush about, consumed by the concerns of the moment, and forget the splendid and heroic deeds they witness along with the wisdom they have earned...and should have learned. Wherefore here in Candlekeep we keep many thick tomes -- halls upon halls of them, spell-guarded against rot and fire -- that preserve the proud sagas of the greatest world I know. A world that lies before thee, waiting.

I have seen the glories of the Realms in my day, and glimpsed something of what lies ahead. Perils that shake the very world, and dark days for Faerûn, lurk among the shining sights: bold and brave adventurers will be needed.

If you are stirred at the thought of wielding sword or spell in this most splendid of worlds, hearken. I am Alaundo of Candlekeep, called by some Alaundo the Seer, and I say to thee: the Realms wait for thee.

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Originally posted by Ralf

What do would you define as the "look and feel" of the Realms? Sure, the setting is big enough that it encompasses many styles, cultures and ect, but do you think something seems to always come up, even when you got an Egypt analog and a Lankmar-like city in the same continent?

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