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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
 Posted - 01 Aug 2005 : 15:58:34
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Just a note for Realms scribes: the Wizards website not only has the end of THE NIGHT TYMORA SNEEZED, it has a CITY OF SPLENDORS interview with Ed and Elaine, it has CoS wallpaper, AND it has Ed’s latest MAKING OF A MAGE outtake story, the long-lost fight-fest DARK TIMES IN HASTARL.
No wonder Ed’s so tired . . . 
love to all,
THO
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Edited by - The Hooded One on 01 Aug 2005 16:00:26 |
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Gray Richardson
Master of Realmslore
USA
1291 Posts |
Posted - 02 Aug 2005 : 00:48:09
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O radiant Hooded One, I would like to ask a question that has been plaguing a group of us over on the FR Cosmos Forum: What is the name of the mysterious Orc World to which Thayd opened a portal, bringing the Grey Orcs to Faerûn which began the Orcgate Wars. And does Ed have any thoughts about where the world might be located? Or any other thoughts he would like to share about this world?
Thanks in advance!  |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 02 Aug 2005 : 01:40:29
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Hello, all scribes!
Asgetrion, Ed and I both say: glad you liked ELMINSTER’S DAUGHTER! Hope you’ve found the Best of Eddie book, and don’t miss “The Night Tymora Sneezed” on the WotC website, to keep you going until CITY OF SPLENDORS comes out. And I guess I already am our Lhaera, though there’s no way I’m adopting the mincing lisp and flouncing . . . (I would, however, climb into Elminster’s bed any time he so much as hinted!)
I, too, love Ed’s habit of pouring “Realmslore colour” into his fiction, to make it truly seem real. As for your questions about hamlets and villages and the like, Ed’s reply to Torkwaret on page 16 of this 2005 thread should give you a general picture: every settlement has a well, but not necessarily a mill. However, folk seldom have to travel more than half a day to mill things (or they’d not get back before dark). Here’s Ed’s reply about mills:
Most of the settled Realms is well-watered, but where there are no water-driven mills, windmills are one method, but far more common is a horsepower mill: a grinding capstan of stone wheels on a circular stone track, moved by pushing on the spoke-timbers of a rotating upright axle (or, in the case of some very old surviving ones in larger southern cities, huge stone wheels that a mule actually “walks inside” like a circular treadmill).
One example of a capstan or horsepower mill can be seen early in the first Conan movie: the affair Conan is chained to, trudging around and around, as we see him go from boy to young man. In the Realms, these are usually worked not by human-power (except in slave-owning areas of the Shining South, such as monster-ruled Veldorn), but rather by mules, donkeys, horses, or oxen: you bring your own team (pulling your cart of grainsacks), unhitch them, hitch them to the capstan-beams (the “spokes”), and set them to work.
A few Realms cities and towns (those on rivers near seacoasts, where a regular tide pushes water temporarily upriver) also have tidal mills. These inefficient affairs are prone to storm-pounding water damage to sluices, “pond” sides, and wheels, also tend to silt up and have to be “dug out again” regularly, and of course are limited to working when the tides dictate. A tidal mill is simply some sort of pond or water enclosure, sometimes dug right out of the river mud, in which rising tidal waters are collected, trapped behind a barrier (just as a drainplug prevents water running out of a bathtub), and after the tide recedes and everything is left “high and muddy,” the water is let out through a sluice channel to turn the millwheels - - which are often connected via long axle-spars to shore (or rather stone quay ) -based grinding wheels.
So saith Ed. He’ll be back with your “who rules the little bits?” reply tomorrow.
love,
THO
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 02 Aug 2005 : 01:40:54
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quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
Just a note for Realms scribes: the Wizards website not only has the end of THE NIGHT TYMORA SNEEZED, it has a CITY OF SPLENDORS interview with Ed and Elaine, it has CoS wallpaper...
These I already knew about...
quote:
...AND it has Ed’s latest MAKING OF A MAGE outtake story..., the long-lost fight-fest DARK TIMES IN HASTARL.
No wonder Ed’s so tired . . .
love to all,
THO
But this, I didn't. Thanks for the news THO  .
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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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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 02 Aug 2005 : 01:44:44
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My pleasure, Sage. Always, my pleasure . . . and I hope it always will be.
love,
THO |
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HunterOfStorms
Acolyte
Australia
21 Posts |
Posted - 02 Aug 2005 : 03:01:26
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Greetings and many thanks once again to The Hooded One and Ed for so patiently and graciously feeding the ravenous hordes of Realmslore seekers.
Yet another question to add to the stack.
I realise that this is a rather broad query and will be heavily influenced by regional attitudes and politics, so I'll restrict myself to asking about a handful of specific regions.
Would Ed please describe what, if any, 'recognised border' (or even disputed border, if he feels like it  ) controls exist between countries such as Damara and Impiltur, The Dales and Sembia, Sembian ports, Cormyr and Sembia?
Trade is an important component of travel between these regions and even between friendly nations such as Damara and Impiltur, I would expect that travellers, expecially merchants, might be processed in some manner. For example: Are travel papers (as a form of passport) used anywhere and who issues them? What range of Customs tax might be expected? What steps might be in place to try to ensure that travellers are who they say they are and on legitimate business, especially if from some nation half a continent away?
My most humble gratitude  should Ed find a spare moment in his boundless free time (yesss ... drifting off into a fantasy land here I think ...) to contemplate a reply to such nebulous queries.
<executes a sweeping court bow and retires to lurkdom once more>
Hunter
<still hopping up and down waiting for the 2 latest novels to reach a local store <sigh>> |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 02 Aug 2005 : 14:42:35
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Here's a question for Ed, on behalf of a number of posters over at WotC -
quote:
In Cormyr - A Novel, there is a reference to a group of necromantic bad guys who were enemies in Cormyr - The Witch Lords. They were fought and defeated by King Galaghard with the help of the elves in 900DR.
Is there any more information anywhere on these bad guys - the Witch Lords who they were and what - if anything - became of them?
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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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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 03 Aug 2005 : 01:41:32
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Well met again, scribes of Realmslore. I bring you Ed’s second reply to Asgetrion’s question: “Who is "the local authority" in all those small settlements in Cormyr? Most of them do not have a local lord given in any accessory, so are there any 'mayors' or 'village elders' who hold power in the Crown's name? Or, in case there are no significant central figures, maybe the purple dragon patrols deal with any major issues?”
Ed speaks:
Yes, small settlements in Cormyr are policed by regularly-rotated Purple Dragon patrols (at the beginning of CROWN OF FIRE, we see the barracks in one such border settlement). A “full strength” Purple Dragon posting in a border or dangerous area is two shifts of twelve Purple Dragons each; this is sometimes reduced to eight per shift in “downland” or “safe” postings.
However, the Purple Dragons don’t “rule” the settlement per se (though they hold the real authority to arrest, apply Crown law, and otherwise order folk around). There are always village elders, and these are either termed “Speakers” (if recognized as the leader of the place by acclamation) or “Mayors” (if elected by all landowners, in a competition; the norm in any place of over 100 people or so). Their duties include informing all citizens of changes in laws and suspected local transgressions against the laws, post all Crown proclamations, and maintaining stabling and shelter for visiting heralds, royal envoys (and envoys from the nearest local lord), War Wizards, and Purple Dragon commanders - - as well as reporting regularly to all of the people they must provide shelter for. To do their jobs properly, most Speakers or Mayors employ mounted message-riders of their own, so they can send news out in a timely manner instead of just waiting for the next “official” to stop by and demand lodging.
Both mayors and speakers tend to be the heads (or the most outgoing and respected members) of locally-prominent families. They may have bodyguards who act as sheriffs (arresting and jailing, escorting and warning) “in town” when Purple Dragons are absent or otherwise occupied.
All of the sorts of people (listed above) that mayors and speakers must provide shelter for can serve as temporary judges and/or prisoner escorts if THEY (not the mayor or speaker) desire to - - and yes, they may convey, or in their absence Purple Dragons or escorts arranged by the mayor or speaker may, convey miscreants or requests for tricky legal rulings to the nearest local lord (so yes, villagers of the hamlet of Gorthin DO turn to the lord of Wheloon for “Crown law”).
Nobles seldom act as mayors or speakers, but often try to influence such officials (and when lawkeepers come calling on them, said nobles almost always demand special treatment because of their noble status; remember from my discussions with Jerryd in this thread that most noble households have a resident War Wizard, keeping watch over the nobles). Most nobles prefer to avoid the disputes and time-wasting duties of local rule, and the local disfavour anyone trying to do such jobs inevitably earns in the eyes of some - - and it’s very handy to have someone else do all of that, and just invite him up to the mansion for a friendly meal and chat whenever you want to sway him to do something in your favour.
So saith Ed. Spinning Realmslore wherever he goes. Apropos of which, here’s ANOTHER swift reply (this time to The Sage), in the matter of the Witch Lords:
I would love to say more about the Witch Lords, but I’m afraid there’s a firm, hard, still-shiny NDA forbidding me to utter a syllable. Which in itself should, of course, tell you something. :}
Let me be tauntingly mysterious for a moment and say that at least four scribes of Candlekeep (not counting my lovely Lady Hooded, of course) know more. I’m not going to identify them to you, of course. :}
Ah, that’s my naughty Ed!
More Realmslore tomorrow!
love to all,
THO
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 03 Aug 2005 : 01:56:52
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quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
Let me be tauntingly mysterious for a moment and say that at least four scribes of Candlekeep (not counting my lovely Lady Hooded, of course) know more. I’m not going to identify them to you, of course. :}
Of course...  .
Thanks Ed . I'll pass this along to the WotC boards.
quote:
Ah, that’s my naughty Ed!
Not as naughty as you my Lady... Ouch!  What was that for? 
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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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Mournblade
Master of Realmslore
USA
1287 Posts |
Posted - 03 Aug 2005 : 04:30:41
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WOW!!!!!
I did not realize the caliber of Sages that have now come within these hallowed walls. I have been gone for a long time!
Glad to see I am now amongst the company of the most learned!
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A wizard is Never late Frodo Baggins. Nor is he Early. A wizard arrives precisely when he means to... |
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Mournblade
Master of Realmslore
USA
1287 Posts |
Posted - 03 Aug 2005 : 04:49:41
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Hail and well met Ed!
I knew I had a question for you but for the life of me could not rememebr it until now.
I am trying to find an area of the realms that represents the Geology of the American Southwest, Like Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada. I do not mean wild west lifestyle, I mean more of the rocky desert terrain, complete with Cactus, Cougars, and the FEEL of those western environments.
Most of the deserts in the realms seem to be Sandy dune desserts like those of the middle east and africa.
Is there any area of the realms specifically Faerun, that would suit the Geology of the American Southwest? (other than of course Maztica).
I have been in the realms for a while.. but I just cannot seem to find a place that fits.
Thank you very much for your time!
Until Swords Part!
Mournblade
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A wizard is Never late Frodo Baggins. Nor is he Early. A wizard arrives precisely when he means to... |
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Asgetrion
Master of Realmslore
Finland
1564 Posts |
Posted - 03 Aug 2005 : 12:42:14
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My deepest thanks to Ed and thee, Lady Hooded One! Your contribution to this forum is invaluable and greatly appreciated. May Ed's beard grow long and turn to white, and may all the gathered scribes and sages here in Candlekeep run out of quills and parchments before the day of Realmsdoom hath finally come...
Please tell Ed that hopefully he takes pride in being a librarian. We may not be well paid or publicly appreciated, yet I consider it to be the best possible profession in the world
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"What am I doing today? Ask me tomorrow - I can be sure of giving you the right answer then."
-- Askarran of Selgaunt, Master Sage, speaking to a curious merchant, Year of the Helm |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 04 Aug 2005 : 02:08:54
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Hi again, scribes. Well said, Asgetrion. To quote Spider Robinson: “Never piss off a librarian. They are the Secret Masters of the universe: they CONTROL INFORMATION!!!!”
Ahem.
This time around, Ed undertakes to answer Elfinblade and now Jamallo Kreen on Faerûnian tea and coffee matters:
Unlike coffee, few teas in the Realms are shipped far, or sold for high prices (though there are “clubs” of tea-fanciers in Athkatla, Calimport, and other rich cities, of wealthy connoisseurs who’ll pay much for favourite blends).
This isn’t because tea isn’t popular or well thought of. It’s because the majority of teas in the Realms are what we modern real-world sorts call “tissanes” or “infusions” or (for the bulk of them) “herbal teas.” In other words, boilings of the leaves of various plants other than ‘tea.’ Moreover, the vast majority of teas are made from local wild plants, and travelers in the Realms expect teas to vary in taste from place to place - - so not a lot of long-distance shipping goes on. Within a realm, yes, and from hinterlands into a city, but most crofters and other country folk view tea as something they glean themselves, from wild bushes they (or their children) can “pluck leaves from” as opportunity and need arises. The leaves are usually kept in metal coffers with “sticky-rim” inner lips of the lids, to keep air out (and unlike our real world in past times, the container is worth a lot more than the tea!).
Most teas are made by pouring boiling water onto a container full of leaves, and then straining the leaves out (often for re-use, after “drying on a shield in the sun,” in the poorest households, though no one brews entirely with re-used leaves; instead, they add a little to fresh leaves). The tea is ALWAYS drunk clear, never with milk. However, Jamallo’s “Murky brew made from powdered leaves whisked in a bowl” is the norm in the Shining South, and in ports where travelers from many places mix, all sorts of tea-making habits and techniques are used and copied. Tea in most dining-houses (restaurants) replaces the real-world “dusty glass of water on the table.”
Jamallo, coffee is consumed in a great variety of ways in Faerûn, from a thick black near-syrup stirred into sweet liqueurs in Sembia and Chessenta, to roasted beans eaten whole, to the more familiar brew (drunk black, sometimes with medicines or mint leaves sprinkled over the surface, and “stewed in a pot over a fire or hearth,” and hence much stronger than what most of we real-world moderns are used to). The brew is the most popular method in Calimshan, the Tashalar, the Heartlands and the North, but peddlers, explorers, and adventurers often chew the beans as they travel.
I answered Elfinblade earlier about the coffee trade [THO note: see Page 18 of this 05 thread], but let it be said that except for places that have docking or gate-entry fees levied by the conveyance (a wagon, or a ship), no one levies import or export duties on tea (“Tea? TEA? Pass, merchant, and may you know better fortune within than to have to trade in tea!”). Even if you showed up with a caravan-full, you’d not be charged duty (though you might thereafter be watched, as a madman or a liar actually “up to something else”). And yes, Stig, I’ve not forgotten the other trade-goods in your initial question, and WILL get to them. Sometime. I promise.
So saith Ed. Weary but unbowed, as he labours mightily to bring forth Realmslore galore from too many and too secret projects to share with you now.
love to all,
THO
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 05 Aug 2005 : 01:38:14
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Hello, all. Ed makes reply to Jamallo Kreen on the topic of tomb-entering and tomb-robbing:
Your DM, of course, may disagree, but my take on this topic is that the gods of Mulhorand would NOT bring down undead or curses upon an intruder into a tomb who merely copied inscriptions and took nothing, UNLESS said intruder engaged in much deliberate vandalism. If things were broken accidentally, the result would probably be terrifying nightmares until offerings were made, or another act of atonement undertaken (by obeying a priest of the right faith, consulted on the matter). Said nightmares would depict the “guilty intruder” making atonement as a way out of being stalked by implacable, unstoppable undead, and depict the intruder resealing or at least re-warding the tomb. Favorable dream-visions (perhaps even directing the way to a hidden treasure) might be sent to someone who recovered a lost relic and took it straight to a priest or temple rather than seeking to sell it or bargain with it, IF AND ONLY IF a deity wanted that relic “back in circulation.”
In like manner, Thoth and Isis (and Mystra and Azuth) may be pleased if a tomb intruder brings forth their own copies of inscriptions, scrolls, and spellbooks - - but Nephthys (as Protector of the Dead) would NOT be, and most interred wizards and priests are protected by curses, wards, or triggered-by-intrusion spells that don’t care a whit about the motives of intruders, only about the act of their intrusion, and will lash out with whatever effectiveness they still possess. If the intruder survives, they should expext lectures, demands for offerings, and perhaps floggings from clergy of Nephthys (minimized if they repent, come bearing offerings before priests see them and demand such, and agree very politely or abjectly to perform acts of atonement). Intruders who don’t worship Nephthys needn’t go to such lengths, but had better take care to keep themselves out of situations where they need the aid or assistance (e.g. healing) of clergy of that goddess; their reception will be stony (and yes, Nephthys does communicate the faces and names of tomb intruders to priests as they pray before altars, or in their dreams); the clergy don’t have to discover that a tomb has been entered, and by whom, for themselves.
So saith Ed, Master of Realmslore.
love,
THO
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 06 Aug 2005 : 02:45:38
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Hi, all! It’s housekeeping time again, in which Ed will quickly deal with (or defer) a number of queries, in no particular order:
To Jamallo Kreen, re. Jergal: He certainly “has assured his continued survival by being flexible enough to let would-be usurpers have his portfolio and then stepping in when they "die,"” as you quite correctly observe, but as to what he is, and his motives: woops, bright, shiny new NDA.
To Borch, yes, I’m afraid your Cloak Wood query has run into NDA troubles, and Lathtarl’s Lantern has run into new ones!!
However, I WON’T forget them, and live under the eternal flappingbanner of hope (as they say). I beg your patience some while longer. At least you got Shavinar. (sigh)
To Gareth Yaztromo: I doubt I’ll ever have time to write an autobiography, the way my writing life is racing along these past two decades! And yes, certainly I’ll watch Narnia (again, if I have time!). I feel like the Red Queen, only without a crown and wearing a worse dress! :}
To Asgetrion: I, too, fervently wish to be involved in a Cormyr regional sourcebook, if such a thing ever comes to pass. I hope my previous postings covered your heralds queries, because they’re now NDA-ed, which is a cute way of saying something is forthcoming, sometime, in some form, that covers them. I’ll answer you about Cormyrean guilds, and local lords versus the nobility, as soon as I can.
To Melfius: you asked about Dolblunde. You have UNDERDARK, and have read the entry on page 143 therein, right?
So saith Ed. Who’ll return next time with more meaty Realmslore.
love,
THO
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Edited by - The Hooded One on 06 Aug 2005 02:48:13 |
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sillaric_culdanin
Acolyte
12 Posts |
Posted - 06 Aug 2005 : 06:40:36
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Dear Ed and THO, my deepest thanks for the incredible treasure trove of lore contained in this scroll of wisdom. My question is about the rather distant past and Earlann in particular. I asked a similar question on the WotC and was given a very clear and published realms wise accurate(yet unfortunately disappointing  ) answer from the learned Sage Krashos. If NDAs permit can you give any information on the ruling family of Earlann (if there was a "ruling family") or how it was ruled...and equally as important was the realm both ruled and peopled by Wood Elves or ruled by Moon Elves and mostly peopled by Wood Elves? Thanks in advance whether you are able to help or not as I know your time is more precious than gold... |
Last living Paladin and Adept of the Ruby Legion of Alankier |
Edited by - sillaric_culdanin on 07 Aug 2005 04:17:08 |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 06 Aug 2005 : 21:13:29
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Hiya Ed,
This might be one of those, "I can't get into this to deeply because it's a sensitive topic."
But, I was reading some of my pagan books and was wondering if you could expand on human/race and animal sacrifice in FR. :) Deities that it's part of thier beliefs, lands/nations/settlements where it's practiced, does it grant any powers, etc, to the faithful. Stuff like that. :) You can decide what other details you might want to add, because it is, as I said, a sensitive topic. Of course we know the drow do it but there's not much written about it on the surface. :) |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
Edited by - Kuje on 07 Aug 2005 17:53:59 |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 07 Aug 2005 : 01:15:19
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Hello, all. I bring Ed of the Greenwood’s reply to Asgetrion in the matter of drainpipes:
Well met again! There’s a huge variety of rainwater-channeling architecture from place to place in the Realms. For instance, in the Sword Coast and Moonsea North areas, log buildings with roofs made of log, moss-chink, slather-mud, and wood shingle or shake (or combinations of same), tend to have nothing more than “corner tongues,” (projecting wooden logs carved with snallow channels down the length of their upper surfaces) which “shoot” water away from the house to (try to) prevent flooding inside.
Grander buildings, of stone (the ones with the corner gargoyles made of stone you mention), tend to have tile, tar-sealed slate or even metal-plate-over-log roofs, descending to metal gutters (“eavestroughs,” some modern real-worlders would say) that channel water to the corners, and those gargoyles do the same “spit out the water from the corner” job that the corner tongues mentioned above do.
Many buildings in Waterdeep and more southerly cities have rainwater cisterns on the roof, to collect water and use it for washing. City buildings also have the “downspout” gutters you refer to, and it’s very rare, except in the most elaborate temple/abbey architecture, to find buildings outside cities that have such features.
Most downspouts are of tile sections, sealed with a cement of sorts (mud and lime mix), if in the warm South, where hard feezes are infrequent. In castles everywhere, they tend to be large stone-lined shafts, made waterproof with cement. In cities from Tethyr to Luskan, you’ll find iron downspouts and gutters, and also downspouts and gutters made of hollowed-out stone sections (sealed with cement), and on poorer buildings, you’ll find logs, or bound-together log sections (again, sealed with cement) serving as downspouts and gutters (these of course seldom last more than a season without preservative spells, no matter how thickly they’re tarred).
Nobles and the wealthy may use sculpted stone, but are especially fond of ornately-cast, fanciful metal pipes (sections that bolt together, are sealed with pitch or cement inside by means of long daubing-paddles), and on the outside are shaped to resemble giant scaled serpents, dragons, and the like.
Despite tavern-tales, few external downpipes are strong enough to take the weight of climbing thieves, lovers, eloping or fleeing folk, servants bearing secret messages, or eavesdropping kings. :}
So saith Ed. Who hopes to return with more Realmslore soon.
love to all,
THO
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Ladejarl
Seeker
Norway
55 Posts |
Posted - 07 Aug 2005 : 16:29:16
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quote:
Originally posted by Si
I know Ed's is NDA'd to death with the Waterdeep stuff, so to raise a neighbouring question would Ed give us any important events/nascent plots in Daggerford recently?
Cheers
I'll second that and add a specific question or two:
I have been comparing the maps of Daggerford from the FR Atlas CD and the Under Illefarn module with the map/art in The North: Guide to the Savage Frontier accessory. I have noted the the latter shows corner turrets on the parapets of the towers of the walls of both the city and ducal castle, while the former does not. What is correct?
The map in the Guide to the Savage Frontier allso shows some elaborate additions to Delfens tower (including minarets?) and
gabled dormers at core of the ducal castle and various buildings.
The castle is more like a fortified mansion than a fortress is it not?
Is it known which parts of Faerun Delfen traveled in when adventuring? |
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Erik Scott de Bie
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
4598 Posts |
Posted - 07 Aug 2005 : 20:24:44
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My apologies if any of the following has been asked -- and still greater apologies if it cannot be answered -- but I was curious:
What's been your experience adapting an actual campaign -- or characters from an actual campaign -- into fiction? I ask this in the context of the KoMD trilogy, of course, which I was under the impression involves some actual PCs and (perhaps) actual gameplay.
Can you tell us which of the characters in said trilogy were PCs? Perhaps a few cautious (or flagrant, as well) remarks on the personality / quirks of the players vs. their characters?
And my lady THO, were you involved in any of the adventures the Lord of the Realms will be covering?
Cheers |
Erik Scott de Bie
'Tis easier to destroy than to create.
Author of a number of Realms novels (GHOSTWALKER, DEPTHS OF MADNESS, and the SHADOWBANE series), contributor to the NEVERWINTER CAMPAIGN GUIDE and SHADOWFELL: GLOOMWROUGHT AND BEYOND, Twitch DM of the Dungeon Scrawlers, currently playing "The Westgate Irregulars" |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 08 Aug 2005 : 00:13:11
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Hello again, all. I bring Ed’s reply to webmanus in some matters of Daggerdale:
Hi, Manuel. Daggerdale has been fought over so much in recent years, and so depopulated in the process, that there’s plenty of good farmland to go around, and right now land is owned more or less by occupying it. There’s no central taxation service (though there are, for example, copper-piece-per-transaction taxes levied in Dagger Falls), nor any surviving, coherent Book of Laws. Indeed, no taxes are payable just for owning farmland, and the Morns do indeed live off the eggs, poultry, livestock, and food crops their own lands yield.
And yes, a family that is farming land would indeed own it. Randal Morn has never been a feudal lord, and neither were his predecessors (some tried to ASSUME rights they did not in law or tradition have, but their rules didn’t last long, and can be viewed more or less as a “might makes right” approach). So neither the lord nor a local officer of the lord “owns” or “controls” anyone’s land but their own (if they need to put a road through an area, they’ll use their might-of-arms to force the landowner to agree, and pay that landowner compensation - - though a Zhentarim “lord,” of course, would never pay compensation, and would probably just kill anyone who disagreed with the road-building, or defied his will in any other way).
Of course a family could rent out land to tenant farmers, and your safety (due to location) argument is, as you say, the only reason for tenants to accept rather than just taking possession of a vacant farm and clearing the overgrowth.
I don’t see any roving tax collectors yet (though there certainly were in the past, and the Zhents DID levy monthly taxes, mainly paid in food), but I do see Randal’s men riding in patrols around Daggerdale, and the locals being obligated to feed, water, and shelter them and their mounts (with no coins changing hands at all, and Randal’s men pitching in to help with tasks beyond the farmers, like bending their backs to lift a wagon while a new axle is fitted to it).
Feel free to change these details to suit your own campaign, of course. I hope this helps.
So saith Ed. Who’s charging ahead on creating still more Realmslore for us all.
love,
THO
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webmanus
Learned Scribe
Sweden
338 Posts |
Posted - 08 Aug 2005 : 00:47:28
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Thanks Ed!
It really helps me with my development of Daggerdale. And, thanks THO. Now, where is my pitchfork ... |
Link to my homepage: http://user.tninet.se/~bsu242v/ |
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Arlenion
Acolyte
36 Posts |
Posted - 08 Aug 2005 : 04:10:42
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| Could you share a glimpse of the sort of intrigues that were in your campaign at one specific instant or another? I am more curious about the number of such plots and the organizations involved in them rather than the details of the plots. |
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Asgetrion
Master of Realmslore
Finland
1564 Posts |
Posted - 08 Aug 2005 : 18:01:02
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quote:
Originally posted by Arlenion
Could you share a glimpse of the sort of intrigues that were in your campaign at one specific instant or another? I am more curious about the number of such plots and the organizations involved in them rather than the details of the plots.
Arlenion, you might want to download Master Kuje's files to read such glimpses and stories from Ed's campaigns that he and Lady THO have shared with us here in Candlekeep |
"What am I doing today? Ask me tomorrow - I can be sure of giving you the right answer then."
-- Askarran of Selgaunt, Master Sage, speaking to a curious merchant, Year of the Helm |
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Asgetrion
Master of Realmslore
Finland
1564 Posts |
Posted - 08 Aug 2005 : 18:45:41
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Well met again, and my thanks to thee, O Lady Hooded One, for thy invaluable work here in Candlekeep!
My thanks once again to Ed for his replies, and seemingly endless patience with pestering requests for Realmslore! Please tell him my thanks also for the marvelous novel 'Silverfall', which I consider to be perhaps the *best* Realms novel ever written! I assumed it would be a collection of loosely-linked short stories about the everyday life of the Chosen of Mystra, but instead it is a very well-written novel consisting of separate "short story chapters".
The dialogue and the characters seem very realistic, and some of the dialogue even seems to touch certain issues that Ed has been asked about here in Candlekeep (though I do not know if this was intentional). There are "fairy-tale-like" elements in the book (in the best meaning of that concept).
In fact, I can almost hear an enthustiatic apprentice asking Elminster (whom else?) to "tell a tale about a typical, sinister and ambitious conspiracy in the Realms, about those that spin these webs of intrigue, and also about those that try to unravel and undo these vile plots!"
This novel is simply amazing - I do not want to spoil anything here, but I really felt pity for poor Master Labraster
Ed, once again you have caused me sleepless nights and a zombie-like state of animation during the days, which will last until I have finally finished it (although I hope that day would never come).
I am sure that even long-time Realms fans may find new perspectives into many issues in the Realms within the pages of this book (such as the definition of "evil", or "sanity"). Ed describes very well what several centuries of wielding Silver Fire and serving the Goddess of Magic has done to the minds of the Chosen...
My fellow scribes, if you have not read this book yet, go get your own copy from Tethtoril and read it! And may Lady Shar devour my old and weary soul if I have uttered a single lie to you about this fascinating and intriguing tome!
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"What am I doing today? Ask me tomorrow - I can be sure of giving you the right answer then."
-- Askarran of Selgaunt, Master Sage, speaking to a curious merchant, Year of the Helm |
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 08 Aug 2005 : 20:41:47
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quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
Hi, all! It’s housekeeping time again, in which Ed will quickly deal with (or defer) a number of queries, in no particular order:
To Jamallo Kreen, re. Jergal: He certainly “has assured his continued survival by being flexible enough to let would-be usurpers have his portfolio and then stepping in when they "die,"” as you quite correctly observe, but as to what he is, and his motives: woops, bright, shiny new NDA.
(snip)
So saith Ed. Who’ll return next time with more meaty Realmslore.
love,
THO
Well met, all!
A "bright, shiny new NDA"? As opposed to an old shiny NDA? My curiosity is piqued. I shall rouse me in my throne of L.A. to learn THAT bit of lore!
Thanks to ye for your gracious answers to my many queries. They are most timely. Thanks also for reminding me of the long-forgotten quote from Spider Robinson. It is of a piece with the (unattributed) quote in Lucifer's Hammer: Sooner beard the tiger in his den than the scholar among his books. |
I have a mouth, but I am in a library and must not scream.
Feed the poor and stroke your ego, too: http://www.freerice.com/index.php.
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Edited by - Wooly Rupert on 08 Aug 2005 23:08:00 |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 08 Aug 2005 : 23:21:28
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Awww, Wooly, you edited out the stirring library stuff before Ed (the librarian, remember?) could see it! (Sniff) 
I'm desolated . . .
love?
THO |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 09 Aug 2005 : 00:03:39
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quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
Awww, Wooly, you edited out the stirring library stuff before Ed (the librarian, remember?) could see it! (Sniff)
I'm desolated . . .
love?
THO
I do apologize, my lady, but I wasn't comfortable with the political commentary inherent in the original statement. I didn't want to see Ed's thread devolve into a debate on real-world politics. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 09 Aug 2005 : 02:01:29
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Hello again, all. Wooly: I understand. Sigh. How politically correct we’ve all become.
Now, Ed seeks to kill two birds with one stone, as the old saying goes, by tackling Erik Scott de Bie’s questions {“What's been your experience adapting an actual campaign -- or characters from an actual campaign -- into fiction? I ask this in the context of the KoMD trilogy, of course, which I was under the impression involves some actual PCs and (perhaps) actual gameplay. Can you tell us which of the characters in said trilogy were PCs? Perhaps a few cautious (or flagrant, as well) remarks on the personality / quirks of the players vs. their characters?”} and Arlenion’s question “Could you share a glimpse of the sort of intrigues that were in your campaign at one specific instant or another? I am more curious about the number of such plots and the organizations involved in them rather than the details of the plots.”
Erik, quickly: yes this has all been asked before, but that’s fine, and yes I was involved in some of the adventures Ed will be fictionally covering in the Knights trilogy, HOWEVER: see his reply below.
Ed speaks:
I’ve leaped on these questions because answering them requires no research or Realmslore creation, because they are interesting topics, and because I don’t want to leave them unaddressed as I fall silent for a few days (travelling).
First, the simplest to answer questions: the Knight trilogy involves, yes, actual PCs (all of the “core” Knights were PCs except Islif, Illistyl, and Mourngrym, and all of my players “borrowed” those three from time to time, to roleplay while their own characters were elsewhere, or recovering, and so on). All of my players are superb roleplayers and adequate to great actors, so although they tended to craft characters they liked, and that therefore shared some of their real-life personality traits, Rathan wasn’t and isn’t a copy or caricature of Andrew Dewar (for example). In some cases (Torm), the character is perhaps what the player would LOVE to be, in a world with no consequences, but doesn’t quite really dare to be. But it’s always a mistake to equate the Knights characters with the personalities of those who play them (they’re related, but not identical).
However, the Knights trilogy doesn’t fictionalize actual gameplay. The reasons for this have to do with the sort of players I have, and therefore the nature of play in the “home” Realms campaign, versus the needs of fiction (to have a book small enough you can lift it, that tells a coherent narrative that arrives at some sort of resolution, involving few enough characters that the editor won’t go foaming mad even before readers start to groan).
Arlenion’s question hits at the heart of why I can’t just take almost thirty years of roleplaying with the same characters (or even just selected highlights) and boil it down into three books: the subplots. By my deliberate design and my players’ preferences, play in the Realms has always featured three things:
1. Characters having the freedom to “do their own things.” That’s why I put together this large and very detailed setting: so I really could allow them the freedom to choose to stroll north today, instead of returning to that mystery in the alley off south that they stumbled onto yesterday. My players (of different character classes, remember, with different interests and obligations - - MY priests are under constant pressure from their bosses in the church hierarchy to do this, that, and the other) were continuously pursuing their own little “pet” side-projects (notably investments and trade negotiations) as well as adventuring as the Knights.
2. The Realms Unfolding: I kept a constant flow of “current events” (and rumors) flowing past my players’ ears, to make the Realms seem alive, to hand the players a rich selection of adventuring and roleplaying opportunities,.and to continually introduce new NPCs (that “cast of thousands” so many of my editors loved to hate).
3. Subplots and intrigues. I love them, and so do my players. Mysteries large and small, little secrets and big ones, clever and sinister behind-the-scenes villains (if * I * was writing Sherlock Holmes, his landlady would eventually turn out to be a sweetly manipulative crime-boss, hiding behind his notoriety and proximity), power groups galore . . . I tried to keep my players so busy that their characters would have a hard time finding enough time to go off adventuring, and there were seldom less than a dozen subplots “in play” on their platters at any one time.
For example . . .
So saith Ed. I’ve cut him off here so as not to run into the post-size-limit, and I’ll provide his example tomorrow. Erik, as a Realms writer, you can see the tough time you’d have trying to sneak a story past Phil with more than, say, three subplots at most. Realmsplay involving we Knights doesn’t form a straight-ahead, linear “and then this happened, and then this, so we” narrative, but rather goes “all over the place,” simultaneously. I love it; I’ve never encountered a campaign setting half as rich. That’s why experiencing Ed as a DM at a convention, running a single session, is nothing like Ed as our DM: as a player at a con, usually sharing the table with strangers, you just can’t enjoy the “real life” feeling we enjoy.
love to all,
THO
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Questions for Ed Greenwood (2005)
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