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RevJest
Learned Scribe

USA
115 Posts

Posted - 07 May 2006 :  22:47:03  Show Profile  Visit RevJest's Homepage Send RevJest a Private Message
Another question to pass on, if you would Hooded One?

In suppliment "The North", on page 12, it states that a stone plaque was found on the Star Mounts with the inscription: "iqebaest Vhalraetaerl". Can you shed some light on what this means, and what it's all about?

- RJ
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createvmind
Senior Scribe

490 Posts

Posted - 08 May 2006 :  03:47:10  Show Profile  Visit createvmind's Homepage Send createvmind a Private Message
Hello again,

Maybe I've overlooked it and someone else can point me in right direction, but does a form of "Rabies" exist in the Realms and if so how is it dealt with?

How do horses breed when bred with other animals, dragons, magical beast?

Are there any Rocs near the Sword Coast?
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createvmind
Senior Scribe

490 Posts

Posted - 08 May 2006 :  22:09:27  Show Profile  Visit createvmind's Homepage Send createvmind a Private Message
Hey All and Sage,


What type of orcs were present in Faerun prior to the Orcgates being opened in -1075? I'm asking cause to the Imaskari now out and about would orcs be an unknown race to them, or did they travel to the orc world during their reign?
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Arivia
Great Reader

Canada
2965 Posts

Posted - 08 May 2006 :  22:22:31  Show Profile
quote:
Originally posted by createvmind

Hey All and Sage,


What type of orcs were present in Faerun prior to the Orcgates being opened in -1075? I'm asking cause to the Imaskari now out and about would orcs be an unknown race to them, or did they travel to the orc world during their reign?



Mountain orcs existed previously to the opening of the Orcgates, and reportedly did not have much contact with the East. See Races of Faerun.
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createvmind
Senior Scribe

490 Posts

Posted - 09 May 2006 :  02:14:04  Show Profile  Visit createvmind's Homepage Send createvmind a Private Message
I knew some type of orc was present just didn't remember where info was, thanks Arivia.
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore

5056 Posts

Posted - 09 May 2006 :  03:00:32  Show Profile  Visit The Hooded One's Homepage Send The Hooded One a Private Message
Hi again, fellow scribes. Ed’s back!
Speaking of “back,” back in November of last year, CrennenFaerieBane posted this query: “Mr. Greenwood, Did you create the rules that govern that when two elves of different subraces come together and procreate, that the children take the traits of one parent or the other? I know that this first appeared in the Gray Box, but I didn't know the source of the rule. Thank you much.”
Ed replies:



No, I didn’t write that particular text; I suspect Jeff Grubb did, or Karen Boomgaarden [yes, that’s her correct preferred surname spelling, not mistyping] did, following an internal TSR design decision.
It’s one I agree with as a designer, though, because it makes possible some of the already-by-then-written-into-lore racial haughtiness of the drow and the gold or high elves, and it avoids the morass of “special” elf crossbreeds that gamers were at the time submitting to The Dragon (as DRAGON Magazine was known back then) as articles promoting their own elf subraces that had daily racial spells plus gold-flecked eyes that could shoot firebeams, or daily racial spells plus silver-flecked eyes that could shoot lightning bolts, and (my personal favourite) the elves that shat sapphires (talk about a personal neverending money source; the writer seemed to have no idea that if such crossbreeds grew numerous, the value of sapphires would fall to almost nothing, and had instead postulated that they’d already secretly become the equivalent of billionaires, and hence the Secret Masters of most kingdoms, bankrolling kings and guilds alike).



So saith Ed. Ah, yes; I recall Ed’s parody of this: a waddling little “old fat cat” -like monster that ate human excrement and crapped little steaming handfuls of diamonds. The Company of Crazed Venturers found one in Undermountain, but it was stolen from them by an evil mage whose attempts to discover HOW the poor little critter “worked” killed said Sh*t-Eater. Whereupon, of course, the Crazed Venturers cut open the evil mage to discover just why he’d found it necessary to kill such a golden goose. Then they carved up the mage’s long-suffering servant, who’d been starving, and had cooked and eaten the remains of the Sh*t-Eater. You might say it was, er, a last meal that fatally disagreed with him.
love to all,
THO
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader

USA
5402 Posts

Posted - 09 May 2006 :  03:07:35  Show Profile  Visit KnightErrantJR's Homepage Send KnightErrantJR a Private Message
I must say . . . I missed all of those elven subraces . . . and I thought Snow Elves and Ghost Elves were a stretch . . .

Edited by - KnightErrantJR on 09 May 2006 03:08:18
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Purple Dragon Knight
Master of Realmslore

Canada
1796 Posts

Posted - 09 May 2006 :  14:08:40  Show Profile Send Purple Dragon Knight a Private Message
Sh*t-Eater hey? ha ha ha! I'm glad to see that even the most noble of gaming groups always have their "direct-descriptive" moments!
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MadRat
Acolyte

Russia
9 Posts

Posted - 09 May 2006 :  22:13:09  Show Profile  Visit MadRat's Homepage Send MadRat a Private Message
Well met!
I was looking for a symbol of an ancient Netheril. I'm looked through many books and asked on the "Sages of Realmslore" board but found nothing and was directed to Ed.
So I have a question for Ed: What was the symbol or flag of Netheril as a whole. Also, I'm interested, was that symbol the same in the early pre-mythallar era and in The Golden Era of Netheril? And what was the symbols of particular enclaves, if there was any? The Xinlenal, the first enclave of Netheril, enclave of Ioulaum, is the one I most interested in. And also what was the mage sigil of Ioulaum?

The sword of truth is forged by the hammer of reason.
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore

5056 Posts

Posted - 10 May 2006 :  01:26:40  Show Profile  Visit The Hooded One's Homepage Send The Hooded One a Private Message
Hello again, scribes of the Realms. This time, Ed makes reply to KnightErrantJR’s October 2005 query: “Good Ed, Master of all things that go bump in the Realms . . . Are the Phaerimm supposed to have rows of eyes running from their maw down to their tails, as they are illustrated in their first appearance in FR13 Anauroch. Current illustrations show them as plain looking funnels with arms and a mouth, but I rather liked the rows of eyes and spikes. Was this just an artistic flourish from Valerie Valusek, or did you describe the rows of eyes originally, but it just didn't make it into the description of the monster in their MC entry?
Thanks Ed!”
Ed speaks:



I did indeed both illustrate the Phaerimm and describe them textually in my initial monster description (submitted to TSR in 1991, I believe) as having rows of eyes (protected by Pc-sword-snagging spikes), so they couldn’t easily be blinded, and so that gaze-related spells they unleashed could utilize eyes pointing in almost any direction. Like so many other things, the text got edited for reasons of brevity, and so the illustration showed rows of eyes without any explanation.



So saith Ed. Who’s being SO polite and nice about it; as an editor, I often roll my eyes and say VERY unladylike things about game editing work that ends up causing more argument and controversy among gamers than the original design texts could ever have caused.
love to all,
THO
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High

Australia
31701 Posts

Posted - 10 May 2006 :  01:48:16  Show Profile Send The Sage a Private Message
You!?! Unladylike things... Well, I never would have believed that.



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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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader

USA
5402 Posts

Posted - 10 May 2006 :  02:08:45  Show Profile  Visit KnightErrantJR's Homepage Send KnightErrantJR a Private Message
I love that Valerie Valusek illustration of the Phaerimm, and I think it makes them look much more intimidating than some more modern interpretations.

Thanks Ed, and THO for the relay . . .
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HunterOfStorms
Acolyte

Australia
21 Posts

Posted - 10 May 2006 :  02:08:54  Show Profile  Visit HunterOfStorms's Homepage Send HunterOfStorms a Private Message
quote:

Ed replies:



Folk of western Aglarond in particular fish daily, but their fishing is almost all near-shore coastal, in small boats, with drag-nets. There are, however, at least a score of energetic entrepreneurial seafaring merchants of Aglarond (independent loners rather than fleet-owners, and hence often ignored or overlooked by those considering naval power on a by-country basis), and all of its coastal settlements have shipwrights of accomplishment (and builders who work for them), with both ship repair slips and dry docks for laying down the keels of new ships. Local forests provide both planking and mast spars, and there are sail-makers in Aglarond, too, though most sails are purchased in Telflamm and the Vilhon purely for reasons of price (greater competition, cheaper labour).
So, yes, Velprintalar has its own shipyards and ship repair docks, catering to all visiting vessels (just as do almost all ports - - as opposed to fishing villages or mere anchorages - - around the Sea of Fallen Stars). Almost all of the lands and independent cities around the Inner Sea have competent shipbuilding skills and facilities (the Wizards’ Reach, Unther, and Mulhorand are the main exceptions, and such places as Calaunt, Scardale, and Telflamm are little trusted by visiting outlanders). Sembia has shipbuilders every bit as good as Cormyr’s, but in Sembia one gets what one pays for, and those who go for the cheaper builders get shoddier work. Alaghôn and Cimbar are in the next rank of shipbuilders, followed by Lyrabar (good repairers there), and then (a slight but definite step down) the “general run” of ports, such as Tantras.



So there you have it. Shipbuilding lore from the Great Sage himself.
A public service note: Ed has family descending on him tomorrow, and will fall e-silent from now until this coming Tuesday as the extended family Greenwood eats him out of house and home, plays endless computer games, goes gardening and drags Ed out to shop and dine in restaurants and go to farm and flea markets and car dealerships and oh, did I mention shop?
However, hang in there, scribes, and Ed Will Return.
love to all,
THO




Thanks Ed and welcome back.
This shibbuilding lore is just the sort of flavour framework I like to play with in dealing with a group who have so far manage to be responsible for sinking one ship (well, being blamed for its storm wreck) and severely damaging another they 'borrowed'.

On a completely unrelated note, I came across a reference to a baby daughter of Merith Strongbow and Jhessail Silvertree. Since that was dated the Year of the Prince or shortly after, I was curious as to whether they had any more children and whether they would have retired to bring up any further children of theirs. Or would children be semi-fostered with trusted friends, as Veluthil was looked after by Illistyl Elventree? Would any children be encouraged one way or the other, to become adventurers or to lead 'ordinary' lives? Also, since Jhessail proved herself to folk of the Elven Court in order to marry Merith, does this mean Merith's family had some particular status amongst the Teu Tel'Quessir - or was it more a case of respecting the community in general?

Yes, I'm sufficiently intrigued by the Realms to wonder about what future generations might look like and what they might do with their lives.

Hunter
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Kuje
Great Reader

USA
7915 Posts

Posted - 10 May 2006 :  18:12:33  Show Profile Send Kuje a Private Message
Ed,

Demihuman Deities says that Corellon has dark elven clergy and some posters like to argue about that passage. So my question is, does he allow dark elven divine casters or are those clergy just lay worshippers? One of the arguements is, "Well, there's no listed NPC's that are dark elven divine casters of Corellon and so I don't believe he has dark elves worshipping him."

I asked this of Eric also, since he worked on DD.

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 10 May 2006 18:30:45
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Foxhelm
Senior Scribe

Canada
592 Posts

Posted - 10 May 2006 :  21:18:34  Show Profile Send Foxhelm a Private Message
I originally asked Eric Boyd about this, but Kuje said since you created them, you might know better. These are questions about Song Dragons in reaction to Races of Dragons and Monsters of Faerun.

I was just curious if you could give me some details about Song Dragons, as I am thinking of creating a Song half dragon character and need more details. Unless it is NDA with Dragons of Faerun.

Like what is the colour of their electrically charged gas? Does it spark with juice?

With Kuje's info, I am curious about Half Song Dragons. Is it possible for them to occur naturally? (Creature father/Song dRagon Mother) Or do they just result from mystical sources. (Like the Dragon Disciple Prestage Class.) If so, is Narnra a Half Song DRagon who's draconic nature was supressed by some method (like a spell from her mother?)

What is the character classes that Song Half Dragons tend to favour? Is it like the Copper Dragons they look like? (In RoDragons, Copper Dragons tend to favour the Rogue and the Bard. With the notes in Monsters of Faerun and their name, I can see the bard.)

This is just some of the questions that have popped up now. I hope you can answer son of the unless they are NDA due to DoF. Thanks.

Ed Greenwood! The Solution... and Cause of all the Realms Problems!
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore

5056 Posts

Posted - 11 May 2006 :  02:40:09  Show Profile  Visit The Hooded One's Homepage Send The Hooded One a Private Message
Hi again, fellow scribes. Ed makes reply this time to Jamallo Kreen’s query: “Aside from bards and courtiers, are there courtesans in the Realms who are not prostitutes, but who simply serve as professional entertainers, companions, and/or escorts? If so, who have been the famous ones in Realms history, the ones about whom poems have been written and songs sung? From our European history, although they undoubtedly prostituted themselves, Aspasia and Phryne spring to mind from Greece, and also Veronica Franco, The Honest Courtesan of Venice. Who would be their Realms counterparts?”
Ed speaks:



Yes, there are (and have been) many courtesans, on various official payrolls around the Realms (notably in Calimshan, Tethyr, Amn, Waterdeep [see my posts on Shyrrhr, earlier in this thread], Silverymoon, Iriaebor, Cormyr, and Alaghôn, just to name a few places off the top of my head), who are professional entertainers, companions, escorts, and/or hostesses to visitors “to court.” (And not prostitutes, at least until age robs them of their looks and effectiveness, and they lose their positions.) Most lordlings of small independent cities employ and highly value such persons, who may also serve as the commanders of their spies (and even their lovers). A handful are such skillful manipulators that the rulers serve them more than they serve the rulers.
The most effective of these courtesans keep low profiles, of course, becoming famous only as word of them spreads, and therefore the famous ones are all dead. They include the Veiled Dancer of Calimport (name forgotten, but immortalized in the anonymously-composed ballad of the same name, each verse of which ends with the improbable appearance of the dancer, silently dancing: across a battlefield, in a moonlit glade where lovers are trysting, on thin air outside a castle turret window hundreds of feet in the air, out from behind a throne where a king has just been slain, out of the door of a long-sealed crypt when it’s opened to put that dead king to rest, and so on), who flourished over four centuries ago; Tharlaskra of the Bells, who dwelt in Athkatla and chimed gently as she moved, due to the many tiny bells affixed via piercings to her skin (the focus of the ballad “She Rings Her Bells For Me” by the now-dead bard Muraevus “Merrysong” Ruroerlar); Dayatharra of Luskan, who was loved by many seacaptains of old, and is remembered in several ballads, including the famous “Sailing Back Home to Love” by the bard Breldur Arskitarr of Neverwinter; and Joysarra of Zazesspur, who is the “Lady of the Haunting Eyes” in the ballad of that name by the minstrel Ronsil Haeladtongue of Zazesspur.



So saith Ed, shedding light on another small corner of Realmslore.
love to all,
THO
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Sian
Senior Scribe

Denmark
596 Posts

Posted - 11 May 2006 :  08:18:18  Show Profile  Visit Sian's Homepage Send Sian a Private Message
Which countries have traveled to Maztica other than Amn (whom i know was the first to discover it with a carrack) here the last decade or so, what kind of settlements do they have over there, and how is the relationships inbetween the Faerünian people and the general relationship between the diffent groups and the natives?

Is there any former group of people from Faerün that discovered Maztica berforehand but stayed there or is just plain forgotten? (know that there is some dwarves in the northen dessert who traveled though a giant tunnel below the ocean after a collapse which closed the way back, but thats about it)

lastly, what kind of monsters and plants are the most common in Maztica?

what happened to the queen? she's much more hysterical than usual
She's a women, it happens once a month

Edited by - Sian on 11 May 2006 08:21:41
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High

Australia
31701 Posts

Posted - 11 May 2006 :  13:16:16  Show Profile Send The Sage a Private Message
Ed isn't the best person to ask about Maztica-specific questions, Sian... since he really had little to do with both its creation and development. Certainly, he may be able to share his thoughts and ideas about Faerunian-specific material as it may relate to Maztica since its introduction, but not anything from a Maztica-basis.

These are questions that would be better handled by Doug Niles. Also, I suggest you take a look through the free PDF download of the 2e Maztica boxed set from WotC to learn more:- http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads

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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Wandering_mage
Senior Scribe

688 Posts

Posted - 11 May 2006 :  13:49:30  Show Profile  Visit Wandering_mage's Homepage Send Wandering_mage a Private Message
I have a rather tricky question. I have heard and read about the Naturalist guild in the Fall of Myth Drannor and some say that there is a Cormyrian guild of Naturalists. Now due to geographical closeness, and the probablity being pretty good that there were survivors from the first Naturalist guild of Myth Drannor (whether by traveling at the fall of Myth Drannor or something like that) are both guilds (new and old) related? How closely related are they if not directly? Are there any guild member families that have worked to rebuild the Naturalist guild from Myth Drannor in Cormyr to continue the work of their earlier family members? Any information you have would be very interesting to know. Thank you very much for your time.

Illum
The Wandering Mage
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Kuje
Great Reader

USA
7915 Posts

Posted - 11 May 2006 :  17:05:30  Show Profile Send Kuje a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by The Sage

Ed isn't the best person to ask about Maztica-specific questions, Sian... since he really had little to do with both its creation and development. Certainly, he may be able to share his thoughts and ideas about Faerunian-specific material as it may relate to Maztica since its introduction, but not anything from a Maztica-basis.

These are questions that would be better handled by Doug Niles. Also, I suggest you take a look through the free PDF download of the 2e Maztica boxed set from WotC to learn more:- http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads




Actually, the better lore on this is in the Lands of Intrigue box set, which is on that list. Waterdeep, Baldur's Gate, Amn, and a few others have places there. I.E. New Waterdeep, I forgot what BG's is called, and there Helmsport for Amn.

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
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High

Australia
31701 Posts

Posted - 11 May 2006 :  17:23:53  Show Profile Send The Sage a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by Kuje

quote:
Originally posted by The Sage

Ed isn't the best person to ask about Maztica-specific questions, Sian... since he really had little to do with both its creation and development. Certainly, he may be able to share his thoughts and ideas about Faerunian-specific material as it may relate to Maztica since its introduction, but not anything from a Maztica-basis.

These are questions that would be better handled by Doug Niles. Also, I suggest you take a look through the free PDF download of the 2e Maztica boxed set from WotC to learn more:- http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads




Actually, the better lore on this is in the Lands of Intrigue box set, which is on that list. Waterdeep, Baldur's Gate, Amn, and a few others have places there. I.E. New Waterdeep, I forgot what BG's is called, and there Helmsport for Amn.

Just to clarify... I mentioned the Maztica boxed set as the reference for the posters third question.

Also, VGtBGII makes a brief comment on Amnian operations in Maztica.

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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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createvmind
Senior Scribe

490 Posts

Posted - 12 May 2006 :  01:27:20  Show Profile  Visit createvmind's Homepage Send createvmind a Private Message
Hello again,

Has the Shade tampering with weather created any kind of tornado area/alley? Does there exist such a class of fronts that affect the lands of Faerun and exactly where are such stats for tornadoes to be found if anyone recalls?

Happy Mother's Day to those applicable.
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore

5056 Posts

Posted - 12 May 2006 :  02:06:02  Show Profile  Visit The Hooded One's Homepage Send The Hooded One a Private Message
Hi again, scribes. Kuje fairly recently asked: “I warned you, Ed, that I'd find some more NPC's I'd like to know more about. :) And so, sticking with my fascination with Waterdeep NPC's I'm going to ask about Mhaere Dryndilstann and Tamsil.
What does Durnan's wife and daughter look like? Clothing and the materials it's made out of, jewelry, weapons, physically markings, etc, would be great, if you want to supply them. Thier personality. Do they help at the Yawning Portal? Some of thier history would be grand. What does his wife do as a cleric of Lathander? Do they know he's a Lord? Is this his only wife or has he had more? What about other children? What do they think of Mirt and the adventures Durnan and Mirt have had/still have? And as usual, I'll leave it with: Add anything else you want to add that you think we should know or you want to impart. :)”
Ed replies:



Kuje, I’d love to answer these questions properly, but NDAs strongly prohibit at the moment. So I’m going to run through your questions in order, saying as much as I can:
Both have strong-featured ‘good looks’ (not striking beauty, but not ugly, either), daughter is Durnan’s height but has a face (and of course a figure :}) more closely resembling her mother’s. Both customarily wear belt knives and no jewelry, though the daughter went through a “gewgaws to the eyebrows” phase during her teens. They are brisk, kindly hard workers, alert and lively, knowing the gossip (through listening as they serve at the bar) but passing little of it on. Yes, they do work at the Portal (as well as sewing work smocks, simple gowns, and towels as a sideline), and yes, they know Durnan is a Lord of Waterdeep (though in general, it’s “never discussed”).
Durnan had two wives when he was younger; both were killed and he took revenge (he’s never been married to two women at once). Yes, he has other children (two younger daughters from this marriage). They all love Mirt, warts and lecherous teasing and hard drinking and dragging Durnan off into trouble and all. Though they don’t call him anything other than “Mirt” (or “Old Walrus” or Old Wolf” or “Wandering-Hands Trouble”), he occupies the social position of a beloved uncle in Durnan’s family.



So saith Ed. Who’s hard at work on deeply secret matters right now (and cackling maniacally from time to time).
love,
THO
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore

USA
1537 Posts

Posted - 12 May 2006 :  03:28:05  Show Profile  Visit Jamallo Kreen's Homepage Send Jamallo Kreen a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by MadRat

Well met!
I was looking for a symbol of an ancient Netheril. I'm looked through many books and asked on the "Sages of Realmslore" board but found nothing and was directed to Ed.
So I have a question for Ed: What was the symbol or flag of Netheril as a whole. Also, I'm interested, was that symbol the same in the early pre-mythallar era and in The Golden Era of Netheril? And what was the symbols of particular enclaves, if there was any? The Xinlenal, the first enclave of Netheril, enclave of Ioulaum, is the one I most interested in. And also what was the mage sigil of Ioulaum?



Interesting questions! I'd love to know the sigils of the famous wizards, too.

I think that I can hazard a guess regarding a symbol for Netheril as a whole: I doubt that they would have one. The Archwizards were fiercely independent and some of them were quite insane. I don't think that more than two floating enclaves of "High" Netheril would have ever agreed about anything. Some of the settlements of "Low" Netheril might have sometimes formed leagues under a single banner, though, and early Netheril (pre-Iolaum) may have had a single symbol.

General Mattick, inventor of the Magic Missile, wasn't even an Archwizard but was clearly a bloodthirsty maniac. I don't recall offhand, but his army may have come from several enclaves, and whatever banner they used (if it wasn't just his own personal symbol), might come close to being regarded as "the" Netherese flag.

Another possibility for a "national" flag might be whatever flag was used by Netherese spelljamming ships, unless each ship owner used the flag of whatever enclave he or she came from. The flag of Yeoman's Loft might have been regarded in Realmspace as "the" flag of Netheril. One might even compose a story in which the withdrawl of Netheril from spelljamming activities was actually due to haughty wizards refusing to send out their ships under some other city's flag, no matter what the conventions of other space-going cultures might be.

To again quote Montaigne, however: "What do I know?"


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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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore

USA
1537 Posts

Posted - 12 May 2006 :  03:50:21  Show Profile  Visit Jamallo Kreen's Homepage Send Jamallo Kreen a Private Message
I was thrilled to read the broadsheet notice, “Nobles Demand Halt to Sale of Paintings.” My good friend, Pyotr van App is an astoundingly good artist. (Someone from your sphere once said something to me about “16 ranks of Craft,” which I take it is a compliment to painters on your world, but means nothing to me.) Two days hence he was planning to paint a portrait of Piergeiron’s daughter. The Phull family’s activities can only create a greater public interest in portraiture and make Pyotr’s work more desirable as an investment. I urge Waterdhavians to make appointments for sittings now, as Pyotr has a strictly limited schedule for portrait work.



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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Kuje
Great Reader

USA
7915 Posts

Posted - 12 May 2006 :  05:15:21  Show Profile Send Kuje a Private Message
Well,

That was a bit disappointing. :( I tried to ask questions that might have not been NDA. Oh well.

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
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Asgetrion
Master of Realmslore

Finland
1564 Posts

Posted - 12 May 2006 :  08:39:26  Show Profile  Visit Asgetrion's Homepage Send Asgetrion a Private Message
To Master of the Greenwood Estates and Most Respected Lady Herald does a humble sage and librarian, once again, send a longscroll filled with questions:

1) In Eveningstar there is a ridge/hill called "Pillar Rock", with a reference to an old tomb cave in its base. Who is buried there? Did the people of Eveningstar bring their dead there in "the olden days"? Or is it a possible adventure location?

2) Where do the people of Eveningstar bury their dead? In the temple (Lathander's) lands? In the temple crypts?

3) I read about the Broken Sword secret society in Polyhedron 95. Why do they accept humans as members? And what kind of humans would want to ally themselves with beings that seek to eliminate humans?

4) Do the Broken Sword have any priests/divine spellcasters as members or allies? Which deities would they (or their allies) worship? For example, are Garagos, Iyachtu Xvim, Malar, and Bane seen as "lowly human deities", with preference to Gruumsh and other monstrous gods?

5) Would the Broken Sword and Eldreth Veluuthra ally themselves with each other? The Victorius Blade hates humans and orcs (which the Broken Sword has as members) but their goals are very similar, and I remember reading somewhere that these elves are not beneath allying themselves with monsters if it serves their purposes?

Thank you, Ed, for your previous answers! I think a "Realmslore"-article about dwarven and elven grammar/vocabulary would be much appreciated by the sages and scribes here at 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

Edited by - Asgetrion on 13 May 2006 01:28:33
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Verghityax
Learned Scribe

131 Posts

Posted - 12 May 2006 :  08:44:52  Show Profile  Visit Verghityax's Homepage Send Verghityax a Private Message
Dear Ed and Lady Hooded One,

A long time ago I asked you about the placement of some locations in Elturel and not so long ago the same about Iriaebor. You said that this information was under NDA. My current question is: is this info still under NDA? If yes, how long may it take for this info not to be under NDA anymore?
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Never
Acolyte

USA
24 Posts

Posted - 12 May 2006 :  22:56:58  Show Profile  Visit Never's Homepage Send Never a Private Message
The Hooded One:
"…and (my personal favourite) the elves that shat sapphires…"

I know a gold elf who *thinks* she shats sapphires. [grumble, grumble, grouse]

I'm so, so very guilty for no reason or rhyme;
Infinite victims, infinitesimal time.
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore

5056 Posts

Posted - 13 May 2006 :  00:11:37  Show Profile  Visit The Hooded One's Homepage Send The Hooded One a Private Message
Hi again, all. Back in September of last year, Jamallo Kreen posted: “I have a RULES question which may well belong elsewhere, but Ed may be able to provide insight which settles the matter for the more formal amongst us: is the creature known as the "ur-priest," who can "steal" divine power to do clerical magic even possible within Realmspace? Admittedly the things of the Gods are known to the Gods, etc., but the DM is something of an Overpower; as such, being a DM, I'd like to know if allowing an ur-priest to function according to the written rules is possible in "real" Realms gaming, or if some deity (Gargauth, for example) would knowingly and deliberately power the spells of the ur-priest for reasons which are (probably) nefarious? (I could imagine a Good or Neutral deity, far-seeing Savras, for instance, powering spells for such a priest in the expectation of eventually acquiring him or her as a worshipper, but Gargauth or Cyric or Bane would probably do it just to raise heck and create eventual despair; a demon lord or devil would probably be delighted to grant spells to an ur-priest and then appear some time later contract and pen in hand and an announcement that only a signature is necessary for the spells to keep on comin'.)
I'm sorry if I seem to be flogging an expired equine, but I have a Thayvian PC in my campaign, and the player has hopes of him becoming an ur-priest. I have said that is not a guaranteed available class, but I would like to know what options Ed and others consider to be available for such a PC before I slam the door on the PC. (Eternal damnation for the character is one of the possibilities -- mwahahahahaaaaaa! -- but not the only one. "Hey, everybody! Field trip to Hell! XP! XP!")”
Ed replies:



Certainly it’s possible, both for running ex-clerics of dead gods, as stated under the “Adaptation” heading, and for the stealing-divine-power character. Please note, however, that your supposition is correct: no mortal is deceiving a god and “getting away with it.” Rather, a deity IS deliberately granting the ur-priest spells to let the ur-priest function as a “wild card loose cannon” and benefit from the results. (This may of course end in stopping the flow of spells if the ur-priest no longer benefits the deity, or even ending such granted powers at the same moment as priests of that deity show up to do battle with the ur-priest and publicly vanquish him, to the greater glory [enhanced public reputation] of the deity. So being an ur-priest in the Realms is by no means a long-term secure career.)
Some deities by their nature would have nothing to do with ur-priests or such tactics, but in the Realms of old, Leira loved to ‘run’ such mortals. Gargauth and Talos did and still do, though they will limit what spells the ur-priest gains, and support only a few isolated individuals (so, no temples or “unholy strike forces” full of multiple ur-priests). This makes it difficult to play a PC ur-priest, but easy to have NPC ur-priests.



So saith Ed. Who may just have explained some of the strange foes we Knights met, down the years. Or not, as the case may be.
love,
THO
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