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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11690 Posts |
 Posted - 26 Jan 2006 : 22:36:25
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Hi Ed,
My question is not so much one of facts or lore. I would like to know how you as the personality of Elminster think he would react to a certain situation. Its based off how I had left off the story of one of my main NPC's (Sleyvas of Thay) just as 3rd edition was coming out. I'm more curious than anything. I'll give the gist, you give me the general response (if you don't mind).
Elminster recieves a sending or a projected image, etc.... The person contacting him is a mage that he is familiar with from rumors and scrying. He does not have a very good reputation, noted as a Thayan bounty hunter skilled in both sword and magecraft. He is known for having murdered a paladin of Impiltur, supposedly as vengeance for accidentally killing his first wife. Its also noted that he has explored some magics similar to cloning in attempts to create "children"... in a method somewhat similar to Alias... unfortunately, all of these children except one have also taken the dark paths their father took. You also know that he has recently (in the past few years) met up with a child of his from a later wife (said wife having mindwiped memory of his own son from him), and that said son is of special interest to Mystra (of what, she has not revealed even to you). Also, it is rumored that the Thayan mage has somehow recovered his wife from the past and has since been trying to ween himself away from the dark paths.
Apparently there was some falling out between the Simbul and this son over the fact that he refused to work with her again his own father (who is a Thayan mage). This falling out turned nearly lethal for the son, and the Thayan mage found out about it. You believe he (the Thayan Mage) may have been behind the slaying of one of the Simbul's court mages at a dance held just a few months back, but you have no proof as yet.
Ok, knowing these things, the projection and/or sending would request of Elminster aid. He would tell Elminster that he has gotten involved in a situation that threatens the lives of innocents (specifically that of his true son by his 2nd wife and the life of his 1st wife). He needs them to believe that he is dead, and he needs Elminster to provide them some means of moving onto a new life where they will not be tracked down and killed. He doesn't want to consciously know where they are, but he would like Elminster to provide him some means of discovering it for himself if he needed to. He would also like Elminster to give him the means to provide for these people without them realizing where the aid is coming from. In return, this notoriously brazen Thayan bounty hunter would gladly serve Elminster as a spy or a weapon with which to strike against the red wizards or whatever enemy he deems necessary.
Anyway, may not be the best of places to put this, but I've found that Elminster is a truly... different... sort of personality. I can honestly say I believe I know how the blackstaff would handle this situation, but I don't know how El would react. Especially with throwing in the fact that he's involved with the Simbul. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Dargoth
Great Reader
Australia
4607 Posts |
Posted - 26 Jan 2006 : 23:29:50
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quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
So saith Ed. Who can now obviously add dunghandler to his resumé, if he’s minded to. Or not, as the case may be. 
love to all,
THO
Are you suggesting Ed has Aspirations to be Prime Minister of Canada Hooded one?  |
“I am the King of Rome, and above grammar”
Emperor Sigismund
"Its good to be the King!"
Mel Brooks |
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Neriandal Freit
Senior Scribe
USA
396 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jan 2006 : 01:08:34
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quote:
Originally posted by Dargoth
quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
So saith Ed. Who can now obviously add dunghandler to his resumé, if he’s minded to. Or not, as the case may be.
love to all,
THO
Are you suggesting Ed has Aspirations to be Prime Minister of Canada Hooded one?
That would be fun ;) |
"Eating people is wrong...unless it's on the first date." - Ed Greenwood, GenCon Indy 2006 |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jan 2006 : 03:08:46
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Hi, all. This time, Ed replies to Jamallo Kreen’s post: “Thank ye kindly for the answers thus far, and rest assured that I shall continue to poke, prod, and otherwise disequilibrate the applecart in the future.
There was one tripartite question of mine which may have been answered and the answer lost in the shuffle of my cyberdesk, and which I therefore repeat: What the heck was that magic black curtain across Yellow Snake Pass during the Time of Troubles; what happened to things that passed through it; is it still there?
I await your answers on tenterhooks. (Or at least on osteophytes.)”
Ed speaks:
Oooh, tenterhooks. This’s going to hurt, because I’m going to have to leave you hanging. However, feel free to disequilibrate away . . . :}
Seriously: I hadn’t forgotten your query, but was sitting on it in hopes the NDA would end when the project that was going to pick up on this “loose end” was published. However, it hasn’t yet, and so the NDA continues. For now. Sorry.
So saith Ed. Hmmm, I THINK I know what project this might be, but if I speculated in print, I’d offend against one of MY lovely little NDAs. To quote Ed: sorry.
love to all,
THO
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jan 2006 : 01:26:59
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Hi again, fellow scribes. Ed replies to this, from BobROE: “Do governments determine the layout of the land? In that the size and shape of people's lots of land and the such (I assume this varies from place to place, and depends on the type of government).
Or is it a more of a farmer has claimed an area, and other farmers must work around what the first one claimed.
And do places follow an Upper Canada or Lower Canada plot breakdown system?”
Ed speaks:
The trite answer to this is: it depends.
Meaning: different places in the Realms have different rules (generally stricter, the longer settled). In some places (most areas of Tethyr, for example), the land was owned by the duke or baron or whatever the local ranking nobility was, and purchased from him (once purchased, it was owned outright by the buyer, who could hand it down to descendants, divide it freely without obtaining permission from anyone else, resell some parts but not others if desired, and so on). In most frontier or wilderland areas, people simply “squat” on land, clear and till it or fence it for ranch pasture, and it’s “theirs” (until someone comes along and takes it by force). In rural areas (such as much of the Dales and upland Cormyr), strict laws have developed over the generations regarding who can do what with lands, but the ORIGINAL human landowners were simply squatters.
Now, as a fellow Canadian, I’m guessing that by “Upper Canada or Lower Canada plot breakdown system” you mean this:
Upper Canada: divided into concessions and sideroads with equal-sized rectangular “sections” in the blocks between them surveyed, every so many granted to the church, and the rest sold or granted to settlers;
as compared to:
Lower Canada: seigneurial system (actually practiced only along the St. Lawrence River, mainly in what are now known as “the Eastern Townships”): narrow strips of land fronting on the river (or road, or church) and running inland a fair way (thus, long and narrow), over time radiating out in pinwheels from the seigneurial manor and being subdivided among farmers’ descendants into ever-narrower strips of land.
My reply to this one has to be: neither. It’s extremely rare in the Realms for surveyors as good and as “rectangular-minded” as the British army guys who did the Upper Canada layout, and of course the Realms lacks the single powerful church to demand and receive granted sections (and also lacks the “pay off retiring soldiers with land, so they’ll settle it and thus hold our claim to this timber-valuable but otherwise God-forsaken wilderness” urge), and the Realms has never had a seigneurial system with the long-narrow strips, either.
Instead, it’s had the aforementioned “squatting” practice, with the laws coming later. Please remember that in the Realms a LOT of people live on a farm and work it, largely with their own sweaty labour, and marauding monsters keep most of the Realms underpopulated; outside cities, it’s rarely a problem, if you want to start your own farm, to just start walking for a few days, until you reach a suitably “wild” area, and start clearing what is now “yours.” There are exceptions (Amn, Tethyr, Calimshan, Sembia, most of Cormyr), and in many places you’ll soon get a visit from local authorities who want to know what you’re up to (so they can tax you), soon after you “squat.”
Thus far, this and similar practices have given rise to a lot of irregularly-shaped farm fields, like much of medieval England, all over the Realms. (Think medieval England for a lot of matters when trying to decide what the Realms is like, and you usually won’t be far wrong.)
In crowded places with lots of money and people and a strong government, of course, things are far different. Yet in most locales in Faerûn, lot sizes are irregular. In most cities, having any land beyond a few steps “out back” ’twixt your back door and your stables is very unusual, and living in a building that touches the buildings on either side is common. I’ll be dealing with land use in villages in a LITTLE more detail in an upcoming Realmslore web column.
So saith Ed, THE Master of Realmslore. Who will of course return soon with more lore.
love to all,
THO
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BobROE
Learned Scribe
Canada
106 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jan 2006 : 03:11:40
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| When farmers claim some plot of land do they tend towards square/rectangular areas (baring a geographic feature preventing it), or just whatever they can claim with the minimal amount of clearning? And do they fence/hedge their plots or do they use natural features as edging (so what I mean would you find a fence/hedge up against the endge of a forest [and lets assume the farmer is growing something, not keeping livestock])? |
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jan 2006 : 19:56:05
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| I have been doing much poking about in several books serially, including El in Hell, and I wonder if there are detailed, otherwise published write-ups of some of the "lesser" memories which El recalled -- the ones which didn't rate mention in the prefatory pages? If so, where might they be found (aside from Ed's collection of 3x5 cards, that is)? |
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 - 28 Jan 2006 : 20:13:54
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This is a question that others than Ed may be better able to answer: Since half the job in getting a new technology (or magic) developed is being aware that it can be done in the first place, what is the DC to be aware it is possible to create a spell like Iolaum's Longevity?
Is it possible, based upon rumors, Netherese remains, and Volo's gossip, to figure out what were the basic Epic seeds of Iolaum's Longevity? If so, what would be the DC to know this in the 1360s and 1370s DR?
I'm not asking about the whole formula, only the general framework, which will require research per the rules. |
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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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jan 2006 : 01:05:04
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Hello again, all. Your friendly neighbourhood Lovely Lady Hooded here, with some verbiage to spill.
To Dargoth, no. I’m NOT “suggesting Ed has aspirations to be Prime Minister of Canada.” Slime Lord, you’re correct in saying it might be fun, but I’m not sure for whom. Ed would hate every minute of it, but he’d shove the whole country into recycling and cleaner alternative power and rebuilding local “community” feel and food-self-sufficiency, or try to, and that would slam him hard into the brick wall of all those folks who get quite rich on the status quo, and don’t want any large change. I can see him achieving little but massive frustration for himself. And he’s too darn nice and kind for politics the way she’s played these days.
However, if you want insightful political opinion, Ed’s your man. He can see through male cow excrement harder and faster than most, though he keeps quiet about things unless asked.
He’s hard at work on a whole bunch of projects right now, by the way. (Yes, as usual.)
With all of that said, I now bring you Ed’s lightning-swift response to Phillip (sleyvas), about how Elminster would react to this situation:
“Elminster receives a sending or a projected image, etc.... The person contacting him is a mage that he is familiar with from rumors and scrying. He does not have a very good reputation, noted as a Thayan bounty hunter skilled in both sword and magecraft. He is known for having murdered a paladin of Impiltur, supposedly as vengeance for accidentally killing his first wife. Its also noted that he has explored some magics similar to cloning in attempts to create "children"... in a method somewhat similar to Alias... unfortunately, all of these children except one have also taken the dark paths their father took. You also know that he has recently (in the past few years) met up with a child of his from a later wife (said wife having mindwiped memory of his own son from him), and that said son is of special interest to Mystra (of what, she has not revealed even to you). Also, it is rumored that the Thayan mage has somehow recovered his wife from the past and has since been trying to wean himself away from the dark paths.
Apparently there was some falling out between The Simbul and this son over the fact that he refused to work with her again his own father (who is a Thayan mage). This falling out turned nearly lethal for the son, and the Thayan mage found out about it. You believe he (the Thayan Mage) may have been behind the slaying of one of The Simbul's court mages at a dance held just a few months back, but you have no proof as yet.
Ok, knowing these things, the projection and/or sending would request of Elminster aid. He would tell Elminster that he has gotten involved in a situation that threatens the lives of innocents (specifically that of his true son by his 2nd wife and the life of his 1st wife). He needs them to believe that he is dead, and he needs Elminster to provide them some means of moving onto a new life where they will not be tracked down and killed. He doesn't want to consciously know where they are, but he would like Elminster to provide him some means of discovering it for himself if he needed to. He would also like Elminster to give him the means to provide for these people without them realizing where the aid is coming from. In return, this notoriously brazen Thayan bounty hunter would gladly serve Elminster as a spy or a weapon with which to strike against the red wizards or whatever enemy he deems necessary.
Anyway, may not be the best of places to put this, but I've found that Elminster is a truly... different... sort of personality. I can honestly say I believe I know how the Blackstaff would handle this situation, but I don't know how El would react. Especially with throwing in the fact that he's involved with The Simbul.”
Whew. Here’s Ed:
Hi, Phillip! I have no hesitation whatsoever in saying that Elminster would assist Sleyvas of Thay as far and as closely as possible, as if he and Sleyvas were old and close friends (and his price would probably be no more than a promise of future aid in some small matter involving Thay, probably the snatch-rescue of an innocent non-mage NPC out of slavery there, or Sleyvas agreeing not to harm, slay, or capture [and surrender to other Thayans] a certain person).
El would do this for three reasons: his own personality, which would make him naturally sympathetic to a mage in such troubles, as he has been himself; Mystra’s private commandments to him, which involve helping Thayans wherever possible to balance against The Simbul’s wholesale slaughter of them (to preserve the maximum number of magic-using beings; note that this doesn’t prevent Elminster from slaying Red Wizards himself in an instant IF he deems doing so desirable or necessary, and he often does); and his curiousity, which would make him want to know more about all of these Machiavellian family machinations (Sleyvas’s family, that is), and hope to discover, down the road, a little more about Mystra’s plans for the ‘special’ son. El would also judge that Mystra would want him to aid Sleyvas because of the better (than otherwise) future prospects for that son that should result.
El would tell The Simbul all about rendering this aid if (and only if) The Simbul asked him about it directly (meaning she’d somehow discovered it on her own); otherwise, he’d say nothing, because they both operate independently, respect each other’s independence, and know that each is keeping many little “daily operational” secrets from the other (this matter definitely falling into that category). El also has a soft spot for mages who lead interesting, shady, authority-challenging lives, like Sleyvas and [cough] Old El himself. Moreover, he would place a high value on protecting the two wives and getting them out of harm’s way into new lives, and would relish the fun of “setting them up” in those new lives, and watching over them (something he already does for literally scores of folk, all across the Realms). In short, Sleyvas is asking him to do something he’d naturally enjoy doing and be eager to do, so El will aid him without hesitation, teasing, or deception. (Sleyvas will probably be covertly watched by Mystra’s spectral servants - - see SECRETS OF THE MAGISTER - - from the moment he asks Elminster for aid, onward for the rest of his life, but these beings will report what they observe only to Mystra and Azuth unless tipping off Elminster or another of the Chosen seems immediately necessary to keep the special son or the wives alive. They may even help protect Sleyvas from time to time, wherever possible in small, subtle ways.
So saith Ed. Great question, and a great answer that shows us a little more of Elminster’s true nature. Soft heart of gold hidden under that gruff bearded exterior, yes. Sniff. I recall El’s reaction when one of my characters tried to give him what is vulgarly known as a blow [ahem] . . . but I think I’ll keep that private for now. And what I saw in my glimpse under the Old Mage’s robes, too. 
love to all,
THO
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Neriandal Freit
Senior Scribe
USA
396 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jan 2006 : 01:22:11
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quote:
So saith Ed. Great question, and a great answer that shows us a little more of Elminster’s true nature. Soft heart of gold hidden under that gruff bearded exterior, yes. Sniff. I recall El’s reaction when one of my characters tried to give him what is vulgarly known as a blow [ahem] . . . but I think I’ll keep that private for now. And what I saw in my glimpse under the Old Mage’s robes, too.
love to all,
THO
Elaborate for us soon THO  |
"Eating people is wrong...unless it's on the first date." - Ed Greenwood, GenCon Indy 2006 |
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Volo
Seeker
Canada
58 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jan 2006 : 13:37:14
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| I have a question for the Bearded One. Is Volo a Harper? I've seen a lot of evidence in both directions, but for some reason I've never been able to quite suppress the belief that Elminster wouldn't put up with his annoyances if he weren't in some way beneficial to the Old Mage, and given his (psuedo-)encyclopedic knowledge of backwoods Faerun, and the fact that he seems to know some things about the inner workings of said organization that would seem to require personal interaction with same, I'm tempted to say that he is, but I desperately want the truth from the horse's mouth. |
Volo's misunderstood. He's not an idiot. He's a FLAMING idiot! |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31701 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jan 2006 : 14:02:06
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quote:
Originally posted by Volo
I have a question for the Bearded One. Is Volo a Harper? I've seen a lot of evidence in both directions, but for some reason I've never been able to quite suppress the belief that Elminster wouldn't put up with his annoyances if he weren't in some way beneficial to the Old Mage, and given his (psuedo-)encyclopedic knowledge of backwoods Faerun, and the fact that he seems to know some things about the inner workings of said organization that would seem to require personal interaction with same, I'm tempted to say that he is, but I desperately want the truth from the horse's mouth.
I'll leave this to Our Lady Hooded One -
"As for Volo: I once heard Volo called the “Geraldo Rivera of the Realms,” but I think that’s a trifle unfair to the real Mr. Rivera. Volo is a young, amoral rogue itching with the need to learn secrets and trumpet them to the world. A minor mage and major rogue, he wanders Faerun penning acidic travel guides (the Volo’s Guides, which are available as downloads and are ESSENTIAL to making a Realms campaign seem colourful and ‘real’). There’s even a Volo’s Guide to Baldur’s Gate II, which was meant to go with the computer game. Volo went so far as to write a book entitled Volo’s Guide To All Things Magical, and was threatened (by various wizards) with dire consequences if it was ever published.
Inevitably, it was, and as a result Volo (for his own protection, the Old Mage insists) spent some time as an ornamental frog sculpture in Elminster’s pond. He’s free again now, and I fear we’ve all not heard the last from Volo. :}"
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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 |
Edited by - The Sage on 29 Jan 2006 14:06:16 |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2006 : 01:09:47
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Hi again, all. This time, Ed answers Rolindin:
I’m sorry, but I can’t reveal the topics of DRAGON articles before they’re published. Right now, I’m working on the Cities of the Realms series for Erik Mona (and have turned in another city, though I’m still at work on its map). As for your last question, “do you have any plans to make such a place, or maybe one of the other evil organizations?”
(adopts grandly sinister tone): I have MANY plans.
Bwoohahahahah (and so on).
Seriously, NDAs and agreed-upon professional practice prevent me from “spilling the beans” prior to publication, UNLESS WotC (or Paizo, or whatever relevant gaming company is in play) has already started doing so. For that reason, I also can’t tell you more about future coverage of Netheril, if any. I CAN impart that I have more lore and plans about Netheril that haven’t yet been published, yes. And no, morally and legally I can’t just post them here.
So saith Ed. Short and emphatic, I’m afraid.
(P.S. to Kuje: Ed is now just one editing job away from getting to work on that which you sent me for him to look at.)
love to all,
THO
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2006 : 04:12:42
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WHOO HOO. :)
Sorry. :)
Got a bit excited there. |
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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Volo
Seeker
Canada
58 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2006 : 05:26:38
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| Hmm. Another question for man-in-hat-with-beard. Are there any dwarven worshippers of Severash? I realize he's an elven god, but given that the event that lead to his vendetta, and thus ultimately to his apotheosis, involved the slaughter of both elves and dwarves, I hold to the opinion that a dwarf might also have reason to venerate him. And when you consider the tendancy of dwarves to hold grudges, again, it makes sense for a dwarf who's clan was decimated at that feast to follow the ways of Severash. What say you? |
Volo's misunderstood. He's not an idiot. He's a FLAMING idiot! |
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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 - 30 Jan 2006 : 16:09:13
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Hmmm.
One point I'd like to raise right now, given Volo’s Severash query and RevJest’s Eilistraee-related query: please don’t lose sight of the fact, scribes, that in the Realms (aside from priests and the most dedicated of lay worshippers), no one dedicates themselves to one god. Everybody worships a variety of deities (if only in appeasement). They may recognize a patron deity or dominant god, yes, but they AREN’T monotheistic. (So the answer to Volo’s question is almost certainly: “Yes.”)
love,
THO
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Volo
Seeker
Canada
58 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2006 : 20:17:59
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| Well, actually, I was thinking of priests, not worshippers. I misspoke. (Hey, I'm Volo! I'm good at that!) |
Volo's misunderstood. He's not an idiot. He's a FLAMING idiot! |
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createvmind
Senior Scribe
490 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2006 : 20:58:11
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Hello again, Sir Ed.
My query regards the powers of the Wierdstone from "Players Guide to Faerun" that nullifies dimensional travel and such. Does it also prevent someone within it's radius from using summoning spells since that is a form of "instantaneous" travel? And do spells like Rope trick and such function within it's radius, does that count as traveling since you are entering a "pocket" of space while within the wierdstones radius?
Basically whats your take on what it can and can't do in regards to such traveling spells and spell-like, supernatural abilities?
Thanks |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4685 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2006 : 23:40:53
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Well what his name, the ranger, took a human deity as patron. There is also Eilistraee's father that would be known of. It should be pointed out the question was one of society, not directly related to the Dark Maiden herself. I have tried tug away some questions over to another thread, however the question still reoccurs here.
As long as it keeps reappearing, perhaps I can add a few.
Some wonder how Eilistraee reacts to Wizards as followers as there has been little mention of Eilistraee following mages and the one of note is female, where do males fit in?
It has been said the Eilistraee societies there is gender equality, and it appears reasonable that they do not take slaves. Some argue that such communities are Cleric dominated, they rule perhaps?
Another question came up in an other place that asked if Monks would take Eilistraee as a Patron deity?
In past answers it is clear that followers are located thoughout the regions, some even in "Drow free" zones like Waterdeep and Silvermoon (disguised of course, most likely as fair elves) and there are followers of other races as well. Are there any estmates as to how far and how many races do take Eilistraree as a Patron deity?
Of course there in the stack of unanswered questions a few that I would hope for an answer.
If the High Hunt is always the End of the month? (I have played it as when an evil dangerios creature came near enought for the Goddess to call out alarm).
How long does a Run last?
I think there are a few others as well. |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
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Jamallo Kreen
Master of Realmslore
USA
1537 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2006 : 23:42:36
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Still nudging for ever more lore on classic Torilian literature, artistic styles, and numismatics, Jamallo Kreen, Friend of Religion, bids a fine day (or e'en) to all and makes inquiries from Serpent Kingdoms:
1a. What, besides Serpent Kingdoms itself, is the best source of information on the Shadowking (p. 111f) and Ebenfar?
1b. What are shadow-spinners (p. 111) and where are they "statted"?
2. If it's not NDA, is there any lore at all left in the Vaults of Record (p. 115), or is it totally cleaned out except for nick-nacks dropped by wandering monsters? (I.e. are there still wall paintings or engravings, or undiscovered hiden rooms, or has it been so thoroughly and completely ransacked as to serve as nought but Mr. McGuffin's red herring trail mix for contemporary adventurers?)
3. Again, if it's not NDA, could a patient necromancer, using some enhanced version of Speak With the Dead or a similar (and perhaps more powerful) spell, to interrogate a dead sarrukh mage and his fellows and begin to reconstruct the text of the Golden Skins of the World Serpent (a.k.a. the Nether Scrolls)? LEoF gave us some rules about what reading a chapter or so fo the Scrolls could do for one, so one wonders: is this known because necromancers have been reconstructing them? If so, who, on Toril, would be the scholars most likely to have worked up fairly accurate versions of at least a chapter or so? Is this, at last, an example of the "forbidden lore" about which I inquired a year or so ago?
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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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Arivia
Great Reader
Canada
2965 Posts |
Posted - 30 Jan 2006 : 23:50:21
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quote:
Originally posted by Jamallo Kreen
1b. What are shadow-spinners (p. 111) and where are they "statted"?
I'm not Ed, but 3.0 stats for shadow spiders can be found on page 284 of the MMII, and were updated in the 3.5 Conversion Document. |
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 31 Jan 2006 : 03:17:35
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Well met again, fellow scribes. This time, Ed tackles this query from crazedventurers: “was there an 'original' name for the ruling family of Cormyr? and if so, why did it get changed?”
Ed replies:
Hi, Damian. Jeff Grubb named the ruling family of Cormyr because I hadn’t (I had them using “Cormyr” as their surname, but TSR wanted things more clear-cut and less confusing, for the “12-year-old American male” audience they were aiming for; obviously they thought 12-year-old American males were more stupid than I think they are). Jeff and his wife Kate fell in love with Cormyr, that most lovable of my original kingdoms, and in a way ‘put themselves’ into the Realms as the Wyvernspurs, so I just stepped back out of the way and watched the resulting fun (what’s sometimes called the Azure Bonds trilogy) with a big grin. Later, of course, Jeff and I collaborated on CORMYR: A NOVEL. We remain close friends, and I hope someday to see new Grubb & Novak (or even just Grubb, or just Novak) Realms novels.
So saith Ed. Folks wanting to keep current with what Jeff’s up to should check out his blog, at: www.grubbstreet.blogspot.com
love to all,
THO
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 31 Jan 2006 : 03:33:05
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quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
I hope someday to see new Grubb & Novak (or even just Grubb, or just Novak) Realms novels.
Ed is not alone in that desire. Many of us have expressed this.  |
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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 31 Jan 2006 : 16:35:32
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For those that were discussing the worshipper comments with each other and THO I moved your replies to this scroll to unclutter Ed's.
http://www.candlekeep.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6034 |
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 - 01 Feb 2006 : 01:36:01
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| Could the Bearded One reveal anything about the strange "ruins of glass" (perhaps build of Glassteel?) in Farsea Marshes, and perhaps if there were any ruins in the Vast Swamp in the "Home Realms"? |
"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 - 01 Feb 2006 : 01:38:48
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Hi again, everyone. This time, Ed steps up once more to matters godly, to make reply to this, from Skeptic: “First, according to the flavor of the Realms (and not the current editions rules) must a cleric include the name of his deity in the "verbal component" of his spells? If yes, can he use a more obscure alias? Second, when a spell mentions that the cleric must show his deity's symbol, can this symbol be disguised as a mundane item or even as another deity symbol ? (Of course in respect of the deity's dogma!) These questions come from the cleric of Bane in my current campaign who doesn't like to live in Waterdeep. (The party forced him to add a "illusion" effect on his full plate carved with his deity symbol.)”
Ed replies:
Many lesser spells don’t require that the deity be mentioned by name; the incants are prayers or prayer fragments that don’t happen to include the name of the deity. For most more powerful clerical spells having a verbal component, the deity IS called upon by name, and although the priest can in many cases use aliases without ruining the spell, few of those that apply to Bane, the relevant deity here, are truly going to be “obscure” to most folk in the Realms (remember: every human in the Realms knows of, and believes in, the same gods, albiet with some local name differences, rather than cleaving to a single deity, so the PC priest you mention CAN’T hide what he’s doing effectively from people in Waterdeep). And no, he CAN’T disguise his holy symbol and still have the spell work, if it’s a spell above 2nd level. Bane expects him to publicly bear witness to his faith, so as to impress (or cow) others. Bane is the god of tyranny, remember?
Yes, that can lead to problems. Which is why so many priests of evil deities cast spells indoors, at night, in cellars or other hidden places. If they don’t want their activities to be traced to their homes, they often rent a room in a bad inn or upstairs room at a Dock Ward tavern, or even take a room at a good festhall, send the pleasure-lass out, bar the door behind her, and get to work.
Of course, being a priest of Bane, he might just harshly order the pleasure-lass around, and then tie her down, blindfold her, and cast his spells (if doing so isn’t going to impart names and information to her that she can specifically report to the Watch for, later, and incriminate him) while she cowers, wondering if she’s going to be sacrificed or molested, so he can please Bane with her fear and his tyranny.
And yes, such deeds can indeed lead to other problems. Playing a priest in the Realms often shouldn’t be easy.
So saith Ed. * I * remember being tied down and blindfolded, both in the Realms as a character and in real life. I don’t recall cowering, though.
I’ll try it again, tonight, and see if I do.
love,
THO
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Skeptic
Master of Realmslore
Canada
1273 Posts |
Posted - 01 Feb 2006 : 01:56:50
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Exactly the answer I wanted to hear, I won't feel bad with my "harsh ruling" anymore 
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The Hooded One
Lady Herald of Realmslore
5056 Posts |
Posted - 02 Feb 2006 : 01:24:33
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Hi again, fellow scribes. This time, Ed makes reply to this post, from Dragonstar: “My question pertains to Silverymoon's Wards. In the FRCS and Silver Marches, the how and why of the wards are mostly explained, but the only distance covered for application of the ward's effects is to 1,000 ft outside the walls of the city. Protection is listed as applying both above and below the city, but how far? This is relevant to my campaign, as I need to figure out how far down to send the players before they can get to a portal that will work without having a ward token.”
Ed speaks:
Looks like a little detail got edited out of the wards descriptions. They’re not precisely mythals, no, but they ARE spherical, both above and below ground (and, yes, extending through the flowing waters and bed of the River Rauvin). Picture a sphere with its outer edges a thousand feet beyond the outermost walls (“the farthest point out” of those walls) north of the city (in other words, travel a thousand feet outwards in a straight line from the point on the Northbank Silverymoon walls that’s farthest from the river, and construct the sphere using that “thousand-foot-out” point as the boundary of the sphere, and a point on the riverbank, reached back along the straight line you’ve already traveled outwards from the walls, as the centre of the sphere). Southbank Silverymoon is smaller than Northbank, but the sphere extends invisibly (except when glowing faintly with reflected starshine or the radiance of the Moonbridge) beyond it regardless, the size of that sphere determined by the extent of the Northbank walls (in other words, the wards extend MORE than a thousand feet out from the Southbank walls).
Mark both of those outermost beyond-the-walls points, and then redraw your “sphere” using them as two of the outer limits - - because Silverymoon’s wards AREN’T a proper sphere, you see. They actually take the shape of an ovoid. To determine its precise extent, go a thousand feet downstream (from the west wall) and a thousand feet upstream from the east wall) of the spots where the outer walls reach the river, and make your ovoid by joining these two spots and the two “outermost” ones you already have.
So Arivia’s instincts were right in her comment “From what we know about mythals, I'd suggest that it's spherically shaped...” (though Hoondatha was also right to say: “My feeling is that a mythal takes whatever shape it needs to in order to cover the city.”) Again, Silverymoon’s wards aren’t quite mythals, for reasons that are still under NDA right now (hint: think SECRETS OF THE MAGISTER, involvement of some of Mystra’s servants, tales yet untold, etc.).
So saith Ed, tireless hinter of Realmslore.
love to all,
THO
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Kaladorm
Master of Realmslore
United Kingdom
1176 Posts |
Posted - 02 Feb 2006 : 13:56:33
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quote:
Originally posted by The Hooded One
And no, he CAN’T disguise his holy symbol and still have the spell work, if it’s a spell above 2nd level. Bane expects him to publicly bear witness to his faith, so as to impress (or cow) others. Bane is the god of tyranny, remember?
How would this apply to a priest of Mask say? (or in older times a priest of Leira (sp?)) |
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Questions for Ed Greenwood (2006)
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