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Delwa
Master of Realmslore
USA
1268 Posts |
 Posted - 26 Aug 2014 : 03:02:58
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I'm trying to find information regarding herbs in the Realms, specifically how easy to find they are. A quick forum search turned up this thread, and this thread, which was helpful in other areas, but I'm trying to determine how difficult the herbs are to find while wandering the wilderness, rather than just purchasing them from a shop.
I've looked through Elminster's Forgotten Realms, and Power of Faerun, as well as The North Boxed Set. Elminster's Ecologies has a somewhat helpful section on the flora in the High Moor booklet, but beyond that, I'm stumped at where to look.
I'm open to homebrew stuff, it doesn't have to be canon. Any suggestions are helpful. I've considered taking the gp value of an herb and determining rarity based on the price, but sometimes price is reflective of how difficult the herb is to process, not find.
Specifically, information on the Delimbiyr Vale region would be helpful, but anything would be much appreciated.
Thank you in advance!
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- Delwa Aunglor
I am off to slay yon refrigerator and spoil it's horde. Go for the cheese, Boo!
"The Realms change; seldom at the speed desired of those who strive, but far too quickly for those who resist." - The Simbul, taken from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Conspectus |
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore
Australia
6645 Posts |
Posted - 26 Aug 2014 : 03:36:40
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Have a look at the "Silver Marches" accessory. Ed has also put quite a bit of herblore in his Chamber of Sages threads. I'll dig it up for you when I get home tonight.
-- George Krashos |
"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus |
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Delwa
Master of Realmslore
USA
1268 Posts |
Posted - 26 Aug 2014 : 03:49:24
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Thank you, Mr. Krashos! The information on pg40 of the "Silver Marches" accessory is exactly the kind of information I'm looking for. I only wish the herbs listed and their rarity were a more exhaustive list.  |
- Delwa Aunglor
I am off to slay yon refrigerator and spoil it's horde. Go for the cheese, Boo!
"The Realms change; seldom at the speed desired of those who strive, but far too quickly for those who resist." - The Simbul, taken from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Conspectus |
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Jeremy Grenemyer
Great Reader
USA
2717 Posts |
Posted - 26 Aug 2014 : 07:57:06
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Here's a few from later entries in the Glossary of Phrases, Sayings & Words of the Realms.
- “alarvaun” – Common:- a kind of herb made from leaves of the vaundyr vine (Ed Greenwood's Eye On the Realms: Spellslayer Wine, Dungeon #195)
- “bloodflower” – Common:- a rare herb extinct everywhere else in Faerûn, is harvested in the Mhair Jungles to be made into a potent healing salve (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting by Ed Greenwood, Sean K. Reynolds, Skip Williams, Rob Heinsoo)
- “bloodpurge” – Common:- an herb, found in the depths of freshwater marshes polluted by magical and non-magical wastes, that can neutralize minor poisons (Power of Faerûn by Ed Greenwood, Eric L. Boyd)
- “bloodstaunch” – Common:- an herb, found in dry gullies in semi-arid temperate zones, it thickens blood very quickly upon direct contact, and so can be applied to open wounds to slow or stop bleeding (Power of Faerûn by Ed Greenwood, Eric L. Boyd)
- “drace” – Common:- a kind of herb made from the leaves of the bittergar bush. Bittergar is a thistle-like shrub; small in size and dark blue in color; found in almost any non-mountainous, non-desert region. (Ed Greenwood's Eye On the Realms: Spellslayer Wine, Dungeon #195)
- “painquench” – Common:- formerly a term for a specific spell applied to quell pain; later also a term for a particular enchanted herbal ointment that quells pain; now also a term for a small handful of such (analgesic) ointments and unguents (Hand of Fire by Ed Greenwood; So saith Ed - July 4, 2010)
- “panaeolo” – Common:- an herb well known in the time of Netheril found in small amounts from oases in Anauroch (Lords of Darkness by Jason Carl, Sean K. Reynolds)
- “saisha” – Common:- (known as “Hammerlock” for the rigid immobility it causes) a flavourless, reddish liquid made from ever-rarer Tashlutan herbs (So saith George Krashos - November 27, 2008)
- “sarsson” – Common:- a common, little-known herb with broad, short yellow leaves that grows very close to the ground, as a “carpet” ground cover, in wet tropical regions (jungle, riverbanks, marshes, or bogs) aboveground, and damp warm (near volcanic) caverns underground; it “enlivens” un-coagulated blood on contact to bring forth a vivid, strong taste that some creatures (such as giant striders and certain carrion birds, like “gorcraws”) find irresistible (Serpent Kingdoms by Eric L. Boyd, Darrin Drader, Ed Greenwood; So saith Ed - July 28, 2010)
- “starfall” – Common:- a type of hallucinatory herb (Ed Greenwood's Eye On the Realms: The Flame Door, Dungeon #173)
- “Vilksmaarg” – Common:- a pungent, salty, herbal goat cheese popular in Sword Coast taverns (The North by Ed Greenwood, Jeff Grubb, Julia Martin, Steven E. Schend, Paul Jaquays, Steve Perrin)
I've included some of the things that include herbs, hoping this will help round out the list. |
Look for me and my content at EN World (user name: sanishiver). |
Edited by - Jeremy Grenemyer on 26 Aug 2014 07:58:20 |
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Steven Schend
Forgotten Realms Designer & Author
USA
1707 Posts |
Posted - 26 Aug 2014 : 15:08:50
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| It needs a tetch of tweaking, but my old D20 sourcebook Alchemy & Herbalism (for Bastion Press) could provide a lot of herbs--both real world and a few new ones--for your campaign, as well as details on rarity, locales for growing, etc. It's near-Realms-ready, as I often write with ways to slot all that into the Realms in my back brain. |
For current projects and general natter, see www.steveneschend.com
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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore
Australia
6645 Posts |
Posted - 26 Aug 2014 : 16:34:26
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This is the information on herbs Ed has provided over time in his Chamber of Sages threads:
Ed has long ago described herbs that are nigh-irresistible (or in other cases abhorrent) to various races (orcs, dwarves, elves, gnomes, halflings), and dragon blood is an addictive lure to certain creatures, just as the blood and flesh of certain creatures are a strong lure for dragons (ever wonder why mind flayers and certain sorts of giants didn't rule the entire Realms? Dragons couldn't resist eating them).
There are many, many herbs, potions, and even diets and thorras (“teas” or more properly tissanes made by boiling the leaves of various plants; a “thorra” is the Realmsian term for purely medical-use drinks that aren’t primarily sustaining or pleasant to the taste) used across the Realms to try to increase chances of, or “ensure,” pregnancy. There isn't time to delve into all of the old wives’ tales/wrong or exaggerated-efficacy means, or the poisonous ones, but one of the most popular effective ones is the (fictitious, not real-world) Realmsian herb “halvalondur,” which is a once-common, now uncommon and increasing in rarity (due to overpicking, for this use) little clover-like groundcover plant found in most Northern grasslands. By “northern,” I mean roughly the same range as for tangle moss (see below): halvalondur is found in Tethyr and anywhere north of that, from islands off the Sword Coast as far east as the Vilhon and Chessenta, in usually-fully-sunlit open grasslands only.
It is used by harvesting the blossoms, and females then eat them raw (they need not be fresh, so they can be harvested in Mirtul and the two months after that, kept in glass or clay jars sealed from the air with pitch or clay). This apparently makes females more likely to conceive, if they are at the right stage of their cycle. However, neither milk nor dairy products (such as cheese) nor alcohol should be ingested just before, with, or after the halvalondur blossoms, or they nullify the fertility effect.
Many of the herbal fertility treatments are thought to favor this gender or that, but the wisest sages (and elves who have studied the forest herbs more closely than anyone else) are almost all of the opinion that such thinking is either wishful or empty claims, rather than fact.
There are no "guarantees" about anything medical or medicinal in the Realms, by anyone who's sane, unless they're deliberately setting out to deceive. None of the herbal remedies and treatments popular from the 1320s onward in the Realms (the mapped and "known" part of the Realms explored thus far in the published canon, at least) are widely suspected of causing mutations or defects; there are some older herbal concoctions that did, or were thought to, and they fell out of favour as a result.
As magical experimentation (under the urging of Mystra's clergy, Chosen, and other servitors) has picked up in the 1300s, purely "by hand" herblore experimentation has waned, and as a result no knew "big innovations" in herblore have become known from the 1320s onwards (that's not saying there haven't been any, rather that they haven't become widely known, with all the attention on either magic spells and potions, or "philtres" and other drinkable medicines peddled by the caravan merchants (most of which would in real-world terms be deemed "snake oil" more than truly efficacious).
Here are some herbs of the Realms:
MERENTHE:
This purple-black, opaque watery liquid tastes something like raw avocados or eggplant, and when ingested or insinuated, is a potent sleep-inducing drug that can bring “easy slumber” regardless of pain or nausea. It has no known side-effects except entirely quelling snoring, teeth-gnashing, and body movements during sleep, is effective on all known intelligent mammals, and the amount of the dose directly affects the length of slumber. It works very swiftly, and when “passing off” causes swift awakening with little or no drowsiness.
Merenthe is much used in healing, to keep wounded persons immobile, but also serves to more easily “govern” or “master” prisoners, flight risks, and formidable foes, and to disable sentinels without harming them.
The secrets of its making are widely-known in Calimshan, known to a few in the Vilhon, the Tashalar, Amn, and Waterdeep, and little known elsewhere (where prices are high; typically 60 to 80 gp for a standard-sized potion vial, which if entirely imbibed at one sitting by an average-sized adult human male will cause about 5-and-a-half days of slumber).
Merenthe first became popular as the main thing sold by the Calishite “witch” Merenthe Iyrdril, some three centuries ago. It is known to be a distillate of at least three ingredients, one of which is a powdered low-value (fairly common) gemstone, and two of which are plants; for one of those, merenthe uses the crushed and boiled leaves.
Merenthe is effective when mixed with some alcoholic beverages, but not all. It works in combination with all other beverages (though dilution of course alters the length of its efficacy). Cooking beyond certain temperatures destroys its effects, so it can only be hidden in some foods.
And yes, merenthe is a drug in the sense that it's a subtance deliberately taken to alter bodily processes and/or symptoms. It isn't addictive, however, so there's no "withdrawal" or craving or addiction, or behaviours associated with such.
SARSSON:
This common, little-known herb has broad, short yellow leaves. It grows very close to the ground, as a “carpet” ground cover, in wet tropical regions (jungle, riverbanks, marshes, bogs) aboveground, and damp warm (near volcanic) caverns underground. It has a strong peppery, lemony taste, and can be used to make foul water palatable (not safe, just more pleasant in taste) and to complement meat; it “enlivens” uncoagulated blood on contact to bring forth a vivid, strong taste that some creatures (such as giant striders and certain carrion birds, like gorcraws) find irresistible.
TANGLEMOSS:
This lush, soft, green ground-covering moss resembles miniature pine boughs in configuration (needles sprouting from a stem), but is soft and delicate, sometimes being visually mistaken for dill and other “lacy frond” herbs and plants. Its name comes from its natural tendency to twine around (“entangle”) other vines, roots, and plants without strangling (killing) them, but firmly anchoring itself. It doesn’t “tangle” creatures, however small; its name is derived from its firm adherence to underlying rock or earth, and hence its usefulness, and tendency to flourish, in high-traffic areas such as paths, roads, and drainage spillways.
Tanglemoss is found everywhere north of the southern border of Tethyr, though it is rare in Amn outside of mountainous areas, and the Vilhon and everywhere north of that; the warmer prevalent climate of more southerly lands causes it to grow only in small, sickly brown clumps that soon wither and die. Dried tanglemoss is used as packing and insulation, because it doesn’t crumble and disintegrate for more than a season after death, but it has no other known uses. An old Moonsea North saying refers to someone in poverty as being “down to dining on tanglemoss soup.”
Tanglemoss doesn't do well in more southerly lands than Tethyr because of climate, but can be found in all more northerly areas (though it's rare east of The Sea of Fallen Stars, where other plant varieties crowd it out, and is sparse in Amn for unspecified reasons).
GLOWMOSS:
This once-common, but now increasingly rare due to over-harvesting moss absorbs heat and light energy, and glows softly in dim or dark conditions.
Its soft radiance is usually an amber-white or greenish-white hue (the exact colour is influenced by the mix of minerals the growing moss is in contact with), and it can be “fed” to keep it alive with moisture, salt (so, sea-breezes make it flourish) and light (torchlight and “cold magical glows” benefit it as readily as sunlight). Formerly much used as a light source in dark interior rooms by being hung in clumps in cages, its increasing rarity has led to this custom falling out of popularity.
Owners of glowmoss who understand its needs can readily illuminate a dwelling or structure by moving clumps of glowmoss from interior ceiling “light cages” to sunlit outdoor “reviving” locations, and back again, on a cycle that involves at least two tendays at a stretch of normal daytime periods of sunlight, and some water. Glowmoss need not be anchored on anything to grow or flourish. No known creatures find it edible, which has led some insects to lay eggs in it; to keep their homes from being infested by larvae falling out of glowmoss, most glowmoss users simply soak the glowmoss in buckets of water, agitate the moss vigorously by hand, and then hang it to drip dry before indoor, “in the cage” use.
Hope this has been helpful.
-- George Krashos |
"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus |
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Delwa
Master of Realmslore
USA
1268 Posts |
Posted - 26 Aug 2014 : 16:45:31
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Thanks all for your generous answers! Mr. Krashos, I've only skimmed what you've posted (lunch break here, I'll read it more thoroughly later,) but that is exactly the kind of lore I sought. Mr. Schend, I'll be hunting down that tome, for certain.
Thank you again.
(And if anyone has further lore to add, by all means, do so. I'm hoping to compile rather extensive list.) |
- Delwa Aunglor
I am off to slay yon refrigerator and spoil it's horde. Go for the cheese, Boo!
"The Realms change; seldom at the speed desired of those who strive, but far too quickly for those who resist." - The Simbul, taken from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Conspectus |
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6351 Posts |
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Delwa
Master of Realmslore
USA
1268 Posts |
Posted - 26 Aug 2014 : 16:52:06
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| It's all good. Just because the herb isn't canon doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Maybe nobody has discovered it yet, or is aware of its potential. If you can link me to the thread, that'd be appreciated. Otherwise, I'll be happy to hunt it down later. |
- Delwa Aunglor
I am off to slay yon refrigerator and spoil it's horde. Go for the cheese, Boo!
"The Realms change; seldom at the speed desired of those who strive, but far too quickly for those who resist." - The Simbul, taken from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Conspectus |
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6351 Posts |
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Delwa
Master of Realmslore
USA
1268 Posts |
Posted - 27 Aug 2014 : 19:17:07
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| Thanks for the links! I'm going to try and compile as much as I can legally into a single document. No idea how long that'll take me (think Sage time) but if I get it done, I'll share it here via Google Drive. Thanks all for your help! |
- Delwa Aunglor
I am off to slay yon refrigerator and spoil it's horde. Go for the cheese, Boo!
"The Realms change; seldom at the speed desired of those who strive, but far too quickly for those who resist." - The Simbul, taken from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Conspectus |
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6351 Posts |
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Delwa
Master of Realmslore
USA
1268 Posts |
Posted - 27 Aug 2014 : 20:58:23
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Yep! I've found those. At present, I'm trying to determine the rarity of the herbs that aren't specially listed as rare, uncommon, common, etc. Rarity is my biggest factor, since I don't want to make it easy for anyone trained in alchemy to just find a rare herb in the wild.
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- Delwa Aunglor
I am off to slay yon refrigerator and spoil it's horde. Go for the cheese, Boo!
"The Realms change; seldom at the speed desired of those who strive, but far too quickly for those who resist." - The Simbul, taken from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Conspectus |
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Herbs in the Realms
