@TheEdVerse,
Another, unrelated question. On your map of the Realms, 2E or 3E, I can't find a drain for the Sea of Fallen Stars.

1/3

— Random.Queriant (@RandomQueriant) November 9, 2019

Some of those rivers which drain to the ocean come within a few dozen miles of other rivers which drain into the Sea of Fallen Stars, in terrain that isn’t particularly mountainous.Does the Sea drain into the Ocean? Does it evaporate such that it doesn't need to? Does it drain into the Underdark?
And even if it does drain to the ocean, why hasn't anyone cut a canal so it drains somewhere more convenient? Like the Lake of Steam or Lake Esmel?

3/3

— Random.Queriant (@RandomQueriant) November 9, 2019

1)
1. As covered in existing Realmslore, the Sea of Fallen Stars drains into the Underdark.
2. That’s right. Just as in many, many “well-watered” places in the real world2)
3. As for the canal idea: someone did. See the Watercourse trilogy (of FR novels) by Phil Athans. :}#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 10, 2019

I may have to seek out those books. I didn’t want to throw around words like Karst, as, really, all I know are the words, but I get your meaning.
Thank you for the answers. There's LOTS of karst terrain in the Realms (e.g. in the Dales, Cormanthor, Cormyr, Tethyr, the Border Kingdoms, eastern Amn, eastern Sword Coast North) as karst = lots of caves = monster lairs, adventurer caches, "dungeon" entrances = lots of adventure opportunities.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 10, 2019

Hey Ed, How are you feeling now? Better I hope. Just wanted to check in with you. Never thought to ask this before, but how is Elminster these days?. I know he powered up Mystra with the power he collected. Is he back to his old self? All Chosen of all deities in the Realms are less powerful than they were, and keeping lower profiles. El is otherwise his old self, plus he's mastered the Weave (so he can sink into it and survive the loss of his body, etc.). Primary mission: still distributing magic.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 4, 2019

good sir Ed, in your realms, does Loudwater and Secomber have guilds or are they every merchant for themselves? In my Realms, neither place has formal guilds because the trading costers who've used them as bases for the last two centuries don't want guilds, and keep breaking them up. Which means that instead both have many small, short-lived secretive merchants' cabals.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 10, 2019

Thanks! What would a trading costar look like in that area? In my mind I see a merchant buying cheap and moving the good elsewhere where they sell for more?

— stephen parlin (@smparlin) November 10, 2019

1)
Thereabouts a trading coster’s presence would be a way-base (warehouses, wagon repair shops, paddocks for remounts and replacement draft horses, mules, and oxen) for Heartland overland caravan travel. And yes, all of that travel is to buy low, locally, and…
#Realmslore 2)
…transport to where more will be paid for the goods. (In most cases, in this region, it's extract raw resources, turn them into something useful [e.g. timber into furniture or building lumber], and sell them in large cities, Sword Coast or Inner Sea shores.)#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 11, 2019

@TheEdVerse hi Ed, just wondering if in the Eastern Realms, well the Kozakura area mainly, do they have Yokai? Reason I ask is I'm planning on playing a Kappa Monk and she has a Neko-Mata as a pet (he's a bit of a pyromaniac)

— Rogue's Gambit ♠️♥️♣️♦️🃏 (@Gambit_Wildcard) November 25, 2019

1)
Hi! Yes, indeed, there are many yokai in Kozakura, of a variety of forms; they all prefer to dwell in wilderland (usually rocky) areas, not near cities, though being close to busy roads doesn’t seem to bother them.# 2)
They tend to keep a low public profile, because troublesome (predatory on humans and valuable livestock) yokai have in the past been hunted down and eradicated. However, from the early 1300s DR onwards, many small, mischievous…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 25, 2019

3)
…shapeshifting yokai (including those who can take the shape of small, often-domesticated cats) do dwell on farms or even in towns and cities, among humans. Most steal food and small items to carry on their livings, but a few 4)
…serve as shop, home, or warehouse guardians in return for food and shelter. They are all unquenchably curious.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 25, 2019

@TheEdVerse Hello ed. I would like some tips … I am starting an adventure and I will use as background a sudden rise of Talos to the greater god. It will be in Amn. I will also use Talos champions, called Stormtallons (I like the name of the stories you always post) Any tips?

— Everton S. Santos | a.k.a Gleicks The Bard (@evertos) December 1, 2019

1)
Sure! The only way Talos could truly be seen to rise to greater godhood would be a dramatic rise in destructive storms (Otherwise, how would mortals know? Priests telling the general populace would tend to be ignored because 2)
…all clergy exalt their deity, much of the time.).
So that would be the first and predominant element; the campaign would involve a storm-ravaged Amn, with storm following storm and the destruction being bad enough that folk…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 1, 2019

3)
…are looking for magical solutions/protections. Which the church of Talos would proclaim themselves the source of, and send forth their champions. The problem facing said champions, and the priests backing them, is keeping 4)
…themselves in the ‘we are your saviours’ category, as opposed to being blamed for the storms and their destruction (‘Oh, yeah? Why aren’t you stopping all this, then? What’s the good of worshipping Talos when he does THIS? …#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 1, 2019

5)
… I’m going to find a deity who’ll defeat him, and worship THEM!’). All clergy will be trying to position themselves to take advantage of this. And your concern, as DM/designer, will be: what’s the role of PC adventurers 6)
…in this? (Why them, and not someone else?) As Amn wavers between fearing and hating Talos and all who worship him before all others, and obeying them because of that, or embracing Talos-clergy as saviours.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 1, 2019