@TheEdVerse Hello Ed. I have a few questions about flora in the realms. Since many plants from earth grow on Toril, I wonder, does Cannabis grow there? Is it smoked recreational or is it a religious sacrament? What places/churches cultivate it and where does it grow naturally?
— Stinkweed Simp, BLM 🤍💙🖤❤💚 (@FnordKyuss) December 19, 2020
1)
Heh. This was actually officially decided back in the early TSR days. They wanted it not to be in Toril, but I pointed out we already had printed lore of “hempen” ropes, woven bags, etc. Sooooo…various plants exist, their uses and prep are jealously-guarded…
#Realmslore 2)
…herbalist/temple "secrets," cannabis has almost no effect on dwarves and gnomes, none at all on halflings, is nothing more than a painkiller for orcs, and makes elves violently ill (cramps, vomiting, feels like their blood is on fire). So most folk in the…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 19, 2020
3)
…Realms employ other (fantastical/invented; see the Amarune’s Almanacs on DM’s Guild for a LOT of invented flora of the Realms) plants for recreational or even soothing purposes. Cannabis and several invented plants slow blood-flow, clear the head, and quell… 4)
…nausea. Most of my invented plants require the presence in a concoction (drink or poultice) or mix (line a pipe bowl with one, then smoke the other in the pipe) to derive hallucinations, or euphoria, or pain-free bliss.
[Of course, none of this was published.]#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 19, 2020
5)
Whoops! Almost forgot your last question: almost all of these plants grow wild everywhere in the temperate zone of Faerûn (= the Heartlands), but there are a few (e.g. Quilaeya/”the Desert Flower”) that grow in Raurin and other southern and eastern arid regions. 6)
Oh, just one more thing (channeling my inner Columbo): the various creatures known as "hags" know all about the many uses of various plants, and make extensive use of this. My hag lairs are full of trap-bladders that release gases on intruders.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 19, 2020
i can’t believe it has no effect on halflings! how will they enjoy their pipe-weed now… That's why they have their own roster of BETTER stuff. The whole point of "pipeWEED" is that halflings enjoy smoking plants that other races dismiss as weeds. A halfling in the wilderness can fill his/her pipe in mere moments, where others see…nothing to glean.#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 19, 2020
Did you invent Luiren spring cheese? No. I think Jeff Grubb did. Or Tom Prusa?
Volo may have had a drink or sixteen too many, when quizzing halflings about their lives and habits. ;}#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 22, 2020