@TheEdVerse Hi Ed, how are you? Can you help me with your vast knowledge? I would like to know more details about the elements that appear in this symbol. Can you help me ? pic.twitter.com/R8eV9PCDF7
— DM´s Party (@dms_party) August 23, 2020
1)
There’s a lot to unpack in that cover sigil, and believe it or not, there are still NDAs relating to some meanings (what I can say is that one of the messages is akin to “Behold and enjoy your Realms”). So let’s look at that… 2)
…writing, and we can readily see that it’s a ring of Dethek runes with a ring of Espruar script around it. The Dethek runes read: “The secret fires of our hearts burn with the memory of wars lost and heroes slain, but like the…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 24, 2020
3)
…stone from which we came, we endure” and is an age-old saying of the dwarves. The Espruar runes read “We remember cities now in ruin and forests murdered, yet still we sing to the stars and hope for renewal,” and is an elven…
#Realmslore 4)
…saying during the time of the Retreat (“cities” being spelt “sities” as there’s no “C” in Espruar).
These rings of script encircle a central symbol of three linked rings that denote the Multiverse or the Cosmic All or Ao, … #Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 24, 2020
5)
…depending on your tradition (who in the Realms taught you what those rings stand for). The three diamonds are from the sagecraft, and denote the Realms Below (the Underdark), the Realms Above (the surface world), and the… 6)
…Starry Void (Realmspace, or what we might call the heavens, or the Outer Planes of Existence, again depending on your tradition).
You’ll see a “bump” between the 7-o’clock and 8-o’clock position on the innermost ring around…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 24, 2020
7)
…Ao, that’s a crescent moon with a dot ‘above’ the crescent/between its horns. This is, of course, the symbol of Elminster, and it’s there because he is, however unreliably, our main source of information about the Realms. 8)
There’s another symbol that stands out as immediately recognizable, between the 4-o’clock and 5-o’clock position, jutting out of the outermost ring. It’s the symbol of Mystra, and she’s there as “the” deity of the Realms, for…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 24, 2020
9)
…she is the Weave that almost all beings use to source magic.
The sword symbol at the 9-o’clock position of the outer ring is the Sword of Tyr, but is also there to represent Tempus, and war.
The symbol at the 10-o’clock… 10)
…position similarly stands for multiple deities and concepts, one of them being Lolth (her web); I can’t find my old notes on this at the moment (they’re likely in a box out in the larger shipping container, so expect more… #Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 24, 2020
11)
…revelations months from now).#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 24, 2020
So the lore has been subsequently explained, but legally you’re not allowed to talk about it? In many cases, yes.
In others, it's never been explained in print/in public, so it's a missing spot DMs and players can fill in as they see fit (and we're still not allowed to talk about it).
Sometimes I check old emails, see precisely what I was told not to say, and "workaround"— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 24, 2020
