as Wodehouse proved there’s a great fun and amusement in seeing the Sir Roedericks & Aunt Agathas tormented, embarrassed, and scandalised!
What sorts of notions do these master part poopers hold dear in places like Cormyr? Waterdeep? / What are their lowborn counterparts like?
What do they (high or low born), for sake of example, feel about a noble Lliiran, Sunite, or Sharessan cleric? Of a noble adventuring with commoners?
I suppose the Woosters of the multiverse are probably pretty consistent and /— 🌈Jaye🦄Em🌹Edgecliff🏳️🌈 (@jayeedgecliff) February 8, 2019
How they horrify their elders.
What of the impish and intelligent? The dabblers in magics, the shrewd but laughing, or the generous & good-natured?
Given you’ve said you’re a fan of P.G.’s works I can envision a lot but the Realms have rather different mores than / 1920s aristocratic London. So there’s blanks on this delightful map of social interplay in spite your best efforts in novels. /fin— 🌈Jaye🦄Em🌹Edgecliff🏳️🌈 (@jayeedgecliff) February 8, 2019
1) Right, here we go.
Although it’s inaccurate, rude, and can be frankly dangerous to regard the nobility of either Cormyr or Waterdeep as monolithic, sharing a consistent mindset, moral code, and views (in reality, their…#Realmslore 2) …wealth or former wealth has led them to indulge their personal eccentricities to a degree that makes them more varied than any other social class in the Realms), the truly crusty (but unstintingly eloquent) Aunt Agatha/Lady…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 10, 2019
3) …Bracknell party poopers tend to believe these things:
Humans are the only TRULY cultured race, and their customs and decisions should hold sway. Even elves and dragons, who may be ancient and PRETEND to sophistication, … 4) …screwed up badly and so demonstrated their essential unfitness to Be First. WE are First, and rightly so.
Highborn humans are the most cultured of humans; they have grown up surrounded by the ‘right views,’ and so are the…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 10, 2019
5) …most fit to rule. The highborn are the “betters,” and less wellborn are the “lesser,” even if they marry into the nobility ro acquire great wealth, they can never quite overcome the ghastly misfortune of their low birth.#Realmslore 6) The gods ordain that the highborn should have power over others, and decide things for them. Gods who do not are mistaken, or are not gods. Priests of gods who hold to any other view are deluded fools, or charlatans who were…#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 10, 2019
7) …never true believers in their first place, and so are unworthy of their offices.
Society advances through experimentation, so nobles who do odd things are to be tolerated (criticized and hampered, but tolerated) unless they…#Realmslore 8) …seek to end the status of all nobles, in which case they are mad and must be exterminated lest they endanger high society/the natural order of things/the good of all humankind/all life in the multiverse. So a noble who…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 10, 2019
9) …lowers themselves to try a life of poverty or consorting habitually with commoners or to indulge in unusual religious antics is lost to us, but to be humored and exploited as a source of entertainment (something to gossip…#R 10) …about, at least). They may mistakenly think they are ‘broadening themselves,’ but may be moved by the gods to bring about some necessary cultural change or other, at personal cost. Their activities may even be wagered…#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 10, 2019
11) …upon without loss of style.
Debauchery is something lower orders indulge in. Nobles who engage in similar activities are merely expressing themselves, or giving vent to innate animal spirits that are personal flaws.#Realmslore 12) Hopefully they’ll come to their senses before they break all the feather dusters or utterly terrify the horses.
Generosity to the lower classes is not a flaw unless carried to extremes; rather, it is necessary lubricant to…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 10, 2019
13) …keep the lower classes from rising up against us and ruining everything. They can and should be bought, and it is good that someone other than me is out of their minds enough to distribute largesse so that I need not. 14) Having a sense of humor that one indulges at the expense of one’s elders and betters, rather than kicking the behinds of the lowborn and especially lowborn social climbers and pretenders, is a flaw. One should not poke fun…#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 10, 2019
15) …at those better and more experienced than oneself. This is the besetting sin of our straying younglings. Anyone who has too much to do with magic is mad, and dangerous, and to be thwarted. Streaks of madness, allowed to… 16) …rule those who possess them unchecked, will inevitably lead to the ruin not just of their individual, but of their house. Divert them. Young men/women or gambling will usually suffice.
Being amiable and good-natured is a…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 10, 2019
17) …sign of weakness and low birth. True nobles are clever and even generous, but miss no chance to thrust the barb and demonstrate that they forever judge, and that their judgments are never mistaken. So be witty and jovial, 18) …but forgive few slights and forget none at all. Laughing at your elders is insolence, no matter how it is passed off. Such behaviour is to be avenged. Comeuppances should never be far away; I recommend the salted horsewhip.#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 10, 2019
19) Though not for Lord Jhalast, as he enjoys it.
{And there you have it. Ah, but I should write a play or two…in my SPARE time…}— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 10, 2019