is there any official precedent for Elven Barbarians in the Forgotten Realms? Asking for a friend, who is me. Sure. Many wild elves are barbarians (and rangers, for that matter), and this is in published canon Realmslore.#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 6, 2020
Is there some form of standardized banking throughout the Realms? Even something localized among the three major cities of the Sword Coast (Neverwinter, Waterdeep, Baldur’s Gate)? If so, how are funds made available and account balances known? My players are asking. See the “Money Matters” chapter of the "Ed Greenwood Presents Elminster’s Forgotten Realms" sourcebook (no, I didn’t come up with that title!).
It covers temples offering banking, rollcoins, moneylenders, and manycoins businesses. (In some places, guilds also bank.)#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 22, 2020
@TheEdVerse If Elminster can go back and forth from our world and Forgotten Realms using his magic doesn't that mean the Weave is here as well? Or did he get stuck here until he learned how to access our world's magic (assuming we have it still)?
— RidianGray (@RidianG) July 4, 2020
1)
Elminster, being a Weave anchor, brings a long, tenuous strand of the Weave with him. He usually jaunts between Toril and Earth via existing gates (portals), and knows many ways back, so is never “stuck.”
He knows how to access magic on Earth, thanks to many… 2)
…visits and much experimenting.
If an Earth person went the other way, and happened to have the Gift (ability to wield the Art = arcane magic; not all do), they could experiment, and be trained, and so learn to work magic in the Realms. Safe handling comes slow.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 4, 2020
re-reading Jewel of Turmish from The Cities, the Country is portrayed so differently from how Jeff Grubb’s character in The Finder’s Stone talks of it. In your view, is it contradictory? And if so, which view is correct? Imagine multiple wives was problematic? Not contradictory, as no realm larger than a city-state in the Realms is monolithic; they all vary from place to place, from urban to backlands, and social class to social class.
Turmish is a mixed-societies-in-the-same-country that's changing rapidly before our eyes.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) June 7, 2020
Hi Ed! Was just doing some Realmslore trawling and had a re-read of your “All About Elminster” article in Dragon #110. I came across the reference to “Shalane of Taerloon”. Is there anything you can tell me about him/her? Where was “Taerloon”? Cheers. Hi! Shalane is a female human, who hailed from a port called Taerloon on a large continent far WSW of Chult (S of Laerakond). I really should write about it sometime. ;}#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 9, 2020
Rexen @Rexenraptor
Hey Ed! A burning question for you. The Serpent Kingdoms mentions that the Yuan-ti added arms to nagara. Is it possible for them to add grafts to other types of non-serpent creatures? And are grafts limited to just snake parts, or could they do other types?— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 8, 2020
1)
Like real-world modern human surgeons, yuan-ti vary in skill and experience with grafting, and specialties. However, the few really skilled ones can handle all sorts of reptilian body parts, from a living or very 2)
…recently-deceased donor, master sedation and antiseptic operating conditions, and can graft successfully to all sorts of reptilian creatures.
The moment they try other sorts of body parts, or other sorts of recipients…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 8, 2020
3)
…(warm-blooded mammals, for instance), the chances of rejection and necrotizing (the body part dying and festering, still attached, so amputation must be done to avoid sickening and poisoning the recipient creature) go up4)
…sharply. As do instances of nerves not knitting together, so motor control of a limb is poor (e.g. dangling or flailing arm, not one capable of grasping and deft activities), it’s permanently numb, and so on. And NO yuan-ti…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 8, 2020
5)
…has ever successfully transplanted a head with functioning mind intact, to any creature or from any creature. Yuan-ti have entirely mastered the shock problems, so some of them even know the right local anaesthetics to 6)
…operate on themselves (e.g. give themselves extra or replacement arms) while conscious.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 8, 2020
The Cormyrean dunce cap equivalent is The Cracked Helm, a heavy war-helm that's been split in two by an axe so that all that's holding it together is its heavy collar (low on the wearer's chest). One half hangs completely away from the head it's no longer protecting.#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 18, 2020
The colloquial expression is "So you're wearing the Cracked Helm these days, hmm?" or "He's a proper Cracked Helm" or "Time to fit him for the Cracked Helm" or "Plenty of Cracked Helms in THAT lot."#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 18, 2020
@TheEdVerse Hello! It's me again for another peace of knowledge. Is there connection between Thundertree (LMoP) and Thurnderbeast tribe? As NWCS said some Uthgardt people came into Neverwinter Woods.
— Max Golutvo (@Meonaar) August 1, 2020
1)
Hi, Max. The answer is no, except for a coincidental name similarity, and some Thunderbeast barbarian familiarity with Neverwinter Wood.
Thundertree the human village (until devastated in 1451 DR by a Mount Hotenow eruption; an…2)
…unleashing of local magic caused in this destruction made flora in and around Thundertree turn into twig blights) was named for an unusually tall stand of duskwoods that were repeatedly struck by lightning during storms; due…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2020
3)
…to their layout, they echoed thunder peals, so the thunder seemed to echo around them (they were all lightning-scorched and dead before the then-hamlet was founded in 1292 DR).
The Thunderbeast barbarian tribe were…)
…food-following-nomadic, like most Uthgardt tribes, but frequented the High Forest and the Lurkwood rather than Neverwinter Wood; the closest they normally came to Neverwinter Wood was their ancestor mound, Morgur’s Mound, …#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2020
5)
…in The Crags to the northeast of the wood. Their name is derived from their veneration of the Thunderbeast (brontosaurus dinosaur), and they guarded the increasingly-open-secret that thunderbeasts yet dwelt deep in the High… 6)
…Forest. When they found Morgur’s Mound despoiled in the fall of 1477 DR, they left warriors in Neverwinter Wood to await the return of the Gray Wolf tribe (who are the Uthgardt tribe who DO frequent Neverwinter Wood) to…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2020
7)
…inquire who had dug up Morgur’s Mound (see p30 of the 4e Neverwinter campaign setting).#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2020
