@TheEdVerse What function does the brain serve in the Forgotten Realms keeping in mind souls are a thing? The people demand answers!

— Ivan (@jaskier_stan) February 9, 2020

1)
The brain is used for thinking, by regrettably too few people, and far too seldom. The demanding answers thing is good, though. It’s what makes us human.
Seriously: the brain is the source of sentience, which isn’t just 2)
…reasoning, it’s self-awareness, so it’s what fills a soul with an identifier and qualities of character. The soul is the essence of being for a living thing; the brain contains the self, or person.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 9, 2020

3)
Used by deities for sorting said souls, or directing them. Used by you to go on living, if you acquire a new body.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 9, 2020

Please forgive naive question: if undead are both/neither alive and/nor dead, why are they worshipping a god of the Dead? Why is there no god of the Undead, constantly in tension with Kelemvor & Isis or Apollo? Or could they worship Celtic Arawn?

— Pataphor (@Pataphor1) April 6, 2020

1)
Your question arises out of mortal confusion as to who the gods really are, as individuals, and what they do.
Portfolios are our way of trying to understand what genres/fields of endeavour/concepts/professions/topics they seek to dominate, bolstered by titles 2)
…bestowed on the gods by their clergy, by bards and general rumor, and occasionally by the gods themselves. "Lord of the Dead" is one of these. All deities compete, and Myrkul, Kelemvor, Velsharoon, and Bhaal are all "fighting for turf" here. So too, could…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 6, 2020

3)
…Jergal be, if he was interested in fighting. Remember, only fanatics, paladins, and clerics in the Realms worship one god. Everyone “believes in” them all, and most folk worship them all. Some beholders worship other beholders, and there are beholder cults who. 4)
…worship undead beholders. There are vampires who worship powerful undead they don't really understand, because that undead being helped them once (in hopes that said being will help them again). And I've not even mentioned other pantheons of gods worshipped in..#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 6, 2020

5)
… the Realms in my mini-catalogue of who's vying for death and undeath. So the constant tension you mentioned is always there.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 6, 2020

Perfectly congruent explanation, many thanks.

Please explain Master, how Elminster has so long prevented a Toril-wide assemblage of clerics and adventurers worshipping both him and his Pipe…?

(he asked and backed out of range…) That's easy. He just slips behind Azuth, who's standing there fulfilling that role. And is about twice as tall.
The Eversmoking Pipe (officially statted up in published lore, long ago) floating around by itself too closely resembles bad spy beasties to attract worship#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 7, 2020

Beholders worshipping beholders is something I’ve never thought of! I love this! Although this was downplayed in the published Realmslore of the time, there's a Beholder Cultist depicted in the clergy groups in the 2e FORGOTTEN REALMS ADVENTURES tome. I had beholder cults written up in some detail, incl. beholder worshipping beholders.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 6, 2020

What would the offspring of a Dwarf and an Elf look like, and could they (potentially) get both a Dwarf’s magic resistance and an Elf’s magic affinity?

…Or are they not compatible and thus would produce no offspring together? A few dwarf and elf pairings will be infertile, but in general, ALL the sentient mammalian races of the Realms are cross-fertile, and dwarf/elf offspring COULD get both, but…likely both weak/lessened if they do. History: wild talent and magic affinity most likely.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 15, 2020

Heh. I get asked this weekly. El recently nursed Mordy back to mental health (see my novels) and so knows his mind and has pathways into it, and the contest is taking place in the Realms where the Weave is everywhere and El is a Weavemaster: so El wins, hands down.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 8, 2020

*rubs temples*

If only we'd made "more than one book about worlds other than the Forgotten Realms."

— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) June 13, 2020

Except the planes aren't universal and accessible from any setting.

What about more content for the Planes? They’re universal & can be accessed from any campaign setting, right? The DMG & PHB have only a few paragraphs on each. Separate books/modules (e.g. ToA, Avernus) for Abyss, Beastlands, Limbo, etc. could be useful to fans of any setting. Eberron has its own planar cosmology, as do the MtG settings.

And most homebrew settings I've played have their own unique cosmology too.

The planes are far from universal.

— Dʏsᴏɴ Lᴏɢᴏs (@DysonLogos) June 13, 2020

Eberron is a weird one. It's like it's own Material Plane pocket, a bubble within the D&D multiverse, but cut off from it by the Ring of Siberys.

The Magic planes are from a different multiverse entirely, accessible by denizens of the D&D multiverse, but difficult and dangerous.

— Dan Dillon (@Dan_Dillon_1) June 13, 2020

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