has there ever been an official (or otherwise) DR year assigned to the events of N5 Under Illefarn? I’m seeing 1357 on wikis but can’t find it in any primary source. Yes. UNDER ILLEFARN unfolds in 1347 DR.#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 5, 2020
Wondering: Can a player character speak Netherese?
Could you build a character who knew it from the get go, or would they need to study it? If so how long would it take to learn and where would they have to go in order to get the material?Maybe @TheEdVerse can help? #dnd #dnd5e
— 🎲 S͓̽i͓̽m͓̽o͓̽n͓̽ ͓̽T͓̽ 🎲 (@simontubey) January 23, 2020
1)
In the Realms of the 1300s and 1400s DR, only characters who grew up or dwelt (for a year or more, to get all the nuances) in a Netherese city or enclave would speak Netherese. Everyone else would have to learn it2)
The basics could be learned from the libraries of Candlekeep or Derlusk or the Royal Palace in Suzail or certain nobles’ libraries in Waterdeep, and a few other places, but not the nuances (they require a lot of ongoing speech…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 24, 2020
3)
…with those fluent in Netherese). Nuances include idioms, when phrases have double meanings or are used to convey an unspoken subtext of opinion (example: saying someone is “one of the best” in a way that conveys sarcasm4)
…sarcasm or “not really, just being polite” without using intonation). Someone who’s mastered the basics could communicate haltingly, like a traveler using individual words or phrases from a traveler’s phrasebook, but everyone…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 24, 2020
5)
…fluent would know they’re an outsider and struggling, and could easily “talk over their head” to elude their full comprehension. In the same way that I can explain the basic rules of many sports quite quickly and simply, but…#Realmslore 6)
…that’s a LONG way short of mastering the fine points of both the rules and being a good player.
Any descendants of Netherese who retained elements of the language in local dialect would be like a “basics” struggling traveler.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 24, 2020
do you have a photographic memory of everything you’ve created or just an incredible organization system? I’m always blown away by the detailed answers you give people, and so quickly to. Neither, I'm afraid. Like most people forging lives, I make most of it up as I go along. :}
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 22, 2020
Haha! That’s fantastic too. So, when someone asks you about famous gnome existentialist authors, that’s a new creation right there on Twitter? In this case: yes.
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 22, 2020
In this case: yes.
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 22, 2020
Then, if you don’t mind. My favourite gods are Sharess & Lliira. Do either of them have chosen & is the room for generalisation about them?
I play the 1e/2e transition years but not time of trouble … yet— 🌈Jaye🦄Em🌹Edgecliff🏳️🌈 (@jayeedgecliff) February 29, 2020
1)
At this time in the Realms (first half of the 1300s DR) Sharess and Lliira both have Chosen, but their powers are minor (ability to heal themselves and others by touch, neutralize poison by touch, project image, blink, 2)
…teleport, and deflect some incoming magics elsewhere; the Chosen of Lliira can also levitate and feather fall momentarily so as to acrobatically dance more spectacularly). Both are beautiful females and superb singers.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2020
3)
Their role is to teach (grooming, dancing), assist in putting on revels and festivals for the overwhelmed or depressed, and most of all to “hearten” (raise the spirits) of clergy of their deities who have fallen on hard 4)
…times, suffered losses or misfortunes, or are grieving. Both travel nigh-constantly on this holy business, and make their homes with their deities when they aren’t. Their role is personal, not high-profile, though they will…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2020
5)
…confront clergy who have ‘gone astray’ to bring the words and will of the goddess, who will manifest around them to show her support/their legimitmacy.
The Chosen of Sharess is an Illuskan female of striking beauty and no 6)
…inhibitions at all, who loves to flirt but can also be a motherly nurturer, by the name of Indraea (“In-DRAY-ah”) Mruinwynter. She has dark hair and a purring voice.
The Chosen of Lliira is a Chondathan female of lithe, long…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2020
7)
…limbs and agility, demure good looks, and merry spirits, named Talala (Tal-LAL-lah) Hurrowind. She is blonde, petite of build, and has masterful balance, often dancing on taut ropes, leaping about in what we might call… 8)
…‘parkour.’
She can weave, braid, and knot with astonishing skill and speed.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2020
1.That seems like a continuity error. Goddess of magic with no limiter or handicap still can’t make gods or overturn their decrees unless she takes over their portfolio, which Ao wouldn’t allow anyway. So could even make it so magic doesn’t need a god to run it. Hmm. You seem to be understanding quite a different Realms than the one we see in print. In which many gods have seized or stolen the portfolios of others, or even slain other gods…and Ao did nothing.
No one really understands Ao, or what he'll allow or not.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2020
2. The other ptime gods and portfolios are actually 100% necessary for existence itself whereas magic as it is known outside the clergy really isn't that necessary. I.E there can be gods with no wizards but no clerics without gods.
— The_Miasma (@ColeEpicSmile) February 29, 2020
1)
We don’t know that the gods are necessary for anything; they are ways of expressing existence. Magic permeates Toril; it’s everywhere and the fastest, most powerful way of harnessing the energies of the world. A goddess of magic can and has cut off other gods’ 2)
…access to magic in the past, and Ao did step in and stop that. Your last sentence is quite correct, but beside the point.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2020
3. So it is slightly confusing for me that Mystra is a prime god, but the only one that really matters so her Chosen are “the big deal”. Seems kind of like Ao would or should maybe fix that instead of causing one Time of Trouble and then slacking off for another few millenia. Many mortals lament that the world isn't as they wish it to be, often when bills come due, yet the world seems not to hear or care.
We just don't know enough about Ao to know what he would do. When we say what he "should" do, we merely project our desires onto him.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2020
I’ve a halfling question, now… The Minstrelwish family has popped up more than once in Realmslore, and seems to be far-traveled (even coming to Earth!). How long as this family been around? What is their origin? And is there other Minstrelwish lore you can share?
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 26, 2020
1)
The Minstrelwish family is EVERYWHERE (Mystara as well as the Realms and Earth), and has been one of the most creative (art, music, innovations in how things are done, fiction, even windchimes) hin clans for thousands of years. 2)
Yet they are widely scattered, keep a low profile, and largely hide their immense wealth (some of which comes from being landlords and selling real estate, as they’ve been embedded in bustling human cities from early on, …#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 26, 2020
4)
…cities, they become landlords, renting out properties they buy and sell, also get involved in warehousing and local shipping and delivery (providing employment for many halflings, gnomes, and humans (especially aging folk who…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 26, 2020
5)
…are local experts). The Minstrelwishes make and sell paintings and statuary, but for their daily coin tend to deal in food, tools, household necessities like bowls, pots, pans, and ladles, and repairs (locks, hinges, doors 6)
…and windows, and replacement cart and coach wheels and axles). They invest in new businesses they like, which tend to be creative or innovative (as that’s what they favor), and they also collect lore on gates (portals), as…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 26, 2020
7)
…they’re intensely interested in planar travel that can be used as part of trade (importing cheap goods in one place that are rare and expensive in another). As such, they’ve come to the attention of the Chosen of Mystra and 8)
…others, down the years, and have taken care to ingratiate themselves with Elminster, Khelben, and the Seven, so as not to be hampered in their trading activities. As a result, El and the Sisters now treat them as useful allies.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 26, 2020
9)
Any Minstrelwish encountered will always have hobbies and creative pursuits, and will always invest in farms, urban properties, and innovative businesses. The most far-traveled and adventuresome Minstrelwishes, in the 10)
…1490s DR, are the young males Barandan, Kaulith, and Rhauligaer, and the young females Anathraea, Claretta, Nintarra, and Yaunsae. The patriarch of the Minstrelwishes right now is the jovial, garrulous, much-scarred…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 26, 2020
11)
…Duroavran, but he bows to the three older and far more iron-willed matriarchs: the cousins Breteenra, Maevurla, and Zarettara.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 26, 2020
If I may? I take it ‘hin’ is what halflings call themselves? What of other races, have they words distinctly different for themselves than we commonly call them? Have the half-races ever had a preferred term for themselves? Is there much variation by game era Netherese thru 5e?
— 🌈Jaye🦄Em🌹Edgecliff🏳️🌈 (@jayeedgecliff) February 26, 2020
2)
…for them (no dwarf calls dwarves 'the Stout Folk'). Little change over time. Metagame: I coined "hin" for halflings when writing THE FIVE SHIRES, as inventing a short collective word let me include THREE PAGES MORE of text when pouring words into the template.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 26, 2020
Hey
@TheEdVerse
! I’m running the Tyranny of Dragons adventure and one of the set up plot points is that one of the Masked Lords of Waterdeep is murdered in the streets. Which begs the question: how do Masked Lords get around when masked? 1/2Surely if it were by the streets (wherein one might be murdered), a person could follow them and have a moment like this? https://t.co/VetHSMDaUy 2/2— Adam McLaughlin (@pr1va7en3rd) January 22, 2020
These days, usually in closed coaches. Sometimes in groups, ringed by bodyguards. Rarely alone if masked; their public protection is to go unmasked, if no 'average citizen' knows who they are.#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 22, 2020
@TheEdVerse So, in the same vein as we've been discussing, are other gods capable of creating chosen just like Mystra's and just don't? Or does that level of chosen take a mandate from Ao to create?
— Lysbeth Raven (@LysbethRaven) March 1, 2020
1)
In theory, other gods could create Chosen of the sort that Mystra does, but that means giving up some of your divine power to a mortal forever, lessening yourself and losing control over it AND the mortal—and calling in Ao 2)
…to enforce that upon you. Gods just aren’t that generous.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2020
