Lately been digging through a lot of old 1e/2e/3e/5e material for various reasons and discovered an interesting detail: depending on book, assumption is either ding level gives cleric new spells because divine inspire. Or level, now visit temple and study /1 A tome and at mercy of what their priests know (or get taught by a mentor, same difference) and visit another temple could mean learn more even of low level spells. Or yet still ding, level, praying that night get a visit from a Servitor who says “special delivery!” /2

— 🌈Jaye🦄Em🌹Edgecliff🏳️‍🌈 (@jayeedgecliff) January 31, 2019

What of these, or of altogether different is more appropriate for the Realms? I mean I strongly suspect “all of the above plus 73 others depending upon the god” but 🤷‍♀️ I play a lot of clerics, seems worthwhile to ask.
Thanks 🙏

— 🌈Jaye🦄Em🌹Edgecliff🏳️‍🌈 (@jayeedgecliff) January 31, 2019

Heh. All of the above plus 73 others…ahem. The deity (or servitors) cutomarily sends a new spell into the dreaming or praying mind of a priest, complete with how to use it/moral lessons for using it "short movies." Temples provide instruction, to make sure…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 31, 2019

…spells aren't "missed" from the roster of a particular priest, and to reinforce the do's and don'ts of when the priesthood thinks they can be cast/how they should be used.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 31, 2019

@TheEdVerse Working on an FR adventure about dealing with things left by the Simbul after her death. What's the current status of the other 7 Sisters & Elminster? After the Spellplague & the Sundering, did the coastline of Veltalar ever return to it's original level? #RealmsLore

— iJoshua, Taint of Konshu (@JoshuaNeverJosh) February 7, 2019

1) I’m always tempted to answer queries like this with: single, of course, but careful; you’re competing with Mystra!

SPOILERS, EVERYONE!!!!

But seriously: Laeral is Open Lord of Waterdeep and Elminster head of her City Watch (see DEATH MASKS). 2) Dove, Sylune, Qilue, and The Simbul are all “dead” but are now Voices In The Weave (see SPELLSTORM, THE HERALD and earlier Realmslore), and the current doings of Storm and Alustriel are NDA (so, warning, they WILL be…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 7, 2019

3) …revealed, in time; see also SPELLSTORM and my tales of Mirt).
And yes, the shoreline of the Sea of Fallen Stars in the region of Veltalar/Velprintalar has returned to close to its former location. 4) “Old Velprintalar” has been slower to come back from half-ruined slum status, so it’s still a haven for monsters, outlaws, and fugitives from justice.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 7, 2019

Thanks. I’ll definitely check those books out. The adventure revolves around a cult who wants to deify the Simbul and Red Wizards competing to gobble up the Magic’s she left behind, w/ players caught in the middle, so Elminster & surviving Sisters getting involved seems logical. That is a GREAT adventure idea. Thumbs up!

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 8, 2019

Hi @TheEdVerse, how are you? I have a question about Laerakond. Are they most advanced technologically in contrast to Faerûn? I mean, in an Eberron sort of way, like having warforged or magic-powered machines (rather than magical machines).
Thanks in advance 🙂

— Jon Gomez (@ZeromaruX) February 2, 2019

1)
No, they’re about the same tech level as Faerûn (I say “about” because tech level varies, of course, from place to place across Laerakond). There are some “mad inventors” who are experimenting with both steam power 2)
… beyond huge stationary engines, and with “powered armor” automatons driven by gears and internal walking-wheels, in Ramekho in the Windrise Ports, but they represent the foremost “bleeding edge” tech advances right now.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 3, 2019

Thanks, Ed. I see that the Realms are low technology despite having the resources and geniuses to be more advanced in that regard than they currently are.

Is there any reason for this?

— Jon Gomez (@ZeromaruX) February 3, 2019

1) Sure. Wars, diseases, food shortages, and magic. Those on top currently wanting to stay there. So many inventors get attacked, their work destroyed, or more often seized by a local ruler/powerful person who wants it for themselves. Meaning it doesn’t get into…#Realmslore 2) …widespread distribution, which is the key step in advancing tech. Magic is "easier" and already available, for heavy hitting. Experimentation is dangerous. Really transformative tech, like a widespread system of really good roads, water purification and…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 3, 2019

3) …pumping, etc. is a LOT of hard work and prohibitively expensive for almost everyone short of governing rulers…who are already on top and mistrust transformative change because it could threaten their status. BUT the Realms is on the brink of surging ahead…#Realmslore 4) …in technology in a lot of places. That's one of the reasons play and tales are set "now," in this era of quickening change, a time that "matters." We've had Realms novels (@PhilAthans penned the Watercourse trilogy) that looked at big engineering projects…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 3, 2019

5) …and many books (for example, The City of the Dead novel by @rosemaryjones ) that look at social change happening before our eyes. It’s up to individual DMs if something big “happens” in their Realms campaigns; we’re leaving the agency to you. You can build…#Realmslore 6) …the rail lines that cross continents. Look at the Zhentarim; they began as a way for Manshoon and cronies to seize local power (in Zhentil Keep), but the reward he was offering to the mages who joined was wealth…thanks to cornering the shortest/fastest/most…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 3, 2019

7) …profitable trade route between the mineral-rich Moonsea North and the Sword Coast’s markets and food and textiles. Look at the Zhentarim again and how they got sidetracked into internal strife and other goals. Life has a habit of doing that to endeavours, …#Realmslore 8) …which is why tech levels have for so long ebbed and flowed near the brink of a big surge forward.
Over to you, and Realms roleplayers everywhere, to see if the advances happen.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 3, 2019

@TheEdVerse in faerun, how would the surname Blackrose translate into elven? If at all?

— Xavier A. Blackrose (@jamesxsienna) January 27, 2019

1/2) It does. Here we go…In Faerûn Elvish, the relevant words are:
Narl = black
Oumrae = dark, eerie
Imbur = dusk, sooty, shadowed
And a rose is a “thornflower,” so:
Spir = thorn, spike [pronounced “spear”] 2/2)
Aulauth = flower, blossom
Hence aulauthspir = rose
So Blackrose is usually rendered “Narlauthspir” but over time, SOME usages of the surname have been corrupted/shortened into Nalauthspir or Nauthspir or even Nothspir/Nothspir/Nuthspur#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 27, 2019

P.S. Many elves who live and work among humans (i.e. members of an adventuring band) adopt a “humans can call me this” surname that’s a portmanteau of a hue and a living thing/natural feature (like Blackrose, or Bluewater).#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 27, 2019

@TheEdVerse
Hey Ed. What is some common wines in menzo? Not just Lichen wine

— WitnessToHisOwnDemise (@nobile_bill) February 1, 2019

After lichen wine, common Menzo vintages, as opposed to secret house recipes, are but two:
Luthquil, a syrupy-thick, smoky-flavored translucent emerald green wine derived from a particular crushed Underdark mushroom.#Realmslore 2)
And:
Roavrae, a blended wine of a particular boiled cave moss mixed with the internal juices of a specific Underdark spider, the “roave” (a plentiful small black scuttling spider; five can fit on a typical adult human palm).#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 3, 2019

@TheEdVerse I should preamble a little, because for reasons that break the gods’ brains some would ask this looking to trap a creator or some similarly juvenile nonsense. I’m an author, I know well that setting & characters are not the creator not reflective of her values /1

— 🌈Jaye🦄Em🌹Edgecliff🏳️‍🌈 (@jayeedgecliff) February 1, 2019

By the same measure I’m aware that in the grand scheme of The Realms every conceivable answer is represented *somewhere* because divers peoples, tribes, nations, etc. I grok.
Across … Classic Realms: Faerûn, principally the Sea of Fallen Stars, Cormyr, Waterdeep 1e grey box /2 Maps region.
What is life like for a transgender or non-binary individual? Especially the former given the existence to such a thing as polymorph magics?
Is it significantly different for rich vs impoverished? Noble vs common, regardless wealth? Zhentilar vs Sembian? /3

— 🌈Jaye🦄Em🌹Edgecliff🏳️‍🌈 (@jayeedgecliff) February 1, 2019

I’d always made certain generalised assumptions about gender equity which I translated over to such matters but then I got to thinking about how on-screen War Wizards seem as much as 4/5 male, Purple Dragons almost exclusively so. Waterhavian Watch not exactly 50/50 but nearer /4 Zhentarim vibe a might more female, Red Wizards the opposite, and so on. So given a seeming wide swath of mindsets on the roles of sexes perhaps … gender affirming spellcraft? is maybe a less dull topic than previously envisioned?
I dig if you’d rather pretend this /5

— 🌈Jaye🦄Em🌹Edgecliff🏳️‍🌈 (@jayeedgecliff) February 1, 2019

Question doesn’t exist. Regardless what you answer *someone* is going to probably have something horrid to say. But I hope even a ha’penny’s worth gem could be begged of you. /fin Perhaps I should ask: does human vs other make any remarkable differences?
/fin+1

— 🌈Jaye🦄Em🌹Edgecliff🏳️‍🌈 (@jayeedgecliff) February 1, 2019

Hi! Great question, because a topic that almost never gets directly addressed in published Realmslore. The Realms is, as you say, a big place, with many regional variations and just as much racism, sexism, and mistrust of “the other” and change than our real world. Bigots are.. 2)everywhere, it is the nature of most to be at least a touch cynical, and so on. Yet to offset that, beings of any one race in most surface locales in the “classic” Realms coverage areas live with a variety of other races, and see “monsters” from time to time, too (albeit mainly

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 2, 2019

3)dead, as wall-trophies). And the effects of magic, if not seeing spells hurled in your presence, is widespread, too.
For reasons of body weight and strength, some professions (smithing, professional soldiery, rowing) tend to be dominated by large-bodied males, but by and large 4)(once you get away from Lolth-dominated matriarchies, the Rashemi, and the like) there is gender equality. As in: individuals may be discriminated against on the basis of age/experience, height, hardiness/have all their limbs in working order, and whether or not I like your…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 2, 2019

face, BUT there’s no societal bias of role on the basis of gender. There ARE recruiting officers who go looking for guards of a particular build, size, and even hair color, and the units they assemble reflect that. Vangerdahast wanted female War Wizards “implanted” at Court and 6)as “house wizards” in the households of the nobility he wanted watched over because he thought they were better at fitting in, acting, and being subtle than his young, ambitious male War Wizards (whom he deployed more in combat/action/military support functions, which is why…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 2, 2019

7)you see them more on-screen), and his too-few really trustworthy and competent senior War Wizards he needed for vital roles (Laspeera being one of those).
Having wealth or status (e.g. nobility) provides a measure of freedom to “be yourself” in every meaning of the word—indulge 8)your eccentricites/hobbies, and so on—so we see more nobles habitually doing “odd” things. Wealth allows those without the Art (gift of wielding magic) to hire spellcasting, so they can experiment with changing their own bodies in various ways, having sex while body-flying, and

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 2, 2019

9)so on. Such “freedoms” are limited by disapproval/your own thinking depending on your local society (Sembia is very much “do what you want if you have the coin,” whereas modern-day Zhents are always aware of the Zhentarim and their scrutiny and war-readiness and supremacy of… 10)wizards and Bane and Zhentarim objectives.
However, magic is most often hired by the non-magical to change their own bodies, usually to make themselves more functional (overcome a withered or malformed or damaged limb, increase handsomeness). More than a few use it to switch..

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 2, 2019

11)gender, either to experiment or fulfill themselves (because they don’t feel comfortable as they are) or to escape persecution (by changing looks and often gender and taking on a new identity, sometimes to elude justice). “Everyone” has seen or at least heard of someone doing.. 12)this, and it’s not considered crazy so much as “restless.” So although individuals who put on “camp” voices and lisps, and dress and use cosmetics to “outrage” may be ridiculed for such over-the-top behavior, there’s no stigma about changing your gender, nor would most folk in

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 2, 2019

13)the Realms be repelled by discovering someone they have the hots for as one gender was once another. Nor is homosexuality, “swinging both ways” and dwelling in family groups of several “mates” of mixed races and genders frowned upon, societally. Individuals may find it too… 14)much for themselves to handle, but the laws and general attitudes of society don’t frown on it. There are strict laws regarding inheritance among royalty and nobility, but that’s purely to cut down on strife within powerful families and the resulting chaos.
This is, of course,

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 2, 2019

15)given who was first publishing the Realms (that is, the time and place of publication, and the game and literary market of the time/societal attitudes of the time) something downplayed or even written out of published Realmslore, but from the outset, I thought racism (as in,.. 16)prejudice against people who have a different skin color than you, or “talk funny” was ridiculous in a world in which elves rub shoulders with dwarves and scaly lizardfolk and talking dragons and talking bugs), and I thought my Realms would be a lot more tolerant than our real

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 2, 2019

17)world of individuals who weren’t the one-man-one-woman-two-point-five-children-in-house-with-white-picket-fence family.
In my own background, I grew up in a very wealthy neighborhood filled with people from all over the world temporarily stationed in Canada as executives, and 18)my mother died when I was young so I was raised by a tag team of VERY competent and strong-willed grandmothers and maiden aunts, and from age 14 on to right now I have worked in public libraries where almost all of my bosses and co-workers were women, many of them openly…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 2, 2019

19)lesbian or bisexual, so none of this seemed unusual to me.
Which is a very long-winded way of saying that transgender and non-binary folk can live comfortably and accepted in the Realms, though they may have to pick their neighbors and friends to do so. [fin]

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 2, 2019

In Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes it said that Corellon still offers his blessing to some of his children that allows them change their sex after a long rest. Most elves in Forgotten Realms it is seen as a blessing but to the drow a cures that must be purged…..interesting indeed Indeed. ;} There are layers and layers in lore. Use the threads that seem bright or useful to you, and leave the rest for later. They're all part of the grand tapestry. The Weave. ;}

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 3, 2019