In Spellfire (and other novels) we often see scrying orbs floating, and being summoned/dismissed by command words- is this a property made in those particular orbs, or a spell applied to them (for example a version of instant summons)? many thanks A property enchanted into those orbs when they're magically created. However, they are what 5e terms "attuned." Meaning, if you're not the individual (or in some cases the SORT of being) an orb is "made for," you have to cast the right spell to enact control over such an orb.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 3, 2018

[….]
I have a question about Sune’s
chronological presence within the Realms.
How long has she actually been around?
Some sources state that Selûne was the goddess
of beauty to the Netherese.
Was Sune not around at that point, or was she
simply not acknowledged
[….] or worshipped by the people of Netheril?

— MadHatterHimself (@Madhatterhim) December 10, 2017

Sune was around, but her worship was a fledgling "cult" in Netheril, popular among the "Low" Netherese (the workers), far less so among the mighty. Selûne was indeed the goddess of beauty. Sune began as a goddess of the sensual (not just sex; textures and looks of all things).

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 10, 2017

Probably not. To her clergy and all mortals alive today, Sune has "always been here," and even back at the time of Netheril, there was no sense she was "from elsewhere." Some mortals believe nigh all deities are ascended mortals (with the exceptions of Selûne, Shar, et cetera).

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 10, 2017

@TheEdVerse Hey there. A question has arisen in the RPG Stackexchange site about the origin of the "Ardragon" rank for Zhentarim agents. Investigation has traced the source to a book and an article you wrote a while back. Could you tell us more about that?https://t.co/igN4nisMRv

— Avner Shahar-Kashtan (@lisardggY) February 26, 2018

Sure! Happy to! "Ardragon" is a corruption (over centuries of usage) of "Irondragon," which began as a praising description of a hardy, veteran, experienced, calm-in-crisis warrior, in use around the Sea of Fallen Stars. Gradually, in the early Moonsea settlements, it became a…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 26, 2018

…rank/title, and was in use (as "ardragon") in Zhentil Keep before the rise of the Zhentarim, who adopted it as they took over command of the city's existing military (in existence to defend the city against raids from ogres, flind, orcs, hobgoblins, gnolls, and rival cities).

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 26, 2018

A pleasure! Always happy to talk Realmslore. And I build linguistic shifts and other elements in to reflect passing time; the world breathes/feels alive if it has depth and color…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 26, 2018

any lore you could share about monasteries located on high mountaintops, or on top of large tree’s where elves train somwhere in Faerun? Or someplace similar? Thank you sir! 1) Sure! Most monasteries are by nature remote and kept private (that is, not spoken of, outside clergies), so “the wider Realms” learns little about them, and slowly. By “remote,” I mean mountaintops in Sossal, atop crags in the Rauvin Mountains and near Turnstone Pass.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 19, 2018

2) Candlekeep is of course the best-known monastery, and an exception to both the “difficult terrain” and “remote and inaccessible” prevalence of such establishments. Almost unknown to most folk of Faerun are a cluster of monasteries, each dedicated to a different deity,..

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 19, 2018

3)…that stand atop tors or nestled into steep, exposed-bedrock hillsides around the headwaters of the Delimibyr, where that river is about to flow out of the hills northeast of Hellgate Keep. On Mike Schley’s superb map of the Silver Marches region, for the War of Everlasting…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 19, 2018

4)…Darkness 2012 D&D Encounters, most of them are east of the last “s” in “Turnstone Pass” on both sides of the river, down to about where the square for “Stream” is, in the map legend. They (and prospecting) are the reasons for the existence of the road running from…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 19, 2018

5)…Sundabar that seems to dead-end in the middle of nowhere (in fact, it turns from something wagons can traverse to a web of mule-pack-trails fanning out through the hills, and ending at mines or miners’ camps, or at monasteries). Another cluster of monasteries can be found…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 19, 2018

6)…in the Cloven Mountains near Thornwood. And far better-known are the monasteries on the slopes of the Aphrunn Mountains associated with the Emerald Enclave. However, if you’re specifically looking just for treetop elven holy communities, these tend to be small, VERY “secret,”

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 19, 2018

7)…and found in such places as Shilmista (at the south end of the forest, just north of Riatavin); the southernmost point of the western half of the Gulthmere Forest (where it juts into a bight in the mountain range bordering it to the south); in the heart of the Reaching Woods

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 19, 2018

8)…(at about the midpoint of the east-of-the-River-Reaching portion, not far from the river itself); in the High Forest on the east bank of the river that runs from the Star Mounts east and south to join the Delimbiyr upriver of Loudwater, about a day’s travel (by experienced…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 19, 2018

9)…foresters) north from trees-edge; and deep in the heart of the Yuirwood, at about its east-west midpoint. There are many others, but they are smaller or not in the part of Faerun most covered in print so far. Hope this helps!

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 19, 2018

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Some have said so, but you'd have to ask Jim Lowder or Jim Ward or someone else who was on staff when the Avatar project began…and Ao appeared. ;}

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 22, 2018

Hi Ed! Another Realms question for you, if you don’t mind. You’re always so gracious with answering all our strange queries. Anyway, I’m wondering if there’s anything written about life at a typical “wizard academy” in the Realms? Any books I should be looking at? Bob touched on drow wizards learning in Menzo in his Homeland trilogy, but not a prolonged focus. I've mentioned abodes of tutors in some Dragon articles, but there are no "typical" wizard academies in the Realms. ;}

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 15, 2018

Alright, thank you – I suppose that makes sense, given the intricacies of the Art and those who practice it. Still, it’d be interesting to know more about the everyday lives of a budding wizard and their peers! Wise wizards who take apprentices often use ruins for practise, practise, practise in private, then set up practical real-world missions that will involve casting same spell(s) "for real," with the tutor scrying from afar or lurking to provide backup if needed. #Notalltutorswise

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 15, 2018

Oh great and powerful @TheEdVerse, creator of the Realms, he who is more or less Ao, was the Dark Moon/New Moon Heresy begun before or after the Time of Troubles? The BELIEF that Shar and Selune are but two faces of the same goddess is a very old one, but the organized, named Dark Moon/New Moon heresy was begun by Alorgoth as a ruse to lure followers into his clutches, very soon after the Time of Troubles.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 22, 2018

Thank you for the timely response, O Gloriously Bearded One. Your aid has been much appreciated. I live but to serve. (Just ask my wife. ;} )

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 22, 2018