@TheEdVerse would you be able to share more lore on the elven houses of Olyrnn and Nyntynel from Anauria. like where did these houses originate from and how did they come by their nobility in this human kingdom?

— dj sigrest (@DjSigrest) January 24, 2022

1)
The Olrynn and Nyntynel elven families inhabited the forested regions on the eastern and southern edges of the expanding desert of Anauroch, and for centuries had worked to irrigate and plant the forest verges to reverse, or… 2)
…failing that, halt, or even reverse the advance of the sands.
When Mystra’s grace made the crash-landing of the Netherese flying city of Anauria survivable by the Netherese (though the city was shattered beyond ever being able…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 24, 2022

3)
…to fly again, except as comparatively tiny earthmotes), and it plummeted into the desert, the Olrynn and Nyntynel elves (as opposed to the neighbouring elven families of Telest and Vorondor) aided the stunned Netherese with… 4)
…food and water, befriended them, and worked (successfully) to bridge the sands between the desert’s edge and the crashed city, so farms could be established, and then a kingdom. They then defended the new land against…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 24, 2022

5)
…raiding orcs, and eventually against determined-to-conquer orc armies (which they thwarted), and for this, they were ennobled and became military and political leaders in Anauria.
Both elven houses were dominated by large… 6)
…families of relatively young siblings who were active and dashing and hard-working, as their elders were few in number and valued energetic hard work over philosophical and artistic pursuits. As Ralandyr Nyntynel once put…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 24, 2022

6)
…families of relatively young siblings who were active and dashing and hard-working, as their elders were few in number and valued energetic hard work over philosophical and artistic pursuits. As Ralandyr Nyntynel once put… 7)
…it, “We leave the tree-talking to dryads. Our swords and spells speak for us.”#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 24, 2022

I was curious if there are any particular wedding customs that might be common within the FR, especially the Sword Coast.
In our almost 2 year long campaign we are trying to figure out what a wedding between two of the characters would be. To be more specific it would be between a noble forest gnome (previously half-elf) and noble half-dragon (previously elf) without either one having any strong connections to any deity.
So my interests lies more in possible traditions/customs of the wedding ceremony itself.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 2, 2021

1)
Half-elf, gnome, and halfling weddings tend to be far more free-form (partners “craft their own”) than the ceremonies of other races, particularly when there isn’t strong deity or clan/family representation, so the key parts… 2)
…of it will be:
A processional to the place of the ceremony, ideally a woodland glade or streambank, but failing that, under a tree. Whoever is officiating sings the couple in, separately, or stands with a singer if the…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 2, 2021

3)
…officiant can’t sing or the couple wants someone else to sing (often, a family member or mentor). If the union is between male and female, male approaches (is sung in) first, then female; if same-gender, older is sung in… 4)
…first, UNLESS the couple wants unison. Dress as they please, veils not a thing for these races, face towards/watch each other during the second approach.
The singing is known as a “calling song,” and there are both traditional…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 2, 2021

5)
…songs and newly-written ones; it’s common to rewrite and personalize the lyrics.
When the couple-to-be are standing face to face, the officiant calls on any audience to witness the union, or speak against it (the only socially… 6)
…acceptable reason to do so is if the clan/realm of one or both of the couple-to-be only recognizes one marriage at a time to a person, and someone in the audience believes one or both are still married to someone else; there…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 2, 2021

7)
…are tales of that “someone else” being in the audience and uttering a challenge at this time).
Absent any objection, the officiant delivers a very brief “sermon” that talks about the purpose/benefits of a union, and loyalty to… 8)
…it, and how loves grows within it if the couple work at it [if religious part of a wedding is strong, this is where the advice/commandments/views of the deities involved are uttered]. Then the older member of the couple-to-be…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 2, 2021

9)
…is asked to speak to the person they’re going to wed, to make any promises they wish to, and profess their love (they sometimes say why the other person caught their eye and then won their heart, but this is entirely a… 10)
…personal speech, its form and content not dictated by tradition).
Then the younger member does the same thing, UNLESS the couple-to-be have decided beforehand on “younger first.”
Then the officiant calls again on everyone…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 2, 2021

11)
…watching, and “all the gods” and “any spirits of this place” to witness the union, and the couple-to-be put bodily fluids on their left palms, and raise them vertically to touch each other (any sort of bodily fluid, but it’s… 12)
…usually spittle unless one of the couple-to-be is moved to tears, which will be used instead). They hold them firmly together as the officiant chants an ancient good-luck charm, in Thorass (it’s NOT deity-specific, but…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 2, 2021

13)
…sounds like a prayer), and the couple embrace and kiss. They may exchange tokens (such as rings) at this time, or not, and half-elves have a custom of putting a token in their own mouths and kissing their new partner to… 14)
…transfer it into their mouth, but this is optional, and of course assumes the tokens are safe for such handling (i.e. not needles or blades).
And that’s it.
Traditional followups to the ceremony are dancing with music, that…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 2, 2021

15)
…leads to a feast, followed by the couple going somewhere private to consummate and do a “first thing” together: plant a seed, go to a shared favorite place, or even undertake an expedition or quest.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 2, 2021

Has #dnd ever published examples of prayers to the different deities? drawing a blank… or what church services look like? It was against the Code of Conduct in the TSR days.
I provided detailed prayers, holy rituals, and private devotions for all of the deities, and they got firmly "forgotten," several times over.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 28, 2021

Not surprising, I could see how those so inclined to, could have misconstrued that info and used it for evidence of the “satanic demon worshipping cultists” that we all were. Exactly. Same reason TSR killed all the details of devil's talismans from my Hells articles.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 28, 2021

A little later.
Wasn’t there also an explicit ban on even using the word “devil” at that time? Like, it had to be osyluth instead of bone devil. TSR was getting publicly beaten up by television evangelists who'd wave a copy of the MONSTER MANUAL and bellow, "The word devil is in this book XY times! And demon! Demon is…"
So they became ba'atezu and tanarii, and the planes took a back seat to spelljamming.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 28, 2021

My obsession with Waterdeep continues. Mine, too, as it happens. ;}

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 12, 2021

Indeed! Never gets old!
And seeing a Waterdeep map plush blanket for sale at Spirit Hallowe'en a season back made my library co-workers and patrons think I'd finally ARRIVED.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 12, 2021

1)
He is (as he never resigned or was stripped of his lordship, and still has his mask and robes hidden away, and Laeral regards him as a Masked Lord), but he chooses not to vote or attend meetings of the Masked Lords, these days.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 28, 2021

2)
He HAS both attended meetings and voted when he was privately tipped off by certain Masked Lords that decrees (laws) affecting the Yawning Portal were about to be voted upon.
Mirt’s still a Masked Lord, too, but also chooses… 3)
…not to vote or attend meetings of the Masked Lords, these days. He works with and for Laeral, though, and often gives her his advice on policies and politics (whether she wants it, or not ;} ).#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 28, 2021

how exactly does the Avatar series line up south The Shadow of the Avatar trilogy? The Shadow of the Avatar trilogy shows why certain powerful Realms beings didn't show up to save the day in the Avatar trilogy (i.e. what they were busy doing at the time, and why), and gives you a glimpse of the many intrigues overlapping in the Realms at all times.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 23, 2021

How big is Klauth? I’ve recently seen the sculpture of him by Pop Culture Shock and it looks like he is 10 times the mass of a regular gargantuan red dragon. Just curious.1)
I’m not sure. Most sane folk don’t get close enough to him, with anything they can accurately measure with and an unobscured view, with him in a relatively stationary state, for long enough to judge. But he’s BIG.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 23, 2021

2)
Ten times regular mass sounds about right to Elminster, and that’s good enough for me.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 23, 2021

Dwarves enjoy a sort of communal reverie when they drink together (according to Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes). Elves have, as I understand it, a similar form of recollection in their trance. Would it be plausible for an elf to “latch on” to a dwarven feast?

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 23, 2021

1)
It’s possible, but only with training and magical preparation and an in-direct-mental-contact dwarf guide “steering” the mind of the elf, or by a fluke accident involving roiling wild magic in an area containing… 2)
…both the elf and some drinking dwarves. It won’t “just happen by chance.”#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 23, 2021