1)
Like most cosmopolitan trading ports in the Realms (e.g. Waterdeep and Baldur’s Gate), the Windrise Ports use all coinage from mintings everywhere, plus gems and (electrum, as silver was tarnishing too quickly to retain its…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2021

2)
…popularity) trade bars for larger amounts.
I mentioned Waterdeep and Baldur’s Gate because they (plus Tharsult, Ormpur, and the ports of Calimshan) are the places in Faerûn where someone will most often find coins from… 3)
…Laerakond in circulation.
All of the Windrise Ports mint their own coins from time to time, as necessary rather than “officially,” stamping them with the city’s rune on one side, and the civic motto on the other.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2021

4)
They are scrupulously “pure” metal (soft gold is an alloy with silver, but the coin is over nine-tenths gold) and uniform size, and so “hold their value” in distant places.
Values are in keeping with the 1400s DR overall norm: … 5)
…a silver is worth ten coppers, an electrum is fifty cp, a gold equals 100 cp, and a platinum is 1,000 cp.
Copper piece: a haeth (slang: “deadeye” or just “eye”)
Silver piece: a talond (“promise”)#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2021

6)
Electrum piece: a haebur (“eagle”)
Gold piece: a crown (“dragondew” or just “dew”)
Platinum piece: a splendor (“blaze”) 7)
All state-minted coins of Laerakond have grooved edges (an indented line running right around the coin), but no rims. All coins are center-pierced, for stringing on a “purse-cord” (which, these days, is usually a wire with a…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2021

8)
…strong-spring clasp).
Recent mintings are as follows:
Tarmalune: coins are oval, long axis about twice the “height” of a gold coin of Waterdeep.
Rune: The Haven, a semicircle bumping upwards from three parallel horizontal… 9)
…straight lines, the uppermost crossing the entire coin, the middle line being a little shorter, and the bottom line being shorter still.
Motto: “All sailings enrich home: Tarmalune”#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2021

10)
Harglast: coins are “kite” diamonds (two short sides “upper” sides, two twice-as-long longer “lower” sides).
Rune: The Trune: an equilateral triangle, bottom horizontal, formed by two triangles touching a diamond. 11)
Motto: “Prosper Harran”
*=A Harran is a citizen of Harglast#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2021

12)
Imdolphyn: coins are circular, diameter the same as the height of a gold coin of Waterdeep
Rune: a vertical line of four identical circles*
Motto: “None Richer”
*=representing an endless fall of coins 13)
Ramekho: none (uses coins from everywhere else, and barter)#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2021

14)
Sambral: coins are circular, diameter the same as the height of a gold coin of Waterdeep
Rune: A drawn sword, cup hilt and thin-bladed like a rapier, running around the coin clockwise (so, blade is a circle, … 15)
…point on the left touching pommel on the right at the “top” of the coin).
Motto: “Suffer No Slight”#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2021

@TheEdVerse was there halva in the realms? I cant believe this sweet treat hasn't appeared in any of the books I comb through. #ForgottenRealms

— Artie Pavlov is vaccinating, and so should you! (@Artie_Pavlov) July 30, 2021

1)
Yes, but not by that name, of course.
Here’s the thing: in our world, halva uses all sorts of things as a base (the flour or cornstarch that gets toasted), a variety of things for the syrup it gets cooked in, and a range of… 2)
…added adornments (almonds, walnuts, dates, raisins, apricots and other dried fruits).
In the Realms, all of those differences mean different names for the sweet, though most of them do end up as a very sweet substance that can…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 30, 2021

3)
…be pressed into cakes and will keep during all but the warmest months.
So, for instance, the crushed dates and crushed roast tharra (the local name for pistachio nuts) honey syrup and wild rice flour mix known to the Bedine… 4)
…is “vauv,” but the raisin, almond, pecan, and date with coconut milk and durr (semolina) sweet known in Calimshan, Tharsult, and the Tashalar is “mraed.” The many-nuts, many-berries, sesame-based version known in Chessenta, …#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 30, 2021

5)
…the Vilhon, and Var the Golden is “murrl,” and the walnuts-and-cherries-and-honey variant consumed in Unther, Mulhorand, and Raurin is “tal.” In Thay, the same mixture is “taunthaun.”
In Ulgarth and the Utter East, “taunth” is… 6)
….grain-based, sugar-cane-syrup-cooked halva, and so on. While in Murghôm and Durpar, they wouldn’t dream of making it without hard, old honeycomb. And so it goes, across Faerûn.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 30, 2021

Hey Ed, question about the Realms! I am compiling a list of wonders&landmarks of Faerun. Either interesting or important – examples: the Wailing Dwarf statue, The Standing Stone, Walking Statues of Waterdeep, Second Sun over Elversult etc. – do you have a top5-10? No, as it varies so widely over time, by peoples, surface or Underdark, and natural versus sentient-made. Stonebridge/Stone Bridge makes many lists, the Frozen Forest appears on some lists, the Temple In the Sky, the Floating Tower was on older lists, etc.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 9, 2021

Hi @TheEdVerse. Is there any lore on Rymdyl you can share? Or is it NDA? #realmslore

— Artie Pavlov is vaccinating, and so should you! (@Artie_Pavlov) October 17, 2021

1)
See p84 of THE BORDER KINGDOMS, a canon-official hardcover Realms sourcebook by Alex Kammer and yours truly, available at the DM’s Guild.
Update: rival adventuring bands have recently settled there, and are digging everywhere for Rymdyl’s never-found treasure. 2)
One of the bands, Belard's Banners, say they read in an old tome in Derlusk that Rymdyl devised a magical means to hide her spellbooks INSIDE wands; they hope to find some of these.
When asked, Elminster said, "I was WONDERING when someone would remember that."#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 17, 2021

Nice! was that particular piece of lore leftover from the old magazines era? Not "leftover" in terms of cutting-room-floor, no. Never put forward for publication. It's part of my ongoing "unfolding lore for NPCs because they're not static, they get up to as much as the PCs" DMing lore notes.
The Realms is ALIVE.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 17, 2021

Hi @TheEdVerse! is there anything you can share about the use of treacle in the realms? In cooking, magic, or what it’s made of? Thanks in advance!

— Artie Pavlov is vaccinating, and so should you! (@Artie_Pavlov) September 15, 2021

1)
Sure. In our world, treacle is unrefined sugar syrup, commonly called “molasses” if it’s dark (opaque brown), and “golden syrup” or some variant of that if it’s light (translucent and golden).
In the Realms, “treacle” means… 2)
…just the dark stuff, as the lighter variety is called various things including, yep, “golden syrup.” In the Realms as in our world, this light syrup finds its way into tarts and sponge puddings (treacle tart and treacle…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 15, 2021

3)
…sponge pudding are classic British desserts).
In our real world, molasses finds its way into oatmeal for those who can’t get maple syrup, into pies like pecan pie, into bread like pumpernickel, and into sauces (BBQ sauce), … 4)
…into meat marinades, into rum, into gingerbread cookies, and into baked beans.
If I was writing that same sentence about the Realms, I’d say: treacle finds its way into oatmeal for those who can’t get maple syrup, into pies…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 15, 2021

5)
…like nutbrown tarts, into bread like darkloaf, and into firefruit meat sauces and marinades, into rum and darkfire slake, into ginger biscuits, and bean-barrel-sauce (some eat it with the beans, and some wash it off, … 6)
…treating it like a disposable preservative or to make “sweetwater,” a cheap dessert drink or baking/cooking sweetener).#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 15, 2021

@TheEdVerse I'm trying to build a model of Trollskull Manor for my players, and I'm struggling to find what type of building materials it would be constructed out of. What would a typical Waterdavian North Ward manor house/bar be made from? Particularly the walls. Thanks!

— Liam Beattie (@lcrbeattie) July 25, 2021

1)
North Ward is one of the most prosperous wards of the city, so the ground floor would be mortared fieldstone. There’d be a level-concrete-floor, stone-lined cellar level below that, not connected to any other buildings, and as… 2)
…Trollskull is older construction, and not of the most expensive, but is a “manor,” its second floor would also be of fieldstone. Inside these walls rise the support timbers of a box-framed truss, with any floors above the…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

3)
…second (including the attic), being half-timbered (what in our world is often called “Tudor:” exposed support beams with decorative white stucco between them: overcoated “wattle and daub”). The roof would be tiled… 4)
…(overlapping hump-shaped rectangular roof-tiles that overhang the walls by at least a foot and have downspouts), and the lime-ash floors throughout would be covered with flat, glazed tiles. The house would have garderobes/…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

5)
…jakes (internal toilets/washrooms) flushed by roof-cisterns (pullchain), down interior-wall pipes into the sewers, internal stairs, and closets between rooms for sound privacy. Bedchambers would be on upper floors, attics…6)
…would be for cisterns and old-furniture storage (and sometimes the rearing of caged pigeons as meat-birds for the household), and the servants would sleep in the kitchens, pantries (typical back door location), and entry-room…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

7)
…for added security. There would be heavy wooden doors for interior rooms, with exposed stout wooden frames, and the only place where there MIGHT not be doors would be a wood-framed, square arch connecting the largest… 8)
…ground-floor rooms: a dining room and a “main room” (what we might call a parlor or lounge or living room). A typical manor would have a main stair (perhaps with a landing) wide enough for furniture and a narrow servants’ or…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

9)
…“back” stair that might be a circular stair to save space; a big manor would have straight-run, less steep, wider stairs.
Windows would be blown glass, in small diamond frames (replacements can readily be purchased from the 10)
…relevant guild or a used-goods shop, and most houses have one or more “overwindows” in storage that can be fitted over a broken-pane window temporarily, until repairs can be made), with shutters inside AND outside that can…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

11)
…be fastened “back” (open), and grand houses may have balconies. Sliding wood pocket doors are an innovation for the grandest rooms that likely came along too late for Trollskull, unless it was remodelled before the PCs come… 12)
…upon it. Fine-chain-pulley hanging (from exposed ceiling-beams) oil lamps or candle-lanterns (in either case having hemispherical, frosted and perhaps tinted glass “bowl” shades to curb down-glare) are the norm in main rooms.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

Thank you very much! This is great and will definitely help me be more descriptive when running this with my players. You're welcome! And I forgot to add: in manors like Trollskull, bedchambers and any room with a fireplace, to combat chill damp in winter (and sea fogs) will have heavy cloth (wool plus an embroidered surface layer) hangings/tapestries to catch and hold warmth.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

I keep reading through Death Masks and it is really a treasury of an info of modern realms. But something again feels a bit off.
Do you hate clerics/gods in general or its some kind of metaphor?
Like you keep saying clerics are self centric/they lie etc etc It feels almost uncomfortable not because I feel like you really mean it. Knowing you, you are too kind to mean harm.
But theres really overload of the point that clerics usually lie/twist things as it is said over and over and over.
Awkward.

— Viktor Gray (@VikGray) April 26, 2021

No, no hatred.
The clerics you're seeing in DEATH MASKS are playing politics, so they've been corrupted beyond "I push my faith's POV" into "When in Waterdeep, do like Waterdhavians" (by which they mean nobles, bureaucrats, guild envoys and other "politicians").#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 26, 2021

@TheEdVerse Sir, Ed!! Cira 1300s, is there anything about Zelbross you can share we might not know from published lore? How much did you flesh it out in the home realms game and did the Knights stop by?

— stephen parlin (@smparlin) October 6, 2021

1)
The Company of the Crazed Venturers, not the later Knights, visited Zelbross, and there’s a faint 1978 pencil map and key somewhere in my Shipping Container 1 (the 80-footer). 2)
The hamlet sprawls along the west bank of Brossaddan’s Water (later called “the Hark Rill” and later still “the Harkril”), a tiny local stream that empties into the Delimibyr, which is where the superb-for-pottery clay banks… #Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 8, 2021

3)
…are. “Sprawls” because there’s a cluster of homes, outhouses, and “half dug into hills” storage barns (for winter food) nigh the river and then a wide arc of outlying farms around it, reached by a spiderweb of lanes (grassy… 4)
…tracks to minimize traffic-caused mud, with two thick lines of berrybushes planted along both sides so you don’t get lost trudging home in a winter whiteout blizzard and freeze to death, to provide a little wind cover, and to…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 8, 2021

5)
…provide berries and a supply of edible critters that come to forage on the berries). It had an inn on the Shining Trail (the Last Place) and a tavern, The Sly Fox, and a secret Harper safe haven: the farm of the recluse… 6)
…Harthress “Hard Axe” Shaenra, a scarred, fat old retired adventuress with long, wild white hair, a deep, white, puckered sword-scar running straight down a viewer’s left side of her face, and a gravel voice mainly used to…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 8, 2021

7)
…spew long and complicated oaths (“By the untasted teats of the stillborn sow!” and the like). She was, of course, a Harper, and wore bracers (normally hidden under the tattered sleeves of her filthy old weathercoats) that… 8)
…could catapult multiple sleep-poisoned darts. Though she did most of her fighting with axe and blade.
The countryside north of Zelbross, up to the forest, was very rich in game (deer and foxes and “gurra” [the local name for groundhogs] in particular, and…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 8, 2021

9)
…several Zelbrossans maintained extensive and successful trap-lines by which they fed their families and neighbours, and gained lots of pelts to cure and make into winter clothing.
There’s not a lot more that I can recall off the top of my head… 10)
…and drawing on the campaign notes here in my office, but near Zelbross, in the wilds northeast of the hamlet, is the “bottle-tomb” of an ancient wizard (a hole in the ground lined with stones that’s the rough shape of a…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 8, 2021

11)
…bottle, that a dead person is ‘buried’ in standing up) that at one time—and may still—have a scepter, some rings, and a spellbook in it; the Venturers found it, but didn’t plunder it.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 8, 2021