mau I ask you something about deities and Domains in the Realms?

The Sage Advice says a player can choose any Domain to his character, even The PHB recommending many times to choose a Domain in the suggested domains list of the deity. What do YOU think about this? YOUR Realms has a strong connection between domains and gods? Or do you think is ok to a Tyr cleric to choose The Trickery Domain, or a Eldath cleric to choose The War Domain?

— Meus Pergaminhos (@MeusPergaminhos) December 21, 2020

Well, I think MOST clerics of Tyr shouldn't choose the Trickery Domain, or clergy of Eldath the War Domain. It doesn't fit, and smacks of min-maxing at the expense of belittling faith and the setting.
BUT…Player Characters are supposed to be the rare mavericks, so..#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 22, 2020

1)
No new Thayan enclaves have been created for some time, and many have been abandoned by Thayan traders (usually, being valuable urban real estate, they get converted into housing, with Thayan caretakers…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 7, 2020

2)
…collecting the rents, and maintaining some lodgings and modest cargo warehousing and stables facilities for visiting Thayan traders).
Thay remains a bulk exporter of glass vessels (mainly bottles), perfumes, cooking oils, … 3)
…tapestries, dyed and woven fine fabrics, food, statuettes, and wines, and a small-volume exporter of many, many other things, from small finely-carved coffers and decanters, to livestock and dressed stone.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 7, 2020

Question if you have the time.
To your knowledge have any Lupin from the Mystara world made their way to the Forgotten Realms? Not that I know of, but the Realms does seem to be a “crossroads” place, hosting many gates/portals and visited by quite a few planeswalkers, so it’s quite possible.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 28, 2020

Is there somewhere your original Realms we could find?

I was wondering how different it would be from the Realms we’re accostumed to Love…

Many thanks in advance No, the "original" Realms isn't published anywhere, and WotC owns the publishing rights to it. My original Realms had no direct real-world analogues (no Egyptian/Sumerian/Babylonian, Aztec/Mayan, Bedouin, no Genghis Khan, Dalai Lama, and "Hollywood Orient").#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 2, 2020

and merry Christmas! I was wondering if there is any more information on Maglas’s Chronicles of Years to Come, apart from DoF, FOR 11 CotD, and the 3e LoD? Where there any other prophecies that the tome spoke about that are of interest? Or is anything else NDA? My party recently stumbled onto a copy of the tome (cuz the original one is in Candlekeep) and the session ended just when they found it. It's a Year of Rogue Dragons campaign, but it's still 1372 DR, some of my players are inquisitive so I just want to please them.

— Alex McClay (@AlexMcclay2000) December 25, 2020

1)
The Chronicle of Years by Maglas the Seer consists of 4 matching volumes that contained cryptic prophecies, one to a page, with relevant notes, observations, and reports beneath each prophecy. A common mistake among members of the Cult of the Dragon is to think.. 2)
…that the simplified translation by Sammaster is the same text as the original. (Some of the references you cite describe Sammaster’s translation.)
Some of the later pages of the original were “spellbound” (their real writings concealed beneath innocuous gossip..#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

3)
…pennings by a powerful spell that had to be solved to “untwine” it and reveal the true text).
Some of the earlier pages in the original contain still-unsolved prophecies that weren’t spellbound. These include the following:
…4)
The fire shall leap up from the stone and reveal the way, on the night when stars fall and towers tumble.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

5)
When moondark cloaks the well of dragons, a new wyrm shall arise from the bones of the old in the whispering tower, and it shall be more fell and cunning than elder dragons who have slept for centuries. 6)
Black the crown, black the scepter, black the orb, and black the mask. Yet of these, one black is false, one is blind, one empty, and one the coldest kiss of all.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

7)
Three sorcerers know the secret way into Candlekeep, but it is not unguarded. The dead walker that is its sentinel knows how to lay low he who took a name not his own, after escaping when other lions fell, to rule Thay.)
Three serpents shall greet the dawn, and one shall devour it.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

9)
Six swords sleep now, but in the right hands shall awaken and whisper guidance that shall sway kingdoms, and the world shall be changed.10)
Seek the lady whose smile curves beneath one eye of blue, and the other of silver, for she knows the Lost Spell.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

10)
Seek the lady whose smile curves beneath one eye of blue, and the other of silver, for she knows the Lost Spell. 11)
Disturb not what lies beneath Wrinklestone, for when it walks, so too shall the six dead kings, and the Realms Below shall march.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

Thanks! Oh and one more question. Pardon my stupidity but what does “4 matching volumes” mean? Is it just 4 volumes that each contain different information? Or is it 4 volumes that are just copies of one another, so 4 copies? Sorry but the “matching” just caught me off guard … 4 books that contain different information, but in size and binding closely resemble each other (fashioned as "a set"). They'd be clearly labelled with different volume numbers and/or subtitles, but "they look like they go together."
Sammaster's translation is 1 book.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

Hi @TheEdVerse, I have a random (and very specific!) question for you: what is the approximate ratio of spellcasters to nonspellcasters in the Forgotten Realms? 1 out of 10,000? 1 out of 100,000? Even more rare than that?

— Benjamin Huffman x Sterling Vermin Adventuring Co. (@sterlingvermin) December 29, 2020

1)
This gets asked a lot, but here we go again. ;}
The answer is always: it depends. Here’s why: literally thousands of sentient beings in the Realms have a ‘wild talent’ for some aspect of magic, due to the world being a-crawl… 2)
…with magic (wielders of the Art using it, drawing on the Weave), and everyone born into the world being exposed to flows of magic. Over time, growing numbers of sentient beings are born with the Gift (ability to wield the…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 30, 2020

3)
…Art). Most don’t know it, and are utterly untrained, and stay that way lifelong. Say, 1 in 9,000. A rarer few (1 in 12,000) may or may not manifest a ‘wild talent’ that lets them work magical effects without casting or… 4)
…knowing magic. An even rarer few (1 in 26,000) may spontaneously or thanks to a trigger event discover and use a natural ability to work spells by imagination, concentration, and their natural Gift; we call them “sorcerers.”#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 30, 2020

5)
Perhaps 1 in 130,000 have the desperation or bravery to reach out to try to contact a patron and become a warlock; perhaps 1 in 300,000 succeeds.
However, of that far less rare number of beings that have the Gift (back to… 6)
…1 in 9,000 again), we have an overlap with those who want to dedicate themselves to holy service (about 1 in 4000). About half of these are accepted (1 in 8,000), and of those, about 1 in 6,000 have the ability to wield…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 30, 2020

7)
…divine magic (as opposed to a deity just channeling a magical effect through them, treating them like a “dumb conduit” and perhaps destroying them or burning out their minds in the process). So IF they follow temple protocols… 8)
…and don’t displease the deity, every one of those 1 in 6,000 could become clerics (as in the character class), capable of wielding divine magic. What magic they get given depends on their service, the fervency and…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 30, 2020

9)
…appropriateness of their prayers, and the mood/nature of their deity. Most clerics don’t get beyond 3rd level spells (the game rules concentrate on PCs, who are the standouts/mavericks/heroes, and can give us a distorted view… 10)
…of things).
However, if we go back to beings that naturally possess the Gift, and try to figure out how many become casters of arcane magic, the answer is: those very, very few who can find a tutor, and get taught, and…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 30, 2020

11)
…survive it.
Those who survive adventuring, or just living in the Realms once others know they can cast arcane magic, are even fewer.
So…it depends. ;}
You said “spellcasters” in your query, and that includes wizards, … 13)
…competently hurl mighty spells, or rather, unleash magic with any degree of understanding or control, are more numerous than they really are).
And the totals of, say, trained wizards will vary with time and place; if you look… 12)
…sorcerers, clerics, warlocks, and all of the variants and subclasses (druids, illusionists, etc.) which pushes the total numbers up a bit (but again, the game rules and published Realmslore tend to make us think folk who can…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 30, 2020

14)
…at a surviving Netherese city, like Thultanthar (“Shade”), the numbers of arcanists are much higher than if you go out into the frigid wilderness northeast of Sundabar and start looking for wizards. Outcasts in the Border…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 30, 2020

14)
…at a surviving Netherese city, like Thultanthar (“Shade”), the numbers of arcanists are much higher than if you go out into the frigid wilderness northeast of Sundabar and start looking for wizards. Outcasts in the Border… 15)
…Kingdoms make the numbers higher there than in, say, Tethyr. Cities are almost always far higher than in the countryside, and the countryside higher than in wilderlands, and so on.
So if we decide that the 1490s DR is our…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 30, 2020

16)
…time, and the Sword Coast countryside is our place, and it’s summer rather than winter (when those who can go south in search of temperatures they can survive, do so), and it’s peacetime, and no local ruler is rounding up… 17)
…wizards and imprisoning or executing them, or Zhents or Red Wizards hunting down and slaughtering non-member wizards, we might estimate (and it IS an estimate, mind) that of the 1 in 9,000 who have the Gift, perhaps…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 30, 2020

18)
…1 in 40,000 can cast a cantrip or two, and perhaps 1 in 70,000 have and can cast 1st level spells, and perhaps 1 in 90,000 can cast 2nd level spells. Thanks to traveling priests and the teachings of shrine and temple… 19)
…clergy, almost everyone has seen minor magic at work (but not personally experienced it), and thanks to bards and talkative traveling merchants and peddlers, nigh everyone has heard tales of spell-duels or spectacular…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 30, 2020

20)
…spell-hurlings or awesome feats of magic (those MageFairs, for one!), but your average “just plain commoner” in the Realms never actually sees or personally experiences magic being cast, or could hope to begin to afford to… 21)
…get trained, or to hire a spellcaster to work one spell for them.
Again, be not misled by game lore and rules, which leave the distinct impression that hundreds, if not thousands, of wizards hurl spells down any given city…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 30, 2020

22)
…city street in a day.
So: it depends. :}#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 30, 2020

Something interesting I noticed — the symbol of the Queen of Air and Darkness is a black diamond. In 2e, 3e, and D&D Next Auril’s symbol was a snowflake on a black diamond. In 4e it was said Auril was the QoAaD. In 5e they’re separate, and Auril’s symbol is *just the snowflake*. An interesting vein to explore for any characters for whom Auril or the QoAaD are important, perhaps – especially if the QoAaD still claims to be Auril to retain worshippers on Toril.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it's an interesting notion. Any thoughts, @TheEdVerse?

— Three French Bens (@CineastBenRowe) February 14, 2020

1)
The deeds of gods are often mysteries to mortals, especially when overlaid by what priesthoods say (which is often propaganda/misdirection intended to make their deity seem important/vital).
In this case, I’d say this: “The QoAaD still claims to be Auril to…
#Realmslore 2)
…retain worshippers on Toril" is exactly what's happening. And Auril cooperates because it boosts her importance and therefore worship and therefore influence.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 14, 2020

In my game, Auril has staged a coup to oust and replace the QoAaD from the Unseelie Court as retribution for her prior impersonation. In a weird way, Auril now impersonates her… Turnabout is fair play!

But on Wednesday, all of that changes… Now, THAT'S a teaser.
On Wednesday, I shall sip tea late at night and await news. Or a conflagration, followed by Elminster shaking his head as he teleports into my pantry and opens the freezer for an ice cream bar.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 10, 2020

I haven’t even told you the half of it! My party revived KARSUS (yes, that Karsus), and he is potentially going to use his ultimate spell, Karsus’ Avatar to help the party defeat Auril and reinstate the QoAaD to the Unseelie Court. Livestreamed on Wednesday at 7:30 PM EST. Oh, dear. Bad things always happen whenever anyone revives Karsus.
He's insane, you see. Some of the gods are, too. The rest…aren't.
As for the Queen…well, no, Elminster doesn't want me to share that. He says it's a much better lesson for fools to find out for themselves.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 10, 2020

Any notes on specifics of the role Cespenar (from BG2: Throne of Bhaal) took under the still-living pre-ToT Bhaal? He describes himself as a butler and is an accomplished smith, but beyond that his actual role within Bhaal’s divine domain… …isn't really detailed AFAIK.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 27, 2020

1)
Cespenar was Bhaal’s quartermaster and armorer (making, repairing, and in some cases procuring from others armor for Bhaal’s guards and household; he also saw to metal tools, flatware, and pots and pans). Loyal to Bhaal and… 2)
…without personal ambitions; the perfect “strong, ready right hand.”#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) November 27, 2020