Guy @SirWiseGuy@TheEdVerse
Can you please relate any more tales of Elminster's visits to Earth please? More stories of a vaguely friendly visitor would be soothing in these troubled times.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 4, 2020

1)
Sure. :}
Recently, El wanted a ride in a canoe on a placid northern Ontario lake, and got one.
He now knows that standing up in a canoe and LEANING is a good way to get wet. Luckily for him, he knows a spell that can expel all… 2)
…excess water from clothing, hair, and body. Unluckily for me, the magic just hurls a wet mist out in all directions. Yuck.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 4, 2020

3)
Several visits: El loves lightning storms, and striding over the gently manicured hills of golf courses with his staff held high, getting struck repeatedly by lightning. DON’T TRY THIS; he’s an archwizard and foolhardy to boot. 4)
Some old camping glades survive in some of Toronto’s ravine parks (log seats in a ring, well away from the paved paths and manicured areas). Lots of teenagers discover these, and so, in these COVID times, have some local…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 4, 2020

5)
…fantasy and sf fans and writers, who get together to drink and chat from afternoons until moondown in the wee hours (safely distanced). Far from me, a hundred-some miles east out in the countryside, I’m afraid, but El remembered their moots, … 6)
…and attended. In disguise as, well, me. (!)
He assures me he behaved, and told me he loves the energy, idealism, crazy ideas and passionate discussions of them, and the youthful cynicism, too (“so CUTE,” he deemed it).#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 4, 2020

7)
El also confessed to attending—in a different guise—a not-yet-released-TTRPG playtest in a Toronto-area basement.
“Their ideas of magic are so TWISTED,” he told me.
“Cthulhu twisted?” I asked.
“Worse,” he said darkly. 8)
And of course the Old Mage made his usual raids on my larder and wine cellar. No ice cream (I’m being a good diabetic; El did NOT approve), and he found some of the libations I procured for my library ladies (co-workers at the…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 4, 2020

9)
…day job) bewildering (as in: “Folk DRINK this cr—stuff? WILLINGLY?”), but enjoyed others (leaving me a heap of empty bottles). He also read some of the novels I’m working on, and found them HILARIOUS.
Some were even meant to be funny. 10)
I’ll add this: having seen many folks wearing masks to guard against the coronavirus, El can’t understand why we don’t all seize the opportunity to wear plague doctor masks or wilder face coverings with snouts and so on.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 4, 2020

11)
“Folk in your world need to PLAY more,” he told me, “and not just when they’re young. Life is too short to stop having fun.” He then used a spell to conjure up pies and started a pie fight. My cat was NOT impressed.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 4, 2020

This whole thread, aside from being so entertaining, has me thinking: do El or any other realmsians who visit play video games? Have they faves? Like I’m highly amused imagining the 7, plus El & Khelbem with Animal Crossing. I can’t stop giggling I can tell you: El tends to like storytelling, puzzle-solving games like Myst (and Riven and the other sequels), not spellfighting boss-battle games, which tend to leave him snortingly disgusted ("Wrong! Have these programmers ever even SEEN a wizard cast a spell?").#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 4, 2020

Hey Mr.Super Dm, I had an interest in the wedding rites in DnD. One of my characters plans on marrying a countess of Cromm’s Hold. Are there established wedding rites I can look to? If it matters, the countess… …reveres Tyr and Ilmater. With the second part being, as my character is a lowborn, currently the court physician, will he need to be granted Nobility before he would be eligible for marriage towards a highborn?

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

1)
I can’t speak for D&D in general, but only for the Realms. Wedding rites are one of the topics that’s seldom been covered in print due to wordcount being needed for wilder adventure encounters, and so as not to offend any… 2)
…real-world religious beliefs. So there’s little to look to.
To answer your second, first, in Cromm’s Hold and other Heartlands communities, lowborns and nobility can freely marry without legal bar nor stigma, but the custom, ..#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

1)
I can’t speak for D&D in general, but only for the Realms. Wedding rites are one of the topics that’s seldom been covered in print due to wordcount being needed for wilder adventure encounters, and so as not to offend any… 2)
…real-world religious beliefs. So there’s little to look to.
To answer your second, first, in Cromm’s Hold and other Heartlands communities, lowborns and nobility can freely marry without legal bar nor stigma, but the custom, ..#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

3)
…for purposes of inheritance and legitimacy, is to confer upon the lowborn member of a couple their own title (“in their own right”) as well as whatever courtesy title they would acquire as consort. So IF the countess wants…4)
…her new husband to have the same authority in the county as she does, and this isn’t fiercely opposed by kin or other noble/wealthy/influential (like senior temple clergy) folk of the county, he would be ‘created’ Count to…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

5)
…match her title. This is customary, but not automatic (see real-world England: Queen Elizabeth II married Philip, a prince of Greece, but he didn’t become “king,” instead being styled “Prince Consort” because SHE is the… 6)
…ruler, and the realm wants her to remain so). So in this case, the court physician may become Count, or may acquire some special title (“Lord Protector of Cromm’s Hold” or “Champion of Crown’s Hold, Knight Before Knights” or…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

7)
…some such), or may be styled with BOTH titles. (Your decision, based on how you see Cromm’s Hold viewing him. In this case, the Heralds are going to accept whatever’s decided locally.)
As far as wedding rites go, there’s a lot… 8)
…of local variation. In this case, with Tyr and Ilmater involved, clergy of both those deities would likely officiate, as equals, and the ceremony would probably run along these lines:
The physician is dressed in “sackcloth”…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

9)
…(a crude garment made of an old sack with head- and arm-holes, worn as a tunic, over the naked body, barefoot) but escorted by burghers and senior guild members (masters, too), if any, with reverence, walking in two lines… 10)
…on either side of him like bodyguards, through Cromm’s Hold to an outdoor public altar (market square?) where the priest of Ilmater waits. The priest would scourge him, then escort (lead) him to the priest of Tyr at HIS…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

11)
…outdoor public altar (in front of the home or keep of the countess, likely) where said priest would be holding a consecrated Sword of Justice. Which he’d hold edge up over the altar, and say a prayer to Tyr requesting a… 12)
…blessing on the union, as the physician reaches out with his palm and slices himself (in a SMALL way!) with the edge of the blade; the priest catches any spilling blood in a consecrated bowl for later use (see hereafter). …#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

13)
…The priest of Ilmater then knocks upon the door of the abode of the countess, and calls her forth (“Art desirous of union with the man who comes for thee?”) 14)
…Her maidservants would open the door and escort her forth, she and they in finery, to the altar of Tyr where she’d nick her palm, blood in bowl as before, and she and the physician would then clasp their hands, bleeding palm…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

15)
…to bleeding palm, over the bowl but NOT over the altar, as the priest of Ilmater and the priest of Tyr in turn say prayers over their joined hands, then prompt them to their vows: the physician formally asks the countess… v16)
…for her hand as an equal, “that our lives run as one, from this day forth,” and she accepts (“before the gods, and before all these good people”) and then they pledge personally to be each other’s partner and defender… #Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

17)
…(“I, XXXmy nameXXX, shall protect thee and succor thee, XXXpartner’s nameXXX, until my breath fails and the gods claim me, putting thy needs and comfort before mine own, and keeping no secret from thee, until the end of my… 18)
…days, or until the gods set us apart, though I hereby pray they shall never do so”), they in unison touch each other’s lips with their own shed blood and then kiss each other, then the priests simultaneously heal their…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

19)
…palm-wounds (one priest for each), then any announcement of titles conferred on the physician is publicly made by the countess (and a fine robe thrown over his sackcloth by one of her maids or a member of her household), … 20)
…then the countess requests that anyone who “smiles upon this our union” drinks to them, and then servers distribute goblets of wine to everyone so the toasts can be made (traditionally, the mother of the bride toasts… #Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

21)
…first, then the father of the bride, then mother of the groom, then father of the groom, then senior noble present, then any other important noble head of house or designate, then mayor (or seneschal or head of local… 22)
…lawkeepers if there’s no mayor), then guildmasters or any mercantile head; the priests never lead any toasts, and anyone in this list who’s dead or doesn’t exist in the community is simply omitted (and if there are fierce… #Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

23)
…rivalries among guildmasters or nobility over precedence, they toast in unison to avoid any trouble), whereupon the householder/host (in this case, the countess) bids all present to “break bread with us,” and the feasting… 24)
…begins. Which is an informal party that goes on and on, and usually involves much telling of tales, drinking, and so on; the married couple usually circulate among the revelers to chat (and traditionally, receive…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

25)
…well-wishes), and then slip away to a bedchamber (the tradition is to consummate the union, but often, once the bedchamber door closes, it’s just to take their footwear off and nap on the bed in peace and quiet). … 6)
… By tradition, the local herald “cries” (publicly proclaims) any new styles and titling of the couple the next morning, when they first emerge from wherever they spent the night. If folks have traveled to attend, they…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

27)
…customarily linger for the following day and night, with the wedded couple providing hospitality (if commoners wed, often the local lord provides this in his/her “big house”), and that’s when gifts, if any, are given by… 28)
…the attendees and received by the newlyweds. And that’s it.
(Other clergy resident in the community or who happen to be there, by tradition, “stand as witness” in the crowd, and would take part in the ceremony if either of…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

29)
…the wedding couple is pledged to their deity in some way—so in this case, if the physician had been trained at a temple, or worked at one, or had taken holy vows to a deity [even if not followed up on to become a priest], a… 30)
…cleric of that deity would take part in the ceremony, if available. For folks who don’t revere any deity over others, any clergy can officiate, and the rites morph a bit to fit the ceremonies of the particular deity.)#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 29, 2020

Is it notably different on the Sword Coast or with non- humans (dwarves specifically)?

— Robert Paslay (@robpasl) December 29, 2020

1)
Not really (Cromm’s Hold pretty much is on the Sword Coast).
For dwarves who haven’t renounced or been estranged from their clans, or who aren’t keeping their union secret from clan or family, there’s far more family/clan involvement in wedding ceremonies. …
#Realmslore 2)
(In which dead family members, including revered relatives who were personally known to either member of marrying couple, are represented by their axes [or other personal weapons].)
I left out the singing, I'm afraid. For dwarves, there's a kin-blessing chant/…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 30, 2020

3)
…plainsong, that gives the family line from a famous ancestor down to the couple now to be wed, reminding them that they're part of a proud line and must not fail it.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 30, 2020

@TheEdVerse hi again. I have another question for my campaign: who is the head of the Thann family in 1479 DR? (the 4e timeframe)

Thanks in advance!

— Jon Gomez (@ZeromaruX) February 6, 2020

1)
If you mean the Thann noble family of Waterdeep, Rhammas ‘the Younger’ died in 1478 DR (of natural causes, at a ripe old age), and was succeeded as patriarch of House Thann by his second son Oraskar (the eldest son, Tontar 2)
…died in a tavern brawl in 1472). So Oraskar is head of the family in 1479 DR.
Rhammas was a widower; his consort, Palaerla Cragsmere Thann, died of heartstop in 1464 DR. Upon becoming patriarch, Oraskar was in his fifth…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 7, 2020

3)
…decade of life, and his health had never been strong, so from the moment he became head of the family, he wasn’t expected to last long, and left most of the brawling and speaking in public and being a vigorous and energetic 4)
…family trade representative to his uncle Bendrigo, and younger brothers Thelver and Baraskan. Oraskar was unmarried and showed no interest in taking a mate, and Bendrigo firmly and repeatedly told the family that if Oraskar…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 7, 2020

5)
…died without issue, Thelver would become head of the family, as he wanted no kin-strife (Bendrigo was the youngest, most forceful, and most popular of three brothers all still alive in 1479 DR; the eldest, Thrandol, was a 6)
…sour, scholarly sage who dwelt in Leilon in a tower full of books and had little to do with his kin, and the middle brother was a jovial roisterer and drunkard by the name of Dranth).
Much younger than Oraskar, Thelver, and…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 7, 2020

7)
…Baraskan are their two sisters, Sharleen and Daraerra. They are quiet, graceful women; Bendrigo says they each have more brains than all of the living male Thanns put together, himself included.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 7, 2020

How “Elven” does Silverymoon look? @TheEdVerse are there tree houses etc? Yes. As Blake posted, there are. A lot of the city looks like real-world Portmeirion, Wales (setting for the Prisoner classic TV series): garden-like, with Roger Dean-like dwelling-spaces "dug in" under lanes and other dwellings. There are (living) trees everywhere.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 31, 2019

I also did a "My Slice of Silverymoon" quartet of articles for the Wizards website. Here's a link to the first one:https://t.co/6fxKdvnLlx

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 31, 2019

@TheEdVerse Hello Ed. I have a few questions about flora in the realms. Since many plants from earth grow on Toril, I wonder, does Cannabis grow there? Is it smoked recreational or is it a religious sacrament? What places/churches cultivate it and where does it grow naturally?

— Stinkweed Simp, BLM 🤍💙🖤❤💚 (@FnordKyuss) December 19, 2020

1)
Heh. This was actually officially decided back in the early TSR days. They wanted it not to be in Toril, but I pointed out we already had printed lore of “hempen” ropes, woven bags, etc. Sooooo…various plants exist, their uses and prep are jealously-guarded…
#Realmslore 2)
…herbalist/temple "secrets," cannabis has almost no effect on dwarves and gnomes, none at all on halflings, is nothing more than a painkiller for orcs, and makes elves violently ill (cramps, vomiting, feels like their blood is on fire). So most folk in the…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 19, 2020

3)
…Realms employ other (fantastical/invented; see the Amarune’s Almanacs on DM’s Guild for a LOT of invented flora of the Realms) plants for recreational or even soothing purposes. Cannabis and several invented plants slow blood-flow, clear the head, and quell… 4)
…nausea. Most of my invented plants require the presence in a concoction (drink or poultice) or mix (line a pipe bowl with one, then smoke the other in the pipe) to derive hallucinations, or euphoria, or pain-free bliss.
[Of course, none of this was published.]#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 19, 2020

5)
Whoops! Almost forgot your last question: almost all of these plants grow wild everywhere in the temperate zone of Faerûn (= the Heartlands), but there are a few (e.g. Quilaeya/”the Desert Flower”) that grow in Raurin and other southern and eastern arid regions. 6)
Oh, just one more thing (channeling my inner Columbo): the various creatures known as "hags" know all about the many uses of various plants, and make extensive use of this. My hag lairs are full of trap-bladders that release gases on intruders.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 19, 2020

i can’t believe it has no effect on halflings! how will they enjoy their pipe-weed now… That's why they have their own roster of BETTER stuff. The whole point of "pipeWEED" is that halflings enjoy smoking plants that other races dismiss as weeds. A halfling in the wilderness can fill his/her pipe in mere moments, where others see…nothing to glean.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 19, 2020

Did you invent Luiren spring cheese? No. I think Jeff Grubb did. Or Tom Prusa?
Volo may have had a drink or sixteen too many, when quizzing halflings about their lives and habits. ;}#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 22, 2020

irl Ranger @HalfElfatHeart@TheEdVerse
What would the general opinion of half-dwarves in larger cities along the Sword Coast look like? I wasn't sure if they were so rare that it would provoke extreme attention.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 9, 2020

1)
Half-dwarves that someone glancing their way will THINK are half-dwarves are rare indeed; most half-dwarves so favor either the human or the dwarven parent (usually the latter) as to pass for human or dwarf. A “pass for human” 2)
…half-dwarf will usually be short, stocky, and burly of muscle. A pass-for-dwarf half-dwarf will look like an unusually tall dwarf. A visibly half-dwarf will be even taller, and will attract attention, but will only stand out…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 9, 2020

3)
…when walking alone or with one or two companions of different heights; otherwise, there’s enough variation in human heights, especially when youths are in the mix, that the half-dwarf will tend to “blend in with the crowd.”#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 9, 2020

Gary Gygax baked cross-species fertility into the game very early on. I recall an entire Up On A Soapbox column discussing it. Odd it may seem, but it's part of D&D. Hence half-orcs and half-elves as playable races almost from the outset.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 9, 2020

has there been like a noir detective type game campaign done for The Forgotten Realms I've run several, but I don't think any really noir game campaigns have been published set in the Realms.
Not-so-noirish fiction, yes, from Murder in Cormyr to my novel Death Masks (the cutline for that one was "Who Is Killing The Great Lords Of Waterdeep?").#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 13, 2020

@TheEdVerse , O sagacious one, apologies in advance if this has been answered elsewhere but I wanted to inquire about the Spellplague. What happened to those affected by it, such as the Spellscarred, after the Second Sundering? Thanks!

— Richard Lorenzo (@richlore88) April 17, 2020

1)
It varies. In a few individuals, the changes wrought in them by the Spellplague faded in intensity after the Second Sundering was over; in a VERY few cases, they faded away altogether. Most people were permanently 2)
…plaguechanged; whatever the Spellplague did to them continued to hold sway for the rest of their lives, so if they acquired spellscars, they were spellscarred lifelong. In a few, these changes progressed over time, so they…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 17, 2020

3)
…gained more magical powers (and/or disfigurements). Quite a few people had their lifespans extended by a decade or two over their bloodline norms (that is, if their parents and grandparents died in the sixth decades of 4)
…natural causes, not accidents or violence, they lasted into their seventh or eight decade). And early evidence seems to indicate that in some—not all—cases, this longevity has been inherited by offspring born after the…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 17, 2020

5)
…Second Sundering (i.e. their children are also living a decade longer if not killed prematurely). Why? No one knows, though sages and clergy have advanced many claims or theories.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 17, 2020