1) Hey Ed, in your original gods article (Dragon #54), you said you wanted all of the outer planes to have ruling deities, so you placed Bane in Archeron so as not to conflict with Asmodeus. But who did you envision ruling Concord. Opp., Silvanus or Oghma? And … 2) … in Hades, Shar, or Myrkul? Since you adopted all the non-human gods from DDG, who rules the 7 Heavens, Tyr, Moradin, or Yandalla? Same for Sune and Corellon in Arvandor. Is Azuth ruler of Arcadia despite being (at that time) a demigod?
Thanks, and may you recover swiftly!— AdamDravian (@AdamDravian) October 4, 2019
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Hi, Adam! Thanks for the good recovery wishes!
So back in the mists of time, when thinking through the gods of the Realms, I wrote up much lore that didn’t make it into that article 2)
And can tell you that I saw most of the first layer of ARCADIA as being ruled by the deity Clangeddin Silverbeard, with another part of it ruled by Marduk.
As my conception of the Outer Planes developed detail and depth, I…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 5, 2019
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…envisaged the second layer being ruled by the Mulhorandi (Egyptian) deities (Ra, Isis, Osiris, and Horus-Re), with Azuth SECRETLY controlling conditions in Arcadia from behind the scenes (from his abode on the second layer) 4)
…rather than “ruling.” Marduk was like a ‘mad bull’ deity who challenged and fought any deity he detected, so Azuth kept him deceived and walled away. Savras kept trying to free Marduk—which meant Savras got attacked by…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 5, 2019
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…Marduk repeatedly, and this weakened Savras, so he rarely challenged Azuth 6)
I envisaged ARVANDOR as being ruled by Corellon (holding sway over a fey court of elven deities and visiting mortal supplicants and elf spirits, in a vast forest dominated by trees whose leaves glowed a soft blue in…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 5, 2019
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…moonlight). I saw SUNE as dwelling on the plane, and welcome in Corellon’s court as Hanali Celanil, but possessing an essential personal nature disinterested in ruling, dominance, or authority. 8)
I saw the plane of CONCORDANT OPPOSITION as ruled by Oghma, the Binder, as I saw Silvanus tied firmly to the forests of Toril and interested in the cycles of life there (particularly trees).#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 5, 2019
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I saw HADES as being ruled by Myrkul, with Shar preferring to reign in the Void—that is, the dark places of all planes, including the Astral Plane/Astral Sea, where the bodies of dead gods float. Shar doesn’t want to be tied 10)
…to any one plane that can be attacked, and that might distract her with obligations or neighbours; she wants to be everywhere, beholden to none—and is attracted to the chaos where planes meet planes, and there is destruction.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 5, 2019
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THE SEVEN HEAVENS I saw as a verdant paradise ruled by Yondalla (Chauntea), with Tyr, Moradin, and others welcome to dwell there unchallenged, and to shape ‘their’ parts of the Heavens as they see fit (Yondalla simply keeps… 12)
…growing things thriving, to enshroud and renew the paradise regardless of what others do).
Hope this is of help.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 5, 2019
So Chauntea and Yondalla were one entity, and Sune and Hanali Celanil were also a single entity? Hard for mortals to know. Aspects of each other, so: linked. The truth? Still mysterious. Both deities and their clergy "spin," to use modern parlance. "Lie," to speak more plainly, as in elder days. ;}#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 5, 2019
As I remember, Marduk is a manifestation of Bahamut. Is that means Bahamut the Lesser Power rules de facto a large part of Arcadia? No, it means Marduk rules a small, walled-off part of Arcadia.#Realmslore
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 5, 2019
1) Much appreciated! Though I’m on a fool’s quest to run a pre-TSR Realms (relying on your early Dragon articles and lore you & THO have shared online), so I’m not sure how much of that applies. In Dragon #52, you said the only DDG content in use are the non-human deities 2) … the two giant Norse gods, and some of the animal gods. Also, you didn't originally envision Sune and Hanali being the same, did you? I thought that was introduced in 4e in the Great God Outer Plane Conversion.
— AdamDravian (@AdamDravian) October 5, 2019
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The pre-TSR Realms didn’t have the Known Planes of Existence as envisaged by Gary Gygax (and published in issue 8 of The Dragon). So none of my answers apply.
I was trying to remain true to “official” D&D as it developed, 2)
…and so, shifted (as mentioned in my article in Dragon 54) deities and their lore to match what got added to the game, as it appeared. Pre-D&D, I had latched onto the notion that deities could appear to mortals, and be…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 6, 2019
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…worshipped, as different ‘aspects,’ because I wanted to have HUNDREDS of secretive cults worshipped in back rooms or cellars or upper rooms or in clubs, by masked secret societies—without having hundreds of gods to keep 4)
…track of. Yet while Sune was part of my original, pre-D&D Realms, the entire elven pantheon (not the idea of elves having gods, but the named deities of the elves that appear in the game) came ‘aboard’ in my Realms from the…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 6, 2019
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…D&D game (my original elven deity was ‘the Lady,’ a forest-dwelling feminine nurturing goddess…
who flashed tall and terrible, blue and silver, when angered and manifesting in power, to do battle on behalf of imperiled elves, 6)
…and the rest of the time was a softly whispering voice on a breeze of silver sparks, or two floating, watching eyes {Mystra did the floating eyes thing, too}).#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 6, 2019