) Dear Mr. Ed Greenwood, would you help a noob brazillian player of D&D?
I’m doing my files to a new campaing and i really like to create solid character, with tight backgrounds but i’m looking for certain infomations and can’t find it anywhere. 2) I would like to ask you some informations about Star Elves and Orcs of 5e during 15 century on the Sword Coast.
About elves i need to know where they lived during this time and which elves were notorious (wizards, noble, important families and such).— Review de Peso (@PesoReview) October 13, 2021
3) And about Orcs i need to know which barbarian tribes lived on the Sword Coast in that time and the class of each tribe. Sir, if you could help me i would be tremendously grateful.
Or if you could only point me where on the books i could find it it would be excellent also. 4) The adventure goes by the 1490 DR.
Can you help me with this answers? i would be eternally grateful.
Thanks in advance! and thank you very much for all your amazing work on D&D— Review de Peso (@PesoReview) October 13, 2021
Hi, and well met!
Happy to help, but I’m not sure what you mean by the “class” of each orc tribe: ? 1)
Star elves are still few and reclusive in the 1490s DR Sword Coast lands; most dwell far to the east, in the Yuirwood (Aglarond). Those who live in the Sword Coast lands tend to keep to forests (notably The High Forest, but…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 14, 2021
2)
…also in the southernmost Moonwood [southernmost Glimmerwood], the Misty Forest, and Westwood), and to have willing contact with sun elves, wood elves, wild/green elves, moon elves and half elves; they detest…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 14, 2021
4)
…star elf for a moon elf at a chance meeting, and there are star elves who travel, explore, and adventure in the Sword Coast North (not so much in Amn, Tethyr, Calimshan, and other heavily populated areas farther south).#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 14, 2021
5)
Among these are the star elf merchant families of Evemdrel and Saeyil, and the noble family House Dahlmkess (who believe assimilation in a “sentient civilization” of all “civilized” races, against “the Rapacious Ones” [orcs… 6)
…and other goblinkin such as goblins and hobgoblins, illithids, beholders, and Lolth-worshipping drow] is inevitable, and is better managed—so star elves can end up controlling or influencing the “unfortunate” belligerent…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 14, 2021
7)
…tendencies of humans—than resisted). In this, Dahlmkess differs from most other star elf nobility, notably the conservative houses of Lalaundura and Rannekho.
Powerful star elf wizards include Varlroke, a gruff and prickly… 8)
…loner (male, old, mysterious); Avaeya Fonril, a kindly advisor and tutor to many (female, charismatic, seen as wise and caring); the star elf adventurers Shasslammaera “Tash” Relouvrin (fiery-tempered, acrobatic, agile, and…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 14, 2021
9)
…worldly-wise, usually having back-up plans ready in case of treachery) and Telharl Velvoor (gleeful, whimsical, young, sword-tongued, and fun-loving). Among (all) elves in the region, as much about these individuals is… 10)
…commonly known as I’ve given here (with Tash being the best known), but in, say, human cities and among human sages, only Varlroke has been heard of.
Some star elves of the High Forest are planning a military conquest of…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 14, 2021
11)
…The Reaching Woods, to make it a new home and exterminate or drive out the gnolls. Others think this is an unwise, overbold idea that will inevitably give star elves too high a public profile.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 14, 2021
12)
As for the orcs, the descendants of Obould continue to rule an orc kingdom from Dark Arrows Keep (Lorgru ascended the throne in 1485 DR, after orcs in the region were defeated in the War of the Silver Marches), but there are… 13)
…“barbarian” orc warbands wandering the Sword Coast North as there have always been (just as hobgoblin warbands, usually 20-30 strong, wander to this day). Regardless of the politics of any particular moment, the root causes…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 14, 2021
14)
…of orc behaviour in the Sword Coast North remain: orcs breed like rabbits in many caverns in the mountains across the North, out-populate their available food and must forage farther and farther afield in their food-hunts, … 15)
…and in the end either form an orc horde and sweep south plundering until exterminated, or if no strong orc leader arises who wants to command a horde, individual warbands of starving orcs go out in search of food and wander… #Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 14, 2021
16)
…the lands. In the 1490s DR, the mountain-orc-dominated Kingdom of Many Arrows is free of starvation, thanks to cultivation, to trade, and to rearing “meat herds” of rothé and other livestock in mountain valleys. It also…17)
…knows civilized discipline. So aside from renegade warlords (as the ill-fated Hartusk) on the fringes of the kingdom, there will be patrols and hunting bands, but no Many Arrows warbands.
However, there are many warbands of…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 14, 2021
18)
…other orcs, orogs, half-orcs, and the like wandering the Sword Coast lands.
Orc barbarian tribes with names like Evil Eye, Death Moon, Broken Bone, Vile Rune, and Rotting Eye are found in the Greyhawk setting. 19)
In the Sword Coast North of the Forgotten Realms, the only similar orc name is “the Broken Rune,” and it’s not a tribal name, but an allegiance/philosophy: the Broken Rune refers to an orc legend about a pact (the Rune) among…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 14, 2021
20)
…orcs, elves, and dwarves, broken millennia ago, that orcs believe the other two races broke, and that this justifies orc raids “to get even.”
Orc warbands will bear the name and device their leader favours, so in the 1490s: 21)
The 40-50-strong warband led by Othrogh Four-Arms, a battle-scarred, cunning old veteran with graying skin and four arms, has a badge (and name) of Four Fists, drawn in a counter-clockwise, crooked-down-to-punch pinwheel.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 14, 2021
22)
The 30-plus warband of the shrewd, sneering Guthmur, a mountain orc with a deep scar that clefts his left jaw, is the Reavers, and its badge is a black scythe-blade, dripping many drops of red blood, on a white banner field. 23)
The almost-40-strong warband of the grim, gigantic orc brothers Durth (the talker) and Targh (the silent mountain) are The Mighty. Their badge is an upright, fingers-to-viewer orc left fist that’s jutting spikes all around.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 14, 2021
24)
The Maragog orc tribe of (caverns deep in) The Crags sends out three to five “bring back food and prove yourselves” warbands of young members (all classes and genders) every year. All fly a maroon banner adorned with a row of… 25)
…four black talons. They bear the names Pride of Maragog, Valor of Maragog, Reach of Maragog, Thirst of Maragog, and Fang of Maragog, and these names get endlessly recycled, with different personnel.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 14, 2021
26)
There are also many smaller, lesser-known, or recently formed warbands led by powerful orcs, or an orc shaman-plus-two or three brute warriors nucleus, and they tend to be named for their leaders.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 14, 2021