sages interview with the old mage with
special guest Eric Boyd in George
crashes before we get started with the
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edited and put out for ready to enjoy
all right not any further ado here is
episode 13
[Music]
any story or legend concerning the
figure of Rio thourough of the blades
that you’d like to know about
that’s a foreman pseudonym of Doug
Falcon hand of the Seven Sisters she
used that I think when she was in her
younger adventuring phase and it’s
mentioned in the Seven Sisters accessory
as I recall but it’s only a mention
there’s no really real information as to
what Doug got up to when she was really
of the blades had you got it into see on
that one guess
wait if you’re gonna stay in Diego go
back get another glass yes
that’s tokeep yeah I go and get another
glass no actually I did actually write a
long sword & Sworcery novella before TSR
acquired the realms which had some of
her adventures and a certain person at
TSR read it and said oh my god we can
never publish this because think of a
think of conan sexed up with a female
lead and think of what TSR was
publishing back then and there
worrying about teenage teenagers and the
teenagers mothers and fathers from from
heck as as James Ward used coal so yeah
they just would so it is NDA but it’s
not NDA because we don’t it’s because
the devale of proprietary gut drawn over
that because I was having great fun
doing swordplay and humor and such
things as you know the Guardsmen lost
opened the bedchamber door and rage
where the blades decides that the easy
way to flee them because she doesn’t
want to fight them in her current state
of complete lack of dress and so on is
to take the entire bed that she’s
occupying with two or three other people
at the time and fling it through the
window and ride it to the courtyard
below and that all of those pratfalls
that you’ve seen in many musketeers
movies involving you know swinging on
ropes and draperies and and on Pirates
of the Caribbean in the movie since
inherited
that sort of unintentional or or labored
intentional hilarity space you know
where there’s pratfalls going on people
almost getting guillotined or almost
getting hanged and not quite and all the
rest of it okay I did tons of that sort
of stuff and it they weren’t ready for
it back then so I Raider just got
quietly um put in a file drawer and the
file drawer with slip the check this one
edits directed from you but I imagine
everybody can jump in on this it’s from
Eric Todd yes what can you tell us about
the island of darcel or the capital
urban within the shining sea he says
aside from the wiki the most I can seem
to find detailing cárcel in any capacity
is a candlekeep forum post from 2006
that explains it was once a lizard man
kingdom but the lizard men have
retreated into the Underdark via the
hundreds of limestone tunnels that
honeycomb the island he says he’d be
very interested in more details on this
island and he’s currently running a
seafaring campaign with the shining sea
region so I know that we’re probably
gonna get the NBA hammer dropped on this
but you other guys come on now we can
work with this I I can I can maybe start
while edx’s email go I have it out in
front of me I’m loaded for bear with
this foot but go okay you only hurt when
I go first
yeah go ahead all right so context right
so Stephen wrote up Callum sham Lake
esteem this is back in 1370 timeframe or
I guess earlier than that when Stephen
was writing and we sort of got the lands
to the north and when we were writing up
serpent kingdoms you know we kind of did
that whole eastern side of the shining
sea down to the southern side and thar
still kind of stuck right there in the
middle I always intended to write it up
but never quite got to it but II did
share a whole lot of lower back in the
day around that but before we get into
that the preview would be that there are
little mentions of thar salt scattered
around in a bunch of very obscure
sources
they include of course there is a little
bit about the activities of the coiled
cable which is a wanti organization and
there they’re influenced parcels in the
serpent kingdoms box are booked in races
of faroan there’s a discussion of the
fact that our salt is of the majority of
the human population comes from the
tassel our and most of the humans of the
tassel are have gradually succumbed to
the serpent races and so the culture
around our salt in a sense is a
rejection of that of that in breeding
with them so you get a little bit of
information there in laces of faroan
there’s also a couple others as well
there is sorry where is it oh yeah back
in the original second edition Waterdeep
product in a brief mention in in the
third edition city of splendors water
deep as well is a brief discussion of
the may raw the Marin family who married
into the island family they are from
tarsals and were known to breed watch
spiders which are in not uncommon use in
the city of splendors so those are some
of the more obscure references and then
I’d take it away oh boy here we go
thanks George for for sending me back
the file but let me start with the quick
overview the quick overview is what is
star Sol okay it’s an island
strategically located in the middle of
the shining sea and it’s a crossroads
it’s a bank and the realms equivalent of
a stock exchange and a neutral trading
ground for many merchants it has an
arrangement with certain elves to defend
it with their spell jamming ships if
need be and it has many subterranean
vaults and granaries granaries and
vaults being chambers in all of those
tunnels
the major docks are at capital Pervez
far salt has more wealth in or under it
than just about anywhere else in the
realms but many folk are interested in
seeing that it stays safe so that new
school ground I talked about holds firm
it’s understood that if you attack our
assault or try a high beast from tar
salt you are dead as a traitor in a
spender
from that moment on all across the
repels so aside from the denizens of the
Underdark or other planes nobody will
think of trying so it’s not a place that
pirates show up and raid all the time
okay our salt seems to have guardian
dragons of its own to fight such threats
not to mention death tyrants and other
unsavory and powerful guardians down in
some of the subterranean areas that’s
the quickie overview and now all the
stuff I wrote up my god we’ll be here
all night if I read it all should i what
do you do your worst buddy okay so here
we go
are you ready no one is the Isle of
spices is a great trading center we’re
in much of the bulk goods and coins
involved in trading around the shining
sea and sward coasts naval trading as
far north as mint iron and water deep
change hands so thir soul functions as a
tolerant neutral ground for merchants
trading in slaves drugs and just about
anything everything else once a lizard
folk realm later conquered by seafaring
humans it’s long been known as the place
where merchants trade flourishes in the
shining sea kept free of piracy along
with all the surrounding waters within
sight of it by the Pirates themselves
because as the Pirates needed access to
all mainland goods not just what they
could seize her from ships and so they
supported and fostered the safe haven
for all far salt is adjacent to the
undersea aquatic or elven realm of all
moth AUM are au th on Roth which are
Sultan traders covertly trade for
undersea delicacies in various local
cloves by night and is a rocky and
heavily forested Island think real world
northern Italy or Tuscany in some places
of that has been left natural on its
cliffs rising steeply from the sea
western side and it’s shoal rocks girded
southeastern shore and that’s of course
where any surviving
can be found the rest of thar salt has
been almost entirely built over in steep
terraces of stucco face stone homes that
abound in flat rooftop gardens balconies
and small turrets these walled garden
homes and tall warehouses cluster around
stone and sarthe and Sarkis crabgrass
stone and South streets that rise
usually in spiral like roots from the
many harbors notably those in the three
largest and busiest coves that lie side
by side on its northern shore on therm
au n th you are our chaste all see a a t
st al CH a sta o and zu ana Z or Z o
a and a these mu rigs and their
settlement share place names as does the
largest harbor of thar salt southern
coast to number two un um be AR to
number smaller coves often have map
names and different names used by local
Mariners which allows thar Sultan’s to
discuss smuggling and covert landings
and meetings in front of Outlanders who
may well mistake which codes are being
discussed of old sour salt had quite a
reputation for smuggling thanks to ship
dashing from various shining sea ports
to the island to trade cargoes with
pirate parrots and other ships before
naval vessels could catch up to and
board them and such activities were
aided by the many sea caves that
honeycomb the coasts of the Isle of
spices curious visitors are warned that
most of these caves are now in regular
used as docks and warehouses merchants
who dwell above them and keep watch over
them as well as of course breath all of
the four largest harbors are home to
large and capable shipyards which repair
vessels and build many new ones our
sultan crafters also produce sales wire
fine chain and metal fastenings the Isle
of spices is also home to many
accomplished forgers and counterfeiters
often outlaws who fled from authorities
in various mainland realms who produce
many false coins indistinguishable from
real currencies for assaults nickname is
derived from its hosting one of the
largest spice mark
no ninfa room several vintners bring
shiploads of raw wine to thurso for
blending and fortifying into the oily
salty black wine Sherri’s and liqueurs
and the Emerald huge sin tothen s int AV
VI n sin tavern which is a mint flavored
palate cleansing drink favored by few
but used in large feasts in kalin-san
and around the shining sea to clear the
tongue between dishes of strong but
clashing flavors so in real world terms
think of having a nice drink of
mouthwash or toothpaste in water in
between dishes courses you’re eating and
the long feast almost anything could be
bought sold or traded in thar salt where
wealth is king nominally ruled by a
merchant council established centuries
ago to put it into thieving gangs and
piracy buy such prominent rich merchant
families as the once famous stars family
sta RT H start family a human clan of
fabled wealth now possibly extinct see L
minsters ever winking I number 79 on its
now policed by belters clergy of joaquín
of the lowest ranks usually ambitious
and attentive priests seeking to prove
themselves who lead small patrols of
highly paid mercenary
warriors around the island to primarily
do three things
keep order stopping violence and
property crimes such as theft scuttling
of ships arson and vandalism maintain
fairness of trade stopping bribery
cheating coercion and secret deals
defined as any arrangement that affects
wider market prices and conditions but
is kept secret from other traders such
as price-fixing
arrangements of scarcities and favorable
prices to insiders note that these are
legal if declared openly and prevent
gang operations of all kinds from secret
trade deals such as here we go again
price-fixing arrangement of scarcities
in favorable prices to insiders whether
secret are openly declared these are
illegal when they involve more than
to merchants and firms wholly owned by
those two merchants among cabal’s to
battles between mercantile organizations
kidnapping on fire salt is automatically
considered gang operations and no thar
Sultan can be sold into slavery or
traded as a slave in short if merchants
avoid thievery overt violence and unfair
dealing they can very much do as they
please in particular free speeches of
Hell on fire salt folk can’t with
impunity talk openly of arranging
killings civil wars coos and illicit
acts on the mainland and against
priesthoods the name belter comes from
the distinctive belts adorned with a row
of three hand sized diamond shape plates
of metal which is the unofficial badge
of thir soul sometimes seen in the form
of banners displaying three copper hue
diamonds on a crimson field and the
belters all report to tables and tables
are trios of experienced our Sultan’s of
good character usually retired
successful merchants who in turn report
to the council it’s well known that the
council pays belters very well and pays
undercover spies to watch the builders
and any merchants who seem interesting
as well even better
so treachery against council by those
working for it is typically punished by
chopping off a hand for the first events
and either slavery or death first second
typical punishments for those who have
bitch Libre Clause is to be beaten by
some belters and find increasingly
heavily xio is usually the ultimate
punishment although death awaits those
who poison others the council is said to
have 14 open members and another seven
hidden members who travel frequently
around our salt observing conditions and
intrigues and making recommendations to
their fellows the council votes to
establish policies sometimes in public
but more often in secret meetings and
thar Sultan’s widely believe the council
is controlled by sinister hidden ones
who are either powerful Archmage’s
horrific monsters or cabal’s of mainland
rulers or pirates depending on which
local legend one beliefs carved
statuettes seldom taller
the length of a man’s forearm were used
as local currency in past centuries and
are still honoured unfold our salt but
most visiting traders prefer to use
trade bars coins and gems health’s used
for the making of fur garments both are
salt and crafters and by workers in
realms that trade with shippers who call
it fair salt and docks are also locally
valued highly enough and a fairly stable
prices to serve as widely accepted
barter currency on the island and then
there are the aforementioned alloy
plaques that we talked about earlier in
the podcast languages abound on our salt
but common is understood by all and
inhabitants are so interpret that
there’s no longer any norm of skin hue I
or hair color or even human pure blood
appearance as a result tolerance for a
very wide variety of personal appearance
dress and customs is high and white
spread serpent related being the notable
exception many thar Sultan’s are
fabulously wealthy locally pursuing
one’s dreams or remaining true to one’s
own principles among the many many
intrigues and schemes is what’s valued
most highly amongst our Sultan’s born
and bred popular male given names
include blamed Korth Darmon ender hello
daughter
Hallman jars Arthur Harris are Rollem
turth and Vorlon popular female first
names Alice Balala coral Duffner EV
entre Phaedra gallery Clarice nayoon Oh
Lara eunsuh and gsella P popular
surnames Corle aunt grace Coulomb Montez
Norlin on trim Kwan’s roar a der stadt
and wealth and no I’m not spelling all
those out we’ll have to find some other
way of making all those available with
the full spelling there is no way I’m
making you sit there for another 20
minutes okay first time will be struck
by its wealth
crowded conditions ceaseless deal-making
and mercantile
better and it’s exotic and by exotic I
mean think real world Hollywood images
of hari’s dancing girls displayed in
many taverns and inns by slavers looking
to make on the spot saddles far salts
also famous for being the place to buy
stolen shifts trade charts of anywhere
in the world usually very reliable
if fragmentary bottled scents and
treasure maps notoriously fanciful these
treasure maps owned by the way the
dancing girls aren’t there just for show
they are the eyes and ears of the
proprietor they listen to what’s going
on and they quite often by sight rating
on what they learn either selling it
directly or making their own deals on
the basis that they do very well for
there’s a recent rumor a reclusive mage
of fire salt who’s been magically
augmenting and breeding creatures lizard
folk or is this the source of it super
gargoyle is slain by his creations which
run amok stowing away aboard ships and
causing general mayhem in the Isle of
spices which serves most Sword Coast
shipping as a neutral ground supply
refitting and trading base of course the
mage had apprentice isms some of them
are missing along with some of the
Augmented creatures searches don’t
uncover these vanished beings or any of
the mages magic except a large network
of gates opening his doors from a round
room of trauma the mages tower and
leading to all sorts of places in the
realms various power groups desiring to
control these gates as a swift cargo
trading slash message conveying network
fight to possess them hiring adventurers
and more adventures as the struggle
rages on and I also have a tiny little
entry on the island that you’ll see on
the maps east of our salt Umbara
embarras named for a sorceress who fled
from the altar to avoid an arranged
marriage she feared and aided centuries
ago and she dwelt on this island in
hiding until her death the ruins of her
cave home are haunted by her off scene
restlessly watching the living in
silence apparition the island was once
home to many world goats said to be
descended from beasts that she brought
there but these were hunted almost to
extinction by passing pirates and
sailors several wealthy merchants
rumored to be pirates or part of fel
secret conspiracies are said to
now be settling Umbara and building
palatial fortresses there Umbara has no
cities or sizeable settlements but does
have many springs caves trees breakneck
ravines and small inlets can serve as
good single ship harbours and there we
are hopefully that’s enough so you can
use darcel in your campaign no wait
there’s more aha for folks who are
really desperate for more references
there is an obscure reference in the
men’s Oberon’s and box set to a city
called Marilyn which is a drow city of
the south that is below the ocean floor
to the west of far salt and appears on
the map of the Underdark in grits two
wardens guide to the underdog and it
just for attacking a drow city of the
north Joel Joel chicken something like
that that’s probably not it wait wait
some time ago that’s why I like Joe
chicken let’s do that we’re talking
about chicken earlier so I think it
might be just south can but anyway yeah
we’re gonna go with Joel chicken since
we’re talking about money one other
point to bring up is there is a cow site
trade bar you also used in parcel – Luda
Natasha lar and other southern trade
that is 7 inches long but both sides by
boat long sides both smoothly in word
half an inch on either end making the
bar easier to grip that’s worth about 25
GP so you will find those in parcels as
well and that is a reference from power
of a room and then the last thing I
wanted to mention is there’s an obscure
reference from prayer
from the faithful about a church of
Amberleigh known that was once known as
the Church of the deeps which was once
the mightiest temple of um burly in the
realms but it’s now no more than a
sacred room to which umberland clergy
make pilgrimages and that was led by one
jurist and before the the Church of the
deeps was destroyed so there’s a few
other sites for you to include as well
because it wasn’t enough and Ed’s
summary so Eric Eric that duh that I’m
really ruined is that is that something
that’s on par salt yes it is okay a
northerner so southern part of the
island it’s on the west coast the the
rocky cliffs to the west coast and it’s
in a cavern on the west coast so further
near the drought City that’s hiding
underneath the sea Oh any any any way
they can go into that to pay pilgrimage
and then make it into the Underdark
there’s always a way into the end that’s
true why lad that was incredible both
you Eric
sorry I think I think when this podcast
finally hits YouTube I might upload that
file onto your thread at candlekeep ed
so people can access that and get all
the spellings right etcetera etcetera
yeah a good idea um we should convert it
from RTF to work and fix the firoun
because it doesn’t like the bu with the
accent or something weird oh no problem
you know what you could put that part on
there just the mages and sages podcast
you can put two there too if you want
yeah please do oh and I should add a
promise of getting into the Underdark
from the ruined um Burley temple if you
are oh let’s just use the word stupid
enough to move the altar like a big
stone block altar and which is carved
into like an open shell shape and try
and see if there’s something buried
underneath it gravity will help you get
into the under right then right there my
god silly helps you get out of the under
yeah
I mean you are their brief we had just
enough to say it’s dark you dead okay so
let’s move on as wonderful as that was I
almost hate hate to do it I’ve got one
here from the woolly Rupert over on
candlekeep one of the moderators he says
in 100 starts eating Eric we’ve already
been told of tales of IDI singing and
dancing like cher we don’t need that
right now he says do what nothing sorry
go ahead
say it would be will either that’s true
in a major city of the realms like water
deep where there is gold to waste magic
for it to be wasted on one of the
cosmetic applications of magic in the
sunlight something that would probably
go more toward the nobility in water
deep for example magic hairdos and
coloring magic formal wear magic
faceless tummy tucks boob jobs and how
is this regarded by others the short
answer is those lucky bastards look what
they’ve got many my stuff kek kind of
reminds me of the hole i forgot the name
of the movies now but were the girl on
fire in those name in a minute we’re off
the people in the city the capital city
had money to waste on them on all this
stuff now is it kind of like water deep
nobility when they can make hairdos
change colour by the by the hour or
maxwell football where that that has
fairy fire running across it yeah many
of the nobles do it would actually have
all that much money left but you should
always remember that in water deep this
is a crossroad city where lots of people
are coming and bringing their money all
the time and there is a guild
Wizards you know the watchful order
mages and protectors and they do a lot
of this stuff has sort of look what you
could have our members can do this for a
mere fill in the blank so there’s
there’s people walking around as
examples of that all the time and one of
my favorite examples that I’ve used in
role playing in the realms for literally
40 years a real time is ladies of
shorter stature who have huge piled high
hairdos that are magically kept in place
and that move so that tresses sinuously
move and reshape into other forms as a
sort of living sculpture as they walk
along I would add that there are lots of
I have the feeling that it’s partly L
Minister’s fault it’s probably mostly
Volos fault but you know adventurers
tend to focus on the magics that are
useful for combat for divination for
observation and and and miss some of the
smaller things and just like some of the
faith’s of the realms that are very
important like the the church of shantia
but you know the focus is on you know
the Church of being Church of Tempest
the Church of Mike Straub but the Church
of Santi and many respects plays a very
important role in the common life and I
think the same is true for magic items
there’s a really cool spell in Volos
guide to the north that Edie wrote
called Moonglow
which just allows you to leave like
these permanent little magical glowing
lights and I don’t think we’ve seen
enough of those type of magics
that are just useful and practical but
not necessarily for adventures more for
people who are just living their lives
and I suspect there are a lot of those
little practical magics and magic items
as well both amongst those ood and even
to some extent amongst the commoners as
well yeah you’d see a lot of moonglow’s
of various custom hues used in nobles
Gardens for late at night because you
want to walk out and set them to the you
know get some fresh air you don’t want
to be carrying around lanterns or having
to wake up a servant when you can just
walk out there and
Moonglow is room waiting another place
you would find moonglow’s is in the high
forest there’s not very many paths on
the forest floor
but Tana 10 of Endor which is the name
for the various wood elf clans have
created these trails through the
treetops where they woven different
branches from tree to tree together and
you can run along the branches and hop
from tree to tree and go miles this way
without being down on the dangerous
forest floor and many of those 10 of
Endor trails are lit by moon glows as
well so that’s that’s where you see more
common uses of magic is things like how
do we light a trail how do we how do we
keep the food fresh how do we keep the
milk from spoiling that sort of thing as
well but most adventurers and you know
public fabulous like whoa whoa don’t
tend to focus in on those little things
as much as the big you know smash things
blow things up block things kind of
smells they just want the fireball
exactly yeah right right and to use a to
use a useful real-world thing let us
assume in the realms you are in a place
that is you consider fairly safe there
aren’t tons of walls or other monsters
at night or brigands bandits who will be
attracted to a light and therefore call
you and call you into danger there is a
real-world thing called leapfrogging if
you’re ever in the woods at night or in
fog or mist on a lake or whatever and
you’re trying to follow a direction and
not get lost and you have a compass or a
good map you spend one party member with
the glow the lantern or the magical glow
you send them ahead as far as they can
get and you can still see them and then
you yelled for them no to the left to
the right to the left until they’re
right on the compass fairy and then you
all go to join them and then you send
them out again this is called leap
frogging and it’s how you don’t get lost
in the woods with lots of trees and the
ground going up and down and you’re
caught in it in the dark and you want to
get out the other side and not
something and not get lost forever
that’s how you do it
so like don’t tell somebody took you
here now the drought do that with with
their ferry fire and stuff mm-hmm the
ostentatious display of power but in
core man an in Cormier or in water deep
I could see that being where you go into
a luscious garden of a noble and as you
walk the path lights as you go that’s
right did I just head you know and as
you step on the stones they light up
different colors and and then they get
these sparkly things that float up just
to give you joy you know and I think I
think it’s kind of what well you don’t
forget the ghost harps yes mm-hmm
that’s kinda guess what what Willie was
was talking about you know to show to
show power to show money mean if they
don’t have any I mean not to know
abilities still gonna hide under the God
under the you know that they still have
money but they may not have it but they
still want to put on those airs oh sure
and and if you have a house that’s a
mansion in water deep that’s pretty
shabby because you don’t have money to
put it to keep it up and you’re gonna
have guests over well you want the magic
to make it look grand so to cover the
cracks in the walls and the falling
plaster is all right no absolutely
absolutely that’s I think that’s kind of
way I see it
nothing is what he was talking about
ostentatious knows that snare gonna go
away until they absolutely have no money
mm-hm okay so I think it’s time Eric
this is for you to delve into our
question bike Isis that was sent about
the Elven noble houses okay so yes this
this all stems from a conversation I had
with Edie about five years ago
and is informed by a couple other
sources particularly some of the novels
by rich Baker and troy denning so I
think it’s a mistake to think about
elephant noble houses as equivalent to
human houses you know normally you think
of human noble families is being
affiliated with a specific realm and all
the houses really aren’t necessarily
affiliated with a specific realm they
also tend to exist for a very very long
time
George and I have been delving into a
variety of elven houses you know in some
respects you can almost think of an
elven house is a small extremely
long-lived organization with blood ties
the elven houses also tend to be far
more common amongst the the moon elves
and the gold elves but you know just
like you know Harvard thinks its
superior to Princeton the gold L house
is of course offering themselves
superior to the moon outhouses there are
even a few wood elf houses or at least a
were around the time of Mick drama but
those are relatively uncommon and
usually have unique stories so within
the gold elf and Moon elf sub-races
there’s really an elaborate society
built on the concept of noble houses and
each house is founded on a bloodline and
either goes extinct or dormant if all
blood members of the house are dead or
missing and unlike humans you know elven
nobility does not necessarily convey
ownership of land or sovereignty or does
it imply any duty to the realm and many
elven houses are in fact spread across
multiple realms and and and they’re more
loyal in some respects to their house
than they are to the realm that they
live in rather such privileges and
obligations are considered separately
from once noble status although most
leadership in moon or gold elf society
are commonly given to member to members
of the nobility and historically many of
the elven noble houses have spanned as I
said one or more elven kingdoms and it’s
the weird thing is elven nobility is not
a concept that can be revoked by any
given elder elven ruler although a
particular elven ruler can grant it so
once an established coronel has granted
the charter of nobility to a noble house
that house is then noble even if its
members spread across multiple elven
realms that may or may not be closely
aligned and the only means that noble
status can be revoked is either through
the Elvin Court which is now disbanded
or possibly Queen Amla rule of ever meat
might be able to have a voice there as
well and the members of the open house
can this is one thing that makes it
complicated just because you’re a member
of an elven house doesn’t necessarily
mean you’re in Noble so the Elva house
consists of both the nobles of the
bloodline and the servitors employed by
nobles the house and each elven house
has different rules as to which races
are permitted to be members of that
particular house or like do we do we
allow half-bloods of the bloodline to be
members of the house do we allow humans
to be servitors of the house
so it kind of varies from house to house
as well and then all elven houses have a
certain status although the house status
varies over time based on the alliances
feuds the size and wealth of a house etc
and as well the number of affiliated
houses the deeds or misdeeds of
individual members of the house whether
the house possesses a moon blade even if
it’s dormant the number of high mages in
the house influences status as well as I
mentioned earlier goal health houses
traditionally of higher status and
comparable moon health houses but such
distinctions are more legacy at the gold
elven houses having a longer ancestry on
average then necessarily the racial
disparity you can label an elven house
is either greater or lesser based on
whether or not they have affiliated
houses and those affiliated houses are
known as steps s EPTs and all whether
they are an affiliated house themselves
so a house with no steps is usually
considered a lesser noble house but it
might be accorded the rank of a greater
noble house and some kingdoms the other
thing to mention is that noble houses
are super linear or super lineal in
structure and if that’s an elven concept
that holds that the higher status house
predominates in a marriage this is a
little bit different than a lot of human
Nobles so if you have two no blouses
regardless of the genders object of the
two individuals who are marrying the
higher status house predominates in the
men in them in the marriage so for
example if you had a member of
Lemar which is a house Georgia spent a
good deal of time designing wisdom area
member of house in this floor which is
referred to in both Troy’s trilogy and
Rich Baker’s trilogy and the latter Amos
for was of higher status in house Lamar
then both spouses would be considered
part of house in us for blood if a noble
marries a commoner then both spouses
either take the name of the noble or the
commoner depending on the decision of
the house leadership and if they take
the name of the commoner then the
marriage forms a new house which is
considered a Sept of the original house
so for example house me misen which is
rather infamous now is considered to be
a hat a Sept of house duracell implying
that at some point in the past
adora film doble married a commoner with
the family name of me misen and the
leaders of house duracell decided to
recognize the Union as a new Sept rather
than bringing the newlyweds into house
during film and that would have been
their choice so you have this sort of or
get organically growing houses that can
either keep adding to their own number
or create a large number of subs and
either and their advantages and
disadvantages to eat in some houses more
often in moon elven houses than gold
open houses any one of Elvin Bloods
considered noble well in other houses
only full-blooded elves are accorded
that status and all Elvin Nobles the
titles I’d actually like to hear a
little bit from head on but in the
common tongue they’re basically all
considered lords or ladies after
reaching 90 years of age and
demonstrating some measure of
accomplishment when once granted such
titles are rarely if ever looked oKed
and only by the agreement all the living
members of house and in some houses
additional titles are granted to senior
members of the house particularly the
house leadership although such titles
are rarely employed outside of elven
society so you might be lord patriarch
der Sar but you know no one’s gonna call
you that they’re gonna call you Lord der
Sar if they’re addressing you in the
common tongue and there’s probably a
wide range of elven titles that would
apply so most houses are led by a
matriarch or patron
and the method of choosing the house
leadership varies from house to house
sometimes it’s inherited sometimes
there’s an election each house is unique
and for widely scattered houses there
may be the concept of a local leader per
individual Kingdom but then each house
is a leadership structure that spans the
entire bloodline regardless of which
were all may inhabit in some houses
leadership is passed to a ruling duo
triune or Council and ruling duos and
try owns usually arise when the current
matriarch of patriarchy dies and a
proper heir is not yet of age that
ninety or ninety years old wool and
ruling tribes might include like two
elder sisters and a younger brother or
an elder widow or widower of the late
patriarch and a matriarch or and their
young child and in cases where the
ruling house goes extinct or dormant
rule the house may pass to the ruler of
the only cept or in the case of multiple
steps passes to a council composed of
the matriarch of matriarch on each set
so that kind of tells you a little bit
about how they work and they’re
definitely different than a lot of human
nobility and I thought it might be
useful to sort of give you an example of
how to become how one family became a
noble house so I’m going to pick on
house der Sar which is famous for being
the head of Hill holders of ever Eska
it’s Lord speakers usually also the hill
elder so house dura saw ancestry back to
the final days of Ora char which was an
elven realm ere the crown wars and what
we now call the dust would in the char
and it fell to a surprise attack by the
armies at Iliff ear during a second
ground war and the lok of that assault
the surviving members of Clan der Sar
which was just a merchant clan they
weren’t Nobles they fled north to the
high forest where the clan had a small
trading outpost on the periphery of Erev
and are which we now think of as the
ruin known as core foon in the south
wood and in the centuries that followed
the
elders of Clan der Sar although they
were grateful for the refuge they became
increasingly concerned by the erratic
and cool whims of the ruling house of
every vampire so they’re still not
Nobles but these this is what they went
through to become Nobles in their own
they ally themselves with three noble
houses of Arab and are who are plotting
to escape and establish a better and
more peaceful homeland then you know so
they’re sort of a merchant clan still
allied with these noble houses then
about 12,000 years ago tell in Dardar so
a ranger of Flanders are he made a
pivotal discovery beneath what we now
know as the gray cloak Hills thought
they’ve also been known as the tomb
Hills or the Haleiwa and he discovered a
series of shallow cover housing a clutch
of silver dragon eggs the eggs one
admits the catching and where and there
was a red worm waiting to eat the new so
the Ranger of Clan dursa gave his life
defending the worm legs only to find
himself reborn the following morn
resurrected by the worms of Eris in thir
which is a dress a silver helmet
preceded the elven realm of ever Eska
amidst the Sheridan and after learning
of the Rangers mission those silver
worms showed him these mysterious non
natural portals with seven connections
to health a rune underneath the gray
cloak hills in these shallow caverns and
what was interesting about this
effectively non magical portal network
was it was undetectable by the vise
chantara high mages and so clan der Sar
still not Noble
they helped three air even dark and the
state joined by six clans from our deep
in CRP earth and they left plan der Sar
behind to cover their retreat and help
other refugees follow in their way and
so before they left they helped
construct a portal linking some standing
stones near the river Delamere which is
where for foon is with a similar circle
in the Ethel air or Arg Lake grey cloak
Hills now at this point the this clamp
this merchant clan is distinguished
itself by a sin
actually allowing nine plant nine noble
houses from three separate realms to
escape the wrath of area and our and go
off and fly on their own at all they’re
still not noble stuff and then during
the fifth crown war caverns beneath the
Phil later became a rallying point for
levels into the place into our empire
and I’m agents from various persecuted
noble houses took refuge in those caves
a height from her seat each other and
then in one of the last battles of the
fifth round of our command vice and
finally found the secret refuge and
attacked a rebel outlets and countless
elves died from both sides as did many
of the allied silver dragons from
Harrisonburg who rallied to their aid
and at long last the rebels prevailed
and they eat at them about the plight of
Aravinda left behind a broken lamp on
their bed and she’s in the light so you
know this is an example of still you
know we have a clan that is
distinguishing itself and it’s still not
in noble yet and so what happened is
after the silver wag it’s over dragons
have plans Silverwing departed then
finally Coronel dere 10 are Terran seer
of Aloha which was up and what we would
now known as the desert mouth mountains
where those nine clans fell had fled he
he finally a noble plan der Sar for
their centuries of servants like their
newly elevated Lord patriarch in
perpetuity is Watchers over the as
watcher over the hills and he granted
him the Ethel air yaki Geus which
loosely translated in modern times is
the ever Escott charter it’s a title and
a charter that continued to outlast the
realm that granted them so Illinois is
gone but clan der Sar is still a noble
because a core nolo villain are decided
to a noble plan der Sar and thereafter
they were known as haus der Sar and also
gave him the title of watcher over the
hills meaning the gray cloak hills set
them up to be essentially first among
equals of the noble houses of ever Eska
and that’s kind of
it takes to become an elven noble house
it’s that hard if you’re kind of getting
ennoble for the first time but if you
marry into an existing noble house it’s
fairly easy you may either be part of
that noble house or leadership hu sort
of on off ascent so you kind of have two
widely different ways of becoming a
noble house one of which is through
marriage and building off an existing
bloodline and the other is starting up a
whole new bloodline and the latter is
much more difficult to do and requires a
great amount of work
so hopefully that kind of explains how
the nobility works and what it takes to
become a newly elevated double house I
don’t know edie did I miss anything
nope no don’t know um except there was a
second part of that question or a
follow-up from crisis were there any
little loan spells that you created that
were used by very specific elven
families that would have been passed
down from member to member as an
heirloom or whatnot that’s the question
and my answer is yes there are many such
spells but they tend to be small-scale
low in power and concerned with everyday
utility like dusting and polishing and
fetching items that are somewhere in
this house but darned if I know we’re
just now or with illusions such as
glowing 3d animated images like
Holograms of departed memory ancestors
that family who can be conjured up to
dance or stand as if bearing witness or
be used to trick hostile non-ells
into thinking a lone elf or weak group
of elves has many others nearby oh that
is fantastic and I have a request
because Eric that was absolutely
incredible in depth in so much knowledge
and there’s so much so much lore is it
okay if I put if I turn that into a
document and post it on to the mages and
sages
I can put something together for you
yeah okay and you’d that be fantastic
something in just like a word document
so I can take it in when I do post this
on when I get it done and put it on on
YouTube when I posted
mages and sages are with the fanpage I
can post that document for people with
anybody wants to download it so how’s
the next one coming along Jeff is it
being uploaded yet no you know I just
that that little technical difficulty we
had in the middle of it there or toward
the end I was I was able to clean it up
I’ll wash it through the noise reduction
quite a bit in there was some kind of
weird noise in the background and I was
able to get rid of it and it’s a little
washed out but it’ll it’ll suffice I’m
almost done with it I should be done
with it by Sunday beautiful looking
forward to it yeah there’s a lot of
great questions on why I watched it I
did I wants to do my computer so it was
a lot of laughs please there’s a lot of
great information on there that that I
think people would enjoy some really
good questions that we had so yeah I
don’t want to man I didn’t want to lose
any of that information that’s why I was
so meticulous about getting it cleaned
up okay so I think what we’re going to
do is I think we’re going to call it a
night for this one we’ve gone through a
lot of information not and you know we
have our salt dissertation and then we
had the one in Erica stir them on the
elves so we have some great information
for people I don’t want to overload them
too much because this is going to cut up
into about probably three three segments
I think and get three seconds out of
this so anybody else have anything else
they want to say before we close it out
well good Jay the pleasure is always
nice you know yeah it’s great I love
doing these let’s hang out I do too I
think it’s wonderful
Erik thank you again and your glass and
alex has been hanging in here and loving
every minute Alex you’re stronger boy
than I was at that age yeah guys all of
your superstar author game developer
writer friends and tell about this great
podcast that we do Tom we need guests
and Khan
that was great if you flex little Boris
absolutely I mean we’re gonna have Brian
Cortile on soon and Eric Scott be and
anybody else if you could think anybody
else who wants to do it ethically and
Steve Chen D&O Stevens chin I’ve already
talked to him but he was sick at the
time but he also wants to wants to do
something we can I can yell at him for
the book black staff tower so because he
hit me right in the fields as they say
[Laughter]
so no definitely if you have anybody
that just has something coming out soon
an article a supplement your wizards or
just something on the DM z– guild yes
give him a call see if they want to come
on and we’d love to have them you know
the more the merrier
I think we’re our limit is about five
people on the podcast so it’s
interesting had I got approached by a
guy half know who is doing some stuff
that DM skilled he’s doing a product on
importer and he asked if I would have a
look at it and whether I wanted to be a
part of it and I great graciously said
no guess what I’m doing my own one day
and I don’t really want to help you with
yours no offense and he said oh you guys
I’ll send you a copy because we’re using
pretty much a lot of most of your
information from candlekeep etc and I
said well you’re entitled to do so
that’s fine I said it’s in the public
domain I said any guys so I’ll send you
a copy I said no don’t send me a copy
either I don’t want to read your copy
because I don’t want to be influenced
when I write mine oh okay well thanks
anyway yeah even when I did find out
that I found out that you guys are being
quoted on candlekeep as well
AJ actually did a transcript of a
portion of one of our earlier podcast
and he trained he transcribed the best
he could
word-for-word almost on on Decatur
kiemce I thought that was a great
that was great that he did that because
I haven’t done it wonderful to although
I was worried that it might have taken
away his cycles from detailing every
last one of the 125,000 NPCs of
Waterdeep which he well that way that
theory
absolutely absolutely sensational I feel
like what do you think you mean to say
if he come up with some for input though
for me cuz he just goes like free and
neck for it he does it so well no
absolutely but it’s kind of neat that
and then and one of the questions I
asked earlier about the magic hairdos is
actually from from tonight they got put
on there okay oh yeah so yeah janna
anybody you can that’d be fantastic we’d
love to have on the show to talk and
promote themselves and and just sit here
and chat about the realms and Eric it’s
been absolutely incredible to have you
we will have you again I promise we’re
gonna we still have more questions but I
think we’re gonna wrap it up tonight
so there was there was one disappointing
feature tonight there guys and then do
any questions Mike Murphy oh we talked
about his wedding and that was it he got
his own plug come on now spike we did
the first question was from him next to
us from his wife I’ve answered a bunch
from from him on messaging and and
Twitter too so he’s been well served yes
he is he’s well done he’s all done now
but yeah that’s fantastic I’ve been
wonderful I loved I loved tonight’s show
because of the Thor assault and the
elves Eric that was incredible in Alex
you’re welcome anytime your dad’s even
when he’s not come on on your inputs
fantastic I’m waiting for the time Alex
days of dad I don’t think that’s quite
right and then I will say that frequent
debate is Alex by far
knows the fifth edition interpretation
of the realms far better than I
and we routinely where I’m comfortably
ensconced in 1375 thinking through the
realms
Alex brings a very updated modern
perspective as to where things need to
end up so it’s actually he’s doing a
great job keeping me honest I think I
see a supplement of oneness as Eric in
the Dalek talk about the realm son he is
proud of Elon I’m actually going to put
him in the credits because he’s been
helping me with an awful lot of it
fantastic week oh my god rude crap a
collations is such a young age I love it
now the guys think you won’t make a
living off of it but you know you could
be consulted by weird people from all
over the world
if you have weird people and shadows as
you walk through convinces going on here
aren’t you that guy I will I will say so
oh one more quick thing so I was doing a
job interview the other day for someone
that we ended up hiring and we completed
the interview process and I and the
hiring and everything and then he said
and I just wanted to say I love what you
did in there are you serious it was
great oh my god it’s you’re like so I
got the job
right here just a front they say you
know what if you are me I’ll make your
own supplement for you you’ve got years
and years of lore just waiting to be put
out I know but I know everybody does so
but really fantastic guys thank you so
much again and appreciate you taking
away your Friday night to do this and
y’all have a great weekend if you had
and if you haven’t seen Avengers and
game go do it
happy Star Wars day tomorrow guys Star
Wars day may the Lord be with you ha ha
ha I think it’s Revenge of the fist but
then that’s what I’ll be drinking that’s
right well guys thank you and you’ll
have a great rest of your night ok
yes guys
[Music]
thank you for joining us for the episode
13 of mages and sages interview with the
old maid special guest Eric Boyd in
George crash shows we hope you join us
next time when we have Bryan core
kyo-ahn
to discuss his work on the area of
Cormier and we hope you enjoy should be
a fantastic time until then keep playing
in the realms
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
you