Jim Kline @xalith · 4h@TheEdVerse A question I haven't been able to find an answer to: in the Forgotten Realms, what has a soul and what doesn't? Do plants, animals, etc?

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 10, 2020

I’m playing a Kelemvorite acolyte in Tomb of Annihilation, who doesn’t want to contribute to the destruction of souls, if possible1)
As per the game rules, all living things have an animating spirit. Sentient beings also have souls. Even intelligent creatures can no longer learn if they lose their souls. (Instinct is different from learned experience.) …#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 10, 2020

2)
…So a soul and sentience are inextricably linked.
As a DM, I would rule that the moment you have full self-awareness, defined as the ability to “put yourself in another being’s boots” or see other points of view/appreciate the… 3)
…world-view of others, you have a soul. Which means plants and lower-intellect animals (value judgment implicit, but if an animal is incapable of training by sentients, or loyalty to a species other than its own, it’s ‘lower’)…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 10, 2020

4)
…have animating spirits, but not souls. Your acolyte PC will have to wrestle lifelong with where, when it comes to animals, the line is, and may decide to err on the side of caution. Horses, oxen, dogs, cats, and other 5)
…non-magically-coerced animal companions all have souls, but an animal companion (squirrel, bat, lizard) acquired by a druid through use of spells or class abilities may or may not have a soul.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 10, 2020

Evergold, the Fountain of Beauty, the Fountain of Youth,or the Fountain of Youth and Beauty. Is it really the actual source of all elven and eladrin beauty? What would happen if it were destroyed, corrupted or clogged up so to speak? Is it also the source of their longevity?

— RidianGray (@RidianG) August 7, 2020

1)
No, Evergold isn’t the source of all elven or eladrin beauty or longevity. It is a nigh-pure-energy cleanser and renewer for ALL life, divine or mortal. It can’t be successfully clogged up or destroyed except in one place—“It can’t be successfully clogged up or destroyed except in one place—“

What place would that be, please?

— Mask of Dragons #BlackLivesMatter #WeAreAntifa (@AceofDragons1) August 7, 2020

I meant whatever place it was thus attacked in. One of the places it can be found, not a sole specific location.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 7, 2020

Posed this question in the FR group on FB, but thought I'd try here too. 3E's Unforgettable East shows an unnamed lake in eastern Rawlinswood (now Dunwood). I'm curious if it has an official name? Same question for the hills to its south? @vorpaldicepress @TheEdVerse @gkrashos pic.twitter.com/g3qso9dKaq

— Joe Raso (@_Joe_Raso) June 12, 2020

1)
George’s “gravitas” was well-chosen, as you’ll see.
That lake was short-lived, evaporating over the space of a few years, and appeared even more suddenly. You’ll search for it in vain today (1490s DR); all that’s left is some… 2)
…lower ground in the unbroken forest. And perhaps the scattered, gnawed bones of the lake’s creator, Daozor Zantskuld, an ambitious Red Wizard of Thay who sought to become Zulkir of Conjuration when Sabass was assassinated.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) June 12, 2020

3)
To impress Szass Tam, in hopes of being chosen, Zantskuld crafted a teleport spell of sufficient power to pluck a mammoth iceberg from the frigid seas west of Ironmaster and bring it to where he stood, in northeastern… 4)
…Rawlinswood, with a hand-picked audience of admirers. The spell worked, all too well: the iceberg appeared in midair above Zantskuld—and then crashed to the ground thanks to gravity and the spell abruptly ending, when its…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) June 12, 2020

5)
…exhausted caster lost consciousness.
So the meltwater lake of Zant’s Folly or Zantmere was created. There was so much ice in the berg that it took some years before it all ran off, sank into the ground, or evaporated.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) June 12, 2020