Dear @TheEdVerse , well met! Sorry if this has been asked before, but could you tell us a little about your original Chessenta? I guess it was not based on Ancient Greece, right?

— Ricardo Williams (@rwgs76) August 10, 2020

1)
No part of my original Realms was based on any direct real-world analogues. (Many designers and DMs have made real-world connections for their own convenience.) Chessenta is a verdant region of many independent city-states, so it could be stretched into a…2)
…comparison with real-world Italy in the time of the condottieri (Middle Ages, just pre-War of the Renaissance) because of climate, wealth, and politics, but I warn again against linking the Realms too closely with what we know of that real-world time and place.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 10, 2020

3)
The Realms is its own world, hopefully NOT a thin copy of ours (or Hollywood-ours).
Chessenta is a gently hilly land of good ports, horsebreeders, successful food-growing farms (and thus, a breadbasket for nearby lands), winding lanes, enough wealth and leisure… 4)
…for painters and sculptors to make good livings and adorn many dwellings with their work, many landscape-transforming gardens, widespread irrigation, good roads and inns and therefore swift travel, and a flourishing culture of writers and readers. Plus wine!#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 10, 2020

is it NDA talking about your original Realms? What is beyond Thay or north of Moonsea? Don’t get me wrong, I love Zakhara or the Hordelands but I’m so courious! Have a magic day! 🧙‍♂️ No, it's not NDA.
Beyond Thay in which direction? Kara-Tur was added to my original Realms.
North of the Moonsea, Vaasa and Damara are also TSR additions (a glacier covered that area), but otherwise, the published "north of the Moonsea" is close to my original.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 22, 2020

was the design of Evermeet island intentionally a sea horse? Sure looks like one to me. Nope. My original drawing of Evermeet doesn’t look all that much like a seahorse. Some later cartographers…yeah, I can see it.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 26, 2020