I’ve been working on an Arcane College campaign module with a particularly sizable Elven population, but I saw you recently post that the Elves of Myth Drannor have once again blocked non-elves from entering. What kind of event could change their mind? They will reopen it the moment the mythal is repaired so the ancestors' tombs are once again structurally secure and the baelnorn are no longer raging.
Which could be very soon. They've been WORKING.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 9, 2022

So there’s potential for a group of 8 archmages to open an arcane college in, say, the Alliance Ward in the near future? I'd say so. Monitored by an elven high mage, of course, to make sure the students are students, and not hostile mages infiltrating (they know some Thultanthans survived).#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 10, 2022

One more question: I’ve read that Essembra was evacuated/abandoned in 1422 DR. Has it been repopulated yet? Oh, yes, almost immediately after the fighting moved elsewhere. Many Essembrans just fled into the Ghost Holds, and came right back when they dared to.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 11, 2022

Is it safe to assume that an embassy in a big city like Waterdeep would have a permanent teleportation circle to go back to whatever country they’re from? @TheEdVerse #dnd

— NewbieDM (@newbiedm) April 4, 2022

1)
No. Such would not be allowed, for security reasons. Khelben trusted no one but himself, and made changes to Ahghairon’s wards. (The original wards have been augmented and modified many times over the years.)
From 1342 DR onwards to the present, you can’t… 2)
…teleport into or out of Waterdeep by means of spells or items, with one exception. You can teleport and dimension door (and use other translocation spells) WITHIN the wards (i.e. from place to place within the city), but you can't pass through the wards UNLESS..#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 5, 2022

3)
…you access one of the invisible, secret-location valves/doors through the wards. These are controlled by the Blackstaff (with three backup individuals, identities secret, but I’ll whisper to you right now that Mirt is one of them, and that all of these backups.. 4)
…only know how to access one to three of these secret valves, not the rest of them). If you're trying to use a spell to teleport into or out of the Deep, you need to speak the correct phrase for one of the valves, adding it to your usual incantation. If you do..#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 5, 2022

5)
…so correctly, your spell will work flawlessly, your teleport passing through the valve no matter where it is (i.e. if you’re standing in Dock Ward and want to teleport to the Rat Hills, but know of a valve on the beach in northern Sea Ward, your “jump” will… 6)
…loop back through that portal to get to the Rat Hills, despite the change of direction). There is a "master" incantation that opens all the valves, and there are both items and passive wardstones (aka ward tokens/pass tokens; see my VOLO'S GUIDES) that allow…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 5, 2022

7)
…”automatic” passage through the wards (i.e. without the bearer needing an incantation or even knowledge of the valve), but there is NO WAY an embassy would be furnished with this.
Just glance at the plots of published Realms novels that use Waterdeep as an… 8)
…in-story location; most don't make sense if anyone (or an army!) can just step through a teleportation circle.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 5, 2022

Makes sense, I am however pretty sure that a small network of Teleportation Circles did exist for HEAVILY CONTROLLED public use in Waterdeep in a book by @ErinMEvans (I am pretty sure it was at the start of "Fire in the Blood", since it connected to Cormyr).@newbiedm
[1/2]

— Søren Kraak Wollenberg (@WollenbergGaard) April 5, 2022

1)
Oh, I’m not denying the existence of circles (though almost all of them in the Deep work by having a ward-token under them, that can be removed to close them just by lifting a tile), I’m saying that no EMBASSY would be allowed to have one. It’s a clear invasion…
#Realmslore 2)
…route, and smuggling route, and kidnapping extraction route. Nor would the Watchful Order stand by if, say, they so much as suspected a Red Wizard enclave had created one. They'd hire adventurers or unleash monsters to burst in and create a pretext for them…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 6, 2022

4)
…to snoop.
This was actually the setup for a GenCon Charity Adventure I ran some years back: the PCs were the adventurers sent in (well-paid, and guided by some half-truths) to be the diversion.
Meaning they got caught in a magical duel between furious…
#Realmslore 5)
…Red Wizards and furious Watchful Order Magists.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 6, 2022

@TheEdVerseWhat relationship might Shar and Auril have, if any? Cooperation, at times? Competition? Indifference? The fate of Toril might be decided by your answer, the stakes are grave.

— kintsugikind (@kintsugikind1) March 1, 2022

Heh. Always are.
Shar and Auril may occasionally end up trying to accomplish the same (often destructive) thing, but aren't allies and don't work together.
Auril regards herself as active, a creator, and Shar as seeking oblivion. Shar sees Auril as a foolish upstart.#Realsmlore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 1, 2022

@TheEdVerse are there any premiere mastiff (or other dog) breeders in Waterdeep? #realmslore #waterdeep

— RPG Match – connecting TTRPG players (@RpgMatch) January 21, 2022

1)
No, they long ago got priced out of the city (no room to exercise, train, or let dogs laze and “run free” without fighting each other). They’re all in the environs, notably Emmera Dunphalon and Roondan Kennels on the east side…
#Realmslore 2)
…of the Amphail Road, halfway to Rassalantar.
“Old Emmera” is a cantankerous elderly woman of legendary skills in doctoring and training dogs canines and felines, much patronized by the nobility and wealthy of the Deep.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 21, 2022

3)
Oreph Roondan (male half-elf expert archer and retired adventurer; many of his former adventuring colleagues now live and work with him) is canines only, and specializes in training packs of larger canines as guard, hunting, …4)
…and war animals, accent on superb discipline. He rents out “runs” (trained groups of six to eight dogs) as guard patrols to farmers and ranchers, to keep wolves, coyotes, leucrotta, and other predators away from their crops, …#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 21, 2022

5)
…flocks, and herds.
(BTW, Courtyard of the Well lore coming. Soonish.)#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 21, 2022

1)
The Woods in the later 1400s DR has no less than three active druidic circles.
Nigh the city, the Watchers of the Wood is dedicated to preventing its spread (and refuse dumping and other civic despoiling of the forest).#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 12, 2021

1)
The Woods in the later 1400s DR has no less than three active druidic circles.
Nigh the city, the Watchers of the Wood is dedicated to preventing its spread (and refuse dumping and other civic despoiling of the forest). 2)
Herrevan’s Seven, in the southeast, is a secretive group bent on “gardening” a particular long-abandoned, collapsed dwarven mine (now an open-to-the-sky ravine) into a rich local sylvan habitat (and herb nursery).#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 12, 2021

3)
Dundar Herrevan secretly supplies several herbalists in Neverwinter, but they are sworn to give a false tale (about one “Red Lhaevur, of Secomber,” actually a now-dead foe of Herrevan) as to the source of their herbs. 4)
And the third circle, at the northeasternmost end of the wood, is the Ghost Ring, the undead remains of druids who still meet in a glade they were guarding, long after being slain by the Twisted Rune, who by happenstance… #Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 12, 2021

5)
…met and conferred there, and wanted all witnesses eliminated.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) December 12, 2021

Hi @TheEdVerse and happy new year!

Forgotten Realms question: is there a mundane university in Waterdeep? A place to study non-magical Sciences, History, Philosophy, etc. If not Waterdeep, other major cities? (Anything other than Candlekeep)

— Andrew B. 🔜 Origins 2022 – let's play together! (@JaysNDragons) January 4, 2022

1)
Sure. I’ve listed Academies (as such institutions are usually known in the Realms, aside from the bardic colleges) several times in the past, but MOST teaching is done by sages (pay for and attend a class) or by tutors/governesses (nobility and wealthy hire these). 2)
Most temples and larger city guilds also arrange instruction for interested lay faithful or guild members and apprentices. Most large temples of Oghma and Deneir have some functions akin to our modern real-world colleges.
And then there are apprenticeships…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 4, 2022

As of 5e times (late 1490s), how many chromatic and metallic dragons does Elminster reckon are on the Sword Coast? Heh. I asked, and El gave me a stare and asked, "And why does this foolheart want to know? Is he thinking of trying to romance them all?"
So I'll try the plying him with ice cream and liqueurs and cocktails ploy. Stay tuned.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 12, 2022

Ed, if most Waterdavians commonly use chamberpots, then how does the sewer fill up? Are there household drains or something else? The sewers fill from the "bottom" with the incoming tides (which also wash the sewers out, though there are catch-gratings), and fill from the "top" with rain and (very frequent) shore-fog/seamist runoff from all the streets (which are fed by roof downspouts, etc.).#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 1, 2022

Ok. So its more like a modern storm drain than a sewer meant to primarily move sewage around? That's right. Most Waterdhavian people-manure goes from chamberpots or garderobes/jakes to cesspools, then to nightsoil wagons ("honey wagons" in modern North America) and out to the Rat Hills for dumping.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 1, 2022