the most sophisticated ceramic is porcelain, which is completely vitrified (turned to glass) but it’s complicated to make.

Any thoughts on which culture in Faerûn achieved this first (or at all)? On earth, in Europe the formula for porcelain wasn’t achieved until 1709, despite centuries of attempted espionage and workshops attempting to recreate it. It remained a closely guarded secret until mid-18th century.

(2/2)

— RPG Match – connecting TTRPG players (@RpgMatch) April 10, 2022

1
The Imaskari had it, the elves had it earlier or got it from them, and the giants had it then, too.
It was lost to humans after Imaskar fell, the giants only used it for insulation (crafting shaped coverings), and the elves preferred carved wood and growing vessels. 2)
Sometime later the dwarves gained it on their own, the gnomes and later the halflings got it from them, and it was rediscovered in the Tashalar just before 116 DR.
Always rare, expensive, and (due to fragility) little used. Much easier to make from wood or bamboo.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 10, 2022

So Tashalarian porcelain would be the thing discerning Waterdhavian collectors would covet and/display… 🤔 Yes, but Tashalarian wind-chimes, and nested eggs, and miniature castle salt-cellars, not plates and cups (exception: moustache cups) and bowls.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 10, 2022

Indeed. :}

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 11, 2022

@TheEdVerse what’s going on at Warlock’s Crypt these days? 1492DR Someone was asking this question in a Realms based Facebook Group today. #Realmslore

— DavidGrider (@dgrider1234) January 22, 2022

1)
Some of what’s going on is NDA, I’m afraid, but two important ongoing processes are complex, long-term, many-layered (spell upon spell upon spell) castings by the liches who obey Larloch, following his standing orders… 2)
…(“If I am absent for this amount of time, begin casting X”).
The first casting is a complex defense-in-depth series of wards that augment the usual wards, and involve sixteen ‘bound’ death tyrants, and eight bound dracoliches.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 23, 2022

3)
The second casting is a series of spells that will begin to covertly take over the minds of particular wizards all over Toril, including a zulkir of Thay, a member of the Twisted Rune, a member of the Arcane Brotherhood, … 4)
…several senior Zhentarim, a Cult of the Dragon mage, and so on, so they will do the bidding of their Warlock’s Crypt “controllers” (in most cases, without even realizing it).
There’s no confusion, consternation, defiance, or…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 23, 2022

5)
…power struggle going on in the Crypt. To the liches therein, Larloch is simply off on one of his longer jaunts, doing things he hasn’t told them about. The lich Aumhrathond is Acting Castellan of the Crypt. 6)
Since the end of the Second Sundering, the liches of the Crypt have successfully bred certain “new” (crossbreed) monsters, that I’ll tell you more about some other time. ;}#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 23, 2022

tThis post is glorious, Ed! Occasionally someone asks about something I’ve just been waiting to spill. ;}
I do admit to moments of glee.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 23, 2022

Hey @TheEdVerse did you and Eric Boyd ever discuss how the Frost Giant Harshnag the Grim would get around the city of Waterdeep? He would probably need special accommodations. #realmslore #waterdeep #dungeonsanddragons

— RPG Match – connecting TTRPG players (@RpgMatch) March 20, 2022

1)
No. Likely because I’d already decided. ;}
Harshnag has his own seats on the seaward side of Mount Waterdeep. He also has a cavern there that he shares with other giants (its presence is why the cloud giant castle hovers just…
#Realmslore 2)
…where it does in DEATH MASKS). Its entrance is easy to locate (though not marked) on the 2e CITY OF SPLENDORS boxed set maps: go to “The Watching Tower” tag, and track due west from the initial “T” to a gap in the cliff-scarp…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 21, 2022

3)
…drawn edge, where the 500 elevation line crosses it: right there.
Moreover, all giants have guestrooms in the South Fang (the unlabelled wall tower due south of “Gate The South” on the 2e CITY OF SPLENDORS boxed set maps). 4)
It’s bad etiquette among giants to stride through built-up Waterdeep. Much traffic chaos at the very least. (In the old days, Maaril would “take steps” magically. Later, Khelben got peeved.) So they “walk around the edges.”#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 21, 2022

No, the other "T." ("The")
Follow the "500" contour line North to where it crosses the scarp. There's a gap in the drawn scarp [the line that looks like an endless artifical eyelash]. Right at that gap.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 21, 2022

Bingo! :}

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 21, 2022

@TheEdVerse Hi Ed. Weird queries out of the blue as always: what can you tell us about Lycon "Wolf-Beard", one time tutor of Elminster. Does he have a surname?

— George Krashos (@gkrashos) January 30, 2022

1)
I can’t get to my notes at the moment (they’re somewhere in the long Hi-Cube shipping container, and it has a six-foot snowdrift-turned-to-ice in front of its doors right now), but Lycon was a jovial, hardy adventuring wizard (a gentle smartass). He was a seasoned,
#Realmslore 2)
…successful adventurer, who made a fortune out of salvaging old magic from the corpses of fallen mages or their tombs and “improving” it by combining enchantments for more effective effects, and selling scrolls of the results thereof.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 30, 2022

3)
He roamed the Heartlands in his day, and rather than having a tower, he had six different houses, one a farmhouse but the others in cities, all nondescript and purportedly owned by average guys (all “false identities” he’d established). 4)
Full name: Lycon Annamandur Haldred. His parents were far-traveled caravan merchants, and their ancestors came from the Amn and Tethyr areas, though his father’s side of the family always claimed (likely correctly) to have come from Halruaa shortly after its…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 30, 2022

5)
…founding.
His nickname, by the way, came from a neat little enchantment he’d cast on his tidy, pointed beard: Lycon could teleport a wolf from a den he maintained “out of it,” so the wolf emerged springing at a foe from empty midair in front of his beard.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 30, 2022

@TheEdVerse I was wondering if you have had any thoughts of noble houses in Sembia(Forgotten Realms). I know of a few from the official Novels, but was wondering if you had any other noble families up your sleeve?

— Asbjørn Loua (@AsLoua) January 1, 2022

1)
The problem (for a sage or cataloger) with Sembian nobility is that they’re self-styled (i.e. anyone with wealth or nerve enough can call themselves noble, and MIGHT get away with it; over the years, many have, including a fair number of charlatans who adopt the…
#Realmslore 2)
…surname of a currently prominent noble house and pretend to be a part of it, sometimes accusing the ‘real’ nobles of being impostors).
So there’s never been any clear, agreed-upon list, at all.
Moreover, most of the wealthy nobles have a “country estate”…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 1, 2022

3)
…(hunting lodge or feasting-house or food farm or horse-breeding ranch, or some combination of those) in “upcountry” (northern) Sembia, and houses or rented-out business premises in most of Sembia’s cities, with a luxurious mansion in at least one, so it’s hard.. 4)
…to say where any Sembian “noble” family is based—especially when they have internal feuds, and each side claims to either be the only legitimate branch of the family, or the senior branch. And you can find bastard or black sheep sons and daughters and nephews…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 1, 2022

5)
…and nieces “cast off” to live alone or with “lower-born companions” just about anywhere in the Dragonreach, Cormyr, and Sembia proper (and for real criminals, Westgate, too).
So here are some of the longer-established, “oldcoin” Sembian noble families not yet… 6)
…featured in official Realms fiction (though some of these have been mentioned at Candlekeep or in my columns on the Wizards website or other places).
I present the houses of:
Aukanor
Beltarn
Duthtan
Harcantel
Hilmhaven
Horstanneth
Ircrimmeth
Kremond
Kylantor
..#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 1, 2022

7)
…
Olandor
Orvrant
Ravensword
Rylant
Szabelzar
Selandovur
Tarantur
Waeln
Yhauntyl
and the house known as either Zhaundyl or Zhondammur, depending on which family members you heed.
That ought to be enough lofty, flamboyant, ill-behaved folk to get you started. :}#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 1, 2022

You're very welcome! May all of those nobles not annoy you too much! ;}

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 2, 2022

Most of them are classic "new money, nose-in-the-air arrogant big time splashy spenders." There's a reason many folk call Sembia 'the Land of Fat Rich Merchants.' ;}#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) January 2, 2022

Do people in Faerûn also call it the Forgotten Realms? No. Those in real-world Earth who know about the gates/portals to Toril refer to it as "the Forgotten Realms" because we, collectively have "forgotten" the ways there (and increasingly, no longer believe Toril is real). Toril is "the Realms" to those who live there.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 4, 2022

Hey @TheEdVerse, I was looking back at your book "City System" – very great I must add – but there was one section that had me scratching my head.

In clothing I identified those unfamiliar as being real Middle Ages wear, like escoffion & hennin, but what is a "cap-of-coins"…?

— Sundered|🐜|ENVTuber (@Sundered_Ant) March 22, 2022

)
A cap of coins is just that: a skullcap, usually covering the entire head from the tops of the ears all around, often resting on the ears and sometimes held firm on the head with its own hidden clips (like the sort of metal… 2)
…clips used in earlier decades to hold curlers on), that is made entirely of coins attached to each other with fine wire or chain, to form an open-weave/open-mesh cap (i.e. there are spaces between the coins so the wearer’s…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 24, 2022

3)
…hair can be seen). Usually round or oval small coins are used, usually matched as opposed to a mix, and usually copper pieces. Yes, they sometimes get used as currency, and most wearers of such caps will know how many… 4)
…coins their cap is made of (often 40). Such caps are an ideal garment for being enspelled; many keep rain or snow off a wearer, or confer the same powers as a ring of warmth.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) March 24, 2022

1)
Volo winces at the thought of paying what good meals cost in Sea Ward, and behaving long enough to not get thrown out of wherever you’re eating them.
Seriously, the answer to this depends on the depths of your purse. If it really doesn’t matter to you how much…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 4, 2022

2)
…you spend, and you don’t need live entertainment or space for a party of diners larger than five or six, who don’t want to be rushed through their meal but don’t expect to spend all night sitting there waiting for the next “remove” to be brought, the three.. 3)
…current best places (NOT the haughtiest, but the best food) are:
Varneira’s Finest for a primarily seafood menu;
Ormanthar’s Big Belly for simple fare (roast meat, stews, strong cheese and bread handloaves for sides, with pickles and “darzuth” [what we would…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 4, 2022

4)
…call antipasto] for taste garnishes);
and Flyntar’s Board for “the full board” (roasts, spitted fowl, soups, rice and vegetable dishes with shrimp or clam or lobster garnishes, fish “messed with” to gain non-fishy dominant flavors, and a broad menu of pastas… 5)
…and other “dishes from afar”).
Varneira’s Finest stands on westfront Seawatch Street, four doors south of Grimwald’s Way. Run by the bubbly, still-beautiful in her sixth decade but getting slower and plumper, long hair all ringlets Varneira Trossfeather (who…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 4, 2022

6)
…lives above it with her all-female staff), the Finest is a two-floor labyrinth of dining rooms all connected by curtained archways and furnished like a conservative noble’s parlor (with little statuettes on plinths in the most remote corners). Gentle harp…
#Realmslore 7)
…music is played in the passages between rooms to give slight privacy between table conversations, and the wine cellar is deep and superb. Service is prompt, pleasant, and attentive.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 4, 2022

8)
Ormanthar’s Big Belly stands on northfront Chasso’s Trot, one door west of Mendever Street. Mocked up to look like a rustic wayside rural tavern, with heavy crossbeams overhead, massive plain wood furniture (but chairs with arms, rather than benches), hanging-on- 9)
-chains wagon-wheel candle lanterns, and mock many-small-diamond-pane windows in the walls (that open just to reveal menus, tacked up on solid walls), Ormanthar’s is where Sea Warders go when they want to pretend they’re traveling, or having adventures…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 4, 2022

10)
…(assignations), or when they want to drink deep and get loud and NOT get shown the door. However, drunkards and roisters do get told to leave by fellow patrons, because everyone’s here for the food, not to drink. This is the sort of place where folk eat too… 11)
…much and stagger out groaning, bellies bursting from really good “hearty fare.”
Flyntar’s Board (just “Flyntar’s” to any settled resident of Sea Ward) stands on eastfront The Street Of The Singing Dolphin, three doors south of Delzorin Street. The haughtiest.. #Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 4, 2022

12)
…and “showiest” of our three best eateries, Flyntar’s is named for its dapper owner and head-of-house, a thin-moustachioed, gliding man who has mastered an expressionless stoneface but will simper like a young lass when truly amused; he keeps a flower-adorned, 13)
…white-linens-to-the-fore uppercrust dining hall (divided by partition walls into a labyrinth of little alcoves, so diners at one table can typically only see parts of two other tables, not a big barn of serried ranks of tables with seated diners) humming…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 4, 2022

13)
…along, with very prompt service, endless drinks on offer, doorjacks in fine garb hovering to watch for trouble and anticipate diners’ needs (they often swoop to catch spilled goblets before said items can hit the floor), and even to carry drunken guests to… 14)
…cots in cubicles to snore in privacy. Nobles often use Flyntar’s to meet folk they don’t want to guest in their own homes, when they want to maintain formality and a lofty “tone.”
Hope this offers your characters attractive venues for filling themselves!#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) February 4, 2022

You’re the best! I’m going to add these to my spreadsheet of Waterdhavian Taverns: https://t.co/EArymTvZzd

— RPG Match – connecting TTRPG players (@RpgMatch) February 5, 2022