1.) Been researching a piece of lost Waterdeep lore and would like your thoughts on it @TheEdVerse 🙂
So the TSR employee Karen Boomgaarden worked as an editor on the sourcebook “City System” (1988), as well as an editor & author on “Aurora’s Whole Realms Catalogue” (1992)…… 2.) City System's map of Waterdeep features a street named after her and is the only map of the city to do so. Aurora's features a detailed store in Waterdeep named after her.

The location of the store has never been specified, nor detailed on a map, so could this street be it? pic.twitter.com/HduuiST5Vs

— Sundered|🐜|ENVTuber (@Sundered_Ant) August 13, 2021

1)
It could indeed. See the big building fronting on the west side of The Boomgarden, its roofpeak walk centered between the two “Os” of “Boomgarden”? That’s the place. Sky-blue awning over the street door. 2)
Rooming-houses dominate The Boomgarden, with “sorting houses” (where goods brought from a warehouse are assembled into specific in-city customer orders and crated for delivery) dominating the SE block fronting on “the Garden.”#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 14, 2021

3)
The building on the NW corner of the moot of Fillet Lane and the Garden is Mhaalauvur’s, a “jug” shop where you can buy bulk (human-head-sized jugfulls) cooking oils, scented washing soap flakes, axle grease, “slicewash”…4)
…(liquid disinfectants), and “droot” (a root-beer-like non-alcoholic drink made from nut and root distillates, often added to bad beer or spirits to make them more palatable).#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 14, 2021

5)
The building at the head of the cul-de-sac (NW of the “T” in “The”) is Amalae’s, where Amalae and her six housemates offer baths, hair-washings and -stylings, “touches” (manicures and pedicures), and cosmetic applications, in… 6)
…their separate rooms, to separate clients. Sometimes they share beds with a patron for a night, for a fee, or sleep in the attic if a client wants a “safe house” space to sleep in, for a night. (Wizards have been known to…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 14, 2021

7)
…rent a room here for private spell-study.) Look for the soft blue light of its door-lamp.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 14, 2021

Hail and well met! Now that Halruaa has returned to Toril, how do their sky ships dock now that their docks haven’t been seen or used in 100 years? Usually, "the old way:" turn into the wind to slow down as much as possible, then down sail and glide, and throw out mooring lines to turrets and tall towers, then it's rope bridges time (and reel in close). Then see what docks are still usable or can be repaired…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 19, 2021

1)
Like most cosmopolitan trading ports in the Realms (e.g. Waterdeep and Baldur’s Gate), the Windrise Ports use all coinage from mintings everywhere, plus gems and (electrum, as silver was tarnishing too quickly to retain its…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2021

2)
…popularity) trade bars for larger amounts.
I mentioned Waterdeep and Baldur’s Gate because they (plus Tharsult, Ormpur, and the ports of Calimshan) are the places in Faerûn where someone will most often find coins from… 3)
…Laerakond in circulation.
All of the Windrise Ports mint their own coins from time to time, as necessary rather than “officially,” stamping them with the city’s rune on one side, and the civic motto on the other.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2021

4)
They are scrupulously “pure” metal (soft gold is an alloy with silver, but the coin is over nine-tenths gold) and uniform size, and so “hold their value” in distant places.
Values are in keeping with the 1400s DR overall norm: … 5)
…a silver is worth ten coppers, an electrum is fifty cp, a gold equals 100 cp, and a platinum is 1,000 cp.
Copper piece: a haeth (slang: “deadeye” or just “eye”)
Silver piece: a talond (“promise”)#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2021

6)
Electrum piece: a haebur (“eagle”)
Gold piece: a crown (“dragondew” or just “dew”)
Platinum piece: a splendor (“blaze”) 7)
All state-minted coins of Laerakond have grooved edges (an indented line running right around the coin), but no rims. All coins are center-pierced, for stringing on a “purse-cord” (which, these days, is usually a wire with a…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2021

8)
…strong-spring clasp).
Recent mintings are as follows:
Tarmalune: coins are oval, long axis about twice the “height” of a gold coin of Waterdeep.
Rune: The Haven, a semicircle bumping upwards from three parallel horizontal… 9)
…straight lines, the uppermost crossing the entire coin, the middle line being a little shorter, and the bottom line being shorter still.
Motto: “All sailings enrich home: Tarmalune”#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2021

10)
Harglast: coins are “kite” diamonds (two short sides “upper” sides, two twice-as-long longer “lower” sides).
Rune: The Trune: an equilateral triangle, bottom horizontal, formed by two triangles touching a diamond. 11)
Motto: “Prosper Harran”
*=A Harran is a citizen of Harglast#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2021

12)
Imdolphyn: coins are circular, diameter the same as the height of a gold coin of Waterdeep
Rune: a vertical line of four identical circles*
Motto: “None Richer”
*=representing an endless fall of coins 13)
Ramekho: none (uses coins from everywhere else, and barter)#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2021

14)
Sambral: coins are circular, diameter the same as the height of a gold coin of Waterdeep
Rune: A drawn sword, cup hilt and thin-bladed like a rapier, running around the coin clockwise (so, blade is a circle, … 15)
…point on the left touching pommel on the right at the “top” of the coin).
Motto: “Suffer No Slight”#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 1, 2021

@TheEdVerse was there halva in the realms? I cant believe this sweet treat hasn't appeared in any of the books I comb through. #ForgottenRealms

— Artie Pavlov is vaccinating, and so should you! (@Artie_Pavlov) July 30, 2021

1)
Yes, but not by that name, of course.
Here’s the thing: in our world, halva uses all sorts of things as a base (the flour or cornstarch that gets toasted), a variety of things for the syrup it gets cooked in, and a range of… 2)
…added adornments (almonds, walnuts, dates, raisins, apricots and other dried fruits).
In the Realms, all of those differences mean different names for the sweet, though most of them do end up as a very sweet substance that can…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 30, 2021

3)
…be pressed into cakes and will keep during all but the warmest months.
So, for instance, the crushed dates and crushed roast tharra (the local name for pistachio nuts) honey syrup and wild rice flour mix known to the Bedine… 4)
…is “vauv,” but the raisin, almond, pecan, and date with coconut milk and durr (semolina) sweet known in Calimshan, Tharsult, and the Tashalar is “mraed.” The many-nuts, many-berries, sesame-based version known in Chessenta, …#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 30, 2021

5)
…the Vilhon, and Var the Golden is “murrl,” and the walnuts-and-cherries-and-honey variant consumed in Unther, Mulhorand, and Raurin is “tal.” In Thay, the same mixture is “taunthaun.”
In Ulgarth and the Utter East, “taunth” is… 6)
….grain-based, sugar-cane-syrup-cooked halva, and so on. While in Murghôm and Durpar, they wouldn’t dream of making it without hard, old honeycomb. And so it goes, across Faerûn.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 30, 2021

Hey Ed, question about the Realms! I am compiling a list of wonders&landmarks of Faerun. Either interesting or important – examples: the Wailing Dwarf statue, The Standing Stone, Walking Statues of Waterdeep, Second Sun over Elversult etc. – do you have a top5-10? No, as it varies so widely over time, by peoples, surface or Underdark, and natural versus sentient-made. Stonebridge/Stone Bridge makes many lists, the Frozen Forest appears on some lists, the Temple In the Sky, the Floating Tower was on older lists, etc.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 9, 2021

Hi @TheEdVerse. Is there any lore on Rymdyl you can share? Or is it NDA? #realmslore

— Artie Pavlov is vaccinating, and so should you! (@Artie_Pavlov) October 17, 2021

1)
See p84 of THE BORDER KINGDOMS, a canon-official hardcover Realms sourcebook by Alex Kammer and yours truly, available at the DM’s Guild.
Update: rival adventuring bands have recently settled there, and are digging everywhere for Rymdyl’s never-found treasure. 2)
One of the bands, Belard's Banners, say they read in an old tome in Derlusk that Rymdyl devised a magical means to hide her spellbooks INSIDE wands; they hope to find some of these.
When asked, Elminster said, "I was WONDERING when someone would remember that."#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 17, 2021

Nice! was that particular piece of lore leftover from the old magazines era? Not "leftover" in terms of cutting-room-floor, no. Never put forward for publication. It's part of my ongoing "unfolding lore for NPCs because they're not static, they get up to as much as the PCs" DMing lore notes.
The Realms is ALIVE.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 17, 2021

Hi @TheEdVerse! is there anything you can share about the use of treacle in the realms? In cooking, magic, or what it’s made of? Thanks in advance!

— Artie Pavlov is vaccinating, and so should you! (@Artie_Pavlov) September 15, 2021

1)
Sure. In our world, treacle is unrefined sugar syrup, commonly called “molasses” if it’s dark (opaque brown), and “golden syrup” or some variant of that if it’s light (translucent and golden).
In the Realms, “treacle” means… 2)
…just the dark stuff, as the lighter variety is called various things including, yep, “golden syrup.” In the Realms as in our world, this light syrup finds its way into tarts and sponge puddings (treacle tart and treacle…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 15, 2021

3)
…sponge pudding are classic British desserts).
In our real world, molasses finds its way into oatmeal for those who can’t get maple syrup, into pies like pecan pie, into bread like pumpernickel, and into sauces (BBQ sauce), … 4)
…into meat marinades, into rum, into gingerbread cookies, and into baked beans.
If I was writing that same sentence about the Realms, I’d say: treacle finds its way into oatmeal for those who can’t get maple syrup, into pies…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 15, 2021

5)
…like nutbrown tarts, into bread like darkloaf, and into firefruit meat sauces and marinades, into rum and darkfire slake, into ginger biscuits, and bean-barrel-sauce (some eat it with the beans, and some wash it off, … 6)
…treating it like a disposable preservative or to make “sweetwater,” a cheap dessert drink or baking/cooking sweetener).#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 15, 2021

@TheEdVerse I'm trying to build a model of Trollskull Manor for my players, and I'm struggling to find what type of building materials it would be constructed out of. What would a typical Waterdavian North Ward manor house/bar be made from? Particularly the walls. Thanks!

— Liam Beattie (@lcrbeattie) July 25, 2021

1)
North Ward is one of the most prosperous wards of the city, so the ground floor would be mortared fieldstone. There’d be a level-concrete-floor, stone-lined cellar level below that, not connected to any other buildings, and as… 2)
…Trollskull is older construction, and not of the most expensive, but is a “manor,” its second floor would also be of fieldstone. Inside these walls rise the support timbers of a box-framed truss, with any floors above the…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

3)
…second (including the attic), being half-timbered (what in our world is often called “Tudor:” exposed support beams with decorative white stucco between them: overcoated “wattle and daub”). The roof would be tiled… 4)
…(overlapping hump-shaped rectangular roof-tiles that overhang the walls by at least a foot and have downspouts), and the lime-ash floors throughout would be covered with flat, glazed tiles. The house would have garderobes/…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

5)
…jakes (internal toilets/washrooms) flushed by roof-cisterns (pullchain), down interior-wall pipes into the sewers, internal stairs, and closets between rooms for sound privacy. Bedchambers would be on upper floors, attics…6)
…would be for cisterns and old-furniture storage (and sometimes the rearing of caged pigeons as meat-birds for the household), and the servants would sleep in the kitchens, pantries (typical back door location), and entry-room…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

7)
…for added security. There would be heavy wooden doors for interior rooms, with exposed stout wooden frames, and the only place where there MIGHT not be doors would be a wood-framed, square arch connecting the largest… 8)
…ground-floor rooms: a dining room and a “main room” (what we might call a parlor or lounge or living room). A typical manor would have a main stair (perhaps with a landing) wide enough for furniture and a narrow servants’ or…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

9)
…“back” stair that might be a circular stair to save space; a big manor would have straight-run, less steep, wider stairs.
Windows would be blown glass, in small diamond frames (replacements can readily be purchased from the 10)
…relevant guild or a used-goods shop, and most houses have one or more “overwindows” in storage that can be fitted over a broken-pane window temporarily, until repairs can be made), with shutters inside AND outside that can…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

11)
…be fastened “back” (open), and grand houses may have balconies. Sliding wood pocket doors are an innovation for the grandest rooms that likely came along too late for Trollskull, unless it was remodelled before the PCs come… 12)
…upon it. Fine-chain-pulley hanging (from exposed ceiling-beams) oil lamps or candle-lanterns (in either case having hemispherical, frosted and perhaps tinted glass “bowl” shades to curb down-glare) are the norm in main rooms.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

Thank you very much! This is great and will definitely help me be more descriptive when running this with my players. You're welcome! And I forgot to add: in manors like Trollskull, bedchambers and any room with a fireplace, to combat chill damp in winter (and sea fogs) will have heavy cloth (wool plus an embroidered surface layer) hangings/tapestries to catch and hold warmth.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021