I keep reading through Death Masks and it is really a treasury of an info of modern realms. But something again feels a bit off.
Do you hate clerics/gods in general or its some kind of metaphor?
Like you keep saying clerics are self centric/they lie etc etc It feels almost uncomfortable not because I feel like you really mean it. Knowing you, you are too kind to mean harm.
But theres really overload of the point that clerics usually lie/twist things as it is said over and over and over.
Awkward.

— Viktor Gray (@VikGray) April 26, 2021

No, no hatred.
The clerics you're seeing in DEATH MASKS are playing politics, so they've been corrupted beyond "I push my faith's POV" into "When in Waterdeep, do like Waterdhavians" (by which they mean nobles, bureaucrats, guild envoys and other "politicians").#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 26, 2021

@TheEdVerse Sir, Ed!! Cira 1300s, is there anything about Zelbross you can share we might not know from published lore? How much did you flesh it out in the home realms game and did the Knights stop by?

— stephen parlin (@smparlin) October 6, 2021

1)
The Company of the Crazed Venturers, not the later Knights, visited Zelbross, and there’s a faint 1978 pencil map and key somewhere in my Shipping Container 1 (the 80-footer). 2)
The hamlet sprawls along the west bank of Brossaddan’s Water (later called “the Hark Rill” and later still “the Harkril”), a tiny local stream that empties into the Delimibyr, which is where the superb-for-pottery clay banks… #Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 8, 2021

3)
…are. “Sprawls” because there’s a cluster of homes, outhouses, and “half dug into hills” storage barns (for winter food) nigh the river and then a wide arc of outlying farms around it, reached by a spiderweb of lanes (grassy… 4)
…tracks to minimize traffic-caused mud, with two thick lines of berrybushes planted along both sides so you don’t get lost trudging home in a winter whiteout blizzard and freeze to death, to provide a little wind cover, and to…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 8, 2021

5)
…provide berries and a supply of edible critters that come to forage on the berries). It had an inn on the Shining Trail (the Last Place) and a tavern, The Sly Fox, and a secret Harper safe haven: the farm of the recluse… 6)
…Harthress “Hard Axe” Shaenra, a scarred, fat old retired adventuress with long, wild white hair, a deep, white, puckered sword-scar running straight down a viewer’s left side of her face, and a gravel voice mainly used to…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 8, 2021

7)
…spew long and complicated oaths (“By the untasted teats of the stillborn sow!” and the like). She was, of course, a Harper, and wore bracers (normally hidden under the tattered sleeves of her filthy old weathercoats) that… 8)
…could catapult multiple sleep-poisoned darts. Though she did most of her fighting with axe and blade.
The countryside north of Zelbross, up to the forest, was very rich in game (deer and foxes and “gurra” [the local name for groundhogs] in particular, and…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 8, 2021

9)
…several Zelbrossans maintained extensive and successful trap-lines by which they fed their families and neighbours, and gained lots of pelts to cure and make into winter clothing.
There’s not a lot more that I can recall off the top of my head… 10)
…and drawing on the campaign notes here in my office, but near Zelbross, in the wilds northeast of the hamlet, is the “bottle-tomb” of an ancient wizard (a hole in the ground lined with stones that’s the rough shape of a…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 8, 2021

11)
…bottle, that a dead person is ‘buried’ in standing up) that at one time—and may still—have a scepter, some rings, and a spellbook in it; the Venturers found it, but didn’t plunder it.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 8, 2021

I have a character, who turns to be a Netherese wizard surviving Ytryn’s fall. Who have been cruel, evil and had a hobby collecting (and imprisoning) magical creatures. A cunning Efreetie in his posession lured him into a trap that changed his alighnment And erased memories, so he stayed being sure, that he is Kalishite prince (why prince?why Kalishite?) And Chaotic good (from LE).
I have a problem with his true name. He calls himself Ali.
But I have no idea about Netherese names and what they mean.
Can you offer any?

— Viktor Gray (@VikGray) July 25, 2021

Also, mechanically he is Genie Warlock. Prince Ali is… Perfectly intended, you see XD.

— Viktor Gray (@VikGray) July 25, 2021

1)
Well, here’s the situation: the Netherese, at the height of their empire, were very diverse. As in: High Netherese and Low Netherese were such separate classes that they were really separate CULTURES, after a few generations, … 2)
…AND most Netherese flying cities were ruled by strong-willed individuals with their own ideas about things, so they differed widely from each other.
So names from back then have a WIDE variety, though they do follow a…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

3)
…“given name, middle names, family name” format. And most Netherese, High and Low, tended to have several middle names, because that’s how family names were preserved, when marriages happened: the higher-status family name… 4)
…became the retained surname, and the lower-status family name became a middle name. (Yes, there were often disputes, and individuals switching surnames as they got older and preferred one side of their heritage over another.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

5)
In the case of two prominent families intermarrying, the newlyweds often retained the family name they came in with, and their offspring bore a completely-new, invented-by-the-parents, family name.) Most names “meant”… 6)
…nothing, except when commemmorating a fondly-remembered hero who bore the same name in the past.
So if your character came from Ythryn, popular male given names back when it was flying freely about included Aytharr, Cabatel,* …#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

7)
…Duthiir, Ferendr, Gauntaun,* Haenth, Klevven, Rivrel, Sarmasklur, Tolruevren (“Tol” in daily usage)*, Waezrel, Woen,* and Yavron.
If he calls himself “Ali” as an echo of his given name, then he was probably named one of the…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

8)
…rarer given names, Allivrar or Alvrays.
A note: unless he was a wizard of the Ebon Star, his name would NOT have ended in “-thas.” Or else!
Another note: all of the names above marked with asterisks can be borne by any gender. 9)
And the leading families of Ythryn (beneath the ruling Ebon Star wizards) included the houses of Balant, Clarrvees (Balant and Clarrvees had an ongoing, bitter feud), Harast, Jaerel, Mratchlan, Orivvon, Perindel, Roaresk… #Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

10)
…(warriors often employed by individual Ebon Star arcanists as “dirty tricks” agents and to go on “gathering” expeditions on the surface and subterranean Realms of the time), Sorsoun (artificers who grew rich making tools and… 11)
…tech), and Tammaranter.
The most popular Ythrynna female given names included Aerae, Cadelys, Deirym, Eluphra, Faurauntra, Gothynd, Hraeda, Joszynd, Lhaerae, Mnarra, Olope, Paera, Qelzelma, Rueva, Sazarra, Tyndraele, and Zue. #Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) July 25, 2021

If you wanted to bring Bhaal back there was probably a way to do it without taking a giant dump on one of the most popular DnD game series that people love no? Sure, if I wanted to bring Bhaal back, there are scores of ways to do so, but Wizards controls the storylines of the published Realms. Neither Bhaal's murder nor his return were my doing; if anything in the official Realms doesn't suit the campaign you're running, just change it.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 28, 2021

Thank you for the nice response to my not so kindly phrased questionHey, it's okay. :}
I've found that it's best to view bugs as features, and just roll with what happens.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 29, 2021

Did Szass Tam’s attempt using the dread rings to recreate things draw upon the athora in any way? Did the attempt in any way affect the demoncyst which had formerly held Eltab? Was Szass Tam affected in any way by the curse of the death moon orb after he got it? Heh.
No, no, and yes. Respectively. And before you ask, that yes has a still-shiny NDA bolted securely to it. ;}#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 21, 2021

WDH is the first @Wizards_DnDcould you please speak to how connected Waterdeep: Dragon Heist is to Waterdeep works of the past?

I’m going through Volo’s Enchiridion in the back of the book and is this 5e work connected to all the other versions? Or does it deviate? Or is it all still Ed Canon? campaign book I've read and it's absolutely SOAKING with lore and I love it and it's all deliciously overwhelming, but I don't know how deep it all goes.

Even though I've been playing #dnd #dnd5e for ~6 years now, I'm still VERY new to all the lore.

— D&Me Adventures (@DnMeAdventures) October 12, 2021

1)
The Enchiridion is the best distillation of what a visitor new to Waterdeep needs to know, and the most up to date guide.
Its brevity means it leaves out a lot of details (e.g. the laws in the Code Legal, and the who/where/what of the guilds and noble families). )
What is in there is all correct (a marvel, considering Volo's involvement!) and matches my own older canon. So you can trust it, and build on it.
Volo's Guide to Waterdeep has more adventure hooks and shop details, and the 2e City of Splendors boxed set provides…#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 13, 2021

3)
…lore for the big gaps I mentioned (plus Eric Boyd's superb Noble Families web enchancement, that should still be up on the Wizards website). If you can find Steven Schend's Waterdeep By Night series on the same website, you'll be covered for hauntings, too!#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 13, 2021

Can a wizard walk into Waterdeep and expect to find such components as a 5,000 gp diamond or 1,500 gp of ruby dust, for sale? Or are such items rare to the point where our wizard friend would have to brave a dragon’s hoard instead? Oh, yes. Waterdeep, Athkatla, Baldur's Gate, Calimport, and the coastal cities of Sembia (and in Laerakond, Tarmalune Great Port) would all be places where you could buy such things. Hint: look for a rich city with a jewelers guild.#Realmslore

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) August 5, 2021

hmmmm is that El visiting Cirilia of Birthright, No, that's definitely a stunt double. Red robes are the giveaway; El's never a red-shirt.

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 25, 2021

he looked great in red in baldur’s gate 😛 Yeah, that stunt double was VERY busy in Baldur's Gate. ;}

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 25, 2021

I blame mystra. It’s her fault somehow! Always a handy parking-spot for blame. Not as good as Bane or Shar or Beshaba, mind you…

— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) September 25, 2021