LOST LORE OF THE REALMS #4 (Patreon)

As promised, another dip into my lore files...

Behold: another new grab bag of lore. Yes, here’s one more sneak peek at some brief entries from my lore files:

Printing In The Realms

The use of the printing press (with ink rolled onto composed pages of carved letters and characters, then rag paper pressed down onto the result repeatedly to make many copies of same page, so mass copies of books that weren’t all written out separately become possible) is now spreading across Faerûn. This “printing” began along the Sword Coast, with chapbooks in Scornubel and Waterdeep, and quickly got co-opted by Deneir's clergy, followed by Oghma's—who quickly provided “verified” scripts (guaranteed not to change things, unlike those filthy, unscrupulous private scribes for hire). As a result of these churches moving in on the field and everyone promptly defying them, in large port cities first, there’s no Gutenberg equivalent (that is, no one person/family/shop seen as “first” or having prime importance). Particularly as the actual printing field quickly got dominated by ad handbills and scurrilous chapbooks, whereas the clergy of Deneir and Oghma (and slowly, many other clergies, too) got into printing books of prayers (and for internal use only, books of sermons and rituals).

Candlekeep has always had its own “scriptorium,” but until the 1470s DR that was just the physical office of the tome scribes  (the Avowed doing their daily copying work). In the early 1470s, the scriptorium got its own (secret from non-Avowed at first, but by the 1490s the secret is out, along with many books) printing press.

When Worship Of A Deity Fades

A rare few deities can ‘draw’ power from other realms, across the planes (usually because they’re also worshipped in wherever they’re drawing from—for example, Oghma being venerated by the Celts of our world). However, what usually happens is that divine power from a waning deity is taken by other deities that worshippers of the fading god turn to (there’s the “spark” of divinity, and to it accrues power in the form of the various natural energies of the world, directed by the reverent regard and observances/prayer/rituals of worshippers).

As long as mortals or anyone else remembers a deity, they aren’t truly gone, even if all records are gone, temples razed or taken over, and so on.) And any altars that remain, no matter how long neglected, remain repositories of the power of worship.

If a deity physically exits a world, they take with them all the power they have at that time, but usually, that’s it; they can’t subsequently gain power from that world without returning. (Other deities in the world they departed will usually opportunistically answer prayers made to the ‘gone’ deity, confer spells to the ‘gone’ deity’s clergy—and so, take over the power stream to the ‘gone’ deity.)

If Ao Was Removed

There would no longer be a check upon the gods, and by the inherent natures of some of them, there would be a power struggle. Mystra, by virtue of being the Weave, holds the upper hand, because she’s been attacked so many times that she’s now expecting it and prepared for it, so how tumultous things become for mortals depends on HOW Ao is removed from the scene (as in, how swiftly and widespread is awareness among the gods that he’s gone). If it’s just a silence, and deities like the Triad and the Mystra-Azuth alliance find out first, the result could look pretty close to ‘business as usual’ for Toril: the ‘law-and-order maintain the status quo’ forces would be ready to contain the havoc of the likes of Shar, Bane, Cyric, and Moander, and steer them into conflict with each other, resulting in only localized wars and magical chaos. If opportunists like Szass Tam and Manshoon and various beholders end up pursuing schemes that actually aid order in the long run, and get in the way of other would-be world-tyrants, really big changes may never come.

Spellbooks Of Non-Humans

Monster “monster” races use variants of arcane spells that require only concentration and mental focus plus a brief vocalization (hardly an incantation, usually one or two words at most) for casting. They can all read and use written spell scrolls, using their powerful minds to visualise the “missing” material components, and “imagine through the process” the transformation and usually consumption of those components that befalls during the casting. Dragons and aboleths would prefer any sort of spellbook to be far more lasting than paper, parchment, vellum, or leather “pages” provide, and would likely prefer engraved flat stones (NOT fragile slate or other “plane of cleavage” stone slabs), and even mind flayers are often mindful of the passage of time and the fleeting nature of the materials used by most human mages. Which is why thin, flat “sheets” of copper or electrum or other alloys, produced by dwarves and especially gnome smiths and artisans, are so valuable: books can be made that have burnished metal pages graven with spell incantations, symbols, and explanations of the casting process, punched to go in ring bindings so they can be spread flat, and these are used by dragon and mind flayer casters, and by aboleths, who will avoid copper and silver water-tarnished alloys, and cleave to gold and electrum and other alloys that resist all (normal) water damage. There are even alloys that resist acid, and these are the most highly prized of all.

Mystra And Magic

Mystra frowns on all uses of magic that will make others (than the caster) fear magic and users of magic, so will work to thwart all bullies and reckless “lashers out” who fling magic around to vandalize and do willful harm or “just don’t care about consequences.” She wants powerful wielders of the Art “on her side,” yes, ideally viewing her with reverence or active worship, and will manifest or send dream-visions to try to get them to trust and love her. But she doesn’t “just chase the elite” as friends, she wants all arcane spellcasters to trust in her and behave accordingly.

Chronomancy usually doesn’t work through the Weave because Mystra is trying to limit magic that manipulates time by denying it the power of the Weave, precisely because in ancient times, the first spellcasters to devise such spells tried to misuse them to go back in time and slay rivals and so on. So Mystra allowed time stop and various stasis spells, because they don’t allow the “go back in time” ability, and denied the rest.

So chronomancy is arcane magic that doesn’t use the Weave to call on the world’s natural energies, but finds other means. That's why it’s rare, risky, hard to learn, and fraught with chaotic failures.

The Seven Sisters

The daughters of Mystra were raised to follow Mystra’s orders. They aren't immortal; their bodies age and wear out. They have stretched lifespans because they can heal with the Weave (but it very slowly burns and hollows them out in the process). However, if they don’t go mad, they can become Weaveghosts if slain or if their bodies collapse (Syluné, for example, is now a Weaveghost).

Birthdays In The Realms

“Name Days” (which is what most folk in the Realms call birthdays) are celebrated differently from place to place, time period to time period, and culture to culture. However, it’s usually a time for a small meal among friends or family at which a favourite food or foods of the name day celebrant is featured, and a “new to them food” or drink is offered. At this meal, three feasters will stand up and give short speeches about kindnesses the celebrant has done for them, heroic or nice things the celebrant did, and why they love/revere/respect the celebrant. And then one gift is given to the celebrant (not one per person attending), always something small and useful, like a new belt knife or laces for their boots or a pair of work gloves. Only among nobles or the wealthy are gifts large or extravagant, like a ship or a new racehorse or a country cottage or a luxury coach with a team of draft beasts to pull it. And as for singing at such gatherings, it depends on the celebrant and those celebrating. If there is, it’s a family chant or song (think Tolkien’s dwarves singing “Misty Mountains Cold,” and not “Happy Birthday” or a bawdy song), unless the celebrant is a mercenary or other soldier and the group they march with has a proud marching song.

Mageduels (first published appearance: in Elminster At The Magefair in the 1993 anthology REALMS OF VALOR collection):

Mageduels have evolved over the years, but derived from the (usually fatal) duels to become the Magister, because Azuth and Mystra agreed that the price in skilled workers with the Art lost was too high, so a far more survivable “play fighting” series of duels to determine rankings was instituted at Magefairs, where magical restoration and healing was at hand, and was expected to be applied without charge.

The actual rules of the duels have changed almost constantly, as has the degree of acceptance among the community of wizards, who have increasingly agreed to abide by the rankings established in such duels, and for many, to confine their feuds and rivalries to Magefair duel contests and not ambushes, traps, and sneak attacks on each other “out in the real world.”