If yes, then post it here and let WotC know what you’d like to see Ed write about.
There's no guarantees WotC will use our requests, of course*, but it can’t hurt to make our interests known.
Looking forward to seeing what you all would like to see covered in future articles!
*Though WotC are listening! The article Circle of Fangs Revisited was written in response to fan interest in a follow up article to the first Circle of Fangs article.
So, WotC is listening. You don’t want them responding to me alone, do you?
Let them know what you want!
Ed Greenwood has talked a little bit about Altar Sworn priests/clerics; also about how priesthoods act as faithful, brave and (mostly) honest couriers of objects or messages between cities, city states and nations in the Forgotten Realms and the revenues temples earn for such services.
I’d like to see an article commissioned that encourages Ed Greenwood to expand on the concept of the Altar Sworn Priest.
What faiths, if any, specialize in courier services?
If you swear as a priest to your deity to faithfully deliver a message and fail, what are the consequences? Are their unique consequences depending on who an Altar Sworn’s deity is?
Do certain faiths have agreements with mercenary or adventurer bands, or with trading costers and merchants, to allow their Altar Sworn to ride with and be protected by these groups in exchange for beneficial magic castings during the journey?
Do temples undercut and compete with each other? Are there unscrupulous merchants who view message-carrying priests as the competition and are willing to take steps to see these priests eliminated? If yes, who are they and where are they located?
What are some examples of priests who’ve failed their mission to deliver items? Are there any interesting adventure locations or rumors (read: useful adventure hooks for a DM) that have resulted from a famous priest carrying an important item who disappeared on his or her journey and has yet to be found?
Do certain faiths or temples have exclusive agreements with outside organizations to only carry the organization’s correspondence/goods in exchange for promising to do business with nobody else?
Have any temples gotten in over their heads, been corrupted or even overtaken (by amoral or evil organizations, merchant guilds or noble houses) as a result of delivering messages?
Would the concept of the Altar Sworn Priest be sufficient material for a character theme article? Perhaps as part of the first in a series of articles called “Character Themes of the Realms” or something similar, that runs every three to four months in Dragon Magazine?
Having read about the Xraunrarr in one of Ed Greenwood’s recent Eye on the Realms articles, I find myself wanting to know (A LOT) more about them. I’d like to see an article commissioned that answers some or all of the following questions:
How paranoid are the Xraunrarr when it comes to their lairs and abodes on the surface of Faerûn?
If a very old enemy of the Xraunrarr were to know which dragon lairs the Xraunrarr had overtaken in the Thunder Peaks and that source went so far as to point several powerful groups of adventurers towards one or more of those lairs (without telling them that Beholders and not a Dragon are to be found in the lair), would the typical Xraunrarr paranoia and need for secrecy alone cause the Xraunrarr to withdraw from those lairs?
Or have the Xraunrarr made these lairs into fortresses of the sort suitable to the occupation of beholders? The sort of places they would not be inclined to give up without a fight?
Ed has mentioned in the first Xraunrarr article how adventurers who spread word of beholder sightings in Cormyr are eliminated, while those who discover Xraunrarr in the wilds of Cormyr’s borders are captured and made into servants.
Are any or all of the dragon lairs the Xraunrarr took over designed to separate and trap adventurers? Are they made to test adventurer’s power (in terms of spellcasting ability and magic items owned)?
Or are they simply outposts that lead to better protected abodes in the Underdark below the Stormhorns?
Do the Xraunrarr have lorekeepers who would be the rival of any Sage Royal or High Herald when it comes to matters of Cormyrean lineages (Obarskyrs, Nobles, etc… ) and Cormyr’s history? If yes, is the information passed on by word of mouth, written records, kept in lore gems, etc...?
Have they divided up Cormyr into regions that they watch over? If so, is their system bizarre or beholder-ish in some (interesting) way?
Have they developed far-scrying spells keyed by bloodline to certain noble families or even the Obarskyrs that let them determine from a distance which Cormyreans belong to which bloodline(s)? If yes, do these spells rely on long-lost relics belonging to the family lines that are spied on; the sorts of objects rich nobles (or merchants or Obarskyr rulers) commission adventurers to go searching for every couple of generations or so?
For the Xraunrarr beholders, what does it mean to ‘cultivate humans as cattle’? Do they orchestrate mass kidnappings for the sake of feedings? Do they have a (literal) taste for certain noble family lines?
Do the Xraunrarr cultivate monsters, magic and threats to Cormyr in order to constantly test it and keep it strong?
Do the Xraunrarr maintain any intelligent undead human servants (or magically left unaging through stasis spells) from past generations as examples of "breeding done right"?
If yes, do they use these favorites as the pieces for some sort of shadow Royal Court where the undead act as stand-ins for the current, living holders of the throne, Mage Royal, Sage Royal (etc...) that the Xraunrarr move around on a life-sized board as they endlessly debate schemes and manipulations to better point Cormyr in the direction they want it to go?
Do they track important humans who leave Cormyr with an eye towards returning them at some point?
Have the Xraunrarr had to fight off incursions by other organized groups of beholders to take over their territory?
Lastly—and given the many questions I’m hoping Ed can answer in a future article—is there anything about the Xraunrarr that Ed can tell us by way of hints or half-truths (say through the voice of Elminster) that can further deepen their mystery and keep gamers like me speculating for the length of the publishing interval between (I hope successive) articles on the Xraunrarr?
As a DM I plan on using the Xraunrarr in my campaign, but as a fan of the Realms I'm also hoping to get more information on the Xraunrarr that leaves me with three new questions to ask for every one question Ed answers in future Eye on the Realms articles.
That's the kind of published product that keeps me interested in the Realms and wanting to use it for my D&D campaigns.
All of it. I want to know more. As much as I dislike certain things (mostly the whole surprise everyone's genasi thing) I love this area, and it needs more love.
I do wonder what if any the Xraunrarr has to do with the Zhentarim?
I’d like to see an Eye on the Realms article that focuses on the activities (both large and small) of the Eminence of Aurant.
Large Scale:
What parts of mainland Faerûn are they most interested in? How have they made their way into Faerûn proper? Have they overtaken or at least placed agents amongst trading cabals or sea-bound merchants in the Realms?
Do they see Thay as something that they are in competition with; as something to be co-opted and worked with; something worth the effort of centuries to slowly take over and subsume?
What about the Cult of the Dragon?
Are there any types of undead not native to the Realms that are to be found amongst the Emminence’ numbers?
Likewise, are there any unique-to-the Realms undead (especially intelligent undead) the Emminence has never seen before and wants to control? Dracoliches and the like?
Divine spellcasters are a bane to the undead. As Abeir had no deities to pray to, how are the Eminence reacting to all the undead-slaying faiths of the Realms?
Are the Eminence focused on slaying divine spellcasters of any particular deity (such as Kelemvor, for example)? Or do they avoid them at all costs?
Are deities of the Realms concerned with undead (for good or ill) concerned about the Eminence?
Does the presence of Primordials on the continent of Laerakond (Returned Abeir) block divine sight?
Small Scale:
Do the Eminence use adventurers to explore and identify crypts where powerful undead are likely to lurk (I’m thinking character theme here)? Do they place agents amongst adventuring parties?
I can imagine the Eminence working to invade the crypts of nobles and kings in the various human kingdoms of the Realms as a means of learning all they can about the new world they find themselves in. Is this something the Eminence is likely to do?
If yes, what are some of the more disturbing outcomes (say in Cormyr or Tethyr) from this sort of activity? Agents from unknown lands showing up unannounced and armed with knowledge that should have gone to the grave with the last person to know certain secrets…that sort of thing.
Are adventurers (and the clerics/priests amongst them) just now bringing word of the Eminence to their peers in the clergy and to their deities through prayer? I can imagine Doomguides of Kelemvor wanting to slay the Eminence on sight.
Thank you!
What’s it like for traders making the crossing? Is the border porous, ill-defined, garrisoned, open? How do the cities along the border that no longer claim allegiance to Sembia figure into all of this? What’s it like at castle Nacacia?
Is the border tense? How are Sembian traders dealing with their (presumably still) Netherese masters? Likewise, is the tension between the nobility and the merchant class in Cormyr something Sembia can capitalize on (and cause headaches for the Crown of Cormyr)?
What factions, if any, that are located within or without Cormyr and Sembia are playing off the tensions between the two nations?
Who are some interesting NPCs that “work the border” between the nations? Are any of them Cormyreans still seeking for revenge over the murder of the Crown Prince?
What are some of the more popular items being traded back and forth between the two nations? Do any of these items lend themselves to smuggling? Are their items banned from trade between the two countries that are smuggled in instead?
Does Westgate have any influence or interest on causing border tensions? What about the Eldreth Veluuthra in the Hullack forest?
What opportunities are there for adventure and intrigue at the border? Are there any old, half-forgotten ruins rumored to have been uncovered/re-discovered during the conflict between Sembia and Cormyr?
Do the rumors say these ruins are currently being used as bases for covert activity? Or that they contain infernal, evil or monstrous denizens that are only now testing and exploring the lands opened up to them?
Is there anything about the border that would be interesting to read about that's missing from these suggestions?
Plain and simple- it needs way more fleshing out than the bits in the FRCG/FRPG. It's probably one of my favorite areas of the Sword Coast North, aside from Neverwinter (Which has its own setting!) and I definitely feel it's due for a HUGE information upgrade.
I mean c'mon, Shou yakuza crime-lords, roving gangs, monsters, wrecked hulls of numerous ships, all sorts of villainy and intrigue, what more could you ask for? Please, someone get to work on this.
With the recent Thieves' Cant article and the (upcoming) Thieves' Guilds article, Luskan is begging for an update and fleshed-out characters!
**EDIT**
The Zhentarim (Black Network) and pretty much anything to do with it. Think back to the old 3.5 Lords of Darkness book. We need an update on the Zhents and their ongoing plots. The recent Bane article was nice, so that's a plus.
Luskan.
With the recent Thieves' Cant article and the (upcoming) Thieves' Guilds article, Luskan is begging for an update and fleshed-out characters!
I second this!
Having an Eye article on Luskan would certainly make for some useful material for DMs who have been playing with the Neverwinter Campaign Guide and are thinking of branching out from there.
There's always been conflict between Luskan and Neverwinter, whether overt or covert, so exploring that theme would be cool.
Dwarves used to bring goods to Neverwinter through Underdark tunnels. So how about an article that describes dwarves exploring the Underdark tunnels that were once used to bring good to Neverwinter; how they're finding all sorts of nasties, new wondrous caves and cavers as well as new routes to get to Neverwinter—but these dwarves are not friendly and have a mind to aiding Luskan "get underneath" Neverwinter so as to strike at is unawares.
...and if you do it fast enough you can link it to content from the Menzo book coming out later this year. :D
Also, and speaking purely for selfish reasons, having a Luskan article would allow me to create some new (and hopefully fun, adventure-seed worthy) clack for the Current Clack: Neverwinter Edition thread.
EDIT: Shoot, why not just make this a Backdrop style article. Backdrop: Luskan would be pretty awesome!
I like plains, ok?
Oh, also, those elves that live in the desert toward the north east of the map...can't remember what the desert is. I don't have a map handy, I'll try to find one online....