RPG Glossary

Abeir-Toril is the name of the fictional planet on which the Forgotten Realms is set. The name is archaic, meaning "cradle of life." It consists of various continents and islands, including Faerûn, Kara-Tur, Zakhara, Maztica, and Anchorome. (an unknown sub-Saharan-like continent is located south of Maztica). Toril was the name of Jeff Grubb’s campaign world, and it was adopted as the name of the planet with the continent Faerûn when he and Ed Greenwood were designing the original Forgotten Realms Boxed Set in 1987. Abeir- was added as a prefix so that the world's name was placed at the beginning of an alphabetical encyclopedia.

Al-Qadim is an Arabian Nights-themed campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The setting was developed by Jeff Grubb for TSR, Inc., and was first released in 1992. Al-Qadim is set in the land of Zakhara, called the Land of Fate.

Lord Ao: the overgod of Toril, responsible for the creation of the first deities, and for maintaining the cosmic balance. He is the god of all deities and will respond to no mortals. He can create new deities and banish old, has supreme power over all deities, and can be defeated by none or all together.

Chauntea: (The Great Mother, The Grain Goddess, Earthmother). A greater goddess, Chauntea is of neutral good alignment whose portfolio includes agriculture, plants, farmers, gardeners, and summer. Her domains are Animal, Earth, Good, Plant, Protection and Renewal. Her church is divided into two divisions – clerics who work in more populated areas, and others (mostly druids) who watch over outlying areas and the wildernesses. Chauntea allies with other nature deities and opposes those of destruction and death. She is considered to be the precursor of all the natural races of Toril.

Chult: Chult is the name of the jungle that entirely covers the Chultan Peninsula. It is inhabited by dinosaurs and was at the dawn of time one of the most powerful empires, ruled by the sarrukh. There are 440,000 people, of many different species, living in Chult. Mainly humans, there are sizable numbers of goblins and lizardfolk, as well as wild dwarves and pterafolk.

Ed Greenwood (born 1959) is a Canadian library clerk who created the Forgotten Realms Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. Ed Greenwood and Jeff Grubb together penned the Forgotten Realms Campaign Boxed Set in 1987, for TSR —t hough Greenwood had used the Forgotten Realms for his home Dungeons & Dragons campaign since 1975. The spawned campaign world was a success, and he has been involved with all subsequent incarnations of the Forgotten Realms in D&D. Greenwood's most lasting character from the setting is the wizard Elminster, who he portrayed (at TSR's request) for a number of years at conventions and as a participant in the RPGA's Living City campaign. Since the release of the Forgotten Realms, Greenwood has published many Forgotten Realms novels. He retains certain rights of his setting, but is essentially a freelance author.

Faerûn: a fictional continent, the primary setting of the Dungeons & Dragons world of Forgotten Realms. It is the western part of an unnamed supercontinent, set on the planet Toril (more formally, "Abeir-Toril"). Other parts of this supercontinenent include Kara-Tur (original setting of the D&D Oriental Adventures campaign setting), and Zakhara, home to the Arabian Nights setting Al-Qadim. Maztica, home of a tribal, Aztec-like civilization is far to the west, across the Trackless Sea. The subterranean regions underneath Faerûn are the Underdark. Forgotten Realms is a fictional setting for the Dungeons & Dragons (DnD) fantasy roleplaying game, created by Canadian Author and game designer, Ed Greenwood. Commonly referred to as simply The Realms, it became the most popular setting with D&D gamers in the 1990s. Jeff Grubb is a fantasy author of such books as The Brothers' War and Liberty's Crusade. He writes for several fantasy series, such as Magic: The Gathering, StarCraft, WarCraft, and Dungeons and Dragons. Grubb is also one of the co-founders of both the Dragonlance campaign setting, under Tracy Hickman, and the Forgotten Realms setting, with Ed Greenwood. He is the author of several Forgotten Realms novels with his wife Kate Novak, including the Finder's Stone Trilogy which features the character Alias. He was also one of the designers of D20 Modern and Urban Arcana, and was the principal architect of TSR's Marvel Super Heroes (role-playing game).

Kara-Tur is a fantasy world created by Gary Gygax, David Cook and François Marcela-Froideval detailed in 1985's Oriental Adventures for the First Edition Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. It was later placed on the planet Toril, the planet of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, and lies east of Faerûn.

Moradin: The Father or Creator of Dwarves. Moradin leads the Morndinsimman, the dwarven pantheon of gods.

Morndinsimman: (Shield Brothers on High or High Dwarves) the Dwarven pantheon of gods. Moradin, called the father of all dwarves, is the leader of the Mordinsimman. Others gods in the pantheon include: Abbbathor, Berronar Truesilver, Clangeddon Silverbeard, Deep Duerra, Dugmaren Brightmantle, Dumathoin, Gorm Gulthyn, Haela Brightaxe, Laduguer, Marthammor Duin, Sharindlar, Thard Harr, and Vergadain.

Mystryl: The original goddess of magic, Mystryl Nether Scrolls: These scrolls containing magical information were found by an unknown adventurer and eventually lost. They taught spellcasting, creation of items and constructs, the relations and structure of the planes and artifact making. These scrolls changed Netheril forever.

Netheril: Begun as seven fishing villages who formed an alliance for protection, Netheril went on to become one of the most magically powerful of all empires. The Netherese were taught magic by elven neighbors, and eventually they acquired the now lost Nether Scrolls. Magic which had never been heard of in Toril was now theirs to command. Netheril was eventually destroyed mainly by an overly ambitious wizard named Karsus.

Selune: (Our lady of Silver, The Moon Maiden) An intermediate goddess, Selune is of chaotic good alignment whose portfolio includes the moon, stars, navigation, navigators, wanderers, questers, good and neutral lycanthropes. Her domains are Chaos, Good, The Moon, Protection and Travel. Her worshippers include sailors, mystics, female spellcasters and adventurers. She is allied with deities of fortune, light, magic, beauty, weather and joy, while her enemies are Umberlee and Mask. Her nemesis is her sister, Shar.

<a name="Shar">Shar: (Mistress of the Night, Lady of Loss, Dark Godess)  A greater godess, Shar is of neutral evil alignment whose portfolio includes dark, night, loss, forgetfulness, unrevealed secrets, caverns, dungeons and the Underdark. Her domains are Caverns, Darkness, Evil and Knowledge. Her worshippers are members of individual cells, led by strong priests, tied together by dark secrets. Her only ally is Talona and she opposes Shaundakul and deities of light. Her main nemesis is her sister, Selune.

<a name="Weave">Weave: the Weave is many things – It is the embodiment of Mystra, the goddess of Magic, it is a conduit by which mortals can use magic.

<a name=" Zakhara ">Zakhara is a fictional realm styled after the themes and setting depicted in the Arabian Nights. The land is the setting of the Al-Qadim campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Zakhara is a giant peninsula of the same supercontinent that hosts Faerûn and Kara-Tur on the planet Abeir-Toril. Zakhara is located east of Faerûn, and the closest Faerûnian lands to Zakhara are the Dambrath (by sea) and Var the Golden or arguably Konigheim (by land). Zakhara is mostly isolated from the rest of the world, as the peninsula is separated from the main mass by the World Pillar Mountains(also known as Wu Pi Te Shao in Kara-Tur).