There's so much lore here. If you're a glutton for Realmslore, and especially Thay, you have to do yourself a favour and get this. This is the kind of really zoomed in, hyperspecific, could-never-fit-in-a-sourcebook-in-5E, lore writing we just don't get anymore as Dragon+ is mostly for promotion and interviews than supplemental stuff like this. We don't get columns from Ed Greenwood or other Realmsperts there or on the Wizards website anymore. This reads a lot like one of those - plenty of intriguing in-depth reveals and yet still a lot left to mystery.

There are some big Realmslore secrets here - some which could be see as contradicting previously published lore but which the authors would say merely reveals that lore as the lies and misdirections they were. This is ancient history stuff - if you want to know what you need to know about Thay to run adventures and campaigns, this might be too specific for you... but there is some fascinating stuff in here as well, particularly some here-to-fore unrevealed secrets of Szass Tam.

I wish the DMs Guild, or Wizards, would provide some kind of outlet for this kind of writing, especially for Ed Greenwood and other longtime Realmslore guys like George Krashos, or Stephen Schend. I know Ed had stories up on here that got taken down, and other stories that only stayed up because they included some mechanical elements. I'm glad this is still up, although it is strictly just lore - there's no crunch to be found here.

I'd love to see more of this - edition-neutral lore material put out by those who know the Realms inside and out. Shame that there isn't really more of a place for that in 5E.