| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| talkitron |
Posted - 04 Jul 2014 : 22:03:13
The new 5E basic rules PDF has info on human ethnic groups and demihuman races in the Realms. As far as I could tell, the info on demihumans is pretty much how 3E worked. Elves now are only slightly shorter than humans, which is more like the Realms than Greyhawk. There are no eladrin.
The changes to human ethnic groups seem greater. There seem to be a group of dark skinned people with Spanish/Italian sounding names called the Turami that live on the southern Inner Sea. Is this supposed to be Turmish? Tethyrians are now a core ethnic group, while in e# they were lumped into Chondathans. The fact that Mulan are a thing suggests that not ancient Egyptians have been replaced with Dragonborn. Does anyone with more knowledge want to explain what is going on with these changes?
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| 12 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| George Krashos |
Posted - 15 Jul 2014 : 01:51:01
The slav-sounding names for Rashemen and the UE continue to grate. None of the Rashemi names in Ed's realmslore provided to date have sounded like that. I get that there should be differences in regional naming, but those differences should be from the Realms itself, not adopted from real Earth naming patterns. Ed has always tried to move away from any direct Earth analogues and correctly so. On a personal project I did a while ago using the Northmen he gently chided me on using names that were too closely tied with Scandinavian ones (i.e. use Olafendar instead of Olaf - stuff like that). It can be done, you just have to pick a trend and stick with it - before long you have a distinctive naming pattern that owes nothing to RL names. My Impiltur has lots of male names ending in "rar", "aun", "ras" and the prominent use of "ph", "b" and "br". That's the way to make regional naming work, not importing RL names holus bolus.
-- George Krashos |
| Zireael |
Posted - 14 Jul 2014 : 20:15:39
Sounds good if they're keeping the RoF lore in 5e. |
| KnightErrantJR |
Posted - 13 Jul 2014 : 22:28:22
Its the 5th Edition Players Handbook, not a Forgotten Realms specific rulebook, so I doubt there will be more references to human ethnicities. Its just a means of expressing that humans in a fantasy setting should all look and act the same, and they use a particular setting to illustrate that point. We have yet to hear about any plans for a Forgotten Realms setting book of any kind, which is where we'll likely get even more detail on humankind in the Realms. |
| Razz |
Posted - 13 Jul 2014 : 22:15:42
I hope this doesn't mean they omitted the other ethnicities. I want to see in-depth write ups on ALL of them. |
| Gyor |
Posted - 12 Jul 2014 : 15:23:31
Not all Mulhorand left with Mulhorand, High Imaskar still controls a Mulhirandi city, abit greatly reduced in size and there a Mulhorand dispora around the Innersea. I think if Mulhorand does come back, you'll see a great many of those people drift back to the motherland. |
| The Masked Mage |
Posted - 07 Jul 2014 : 23:33:11
Gives me hope for future products
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| Faraer |
Posted - 05 Jul 2014 : 19:55:26
quote:
Originally posted by talkitron
This shows an attention to canon that bodes well for new products. We also might be seeing the return of Maztica and Mulhorand.
It seems to be motivated by the decision to develop the human ethnicities through art and show, as Mike Mearls is saying, how diverse the Realms is and how anyone can play.
The languages in 3E are a simplified version of the complex breakdown Tom Costa did. There's an ambiguity here in Realmslore: some sources present Common as the primary human language, others stress the regional languages and make Common a less expressive secondary tongue, which would suggest communication problems we never see in the fiction. I'm happy for sources to leave this open -- you'll see the Basic Rules only give Common.quote:
The pseudo-Earth names are indeed in Basic, but for the most part they are also on page 12 of the FRCS. Better stick to canon.
But many, many more authentic names are also canonical! For instance, hundreds of humans of the Sword Coast North named by Ed who would be Illuskan but don't sound like those here. Many Turmishan names that are not even slightly Romance, let alone actual Earth names (Luisa, Marta). Similarly with Calimshan. So there was a deliberate or inadvertent decision to use one rather than the other, and I find it wearying to still see this after twenty-seven years when Ed's just an email away. |
| eeorey |
Posted - 05 Jul 2014 : 19:42:58
quote:
Originally posted by Mapolq
Yup, for good or bad (and in my opinion, mostly good) that stuff has been all done in 3e.
Tethyrians are a separate ethnic group from Chondathans who nonetheless speak Chondathan, by the way. I'd take that as a generalization, though... pretty sure the Chondathan spoken on Tethyr would be very different from the one spoken on Thesk.
Also, I believe it's stated somewhere that common is mostly based on Chondathan and Alzhedo, which makes sense to me, as Chondath (Jhaamdath) and Calimshan strike me as the cradle of human civilisation in Faerūn (with important exceptions).
That's correct Thorass and Common come from Jhaamdathan, and considering the far ranging influence of Jhaam/Chondathans it's no wonder both Common and Chondathan are so widespread. |
| Mapolq |
Posted - 05 Jul 2014 : 19:26:43
Yup, for good or bad (and in my opinion, mostly good) that stuff has been all done in 3e.
Tethyrians are a separate ethnic group from Chondathans who nonetheless speak Chondathan, by the way. I'd take that as a generalization, though... pretty sure the Chondathan spoken on Tethyr would be very different from the one spoken on Thesk.
Also, I believe it's stated somewhere that common is mostly based on Chondathan and Alzhedo, which makes sense to me, as Chondath (Jhaamdath) and Calimshan strike me as the cradle of human civilisation in Faerūn (with important exceptions). |
| talkitron |
Posted - 05 Jul 2014 : 18:21:36
I never bought Races of Faerun before, but I just did and it has a treasure trove of information. It is remarkable that this detailed human ethnicity system made it into D&D Basic! This shows an attention to canon that bodes well for new products. We also might be seeing the return of Maztica and Mulhorand.
One detail of Races of Faerun that I did not appreciate is that Luskan (and possibly Neverwinter) speak a different language than the Heartlands, Illuskan.
Another oddity is why anyone in the Heartlands bothers to learn the trade language Common when everyone in the Heartlands speaks the similar Chondathan. In my opinion, it would have been better to say that Chondathan is Common. That way, all the demihuman characters (who speak Common not Chondathan) can fluently participate in civic life in the Heartlands.
The pseudo-Earth names are indeed in Basic, but for the most part they are also on page 12 of the FRCS. Better stick to canon.
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| Dark Wizard |
Posted - 05 Jul 2014 : 05:56:05
The Mulan still exist as the main ethnic group for Thayans. |
| Faraer |
Posted - 05 Jul 2014 : 00:01:58
Yes, the Turami are the people of Turmish, discussed in FR10 Old Empires and Races of Faerūn. Those sample human names are highly unimpressive -- apart from the Chondathans* they're all the inauthentic Earth-analogue names of which it seems we'll ne'er be rid.*
Interesting that lightfoot and strongheart are kept as the halfling subraces for the Realms but the term 'stout' also returns for other worlds. I don't think anyone here has queried Ed if he prefers the original or newer terms.
* well, the Shou names are also what they should be |
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