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Gyor
Master of Realmslore

1621 Posts

Posted - 06 Feb 2018 :  18:18:10  Show Profile Send Gyor a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
In MGTF, the new book coming out in May, the Shadar Kai are going to be an Elven subrace, harking back to their original Fey origin in 3.5.

But this conflicits with major FR lore which has them as descendants of humans in the Shadowfell.

I don't know how they will square that circle.

In other MGTF news Giths are in and Tieflings get new Archdevil based subraces. Other Elven subraces confirmed to be in MGTF are Sea Elves and Eldarin. The book also helps explain why Elven Subraces are so Diverse, they used to be shape shifting fey (and some powerful Eldarin still are). The playable Eldarin will be humanoids.

Honestly I don't know what to make of it. Thoughts?

Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 06 Feb 2018 :  19:17:57  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
MGTF? "Most Glorified Tough Flumphs"?

I prefer them as Elves - the 3.5 version is close to the stuff they did in The Shadow Rift with elves, and now they can repurpose all of that. Its an easy enough fix - the Shades took them over for awhile, and the Shades were a 'human' kingdom, thus, as part of a human kingdom, they got 'lumped in' with them. Cal it a mistake of semantics, not a lore snafu.

In fact, come to think of it, it would be VERY easy to blend it all together, considering the 'timeless' nature of the Domains of Dread. First, Gwidion* kidnaps a large group of Fey and brings them to to his demiplane within the Plane of Shadows (Shadowfell). Those Fey become the Shadow Elves, and eventually (many centuries) escape Gwidion's clutches and wind-up in the Domains of Dread, in what would become The Shadow Rift (its appearance is connected to all the shenanigans Vecna was doing). This is all RL canon. Now, post-2e, I don't see why some of the Shadow Elves may not have been able to pass through the Shadowgate (and wound upin ravenloft) - the ones who were 'left behind' could have become the Shadar-Kai (or conversely, perhaps a large group of them escaped at some point from Gwydion - they were trapped by him for millennia). Or maybe - if we just ignore 3rd-party products (as WotC is wont to do), we can say at the end of 2e their realm became detached from the Core realms again (becoming an Island of terror, and then they became Shadar Kai. Although I like that better (because the Shadar-Kai seem MUCH shadowier than the Shadow Elves, so they seem to be a 'later' incarnation), you wind-up with continuity problems, because the Shades supposedly had them under heal for quite awhile.

Unless... Gwydion WAS a Shade.
That works! All it says about him is he is a 'sorcerer Fiend' (and the Netherese were called 'Sorcerer Kings' - what if Gydion was a Shade who was also half-archfiend? (something like a Tangglord.) He rises to great power in Thultanthar, so much so that telemont starts to make moves to keep a 'potential rival' in check, so Gydion leaves Shade and creates his own little pocket within the Shadowfell. Then he seeks out and captures some subordinates - the Fey who eventually become the Shadow Elves (Shadar-Kai). however, he either maintains a few connections back in Shade, or eventually comes to arrangement with telemont, and he 'loans' (mercenaries?) HIS Shadow Elves (the Shadar-Kai) to the Shades for various 'projects'. Thus, they can belong to both the Shades and Gydion at the same time (since Gydion is a Shade himself). Then the stuff with the Shadowgate happens, and Gydion loses control of most of them (they go to ravenloft). In the meantime, whatever groups the Shades had currently employed just stayed with telemont, since they no longer had anywhere to go 'home' to. The one tweak I would make to the RL timeline is that the Shadowgate should have went to an island of terror first (or some other demiplane), and they lived there and became the Arak, before winding up in The Shadowrift in the Domains of Dread. Even when that was just an RL stand-alone product, it never made sense to me that the Shadowrift only just appeared, and yet those Fey had already centuries of history behind them (away from Gydion). It just never worked for me, despite the fact that that is the nature of Ravenloft. Of course, that could mean all of that history between the product's current date and them escaping Gwydion could have just been RL 'playing tricks' on their minds, which it canonically does to folks it steals all the time, and that would actually make merging stuff together much simpler (ince that means parts of their history might not be true). Plus, the rift itself has the same sort of time-warping anomalies as the feywild does. Add that to RL's and the Shadowfell's own temporal anomalies, and a timeline is actually meaningless (you basically have a region of 'crazy time', within a region of 'warped time', within a plane of 'no time').

Then Ravenloft is hit with another WSE, and the Shadowrift becomes untethered to the DoD again, and we have our 'Shadar-Kai'. They and the Raven Queen immediately find each other at the very beginning of the Spellplague, and become friends (our current state). However, there ares still descendants of the Gwydion's mercenaries that the Shades would have control of (are the Shades even around anymore? Weren't they chased back to the Shadowfell? Or were they all destroyed? God, I hope so!) Shade's Shadar-Kai would be to tRQ's Shadr-Kai what Drow are to other Elves (so Shade-ar-Kai live in the Shadowdark, maybe?)


"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone


Edited by - Markustay on 06 Feb 2018 19:21:09
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 06 Feb 2018 :  19:20:01  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Oh, and one more fix - the Shader-Kai (note the spelling difference - those are the ones that went to Thultanthar) are mostly half-elves now, because they been inter-mixing with the Shades for centuries, hence their more 'human' appearance.

There, done.

"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone

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Zeromaru X
Great Reader

Colombia
2441 Posts

Posted - 06 Feb 2018 :  19:27:43  Show Profile Send Zeromaru X a Private Message  Reply with Quote
They did this in the UA last year.

AFAIK, shadar-kai were fey in 3e. Not elves, just fey. Now they are elves, but that doesn't mean that the humanish shadar-kai of the Realms are being retconed. Just that, in the whole multiverse, the shadar-kai of the Realms happens to be human.

D&D 5e "core setting" is the multiverse, not the Realms. That they focus in making stuff for the Realms is because is their selling setting, that is another stuff altogether.

BUT IHMO, this new book is done for Greyhwak.

Instead of seeking change, you prefer a void, merciless abyss of a world...

Edited by - Zeromaru X on 06 Feb 2018 19:33:46
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Gyor
Master of Realmslore

1621 Posts

Posted - 06 Feb 2018 :  19:36:52  Show Profile Send Gyor a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I hope they have a guide for using MGTF for FR.

I actually had some of my own ideas on how to fit it in the lore.
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 06 Feb 2018 :  19:56:04  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
So no-one wants to tell me what MGTF stands for?

EDIT:
Looking at articles on the internet, and seeing guesses for 'marathon', I am thinking Modron Gods are Too Fat?

Nevermind - found it. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes? Yeah... that's gonna sell well... what were they thinking?

"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone


Edited by - Markustay on 06 Feb 2018 20:03:13
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Zeromaru X
Great Reader

Colombia
2441 Posts

Posted - 06 Feb 2018 :  20:59:11  Show Profile Send Zeromaru X a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Yeah. Sorry, I believed you knew about the new book.

quote:
Originally posted by Gyor

I hope they have a guide for using MGTF for FR.

I actually had some of my own ideas on how to fit it in the lore.



They will not, because they will leave that open to DM's interpretation. That is how they have been working with 5e. Just that this haven't affected people playing in the Realms until now. But if you're playing in other settings (official or homebrew), then you always had to deal with this without guides.

Instead of seeking change, you prefer a void, merciless abyss of a world...
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
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Posted - 06 Feb 2018 :  21:04:32  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Simple. Make them a race of half-fae.

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TBeholder
Great Reader

2378 Posts

Posted - 06 Feb 2018 :  21:05:10  Show Profile Send TBeholder a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay


Nevermind - found it. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes? Yeah... that's gonna sell well... what were they thinking?

No thinking necessary, just fingers twitching to type "MTG", "MTG", "MTG", "MGT", no matter what.

People never wonder How the world goes round -Helloween
And even I make no pretense Of having more than common sense -R.W.Wood
It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo. -Ed Whitchurch
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 06 Feb 2018 :  21:09:14  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I don't like that they are using Mordenkainen, Buuuuut... I can appreciate the new 'multispheric' approach. Maybe they'll turn Mordenkainen into a Planeswalker... probably far less backlash then if they used Elminster or Khelben in MtG (also, am I the only one who think the initials for this are suspiciously similar? MtG and MGTF? A little subliminal thing going on there?) Actually, the abbreviation should be MtoF! LOL - WE got it wrong.

I'm torn. I really never have use for a book of high-level thingies, but at the same time, 'Planer stuff' is what I live & breath these days. I may pick this up just for the lore.

One last thing - any WotC employees who happen to be reading this - tell Mike Mearls to enunciate more clearly. I've replayed the same exact part five time now and still can't figure out what he is saying. He is talking about another product that did well, and that they were very happy with, but when he says the name it keeps sounding like, "We had a very positive response to bullnose". What the heck is 'bullnose'?

EDIT:
Another thing - I am very frightened by them touching upon the drow and elves (and that whole antideluvian rivalry). First, they are probably going to try and explain it (which will definitely nuke anything I am doing), and also, with their new 'universal' approach to the lore, there is a good chance they will retcon 'drow happened' in The Forgotten Realms (and that is one thing I am adamant wasn't a 'echoes happened everywhere' thing - I HATE that.) For some things that works, but in the case of the Drow (and Elaine's magnificent work), I feel it would water-down our own lore way too much. It happened far enough back in the past for OUR Descent of the Drow to be THE DotD. Now, Corellon may have overdid things - which is how I always spun it - and 'Dark Elves' all over the universe got cursed in the backash (OUR lore even says the ritual/whatever got completely out of control). Between the Underways (The Shadowdark) and other methodology, that, IMO, would have been the best scenario - the Descent Curse in FR started a drow panspermia, not that it was part of said panspermia. It needs to be the Progenitor-event.

Anything else they do will crap all over realmslore.

"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone


Edited by - Markustay on 06 Feb 2018 21:26:54
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Zeromaru X
Great Reader

Colombia
2441 Posts

Posted - 06 Feb 2018 :  21:38:08  Show Profile Send Zeromaru X a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Bullnose might be Volo's (Guide to Monsters), that is the book Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes draw inspiration from. Poor Volo... thought. That pronunciation murdered his name.

Instead of seeking change, you prefer a void, merciless abyss of a world...
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BadCatMan
Senior Scribe

Australia
401 Posts

Posted - 07 Feb 2018 :  00:45:58  Show Profile Send BadCatMan a Private Message  Reply with Quote
3e shadar-kai were fey, 4e shadar-kai were human. Given that and their wildly different curses, histories, and personalities, at the Forgotten Realms Wiki we decided they couldn't be reconciled and I split them into two articles. Both have had appearances in the Realms.
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Shadar-kai_(fey) (copy-paste the link, it's broken)
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Shadar-kai
I wonder which 5e's shadar-kai will hearken to, or if they will just make a third shadar-kai race.

BadCatMan, B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc.
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Administrator of the Forgotten Realms Wiki

Edited by - BadCatMan on 07 Feb 2018 01:37:29
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader

USA
3736 Posts

Posted - 07 Feb 2018 :  00:52:47  Show Profile Send Lord Karsus a Private Message  Reply with Quote
-I'm surprised that there aren't Shadow Elves to begin with.

(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know)

Elves of Faerūn
Vol I- The Elves of Faerūn
Vol. III- Spells of the Elves
Vol. VI- Mechanical Compendium
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Gyor
Master of Realmslore

1621 Posts

Posted - 07 Feb 2018 :  01:11:34  Show Profile Send Gyor a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Lord Karsus

-I'm surprised that there aren't Shadow Elves to begin with.



Within wider D&D there is, they are called Dusk Elves, which never made an appearance in FR.
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 07 Feb 2018 :  01:11:57  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by BadCatMan

3e shadar-kai were fey, 4e shadar-kai were human. Given that and their wildly different histories and personalities, at the Forgotten Realms Wiki we decided they couldn't be reconciled and I split them into two articles. Both have had appearances in the Realms.
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Shadar-kai_(fey)
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Shadar-kai
I wonder which 5e's shadar-kai will hearken to, or if they will just make a third shadar-kai race.
Which is why i made up a history wherein the original were mercenaries who hired out to the shades, and eventually BECAME Shades - The Shader-Kai (note the small difference in spelling). So the ones that have been with the Shades for centuries have really become half-elves, but considering they live in a 'human'(?) culture and city, everyone just thinks of them as humans (or rather, originally from human stock, since nothing in shade is technically human anymore).

"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone

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Gyor
Master of Realmslore

1621 Posts

Posted - 07 Feb 2018 :  01:12:36  Show Profile Send Gyor a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by BadCatMan

3e shadar-kai were fey, 4e shadar-kai were human. Given that and their wildly different histories and personalities, at the Forgotten Realms Wiki we decided they couldn't be reconciled and I split them into two articles. Both have had appearances in the Realms.
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Shadar-kai_(fey)
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Shadar-kai
I wonder which 5e's shadar-kai will hearken to, or if they will just make a third shadar-kai race.



I think it could be an attempt to fuse the two some how.
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 07 Feb 2018 :  01:18:09  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Gyor

quote:
Originally posted by Lord Karsus

-I'm surprised that there aren't Shadow Elves to begin with.



Within wider D&D there is, they are called Dusk Elves, which never made an appearance in FR.

Also, we had Shadow Elves in Ravenloft, who may have been the proto-Shadar-Kai (two groups of Shadow Elves living in the Shadowfell? A bit redundant, eh?) They were introduced in the excellent The Shadowrift product.

And also, there was an actual sourcebook called The Shadowelves for Mystara - it was supposed to be one of the Gazeteers (it remains the infamous 'missing' Gazeteer). They decided to repurpose that Material for their Hollow World setting, so the book was never published for the 'topside' Mystara setting. They were the one group that was 'common' to BOTH settings. Shadow Elves were Mystara's (OD&D) version of drow, except they were albinos (like Ed's drow were, before TSR got ahold of them and said, "Oh no! Only 'black things' can be bad!")

"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone


Edited by - Markustay on 07 Feb 2018 01:19:57
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Lord Karsus
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USA
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Posted - 07 Feb 2018 :  01:20:28  Show Profile Send Lord Karsus a Private Message  Reply with Quote
-Reading up on them, they're a Ravenloft thing. If I were tying them to the Forgotten Realms, I'd say that they started out as Vyshaanti or Ilythiiri magi that were casting a powerful ritual to summon a powerful entity to aid them in their wars. Ravenloft was the entity that they summoned, and the Demiplane of Dread had other ideas for those Elves. Years later, their descendants are those Dusk Elves.

(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know)

Elves of Faerūn
Vol I- The Elves of Faerūn
Vol. III- Spells of the Elves
Vol. VI- Mechanical Compendium
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Gyor
Master of Realmslore

1621 Posts

Posted - 07 Feb 2018 :  01:21:41  Show Profile Send Gyor a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by BadCatMan

3e shadar-kai were fey, 4e shadar-kai were human. Given that and their wildly different histories and personalities, at the Forgotten Realms Wiki we decided they couldn't be reconciled and I split them into two articles. Both have had appearances in the Realms.
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Shadar-kai_(fey)
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Shadar-kai
I wonder which 5e's shadar-kai will hearken to, or if they will just make a third shadar-kai race.



Given the nature of the Fey Shadar Kai perhaps they descended to save their race by merging their essence and souls with humans, using them to anchor their souls so that they didn't have to worry about losing their souls, and what resulted what a new race of Elves.
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Dalor Darden
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USA
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Posted - 07 Feb 2018 :  02:25:50  Show Profile Send Dalor Darden a Private Message  Reply with Quote
The Shadow Elves of Mystara came out in GAZ 13 "The Shadow Elves" by Carl Sargent and Gary Thomas, which I have.

While there is no Lolth...they do have a "Cavern of Spiders" around the settlement of Losetrel.

Now that MT mentions that Drow in Ed's original FR were albinos...that's how they will be in my own Realms henceforth!

The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me!
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist

USA
11686 Posts

Posted - 07 Feb 2018 :  02:31:37  Show Profile Send sleyvas a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay

quote:
Originally posted by Gyor

quote:
Originally posted by Lord Karsus

-I'm surprised that there aren't Shadow Elves to begin with.



Within wider D&D there is, they are called Dusk Elves, which never made an appearance in FR.

Also, we had Shadow Elves in Ravenloft, who may have been the proto-Shadar-Kai (two groups of Shadow Elves living in the Shadowfell? A bit redundant, eh?) They were introduced in the excellent The Shadowrift product.

And also, there was an actual sourcebook called The Shadowelves for Mystara - it was supposed to be one of the Gazeteers (it remains the infamous 'missing' Gazeteer). They decided to repurpose that Material for their Hollow World setting, so the book was never published for the 'topside' Mystara setting. They were the one group that was 'common' to BOTH settings. Shadow Elves were Mystara's (OD&D) version of drow, except they were albinos (like Ed's drow were, before TSR got ahold of them and said, "Oh no! Only 'black things' can be bad!")



They also were a lot less evil than drow are portrayed as. In fact, over in Mystara, its the surface elves who kind of betrayed them and who bad mouth them so that they have a bad reputation.

I love both interpretations (the shadow elves of Ravenloft and Mystara). I was so tempted to put shadow elves (Mystaran) beneath Anchorome and have the surface Poscadari elves not like them.

Alavairthae, may your skill prevail

Phillip aka Sleyvas
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire

USA
15724 Posts

Posted - 07 Feb 2018 :  02:46:26  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Dalor Darden

The Shadow Elves of Mystara came out in GAZ 13 "The Shadow Elves" by Carl Sargent and Gary Thomas, which I have.

While there is no Lolth...they do have a "Cavern of Spiders" around the settlement of Losetrel.

Now that MT mentions that Drow in Ed's original FR were albinos...that's how they will be in my own Realms henceforth!
It was released?

I was never able to find it, back when the Gazeteers came out. It was the only one I didn't have. I was told it was never made available (and then checking around other places since then, I've found the Shadow Elf material became part of the Hollow World). I've found the pdf, but I just assumed it never became a hard-copy (I tried a bunch of different stores back in the day - they all said it was unavailable... weird).

As for Ed's 'albino drow', i was doing something with them for the Elven netbook project, but I never finished that article, IIRC. Albinos ARE born to regular drow on occasion, and they're usually abandoned to die, but I had an idea where some managed to live (perhaps not all of them were discarded), and they 'rescued' others from various drow settlements (it may have even been a case of rare drow sentimentality - there may have been a specific spot outside the settlements where such children were placed, so that the groups of albinos could come retrieve the child. Meanwhile, 'officially', the child was abandoned as per Lolth's clergy's decree.

Because this has been going on for thousands of years, there are now several 'tribes' of albino drow, living in secret throughout the Underdark (its not like human albinism, and it 'breeds true' most of the time). I had some lore saying one tribe had found its way to the Moonsea region, and became the 'Sea Drow' (Marels) - they have a special series of caves wherein they can access the Moonsea from the underdark (and they became sea elves the same way the surface elves do - they just wanna).

"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone


Edited by - Markustay on 07 Feb 2018 05:11:07
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TomCosta
Forgotten Realms Designer

USA
948 Posts

Posted - 07 Feb 2018 :  03:10:04  Show Profile Send TomCosta a Private Message  Reply with Quote
For whatever it's worth, in my DM's Guild product Forgotten Characters of the Realms, I made them a subset of shadowborn along with the shades (their mutual powers are too similar to ignore from my perspective, though their attitudes toward life and how they dealt with Shadow are nearly completely opposite, which I think works) and squared the circle, thusly:

"The origins of the shadar-kai are as murky as the Shadowfell. Some say they are descended from eladrin from the Feywild. Others say that they evolved from humans born in the Shadowfell or that they resulted from some mingling of shadow creatures and humans (in these tales, they are known as krinths or sometimes, as shadowswyfts). And still others say that the Spellplague awakened the latent shadow in certain shadowborn across the planes, permanently changing them into something more akin to the shades. Whatever their origins, following the onset of the Spellplague, the shadar-kai made up nearly half of the citizens of Shade Enclave before it fell into Myth Drannor at the end of that era. Today, the shadar-kai—which means those of shadow's gift in Netherese—are scattered across the Realms, often living alone or in small groups, though a few small enclaves have formed in the Underdark's shallows."

Shadowswyfts and krinths were both kind of lame. The former were ignored after publication, while the latter were nearly ignored and then transformed into shadar-kai. The shadar-kai became much more interesting to me when they embraced the overly pierced and scarred forms then their elven origins. The story of how they dealt with the Shadow was just better in my view, plus the elven version were too powerful.
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Dalor Darden
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USA
4211 Posts

Posted - 07 Feb 2018 :  03:27:51  Show Profile Send Dalor Darden a Private Message  Reply with Quote
GAZ 13, the Shadow Elves

There ya go MT!

The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me!
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BadCatMan
Senior Scribe

Australia
401 Posts

Posted - 07 Feb 2018 :  03:41:13  Show Profile Send BadCatMan a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
As for Ed's 'albinoe drow', i was doing something with them for the Elevn netbook project, but I never finished that article, IIRC. Albinos ARE born to regular drow on occassion, and they're usually abandoned to die, but I had an idea where some managed to live (perhaps not all of them were discarded), and they 'rescued' others from various drow settlements (it may have even been a case of rare drow sentimentality - there may have been a specific spot outside the settlements where such children were placed, so that the groups of albinos could come retrieve the child. Meanwhile, 'officially', the child was abandoned as per Lolth's clergy's decree.

Because this has been going on for thousands of years, there are never several 'tribes' of albino drow, leaving in secret throughout the Underdark (its not like human albinism, and it 'breeds true' most of the time). I had some lore saying one tribe had found its way to the Moonsea region, and became the 'Sea Drow' (Marels) - they have a special series of caves wherein they can access the Moonsea from the underdark (and they became sea elves the same way the surface elves do - they just wanna).


Albino drow are established in the Realms, with Darien in the Maztica novels and Irae T'sarran in the City of the Spider Queen module both being albinos. The 3.5-edition core Drow of the Underdark had them as natural albinos trained to be spies among surface elves, called "ghost spiders" (that lore doesn't necessarily apply to the Realms, of course).
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Szarkai
A DM had me make my drow PC an albino to get by easily on the surface. So now I play a semi-blind katana-wielding albino drow samurai chef paladin of Eilistraee. Yes.

BadCatMan, B.Sc. (Hons), M.Sc.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
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Posted - 07 Feb 2018 :  05:23:14  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Dalor Darden

GAZ 13, the Shadow Elves

There ya go MT!



That was one of the many books included in a Humble Bundle, last year. Books 1-14 of the GAZ series (I think that was all of them).

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Wooly Rupert
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Posted - 07 Feb 2018 :  05:32:02  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay

Shadow Elves were Mystara's (OD&D) version of drow, except they were albinos (like Ed's drow were, before TSR got ahold of them and said, "Oh no! Only 'black things' can be bad!")



My first exposure to dark elves was in Raymond E Feist's Riftwar Saga, and I still love his take on it.

On the main world his stories are set on, Midkemia, there were two known types of elves: regular elves (eledhel) and the Brotherhood of the Dark Path (moredhel). Physically, the main difference between them was that elves were usually lighter of hair than moredhel -- though that wasn't an absolute.

The background was that the two types of elves were essentially one race. In millennia past, they were both slaves to a godlike race called the Valheru. When the Valheru left, the elves decided to stick with the woods they'd always lived in. The moredhel decided to try to claim the power of their lost masters -- hence, they followed the Dark Path.

A lot of moredhel live in mountains (on them, like anyone else, not actually inside them, like dwarves), but many also live in the forests.

An eledhel and a moredhel can tell on sight if an unknown elf-type is eledhel or moredhel. It's an instinctive thing.

And the real kicker is that some moredhel managed to leave their kin, and rejoin the elves. The elven Spellweavers do this ritual, and while there is no change to the appearance of the Returned moredhel, suddenly everyone is looking at an eledhel, not a moredhel.

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Markustay
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Posted - 07 Feb 2018 :  05:32:37  Show Profile Send Markustay a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I am fairly certain drow albinism was touched upon in the original Drow of the Underdark as well. I believe that mention - plus knowledge that Ed's drow were white - and the uber-kewl dark elves from the Hellboy 2 movie which had just come out back then, is what made me want to create the 'pockets' of albino drow living in the Underdark.

I also use the Rockseer elves from Night Below - the live under the High Moor (remnants of the Green Elves of Miyeritar who followed their dark elven cousins below after the disaster). I've even managed to tweak my maps to to sync-up perfectly with the ones in that product (it fits perfectly just to the right {east} of the the NE corner of the High Moor). When you scale it down, its a very tiny area compared to Faerūn.

So nobody liked my idea of merging the original Shadar-kai with the shadow elf stuff from Ravenloft, and then saying Gwydion was a Shade, and he used them as mercenaries, and then the two groups were separated for so long they became two different kinds of Shadar-kai? I thought that was a perfct 'fix'. Ah, well. You could always leave-out the RL/Gwydion stuff and just use the 'they were mercenaries' bit still. After a time, the employed soldiers just became more citizens of Shade, while the rest remained... something else.

I don't want them to be human, honestly. Malaugrym were already human, as were the Shades. How many human-turned-shadow groups do we need?

Hmph... here's a thought. What if 'elf' is just something generated by a plane itself (a 'citizen' of the plane, as it were)? Thus, Fey become fairy elves, Shadar-Kai become Shadow-Elves, etc... you could have elemental elves, and you could have fiendish elves (I'm thinking maybe thats what Baatorans were). And our regular, good old fashioned 'Sylvan' Elves are just the Prime material Variety. Thus, Elves are like vermin - you just can't get rid of them. They're part of the planer structure. Actually, you could invert that and say 'Fey' are the planer race, that is omnipresent, and 'elves' are just the Prime version. that way, we could include all the smaller fey as well (which could be fun - you could just use the Big (Eladrin), medium (Urchin), and tiny groups and apply planer templates to them, to get any type of fey you wished. Thus, imps become a type of infernal brownie, mephits become elemental sprites, etc, etc. That could work.

Of course, we'd probably have to wait until 6e now.

So, like, end of next year, maybe?

"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone


Edited by - Markustay on 10 Feb 2018 01:38:32
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BadCatMan
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Posted - 07 Feb 2018 :  06:13:02  Show Profile Send BadCatMan a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I fixed shadar-kai by dividing them neatly in twain – why would I want to make them more complicated?

There's a teeny mention of rare bone-white drow albinos in the original The Drow of the Underdark (referenced in my article), but that does no more than say they exist, because of course they must.

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Edited by - BadCatMan on 07 Feb 2018 06:14:11
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Lord Karsus
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Posted - 08 Feb 2018 :  05:27:27  Show Profile Send Lord Karsus a Private Message  Reply with Quote
-The Realmsification of Rockseer Elves was a good one that we did. One of the articles that I liked the most.

(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know)

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Gyor
Master of Realmslore

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Posted - 08 Feb 2018 :  23:36:00  Show Profile Send Gyor a Private Message  Reply with Quote
I do like the idea of Shadar Kai being born in Arborea being Celestials.
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