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Mindseye
Acolyte
USA
27 Posts |
 Posted - 30 Oct 2019 : 06:36:34
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I tried searching the forums, but most of the recent info seems to be concerned with Elistree and her followers.
What I'm more interested in is which sources were the Drow invasion of Cormanthor dealt with, if it wasn't mostly handled in the novels. 
And is there any word on their current status for 5e? I thought the "normal" elves were coming back to Cormanthor, so is there room for all of them together?
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Starshade
Learned Scribe
Norway
279 Posts |
Posted - 30 Oct 2019 : 10:04:26
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| The good ones might be de-Drowed into green elves, so a lot of them might be normal elves. If the 4e changes wasn't retconned in 5e? |
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Wrigley
Senior Scribe
Czech Republic
605 Posts |
Posted - 30 Oct 2019 : 10:14:13
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For time of 5e = 14xx I cannot help you but I would presume that all drow left or were defeated by goody goody elves.
If you would be interested in what happened during 13xx than I can help. |
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Mindseye
Acolyte
USA
27 Posts |
Posted - 30 Oct 2019 : 13:38:40
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I thought the drow didn't start moving into Cormanthor until part of the timeskip happened?
But yes mostly I'm interested in the current era, but knowing what happened before will help me understand how we got here better.
I read something about it being mostly two different houses, and that neither was Lolth worshipping particularly.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 30 Oct 2019 : 14:37:43
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There were a couple groups of drow in Cormanthor, as I recall, and I don't believe their fate was addressed in post-3E material.
Keep in mind that Cormanthor is a large forest. Even with everything that happened in the area, with the fey'ri and the Reclamation of Myth Drannor and all that, there would still be a lot of forest that was unaffected -- so the drow could have simply relocated, and it would be a long time before anyone had the manpower to try to chase them out. |
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Irennan
Great Reader
Italy
3802 Posts |
Posted - 30 Oct 2019 : 14:58:40
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quote:
Originally posted by Starshade
The good ones might be de-Drowed into green elves, so a lot of them might be normal elves. If the 4e changes wasn't retconned in 5e?
Retconned; Semdman herself laid the basis for the retcon: the number of "de-drowed" drow was stated to be a few hundreds; Eilistraee alone has a few thousands followers at bare minimum, meaning that only a narrow minority was transformed. 5e proceeded and completely deleted the event (which was gross in its implications, and was antithetical to Eilistraee). |
Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things. |
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Irennan
Great Reader
Italy
3802 Posts |
Posted - 30 Oct 2019 : 15:52:32
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quote:
Originally posted by Mindseye
I tried searching the forums, but most of the recent info seems to be concerned with Elistree and her followers.
What I'm more interested in is which sources were the Drow invasion of Cormanthor dealt with, if it wasn't mostly handled in the novels.
And is there any word on their current status for 5e? I thought the "normal" elves were coming back to Cormanthor, so is there room for all of them together?
That I know, the only drow "invasion" of Cormanthor that is set in a game era is the one involved in the module Shadowdale: the Scouring of the Land--and that's not even an invasion of Comanthor, more of the Dales.
Cormanthor drow are mostly non-Lolthites, AFAIK. Lets set aside the drow presence that was established after the Dark Court massacre in the -4ks, because they spontaneously left after the slaughter. During the eras, you have the Vhaeraunites from House Jaerle and Auzkovyn; the Eilistraeens near Elventree, in the Twisted Tower, and a bit south of Cormanthor, in Velarswood; the Lolthites coming from Maerimydra and Szith Morcane. I'll list the changes in the drow presence in the area overtime, as I understand it.
The Lolthites of Maerimydra started be active on the surface back when they built the Twisted Tower in Shadowdale in -2500 or so, which led to frequent "interactions" between drow and elves.
In -331, when Myth Drannor was still a thing, an alliance formed by the elves of Rystal Wood, the coronal Tannivh, and the followers of Eilistraee from Cormanthor, drove the Lolthites away. The Eilistraeens were given the Twisted Tower (renamed to Tower of the Dark Moon) and were allowed to build a large drow presence in the area, coexisitng with the elves. For a few centuries, the drow of (surface) Cormanthor basically consisted of them, until Myth Drannor fell, and the drow of Maerimydra retook the tower. As a curiosity, Cormanthyr tried to prevent bloodshed by opening a diplomatic channel for every elven subrace in Cormanthor, even for the drow, but no one used it. In an attempt to regain a presence in Cormanthor, House Dhuurniv from Maerimydra negotiated the Spider Truce--though not through the diplomatic channel, and independently of the rest of the city houses--but it lasted only 1 year, as Myth Drannor fell shortly after. This comes from Cormanthyr: Empire of Elves, and from Shadowdale: Scouring of the Land.
At this point, after the Retreat began, the clan Jaerle and Auzkovyn--Vhaeraunites--started settling in the ruins of Cormanthyr (Champions of Ruin). In the 900s, the Lolthite were once again driven away by the people of the Dales and of Cormyr (this is also reported in the Shadowdale module).
By the 1370s (3e), Cormanthor had mainly Vhaeraunite (Jaerle&Auzkovyn) and Eilistraeen (Elventree&Velarswood) presence. When Maerimdyra fell during Lolth's Silence (City of the Spider Queen), part of the survivors were helped by the followers of Eilistraee, part of them managed to flee the city. A group tried to retake Maerimydra from the fire giants and demons that had invaded it, but failed. Another group tried to conquer Shadowdale by allying with Sharrans and Zhents (Shadowdale: Scouring of the Land), but that failed too. When the elven crusade arrived (1374-1375; The Last Mythal trilogy), they drove most drow away from Cormanthor, and generally cleared everything in a few years (as far-fetched as that was, it happened), leading to the temporary end of the drow presence in that region.
During the 1480s (4e), when Lolth tried her (doomed to fail from the very start, according to Ed) plan to steal the Weave, house Jaerle tried to invade the Dales again. That was part of the 4e organized play events (their "encounters" thingy), IIRC, and related to this huge event called "The Rise of the Underdark" that was dropped before it could get to its conclusion, because "The Sundering" kicked in.
Myth Drannor lasted for about a century; after the fall, in the current era (5e), things are a bit vague, but the elves have left its ruins for places like Semberholme and Evereska (though some still remain to guard the Tree of Souls).
According to Lost Tales from Myth Drannor (an AL adventure book), there seem to be some drow presence in the ruins, but nothing big, and of no specified affiliation (so I assume they're Lolthites).
The followers of Eilistraee near Elventree have been explicitly stated to be still present in the 1480s in some AL modules and in Lost Tales from Myth Drannor (hey're still drow after the Dark Maiden's return; as I mentioned in the other comment, the nonsensical "green elf" transformation was retconned).
Maerimydra has been recently been retaken by an unlikely combination of forces (in one of the AL modules), during the Rage of Demons event, but they don't seem to be active on the surface (except the Eilistraeens who participated in the retaking process). Going by the wiki:
quote:
During the 1480s DR, after the event known as the Second Sundering, the archmage Gromph Baenre of Menzoberranzan, tricked by Lolth, used a powerful summoning ritual which allowed many Demon Lords from the Abyss to walk the Underdark of Faerûn, starting the Rage of Demons crisis.[39] Graz'zt was among the summoned entities, and he quickly decided to use the opportunity to extend his influence on the Material Plane.[40]
Knowing of the drow wizard Vizeran DeVir's plan to put an end to the Rage of Demons, (a plan which consisted of summoning all the Demon Lords together to force them to battle each other, therefore banishing each other into the Abyss,) Graz'zt worked to protect himself by using the magic still lingering in the abandoned Undying Temple, (which was designed to research undeath and planar travel). Counting on the support of his granddaughter and on his own power, the Demon Lord revived the Temple by creating a new heart for it—one fueled by the power of the Abyss, rather than necrotic energy. In doing so, he not only obtained protection from being forcefully summoned, he also gained the possibility to travel from the Material Plane to the Abyss—and vice-versa—through the Ethereal plane that the Temple overlapped.[41]
His spreading influence took a heavy toll on the drow of Szith Morcane and on the people of Elventree and Hillsfar, leading many organizations active in the Moonsea region and unlikely allies to band together to face demons and giants. Agents of the Harpers, the Zhentarim, the Emerald Enclave, the Lords' Alliance and the Order of the Gauntlet came to offer help to the local forces, which included: the drow of Szith Morcane, led by archmage Solom Ned'razak, the warriors following Elanil Elassidil of the Hillsfar rebellion, the Red Plumes guided by First Lord Vuhm Yestral, the myconids of Sporedome, and the illithids of Ryxyg. A group of Sword Dancers, led by high priestess Saradreza Oussmtor, also saw this as a good opportunity to lend their help and to spread the message of their returned[42] goddess Eilistraee among the other drow.[41]
The alliance would eventually succeed, banishing Graz'zt and freeing Maerimydra from its former occupants. After the victory, the drow of Szith Morcane and the followers of Eilistraee settled within the city, (the latter hoping to establish a good relationship between the drow of the Moonsea and other inhabitants of the region), while the myconids of Sporedome and the illithids of Ryxyg—along with the above-mentioned factions—joined the rebuilding operations and established small trading outposts.
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Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things. |
Edited by - Irennan on 31 Oct 2019 14:19:03 |
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Mindseye
Acolyte
USA
27 Posts |
Posted - 30 Oct 2019 : 22:54:14
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Wow that's a very thorough timeline.
Does this indicate that the Out of the Abyss adventure had significant effects on the surface as well as the Underdark?
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Irennan
Great Reader
Italy
3802 Posts |
Posted - 30 Oct 2019 : 23:55:31
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| The effects of Grazz't's occupation of Maerimydra were felt on the surface near Cormanthor, but after the conclusion of the adventure things should be back to normal. Also, apparently, groups of demons have managed to escape from the Underdark and reach the surface near Menzo as well. |
Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things. |
Edited by - Irennan on 30 Oct 2019 23:58:41 |
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TBeholder
Great Reader
2384 Posts |
Posted - 31 Oct 2019 : 07:30:33
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quote:
Originally posted by Irennan
Retconned; Semdman herself laid the basis for the retcon: the number of "de-drowed" drow was stated to be a few hundreds;
Noticing the immediately obvious problem many years later, yes. 
quote:
Eilistraee alone has a few thousands followers at bare minimum,
And if we listen to good ol' Ed, worshipper numbers among the drow were 22% total, 10-12% dedicated.
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meaning that only a narrow minority was transformed. 5e proceeded and completely deleted the event (which was gross in its implications, and was antithetical to Eilistraee).
...and plain stupid. There was a thread on this mess, just to prevent repeating the same. |
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 |
Edited by - TBeholder on 31 Oct 2019 07:58:25 |
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Drow in Cormanthor
