New Discussion Thread
- Thread starter L4W Facilitator
- Start date
Graf
Explorer
I'm torn. I'd like to judge captains caper but I'm worried that if I get busy I may drag a bit (and I think phoenix has a really tight handle on things already so it's mostly chest candy). If Dunamin's willing that might be good.
I'll take Halford as judge if that's OK; he's got a great handle on the story (he contributed to it in it's current structure) and he's running a investigative/mystery already in LEW.
Halford
First Post
Delighted to judge The Closed Eye Graf, like I said I'll be reading it anyway!
On another note does anyone have any thoughts on a homeland for the Drow? The races section simply says many live in Daunton and are involved with the Temple of Night and Day.
Of course their typical Underdark setting is perhaps a little problematic in our setting, as I am troubled by the idea that it would be largely under the sea. Perhaps beneath Allaria? Perhaps in the Underdark of the Feywild, though that does seem to take away from the fleeing from the Imperium flavor.
I will attempt to come up with an interesting proposal, so any and all thoughts appreciated!
On another note does anyone have any thoughts on a homeland for the Drow? The races section simply says many live in Daunton and are involved with the Temple of Night and Day.
Of course their typical Underdark setting is perhaps a little problematic in our setting, as I am troubled by the idea that it would be largely under the sea. Perhaps beneath Allaria? Perhaps in the Underdark of the Feywild, though that does seem to take away from the fleeing from the Imperium flavor.
I will attempt to come up with an interesting proposal, so any and all thoughts appreciated!
Halford
First Post
Brain Storming
I would like the Drow to be...
Mainly evil
Ruthless
Matriarchal?
Live Underground
What we know...
The Drow were exiled from the Imperium 1000 years ago.
Why were the Drow exiled?
The Drow were the ruling class of the Imperium Eladrin above Eladrin, powerful decadent and corrupt. So strict was the differentiation between them and the non-noble Eladrin that for thousands of years there was very little interbreeding, and those who would become the Drow, were routinely more potent and ruthless than their peers.
The Empires growth was checked once they reached the edges of their far continent. And so they turned their attentions to their ancient home in the Feywild where Eladrin courts unshackled by Imperial rule were still ascendent, along with Kingdoms of Fey and Giant kind.
For a century the Empire struggled to gain a foothold in the Feywild, but they faced revolts amongst their own people and a unified opposition from the residents of the Feywild. For the first time the Imperium was faced with the real threat of disintergration assaulted from within and without.
But those who would become the Drow were not accustomed to being thwarted and had amongst their number powerful magic users. They began to compact demons for their armies, and worked upon the creation of a slave race that would serve them without question. To create this race they took their captives from amongst their most formidable foes the giants...
Using energy from a strange place known as the far realm those who would be Drow twisted the giants horrifically, creating two distinct races. The Cyclops who were created to be uneeringly loyal to the Drow, and the Formorians who would command the Cyclops - and who the Cyclops would also obey without question.
But in their work the Drow corrupted themselves as well as their victims. Incidiously the energies of the far realm worked upon the to, they began to shun the litheir skin began to darken distinctivly. Soon they were clearly no longer Eladrin. Some of the nobility fled upon seeing these changes fearful of the taint, they gathered to them the Eladrin who resisted the assault upon their brethern in the Feywild and began to ferment rebellion. One of these was the Imperium's greatest hero the first true Emperor Allakar Silverhand voice of Deios, and wielder of the Sunblade Alloranell - still possessed by the Emperor to this day.
Those nobles that remained reveled in their new status, they found that they could call upon new powers of darkness and fire. They were blessed heir Eladrin brethern a master race destined to rule for all eternity. Any and all who would not accept their new ascendency would be ruthlessly slaughtered at the hands of their new and devoted minions.
It was at this point that Allakar, named them Drow, after the total annihalation of the Imperial City of Reidara which had been a stronghold of the rebellion. The Drow killed every last man, woman, child, and animal, they salted the earth and called it an example. But it did not serve them as they had wished it ignited the Eladrin, and ushered the humans who had been largely uninvolved int between the high race to the rebel cause.
Soon Allakar had assembled a vast following, which he put to conquering the Empire and eliminating the Drow root and branch. But many were still loyal to their rulers and a bloody and terrible civil war rent the Imperium. The Drow also had their Cyclops and Formorian allys, and slowly their ruthless cunning began to tell it seemed that the rebellion was doomed to fail.
But the Drow had erred, in giving the Formorians the freedom of mind and intelligence necessary to command their armies they had created something more terrible than even themselves. They would come to regret deeply the fact that they had instilled as much loyalty to the Formorians as to themselves in the Cyclops and of course the Formorians were the Cyclops commanders in the field...
As Allakar prepared the remainder of his forces for a last desperate assault upon the Imperioal Capital his aide the human Mage Garion of Esher took it upon himself to negotiate with the Formorian hierarchy. When Allakar's nced they found the gates of the City opened to them and found themslves fighting side by side with the Drows own twisted creations!
The Formorians had agreed to help the Eladrin destroy their masters in exchange for llowed to take the underground bases the Drow had set up within the Feywild as their own.
Those Drow who unable to flee were captured, some later repenting and living with the stigma of their transformation. Many of their descendents would l the Shadar-Kai fleeing the persecution and suspicion of their Eladrin peers for the Shadowfell at the urgings of the Church of Hadeys which had become prevalent amongst them.
When the battle was won the Formorians had planned to marshall their forces and strike back against the Imperium form their new bases within the underdark of the Feywild. but when they returned they found themselves engaged in a battle with the Drow for supremacy. This with a roughly even split of the Underdark territories between the two powers, with armies of cyclops and other lesser evils serving each.
The Imperium sealed the majority of the ancient gateways to the Feywild and gave up all desires of conquest there, afraid to again encounter the corruption of their bretherns souls.
If this is acceptable, I'd like help with the few names I have - are they imperialish enough? Somehow I doubt it.
I would like the Drow to be...
Mainly evil
Ruthless
Matriarchal?
Live Underground
What we know...
The Drow were exiled from the Imperium 1000 years ago.
Why were the Drow exiled?
The Drow were the ruling class of the Imperium Eladrin above Eladrin, powerful decadent and corrupt. So strict was the differentiation between them and the non-noble Eladrin that for thousands of years there was very little interbreeding, and those who would become the Drow, were routinely more potent and ruthless than their peers.
The Empires growth was checked once they reached the edges of their far continent. And so they turned their attentions to their ancient home in the Feywild where Eladrin courts unshackled by Imperial rule were still ascendent, along with Kingdoms of Fey and Giant kind.
For a century the Empire struggled to gain a foothold in the Feywild, but they faced revolts amongst their own people and a unified opposition from the residents of the Feywild. For the first time the Imperium was faced with the real threat of disintergration assaulted from within and without.
But those who would become the Drow were not accustomed to being thwarted and had amongst their number powerful magic users. They began to compact demons for their armies, and worked upon the creation of a slave race that would serve them without question. To create this race they took their captives from amongst their most formidable foes the giants...
Using energy from a strange place known as the far realm those who would be Drow twisted the giants horrifically, creating two distinct races. The Cyclops who were created to be uneeringly loyal to the Drow, and the Formorians who would command the Cyclops - and who the Cyclops would also obey without question.
But in their work the Drow corrupted themselves as well as their victims. Incidiously the energies of the far realm worked upon the to, they began to shun the litheir skin began to darken distinctivly. Soon they were clearly no longer Eladrin. Some of the nobility fled upon seeing these changes fearful of the taint, they gathered to them the Eladrin who resisted the assault upon their brethern in the Feywild and began to ferment rebellion. One of these was the Imperium's greatest hero the first true Emperor Allakar Silverhand voice of Deios, and wielder of the Sunblade Alloranell - still possessed by the Emperor to this day.
Those nobles that remained reveled in their new status, they found that they could call upon new powers of darkness and fire. They were blessed heir Eladrin brethern a master race destined to rule for all eternity. Any and all who would not accept their new ascendency would be ruthlessly slaughtered at the hands of their new and devoted minions.
It was at this point that Allakar, named them Drow, after the total annihalation of the Imperial City of Reidara which had been a stronghold of the rebellion. The Drow killed every last man, woman, child, and animal, they salted the earth and called it an example. But it did not serve them as they had wished it ignited the Eladrin, and ushered the humans who had been largely uninvolved int between the high race to the rebel cause.
Soon Allakar had assembled a vast following, which he put to conquering the Empire and eliminating the Drow root and branch. But many were still loyal to their rulers and a bloody and terrible civil war rent the Imperium. The Drow also had their Cyclops and Formorian allys, and slowly their ruthless cunning began to tell it seemed that the rebellion was doomed to fail.
But the Drow had erred, in giving the Formorians the freedom of mind and intelligence necessary to command their armies they had created something more terrible than even themselves. They would come to regret deeply the fact that they had instilled as much loyalty to the Formorians as to themselves in the Cyclops and of course the Formorians were the Cyclops commanders in the field...
As Allakar prepared the remainder of his forces for a last desperate assault upon the Imperioal Capital his aide the human Mage Garion of Esher took it upon himself to negotiate with the Formorian hierarchy. When Allakar's nced they found the gates of the City opened to them and found themslves fighting side by side with the Drows own twisted creations!
The Formorians had agreed to help the Eladrin destroy their masters in exchange for llowed to take the underground bases the Drow had set up within the Feywild as their own.
Those Drow who unable to flee were captured, some later repenting and living with the stigma of their transformation. Many of their descendents would l the Shadar-Kai fleeing the persecution and suspicion of their Eladrin peers for the Shadowfell at the urgings of the Church of Hadeys which had become prevalent amongst them.
When the battle was won the Formorians had planned to marshall their forces and strike back against the Imperium form their new bases within the underdark of the Feywild. but when they returned they found themselves engaged in a battle with the Drow for supremacy. This with a roughly even split of the Underdark territories between the two powers, with armies of cyclops and other lesser evils serving each.
The Imperium sealed the majority of the ancient gateways to the Feywild and gave up all desires of conquest there, afraid to again encounter the corruption of their bretherns souls.
If this is acceptable, I'd like help with the few names I have - are they imperialish enough? Somehow I doubt it.
Dunamin
First Post
My overall impression is that this is a great write-up to flesh out what roles the involved parties play in the setting: drow, eladrin, formorians, and cyclops. Excellent job, Halford!
I'll try to see if I can provide some constructive criticism on specifics once I have time to go through it more thoroughly.
For now, one thing that comes to mind is that I would personally emphasize that the "non-drow Imperial eladrins" aren't depicted in a sympathetic light just because they oppose the drow (which does not seem to be the case here, either).
Perhaps throwing the Far Realm into the mix is a bit much - isn't corruption from the Abyss and dealings with demons sufficient to explain the transformations?
It’s a nice twist that this back story has the elves (eladrin) rebelling against / betraying the drow, rather than the other way around which is used in many other tales.
I'll try to see if I can provide some constructive criticism on specifics once I have time to go through it more thoroughly.
For now, one thing that comes to mind is that I would personally emphasize that the "non-drow Imperial eladrins" aren't depicted in a sympathetic light just because they oppose the drow (which does not seem to be the case here, either).
Perhaps throwing the Far Realm into the mix is a bit much - isn't corruption from the Abyss and dealings with demons sufficient to explain the transformations?
It’s a nice twist that this back story has the elves (eladrin) rebelling against / betraying the drow, rather than the other way around which is used in many other tales.
Dunamin
First Post
The dwarven kingdom I’m working on goes deep underground, which makes me think it needs to be a Far Land to justify it in an island setting. Perhaps we could place these Underdark drow in the same region to build more connectivity in the setting, be it occasional skirmishes or open war between the two.
Dunamin
First Post
Sure, if its ok with Phoenix I'll get on that one.
Halford
First Post
I would almost rather use the far realm than demons, as I wanted a way to get it into the setting and it seems to fit well with the warping aspect, the formorian pictures even look rather like the farspawn pics - sort of. I also don't see the Formorians as fiendish, but rather warped which is more far realm than devils to me.
I see devils and demons as so ubiquitous that they will see play one way or another, but the farspawn could use a home as it were.
Perhaps the Drow had been dealing with Devils and Demons, but found that they had to give up too much power to external entities and so began to traffic with the corrupting influences of the far realm?
The more I think about it the more Ii would like the Drow to be godless, and thus i think the traditional matriarchal aspect of their culture should be dropped in favor of a kind of evil egalitarianism. A survival of the fittest mentality where the most ruthless and talented rise to the top, etc.
I think that using the Drow outside of the Feywild is also extremely viable, they have fought to a kind of uneasy standoff with various Formorians in the Feywilds Underdark - the Formorians are more powerfull overall, but they are less adept at working together than are the Drow. The Cyclops serve each side in roughly even numbers along with various other evil creatures, and slave races.
So if you want to use the Drow in an area other than the Feywild they have simply come through a portal of somekind and are attempting to expand their Empire there.
Now I am uncertain as to whether the Drow should remain a united Empire. I lean towards them being united for the most part as the Formorians occupy the numerous seperate powerful villains position.
I see devils and demons as so ubiquitous that they will see play one way or another, but the farspawn could use a home as it were.
Perhaps the Drow had been dealing with Devils and Demons, but found that they had to give up too much power to external entities and so began to traffic with the corrupting influences of the far realm?
The more I think about it the more Ii would like the Drow to be godless, and thus i think the traditional matriarchal aspect of their culture should be dropped in favor of a kind of evil egalitarianism. A survival of the fittest mentality where the most ruthless and talented rise to the top, etc.
I think that using the Drow outside of the Feywild is also extremely viable, they have fought to a kind of uneasy standoff with various Formorians in the Feywilds Underdark - the Formorians are more powerfull overall, but they are less adept at working together than are the Drow. The Cyclops serve each side in roughly even numbers along with various other evil creatures, and slave races.
So if you want to use the Drow in an area other than the Feywild they have simply come through a portal of somekind and are attempting to expand their Empire there.
Now I am uncertain as to whether the Drow should remain a united Empire. I lean towards them being united for the most part as the Formorians occupy the numerous seperate powerful villains position.
Phoenix8008
First Post
Fine by me. I'll mark it so on the thread.
Atanatotatos
First Post
I suggest tying the drow with the Shadow power rather than the Far Realms. I think it fits better their racial power and the options they get in the FRPG (which i suppose we'll eventually introduce in part)
Similar Threads
AD6_gamerati_skyscraper
Recent & Upcoming Releases
-
April 16 2024 -
May 31 2024 -
June 3 2024 -
June 4 2024 -
June 18 2024 -
July 16 2024 -
September 17 2024 -
October 1 2024 -
November 12 2024 -
February 18 2025
