Forgotten Realms is just worn out. I honestly don't think there is anything they could do to get me remotely interested in it anymore. The death of Eilistraee and the drow changing into 'dark elves' and the whole thing with Drizzt killing adventurers who dared kill orcs was basically the last straw.
I don't follow Drizzt or the Realms at all but this caught my attention. Could somebody please give me a very brief explanation on why its no longer ok to kill Orcs in the Realms?
Ah, variant is leaving quite a bit of the story out. Salvatore has always used the character of Drizzt to explore racial issues, and this storyline is a natural extension of that.
In the "Hunter's Blade" trilogy, the orcs following Obould Many-Arrows are at war with the dwarves of Mithril Hall, and their powerful allies, including Drizzt. By the end of the series, the two nations declare a truce and even become allies. Through-out the series, orcs are displayed as savage, but not intrinsically evil.
In the next series, "Transitions", years have passed, the two kingdoms are uneasy allies. A group of humans, elves, and dwarves, the Casin Cu Calas, have decided that peace with the orcs is unacceptable, and hunt and slay orcs in cold blood. Drizzt, fights against these bandits, protecting the orcs in a few scenes. He is troubled, as he still struggles with his own hatred of orc and goblinkind, but realizes that the peace between Many-Arrows and Mithril Hall is important, another war would be devastating, and the orcs are no more truly evil than the drow. Plus, as an agent of King Bruenor of Mithril Hall, he is upholding the law.
While variant isn't pleased with this storyline, I enjoyed it quite a bit. If you like your orcs evil through and through, then the Drizzt books perhaps aren't for you. If you like the idea that the various fantasy races are more complex, and, well, "human", than the stereotypes suggest, than you should enjoy it.