D&D 5E New Drow cultures coming in Starlight Enclave, the Lorendrow and the Aevendrow

[Ath-kethin]

I assumed the Drow were apart of Zakharan culture like other Elves, so I might be mistaken on that one.

The only time drow were specifically mentioned in a 2e Al-Qadim product (to my knowledge, which in fairness is pretty extensive) was in the Land of Fate boxed set. In the Secrets of Ajayib section it mentions tunnels going down to communities of unenlightened dueregar and drow (so basically the Underdark), in the Rog'osto section where it refers to theories about the burned elves (drow), and listing Drow as a Dead Language. Lotha the Spider Goddess IS described, but drow aren't mentioned in that description.

The culture of Zakhara was welcoming to everyone, but the writers clearly felt that the drow weren't interested in participating.

Of course, that's all 2e, but I'm unaware of any changes made in later editions - if only because none of them really touched on Zakhara at all much.

 

[Dire Bare]

. . . . they’re making more elf subraces?

This is an old complaint in D&D fandom that I've never really understood. It's cropped up on Reddit recently, also in response to the uda, loren, and aeven additions to drow lore.

In the real world, we have hundreds of extant human cultures RIGHT NOW. In the fantasy world of the Realms, we have dozens of human cultures detailed over the decades. What's so immersion breaking with a diversity in elven culture? What is the problem with having a long list of elven cultures (i.e. subraces)?

One difference, of course, is that elven ethnicities tend to have more physical (magical?) differences than real-world ethnicities do. It sometimes is more than just differences in skin tone, but some elvish ethnicities have wings, some shapeshift into wolves, others can breath underwater . . . but still, they all represent different peoples, different cultures of elves.

In the past, I've seen some fans complain of "fairness" . . . why so many different elves and not an equal amount of different types of dwarves? Or halflings? The answer to that is not to complain that there is too much diversity in the elven race, but to create new types of dwarves, halflings, and other races. IMO.

 

[Alzrius]

Lotha the Spider Goddess IS described, but drow aren't mentioned in that description.

I believe that Zakharan interpretation of her name was "Lolath."

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Again, I’m aware #notalldrow. Exceptions that prove the rule don’t solve the problem of them being an inherently evil race - if they did, this “fix” wouldn’t even be necessary.

The exceptions are not so rare and even without the exceptions as long as the Drow have free will, they all can choose good over evil.

 

[Remathilis]

This seems like the perfect compromise: the purists are upset secret nonevil drow cultures have existed all this time, and the revolutionaries are mad they still kept a faction of drow to be used as villains.

Nobody's happy, everybody wins.

 

[Ath-kethin]

I believe that Zakharan interpretation of her name was "Lolath."

They mention Lolath at one point but describe the god as Lotha in the Forgotten Gods part of the religions section ("venerated by evil elves who were burned alive for their sins"). I assume it's a typo/editorial oversight; the two are too similar to be different IMO.

I've always gone with Lotha since that's that it said in the gods section/description.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Confused @Charlaquin. Subraces are cultures. We are getting two new subraces, we are getting two new drow cultures. We are not getting subraces instead of cultures, as they are one and the same. Granted, the language and structure of D&D races is problematic, but adding these two new drow cultures pushes us forward, not backwards.



You keep replying with "Yes, #notalldrow" . . . which is dismissive of @Henadic Theologian's point . . . but we're not just talking Drizzt and a small handful of other drow, the "good drow". Menzoberranzan drow culture, the udadrow, is still problematic, but has been gaining depth and nuance for decades. The "War of the Spider Queen" novel series did a good job of telling the stories of not-evil (and not-good) drow struggling to survive in a broken society. I would certainly love if WotC tried to bring this more front-and-center for 5th Edition and make it more explicitly obvious, but there has been work done on this front.

You're right that these two new groups shift the "evil" from race/species to culture, which is still problematic, but an improvement (IMO). Well, an improvement depending on how well it's done, we'll see. I think the addition of these new drow cultures sounds fun and interesting, and helps broaden the drow race. It's not perfect, but it's a good start.

There are already various drow enclaves scattered throughout the Realms who are not "Lolthsworn" . . . but are still depicted as sinister and evil, just a different flavor of sinister and evil. These two new cultures broaden that a bit.

Do udadrow, lorendrow, and aevendrow roll off the tongue well? I'm not feeling it with the names so far, but it's not a dealbreaker for me. Do these new drow cultures fix all of the problems with the drow race in D&D? Nope. Do they have to fix all of the problems to be an interesting and worthy addition to the lore? Nope (IMO). Can we have a more nuanced Menzo drow culture AND some new hidden drow cultures out there in the Realms? Sure! That's what I'd like to see!

Subraces are not the same as cultures. If a high elf is raised by Dwarves in Dwarven culture its subrace is still Hifh Elf, but it culture is Dwarven. Race/Subrace most have either a biological or metaphysical difference no matter what culture they are raisedcm in.

 

[Necrozius]

After watching that one season of the Dark Crystal show on Netflix, I felt that they could have explored benign underground Drow settlements less focused on Llolth or whatever her name is. It wouldn't have been a huge retcon to just have said: "remember those evil S&M dark elves? yeah they're just one group under sway of an evil goddess, most of them are pretty much like other elves."

 

[Hexmage-EN]

I still use the 4E concept of the Underdark being spread throughout the Material Plane, Feywild, and Shadowfell, and I'd been wondering what Feywild drow would be like. Maybe I can use one of these for the Feywild Underdark drow.

 

[Mercurius]

Again, I’m aware #notalldrow. Exceptions that prove the rule don’t solve the problem of them being an inherently evil race - if they did, this “fix” wouldn’t even be necessary.

Except they aren't an "inherently evil race," otherwise there wouldn't be exceptions.

Drow culture is evil (or at least, Lolth-worshipping drow culture is), but culture isn't inherent; it is tradition and learned. Nurture, not nature. That's why we have Drizzt and the Seldarine worshippers.

I'm not sure that this has ever not been the case. Or, at least, has mostly been about interpretation.

Anyhow, if you can accept that adjustment--that it is the culture and not race that is evil, and that culture is not inherent--what's the problem with a race in which most members are part of an evil culture, that is evil through the influence of an evil god?