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D&D Beyond: Raven Queen
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<blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 7350830" data-attributes="member: 6779196"><p>Shadar-Kai were Fey in their original 3.5 incarnation, so it makes some sense to make them elves again.</p><p></p><p>In 4e, where the Raven Queen was introduced, she was originally a mortal woman who died, and for some unspecified reason, Nerull took an interest in her soul and made her his bride. She learned his mastery over death-related magic during this time and eventually betrayed him and took over his position as God of Death, though she was committed to insuring souls went where they were supposed to go after death, rather than exploiting them as Nerull did. In this setting, the Shadar-Kai were originally a small tribe of humans who were somehow deceived by Nerull and trapped in the Shadowfell. Their descendants were warped by the Shadowfell and became the race as it's known in the setting's present. Their devotion to the Raven Queen in this setting was due at least in part to their debt to her for killing Nerull, thereby freeing them from his grasp. Additionally, though it was never explicitly stated, there were bits of lore that hinted at the possibility that the Raven Queen may have belonged to the tribe that was originally deceived by Nerull in life.</p><p></p><p>Since the Raven Queen is extremely popular, it makes sense that they would want to bring her into 5th edition. But, since the Raven Queen was so tightly integrated with the Nentir Vale setting, trying to transport her into the "Ok-it's-pretty-much-Planescape-but-we're-not-going-to-call-it-that everysetting where the various D&D multiverses exist within the same overarching omniverse poses a lot of problems, particularly because they seem to be trying to make the various sub-settings different Prime Material planes within the same Great Wheel. If Greyhawk's shadowfell, Nentir Vale's shadowfell, and Forgotten Realms' shadowfell are all the same place, how do you reconcile the fact that Nerull exists in Greyhawk and is alive, exists in Nentir Vale and is dead, and doesn't exist in Forgotten Realms with the fact that the Raven Queen exists in all of them?</p><p></p><p>One of these problems that has to be dealt with is the racial status of the Shadar-Kai. They're Fey in Greyhawk, and humans in Nentir Vale. But do they need to be Fey in Nentir Vale? How important is their being humans to their backstory and to the Raven Queen's? I'd say deciding that they're elves, and the Raven Queen is still possibly maybe one of them, therefore the Raven Queen might have been an elf in life is a pretty reasonable way to resolve that conflict.</p><p></p><p>Now, don't get me wrong. I think a <em>better</em> way to resolve the conflict would be to not do this cockamamie omniverse thing in the first place, but that ship has long since sailed.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Charlaquin, post: 7350830, member: 6779196"] Shadar-Kai were Fey in their original 3.5 incarnation, so it makes some sense to make them elves again. In 4e, where the Raven Queen was introduced, she was originally a mortal woman who died, and for some unspecified reason, Nerull took an interest in her soul and made her his bride. She learned his mastery over death-related magic during this time and eventually betrayed him and took over his position as God of Death, though she was committed to insuring souls went where they were supposed to go after death, rather than exploiting them as Nerull did. In this setting, the Shadar-Kai were originally a small tribe of humans who were somehow deceived by Nerull and trapped in the Shadowfell. Their descendants were warped by the Shadowfell and became the race as it's known in the setting's present. Their devotion to the Raven Queen in this setting was due at least in part to their debt to her for killing Nerull, thereby freeing them from his grasp. Additionally, though it was never explicitly stated, there were bits of lore that hinted at the possibility that the Raven Queen may have belonged to the tribe that was originally deceived by Nerull in life. Since the Raven Queen is extremely popular, it makes sense that they would want to bring her into 5th edition. But, since the Raven Queen was so tightly integrated with the Nentir Vale setting, trying to transport her into the "Ok-it's-pretty-much-Planescape-but-we're-not-going-to-call-it-that everysetting where the various D&D multiverses exist within the same overarching omniverse poses a lot of problems, particularly because they seem to be trying to make the various sub-settings different Prime Material planes within the same Great Wheel. If Greyhawk's shadowfell, Nentir Vale's shadowfell, and Forgotten Realms' shadowfell are all the same place, how do you reconcile the fact that Nerull exists in Greyhawk and is alive, exists in Nentir Vale and is dead, and doesn't exist in Forgotten Realms with the fact that the Raven Queen exists in all of them? One of these problems that has to be dealt with is the racial status of the Shadar-Kai. They're Fey in Greyhawk, and humans in Nentir Vale. But do they need to be Fey in Nentir Vale? How important is their being humans to their backstory and to the Raven Queen's? I'd say deciding that they're elves, and the Raven Queen is still possibly maybe one of them, therefore the Raven Queen might have been an elf in life is a pretty reasonable way to resolve that conflict. Now, don't get me wrong. I think a [I]better[/I] way to resolve the conflict would be to not do this cockamamie omniverse thing in the first place, but that ship has long since sailed. [/QUOTE]
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