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<blockquote data-quote="Ilbranteloth" data-source="post: 6790936" data-attributes="member: 6778044"><p>Yes, but now their homeland is gone again, and from what I've read the majority of them never travelled far from their (transplanted) homeland. It's a long way from Unther to the Sword Coast. Look at race relations in the real world. All of the various races have pretty much been around since the dawn of modern man, and interacting with each other for thousands of years now. Still not up to the same standard as the human/elven/dwarven/halfling dynamic that is the standard of most fantasy worlds.</p><p></p><p>It works from my perspective in the Forgotten Realms because the elves have settled Toril for over 20,000 years, and they came to Toril with their culture intact. Humans have only factored in for the last 5,000 years or so, but they grew in a world where the elven and dwarves civilizations were well established, and the elves helped build human civilization, along with the dwarves to a lesser extent. So the dynamics of these cultures are very different in the Forgotten Realms than our own. But that doesn't translate to accepting new races, particularly because at this stage many of the elves and dwarves aren't sure that helping the humans was that wise of an idea, and the humans wish to maintain their civilizations and dominance.</p><p></p><p>So a new race would take many, many generations, to establish themselves as generally accepted in society, and that would require large numbers to do so. Neither of which apply regarding dragonborn in the Forgotten Realms. Considering they are described as following their own rigidly defined culture, and worship no gods, there is little reason for the majority of them to leave their homeland. Those that do would be very rare, particularly the farther you go from Tymanther, and would likely have difficulty fitting in with society in the rest of the Realms. Their honorability would play well, and eventually, in localized regions, an individual would become accepted, but that doesn't always translate to trusting an entire race. All of which lead me to believe that they would primarily be viewed with suspicion. The vast majority of Realmsfolk would never have heard of Tymanther.</p><p></p><p>So, for a PC - you are treated with suspicion, you are isolated from your culture where honor, clan, and family are among the most important parts of your life, most likely speaking a language that is not understood here (oh, right, common is exactly the same on every world in the D&D multiverse), and you quickly learn that the society on the rest of the world does not place honor and clan as the most important parts of life, and they worship unseen extraplanar beings and practice magic frequently.</p><p></p><p>The only way you'd be in a generation that was born locally is that at the very least a pair of dragonborn had to leave their clan and family in their regimented society to settle in that uncomfortable location and start laying eggs. Of course, the second generation would somehow have to find different dragonborn to settle down with, requiring yet more to have made the journey from Tymanther, etc. Otherwise, you'd hail form Tymanther.</p><p></p><p>Sounds like a decent main character for a novel. As a PC, either the majority of the attention is centered on you, or you just ignore the ramifications of the race altogether, making it somewhat pointless.</p><p></p><p>Now that the majority of them have returned to Abeir, there's an even smaller group to spread throughout the world, and most of them are probably defending their new homeland against being reclaimed by Unther.</p><p></p><p>It's not all that different to trying to incorporate an Uthgardt barbarian into the campaign. Oh sure, a rare individual leaves everything they've ever known to associate with magic-using infidels in the civilized world. As an interesting character growth scenario it's very cool, but tough to maintain in a group of PCs. But everybody wants to play something 'different.'</p><p></p><p>Obviously, there are plenty of different directions a DM can choose to go in their own campaign with what little information is published. And I am fully admitting that I have a bias against them, and that I may be in the minority at this point. The problem for me is that it greatly changes the nature of my Realms, and try as I might, it's become quite difficult to say, 'no, that just didn't happen in my world.'</p><p></p><p>Yes, it's a danger of using a published world for my campaign. And I am in no way implying that others shouldn't do it differently. It's just my personal opinion about how dropping an entire alien race into an established world and calling them a 'standard' race (although I guess in 5th edition they are technically optional), has generated a good deal of difficulty for those of us who would have preferred it didn't happen.</p><p></p><p>Ilbranteloth</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ilbranteloth, post: 6790936, member: 6778044"] Yes, but now their homeland is gone again, and from what I've read the majority of them never travelled far from their (transplanted) homeland. It's a long way from Unther to the Sword Coast. Look at race relations in the real world. All of the various races have pretty much been around since the dawn of modern man, and interacting with each other for thousands of years now. Still not up to the same standard as the human/elven/dwarven/halfling dynamic that is the standard of most fantasy worlds. It works from my perspective in the Forgotten Realms because the elves have settled Toril for over 20,000 years, and they came to Toril with their culture intact. Humans have only factored in for the last 5,000 years or so, but they grew in a world where the elven and dwarves civilizations were well established, and the elves helped build human civilization, along with the dwarves to a lesser extent. So the dynamics of these cultures are very different in the Forgotten Realms than our own. But that doesn't translate to accepting new races, particularly because at this stage many of the elves and dwarves aren't sure that helping the humans was that wise of an idea, and the humans wish to maintain their civilizations and dominance. So a new race would take many, many generations, to establish themselves as generally accepted in society, and that would require large numbers to do so. Neither of which apply regarding dragonborn in the Forgotten Realms. Considering they are described as following their own rigidly defined culture, and worship no gods, there is little reason for the majority of them to leave their homeland. Those that do would be very rare, particularly the farther you go from Tymanther, and would likely have difficulty fitting in with society in the rest of the Realms. Their honorability would play well, and eventually, in localized regions, an individual would become accepted, but that doesn't always translate to trusting an entire race. All of which lead me to believe that they would primarily be viewed with suspicion. The vast majority of Realmsfolk would never have heard of Tymanther. So, for a PC - you are treated with suspicion, you are isolated from your culture where honor, clan, and family are among the most important parts of your life, most likely speaking a language that is not understood here (oh, right, common is exactly the same on every world in the D&D multiverse), and you quickly learn that the society on the rest of the world does not place honor and clan as the most important parts of life, and they worship unseen extraplanar beings and practice magic frequently. The only way you'd be in a generation that was born locally is that at the very least a pair of dragonborn had to leave their clan and family in their regimented society to settle in that uncomfortable location and start laying eggs. Of course, the second generation would somehow have to find different dragonborn to settle down with, requiring yet more to have made the journey from Tymanther, etc. Otherwise, you'd hail form Tymanther. Sounds like a decent main character for a novel. As a PC, either the majority of the attention is centered on you, or you just ignore the ramifications of the race altogether, making it somewhat pointless. Now that the majority of them have returned to Abeir, there's an even smaller group to spread throughout the world, and most of them are probably defending their new homeland against being reclaimed by Unther. It's not all that different to trying to incorporate an Uthgardt barbarian into the campaign. Oh sure, a rare individual leaves everything they've ever known to associate with magic-using infidels in the civilized world. As an interesting character growth scenario it's very cool, but tough to maintain in a group of PCs. But everybody wants to play something 'different.' Obviously, there are plenty of different directions a DM can choose to go in their own campaign with what little information is published. And I am fully admitting that I have a bias against them, and that I may be in the minority at this point. The problem for me is that it greatly changes the nature of my Realms, and try as I might, it's become quite difficult to say, 'no, that just didn't happen in my world.' Yes, it's a danger of using a published world for my campaign. And I am in no way implying that others shouldn't do it differently. It's just my personal opinion about how dropping an entire alien race into an established world and calling them a 'standard' race (although I guess in 5th edition they are technically optional), has generated a good deal of difficulty for those of us who would have preferred it didn't happen. Ilbranteloth [/QUOTE]
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