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<blockquote data-quote="Nellisir" data-source="post: 6060369" data-attributes="member: 70">Within D&amp;D, naturally D&amp;D is the default.&nbsp; In many cases there are only &quot;minor tellings&quot; upon which to rely.The cultures came from the historical cultures that created the folklore.&nbsp; Arabic, Persian, etc, etc.Right.&nbsp; One is lawful, one is chaotic.&nbsp; It's about how organized they are.&nbsp; Devils alphabetize their sock drawer; demons occasionally shoplift clean socks.&nbsp; It's a totally false distinction that doesn't exist IRL.That was a very late thing.&nbsp; Justification after the fact.&nbsp; Has nothing to do with why they were originally split.Broad strokes at best.&nbsp; Many of the historical fiends are actually different names for the same entity, or not names at all.&nbsp; Look up Baal/Ba'al, for instance.&nbsp; Well, mine for one.Well, I see the Blood War as a simplistic and crude hack job that reduces the complexity of evil to two guys hitting each other while a third one picks their pockets, but that's just me.The game creators took the rough concepts of the creatures from folklore, just like they took the genies.&nbsp; In almost no case did they directly import or imitate the &quot;culture&quot; or &quot;history&quot; of the creature, because usually those things didn't exist.&nbsp; When they did exist, they were often ignored.&nbsp; D&amp;D centaurs have zero connection, inside D&amp;D, to greek mythology or centaurian culture &amp; history as written by the Greeks, and that's one of the best detailed monsters in folklore.&nbsp; The culture of the drow is totally fictitious, and has nothing to do with folklore - it's just the idea of a &quot;dark&quot; elf.&nbsp; The Norse themselves were a little fuzzy about the line between dwarves and elves.&nbsp; Dragons....many, if not most, folkloric dragons in western Europe were wingless.&nbsp; More like D&amp;D linnorms.&nbsp; Winged dragons a la D&amp;D is an artifact of 19th &amp; 20th Cen. fairy tales &amp; their illustrators.In game terms, it's to give them a schtick.&nbsp; A hook.&nbsp; Tie them into a bigger storyline than &quot;big thing hits little things&quot;.I've done the best I could, but you seem to want answers that only EGG can provide.I don't have the name of it to hand, but there are two excellent books on mythological creatures (the name &quot;Rose&quot; is coming to mind in association with an author) that list just about every folkloric &amp; mythological creature you've ever heard of.&nbsp; Have read through them extensively, the main thing that pops out is just how incredibly similar most of them are.&nbsp; It's actually really frickin' boring after awhile.&nbsp; Ghostly haunting ladies that herald death?&nbsp; Here's a dozen.&nbsp; Spirits that look like snakes?&nbsp; Here's three dozen.&nbsp; Noble trooping fey?&nbsp; Another dozen.&nbsp; Trickster spirits that look like little men?&nbsp; Scores.&nbsp; Given that, you either discard 80% of the creatures out there as too similar, or you take the name and give it a new or nearly new identity.&nbsp; So, a lot of monsters get reskinned.&nbsp; That's it.&nbsp; That's all there is to it.Cheers</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Nellisir, post: 6060369, member: 70"] Within D&D, naturally D&D is the default. In many cases there are only "minor tellings" upon which to rely. The cultures came from the historical cultures that created the folklore. Arabic, Persian, etc, etc. Right. One is lawful, one is chaotic. It's about how organized they are. Devils alphabetize their sock drawer; demons occasionally shoplift clean socks. It's a totally false distinction that doesn't exist IRL. That was a very late thing. Justification after the fact. Has nothing to do with why they were originally split. Broad strokes at best. Many of the historical fiends are actually different names for the same entity, or not names at all. Look up Baal/Ba'al, for instance. Well, mine for one. Well, I see the Blood War as a simplistic and crude hack job that reduces the complexity of evil to two guys hitting each other while a third one picks their pockets, but that's just me. The game creators took the rough concepts of the creatures from folklore, just like they took the genies. In almost no case did they directly import or imitate the "culture" or "history" of the creature, because usually those things didn't exist. When they did exist, they were often ignored. D&D centaurs have zero connection, inside D&D, to greek mythology or centaurian culture & history as written by the Greeks, and that's one of the best detailed monsters in folklore. The culture of the drow is totally fictitious, and has nothing to do with folklore - it's just the idea of a "dark" elf. The Norse themselves were a little fuzzy about the line between dwarves and elves. Dragons....many, if not most, folkloric dragons in western Europe were wingless. More like D&D linnorms. Winged dragons a la D&D is an artifact of 19th & 20th Cen. fairy tales & their illustrators. In game terms, it's to give them a schtick. A hook. Tie them into a bigger storyline than "big thing hits little things". I've done the best I could, but you seem to want answers that only EGG can provide. I don't have the name of it to hand, but there are two excellent books on mythological creatures (the name "Rose" is coming to mind in association with an author) that list just about every folkloric & mythological creature you've ever heard of. Have read through them extensively, the main thing that pops out is just how incredibly similar most of them are. It's actually really frickin' boring after awhile. Ghostly haunting ladies that herald death? Here's a dozen. Spirits that look like snakes? Here's three dozen. Noble trooping fey? Another dozen. Trickster spirits that look like little men? Scores. Given that, you either discard 80% of the creatures out there as too similar, or you take the name and give it a new or nearly new identity. So, a lot of monsters get reskinned. That's it. That's all there is to it. Cheers [/QUOTE]

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