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<blockquote data-quote="Keldryn" data-source="post: 6434136" data-attributes="member: 11999"><p>On a world that operates under the same laws of biology, chemistry, and physics that Earth does, yes. On a world governed by magical and divine laws, not so much.</p><p></p><p>Drow have jet black skin and white hair because they are like a photographic negative of the high elves -- which in AD&D had fair skin, dark hair, and green eyes. They were banished underground to live in eternal darkness, so their appearance resembles darkness. They are an innately cruel and evil race; the lack of variation in skin, hair, and eye color reinforces this lack of variation in their morality. They are extreme in disposition, and they are extreme in appearance with the harsh contrast between pure black skin and pure white hair. They are not so much "cursed with black skin" as they are branded such that one will never be mistaken for a high elf by anyone. We also tend to depict spiders as being black in coloration, even though many (perhaps most, I'm not an expert on the topic) species are not.</p><p></p><p>Their appearance is thematically-appropriate on a number of levels. That being said, I get why some find the drow to be offensive or problematic. I am also not saying that nobody should have a problem with it. </p><p></p><p>And I agree that drawing from real-world mythologies will inevitably touch on many things that are offensive to modern values. At the same time, we need to watch out for projecting modern values onto the intentions of those who lived in the past, as the reality of their day-to-day lives would be utterly alien to most of us.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Wait, you mean Maori hatch from pods as fully-grown adults? Hmm, I guess you do learn something every day. ;-)</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Also, the audience hasn't learned the fine art of not taking things literally. Or not taking things too seriously. Or, as you said, pausing to consider the overall context. Sometimes it seems that people are deliberately ignoring these lessons. It doesn't matter how carefully you monitor your speech, a small number of people are going to take it the wrong way and get upset about it.</p><p></p><p>I felt the same way about those early 4e promotional materials, where they were poking fun at previous editions of D&D. It never occurred to me to think of them as anything other than tongue-in-cheek acknowledgements of things that gamers have been complaining about for years. They came across to me as longtime gamers poking fun at their hobby. Clearly they were a huge miscalculation on WotC's part, but they didn't seem much different to me than the sort of thing that we used to see in the April issues of Dragon Magazine.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Keldryn, post: 6434136, member: 11999"] On a world that operates under the same laws of biology, chemistry, and physics that Earth does, yes. On a world governed by magical and divine laws, not so much. Drow have jet black skin and white hair because they are like a photographic negative of the high elves -- which in AD&D had fair skin, dark hair, and green eyes. They were banished underground to live in eternal darkness, so their appearance resembles darkness. They are an innately cruel and evil race; the lack of variation in skin, hair, and eye color reinforces this lack of variation in their morality. They are extreme in disposition, and they are extreme in appearance with the harsh contrast between pure black skin and pure white hair. They are not so much "cursed with black skin" as they are branded such that one will never be mistaken for a high elf by anyone. We also tend to depict spiders as being black in coloration, even though many (perhaps most, I'm not an expert on the topic) species are not. Their appearance is thematically-appropriate on a number of levels. That being said, I get why some find the drow to be offensive or problematic. I am also not saying that nobody should have a problem with it. And I agree that drawing from real-world mythologies will inevitably touch on many things that are offensive to modern values. At the same time, we need to watch out for projecting modern values onto the intentions of those who lived in the past, as the reality of their day-to-day lives would be utterly alien to most of us. Wait, you mean Maori hatch from pods as fully-grown adults? Hmm, I guess you do learn something every day. ;-) Also, the audience hasn't learned the fine art of not taking things literally. Or not taking things too seriously. Or, as you said, pausing to consider the overall context. Sometimes it seems that people are deliberately ignoring these lessons. It doesn't matter how carefully you monitor your speech, a small number of people are going to take it the wrong way and get upset about it. I felt the same way about those early 4e promotional materials, where they were poking fun at previous editions of D&D. It never occurred to me to think of them as anything other than tongue-in-cheek acknowledgements of things that gamers have been complaining about for years. They came across to me as longtime gamers poking fun at their hobby. Clearly they were a huge miscalculation on WotC's part, but they didn't seem much different to me than the sort of thing that we used to see in the April issues of Dragon Magazine. [/QUOTE]
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