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

[MonsterEnvy]

I am completely fine with Drow having an evil culture, and there being other non evil Drow cultures I think it works fine.

 

[Faolyn]

So now we're heading back to 2e with tanar'ri and baatezu? Or maybe back to BECMI where they're are no outer-planar beings at all?

This has veered wildly from the topic of new Drow cultures, so I'll concede that drow can now longer be evil and demons are misunderstood and go upon my day.

Nobody is saying that drow can't be evil (although a culture that's monolithically evil is both nonsensical and been done to death). But how about coming up with a motivation for their evil rather than just saying "drow are evil." Drow in your setting (generic you) are demon-worshipers. OK. Why? What do they get out of it? Why did they start worshiping demons instead of non-evil gods and entities? Why do they continue?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Exactly how I feel about forcing a few 'but it's always been this way' cultures into a setting where they didn't exist.

I don't have issue with removal of some clearly flawed elements. I have issue with how it's done.

This doesn't reinforce any kind of continuity, it simply shrugs and says oh but of course we aren't saying all drow, see here!

It's simply too obvious, too 'we need some way to look less terrible' and it's too transparent.

Why should it be obfuscated?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

So now we're heading back to 2e with tanar'ri and baatezu? Or maybe back to BECMI where they're are no outer-planar beings at all?

This has veered wildly from the topic of new Drow cultures, so I'll concede that drow can now longer be evil and demons are misunderstood and go upon my day.

Repetition doesn’t make this hyperbolic nonsense any less false.

 

[Scribe]

Why should it be obfuscated?

Do you mean the reveal of these new civilizations?

If so, I'm saying it should have been developed not as 'they have always been here' but some kind of organic growth out of what (was) the current canon situation.

To just POOF these into existence feels extremely weird, to me. I believe I understand why its being done, but especially with a novel series, this is something that could have been developed throughout novels/setting books, instead of just saying 'oh no, there actually are 2 hidden civilizations, that have been here since XXXX'

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Do you mean the reveal of these new civilizations?

If so, I'm saying it should have been developed not as 'they have always been here' but some kind of organic growth out of what (was) the current canon situation.

To just POOF these into existence feels extremely weird, to me. I believe I understand why its being done, but especially with a novel series, this is something that could have been developed throughout novels/setting books, instead of just saying 'oh no, there actually are 2 hidden civilizations, that have been here since XXXX'

Why do that, though? The world is full of stuff Drizzt and his dad and his best frenemies don’t know about.

 

[Scribe]

Why do that, though? The world is full of stuff Drizzt and his dad and his best frenemies don’t know about.

Because the setting is far larger than one character and it (had) an extensive history. To just inject this into it? To me, it could have been something done far more gracefully, over time, so that it actually looks like a natural development of the canon....then again.

I find it difficult to care given their public stance on canon, so yeah, whatever. "Not all the Drow, we just never told anyone for decades."

Right.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Do you mean the reveal of these new civilizations?

If so, I'm saying it should have been developed not as 'they have always been here' but some kind of organic growth out of what (was) the current canon situation.

To just POOF these into existence feels extremely weird, to me. I believe I understand why its being done, but especially with a novel series, this is something that could have been developed throughout novels/setting books, instead of just saying 'oh no, there actually are 2 hidden civilizations, that have been here since XXXX'

Even in a world as extensively detailed as Toril, there are still blank spots on the map, and places left to discover. As I said previously on this thread, this is at basically the North Pole and in a jungle that canonically is still fairly unexplored - it's not like they plopped them down 2 miles outside of Waterdeep. And it certainly isn't unreasonable that some drow refused to go underground with the rest...

 

[Scribe]

Even in a world as extensively detailed as Toril, there are still blank spots on the map, and places left to discover. As I said previously on this thread, this is at basically the North Pole and in a jungle that canonically is still fairly unexplored - it's not like they plopped them down 2 miles outside of Waterdeep. And it certainly isn't unreasonable that some drow refused to go underground with the rest...

Anything can be justified, or explained, especially in a post-canon setting.

If this works for you, I'm glad you'll enjoy it.

 

[wellis]

Isn't it primarily that the nobles among the Ur-Drow(?) are evil and naughty words, along with the priesthood of Lolth, while the average citizen is mostly just probably dickish or whatever but not full on baby eating like the leaders often are?
I mean honestly, the culture of the Lolthian drow is actively nasty in a way that would generate hatred in others.
Does that mean the drow we're most familiar with are somehow innately evil? No. But they live in a culture that pushes a particular viewpoint that seems to be designed (by Lolth maybe?) to get tons of groups & nations wanting to kick their naughty word in hard.
And unfortunately, because most of those nations or groups only encounter the priestesses, the slave raiding parties, and the nobility mostly, all the evidence they put together points to the drow as honest-to-god pricks.

Orcs and half-orcs do feel a certain pull toward violence and anger. But the simple truth is that there is no curse of ruin. No supernatural power drives orcs to kill. Rather, they are simply victims of the same selfish, violent impulses that corrupt all mortal beings.

So if Exandrian orcs & half-orcs don't have this curse of ruin screwing them over, why does it seem like they have larger (seemingly innate?) impulse to give into violence & anger compared to other races there? Because that is what the text is telling me.