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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dire Bare" data-source="post: 8370797" data-attributes="member: 18182">Kinda. The new drow cultures are an additive change, they aren't removing anything. I see it as rather an attempt to transform how we view drow culture through addition, rather than retcon or removal.Not really. The racism we are trying to transform is in world-building . . . writers/designers portraying a race of fantasy people in a racist manner, constructing these races using racist imagery and language.A particular culture within our fantasy realm can have problems with racism, just as our cultures in the real world do. It's actually been long established that surface elves in the Realms are pretty racist towards drow, and vice versa. Granted, part of the problem was that . . . if drow are inherently evil, than the surface elves are justified in their racism, which is problematic world-building. But looking at the drow as more fully free-willed people, capable of both good and evil . . . there is no excuse for the racism of the surface elves. Just as there is no excuse for racism in the real world. But it's still there, and can be a part of our stories, just like it's been a part of Drizzt's story in Salvatore's novels.In the modern Realms, drow walk openly in a handful of cities along the Sword Coast . . . but in the recent past, they could not do this safely. The peoples of the Sword Coast are slowly learning that their racist attitudes towards the drow are misplaced, and are leaving them behind. That's a great story! If you wanted to, you could incorporate something similar in your home games.Suppose your PC hero is a surface elf, who learns that the descent of the drow was essentially racism and genocide on the part of your ancestors!?!? How responsible for that ancient atrocity are you? How do you feel about the drow you meet in the current day? How do you deal with your fellow surface elves who might hold onto those racist beliefs about the drow? What happens when you run across some evil, Lolth-sworn drow who embody the racist stereotypes you have fought to leave behind? All that can be good story material right there.</blockquote>

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