Yeah, from 591 CY to 2000 CY. Although the author, Philip Athans, likely originally intended an earlier date, since it's said to be 395 years after the marriage of Duke Karll and Countess Belissica, two characters who were alive in 591 CY. I think it's likely that the article was originally set in 1000 CY, and the editor changed it to 2000 to match the real-world publishing date. It could be a different Karll and Belissica, but I think it's more likely meant to be the same ones.
D&D 5E [Radiant Citadel] A chart of parallel Earth cultures and motifs across the D&D Multiverse
Voadam
Legend
In 2e's third iteration of the Ravenloft setting Domains of Dread it gives the first description of the natives of Valachan:
"Valachani natives are tall and black-skinned. Their hair is straight and black, and both men and women wear it long. They tend to lean and finely muscled, even those who work at physically hard jobs such as stonecutting, The Valachani dress simply, In baggy trousers, trunks, or smocks. Jewelry is rare, though an occasional earring, bracelet, or ring can be seen. The Valachani language bears similarities to that spoken in Hazlan."
They have a medieval culture, the land is forested with boars and moose and deer and black panthers.
"There are three towns of notable size: Ungrad, population 1,500; Rotwald, 4,000; and Habelnik, 3,500."
So there is a mix of elements going on.
"Valachani natives are tall and black-skinned. Their hair is straight and black, and both men and women wear it long. They tend to lean and finely muscled, even those who work at physically hard jobs such as stonecutting, The Valachani dress simply, In baggy trousers, trunks, or smocks. Jewelry is rare, though an occasional earring, bracelet, or ring can be seen. The Valachani language bears similarities to that spoken in Hazlan."
They have a medieval culture, the land is forested with boars and moose and deer and black panthers.
"There are three towns of notable size: Ungrad, population 1,500; Rotwald, 4,000; and Habelnik, 3,500."
So there is a mix of elements going on.
Ondath
Hero
My planehopping campaign just ended up in Tarkir where the party is helping the Gatewatch + Sarkhan to find a balance between Khans and Dragons. It's so fresh compared to the classical fantasy tropes!
Voadam
Legend
Dragonlance had some black characters.
Theros Ironfeld was the smith who lost his arm, got a magical replacement, and forged the Dragonlances.
Maquesta Kar-Thorn was a pirate captain who eventually got her own novel in the warriors series.
Theros Ironfeld was the smith who lost his arm, got a magical replacement, and forged the Dragonlances.
Maquesta Kar-Thorn was a pirate captain who eventually got her own novel in the warriors series.
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Dungeonosophy
Legend
I already included Maquesta in the chart; but wow, I never knew that Theros was Black—thanks for sharing!
Edit: in this painting, looks like they were going for the John Henry look:
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TwiceBorn2
Adventurer
I'm prepping to run a Greyhawk campaign, my first in about 20 years, and I always struggle when it comes to deciding how to portray the Flannae because of those very points raised by Ripzerai and yourself. I'm inclined to believe that "Flan" was a label applied to all pre-Great Migrations "indigenous" humans living in eastern Oerik by the migrating Oerid, regardless of the physical, cultural, and even technological differences between the former peoples.* And, of course, other pre-GM peoples may have died out or been absorbed by the "Flannae" long before the arrival of the Suel and Oerid.
Interestingly, a historical/archaeological book I have on the the first hunter gatherers in Mesolithic Scotland suggests that those hunter gatherers may have looked and dressed very much like indigenous North Americans (see Wild Harvesters: The First People in Scotland (Women and World Development Series) (Making of Scotland): Bill Finlayson: 9780862417796: Amazon.com: Books). That said, I haven't done much digging in more recent academic publications to see whether that analysis still holds up today. Nevertheless, millennia of human migrations and intermixing on Oerth -- even if more limited than in the current campaign era -- may have reduced some differences between various "Flan" peoples while accentuating others. And perhaps many so-called Flannae do not identify with that name at all.
All that to say... while vagaries and contradictions in the depiction of the Flannae (and the Oerid and the Suel, etc.) across game products/authors may at times be frustrating, they also provide fertile ground for enterprising players and DMs wanting to explore cultural and ancestral diversity in their campaigns.
* = I say "indigenous" because some of them probably also migrated to the subcontinent from central Oerik, the Amedio and Hepmonaland (e.g., see the meso-American sounding ruins of Tostenhca, later renamed Skrellingshald, located in the Duchy of Tenh and once ruled in pre-GM days by Keraptis of White Plume Mountain fame).
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Voadam
Legend
I didn't notice either back in the 80s when I read the original trilogy. Not being an immediate member of the main group and not showing up on the novel or module covers it is easy for a later description to get lost in the shuffle.
Cap'n Kobold
Hero
There are canonical persons of colour in Eberron, just not cultures that map onto ethnographic types.
That may also hold more or less true of Dragonlance.
That may also hold more or less true of Dragonlance.
QuentinGeorge
Legend
In the Gazetteers produced by Arthaus in 3rd edition Valachan became very heavily influenced by Australian culture - in fact the Valachani became very much Anglicised Indigenous Australians , probably the only example of D&D drawing from post colonial Aboriginal culture rather than pre contact.
