Unearthed Arcana Revived, Noble Genie and Archivist Revisited in UA

The latest Unearthed Arcana replaces the Revived, Noble Genie, and Archivist subclasses with new versions called the Phantom, the Genie, and the Order of Scribes.

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dnd.wizards.com

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Chi is dubious anglicization of one of them, I presume Qi.

It's not a "dubious" romanization, it's just a different romanization. The politics of written Chinese are... complicated.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Off the top of my head, there's Sickening Radiance. Don't remember if there are more wizard radiant spells. Chromatic Orb has a lot of element options, probably not radiant though.
Never heard about that game. I'll check it out, thanks

There's Crown of Stars that does radiant.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Drow and Duergar aren't closely related though? Dwergaz is the source for Dwarf, yes, but not for Drow. Germanic languages don't swap Dw -> Dr. Drow comes from norse Draugr (a type of undead revenant, akin to a Ghoul or Zombie).

I thought "drow" came from the Orkney "trow", and thence from "troll".

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Drow comes from norse Draugr (a type of undead revenant, akin to a Ghoul or Zombie).

That's disputed, AFAIK, so unless you have some actual evidence to that effect, I wouldn't believe it. They're clearly not remotely based on Draugar, but are rather based on Dvergar. In fact I've literally never heard it suggested before that Drow is from Draugar.

I thought "drow" came from the Orkney "trow", and thence from "troll".

That's a pretty alternative theory of the crime. Not necessarily wrong but I think we need to find out where the original word came from now.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

That's a pretty alternative theory of the crime. Not necessarily wrong but I think we need to find out where the original word came from now.

Well, it's the one little bit of English-language folklore I know of where the four letters "drow" are used as one word to describe a monster. Given the way he tended to operate, I think it's more likely that Gygax borrowed that word than that he coined a word from "draugr" (pronounced wrongly, although to be fair he had no reason to know that Norse <au> is weird). I'm not aware of any place where he recorded his thought process, though.

 

[Charlaquin]

Germanic languages are complicated, folks. The lesson here is that whatever the “true” etymology may be, the relationship between the words is different than the relationship between the different spellings of جن

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Well, it's the one little bit of English-language folklore I know of where the four letters "drow" are used as one word to describe a monster. Given the way he tended to operate, I think it's more likely that Gygax borrowed that word than that he coined a word from "draugr" (pronounced wrongly). I'm not aware of any place where he recorded his thought process, though.

Wikipedia seems to support your thesis and refute draugr entirely:

Drow - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

We shall never actually know, as Gygax gave contradictory accounts, first of two books which don't have the word in, then of another book that doesn't exist, but it seems like a real relative of the latter is the origin-point, which is indeed from Orkney-Scots.

 

[Phazonfish]

ITT: Ruin Explorer's Guide to Qi

 

[Marandahir]

Wikipedia seems to support your thesis and refute draugr entirely:

Drow - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

We shall never actually know, as Gygax gave contradictory accounts, first of two books which don't have the word in, then of another book that doesn't exist, but it seems like a real relative of the latter is the origin-point, which is indeed from Orkney-Scots.

The wikipedia article is about the monster. Dark Elves are based on Germanic mythological Svartalfar.

The word Drow is not. Gygax borrowed it from the Scotts mythological creature, which is very clearly linked with the undead Draugr.

Troll is either related to Trowe or a folk-etymology. The mythological lines between fairy spirit, undead spirit, and giant are not so clear cut, and often shift as terms are reapplied from one culture to the next.

Orkneyjar - The Trow and the Draugr

The Trows of Orkney and Shetland

(Trows, from Andrew Paciorek's Strange Lands, Supernatural Creatures of the Celtic Otherworld ) I apologise in advance for the length o...

faeryfolklorist.blogspot.com

https://www.medievalists.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Orkneys-Terrible-Trows.pdf

The trowe is an underground burial mound creature, much like faeries are in Celtic traditions, and the word is related to troll and draugr of the Norse traditions.

Gygax couldn't cite his source properly for the name he gave his dark elves, but he was drawing on the Svartalfar for inspiration, though considering them more like a dark mirror of the Alfar than like the Duergar are usually understood in Norse myth. Drow in D&D are as unique a race to the setting as Gith are. The term arose from earlier stories, but it's applied to something different and unique to D&D.

Of course, follow the leader means we have Night Elves, and Dunmer, and Dark Eldarin, etc etc.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

The trowe is an underground burial mound creature, much like faeries are in Celtic traditions, and the word is related to troll and draugr of the Norse traditions.

I am skeptical that the words troll and draugr are related. They are both independently present in Old Norse.