Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 lord_aran Aug 18, 2005 6:55:44	I'm new to Mystara, but I'm interested :D On the cover of GAZ5 The Elves of Alfheim there is an obvious drow on the cover, but on GAZ13 The Shadow Elves the subterranean elves are pale, not black. At the Vaults site it never mentions any drow so I'm wondering if the art on GAZ5 is a mistake? The reason I ask is because I'm REALLY tired of the drow.
#2 gazza555 Aug 18, 2005 7:01:40	I'm wondering if the art on GAZ5 is a mistake? Yes the artwork's a mistake. As far as canon material goes there are NO drow on, in or under Mystara. Regards, Gary
#3 zombiegleemax Aug 18, 2005 7:19:38	Maybe drow are in-between or ABOVE Mystara? :P ;)
#4 zombiegleemax Aug 18, 2005 17:14:01	Some thing that has always confused me is that Gaz7 The Northern Reaches does mention dark elves.
#5 nemarsde Aug 18, 2005 18:30:27	Yes, according to the GAZ7 there's a dark elf home world called Svartalfheim. It's never detailed, but it's there if you want to use it.
#6 zombiegleemax Aug 18, 2005 21:16:14	It's mentioned, but as far as I'm aware it doesn't specify Drow. I never was kwwn on that race. Anyway the Dark elves could easily mean Shadow Elves. They tend to stay in very dark places. It could also mean there is a cult of evil elves. I haven't looked closer at that part of that Gaz, but I'm pretty sure they didn't mean Drow. Every major setting in D&D seems to have it's unique races. Draconians for DragonLance, Drow for Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun has one or two, but I can't remember what they were called. Mystara has Lupin, Rakasta, Phanaton and I'm sure there are some more, but their names have eluded me at the moment. EDIT: I guess if you like the Drow, the Northern Reaches would be fitting since the Drow and Dwarves really fight alot and there is a plentiful population of dwarves in the Northern Reaches. I believe it mentions some kind of deep dwarf too doesn't it or is that another Gaz? Or my imagination?
#7 zombiegleemax Aug 19, 2005 2:27:05	Drow isn't unique to the Forgotten Realms - Greyhawk has them too. Also, they're a real-world mythological race (from Scotland, it turns out - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drow), like duergar and lots of others. What's always bugged me is the "dark elf = drow" connection: an evil race of elves is an obvious thing to have, making them dark where other elves are light is obvious, but why do they have to be named "drow" in every setting?
#8 nemarsde Aug 19, 2005 5:31:03	I guess if you like the Drow, the Northern Reaches would be fitting since the Drow and Dwarves really fight alot and there is a plentiful population of dwarves in the Northern Reaches. I believe it mentions some kind of deep dwarf too doesn't it or is that another Gaz? Or my imagination? OK, I can't remember the precise spelling but they were called something like Modriswerg, and from their description seemed more like duergar than deep dwarves, iirc.
#9 thorf Aug 19, 2005 6:04:33	Drow isn't unique to the Forgotten Realms - Greyhawk has them too. Also, they're a real-world mythological race (from Scotland, it turns out - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drow), like duergar and lots of others. What's always bugged me is the "dark elf = drow" connection: an evil race of elves is an obvious thing to have, making them dark where other elves are light is obvious, but why do they have to be named "drow" in every setting? Argh, don't blame the Drow on me!! Hmm, wait... I'm an Orcadian before I'm Scottish, so I can get out of it that way. :P NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! They specifically attribute it to Orkney ("Trow") and the neighbouring Shetland Islands. Apparently you can indeed blame me (and my ancestors) for the drow! :surrender
#10 zombiegleemax Aug 19, 2005 6:26:08	It's ok Thorf. Apparently somebody likes them, they have several novels written about them and the are in some VG's too. :P JoeNotCharles you are quite informative. Thank you for correcting me there. I never got into Greyhawk so I didn't know that. For some odd reason I thought Greyhawk turned into Forgotten Realms. It might have just been the Drow connection maybe. Anyway apparently I'm wrong about that. As my profiile says, I don't get out of Mystara much so other settings are somewhat obscure for me. I guess the Forgotten Realms is what made the Drow more popular then? Personally I still prefer the Shadow Elves over Drow. OK, I can't remember the precise spelling but they were called something like Modriswerg, and from their description seemed more like duergar than deep dwarves, iirc. Yes you are right. That might be why I still refer to them as Duergar dwarves sometimes in my campaigns.
#11 thorf Aug 19, 2005 6:29:52	This article explains things a bit more. It seems the Orkney "Trow" (pronounced with an "ow" as in "now" - I asked my father ;)) comes from Norse trolls. This is interesting too. Those articles were written by a guy my brother knows, incidentally...
#12 zombiegleemax Aug 19, 2005 6:43:14	When I researched the Norse Mythoi to complete my 15 pages long treatise of the Antalian Cult, I indeed made this same discovery: trow (sometimes spelled drow) is a Norse term for troll, which incidentally are often associated to dwarves or dark elves in the Norse mythology. There is not a clear distinction between dwarves, trolls and dark elves, mainly because they all dwell underground and some are said to petrify when exposed to sunlight (trolls). :D
#13 zombiegleemax Aug 19, 2005 17:26:11	Some thing that has always confused me is that Gaz7 The Northern Reaches does mention dark elves. Dark elf does not necessarily have to mean drow. Dark elves in the Dragonlance setting are merely elves that have been cast out of their society, usually for following evil magicks. So you can't always say Dark Elf = Drow.
#14 zombiegleemax Aug 19, 2005 17:53:33	Dark elf does not necessarily have to mean drow. Dark elves in the Dragonlance setting are merely elves that have been cast out of their society, usually for following evil magicks. So you can't always say Dark Elf = Drow. That was exactly what I meant.