Hello everyone!

[Queen Nothing]

I've actually visited this site quite a few times over the years, to look up information on Eilistraee, but I finally decided to join the forum.

I mostly roleplay on Neverwinter Nights 2 servers and I'm hoping this site can help me gain a better understanding of Eilistraee and her followers, to better my RP. I've read all of the information on Eilistraee from the sourcebooks, but I've never had a chance to read any of the novels, so my knowledge on some things is still limited.

Anyway, that's it for my hello!

[Bhaern Quel]

[quote="Queen Nothing":3jdsh88a]I've actually visited this site quite a few times over the years, to look up information on Eilistraee, but I finally decided to join the forum.

I mostly roleplay on Neverwinter Nights 2 servers and I'm hoping this site can help me gain a better understanding of Eilistraee and her followers, to better my RP. I've read all of the information on Eilistraee from the sourcebooks, but I've never had a chance to read any of the novels, so my knowledge on some things is still limited.

Anyway, that's it for my hello! [/quote:3jdsh88a]

I welcome you thrice now. The debates about the finer points of belief of course are found in Theological section. May blessings be on you.

[Shir'le E. Illios]

Greetings to you and welcome to our, these days rather quiet (not counting the spam-bots), corner of the Internet.

Any questions you have we're always more than happy to try and help. And don't worry too much about not having read any of the novels as by and large there isn't all that much in them (the exception being the opening chapters of "[url=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Evermeet-Island ... t:2a7l73v3]Evermeet: Island of Elves[/url:2a7l73v3]" which shows how Eilistraee, Vhaeraun and Lolth came to be banished from the elven pantheon).

Either way be welcome and may you find a home of sorts here.


Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le

[Irennan]

[quote="Queen Nothing":3380rpu4]I've actually visited this site quite a few times over the years, to look up information on Eilistraee, but I finally decided to join the forum.

I mostly roleplay on Neverwinter Nights 2 servers and I'm hoping this site can help me gain a better understanding of Eilistraee and her followers, to better my RP. I've read all of the information on Eilistraee from the sourcebooks, but I've never had a chance to read any of the novels, so my knowledge on some things is still limited.

Anyway, that's it for my hello! [/quote:3380rpu4]

Welcome

If I may give you advice, IMO do yourself a favor and don't read The Lady Penitent. Those are books written with only one purpose in mind: return to drow to 'omg ebil people' status (so that they could fit FR 4e villains) and remove a lot of depth/variety they gained with years of development. Furthermore many of the involved gods' (the Dark Seldarine) action are way out of character and make no sense or even oppose their goal, and the deus-ex machina to achieve the desired metaplot (which is based on a single, not credible at all gimmick) is evident there.

Some people enjoyed how they are written (and the author only carried out what WotC had already established for the setting), so I won't comment on that. However they are terribad from a lore standpoint, as their only result is deletion of a huge whole aspect of the drow (and in a nonsensical, nerve-grating way).



Evermeet: Island of Elves, or the Starlight and Shadow trilogy (both by Elaine Cunningham) both involve eilistraeens and I found them quite enjoyable.

[Queen Nothing]

[quote="Irennan":3u611jo8]Welcome

If I may give you advice, IMO do yourself a favor and don't read The Lady Penitent. Those are books written with only one purpose in mind: return to drow to 'omg ebil people' status (so that they could fit FR 4e villains) and remove a lot of depth/variety they gained with years of development. Furthermore many of the involved gods' (the Dark Seldarine) action are way out of character and make no sense or even oppose their goal, and the deus-ex machina to achieve the desired metaplot (which is based on a single, not credible at all gimmick) is evident there.

Some people enjoyed how they are written (and the author only carried out what WotC had already established for the setting), so I won't comment on that. However they are terribad from a lore standpoint, as their only result is deletion of a huge whole aspect of the drow (and in a nonsensical, nerve-grating way).



Evermeet: Island of Elves, or the Starlight and Shadow trilogy (both by Elaine Cunningham) both involve eilistraeens and I found them quite enjoyable.[/quote:3u611jo8]

Thank you, good to know! I'll check out those books in my free time.

Lady Penitent always sounded... awful, for various reasons.

[Bhaern Quel]

The Lady Penitent was written by Lisa Smedman, why I am uncertain. She also has credit for Extinction from the War of the Spider Queen in which she got dogma incorrect for Eilistraee with this excuse [quote:1avyh6gd] Extinction
Well, you got me on the continuity thing. I missed the line about burning the bodies of evil creatures. (My only excuse is that it's in a separate section from the bit on the High Hunt, which is what I was describing.) I suppose I could try to fix this continuity flaw after the fact by saying that the werewolves were slain in full-on wolf form, were mistaken as (neutral) wolves and their (animal, non-evil) bodies left for other creatures of the forest to feed on, but that would be fibbing. [/quote:1avyh6gd]

Well one might grant a few years to to read another section, I am not sure the lady did.

[Irennan]

Well, that is a pretty minor thing IMO. What bothers me is that in the book she had eilistraeens go on an indiscriminate were-creature killing spree, no matter what they -as persons- are ('cause there's that scene with the kid that would have been slain if Ryld didn't act, and this is completely out of character for followers of the Dark Dancer. Also even werecreatures can be non evil, as the curse doesn't alter the nature of the afflicted person, according to the monster manual).

Eilistraeens kill for defense (even their Great Hunt ritual is aimed to remove some dangerous threatening beast from the area, AFAIK), I really don't see them routinely go hunting cursed people, they would rather try to break the curse or find ways to render them harmless. If that is not possible, tho...

[Shir'le E. Illios]

Since Lythari are noted as serving Eilistraee (in the AD&D 2[sup:2990g1vu]nd[/sup:2990g1vu] ed. handbook Demihuman Deities) and priests of Eilistraee are said to hunt [i:2990g1vu]together[/i:2990g1vu] with lycanthropes (again in the same source) I always considered Eilistraeens to be on good standing with shape changers like that. So yes, that bit was considerably odd and felt quite out-of-character.

But then I've always considered that due to Eilistraeen communities being so small, so few and so widely scattered (and thus likely having very little contact with each other) that different communities can generally widely differ from each other with different rituals and different views on things. Just look at pretty much all the real-world religions where within a single religion there are often widely different views.

Another example of this is how Extinction gives a very different version of Evensong (in the sourcebooks Evensong is said to be a solitary affair meant as personal reflection on the events of the day where in the novel it's presented as a group activity).

Maybe I'm just saying that because I quite liked Extinction despite its innacuracies (which is more than I can say for the rest of that series). But oh well.

Best Eilistraeen scene is, in my opinion, still in Tangled Webs when Liriel dances to the goddess.


Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le

[Irennan]

[quote="Shir'le E. Illios":3uxuxzd1]

But then I've always considered that due to Eilistraeen communities being so small, so few and so widely scattered (and thus likely having very little contact with each other) that different communities can generally widely differ from each other with different rituals and different views on things. Just look at pretty much all the real-world religions where within a single religion there are often widely different views.

Another example of this is how Extinction gives a very different version of Evensong (in the sourcebooks Evensong is said to be a solitary affair meant as personal reflection on the events of the day where in the novel it's presented as a group activity).

Maybe I'm just saying that because I quite liked Extinction despite its innacuracies (which is more than I can say for the rest of that series). But oh well. [/quote:3uxuxzd1]

Idk. We're talking about killing here, not just some rites. If those werewolves were so badly cursed, Eilistraeens would've cured them (or would have done what they could for the matter), as they believe in -and it's one of their main points- freedom of life and expression for any race. It's just one of things that doesn't make any sense in the story, like the whole gimmick that gave birth to the eilistraeen side of the plot.

[hide:3uxuxzd1]I mean, the Dark Dancer forging some all-powerful sword capable of slaying everything but Ao, losing it, then retrieving and using it to send a couple of random followers to risk their life (and most likely die) in trying to kill Lolth (while not even joining them in battle)?[/hide:3uxuxzd1] A 'holy mission' that sounds very much like a fanatical crusade to 'slay the ebil'? Beside being a [i:3uxuxzd1]very[/i:3uxuxzd1] stupid move, this is not Eilistraee at all. Her MO revolves around acceptance of the individuals, loving them, giving them value and the possibility of a different life for anyone open to it. It's about igniting their spirit to fight for the freedom of all people (ofc some -like the drow- are in a dire need of it), to create their different, own path: a ''place in the world'' which the dark elves and anyone who wishes it can belong to. Eilistraeens' general portrayal was instead that of cliché ''me smash evil'' zealots, and it's quite the opposite of what they are.

[quote:3uxuxzd1]Best Eilistraeen scene is, in my opinion, still in Tangled Webs when Liriel dances to the goddess.


Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le[/quote:3uxuxzd1]

Completely agreed, I truly liked that scene, it showed how close Eilistraee can be to her people and how she [i:3uxuxzd1]cares[/i:3uxuxzd1] about them.

[Dostrealt]

[quote="Queen Nothing":2ny3bk6i]I've actually visited this site quite a few times over the years, to look up information on Eilistraee, but I finally decided to join the forum.[/quote:2ny3bk6i]

Same here.

[quote="Queen Nothing":2ny3bk6i]I mostly roleplay on Neverwinter Nights 2 servers and I'm hoping this site can help me gain a better understanding of Eilistraee and her followers, to better my RP. I've read all of the information on Eilistraee from the sourcebooks, but I've never had a chance to read any of the novels, so my knowledge on some things is still limited.

Anyway, that's it for my hello! [/quote:2ny3bk6i]

I hope to learn a bit more about the drow in Neverwinter Nights 2 from you.

Welcome to the forum, Queen Nothing.

[Kaote Bruchedaine]

[quote="Shir'le E. Illios":1k5esz8v]Since Lythari are noted as serving Eilistraee (in the AD&D 2[sup:1k5esz8v]nd[/sup:1k5esz8v] ed. handbook Demihuman Deities) and priests of Eilistraee are said to hunt [i:1k5esz8v]together[/i:1k5esz8v] with lycanthropes (again in the same source) I always considered Eilistraeens to be on good standing with shape changers like that. So yes, that bit was considerably odd and felt quite out-of-character.

But then I've always considered that due to Eilistraeen communities being so small, so few and so widely scattered (and thus likely having very little contact with each other) that different communities can generally widely differ from each other with different rituals and different views on things. Just look at pretty much all the real-world religions where within a single religion there are often widely different views.

Another example of this is how Extinction gives a very different version of Evensong (in the sourcebooks Evensong is said to be a solitary affair meant as personal reflection on the events of the day where in the novel it's presented as a group activity).

Maybe I'm just saying that because I quite liked Extinction despite its innacuracies (which is more than I can say for the rest of that series). But oh well.

Best Eilistraeen scene is, in my opinion, still in Tangled Webs when Liriel dances to the goddess.


Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le[/quote:1k5esz8v]

I seem to recall there being mention somewhere about Lycans being one of the smaller portions of her portfolio. I don't remember where I picked that up at but I am certain I read it at some point. That being said I also seem to recall that those she encourages killing are those that have gone full on feral and are no longer considered sentient.

[hide:1k5esz8v]And since you mention Liriel I am suddenly over here snickering rather hard as I am remembering when she first meets Qilue. Where she's all but tripping over herself thinking that Qilue is Eilistraee having come in person to kill her.[/hide:1k5esz8v]