Since the Chosen of Eilistraee is a religious oriented player group, naturally there is a place to have theological discussions. That is in-game religions; please leave real-world religion out of it. Debate the fine points of a certain dogma, how a church can enforce worship while staying true to its tenets or simply why one deity is better than another one is. All are free to talk about it here.
The pretty much sums up WotC's attitude. I have always believed that there were new blood in the company [DM's etc] that never liked Eilistraee and also because they are owned by Hasbro, they had to get rid of the naked dancing dark elf cult because that isn't kiddy friendly. F8ckers! [sorry but it still pisses me off]
Until WotC lose control over D&D, I doubt we well ever see an official resurection of Eilistraee. But if there is a petition going around the 'net calling for her to be raised and brought back, I'll sign it. Don't know how much good it will do but at least those wankers might realise they pissed a lot of fans off with their 4E changes and the ending of The Lady Penitent series.
<sigh>
In War: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Goodwill.
I agree wholy! Holy? Anyway, if I had my way, I'd find a way to bring her back. I DO write, and plan to do it for a living. Bring back the Dark Maiden!!!
By the Dark Maiden''s grace do we meet. May she guide and protect us.
[quote="Autumn":rhdvncdh]
Elistraee The goddess of the drow -did- die..BUT She transformed her followers with Quille's sacrifice from Drow BACK to miyutari (spelling again sorry) And thus her realm returend to Arvandor makign it a part of Corellion's Realm and control. NOT The Spider witches. Which means YEs the old Elistraee is gone but perhaps....she is/may be reborn in the Surface elven pantheon In arvandor as the matroness of the restored Miyutari....and redeemed illythari if there are still some who can / want to be redeemed.
[/quote:rhdvncdh]
I would like to point out that Eilistraee didn't just redeem all of her followers. She redeemed roughly most of the drow who turned from Lloth AND weren't tainted with the demon's blood (the one who had them transformed from dark elves to drow in the first place). That's why there are still drow and half-drow followers of Eilistraee (technically).
Eilistraee's realm was already in Aravandor, its her portfolio that switched to Corellan.
I personally think WotC left it this way so those of us who wished to hold on to hope of the Dark Maiden returning won't lose hope completely.
P.S. I write for a living too.
Alu xuil lil dumoasen del lil quar''valsharess
Go with the blessings of the goddess
I'm doing my best to write for a living. And I do know that any book without the authority of WotC is a miss. The only way is to get into some kind of official campaign held by those ... people ... and play a drow, or already redeemed drow, play the campaign beyond lvl 30 (and yes, everyone gets immortality after that level in 4ed) and ascend into demigodhood, then play a little more or persuade them to let you play and become a deity, get Eilistraee's portfolio from Corellon and become the new Eilistraee. Just like Mystral and Mystra.
I still don't get it how magic works in the new setting. There was the Weave and the Shadow Weave (Shar's greatest secret). Mystra's dead, the Weave is destroyed, but Shar still lives and there's no mention about the Shadow Weave anywhere. Spells work, rituals work, magic items work, but no one actually knows how. And I think people are content with that.
Okay, I've been reading the series- my library FINALLY got them in- and this is what I'm getting from it. I read the last chapter pretty carefully, and I'm not so sure she's dead. When Selvetarm and Kiaransalee died, they both shriveled, turned to dust/ash, or whatever, and even Vearaun faded and blew away, but Eilistraee simply vanished. Not faded, not crumbled- just disappeared. If she was possessing Quilue, then wouldn't it be logical to assume it was an avatar that was killed, instead? As far as I know, only Ao has the power to completely boot a god onto the Material Plane into a mortal body. Even Mystra could not completely contain her essence within one mortal during the Time of Troubles, and she was using Elminster!
Given the fact that she assumed Vaeraun's aspect after she killed him, I'm wondering if she didn't fake her death to hide from Lolth. In fact, she could be hiding within Corellon himself, since he didn't seem too upset by her disappearance, and her domain IS still there. He might have hidden her, or at least known what was going on and played along. I got this idea from one of Vearaun's followers in Storm of the Dead. He had suggested to Karas that the god faked his death to unite all the non-Lolth drow. It could still be true with Eilistraee doing that. Vanishing suggests that she might be "invisible" or hiding in the shadows, and Corellon sort of took her place without much fuss. He never actually said she was dead, either, just "gone".
That said, it's possible she is dead, but since she effectively stripped Lolth of a good portion of her followers- and thus, her power- her disappearance could even be her own version of Lolth's "Silence". What if she comes back stronger, because she redeemed the Myeritar and other drow who were able to? The power Lolth gained from her silence has basically been negated by the loss of so many drow from her influence, so Eilistraee might intend to have them join with the surface elves in their fight against Lolth. That would give her more power in the long run, and Lolth would be completely taken in by her apparent "death!"
Again, this is just a theory, so take it as you will. But it would make sense, if she was taking on some of her brother's traits....
By the Dark Maiden''s grace do we meet. May she guide and protect us.
With all that said, she'd be doing something other than trying to redeem the drow, as according to 4th ed rules, all the drow at that time are beyond redemption. If a drow defies the taint of Lolth, as she pretty much "owns" the race entirely, that drow is reborn as someone else, simply, thanks to Corellon. If she comes back, which is a long shot, because of the D&D Wiki entry, and that she's nowhere mentioned, and no one seems eager to bring her back (I mean from WotC's side) there's little hope for that. Besides, even if she does come back, 4th ed rules, and the entire Forgotten Realms, suck and I don't want to contribute to those bastards in any way. Look at the rulebooks. First they said they want to make it as brief as possible, 3 books max, but I somehow have managed to find 10 on the web. The world has changed, and as long as I am left with a choice, I choose to ignore 4th ed completely, not only because of Eilistraee's disappearance, or death, or whatever the hell happened to her, its because everything is 'fight' orientated. Everything revolves around encounters, fighting and there's no room left for actual role-play. Skills have been reduced to a handful, about a dozen left, and they were essential to role-play in pnp D&D. Now its all about leveling up, and gaining new attribute scores, and feats, and powers, and magic items, and I still have no bloody idea how arcane magic works, without Mystra to keep the weave in tact. Let's face it; they've made a WoW pnp out of the D&D we've come to belove.
Well, be that as it may, I was speaking strictly from a story perspective. I have seen very little of the 4th ed rules (by choice, mind you- I played one time, and did not like it) So I've mostly ignored that. I mainly read the books to get an idea of what was going on, and to understand what everyone was so upset about. I like to play devil's advocate on occasion.
On that note, what I have read was not altogether BAD, just not what I would have done or wanted to happen. I would like to think that the game between the two goddesses would continue, and perhaps eventually Eilistraee would find a way to defeat her. In a way, she has. Even if she did die, it seems like it was a sacrifice she was willing to make to give the drow a choice. That in itself is a huge blow to Lolth. Anyone who does not wish to follow her now has the chance to start over. To erase the past and begin as something new- or old, depending on how you look at it. As pre-fall dark elves, they can now return to their proper place, un tainted and un fettered by her influence. To me that seems to be the worst thing Eil could have done to Lolth. Her followers are greatly reduced, and all her work from the silence is undone, plus, Correllon is now directly involved. That is quite a blow!
By the Dark Maiden''s grace do we meet. May she guide and protect us.
And yet again Salvatore does his thing. Another Drizzt novel is out now. This time it's set a century ahead into the Spellplague events. Or so I've heard.
"When the Spellplague ravages Faerûn, Drizzt and his companions are caught in the chaos. Seeking out the help of the priest Cadderly-the hero of the recently reissued series The Cleric Quintet-Drizzt finds himself facing his most powerful and elusive foe, the twisted Crenshinibon, the demonic crystal shard he believed had been destroyed years ago."
So there. And, as I've read somewhere, there are gaps left for future continuations of the series, but its also supposed to be the last novel on the do-goody drow with issues.
Actually, it's not a century ahead. It's set in 1385, the Year of Blue Fire. I just finished it yesterday. Good book, but very depressing at the end. I'm not going to post any spoilers here, for those who wish to read it, but let's just say I have a few qualms about where that is going. For starters, he seems to be taking a slightly darker path now, due to the events in the story- assuming there will be any more books about him.
My biggest concern is that there seems to be a big logic flaw between what happened in the Lady Penitant, and this book. Drizzt should have numbered among the "redeemed" drow who became dark elves, yet one look at the cover shows that this is not so, nor is it mentioned anywhere in the story. It is clearly AFTER Eilistraee's death/disappearance/whatever, but he is still very much a drow, in spite of the fact that he has nothing whatsoever to do with Lolth. As the "original" good drow, one would think he would be among those who was changed back into dark elves, but he's not. What the $#%& is that about? Salvatore never mentions what happened with the other drow, and Jarlaxle shows up in most ot the book as well, along with his merc band. None of them seems to have changed, either.
Also, it seems to touch slightly on the problem with the gods and the Weave, giving one possibility as to what is going on, but does not go very deep into it. Druidic and clerical magic are failing as well as arcane, which is really telling, when Pikal Bouldershoulder can't even talk to trees anymore! (Whoops, small spoiler there.) Magical items still seem to work- more or less- but nothing else is reliable, and the Weave's unraveling is having all sorts of strange effects on spellcasters of all kinds. Especially priests and wizards. And then there is the main calamity in the story- the union of Crenshinibon (bet you all thought they got rid of that, huh?) and the dragon Hephaestus. He becomes a dracolich with some very strange powers, summoning creatures from the Shadowfell. Weird, and nasty.
If anyone else has read this, or does in the near future, let me know your thoughts. I'm curious to see how others view this story, and the implications it has for what the Realms are going through. For myself, I'd be surprised if no one does, because say what you will about him, Drizzt is the main reason we have our good drow in the first place. And despite the fact that he seems to have broken the concept, (or at least all the Drizzt wanna-bes have) I can't imagine that any true drow-lover among us does not hold a small soft spot for him. Without Drizzt, we probably would not even have sites like this, since there really hasn't been much written about other non-evil drow. Liriel and Quilue aside, he's the only one with any deep background, though it does appear that Jarlaxle is starting to come into his own. I'd like to see more on HIS past.
Also, there is the whole thing with Cadderly. I'll leave that comment as a hook for those who would like to read the book. Okay, I've said enough here, what does everyone else think?
By the Dark Maiden''s grace do we meet. May she guide and protect us.
F8ckers! [sorry but it still pisses me off]
