Shattered Kingdoms

Because deep elves aren't supposed to be drow. Drow are obsidian-skinned, white-haired elves that were created specifically for the Dungeons and Dragons game, since in Scottish mythology, the word was only loosely defined as relating to a type of malignant faerie.

The deep-elves of SK share some traits - they are evil, they live underground, they have some innate spell-like abilities. But they also can be of any skin-tone and hair color of a regular elf while trending toward the pale that you might expect of an underground race.

To summarize, the name is different because we don't want you to be bound by what you've read in a D&D novel. This isn't the Drizzt race.

More succinctly, Dulrik didn't want to get sued by TSR, and doesn't want to get sued by Wizards Of The Coast.

I don't know if that's even possible, given that the game is free. Deep-elves used to be called drow, in fact.

[quote="Edoras"][quote="ObjectivistActivist"]More succinctly, Dulrik didn't want to get sued by TSR, and doesn't want to get sued by Wizards Of The Coast.[/quote]

I don't know if that's even possible, given that the game is free. Deep-elves used to be called drow, in fact.[/quote]

Eh. What if someone made the argument that the game, even while free, bastardized or caused a negative view of the writers work? I dont claim to know a lot about law, but if its a copyrighted or trademarked or whatever it is, its hard to say what could happen.

Help elf-culture reads



Play a common elf.

The enmity files leave a lot of freedom to play it out according to your character's life choices. The Aludran faith (depending on who is handling it) teaches its followers not to speak ill of others, to show compassion to all, etc. Honestly, if an Aludran elf ran around insulting every deep-elf she saw it'd be very deserving of a blemish. There are more subtle ways to roleplay enmity without going against the character's religion. Does this mean that they should be working together? Absolutely not. Even within the same religion there should be tension and they should not tolerate each other enough to group up for anything. As Jorlian mentioned, the type of elf makes a difference as well. I'm glad that elves and deep-elves can occasionally be seen in the same room without it turning into PK. Some really fun roleplay can build off of that if they handle it right.

On a side note, I liked drow better.

I've said drow before on my character instead of deep-elves. Partially to forgetfulness and partially to the fact that drow is a lot faster to type....

Instead of 'drow' use 'delf'. That is the commonly used shortened version.

And no, it wasn't at all about avoiding lawsuits, as I've seen no evidence that says the word 'drow' is currently copyrighted/trademarked by Hasbro or that it would even be possible for them to do so. My reasons are exactly what I said they were: I'd rather differentiate our version of the race from the standard D&D preconception.

I play a miscreant deep-elf, and at times will speak to or try to ask and Elf to do something for me, or try to 'use' them in a way. Because to me any means possible includes being able to use an elf to further my personal goals. Curiously, this thread was created soon after someone walked in to the Teron inn and chastised me for trying to do so with an elf. He walked in, looked at me, and asked if I wanted her dead. I said no, I need to 'use' her. He scoffed and chastised me for this. Am I in the wrong? I should I be killing all Elves on sight like this person seems to believe we are obligated to do.

Don't bother listening to people who tell you how you should always RP in the context of enmity. Also, ignore the irony of that statement.

In all seriousness, though, one of my best experiences in SK happened because of enmity.

My first character (elven rogue, principled too *sniff*) attacked a deep-elf upon seeing him in Taslamar's inn, because as a new player when I saw deep-elf in Taslamar, I figured it would be okay to kill him since they're, you know, evil. He ran off, and I chased him down and stunned him, yelling "Is everyone alright?" One of the Peacekeepers (Who I didn't know was a peacekeeper) showed up, and when I expected him to congratulate me, he stunned me a took my weapon as commanded by the law for assault and battery.

Not long after that that character sat down with me and talked to me about how even though deep-elves are evil, they are allowed freedom in Exile unless they break the laws, and that even though I was badly dispositioned towards deep-elves, I needed to know when to stay my hand for the good of others. He then gave me my weapon back, and gave me an even better one on top of that. It was a pretty cool experience, and what inspired me to join the peacekeepers with that character.