When I was 12 years old I read the first novel of the "Darkelf"-series with Drizzt, encountering Menzoberanzzan. Then, in an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game that my brother and I were players in at an event organized by the youth club in our very small town, the DM introduced a Loth-priestess as the villian. All the other kids realized that she was a powerful enemy but my brother and I were literally frozen with fear and tried to convice everone that the group should run ;)
Drow society essentially mirrors the feuding city-states of renaissance Italy. If you want story ideas for your own campaigns, read up on that period of history, paying particular attention to the Medicis, the Borgias, and the papacy.
I hope MToF talks more about Eilistraee in the Drow section. She's constantly overlooked/not mentioned and is honestly the perfect goddess to follow for a "good drow" character. We all constantly hear about Drizzt when talking about Drow that rebel against Lolth/Drow society but never hear about Eilistraee...
And yes, she dedicates her whole everything to build an actual future for her people, she's always done that since she was but a girl. She should be one of the main options to mention when talking non-evil drow.
I agree I play an Eilistraeen in my current game and I would love to have more info on her. Also, she's actually the ONLY good deity of the Drow pantheon.
As interesting as the "Raised under corruption but rising up against it" story is, I'm having a lot of fun basically playing the son of a drow refugee who realizes that the surface world isn't that welcoming to his kind and wonders if he can find belonging with his people in the underdark. At least, having that be the starting motivation (along with the realization that you need to stay on the good size of surface dwellers or they kill while you're isolated) and then see where it goes from there is a lot of fun for me with my current drow.
So true. The most common trope with any "evil race" character is: "Evil is in my nature but Im fighting it". Not inherently uninteresting but its been overdone. What you describe seems much more interesting
I think he's just comparing the Drow society to any major empire like the Roman Empire, Ancient Egypt, the Han Dynasty in China, lol even America in its inception. These are societies built on ambition and success and these societies aren't inherently evil, there's no such thing as a purely evil nation, just their leadership corrupt in their pursuit of power and the people underneath them just live the only way they know how to live.
Spend a lot of time with the drow and you will notice alot of little bonds that bring about a hint of goodness in other wise evil people. Drow emotions are pretty much the same as other races, it's just that in their society, the more underhanded actions are respected and the more good natured actions are scorned. The society itself is not evil, it just rewards evil. The denizens of the negative planes 'ARE' evil.
Adriaan, Those examples ignore context. They don't fall under what anyone here is saying. You can't compare a race of mortals who have had their bodies and minds twisted over generations by dark gods to "races" of immortal beings born from and composed of the raw elements of the cosmos. Drow, Orcs, Goblins etc... all have free will and the ability to choose their own paths. Demons, Devils, Yugoloths, Celestials, Modrons, Sladdi, and Formians do not have free will. They are all made up of different quantities of Good, Evil, Law and Chaos and are therefore slaves to those abstract concepts. Also if you're talking about the negative energy plane or the shadowfell there's a 70% chance the creature in question is an undead. Undead are evil. They're literally held together by evil energy. Even the intelligent ones have less free will than all the outsiders listed above.
DaoYeLung this a curse because the blessing was forced upon them. Plus, the pain Driders suffer from drives them insane. It’s rare that Driders remember who they were after the ritual is performed.
I'm looking forward to it too. She has just returned from her absence, but she's been quite busy since then (for example, she recently led her drow to build a community within Waterdeep). According to Ed Greenwood, Eilistraee and Vhaeraun have also agreed to a truce after their return, so I'm curious to see if WotC will drop that idea or embrace it. It surely has potential.
Hmmm. When speaking of drow rebelling or turning away from their society, extremely missed opportunity to mention Lolth's and Corellon's daughter Eilistraee whose primary aspect within the elf pantheon is being a guiding light to drow to turn away from Lolth and the evils of drow society. Instead just babbled about Drizzt whom over the years has become a bit over-inflated. Oh well, hopefully in the new book it will go over that.
Apillis124 All we ever hear about is Drizz't when talking about "good" drow. It truly irritates me how much Eilistraee is overlooked.. I'm playing a female Drow College of Swords bard that worships her in our Out of the Abyss campaign right now and one of my friends keeps saying I'm just being a Drizz't fangirl.. 🤔
I've actually written up a small draft for a city founded by a group of drow houses who simply had enough of the normal drow ways and up and left their home to form a new life. It's got a few interesting things about trying to estabilish friendly contact with the other races, distrust, political intrigue, where other drow and "surfacers" alike are trying to undermine this conglomerate of matrons who try and build a better drow society.
Can we just get an entire book about D&D theology. We got some of that with Mordekainen’s but I want to explore the deities not tied to a particular race (i.e. Faerûn pantheon) and how all of the gods interact (such as a section about Corellon and Gruumsh)
Reminds me of the alchemist extract in Pathfinder which allows you to vomit a swarm of spiders when imbibed. Perhaps not as graceful or refined, but hey, it's spiders.
I'm actually excited to see the 5e take on the drow and elven pantheons. 4e did away with them, 5e brought them back (and featured them in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, but with little detail). Now we'll get to see their new status quo in greater detail.
There is no way lloth would give her magic to one of these people, they are antithesis of everything lloth is and remnants of the og elf God who's name is hard to spell. So being of noble birth will be tempered by a lower status from not being a priestess.
i love the drow i hope you make an Elistreaee Video in the Future ,speaking of Lolth and drow in my campaing i made them kinda the good elves , lolth actualy protected them from a event that was going to affect all the elves in my world , but it was the society and the lies that the high elves said that make them scheemy and untrustful , my PCs are loving the story
"A rightful place awaits you in the Realms Above, in the Land of the Great Light. Come in peace and live beneath the sun again where trees and flowers grow." ~The Message of Eilistraee
Eilistraee will be in the MTOF, given that they said that the book will include in-depth info about the drow pantheon in addition to Lolth (so: Eilistraee, Vhaeraun, Ghaunadaur, Kiaransalee, Selvetarm).
I really enjoyed this video. My first (year long or so) DnD campaign I've played recently ended where I played a High Elf mystic who's house was eternally indebted (secretly) to the Drow... so I began to study them more. I had read the Drizzt graphic novels and really liked him years ago but honestly the more you think about Lolth's position- is she the more honest deity? Corelon banishes them and generally all the gods and godesses are rather distant to mortals from what I gather but yet all mortals are bound in their struggles against eachother as pawns, albeit somewhat willingly. Drizzt in some novels thinks on this with lengthy internal dialogue but from what I gather never commits to any one particular choice (at least as yet that I've read). Lolth was ambitious, had no outlet for this and Corelon banished her to somewhere where he had to have known would corrupt her instead of destroying her etc... I know that the drow do awful things but I'm just trying to see some more depth in the "great evil". I have to wonder now that Lolth is out of the abyss what she will do now that it cannot corrupt her thoughts as much perhaps? Would this explain why she has had a lighter hand on the drow society and wants to reconquer at least part of the surface world? Is Lolth's super cruelty just a ruse she used to be strong in the abyss? Mortals don't mean much to the other Gods either at least. I know I shouldn't root for the drow or lolth but... maybe I just want to feel good about myself liking drow so much lol
I have a, adorable drow name sapphire black and even she is a arcane trickster, she admires the life of a entertainer making joy and plenty of stories. Lawful good she is and aims to break the wall of fearing the other kinds.
I love this - and all the stuff D&D Beyond is doing - I love the CR content button and D&DB's dedication to 826 - I love the interactive benefits to using D&DB as the database for the game. I'm rarely this impressed with a product or its company - glad to have y'all.
btw : "Drow, n., [scot.]." The word is a variant of the Scots term "trow", which itself derives from the Scandinavian word "troll". The original Scottish Gaelic word is pronounced "dtrow" with a soft "dt" sound, and the original pronunciation sounds similar to "troll."
I, Claudius was originally a novel before it was a TV series (1934 vs 1976 for the BBC Production) and it is (admittedly loosely) based on real historical figures and events. Still a great book and a great series, both are well worth looking into.
Always loved elves. When I found out about the Dark Elves when I started playing AD&D, I had a favorite! My current 5th Edition campaign is the second generation of my Drow campaign in 3.5. Loth is starting to regain some of her sanity and is toying with Lawful Evil followers, like in AD&D. My House is Lawful Evil.
Can someone please tell me in what sourcebook it said that Elves were shapeshifters and were reincarnated...? I have never read this in the books by Ed Greenwood, Elaine Cunningham, RA Salvatore, Richard Baker, Lisa Smedman, etc. Was this in a Campaign book?
Dark Elves of Krynn look different because, unless you are changing significant lore, being a Dark Elf on Krynn only means that you have been outcast by your society for some terrible crime. It is, traditionally, just a title, a social state. Not a subrace. Dalamar was not a Drow or something. He was just a Silvanesti Elf who was outcast from his community for practicing evil magic and hanging out with Raistlin too much.
A T Maybe Lolth is attached to giants in Eberron? Don’t know. Do know one thing. I like the idea that demon lords are the same no matter the setting, since it ties into my head cannon that the Abyss is outside common reality.
I think they're going to try to meet halfway. They specify that there are worlds where the Drow don't know who Lolth is, which might lead them to believe alternate origins, or otherwise handwave why Lolth doesn't exist in Eberron despite the unified origin story.
Okay cool more high level enemies and stuff for the DM. How about some high level book adventures as well. The people I play with (myself included) aren't really creative enough or don't have the time to create a giant adventure so we usually play book adventures, which means once we get to 11 our only choice is to start a new character, we never really get to go into high level play...
You could always use a random dungeon generator as a starting point, or use other creative writing tools to help you out. You'd be surprised what you can accomplish over a week or two with less than an hour a day. I know that's not that helpful but not much else to do if there's no modules out. You could also convert an adventure from a previous edition, all you'd have to do is change the stat blocks, or even just substitute relevant stat blocks from 5E
So, from this guys point of view all elves in the other settings, those mentioned here anyway, are from the same place? All of then were cast out by their god corilan? But each of those settings has their own explanation about where elves came from, some of them even have other gods and don't recognize corilan. I guess it's a easy way to tie the settings together, maybe for planeacape or something
Hey, I really hate the idea that Corellon and Lolth are somehow responsible for the elves on Eberron, especially when they already have completely different origin stories. Not in love with the idea of retcons and homogenizing settings like this.
Lex Permann you don't need to use it. The rules are suggestions, and they are just including ways that you can use any source book you want and have it make at least a little sense
I'm not that crazy about it either, but setting-binding retcons have a lot of precedent. Spelljammer and Planescape (and really any section on the planes from edition to edition) make pretty sweeping and contradictory declarations about how the settings work. They're easy enough to ignore.
For me Eberron is whatever Keith Baker, says, as the Giants manipulated elves, with chaos magic, to fight Dragons. Also they are not really evil, as Eberron as lots of grey areas... the Gods are not involved in the World. That's why I like the setting
There is one dark elf that broke away from all of it and turned his back on his own people and their evil ways we all know who that elf is Drizzt who made himself famous by breaking away at coming to the surface
Each world is it’s own thing. Especially if you make up your own worlds and multiverse. I have a different cosmology for my worlds in general. So this is the version the official D&D main dimension version only. Everyone should feel free to have entirely different gods and origins for their own. I have Gods as we know them created by the belief of the people and that magical cosmology with gods as overplayed a real ‘true’ cosmology and that magic is differing to certain extents on various planets, regions and dimensions of the prime material plane. And I have ‘D&D class worlds where the lack of technology and way the magic works allows D&D play their (at least at the time the campaign is set) as well. Most gods are Gods only for one planet on the prime material plane and only have full power their or not at all on other worlds. Many of my ‘Gods’ can’t leave that world (which is including the outer planes surrounding that material plane.) if anyone understands what I’m saying. In some cases the same outer planes can ‘conquer’ a new planet in the same prime material plane and add it too their collection of influenced planets; this is how I think of standard D&D cosmology. Often races of humanoids magically or even technologically settle on versions worlds and sometimes naturally evolve on them again. As well I never have the gods as absolute true gods but they are very strong on their home dimension and still very strong on material planes they are linemen too (varying by world) anywho I also tend to decide my races on each world and don;t always (or usually use the standard array) ex; wingless dragon folk in place of dwarves who are similar in culture too dwarves, mouse people instead of halflings, cat people, humans, elves, orcs, cat like goblins, kobolds, tall slender wolf people, and winged avenger bird people, etc. So kinda more mtg that way. I also make many worlds with no humans. I love me elves and have still made worlds with no elves. I have made and continue to make many worlds. Anyway great video.
I can appreciate development of official settings. I don't like that this and the other videos are not framed as setting lore in any way, and is made to sound like game mechanics which requires explicit overriding rather than explicit inclusion in a standard home game. This is especially true when 'other worlds' are mentioned.
What's this about elves being mutable? Elves are the poster child of races stuck in a rut. They live forever and basically never accomplish anything without an external push. They have to be other wise any race that lived for 1000 years would quickly take over the world, any world. Humans were always the race described as mutable. That's why they didn't have a racial pantheon, they don't have a racial language, their customs and culture are explicitly varied. This isn't just a retcon but a complete 180 on the core concept of elves.
I think that's more aligned with Tolkien's elves and not D&D elves. D&D elves are different enough that they can easily be described as mutable. Humans can be better described as borrowers, imo, since they borrow a bit of this and that for everything to form their cultures.
T3slaCoil3d Yeah I could but I’m figuring the Arachnomancer will be just as cool as they were in 3e which was something I mentioned to Mike Mearls as a subclass of wizard that would be cool to play...but I guess only Drow nonpcs get to have this cool class😔
Well we improvised a bit and this is what I came up with. My drow worships Vhaeraun and primary lives in underdark. But all of our stories are played in normal world. Thats because my drow came up with an idea. Drow society need slaves. They get slaves by raiding. But Vhaeraun teaches something about better relationship with other races (and then you can betray them more easily). What I do is that I run in normal world and enslave our enemies. Orks, goblins, bugbears, human, elf, whatever enemy our DM throws at us. Part of them I sell. Part of them (if we are near some of my contacts) I send as new slaves for my House for it became stronger (well thats why Im here in upworld anyway). Part of money I use for my needs (I love nice stuff). And part of money I use (well throw away) to hire assassins to kill my enemies (well usually females in my house which stands in my way to get higher in my House society). Yes Im evil, but there is said that (well not near underdark, but futher away) only 5% of society really know what drow is. For the rest i have disguises. But for me this is the way to not play good outcast, but to be still full evil drow with all that sweet drow society background behind me.
blessed drow with a free sanctuary card is definitely an easy access point for a heroic dark elf into the surface world, but the dark hero redemption arc could be subverted into a tragic nurture over nature as a blessed drow is employed as a spy or assassin onto the surface world by some matron mother that promises all the things drow want to her cursed progeny who she is told by Lolth not to kill. That could make for some interesting play with themes such as conformity and obedience.
To all people saying it doesn't matter, just change it however you like. These are the official WoTC rules and lore set out by them. If people don't visually speak out against things they don't like they will keep adapting these types of things. We need to be able to talk about it and have a conversation and sometimes it starts with "hey that new idea, i don't like it very much". Look at current trends the only people speaking out at companies are the people that make those companies implement horribly racist ideas (google for example).
I wonder if Corellon maybe saw the Elves once they had taken more fixed forms and through that they would be better forces of good this way than they were as they were originally? Maybe that's why they haven't restored the elves, not as a punishment, but so that they can be a force of good in the world.
Jeremy’s pronunciation of names like Corellon and Drizzt kinda makes me want to kill myself tbh, but hey Drow aren’t such a steretype anymore! It makes me happy!
Sheesh, why is it that the history of the Drow so forgotten when it comes to their game origin as Cthonic foes from The World of Greyhawk? Seriously, Drow existed BEFORE RA Salvatore's whiny, emo Elric-wannabe character. Drizzt wasn't the first non-Lolth worshipping Drow, since the ENTIRE backstory behind Against the Giants is that the Drow nobles in House Eilservs (lead by the priestess Eclavadra) broke from worship of Lolth to worship The Elder Elemental God (and no, the EEG is NOT Tharizdun). And D3 Vault of the Drow also included Neutral-aligned Drow who were another anti-Lolth faction in Erelhei-Cinlu.
Great videos. Excellent production.. but you got to make this a bit more dynamic. Add images, add a second person. Add a second camera.. something. Decpite the fascinating subject as this all is, and great of a speaker Jeremy Crawford is... it's putting me to sleep.
You guys have gone way out of your way to make Lolth a "greater deity" in the D&D Universe when there was no need for it, and you did it without thinking about the inconsistencies in doing so. She was fine as a "lesser deity", and according to the writing you all have done she's lost popularity with the return of Ellistrae. In fact, the way she became a greater deity isn't even explained but is completely against the way one becomes a greater deity. Per the storyline she made herself into one when she went silent which doesn't make sense. As a writer of fantasy fiction and a fan of D&D since the late 70s I think you guys got caught up in the prominence of the Drow through R.A. Salvatore's stories about Drizzt. Don't overpower the characters because of popularity. It cheapens the fiction and the fantasy. One thing I will say though is that going over all the inconsistencies I've been seeing it's given me a lot of ideas and good reminders to pay attention to detail for my own stuff; especially on this new project.
While there is a lot of hate toward the character, you'll find most times it wrought from "familiarity breeds contempt", and for many Drizzt has become an over-inflated character. It never fails that when I make a drow character (which are typically my "go to" race) it's almost inevitable that someone will start talking to me about friggin' Drizzt, even when I'm making a wizard or paladin or monk. So, for a lot of people it's just getting tired of his constantly being mentioned as an example of a drow, regardless of the context.
Non-gendered? Also, why would you ever play a pregnant character unless you’re super into impromptu miscarriage due to all the dangers your going to face?
I didn't know about the blessing to change one's sex in the elves, so I was thinking about making a trans drow because I love making my games very lgbt+ friendly (as well as me wanting to project on my characters), but could not decide what gender I wanted them to be. Then he mentioned this blessing and I realized I could just Loki it up in here.
I know a lot of my friends/players are gonna be happy to hear about some elves being able to alter their physiology like that. I remember I once had a genderfluid player that homebrewed that ability as a cantrip. It didn't have any mechanical impact on the game other than taking up a cantrip slot but they were very happy to have that. Elves in my own homebrew setting are generally fairly androgynous by default which makes me consider making that ability a default for elves in my setting (perhaps with the exception of the drow as an extention of their curse).
As a trans player, it means so muchto me that D&D is recognising the struggles of trans folks in their own way. I mean, they made questioning your gender HEROIC! Being trans is a BLESSING to elves! When I first heard this I was literally in tears. I am so proud of WotC for broadening their horizons, and making this game more open to more people.
Nicholas Nace considering alter self has always been a spell, cursed items that cause gender swap, this wasnt really needed. From a lore perspective it feels really shoehorned in to pander. I'm curious on how they are going to tie it in to his domain of influence because it is kind of out there for him.
The game has been open to players of any orientation from the beginning. It's a game of magic where the only thing you need is imagination to make anything possible. If you didn't feel included before and needed a specific blessing to make that difference then you're the issue, not any perceived lack of inclusiveness before now.
Oh I get it. The blessing of Corellion is the right for an elf to choose which bathroom to use. And the drow think that gender swapping is wrong because they are the Republicans. My life is so much better now that D&D is politically correct.
more invalidation and retcon of years of forgotten realms lore? the fall of Aurashnee to Lolth happened before The First Flowering before -30,000 Dale Reckoning. the Curse and the Descent of the drow didn't happen on Faerûn until more than 20,000 years later. Read your own lore.
Indeed the Sword Coast is Faerun, but the lore in books like this and Volo's Guide aren't Realms specific, and actually uses older lore that the FR generally doesn't (Like the origins of Yuan-ti in the Realms isn't that presented in Volo's Guide, instead Volo's Guide uses what was used in the generic monster manuals prior to 5e)
grymhild I try to think of each Edition having their own lore. This is the 5e version of the D&D universe. Don't like it? Don't use it! That's the great thing about D&D. Scrap the 5e patheon and go back to the 3.5 Gods. Ignore the new origin stories and use old ones in your games, or create your own. I personally enjoy these retellings/alternate histories that come out with each edition. I feel like with 5e they're just trying to unify a fairly messy cosmology, and instead of coming up with a million flimsy threads to weave together decades of ideas, they're just starting from scratch. Better way to build a cohesive universe, in my humble opinion.
Игры
"What is better - to be born good or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?"
To be born with full freedom of choice. Like the drow and elves are (the drow are nurtured into evil, rather than born as such).
Tommaso Sammarco
This is D&D. Some creatures are just born bad.
I didn't come all this way to debate philosophy with a dragon
@@ChrissRoss1 I came all this way specifically to debate philosophy with a dragon
@@r.r815 You and I should reason together sometime.
When I was 12 years old I read the first novel of the "Darkelf"-series with Drizzt, encountering Menzoberanzzan. Then, in an Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game that my brother and I were players in at an event organized by the youth club in our very small town, the DM introduced a Loth-priestess as the villian. All the other kids realized that she was a powerful enemy but my brother and I were literally frozen with fear and tried to convice everone that the group should run ;)
Drow society essentially mirrors the feuding city-states of renaissance Italy. If you want story ideas for your own campaigns, read up on that period of history, paying particular attention to the Medicis, the Borgias, and the papacy.
that is incredibly astute! thank you. Machiavelli philosophy fits drow society
I hope MToF talks more about Eilistraee in the Drow section. She's constantly overlooked/not mentioned and is honestly the perfect goddess to follow for a "good drow" character. We all constantly hear about Drizzt when talking about Drow that rebel against Lolth/Drow society but never hear about Eilistraee...
And yes, she dedicates her whole everything to build an actual future for her people, she's always done that since she was but a girl. She should be one of the main options to mention when talking non-evil drow.
To be fair, she was just straight up dead in the last edition or two.
yeah because god forbid that 4ed have anything other than dizzy be a example of good drow
Plus, the fact that Eilistraee has returned to life (or recovered, or w/e) in 5e should be one more reason to mention her.
I agree I play an Eilistraeen in my current game and I would love to have more info on her. Also, she's actually the ONLY good deity of the Drow pantheon.
I never thought of the "I, Claudius" - drow society comparison before. It's a really good point, and will help inform how I run drow in the future.
As interesting as the "Raised under corruption but rising up against it" story is, I'm having a lot of fun basically playing the son of a drow refugee who realizes that the surface world isn't that welcoming to his kind and wonders if he can find belonging with his people in the underdark. At least, having that be the starting motivation (along with the realization that you need to stay on the good size of surface dwellers or they kill while you're isolated) and then see where it goes from there is a lot of fun for me with my current drow.
So true. The most common trope with any "evil race" character is: "Evil is in my nature but Im fighting it". Not inherently uninteresting but its been overdone. What you describe seems much more interesting
What if honestly love to see is a drow that technically hasn’t broken any rules that they could reject them based on, but still does a lot of good.
It's not evil, it's just murder, slavery, discrimination, deceit, and literal demon summoning.
DabIMON The most Wholesome Activity
I think he's just comparing the Drow society to any major empire like the Roman Empire, Ancient Egypt, the Han Dynasty in China, lol even America in its inception. These are societies built on ambition and success and these societies aren't inherently evil, there's no such thing as a purely evil nation, just their leadership corrupt in their pursuit of power and the people underneath them just live the only way they know how to live.
what about society in the nine hells? or the abyss or any other of the negative planes. Seems pretty evil to me. Not everything is grey
Spend a lot of time with the drow and you will notice alot of little bonds that bring about a hint of goodness in other wise evil people. Drow emotions are pretty much the same as other races, it's just that in their society, the more underhanded actions are respected and the more good natured actions are scorned. The society itself is not evil, it just rewards evil. The denizens of the negative planes 'ARE' evil.
Adriaan, Those examples ignore context. They don't fall under what anyone here is saying. You can't compare a race of mortals who have had their bodies and minds twisted over generations by dark gods to "races" of immortal beings born from and composed of the raw elements of the cosmos.
Drow, Orcs, Goblins etc... all have free will and the ability to choose their own paths.
Demons, Devils, Yugoloths, Celestials, Modrons, Sladdi, and Formians do not have free will.
They are all made up of different quantities of Good, Evil, Law and Chaos and are therefore slaves to those abstract concepts.
Also if you're talking about the negative energy plane or the shadowfell there's a 70% chance the creature in question is an undead. Undead are evil. They're literally held together by evil energy. Even the intelligent ones have less free will than all the outsiders listed above.
"As proven by our most famous drow-"
K'thriss.
This made me smile thanks.
bleh blehson happy to help!
Levi Phipps hello friend
famous boi
Our most famous drow, emerging from a mist shroud, sending tentacles into the crowd, for eldrich power he is endowed, it's K'THRISS DROW'B!!
I'm still mad that being turned into a drider is considered a curse. If you get turned into the image of your god i would consider it a blessing.
@Mär Thats right. And weakness has no place in Drow society. You are weak. You had to be improved to not be as weak as normal drow
DaoYeLung this a curse because the blessing was forced upon them. Plus, the pain Driders suffer from drives them insane. It’s rare that Driders remember who they were after the ritual is performed.
It's seen as being given a leg up (eight of them) because you needed it which can be seen as a weakness of will rather than body
Excited for more depth on Eilistraee
I'm looking forward to it too. She has just returned from her absence, but she's been quite busy since then (for example, she recently led her drow to build a community within Waterdeep). According to Ed Greenwood, Eilistraee and Vhaeraun have also agreed to a truce after their return, so I'm curious to see if WotC will drop that idea or embrace it. It surely has potential.
Hmmm. When speaking of drow rebelling or turning away from their society, extremely missed opportunity to mention Lolth's and Corellon's daughter Eilistraee whose primary aspect within the elf pantheon is being a guiding light to drow to turn away from Lolth and the evils of drow society. Instead just babbled about Drizzt whom over the years has become a bit over-inflated. Oh well, hopefully in the new book it will go over that.
Apillis124 All we ever hear about is Drizz't when talking about "good" drow. It truly irritates me how much Eilistraee is overlooked.. I'm playing a female Drow College of Swords bard that worships her in our Out of the Abyss campaign right now and one of my friends keeps saying I'm just being a Drizz't fangirl.. 🤔
Apillis124 he did say the book would talk about elvish deities
MarvAlice I know, that's why I said that I hope the new book will have something on it.
I didn't even know about this deity and I appreciate this newfound knowledge.
I've actually written up a small draft for a city founded by a group of drow houses who simply had enough of the normal drow ways and up and left their home to form a new life. It's got a few interesting things about trying to estabilish friendly contact with the other races, distrust, political intrigue, where other drow and "surfacers" alike are trying to undermine this conglomerate of matrons who try and build a better drow society.
Can we just get an entire book about D&D theology. We got some of that with Mordekainen’s but I want to explore the deities not tied to a particular race (i.e. Faerûn pantheon) and how all of the gods interact (such as a section about Corellon and Gruumsh)
5e still has yet to get its equivalent of Faiths and Pantheons, and I don't know why.
“When these elves awaken from their trance they can decide whether they’re male or female”
or as I call it, trans by trance
Would that be trancesexual then?
A T I loled. >w
Drakkonus Frostburn yes
This guy might as well have added; “..they’re on the right side of history.” Le sigh.
Karl Cross if you don't want it, tell your players not to take it. If you aren't the dm, sit down and stfu.
Wait, wait, wait, a Drow "Arachnomancer"? That... that sounds amazing! I want one!
Reminds me of the alchemist extract in Pathfinder which allows you to vomit a swarm of spiders when imbibed. Perhaps not as graceful or refined, but hey, it's spiders.
Arachnomancer is a concept from a 3.5 book called "drow of the underdark"
I'm actually excited to see the 5e take on the drow and elven pantheons. 4e did away with them, 5e brought them back (and featured them in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, but with little detail). Now we'll get to see their new status quo in greater detail.
Sweet character concept:
Female drow noble who leads a double life as a male revolutionary.
DabIMON I like this
So, Zorro.
*Zor'ro
+DabIMON Haha, absolutely.
There is no way lloth would give her magic to one of these people, they are antithesis of everything lloth is and remnants of the og elf God who's name is hard to spell.
So being of noble birth will be tempered by a lower status from not being a priestess.
i love the drow i hope you make an Elistreaee Video in the Future ,speaking of Lolth and drow in my campaing i made them kinda the good elves , lolth actualy protected them from a event that was going to affect all the elves in my world , but it was the society and the lies that the high elves said that make them scheemy and untrustful , my PCs are loving the story
"A rightful place awaits you in the Realms Above, in the Land of the Great Light. Come in peace and live beneath the sun again where trees and flowers grow."
~The Message of Eilistraee
Eilistraee will be in the MTOF, given that they said that the book will include in-depth info about the drow pantheon in addition to Lolth (so: Eilistraee, Vhaeraun, Ghaunadaur, Kiaransalee, Selvetarm).
It will be more than a mention. Even the SCAG, with its low page count and broad-strokes description of the races, had a blurb about Eilistraee.
Tommaso Sammarco interesting , thanks for the info , I'll search for the Scag
It's on page 108-ish (I think), in the section about the elves.
Thanks again for such and excellent synopsis. So well spoken.
This series of videos is really excellent. Thanks so much for doing them.
I really enjoyed this video. My first (year long or so) DnD campaign I've played recently ended where I played a High Elf mystic who's house was eternally indebted (secretly) to the Drow... so I began to study them more. I had read the Drizzt graphic novels and really liked him years ago but honestly the more you think about Lolth's position- is she the more honest deity? Corelon banishes them and generally all the gods and godesses are rather distant to mortals from what I gather but yet all mortals are bound in their struggles against eachother as pawns, albeit somewhat willingly. Drizzt in some novels thinks on this with lengthy internal dialogue but from what I gather never commits to any one particular choice (at least as yet that I've read). Lolth was ambitious, had no outlet for this and Corelon banished her to somewhere where he had to have known would corrupt her instead of destroying her etc... I know that the drow do awful things but I'm just trying to see some more depth in the "great evil". I have to wonder now that Lolth is out of the abyss what she will do now that it cannot corrupt her thoughts as much perhaps? Would this explain why she has had a lighter hand on the drow society and wants to reconquer at least part of the surface world? Is Lolth's super cruelty just a ruse she used to be strong in the abyss? Mortals don't mean much to the other Gods either at least. I know I shouldn't root for the drow or lolth but... maybe I just want to feel good about myself liking drow so much lol
love your guys content, keep it up :)
Finaly some mention about Eberron
Rich Burlew must be having a big, prescient chuckle at this
I also thought of Vaarsuvius and Inkyrius in OotS
I have a, adorable drow name sapphire black and even she is a arcane trickster, she admires the life of a entertainer making joy and plenty of stories. Lawful good she is and aims to break the wall of fearing the other kinds.
I love this - and all the stuff D&D Beyond is doing - I love the CR content button and D&DB's dedication to 826 - I love the interactive benefits to using D&DB as the database for the game. I'm rarely this impressed with a product or its company - glad to have y'all.
This is why all my campaigns are homebrew
btw : "Drow, n., [scot.]." The word is a variant of the Scots term "trow", which itself derives from the Scandinavian word "troll". The original Scottish Gaelic word is pronounced "dtrow" with a soft "dt" sound, and the original pronunciation sounds similar to "troll."
I heard Eberron in there
colour me excited
People complaining about the changes to lore, make your own. I do. It's your game!
Awesome! This could help out my drow warlock assassin and help me build my drow campaign!
So, I heard that Tieflings would get some new stuff in Tome of Foes, could you do a video on that?
I, Claudius is a great analogy!
I, Claudius was originally a novel before it was a TV series (1934 vs 1976 for the BBC Production) and it is (admittedly loosely) based on real historical figures and events. Still a great book and a great series, both are well worth looking into.
Always loved elves. When I found out about the Dark Elves when I started playing AD&D, I had a favorite! My current 5th Edition campaign is the second generation of my Drow campaign in 3.5. Loth is starting to regain some of her sanity and is toying with Lawful Evil followers, like in AD&D. My House is Lawful Evil.
I too like the stories where a drow overcomes the call of evil
It seems like it would be possible to play a Changeling as an elf blessed of Corellon, with their ability to change their appearance.
Can someone please tell me in what sourcebook it said that Elves were shapeshifters and were reincarnated...? I have never read this in the books by Ed Greenwood, Elaine Cunningham, RA Salvatore, Richard Baker, Lisa Smedman, etc. Was this in a Campaign book?
It’s new lore.
3 Videos on elves and no video for gnomes )': It is a sad day!
Jeremy's voice always reminds me of Carl Sagan.
Dark Elves of Krynn look different because, unless you are changing significant lore, being a Dark Elf on Krynn only means that you have been outcast by your society for some terrible crime. It is, traditionally, just a title, a social state. Not a subrace.
Dalamar was not a Drow or something. He was just a Silvanesti Elf who was outcast from his community for practicing evil magic and hanging out with Raistlin too much.
Eberron??? Give me my Warforged!!!!!
Regarding Faerûn, did the events of the Crown Wars and the transformation of the Ilythiiri to the Drow happen or is this retconned?
So since you don't wanna advance forward in the setting you gotta retcon stuff?
Did he seriously say Ebberron!?!?!? We NEED Ebberron in our lives! PLEASE!!!
but he also said Eberron Drow are also cause by Lolth. Not really something I’m looking forward to since I like their connection to the giants
A T
Maybe Lolth is attached to giants in Eberron? Don’t know. Do know one thing. I like the idea that demon lords are the same no matter the setting, since it ties into my head cannon that the Abyss is outside common reality.
I think they're going to try to meet halfway. They specify that there are worlds where the Drow don't know who Lolth is, which might lead them to believe alternate origins, or otherwise handwave why Lolth doesn't exist in Eberron despite the unified origin story.
They've hinted that they are working on an Ebberron campaign a few times... it's coming.. just not anytime soon.
Steven Partridge I
I really like this series of videos.
Would be good to put some images in between to not let the rhythm go slow and help a bit with visual references.
I was really hoping for more info on driders :( but I love the drow lore!
The monster manual info isn't enough?
WhiskeyHound I want driders as PCs
Fair enough, seems fairly easy to make, scale back the stats if thats needed and play a crazier drow that can scuttle up walls.
Okay cool more high level enemies and stuff for the DM. How about some high level book adventures as well. The people I play with (myself included) aren't really creative enough or don't have the time to create a giant adventure so we usually play book adventures, which means once we get to 11 our only choice is to start a new character, we never really get to go into high level play...
You could always use a random dungeon generator as a starting point, or use other creative writing tools to help you out. You'd be surprised what you can accomplish over a week or two with less than an hour a day. I know that's not that helpful but not much else to do if there's no modules out. You could also convert an adventure from a previous edition, all you'd have to do is change the stat blocks, or even just substitute relevant stat blocks from 5E
Or the DM colud just buff encounters for higher level parties, not only combat but even social/mistery/puzzle wise
So, from this guys point of view all elves in the other settings, those mentioned here anyway, are from the same place? All of then were cast out by their god corilan? But each of those settings has their own explanation about where elves came from, some of them even have other gods and don't recognize corilan. I guess it's a easy way to tie the settings together, maybe for planeacape or something
Mr Crawford looks super incredulous in the thumbnail
MrTinyface he looks like he just realized that he left the stove on
I wonder if there’s a stat block for a mind flatter elder brain.
*flayer. And yes, there is, in Volo's Guide to Monsters.
what is going to happen to drow now that shadar kai is about to become a sub race for elf
lol
raised from the ashes
Would the Blessing of Corellon grant any other abilities?
Also, Eilistraee please
I'm still sad the humans from the shadow fell are now just elfs
Hey, I really hate the idea that Corellon and Lolth are somehow responsible for the elves on Eberron, especially when they already have completely different origin stories. Not in love with the idea of retcons and homogenizing settings like this.
Lex Permann it might not be a direct cause, it might simply be an echo of their existence.
It doesn't matter either way it's your game change whatever you don't like
Lex Permann you don't need to use it. The rules are suggestions, and they are just including ways that you can use any source book you want and have it make at least a little sense
I'm not that crazy about it either, but setting-binding retcons have a lot of precedent. Spelljammer and Planescape (and really any section on the planes from edition to edition) make pretty sweeping and contradictory declarations about how the settings work. They're easy enough to ignore.
For me Eberron is whatever Keith Baker, says, as the Giants manipulated elves, with chaos magic, to fight Dragons. Also they are not really evil, as Eberron as lots of grey areas... the Gods are not involved in the World. That's why I like the setting
There is one dark elf that broke away from all of it and turned his back on his own people and their evil ways we all know who that elf is Drizzt who made himself famous by breaking away at coming to the surface
Subserviant? you mean slaves right?
thats exactly what they are.
My favorite elves 🕸🕷💯😈
Each world is it’s own thing. Especially if you make up your own worlds and multiverse. I have a different cosmology for my worlds in general. So this is the version the official D&D main dimension version only. Everyone should feel free to have entirely different gods and origins for their own. I have Gods as we know them created by the belief of the people and that magical cosmology with gods as overplayed a real ‘true’ cosmology and that magic is differing to certain extents on various planets, regions and dimensions of the prime material plane. And I have ‘D&D class worlds where the lack of technology and way the magic works allows D&D play their (at least at the time the campaign is set) as well. Most gods are Gods only for one planet on the prime material plane and only have full power their or not at all on other worlds. Many of my ‘Gods’ can’t leave that world (which is including the outer planes surrounding that material plane.) if anyone understands what I’m saying. In some cases the same outer planes can ‘conquer’ a new planet in the same prime material plane and add it too their collection of influenced planets; this is how I think of standard D&D cosmology. Often races of humanoids magically or even technologically settle on versions worlds and sometimes naturally evolve on them again. As well I never have the gods as absolute true gods but they are very strong on their home dimension and still very strong on material planes they are linemen too (varying by world) anywho I also tend to decide my races on each world and don;t always (or usually use the standard array) ex; wingless dragon folk in place of dwarves who are similar in culture too dwarves, mouse people instead of halflings, cat people, humans, elves, orcs, cat like goblins, kobolds, tall slender wolf people, and winged avenger bird people, etc. So kinda more mtg that way. I also make many worlds with no humans. I love me elves and have still made worlds with no elves. I have made and continue to make many worlds. Anyway great video.
I can appreciate development of official settings. I don't like that this and the other videos are not framed as setting lore in any way, and is made to sound like game mechanics which requires explicit overriding rather than explicit inclusion in a standard home game. This is especially true when 'other worlds' are mentioned.
What's this about elves being mutable? Elves are the poster child of races stuck in a rut. They live forever and basically never accomplish anything without an external push. They have to be other wise any race that lived for 1000 years would quickly take over the world, any world.
Humans were always the race described as mutable. That's why they didn't have a racial pantheon, they don't have a racial language, their customs and culture are explicitly varied.
This isn't just a retcon but a complete 180 on the core concept of elves.
I think that's more aligned with Tolkien's elves and not D&D elves. D&D elves are different enough that they can easily be described as mutable. Humans can be better described as borrowers, imo, since they borrow a bit of this and that for everything to form their cultures.
@@Incurafy They even borrowed a god from r
irl humans ! Tyr !
I wish the Arachnomancer was usually for PC class😔💯
Adam Holcomb Play Druid. Flavor the hell out of it.
T3slaCoil3d Yeah I could but I’m figuring the Arachnomancer will be just as cool as they were in 3e which was something I mentioned to Mike Mearls as a subclass of wizard that would be cool to play...but I guess only Drow nonpcs get to have this cool class😔
10:00 found this part interesting
His talking about Dark Eldar, right?
Well Dark Eldar from Warhammer 40K are based on Dark Elves from Warhammer Fantasy which are Based on the Drow from D&D.
Yes
Which are based on Svartálfar of Norse mythology
Kivan true but there is such little actual information about the Norse Dark Elves that I didn’t want to include them.
Well we improvised a bit and this is what I came up with. My drow worships Vhaeraun and primary lives in underdark. But all of our stories are played in normal world. Thats because my drow came up with an idea. Drow society need slaves. They get slaves by raiding. But Vhaeraun teaches something about better relationship with other races (and then you can betray them more easily). What I do is that I run in normal world and enslave our enemies. Orks, goblins, bugbears, human, elf, whatever enemy our DM throws at us. Part of them I sell. Part of them (if we are near some of my contacts) I send as new slaves for my House for it became stronger (well thats why Im here in upworld anyway). Part of money I use for my needs (I love nice stuff). And part of money I use (well throw away) to hire assassins to kill my enemies (well usually females in my house which stands in my way to get higher in my House society).
Yes Im evil, but there is said that (well not near underdark, but futher away) only 5% of society really know what drow is. For the rest i have disguises.
But for me this is the way to not play good outcast, but to be still full evil drow with all that sweet drow society background behind me.
blessed drow with a free sanctuary card is definitely an easy access point for a heroic dark elf into the surface world, but the dark hero redemption arc could be subverted into a tragic nurture over nature as a blessed drow is employed as a spy or assassin onto the surface world by some matron mother that promises all the things drow want to her cursed progeny who she is told by Lolth not to kill. That could make for some interesting play with themes such as conformity and obedience.
Big episodes
"elf toys" :3
Giggity.
To all people saying it doesn't matter, just change it however you like. These are the official WoTC rules and lore set out by them. If people don't visually speak out against things they don't like they will keep adapting these types of things. We need to be able to talk about it and have a conversation and sometimes it starts with "hey that new idea, i don't like it very much". Look at current trends the only people speaking out at companies are the people that make those companies implement horribly racist ideas (google for example).
Drizz't. Not "Dritz", Driz-it!
Gabriel Russell Drizzit Dudden, amirite?
He wasn't even saying "Dritz", though.
Treated the double-z like an Italian double-z, followed by the t.
Oh this Explains Bryce
I wonder if Corellon maybe saw the Elves once they had taken more fixed forms and through that they would be better forces of good this way than they were as they were originally? Maybe that's why they haven't restored the elves, not as a punishment, but so that they can be a force of good in the world.
They live in a wicked web of scum and villainy.
OK DOES ANYONE EVEN KNOW HOW TO PRONOUNCE DRIZZT? I'VE HEARD AT LEAST 4 DIFFERENT PRONUNCIATIONS AND I NEED TO KNOW.
Akrak I just say Drizziti like he’s some sort of pasta to piss off elitists and grammar slammers.
It's Drits, as Salvatore himself says.
Salvatore says "Drits" but before I ever heard anyone else pronounce it, when I read it as a kid I always pronounced it "Driz-it"
Jeremy’s pronunciation of names like Corellon and Drizzt kinda makes me want to kill myself tbh, but hey Drow aren’t such a steretype anymore! It makes me happy!
He pronounces Drizzt the same way as R.A. Salvatore.
Hurtsmith really? Then Rob Salvatore writes it different that he says it. Never knew.
Sleepy Scarecrow Productions the audiobooks pronounce it that way too.
I am never going to pronounce Drizzt that way.
Samael76 i thought that too, but looking it up thats how RA Salvatore pronounced it, so i adopted it. Makes it a bit easier to say too i think
So, now every elf is a trap?
Weren't they always?
This has so little nuance that it might as well been written by a gold elf.
Sheesh, why is it that the history of the Drow so forgotten when it comes to their game origin as Cthonic foes from The World of Greyhawk? Seriously, Drow existed BEFORE RA Salvatore's whiny, emo Elric-wannabe character. Drizzt wasn't the first non-Lolth worshipping Drow, since the ENTIRE backstory behind Against the Giants is that the Drow nobles in House Eilservs (lead by the priestess Eclavadra) broke from worship of Lolth to worship The Elder Elemental God (and no, the EEG is NOT Tharizdun). And D3 Vault of the Drow also included Neutral-aligned Drow who were another anti-Lolth faction in Erelhei-Cinlu.
EEG is *totally* Tharizdun. Gygax himself heavily implied it during a interview.
Great videos. Excellent production.. but you got to make this a bit more dynamic. Add images, add a second person. Add a second camera.. something. Decpite the fascinating subject as this all is, and great of a speaker Jeremy Crawford is... it's putting me to sleep.
You guys have gone way out of your way to make Lolth a "greater deity" in the D&D Universe when there was no need for it, and you did it without thinking about the inconsistencies in doing so. She was fine as a "lesser deity", and according to the writing you all have done she's lost popularity with the return of Ellistrae. In fact, the way she became a greater deity isn't even explained but is completely against the way one becomes a greater deity. Per the storyline she made herself into one when she went silent which doesn't make sense.
As a writer of fantasy fiction and a fan of D&D since the late 70s I think you guys got caught up in the prominence of the Drow through R.A. Salvatore's stories about Drizzt. Don't overpower the characters because of popularity. It cheapens the fiction and the fantasy. One thing I will say though is that going over all the inconsistencies I've been seeing it's given me a lot of ideas and good reminders to pay attention to detail for my own stuff; especially on this new project.
Huh, she doesn't look Drowish.
666 views!!
So, you're saying that we are basically drow 😏
*Insert generic "I hate Do'Urden" comment here*
Lord MurderKitten I don’t hate Drizz’t, I just hate the fact that are hundreds of knock off Drizz’ts.
Inquisitor Thomas - YES! yes,yes,yes......
While there is a lot of hate toward the character, you'll find most times it wrought from "familiarity breeds contempt", and for many Drizzt has become an over-inflated character. It never fails that when I make a drow character (which are typically my "go to" race) it's almost inevitable that someone will start talking to me about friggin' Drizzt, even when I'm making a wizard or paladin or monk. So, for a lot of people it's just getting tired of his constantly being mentioned as an example of a drow, regardless of the context.
He was an interesting character in the beginning, but as the writing went on he became the worst Mary Sue in the Forgotten Realms.
I hate Do'Urden
Scary how Drow civilisation is more similar to modern society than any other civilisation in Toril
I can finally RP a pregnant non gendered elf.
Non-gendered?
Also, why would you ever play a pregnant character unless you’re super into impromptu miscarriage due to all the dangers your going to face?
I didn't know about the blessing to change one's sex in the elves, so I was thinking about making a trans drow because I love making my games very lgbt+ friendly (as well as me wanting to project on my characters), but could not decide what gender I wanted them to be. Then he mentioned this blessing and I realized I could just Loki it up in here.
I know a lot of my friends/players are gonna be happy to hear about some elves being able to alter their physiology like that. I remember I once had a genderfluid player that homebrewed that ability as a cantrip. It didn't have any mechanical impact on the game other than taking up a cantrip slot but they were very happy to have that. Elves in my own homebrew setting are generally fairly androgynous by default which makes me consider making that ability a default for elves in my setting (perhaps with the exception of the drow as an extention of their curse).
They did say drow can get it too, just that it's seen as anarchistic to the drow so they'd prob be persecuted if not outright attacked
Kender in MToF or riot!
Death RPG, Tolkien cry, Death Elvens. Aqui morre o RPG, Tolkien deve está muito puto no túmulo. Morte aos elfos.
So not only are transgender elves now D&D canon, but they are their god's favorites? That is...pretty frickin' awesome.
Dude, wtf is wrong with you? Is that comment just to virtue signal?
As a trans player, it means so muchto me that D&D is recognising the struggles of trans folks in their own way. I mean, they made questioning your gender HEROIC! Being trans is a BLESSING to elves! When I first heard this I was literally in tears. I am so proud of WotC for broadening their horizons, and making this game more open to more people.
Nicholas Nace considering alter self has always been a spell, cursed items that cause gender swap, this wasnt really needed. From a lore perspective it feels really shoehorned in to pander. I'm curious on how they are going to tie it in to his domain of influence because it is kind of out there for him.
The game has been open to players of any orientation from the beginning. It's a game of magic where the only thing you need is imagination to make anything possible.
If you didn't feel included before and needed a specific blessing to make that difference then you're the issue, not any perceived lack of inclusiveness before now.
Get over yourself...seriously...
As a trans player myself I am frustrated with the lack of nuance considering the drow. Now they are supposed to be a bunch of terfs as well.
Tired of Lolth and her web of lies.
I'm angry because you cannot actually play as a drow
Yes you can
Oh I get it. The blessing of Corellion is the right for an elf to choose which bathroom to use. And the drow think that gender swapping is wrong because they are the Republicans. My life is so much better now that D&D is politically correct.
Does that mean a new genderfluid elf race option?
Prefer 'droe' over 'drOW'
Maybe it's a PGH thing. That's the way I learned it, too.
Yay, Gender Politics brought to you by D&D.
Though I am very excited for this book. I have always loved the Elves in general.
more invalidation and retcon of years of forgotten realms lore?
the fall of Aurashnee to Lolth happened before The First Flowering before -30,000 Dale Reckoning. the Curse and the Descent of the drow didn't happen on Faerûn until more than 20,000 years later.
Read your own lore.
The lore they put in their books isn't FR lore. It's generic lore.
Sword Coast is Faerun... and is one of their books. The PHB pretty much states it too.
Indeed the Sword Coast is Faerun, but the lore in books like this and Volo's Guide aren't Realms specific, and actually uses older lore that the FR generally doesn't (Like the origins of Yuan-ti in the Realms isn't that presented in Volo's Guide, instead Volo's Guide uses what was used in the generic monster manuals prior to 5e)
Ahh, makes sense.
grymhild I try to think of each Edition having their own lore. This is the 5e version of the D&D universe. Don't like it? Don't use it! That's the great thing about D&D. Scrap the 5e patheon and go back to the 3.5 Gods. Ignore the new origin stories and use old ones in your games, or create your own. I personally enjoy these retellings/alternate histories that come out with each edition. I feel like with 5e they're just trying to unify a fairly messy cosmology, and instead of coming up with a million flimsy threads to weave together decades of ideas, they're just starting from scratch. Better way to build a cohesive universe, in my humble opinion.