Ask Arkanis

[DM Arkanis]

I would say that anything Ed Greenwood says should most definitely be considered in terms of lore; if there are questions then we can discuss it of course.

Yes, the current year is DR 1350 and there isn't a ton of literature out there about what Eilistraee is up to during our time-line, and any estimate of percentages on my part would be pure speculation. I think that common sense would dictate that where there are concentrations of evil Drow of other faiths that Eilistraee's followers would be scarcer. The city of Sshamath is ruled by male wizards and so worshipping Eilistraee would be tolerated more than in a city ruled by Llothites for sure, but that doesn't mean there are necessarily more of her followers there either. Finally with respect to our server, there could be fifty players who have Drow who worship Eilistraee and only thirty who worship other deities and this in an of itself would skew any percentages based on our own situation.

From my knowledge of information out there concerning Drow, Lloth was the primary diety when books and campaign settings started to be written, and the lore surrounding other Drow gods evolved as books were written over the last fifteen or so years. I think there is still a lot of information to be determined when it comes to the evolution of the Drow pantheon, and that you should RP your character based on what you know/research, and if questions arise concerning finer points of lore we can take a look at them one by one.

Ark

[Servin]

Let me shed some light on what we have established as 'lore in power' as a community.

First off, Sshamath is a city of Evil, male Drow wizards (don't miss out a single word out of it). They make the top of the hierarchy and social structure. All the conclave members are of evil alignments and one of them represents the Temple of Lolth - no other church has a representative on the conclave, despite some drow wizards turning to Vhaeraun (if worshipping any deity at all as the majority would happen). Despite the power diviners have, they are still viewed as second class citizens:

To support that I will quote some server lore from here

http://bgtscc.net/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=78

NOTE: Bards, sorcerers, and the practioners of divine magic are also considered to be of second-class status, though drow of these classes may be actual citizens within the City of Dark Weavings all the same. The dark elves of Sshamath view power that occurs naturally or because of service to another creature as inferior to power won through personal achievement.

You will find many of the wizards being atheistic because of that. The same thread mentions two deities in Sshamath that are struggling over the control of souls: Lolth and Vhaeraun. But please note what both of them have in common - they are evil. That means they mirror the nature of the drow as they were born and bread in the evil society they make. It also hints as to who do the believers raise their prayers to.

Now Eilistraenians are of good alignment. A good counter example of what a normal drow's reaction would be to a drow displaying good values in public would be most similar to a beheading happening on the streets of London if you like. Except that this event is an act of evil, contrary to an act of good an Eilistraenian would make. It would be this drastic.

First off, it would clash immensely with all the values the drow believe in. Anyone noticed next to a heretic spilling vile lies and worshipping a deity that goes against everything the drow are, can make them a target or easily put them on a level of any other human in Sshamath - imperfect from an inferior race and in this case, mindset. Does the conclave follow this view - very much so, everyone of them is evil and every self respecting wizard looks forward to overcome their rivals, killing them if that's necessary.

Secondly, some recent DM events in Sshamath put the Eilistraenians in much disfavour with the local community. The trial found three of them guilty bringing a critical threat of demons to the city and all faced severe punishment. The crowd was thirsty for blood (also thanks to my characters involvement). The conclave, save one member of it, found them guilty. The society wanted to lynch the sentenced and knew of their religious connotations. Be my guest to openly mention you're Eilistraenian in public. You might find yourself a head shorter.

Thirdly, there was a lot of happening between the years. Currently Eilistraee is still alive, the promenade is still under construction so the majority of their forces are concentrated in Skullport building, to actually be converting their kin into another religion. Take into account that any boosts in any types of affiliation comes with milestones and important events, clearly visible to the public. Slaying a demon can be treated as a rumour, but having a promenade built - nobody can deny the fact it's there, unless they're not local. Even so, spreading the news takes time. Still, overcoming the core value of drow makes it even more difficult and many converters would get killed in the process of converting as not following drow values.

There are no clear and visible signs for Eilistraenian followers to have any meaning presence in Sshamath at this point and the society is rather turned against them. Somebody said that the Eilistraenian population in Sshamath at this point in time could be all of their PC's and nobody else. I think I agree with that, looking at how things are.

My advice is - if you fancy playing a good character, the evil UD is not the best place to do so. Besides, the entire server can't be chaotic good. That's the surface already

[Deathgrowl]

Arkanis, this is something I have been wondering for some time:

There is nothing in Faerûn called a "week", as I understand it (despite people IG always talking about weeks, for some reason), and they use groups of ten days, called "a ten-day", logically enough. A month in the calendar of Harptos is three ten-days long. But what are each of the days called? Monday, tuesday, and so on, would probably not exist. And besides, there's three more days to account for.

Also, do they have something resembling "weekend"?

[Rasael]

I think the argument in favor of an Eilistraenian presence is simply that Lolth is not in charge, so that they are comparably safer then they would be in traditional Drow communities. S'shamath is a thoroughly evil City to be sure but the mages who rule it are not evil in the sense matrons are. They are perfectly content to tolerate Eilistraenian mages and drow so long as they don't cause trouble. Not to mention that all Drow inside the City also enjoy the protection of its magical wards, which prevents wanton religious slaughter.

This is also why Vhaeraun actually has a temple in S'shamath, the Tower of the Masked Mage. You wouldn't find such a public temple in any traditional Drow City. The heretics would have been persecuted and killed.

As for how many Eilistraenian's you'd expect in a City the size of S'shamath. More than you would in a traditional Drow City. Just like there also more Vhaeraunites. But then again its not just Drow deities which are more common in S'shamath. There is worship of Mystra, Azuth, Savras and even the tradition Elven pantheon. Simply because the City doesn't care what religion you adhere to so long as you don't cause trouble. There are surface lives who live in S'shamath as citizen mages who study and teach in the colleges of magic.

The setting is very metropolitan in an entirely self absorbed and egocentric kind of way.

[stevebarracuda]

To add to Deathgrowl's question, may I ask: what time is beer o'clock in Faerûn?!? A devoted monk of the bottomless flagon needs to know!

[DM Arkanis]

To add to Deathgrowl's question, may I ask: what time is beer o'clock in Faerûn?!? A devoted monk of the bottomless flagon needs to know!

"This is grain, which any fool can eat, but for which the Lord intended a more divine means of consumption. Let us give praise to our maker and glory to his bounty by learning about... BEER." Friar Tuck, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (1991)

[DM Arkanis]

Arkanis, this is something I have been wondering for some time:

There is nothing in Faerûn called a "week", as I understand it (despite people IG always talking about weeks, for some reason), and they use groups of ten days, called "a ten-day", logically enough. A month in the calendar of Harptos is three ten-days long. But what are each of the days called? Monday, tuesday, and so on, would probably not exist. And besides, there's three more days to account for.

Also, do they have something resembling "weekend"?

I can't find any reference to individual days in the tenday calendar. A weekend as you and I know it to the best of my research does not exist in the FR calendar system.

[Planehopper]

Arkanis, this is something I have been wondering for some time:

There is nothing in Faerûn called a "week", as I understand it (despite people IG always talking about weeks, for some reason), and they use groups of ten days, called "a ten-day", logically enough. A month in the calendar of Harptos is three ten-days long. But what are each of the days called? Monday, tuesday, and so on, would probably not exist. And besides, there's three more days to account for.

Also, do they have something resembling "weekend"?

The answer to this one sucks..

Firstday, Secondday, Thirdday, Fourthday, etc..

So like.. "the Firstday of the 3rd Tenday of Hammer, in the year 1347 DR."

http://community.wizards.com/content/fo ... ic/2667321

I would venture to say that some cultures in Faerun were more creative, but I dont think there is any official lore on it.

[DM Nilbog]

Do you think Walt's cancer has affected his brain?

I watched the Series and loved the Fly episode where Jesse notices Walt acting unusual and ends up mentioning his grandmother acted similar when the cancer has began moving to her brain. I know later scans still said he was in remission is it possible the Cancer affected his mind in some way just curious.

[blue_penguin]

Two questions!

1. We are allowed to RP PnP spells and abilities that aren't in game as long as we have DM permission, correct?

2. What about spells that are in game, but whose effects are different from PnP? For example: in game, Mirror Image creates a number of spheres that protect the target from attacks. Are we allowed to RP the spell as it works in PnP (illusory copies appearing around the caster)?

[Hitman Hard]

Do you think Walt's cancer has affected his brain?

I watched the Series and loved the Fly episode where Jesse notices Walt acting unusual and ends up mentioning his grandmother acted similar when the cancer has began moving to her brain. I know later scans still said he was in remission is it possible the Cancer affected his mind in some way just curious.

Everyone seemed to love that episode-- I wasn't a big fan to be honest. Clearly something in Walt's mind snapped but I don't think it was health-related. Under the belief it was situational factors like being swindled out of the profits and bragging rights of Gretchen and Elliot's largely successful company: Grey Matter, being a laughingstock in the eyes of his students as he slaved away at a car wash, sometimes Hank would overstep Walt's fatherhood and advise Walt Jr. It touches upon this briefly when Walt and Hank have their initial confrontation in Season 2 over Walt allowing his son too much to drink.And simply knowing how advantageous his skill-set in chemistry was but not being able to produce anything worthwhile. . . caused alot of frustration.

It is a common mindset in criminals to develop a latent sense of self-entitlement when they feel the world has slighted them. His madness grows with his ego, which is also his alter ego; Heisenburg

[Servin]

I think the argument in favor of an Eilistraenian presence is simply that Lolth is not in charge, so that they are comparably safer then they would be in traditional Drow communities. S'shamath is a thoroughly evil City to be sure but the mages who rule it are not evil in the sense matrons are. They are perfectly content to tolerate Eilistraenian mages and drow so long as they don't cause trouble. Not to mention that all Drow inside the City also enjoy the protection of its magical wards, which prevents wanton religious slaughter.

This is also why Vhaeraun actually has a temple in S'shamath, the Tower of the Masked Mage. You wouldn't find such a public temple in any traditional Drow City. The heretics would have been persecuted and killed.

As for how many Eilistraenian's you'd expect in a City the size of S'shamath. More than you would in a traditional Drow City. Just like there also more Vhaeraunites. But then again its not just Drow deities which are more common in S'shamath. There is worship of Mystra, Azuth, Savras and even the tradition Elven pantheon. Simply because the City doesn't care what religion you adhere to so long as you don't cause trouble. There are surface lives who live in S'shamath as citizen mages who study and teach in the colleges of magic.

The setting is very metropolitan in an entirely self absorbed and egocentric kind of way.

With regards to the above, I would not put a sign of equality between Eilistraenians and Vhaeraunians (clearly visible in which temples have been established in the city). Vhaeraunians go against the ruling of Lolth's female domination - a concept popular amongst the male drow wizards.

But Eilistraenians go very much against everything that makes a traditional drow - which any drow will happily underline given an opportunity (by calling other's rothes and ilibhts). On one hand you have a city that's lost Lolth's grip over running it, on the other, there is a reason why Eilistraenians haven't swarmed in there to establish their rule. Also Eilistraenians are a female dominated religion.

Main concept of Vhaeraun is to regain the surface - an invitation to gain prestige in surface raids and rise amongst peers. Eilistrae doesn't really offer anything that would tickle the core of a drow soul. That doesn't make it a worse religion, by any means. It makes it one more difficult to adapt to.

[Rasael]

Regarding Eilistraenian's again,

I don't mean to say that Eilistraenian Drow would profit more than Vheraun's worshippers from the absence of Lolth. That is very much dependent on the circumstances. Both profit to some degree because the noose that normally hangs over their heads is lifted.

The question how much they profit depends on how well they can establish themselves in S'shamath. The city is evil in the sense that it is ruled by a self centered mageocracy of essentially 11 archmages and one matron. Which means that rather than faith it is Magic and wealth which determine status. The traditional house system is relegated to obscurity, as well as most of traditional Drow culture precisely because it is tied so closely to Lolth.

In that sense Vhaeraun and Eilistrae are simply participating in a competition for worship among many other deities. Vheraun has a public temple in the city, just as Lolth does. But those are by no means the only temples and faiths represented in the city. Among the population the deities of magic are common patrons for worship. The master emeritius of the school of Enchantment for example is a faithfull of Mystra. But there is also a small population of surface elves in the city as mages and indentured servants. So the traditional Elven pantheon is also present and capable able to draw worshippers. The same is no doubt true for other traditional surface deities. One might expect to see Shar and Mask in one form or another, if only to compete with Lolth and Vhaeraun and gain influence.

This is from our lore section:

Whereas the clery rules most drow enclaves, Sshamath reduces clerics to marginal roles. In many ways, clerics emulate the practices and concerns of the ruling wizard caste. In addition to the faiths discussed below, small sects of Azuth, Mystra, Savras, Velsharoon, and even various members of the Seldarine are known to exist. The latter appear in the guise of previously unknown drow demipowers, without the benefit of true clerics.

[DM Arkanis]

Do you think Walt's cancer has affected his brain?

I watched the Series and loved the Fly episode where Jesse notices Walt acting unusual and ends up mentioning his grandmother acted similar when the cancer has began moving to her brain. I know later scans still said he was in remission is it possible the Cancer affected his mind in some way just curious.

This is a good question. Walt, who at the beginning of the series for all apperances is a normal guy definitely undergoes a major personbality change over the course of the show. His cancer is the catalyst for him getting into making and then salling meth, and as he gets deeper and deeper into that culture he realized that he likes it, although he doesn't admit it until the end of the series. So, was it a physical change because of the cancer, or was it more of a moral/philisophical change that was triggered by his wanting to care for his family? Definitely without the cancer you could argue that he would have continued as he was. I think that Walt repressed a lot of anger and frustration in his life as well (Gretchen being a good case in point) and felt as though he never lived up to his full potential being just a high school teacher and he realizes that he never lived the life he wanted to. Cancer gave him a sense of finality and that was what switched the new/evil Walt on.

[DM Arkanis]

Two questions!

1. We are allowed to RP PnP spells and abilities that aren't in game as long as we have DM permission, correct?

2. What about spells that are in game, but whose effects are different from PnP? For example: in game, Mirror Image creates a number of spheres that protect the target from attacks. Are we allowed to RP the spell as it works in PnP (illusory copies appearing around the caster)?

I don't think anyone is going to fault you for RPing spells to a certain degree, however other characters might challenge the RP if you say that something happens when the VFX shows something else.