Dungeoneering: What are the Drow?

This is an updated version of an article originally published in issue 8 of 'The Scene Unseen' newsletter.

When Gary Gygax was developing the Dungeons & Dragons game in the 1970s, he wanted a powerful, distinctive race to be the rulers of the Underdark, a vast network of caverns deep below the surface of the world of Faerun, d&D's primary setting. He got the concept of dark elves from the Prose Edda, a work of norse literature written by Snorri Sturluson. The word drow however, comes from Shetland folklore, used for a used for a dwarf-like creature, and is related the the word trow, usually used for creatures we call trolls. This shows that in folklore a lot of these creatures are interchangeable. Indeed, the Edda makes no distinction between dark elves and what we would nowadays call dwarves. (It is hard for us to imagine such things in an age where fantasy is so heavily influenced by the works of Tolkien, in which dwarves and elves are races with vast differences between them.)

Gygax's drow are despicably evil elves, worshippers of Lolth, the demonic spider goddess. Their society is matriarchal, lead by the female priestesses of Lolth and the matrons of the great houses. They have dark purple skin and white hair. They are incredibly powerful, nearly all of them have spellcasting capability. They rule the underdark with an iron fist, enslaving most of the other races, and spend a lot of time plotting against other houses in an attempt to gain more political power.

Despite this, the most famous drow, Drizzt Do'Urden, was a kind-hearted ranger who had been exiled from the drow capital due to his beliefs. Drizzt's novels became so popular that everyone and their dog wanted to play as a good-aligned drow ranger, leading to the notion that Faerun must be filled with hundreds of good-aligned drow rebels, rather undermining the whole evil elven society thing. The other problem was that drow were not created to be used by players, and were inherently overpowered compared to other characters.

Drizzt's popularity has made drow a staple feature of D&D and most other fantasy worlds, though many give them other names.

The Warhammer Fantasy game, which came out in 1983 also had an army of evil elves. They were originally called the night elves, but later renamed dark elves. Their darkness was entirely in demenour, as they looked identical to the high-elves, with the same pale skin. Their clothing was darker, and their armour was adorned with spikes. They were the followers of the exiled elven prince Malekith, a rather nasty chap, and lived in the equivalent of North America – which seems like a strange choice, until you remember that Warhammer is made by a British company. Oddly, Marvel Comics has a dark elf named Malekith too, who is an enemy of the superhero Thor, and the two Malekiths seem to have been created completely independently.

In 2002, Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos came out, and gleefully trampled all over traditional RPG tropes. After the orcs fled across the sea to new lands in order to escape persecution, they began building settlements, only to be attacked by a civilisation of mostly female purple-skinned elves. These night elves launched a campaign of guerilla warfare, appearing out of nowhere to slay orcs with arrows and throwing stars before melting back into the shadows. It was eventually revealed that these elves were not evil, and were merely trying to stop the orcs from cutting down the forest which was actually their home. They were nocturnal moon-worshippers, whose religion actually had a lot in common with the 'light' worshipped amongst humans. Inverting the normal stories even more, the night elves tuned out to be the original elves - the light-skinned high elf allies of the humans were a younger offshoot, descended from night elves exiled for practicing banned arcane magic. Of all the games featuring dark elves, Warcraft seems to be the only one where the vast majority of dark elves are inherently good.

In 2009, the Pathfinder RPG was launched, Based on the 3rd edition of Dungeons & Dragons, it's drow are nearly identical to D&Ds, the only difference being the identity of the god they follow. Though they initially came into existence after a group of elves pledged their allegiance to the evil god Asmodeus, any elf that is evil enough will spontaneously turn into a drow. Conversely, a good drow will spontaneously transform into an elf. Though this does seem a bit odd, it means that there are no good drow in Pathfinder, thus maintaining their identity as a culture of evil creatures.

A couple of years ago, Warhammer Fantasy released a series of books named 'The End Times', in which it was revealed that Malekith was actually the true heir to the Phoenix Throne of the high elves. The books even gave him a partial redemption arc on his was to reclaiming said throne – though this mostly involved him deciding to not instantly murder anyone who disagreed with him, because that might upset some of his newfound allies. Malekith was one of the few characters to survive the End Times, becoming the god of Shadow in the new Warhammer universe crated after the destruction of the original. After this he renamed himself Malerion, which conveniently distances him from the Marvel Malekith. The former dark elf army has been split into a few factions that are actually now allied with the forces of Order, living primarily in the cities of Azyr and Anvilgard alongside their human and dwarven allies. Most prominent are the Daughters of Khaine. Whilst you may think that fanatical worshippers of the elven of of murder would not make great allies, in practice, they focus their efforts on killing demons and the undead, and are quite effective at it.

After Tolkein's novels heavily influenced the fantasy genre, elves, who were formerly depicted in folklore dangerous and capricious, became automatically aligned with good, and often their danger and inhumanity got played down in a lot of rpgs and strategy games. Dark elves bring those old traditions right back into the fantasy world, and in the case of Warcraft and Warhammer, have divorced both race from being aligned with good or evil. You can get good dark elves, and conversely, evil light elves, which is a lot more believable.

World of Warcraft: The Battle for Azeroth

People have been asking me what I think about the next Warcraft expansion, Battle for Azeroth. I'm pretty excited about it, mostly because it seems Warcraft is finally at the point where they can do storyline updates for Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms without completely overwriting the older content, like they did in Cataclysm.

How big is an island?
Two new continents were announced at Blizzcon - Kul Tiras and Zandalar. As these are both actually islands, it is apparent that they mean continents in a game sense rather than a geographical sense. Places in Warcraft are not really to scale, or it would take us days to travel from Stormwind to Silvermoon. So despite the new places being islands, I expect they will be pretty big game-wise. 

The Seventh Kingdom
Kul Tiras! We've been waiting for Jaina's homeland to appear for a very long time. It is especially welcome after she was sidelined in Warlords of Draenor and unceremoniously replaced by Khadgar in Legion. It also means that all seven of the human kingdoms from Warcraft II are now in the game. (For those keeping track they are: Stormwind, Lordaeron, Stromgard, Alterac, Dalaran, Gilneas, Kul Tiras.)

The Banshee Warchief
How badass is Sylvanas in that trailer? Apparently she still has access to her old banshee form from Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. I think Vol'jin was right to appoint her as his successor at the start of Legion - she was the only person with the knowledge, experience and drive to lead the Horde to victory against the Legion. We knew she would be a problem afterwards, but that was something we only had to worry about if we didn't lose to the giant demon army. 
 
The Lion King
King Anduin Wrynn looks so young, because he is so young. King before his time...but he's stepped up in the wake of Legion. Its confirmed that despite his awesome lion-helmeted plate armour and considerable skill with his father's sword, the new king has not become a paladin. (I reckon he just transmogged Wrynn family heritage armour over his robes). The fact that he's a priest may be important for future story as it means he can access both the Light and the Void and understands that there can be balance between the two.

Who shot first?
You may have heard that it was 'confirmed' in an interview that the Horde starts the war by burning down the night elf capital Teldrassil - but that is just a rumour. We don't know whether the Alliance attacked Undercity in retaliation for Teldrassil, or if it is the other way around. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd actually go with the Alliance hitting Undercity first, as the siege of Undercity is what is depicted in the trailer, and the last few expansion trailers have shown how the story starts. I think it would be cool to do it that way around, as Genn has been pushing for an attack on Sylvanas since Cataclysm, and I got the feeling in Legion that Anduin's main reason for not attacking the Horde was that we had another bigger threat to deal with.

Counting the Cost
I feel for the night elves, as they have lost so much over the years, and now it seems they will lose their capital, and have to flee to the Eastern Kingdoms. But, they aren't necessarily going to be refugees. They provided a home to the Gilneans since Cataclysm, so I'm sure that they will be welcomed in kind. As for the Gilneans, they've now lost two homes to Sylvanas. If we can find some way to remove the taint from Gilneas, though, they can finally return to their original kingdom.   There's also the possibility of settling in Duskwood which has an old connection to the Scythe of Elune, and thus to the night elves and worgen. Plus, Duskwood needs new guardians due to events in Legion. As much as I feel for them, however, I think taking out Undercity and reclaiming Gilneas, Lordaeron and Stromgarde is worth losing our holdings in Kalimdor for. The night elves only had true control over Teldrassil and Feralas anyway, most of their other holdings in Kalimdor were already lost, or too heavily contested.

A broken Circle?
One thing I am wondering about is what will happen to Moonvale and Mout Hyjal. Both have traditionally been held by the Cenarion Circle, which consists of not only tauren and trolls, but also night elves and worgen. We don't know how Sylvanas will view the druid organisation. Will she just let them be, or does taking over Kalimdor for the horde mean that Moonglade is tauren and troll only now? Will the night elves even want to keep working with tauren after the Horde burns down a dragon-blessed world tree?

Allies for the Horde
The most exciting news here is that the Horde are getting nightborn, a branch of the elven race that is obviously based on the drow in other fantasy games with their elegant cheekbones, dark skin, white hair, and strong affinity to arcane magic. This gives the Horde another 'pretty' race, but more importantly, is the first time we've been given a playable race after we played though a lengthy endgame campaign involving them. Their story was a major part of Legion's first half, and though the fight moved to Argus for the second part, Argus pales in comparison to the Suramar campaign. It is widely considered to be the best storytelling WoW has ever done.

Which is why I'm a bit sad that they went and joined the Horde. That said, the storyline reasons are valid, and I am happy they didn't make them a cross-faction race like the pandaren.

Zandalari trolls are cool. When they are not trying to murder us, that is. Remember that old trailer of Vol'jin walking away from the council of trolls all by himself? Oh how times have changed. Why exactly the Zandalari would join a faction that has largely been responsible for the downfall of four troll kingdoms remains to be seen - it's probably linked to events in the Horde campaign on Zandalar. It should be an interesting story.

As for the Highmountain tauren...as cool as they are, I really don't think that having moose antlers justified counting as a separate race. Why can't they just give the normal tauren race moose antler options?

Allies for the Alliance
We get Dark Iron dwarves! It's about bloody time we can play as them, as Moira's clan joined the Alliance seven years ago in Cataclysm, and more recently were instrumental in our victory on alternate-Draneor. Turns out they're actually decent chaps when they're not enslaved by Ragnaros, and they have turned out to be much better engineers than the Bronzebeards. We don't even need gnomes anymore!

We're not entirely sure what void elves are. They are the only one of the new races that we have not seen before, and they are associated with Alleria Windrunner somehow. Are they the high elves finally returning? Are they a group of blood elves who got addicted to void instead of fel and then defected back to the alliance? They certainly look cool, and along with the worgen and Dark Irons, make the Alliance just a little bit edgier.

It makes sense that Turalyon and the Lightborn would join up with their brethren.Turalyon is still the heir to Lothar's legacy, and there are not a whole lot of draenei still alive. But again, why are Lightborn a separate race? I doubt there is much difference between having a lifespan of over ten thousand years like normal draenei, and being immortal like the Lightborn, and the only visual difference between them is that their eyes glow yellow instead of white.

Text Me Maybe, or, How I Became a Gamer

A funny thing happened on the way to Draenor.

I was give access the beta for the new World of Warcraft expansion, and I spent a lot of time testing stuff, and...well, I pretty much did everything new in the expansion twice, so when the time came to actually buy it, I went ‘Wait, now I have to spend money to do everything a third time?’

So I didn’t buy it. I’m not saying Warlords isn’t good. It is really good. It’s just...old news to me. But, I have to get my daily rpg fix somewhere. So I’ve gone all the way back to the beginning. It’s a game called Lusternia, Age of Ascension. Its....well...actually, it starts before that.

In 2003 I came across an advert for a game named Achaea. It was a text-based role-playing game that you played in your browser. I had never  heard of a text-based game before, but it was free (not something very common back then), so I tried it out. To my eternal shame my first character was a dwarf named Battleaxe. The dwarf part was fine but it was very quickly pointed out that I should change my name to something that sounded like an actual dwarf name.

 

Dwarf from Lusternia. Battleaxe not included.

See, Achaea is what they call an enforced-role-playing game. You have to role-play. If you stood in the middle of a town square and say ‘Hey guys! This game is great! And you don’t even need a good graphics card to play!’ the players around you will look at you with sympathy, suggest that perhaps you have spent too much time in the sun and need a quiet lie-down, and whisper the word ‘lunatic’ to each other when they think you’re not looking at them. (Also, don’t call them players.)

That’s not to say that OOC (out-of-character) is completely forbidden. If it was, you wouldn’t be able to ask for help if you get stuck and can’t work out what to type to do something. ‘Newbies’ are given considerable leeway. Everyone understands there’s a pretty steep learning curve for someone who has never done text games before. You just have to be subtle, like keeping the OOC to messages instead of speaking aloud.

So anyway, there I was, a new dwarven Runewarden, learning for the first time how a text game works, how an RPG game works, and how to role-play, all at the same time. Fortunately there is a system in place that unites players towards a common goal, and thus make people want to help you.

Achaea’s system had two components - cities and guilds. (The guilds no longer exist in Achaea, but they were very important back when I played) A guild is a group of players, all with the same class, that (mostly) also belong to the same city. Some classes, like the Runewardens, had only one guild. Other classes had multiple guild you could join - there were five mage guilds, for example, one in each of the five cities. People from your guild and city would help you, even to the extent of giving out free equipment - because if you eventually became powerful, the whole city would benefit.

Runewarden with dual runeblades and a trained falcon.

Each class had three skillsets you could learn. Runewardens had Chivalry, Runelore and Forging. Druids had Groves, Metamorphosis and Potions. If you ever played WoW near the beginning, you may recognise this three-skillsets-per-class idea. (Achaea, by the way, was using it back in 1994, long before WoW even existed).

There is something else that Achaea did first (or so they claim). They were the very first online game that was free-to-play, but supported by micro-transactions. Now before you flee in terror, this is not your Candy Crush-style micro-transaction. Those sort of games have a  resource-based system where you run out of ‘energy’ and need to buy more with real money. Essentially they force you to stop playing the game if you don’t give them money. Which I think is the worst idea ever. Why would you want people to ever not be playing your game? They might end up playing a game that they like more!

Instead, Achaea has a thing called credits. Credits can either be converted into lessons that you can learn more skills with, or can be used to buy powerful magical items called artefacts. That sword you just made? It’s a really good sword. It has great stats on it. Just look at that speed value! But...what if it was a little bit better? Another 5 to its speed? There’s an artefact that does that. Just buy it and attach it to your sword. But, hey, wouldn’t it be nice if you were a bit stronger?  If you were, your sword would hit harder. Not a lot harder, mind you, but just enough to give you an edge. There’s an artefact for that. And how about that annoying mage who keeps jumping you and killing you? He’s a grook, you know. They’re frog-people. Weak to lightning. So...what if half of your sword’s damage was actually converted into lightning damage? There’s an artefact that does that too.

That damned grook who keeps jumping you.

Ok, ok. It’s probably...a way more insidious method than those Facebook games. But Achaea is still going, decades after text-games supposedly died, so it must work.

I played Achaea for a while, and got to about level 60 (out of 100), but struggled to advance any further. I died too much, and dying is really really bad, cause you lose a significant chunk of experience. But then Lusternia was released...and...

I have, as usual, spoken about so much other stuff, that I haven’t even gotten to Lusternia. So Part 2 is coming.

The Ransom Theory: Dead Redemption

"My my, the child of the Worldbreaker, proof that none are beyond redemption." -Chi-Ji, the Red Crane

The Ransom Theory is the name I give to the list of rules I have set myself when play RPGs and fantasy card games. One day I will explain the name. But not today.

I started playing World of Warcraft during the Cataclysm expansion, because the best time to start something is when everyone else is quitting. I gave myself the following rule: don't play a warlock or death knight. Both use magic that is evil in origin, which I'm not comfortable with.

Cataclysm saw the beginning of a fourth war between the Horde and the Alliance, instigated by the new Warchief Garrosh Hellscream and the Banshee Queen Sylvanas Windrunner. (To be fair to Garrosh, the Horde did need resources being held by the Alliance's night elves, who think that killing people because trees is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.) Whilst I really enjoyed Cataclysm overall, I was not very happy about quests constantly telling me to go kill the Horde when seriously, an evil dragon and a nihilistic cult were trying to destroy the world, and why aren't we putting aside our differences and fighting them instead?

And then something odd happened. I arrived at the city of Andorhal in the Plaguelands, one of the last bastions of the Scourge. An army of Alliance soldiers lead by the death knight Thassarian were attempting to wrest control of the city away from the Scourge, and also prevent it from falling to the Horde. On the other side of the city was a force of Horde soldiers led by another death knight, Koltira Deathweaver. In a climactic battle, myself and Thassarian ended up in the city square facing the necromancer controlling the city, just as Koltira arrived to do the same. After the leader of the Scourge was forced to retreat, the Alliance and Horde armies found themselves looking at each other. And then, the two commanders ordered their forces to pull back and regroup, with Thassarian ordering me not to tell anyone what had happened in the square. What on earth was going on here? Who were these guys? And why were two death knights the only faction members willing to turn around and walk away from the war?

But answers were not forthcoming. I was sent to assist the Argent Crusade in the east, and I would not see Thassarian again for quite some time. But it had started me thinking.

In Northrend, the paladin Highlord Tirion Fordring and the death knight Highlord Darion Mograine discuss tactics. Darion criticises Tirion when the latter refuses to fire on his own men to kill the Scourge. When Tirion claims that doing so would make him no better than the Scourge themselves, Darion's chilling reply is 'Then you have lost.'

And then there is the short story Silver Hand, Ebon Blade. It takes the above disgreement, and turns it into a much bigger argument culminating in a parting of ways over Darion's creation of the cursed axe Shadowmourne. But when Tirion's Argent Tournament is attacked, and Tirion is about to give up, Darion returns and throws his entire order of death knights behind Tirion's cause. Though he never actually admits it, the implication is clear - Darion has realised that Tirion was right.

And it was at this point I thought that maybe - just maybe - I was missing something. So I did some research. Darion's order of death knights - the Knights of the Ebon Blade - are sometimes referred to as the third wave of Death Knights. The first wave were the Shadow Council reanimated by Gul'dan, the most famous of them being Teron Gorefiend. These dudes were already evil before they even died. The second wave were created by the Lich King (Ner'zhul), and included Prince Arthas. Most of these knights, like Arthas, chose to become what they were. But the third wave was different. Created by the second Lich King (Arthas) these death knights had no choice in the matter. They were killed and brought back against their will. They didn't even want to be death knights. Now that was interesting.

So I decided to create a death knight character, to see how the story went. Of course, being me, I decided to specialise in frost instead of unholy. When I started out, my character was still under the control of the Lich King, along with Darion Mograine, Thassarian and the entire newly-created Ebon Blade. I was sent to completely wipe out an order of paladins known as the Scarlet Crusade. This is not particularly nice, but it's bearable because the Scarlet Crusade are secretly the army of the dreadlord Balnazzar, and are actually just as evil as the Scourge. But when the Scarlet Crusade was defeated, I was ordered to take on the other order of paladins, the Argent Crusade. Unlike the Scarlets, the Argent really are dedicated to everything that is righteous, good and holy. They are led by the aforementioned Highlord Tirion Fordring. I didn't want to fight him, and I was thinking that really, this death knight thing was not for me. But then everything changed.

They call it The Battle for Light's Hope Chapel. The Argent Crusade is surrounded by a Scourge army consisting of the Ebon Blade, lots of ordinary undead, and the Lich King himself. Their backs are literally against the wall. Until Tirion appears, and in a blinding flash of light he overpowers Darion and destroys every ordinary undead in the area, leaving only the Ebon Blade, the Lich King and a few others standing. At which point, the Lich King reveals that this was his plan all along.

He wanted Tirion out in the open, vulnerable to attack. And the only way to do that, was to force him to take the field. The Lich King knew that any army he sent against Light's Chapel would be decimated. Losing most of his second wave death knights was not desirable, not even if it resulted in the death of Tirion. So he needed cannon fodder. Powerful cannon fodder, but cannon fodder none the less. The Ebon Blade was created merely as a tool to that end.

But the Lich King made one mistake. A mistake villains all too often make. He gloated too much. And at that moment, the Knights of the Ebon Blade break free of his control. It is never definitively stated why. Is it because of their proximity to Light's Hope Chapel? The presence of Tirion? The Lich King's revelation that he created them to die? The vision that Darion has of his father? Or is it because the Ebon Blade never wanted to be death knights in the first place? We may never be sure.

But in that moment, the Ebon Blade suddenly regains free will, and with it, they choose to ally with the Argent Crusade. The Lich King realises he cannot stand against both orders, not on the holy ground of Light's Hope, and is forced to retreat.

Now this is a story worth my time. This is not the story of a fall. This is a story of redemption. It is not the story of the warlock or necromancer, whose lust for power leads them down the path of forbidden magic. This is not the story of Teron Gorefiend, who has returned from the dead because he wanted to. This is not the story of Prince Arthas, consumed by a desire for vengeance that twisted his very soul. This is the story of a person who was a slave to evil, but is now free. A person who still has the evil desire to inflict pain on others, but chooses instead to protect them. A person who is not asking the question 'Why am I here?' but the question 'What do I do now?' Have you heard that story? I have. I am that story.

Long ago, I asked why Thassarian walked away from a battle in Andorhal. I have my answer now. I only play two of my Warcraft characters a lot - and one of them is a death knight.