Why does the House Do'Urden glyph look like it was drawn by a matron's favorite daughter?
And the symbol was approved because there was no one who would contradict the matron. ￣ ￣|||
I think creating an engaging Eilistraee priestess (at least those that converted from Lolth) means needing to acknowledge that at some point in the past that character was likely deeply abusive and if not active in the harm of others than complicit in it. I think a lot of people sort of mythologize the abuse their characters enacted in the positions they had as Lolth worshipping priestesses, and if they do acknowledge it don't tend to actually let the narrative tackle that or sit with it. I think that those actions SHOULD come back to haunt them. There should be people that they've hurt, or people that knew the people they hurt. Does the fact that they've found a kinder faith erase the harm they did to those they did it to? How does she handle being confronted with the reprocussions of the harm she caused, especially once in a place where she's grown. I think these are interesting questions to play with. I think its very easy to place more emphasis on the catalyst that drove them from the church (often the most tragic point in their story, which paints them as a victim) but i also think its important to highlight and toy with the tragedies THEY caused other people.
Likewise, by contrast, I think making an engaging Lolth Worshipping priestess involves giving her things to humanize her. I think its very easy to create a character that is just evil for the sake of being evil, but that it's more interesting to pressure the audience into confronting the larger societal structures that places people into positions in which they enact harm. I don't think lolth priestesses are particularly interesting when they're just sexy Girl Boss Manipulators, I think that to some degree they should be a little tragic. But I also don't think the tragedy of the situation takes away from the abuse they inflict. What are the things that, if they had different circumstances, could have led them to leaving the church. Y'know. Am I making sense.
One of the things I want to revisit on this blog is the phonetics of Drowic, and before I rehashed my old ideas, I wanted to look at the actual alphabet that would actually turn those phonemes into language. I was typing up my thoughts to try to put together some kind of coherent justification for the Drowic alphabet I’ve come up with, and it started to get very… very long. At the risk of front-loading all of my rambling and bogging the whole post down, I have decided to skip to the fun part and put all the hows and why’s under a cut for your optional perusal.
And so, I give you… the Drowic alphabet!
Now, about that rambling...
Most followers of this blog will be familiar with the fan script “Drow Rounded” and its variants. It’s definitely become a popular alphabet, since it comes with a downloadable font and is distinct from other forms of elvish. I myself have used this alphabet in the past (you can even see it in the blog header). I don’t mean to dissuade anyone from using it, and I doubt this post will have any impact on its prevalence, but I do want to talk about it and it’s origins, and why I want to rehash the Drowic alphabet, rather than using the widely accepted fan alphabet.
The origins of the alphabet itself are a bit more murky than I would like, but I’ve done a fair amount of digging. The original “Drow Rounded” font was created in 2002 by Daniel U. Thibault for use with a Elven Kingdom of Arèthane roleplaying group.
If you are unfamiliar, as I was, Arèthane and its various related realms are a homebrew world derived from the Palladium Fantasy RPG System, borrowing various lore from sources, including AD&D, which is how we get drow in the mix.
Not that I am personally a lore purist, but from my initial research, I fail to find any discernible link between the alphabet created for the EKA and any canonical language published as part of any D&D lore, regardless of setting. So while I will humbly acknowledge the “Drow Rounded” alphabet for its prominence (if not provenance) and won’t discourage anyone from using it, I won’t be using it as one of my references with regards to developing a Drowic alphabet for the purposes of this project.
So where does that put us?
Dungeons and Dragons, as far as I am able to discern, has never created an official Drowic alphabet distinct from other Elvish alphabets. Drow are, much to their own chagrin, still elves, and are descended from cultures which shared language and writing systems with surface elves. I want to start there and see if I can’t work my way towards something which feels distinct enough from the various Elvish alphabets while still sharing a common root. To do that… we need to talk about Espruar…
The various creators who have worked on Dungeons and Dragons over the years have not always reached a consensus on lore prior to publishing (understatement of the year?). There are, from what I can tell, three distinct “Elvish” alphabets. Two of them are explicitly referred to as Espruar, which is recognized as the name of the Elvish alphabet in the Forgotten Realms setting. The third is one which was published in the 2014 5E PHB which is labeled “Elvish Script: Sample Alphabet.” There are other Elvish scripts employed throughout various art and other materials, but these are the three I want to look at the most.
As it has seniority, let’s first look at the example we have from the AD&D (1E) Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting Box Set (page 8), which I will refer to as “Runic Espruar.” I find this alphabet to be… busy. It doesn’t come across to me as an efficient alphabet (perhaps if it was a more logographic writing system?) and it seems like it would take anyone an annoyingly long time to write letters like A, Q, and S. It also lacks that… je ne sais quoi – that elegance we expect from an Elvish script (thanks largely to a certain John Ronald Reuel). I think this might be an alphabet that was developed in very early elven history – the Cuneiform of Elvish. I don’t tend to think that this is the alphabet used by any modern elvish society, but could still possibly be something found in ancient lost ruins forgotten by time.
Next, we’ll look at the example we have from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting manual from 3.5E (page 86), which I will refer to as “Angular Espruar.” Take anything I have to say about this variant with a grain of salt because I’ll admit… I don’t like it. I find it to be very sharp with long, hard lines which gives it a similar feel to languages like Dovah and Daedric from The Elder Scrolls, or Draconic and Dwarven (see also 1E Dethek) from other D&D sources. It does function much better as a written alphabet than Runic Espruar, and comes a little closer to the elegance we would expect, but misses the mark in my opinion. It also does not seem to resemble Runic Espruar in any discernible way… it really does look like it takes greater influence from 1E Dethek. This could reasonably be a writing system developed in the early days of elven contact with other racial groups. The need to communicate quickly and concisely would be emphasized when dealing with shorter-lived races, so a more efficient writing system may have been developed to facilitate such communication. It could also have been influenced by alphabets used by other races (though I’m already far afield enough as it is, I won’t go spelunking quite that deep).
(Click here for a more in-depth fan guide on 3.5E Espruar)
Finally that leads us to the 2014 5E Players Handbook (page 123) “Elvish Script: Sample Alphabet” (ESSA) which is decidedly not Espruar, as the SRD & PHB for 5E are largely campaign setting agnostic. It does, however, contain many of the aspects of an Elvish script I’ve personally come to expect and appreciate, the elegance, shapeliness, and flow of the letters. I want my Drowic alphabet to be something somewhat akin to this in feel.
So where does that bring us? I think the best place to start with a Drowic script is likely something with common characters or shapes to Angular Espruar, but with an even more concise, efficient script which has diverged from old Espruar (possibly a common ancestral alphabet we don’t have examples from) after the drow descended into the Underdark. There were a few goals I wanted to accomplish while working on this alphabet. First, I wanted the characters to seem unique enough from one another that they’re not frustrating to try and distinguish (a personal problem I have with “Drow Rounded”). Second, I wanted to try and recapture the elegance of a more Tolkienesque Elvish script without actually taking more than vibes-based inspiration from Tengwar. Third, I wanted to make a script that was a script, as in words could be written in a single stroke without lifting one’s pen (something none of my extant references do, which provided a unique challenge for me). Lastly, I wanted to make a usable font which could be shared and downloaded for anyone to use (this last piece, I’m still working on, but keep your eyes open for that in the future). There may still be some tweaks to the script in the future as I work on getting a font made, but I hope you find it interesting in the meantime.
As a proof of concept, but also for fun, I wrote the name of one of my drow characters in the Drowic script.
Also, because this sort of thing didn't even exist when I started this blog a decade ago... I do not use any AI in any part of my creative process. Please do not use any part of this blog for AI training purposes.
This is NOT an application - We will be accepting everyone who expresses interest, regardless of skill level. This is a community project
Let’s Make a Settlement Together is a fan-run event, looking to homebrew some Vhaeraunite-Controlled settlements for Vhaeraun and his people. Within this event, there will be a focus on the day-to-day lives of these settlements - Inns & Taverns, Traditions & Festivals, Fashion and Trade… Any number of elements that is otherwise looked over in our modern realms! This project is a love story to Vhaeraun and his people - A chance to breath life into his church.
This is NOT an application - We will be accepting everyone who expresses interest, regardless of skill level. This is a community project where anyone hoping to can contribute art, writing, and ideas. We're hoping to showcase anyone that loves this stupid man and his stupid community. This is simply to get an idea of who all is interested, how many people are interested, and what they would like to create.
For information regarding the event, please see the pinned post and the description in the interest check. It's HEAVILY recommended you read the pinned post before answering the interest check, as it will explain how this event will function, and what the larger goals of it are.
Interest check is going to run until April 1st. Please answer if you are interested in the project, we will be reaching out and collecting those who have answered the interest check once the interest check is over.
Last day for this interest check (: if youre interested in the project, please sign up! I'll be finishing grabbing everyone who signed up for the event soon, so if you want to participate from the beginning now would be the time to sign on!
Because of some work stuff: I lied, the interest check closes in 2 hours. If you're interested in participating, please answer. It's not a be all end all, because I'm going to be creating a "Late-enter" Sign-up form - However, if you want to help with things like building up in the settlement, now would be the time to sign-up.
Being the eldest son of the Matron Mother Yvonnel Baenre is a burden that few would have the ambition to bear, much less the follow through, to become the most powerful male in a matriarchal society.
Gromph is a perpetual grump, and is never one to let a slight pass unnoticed. Like most male drow seeking any kind of meaningful position, he was ambitious in his arcane pursuits, rising to become the Archmage of the Sorcere.
He could be cautious when it came to his standing or upsetting any of the Matron Mothers. Gromph has been in a position to effect the course of the matriarchy, even destroy it, but has no interest in challenging the current status quo. Lolth is a capricious goddess and likely to notice such an attempt.
NOTABLE EVENTS
Gromph is a capable tactician and a ferocious magic user. He is creative in his use of spells and enchantments, often making use of unexpected resources. He defeated the Lichdrow Lord Dyrr, a cleric of Velsharoon, by destroying his phylactery and ensnaring his soul in an axe.
After the events of the Spellplague, Gromph attempted to summon the demon lord Demogorgon and failed miserably. Menzoberranzan was beset by demon lords, a massacre followed with thousands of drow dead and untold damage done. The Baenre family helped him escape to prevent his part in the ritual being discovered.
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dededos
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