Iimyl has technically gotten a short post before but I'm giving him a proper long intro now
Name: Iimyl Ar'bana
Age: ~350
Pronouns: he/him
Gender: If you ask he will say man. Is he sure about that answer? Not really
Race: Drow
Height: 5'6"
Class: Sword Dancer Cleric/ Wildfire Druid
Long backstory + more pictures under the cut
Born to a small family of traders in the surface, Iimyl left his home relatively young to join the nearest Eilistraeean temple (in the High Forest). His family were generally supportive of this, and they kept in contact until his parents died, even going so far as to address the letters they sent to the name he was going by while in the temple.
When Iimyl was trying to figure out whether or not he wanted to properly join the temple (having already been praying to Eilistraee privately), he realized that men in the temple (or women who had previously been men) were relegated to less important positions where they could not as directly aid in Eilistraees goals or worship her as wholly. He figured that his goal in joining the temple was to aid his goddess as much as he could, so he entered the temple as a woman.
Iimyl (although he was going by another name at the time) spent over 200 years in the temple, and was very well respected. He was very sociable, put his all into every task he was given, and eventually became relatively skilled at most of the things that came up in an Eilistraeean's day-to-day (dancing, fighting, singing, magic, politics, freeing other drow, sewing, washing, and cooking). He greatly enjoyed the work he was doing, and found it fulfilling, even if he couldn't open up to any of his fellow Eilistraeeans for fear of them exposing him as a man.
Unfortunately for him, eventually someone found out that he was a man and informed the priestesses (whom he had previously been relatively close friends with) in charge of the temple. They basically had no choice but to kick him out, especially given his refusal to undergo the changedance and him being a generally well-known member of a group only women were allowed to join (the sword dancers). He gets off relatively lightly, all things considered, with the priestesses publicly cutting his hair and telling him that he would likely be killed if he set foot in an Eilistraeean temple again, then kicking him out into the forest with what few posessions he had on him.
Although he had been given no food, water, or tools, Iimyl was relatively aquainted with the woods and managed to find a cave to settle in before winter hit. He didn't do well in the woods at first, especially due to his unwillingness to use his cleric-given powers for more than an occasional cantrip, in case Eilistraee had only not taken them away because she'd forgotten he had them (although he did take some comfort in the fact that they still worked at all). He eventually managed to come to "an understanding" with the woods after a large fire nearly killed him, and began learning druidic magic. After that, it was physically easier for him, but he was still mentally struggling with both his rather sudden ejection from the only life he'd really known, and his lack of other people to talk to (although he could use speak with animals, their company just wasn't cutting it).
When Iimyl eventually made his way to the nearest town, rather the worse for wear, he learned that it had been around ten years since he'd been kicked out. His hair had grown out, but was entirely uncared for, as he had avoided touching or dealing with it due to it reminding him of the situation in which it had been cut. He also realized he didn't know what to call himself anymore, because he felt no connection to the name he'd used before he joined the temple, but certainly couldn't use the female name he'd been using if he was going to return to being percieved as a man. For the first few years that he goes into town, he refuses to give a name, so the townsfolk pretty much just call him "the cleric" or "that guy who lives in the woods". He eventually gives in to letting the town hairdresser (someone's uncle who mostly did the sheep shearing but would cut non-sheep hair if you didn't mind that he'd move your head around to get whatever angle he needed) cut his hair, and even comes up with his new name before leaving.
Iimyl decided to move farther away from his previous temple so that he was less likely to run into anyone he'd known from there. He made his way to Waterdeep, figuring that because most of the members of the temple had been living in the middle of the woods because they didn't like the bustle of cities, he would be less likely to run into any of them. Both fortunately and unfortunately for him, he hadn't realized that the reason he remembered Waterdeep was because there was a fairly strong Eilistraeean presence there that had only grown in his absence. Although he wanted to avoid other Eilistraeeans at pretty much any cost, he was rather quickly swept back into socializing with them by an extremely friendly male member of the church named Ravion (and made by @dastabby) who didn't seem to understand that Iimyl was trying to avoid him at first.
Nowadays, Ravion and Iimyl are pretty close friends, and Ravi is very much helping Iimyl regain the confidence he had lost, especially by having introduced him to some other very chill Eilistraeeans (Dastarri, Aly'va, and Coran) and by convincing him that it is ok to do things like wearing makeup and dresses even if you're a man. Life for Iimyl is distinctly on the up and up.
"Most drow garments consist of . . . bone buttons and buckles" (p. 37)
"Combs made of bone . . . are commonly used for hair maintenance." (p. 38)
"This bone ring is set with a marble-sized stone of white onyx." (p. 99)
"This 3-foot-long rod is made of pale wood bound with bone bands. Images of black dancing spiders cover each band." (p. 101)
According to Drow of the Underdark, drow have a strong bone carving/technology tradition that is used for everything from toiletries to jewellery to "symbols of authority."
Given how bone carving/technology has been -- and continues to be -- used irl, I could see things like drow textile tools, pins (for clothing and hair), instruments (the drow specific vazhan-do could have tuning pegs etc. carved from bone, for example), gaming pieces, crossbows, etc. all utilizing bone materials. It would also make sense for bone carvers to be a recognized and highly regarded type of artisan in many drow cultures.
Also bc I like to headcanon drow on the surface wearing sunglasses to mitigate their sunlight sensitivity (if they can craft functional limb prosthetics, they can figure out tinted lens), I could see them crafting spectacle frames out of bone, similar to this pair of 15th century ones found in London.
Into the forest a short distance, he heard Jarlaxle coming quickly behind him. The mercenary said not a word—the tormented Entreri was truly glad of that!—but just walked up beside and matched his every step. Soon after, Jarlaxle draped an arm across Entreri’s shoulders, and the assassin hadn’t the strength to shove it aside.
He was kidding himself again, he knew. He didn’t want to shove it aside.
this is so self indulgent lol but I think it'll hit its audience. Been listening to a lot of MCR lately (specifically Danger Days) and so here's a Vhaeraun as Party Poison, my brain made a link and I had to get it out of my system.
We NEED Drow tradhusbands. House Patron from down the street making TikTok videos about how torturing underlings is a woman’s job and men need to stay in the kitchen where they belong
so many. stupid fucking people. smugly wrong. the term . "all art is political". does not mean. every artist puts political intent into their work. no. the guy drawing dicks on the subway did not intend any deep message by it. HOWEVER. all art. IS political. he chose to draw that dick. for a reason. society shaped what he finds funny. what he finds shocking. the fact he chose to draw a dick at all says something about his society. actually, the fact it is a dick and not a pussy is itself political. we are all. ALL. shaped by our environments. in an alternate universe a woman is drawing a vulva on the wall. and shes saying "TCH! this isnt political. stupid liberals". all art. has political CONTEXT. that is a more specific way to phrase it. because we live in a society. who has access to art? where is the art located? who is the artist? why did they draw that in that specific location. what led to them even having the sharpie they used to draw the dick to begin with. their society shaped their tools! their society shaped their choice of subject! their society shaped the location of their art! but these people are too stupid to understand this. so theyll continue pretending that they are not shaped by their political environment. SAD!
out of all the posts ive made that have blown up this has to be the most fascinating Given how i was too drunk to remember how to form full sentences. but was i wrong? no.
2087
tangentwithtanner
gracieabrams
snowghoul
titsay
