General drow rp

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Mele
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General drow rp

Post by Mele » Mon Aug 25, 2003 11:53 pm

I've been playing drow for a bit now. Based on help files, web sites, etc. I just recently bought my first FR books(*cheer*) and have been getting information from them. Okay. Twice in a row now, I've been logged on my high level Baenre Priestess of Lloth and been, I don't know, I guess disrespected in drow terms? Someone with no insigna called me cranky, when I'd blinked at their 'Well hello you' and 'Nice day' :P Etc. I'm just curious, am I being too high and mighty? :P I thought I had this down. I guess what I'm getting to is, I've been playing the drow a while now, but many people have been playing longer, soooo does anyone care to offer up advice etc? Clue me in. :D

Thanks,
~Danica :D
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Post by Lathlain » Tue Aug 26, 2003 12:56 am

You can never be too high and mighty. Males have been slain on sight for lesser examples of disrespect! As a priestess of Lloth, you have more power than many males will ever aspire to... Flaunt it :P
Perhaps simply blinking isn't enough... Try the old 'Watch your tongue lest you lose it, male' act instead!
Roleplaying Drow is something unlike anything else, and as such it's worth reading all the material you can get on it. It's a matter of experience in the matter, really.
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Post by Mele » Tue Aug 26, 2003 1:58 am

Well, it wasn't a simple blink. :P I didn't want to go into detail, afraid of crossing the ic line. ;) I'm actually pretty harsh with her... *inno* I swear! I'm sweet always! :P
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Post by Lathlain » Tue Aug 26, 2003 12:28 pm

Ahhh, so it was another drow lass then... It's good to be sure they don't outrank you before becoming 'cranky', but it's prolly still a safe bet that a high level priestess of Lloth is above them nonetheless.
There's nothing wrong with being excessively nasty once in a while. You can just blame it on a *rare* bad mood, hmm? :wink:
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Tazmin

Post by Tazmin » Tue Aug 26, 2003 7:42 pm

So let us see, this person disrespected a high ranking priestess of Lloth who is also of the first house? If it was a male he is lucky not to be walking around with eight legs, or worse.

The only rule in Menzo that I know of that would apply is no open fighting in the streets, shows no tact or intelligence. You should take him out into the tunnels and show him how "cranky" a priestess can be.

I have not seen any male down there play things right. My Baneare warrior is simply ignored. I suppose it is because she is a fighter and not a priestess. I was once even told oocly to stop being such an uptight witch. witch wasn't the word used, but children may read this. =)
Mingus

Post by Mingus » Sat Aug 30, 2003 8:09 am

Ok most of us know the relationship between the sexes. But rp asid for moment, a priest(ess) is good to have around for resurections an heals. Yet as drow RP goes it kinda makes it hard to administer to the troops with out coming out “nice”. Now a priestess aiding the ills of female is one thing but is helping out a male unheard of. Or are they to be treated as a female, as males treat females in other societies. ie Play things to be to be cared for and nurtured unless they get out of line or its that time of the month or you just don't like their face anymore.

Also when it comes to greeting, I don't see why a female should have to greet a male. The male to the female most definately, along woth the kneeling and bowing. But for practical matters, females are the priest and are the only ones that can raise the dead so I don't think thye need to greet, unless the spirits can't give tell to ungreeted priestesses.

Are auctioned PC an exception to the rule. ie can Gromph or jarlaxle(spelling?) act disrespectfull towards a female, or would they, since they have achieved some status? Whats the social affects of a male raising his sword towards a female?
Rhelian

Post by Rhelian » Sat Aug 30, 2003 10:54 am

From what I've picked up, a noble male, while still outranked by a female, is still accorded some respect because of their House. And a noble male, while showing respect to a female, isn't as likely to bow and scrape and dishonour his house the same way a commoner would. Or so I beleive
Tazmin

Post by Tazmin » Sat Aug 30, 2003 3:41 pm

A male raiseing his sword to a female is put down like a dog no questions asked. This actually something my drow alt had to deal with. You have to relise that drow do not really do anything overtly. If a male wants a female dead he is not going to attack her in plain sight, fights are forbbiden in the streets of most drow towns anyway.

There have been strong drow males. Look at Drizzts father, please do not ask me to spell his name. =) Jarlaxle and a few others. A Banare male may not bow and scrape to a lower house, but he is at the very least most respectful. Afterall Matron mothers do talk and should he require...chastisement for his actions. Well, It could be the stuff of nightmares, or worse. After all his actions reflect on his house and there training, or in most cases brainwashing abilities.
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Post by Isaldur » Sat Aug 30, 2003 4:00 pm

Only in the most extreme circumstances of Male Drowness would you find a male drow not being respectful but downright overbearing to even Matron Mothers or Priestesses. By overbearing of course I mean the females have a right to be fearful of said male. With all the legendary Weapon Masters dead however (Dantarag, Uthgentel, Zaknafien) that only leaves two individuals, Jarlaxle and Gromph Baenre.

Jarlaxle however, is a mercenary and always looking for gold so he is usually polite and respectful. Gromph is by no means polite and respectful in any sources after Old Matron Baenre's death. He is one of the two top advisors to Triel Baenre and the Archmage of Menzo, and does not have his mother to discipline him.

In Menzo itself the way to distance yourself as a male from Matron rule is often hard but could also be easy. The few ways are as follow,

Join a Merchant Clan
Join Bregan De'Arthe
Become a Master at Sorcere or Melee Megatherie (sp?)
Leave Menzo for the male dominated wizard-city of Sshamath
Worship Vhaerun and go live in Cormanthor

Because Sorcere and Melee M. are dominated by males of noble and common birth alike it is easier to be forgotten about by females and thus you gain a degree of escape.

Merchant Clans are self explainatory.

Bregan De'Arthe has only had one female drow member in it's entire history and that Do'Urden is dead now.

Sshamath is a loooong ways away and I wouldn't even bother with seeing if anyone would build it in.

While you can worship Vhaerun if you apply (I think), drow are still not allowed on the surface in FK.

In General, AD&D 3e (and 3.5e) run by WoTC seems to dislike the drow society run by females very heavily. They have expanded how Vhaerun works and done much more to destroy how drow in general have worked for years in AD&D. Between Elaine Cunningham's Starlight and Shadows trilogy, and the War of the Spider Queen's Six (3 out) books drow will be forever changed.

As for females, I still don't see why they are allowed to be fighters if they are in a noble house. Noble females are meant to be priestesses, noble females are raised to grab for power and power comes from Lloth. It makes about just as much sense to me as a Noble who has rogue levels.

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Ainea

Post by Ainea » Thu Sep 18, 2003 4:55 am

Isaldur, you wrote this :

As for females, I still don't see why they are allowed to be fighters if they are in a noble house. Noble females are meant to be priestesses, noble females are raised to grab for power and power comes from Lloth. It makes about just as much sense to me as a Noble who has rogue levels.

I have a female drow (edited to remove IC information) fighter, something I intentionally went about to do. I also have several priests (ess), but always go back to my fighter, who in my opinion is alot more fun to play since she can cut off heads of disrespectful males.

If a house can have male fighters, why not female fighters, and since it is common to have female fighters on the surface, why not in Menzo as well?
Tierney

Post by Tierney » Sat Nov 15, 2003 7:54 pm

I once made a female fighter drow. Normally when you enter FK as a drow you get a house symbol and money. The female fighter didn't. I assumed this was because being a fighter, she either was a commoner or disowened from her house.
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Post by Mele » Sat Nov 15, 2003 9:26 pm

It's random. :) You either get placed or not, I've got a Priestess who is not in any house, I believe it's got nothing to do with class. :)

~Danica
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Post by Solaghar » Tue Nov 25, 2003 1:31 am

Since the topic is already open, there's one thing I'd like to mention, having spent more than a few days down here in Menzo. I'd much rather that a female be mean to me and I get some RP out of it rather than just having them wave me away dismissively without even taking the time to greet me. This isn't based on a specific instance, because it's happened too many times to count. Now maybe that is what your character would do to a Drow of lesser nobility or commoner heritage, but in the end this just ends up being boring for everyone. There aren't a lot of regular Drow and RP opportunities are what we make of them down here. While I understand not everyone is always ready for RP, part of me feels that a lot of people think that's the only appropriate response when someone who isn't of equal or higher status greets you, either ignore them, or you're forced to be mean to them, and not everyone likes being mean, no matter how realistic it is for the Drow. All the houses are rivals, and there's a big benefit in knowing your enemy, knowing what positions they hold, and what they're capable of doing. But there's also the fact that outside of the city, you're in the wilderness of the Underdark, where Drow depend on each other to survive (unless of course this is an opportune time to eliminate one of your rivals). In the Drizzt novels, there were frequent scouting parties comprimised of members of various houses sent into the Underdark wilds to ensure nothing dangerous wandered into the city. These were times for people to 'one-up' each other, to show who was the best warrior, the best mage, who was the most favoured of Lloth., etc... I just think that there are so many more inventive ways of getting together to RP without having to be 'good' or 'friendly' about it in a way that is unnatural to Drow. If you're a priestess, start ordering those males to attend to you, to bring you things... if you're a warrior, go group in the Underdark, if only to get a feeling for what your rival is capable of in case you ever have to kill him. RP is what we're hopefully here for, and sometimes you have to be inventive about how to get it, but that just makes it more worthwhile in the end.
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