Favorite Fluff / Lore?

[pwykersotz]

What is your favorite piece of D&D fluff or lore? I was just thinking of a few that sparked my imagination.

I like that in Planescape, summoned elementals are merely poor imitations of real elementals, the real ones posessing intellect and wisdom far beyond what might be expected (Planescape: The Inner Planes pg 16).

I like that the origin of a lot of evil races were literal negatives of basic races, their color pallets being swapped. It's such a simple and cliched thing to do, but I think it's still neat. Freaking Nilbogs...

I like the Lich-god Mellifleur accidentally ascending to godhood. It makes me laugh every time I think about it. He was going for the prize in a box of cracker jacks and somehow pulled out a luxury yacht.

[Aurorablade]

Really I kinda like the Orc.

"Hey we used to be the good guys and it just didn't work for us."

Also Kender. I know not D&D but Dragonlance.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Always loved the Vashar backstory from BoVD. The first humanoids ever created; turned out wrong and tried to attack their creators; got predictably annihilated. Then some demon lord gathered up the remains and gave them new life. Now they exist as an entire society that hates the pantheon and wants to kill them all, the one goal that keeps them together as a society. Would be awesome to have an evil deicide-themed game with everyone playing a Vasharan sometime.

I also really like the Illumians, especially Illumians at War, how they manipulate others into proxy fights to further their goals rather than fight themselves, though all the stuff about being made of words and sigils is cool, too.

[Irk]

Pretty much all of Eberron. Particularly the Morgrave University-Xen'Drik interaction

I also REALLY like the lore behind the Mindflayers of Thoon. There so adaptable and one of the most mysterious parts of the game for me. I suppose in concordance with that I also like the Far Realm, Kaorti, and all that too, It's a type of horror that really appeals to me.

[Vhaidara]

Skull Lords, from MM5. A mighty necromancer is defeated, and the 12 Skull Lords rise from the ashes of his tower. Armed with special powers, including the ability to create unique undead servitors (serpentirs and bonespurs, in addition to common skeletons) and the capacity for each of them to summon a spectral rider to serve them, they seek to locate the pieces of their dead lord's regalia, and ressurect him as a powerful lich.

Seriously underappreciated. WotC did some cool stuff with later MMs