Drowtales: The Info Dump

[HandofShadows]

Chiri, I am disapointed in you.

[t209]

Chiri, I am disapointed in you.

She's gonna be drow version of Ned Stark. Damn you drow Space marines (my nickname for their faction).

[HandofShadows]

Darn forgot to celebrate Kiel's favorite (human) holiday! World Turtle Day! (May 23rd this year)

As for the current story, wow some of those people are real nasty %%&*@. They made a mistake though.

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They dumped the "missing" Seerer at the gates of the Shargress. Chiri will probably be able to talk to her and she is not so stupid as to ignore what she has to say. Nice to see Chiri get her faith back as well.

[Wiwaxia]

Darn forgot to celebrate Kiel's favorite (human) holiday! World Turtle Day! (May 23rd this year)

As for the current story, wow some of those people are real nasty %%&*@. They made a mistake though.

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They dumped the "missing" Seerer at the gates of the Shargress. Chiri will probably be able to talk to her and she is not so stupid as to ignore what she has to say. Nice to see Chiri get her faith back as well.

That's Shimi's former assistant (the one she asked to carry the messages), not the seer. Merril'lin is still MIA and a wildcard.

I can't say I was expecting Ky'ovarde to be so reasonable though. Or Kyuusei to be so ****ing evil.

[CowardlyPaladin]

Ok, I just binged through Drowtales in 3 days and I have to say, once I started to write down a glossary to myself to remind myself who all the overcomplicated named characters/houses/factions were, this is a really good ocmic. Just one question, why did the art quality go down so badly in the last few chapters. THe first few are defines by this extremely gorgeous art, and this just feels....meh


Edit:
To be clear, I actually really go into the comic and really came to love the world and the characters i'm just not really into this time skip....In a comic with so many characters it just feels frustrating. Ch'yrstal (however you spell it) and her twin are the worst example in terms of people who I really wanted to see how they grew at the moment we left them, I wanted to see how they worked together, I wanted to see their relationships, and I wanted to see how they made up. I wanted to see Faen wake up and I wanted to see Ariel grow up. It just feel needless and the new art style just hurts my eyes.

[Fion MacCumhail]

while i haven't noticed much of a decline in art quality myself, whatever you may be complaining about is probably due to Kern having to simplify the work process because he can't pay as many team members as in the past.
(and the name's "Chrys'tel" if i recall correctly.)

[t209]

http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=9387
Wait, how come there are light elves among the rank in Grey Elves?

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I know that the oldest clan member is a Light elf and Grey Elves descended from Light Elf. But I thought grey elf were racist to Light Elf, except Chirinide after her travel to the surface.

First we have Communist revolt by Nal's clan and the wolves. Now we have fascist purge by these space marines. Things are going to be better, my butt.
Path to Power-http://www.drowtales.com/~pathtopower/archive.php?sid=9371
Why does it remind me of Post-Agincourt looting, minus French nobility getting wiped out after they charged on their own crossbowmen mercenaries and got stuck in mud.

[HandofShadows]

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The Grey Elves don't know they are decended from Light Elves. That is why the Judicators faces are hidden in public. Only a few know the truth. Fewer may know the long term plans (of the true Sharass belivers) to interbreed with the Drow and toss aside the racial purity stuff. A very long term plan to eliminate at least one cause of the wars that devistated the surface world. In Chiri's order the information appeares to more common than among other people.

And I think the scism has just blown wide open. Funny, the one Judicator who sent the fanatics out to hunt down the "guilty" (Kiel who is actually totaly innocent. Heck would not be a surprise if Kiel actually liked Shimi a little.) And it turns out they where already on the job hunting HIM for the crap he has pulled. The next question is who really assasinated Shimi?

[CowardlyPaladin]

Hey, just finished it today, one question, what exactly are the generations of elves people keep mentioning? I know there are the Light and Dark Elves, and the Ssu are decended from the LIght with the loth decended from the Dark, and the Ver'Drowendar are any who take in taint, are there any others?

[HandofShadows]

I would guess mixed breed ones (Light and Dark elf blood).

And FATALITY! The Son of a *^%$@ deserved it.

[Wiwaxia]

No, you've pretty much got it.
Well, there's also the blind guys, but they don't really come up at all.
"First generation", "second generation", &c. literally just refers to the first generation, second generation &c. born underground. Like Zala is first generation because her mom was a dark elf born aboveground, and so Chrys is second generation because her mom Zala's first generation, and so on.
There's not really much difference, but the first generation drow are currently holding much of the political power, and they occasionally have naturally colored hair.

e. oh yeah, ssu/lath mixes, too

In other news, Kyo's gone from like my least favorite Kyorl to my third favorite in like a week. Lady knows how to get **** done.

[CowardlyPaladin]

http://drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=6181

Hey what does Q mean by "twice unreliable"?

[t209]

I would guess mixed breed ones (Light and Dark elf blood).

And FATALITY! The Son of a *^%$@ deserved it.

Why the hell the oranged hair grey elf killed the seer? This is more confusing than Game of Thrones and Wheel of Time (+the Maxx).

[BWR]

Every time I begin to catch up on a story or characters, they change it and bring in something new, leaving me lost for the longest time. Yet I still keep reading it. I need my head checked. Oh look, Ariel's back.

[Fion MacCumhail]

http://drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=6181

Hey what does Q mean by "twice unreliable"?

i'm not quite sure, but i think she's referring to sil'lice's failed attempts to detaint laele'aell and to educate syphile.

Why the hell the oranged hair grey elf killed the seer?.

she hasn't killed any seer (that we know of). she's most likely killed judicator kyuusei because she suspected him to be involved in the assassination of shimi'lande or simply because her superior, judicator kousei, told her to.

[CowardlyPaladin]

There is also the line that says "Mel lost her mind the same day Syphile lost her soul" I thought Syphile was educated by the Val'Sharen, what does that refer too?

[HandofShadows]

There is also the line that says "Mel lost her mind the same day Syphile lost her soul" I thought Syphile was educated by the Val'Sharen, what does that refer too?

I think it's a reference to Quain taking Ariel from Mel (causing Mel to loose her marbles) and giving her to Syphile who became consumed with fear and hate for Ariel.

[CowardlyPaladin]

I think it's a reference to Quain taking Ariel from Mel (causing Mel to loose her marbles) and giving her to Syphile who became consumed with fear and hate for Ariel.

Oh that makes sense. Syphile was my favorite character (I think I might be the only one)

Ok,two more questions.


1) If a Ver'Drowendar has a kid, is that kid automatically tainted or do they need to have the tainting ritual? so while Shinae had to do the ritual, was Chrys'tel born with red eyes?

2) Why did the Black Dragon invite Ariel to the performance, the bodyguards get really nervous and mention that it is weird but it is never explained.

Thanks

[Fion MacCumhail]

1) no.
2) i don't remember an invitation. could you post a link to the page in question?

[CowardlyPaladin]

1) no.
2) i don't remember an invitation. could you post a link to the page in question?

http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=4759

The bodyguards later say "This is weird" but no explanation ever comes from it.


Also question, I finished Moonless age, and the official side stories, is there anything else cannon that I should read? Daydream isn't canon is it?

[HandofShadows]

A few Daydream stories may contain some canon elements (Such as Goddess Knight) but most do not.

[Fion MacCumhail]

http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=4759

The bodyguards later say "This is weird" but no explanation ever comes from it.

hmm, after a quick browsing through the chapters before, i guess it could be that rik wanted to see her again to call in the favour she owed him or (less likely) that the black dragon's owner set a trap for her or that it is simply a loose end due to the remake as this page might suggest.
better take your question to the questions and world setting forum to be sure.

[CowardlyPaladin]

Ok two questions

1) Where can I find the original chapters, i'm curious to see what has changed, I know it use to be set in FR

2) If somebody made an anime of Drowtales, what would you guys imagine the opening and closing themes to be? Just a curiosity exercise.

[Wiwaxia]

Oh that makes sense. Syphile was my favorite character (I think I might be the only one)

Ok,two more questions.


1) If a Ver'Drowendar has a kid, is that kid automatically tainted or do they need to have the tainting ritual? so while Shinae had to do the ritual, was Chrys'tel born with red eyes?

No. In fact, Chrys explicitly says "Such an idiot. Red eyes are not something acquired at birth" at one point.

Of course,

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there is the whole thing with the faulty seeds and Shinae's demon baby. Not really clear exactly what's up with that yet.

e. Apparently a lot of the prologue was written to It Won't Fade by Sonata Arctica, so that might be a good candidate.

[Fion MacCumhail]

1) Where can I find the original chapters, i'm curious to see what has changed, I know it use to be set in FR

as i already said in your thread about underrated D&D webcomics:

the old versions are pretty much gone, though. only some pages can be found via search engine or people who downloaded them in time.

[CowardlyPaladin]

as i already said in your thread about underrated D&D webcomics:

Pity :(. Wayback machine it goes.

I'm rereading the part where Shinae screams at that guard for not wanting to sleep with her but wanting to sleep with Chrys'tel, and i'm curious, how does sexual maturity work with Drow? From the way the guard talks about Chrys'tel, it implies that sleeping with a 25 year old is normal, however everything we see from the child characters implies that all they do is kiss at best rather than anything more intense, with the notable exception of Shinae's outburst. However we see Ariel wearing fairly skimpy clothing and she doesn't seem to be sexually devolved at all, though she is younger than the rest of the cast. So i'm curious, is that guard being a pederast (which I feel like I read was more normal in drow society) or do they change differently

[CowardlyPaladin]

also does anybody know if the side comic "breach of faith" was ever finished? Obviously it is no longer canon but I am very curious to see how it ended

[Miklus]

There is also the line that says "Mel lost her mind the same day Syphile lost her soul" I thought Syphile was educated by the Val'Sharen, what does that refer too?

It says "Mel lost her mind a long time ago. Syphile lost her heart on the same day".

http://drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=6201

I think it refers to Syphile being tainted and becoming a heartless bitch. (I guess she was stupid all along.) Syphile was cast aside because of her taint which was seen as treason and Ariel was made heir in her stead. So Ariel was taken from Mel and Mel flipped.

[Miklus]

Pity :(. Wayback machine it goes.

I'm rereading the part where Shinae screams at that guard for not wanting to sleep with her but wanting to sleep with Chrys'tel, and i'm curious, how does sexual maturity work with Drow? From the way the guard talks about Chrys'tel, it implies that sleeping with a 25 year old is normal, however everything we see from the child characters implies that all they do is kiss at best rather than anything more intense, with the notable exception of Shinae's outburst. However we see Ariel wearing fairly skimpy clothing and she doesn't seem to be sexually devolved at all, though she is younger than the rest of the cast. So i'm curious, is that guard being a pederast (which I feel like I read was more normal in drow society) or do they change differently

I saw that more as Shinae being jealous that Chrys'tel gets all the attention from the boys. She has already started to hate her at this point.

There is a fair share of pedos in this comic, especially before the remake. And other wierdness, like Mel. That giant purple spider is Ariels father.

[CowardlyPaladin]

I finally found the first 3 chapters, and since I wish somebody had done this for me, I figured I will explain the differences, as the changes are very interesting to me. In terms of both art style and storytelling the new chapters are vastly superior, though there are a few elements that I wish had been kept.
You can read them here
http://web.archive.org/web/200610291...ation=20010413

Sadly I can't seem to find the later original chapters, apparently Mayra's death and Rike's recuitment is very different, so I want to be able to find them to review them as well

1) Syphile (am I crazy for having her as my favorite character) was apperently raped by Sil'lice on a regular basis and tortured by Mel, which goes a long way to explaining her difficulty with standing up to people. Honestly, I could actually see both of these things happening in canon, rape as domance seems like something the drow would like, and i really could see Mel punishing Syphile for how she treats Ariel
2) Sil'lice is Q's daughter
3) Mel is actually legitimatly insane, not just acting it
4) Syphile is actively sadistic to Ariel, not just impatient. Obviously in the new comic she is a cruel, heartless and nasty person to a 10 year old girl, but most of her abuse comes out of frustration and impatience, she doesn't strike me as somebody who actively chooses ways to hurt her so much that she gets frustrated and lashes out of her, then neglects her otherwise. Still aweful, just a different kind of awful. I actually like the remake more because its easier to understand why she is so cruel, she is somebody without anything resembling a motherly instinct who is really impatient to go back home, and so she really just wants to get this whole affair over with. I mean, Syphile is characterized as somebody who is defined by being afraid of challenge (with one notable exception) and when she has to stick to a single task she is rather...yeah)
5) Ariel is more awareof the status she has a girl and flaunts it. When she goes to the school the other boys are aware she is a girl, and she totally bullies them because of that fact.
6) Yaflien's last name is Tabblar
7) Ariel seems to have some slight sadistic tendencies, she says she enjoys watching people get hurt and dreams of torturing Syphile...though to be fair, it is syphile.
8) Q family is called Del'Amargo, and lets be frank, Val'Sarghrass is so much cooling
9) Obviously the setting is FR in Drizzt's city and Lolth is the major goddess. Spider imagry (some of it quite clever) is everywhere, but the new comic does this MUCH better I like them departing from that
10) Ariel instead of being hated is extremely popular at the magic school, not because of her personality, but because as a girl people are terrified of her and want to get on her good side. It oculd have been really interesing but...it isn't so stay with the remake. It also makes alot more sense because in the orginial the teachers are saying "Dont blindly follow the goddess" which for FR drow would get you killed for heracy because its a theocracy.
11) Ariel is a massive Mary Sue, passing all of her magic classes perfectly without fail. Ok, maybe Mary sue is the wrong term, we clearly aren't suppose to like the fact that she is a bully and a bit of a thug, but she is the top of her magic class for a few years straight, and basically a child genius, not to mention she is pretty and confident, and all that jazz. Honestly, I really prefer the new version where she is skilled, but most of it comes from A) She is skilled in a very specific area, Air magic/transformation and really nothing else B) She is physically stronger than the boys for the same reason why a guy in drag at a girls gym class would have a high percentage of doing better. I wouldn't mind so much if Ariel was acting like Syphile, with an abused becoming the abuser, but it doesn't
12) The Guy who Ariel kills (Forget his name, cause he has a different one in this version) actually tries to befriend Ariel to help bully the kids. of course
13) Syphile has this hilariously unhealthy relationship with some drow male healer, who is the most stubbornly suicidally persistent person imaginable. She hurts her leg when falling into a pit he dug, and despite her constant threats he heals her up for free, and keeps trying to talk to her afterwards even when she is extremely threatening and violent towards him. It literally doesn't make sense in the orginial context, but I really wish it was included in the remake because the gender divide isn't nearly as server and seeing Syphile ineloquently attempt a relationship is hilarious
14) Ariel has another friend among the boys who is not characterized in the least so...yeah
15) Some older boys attempt to rape Ariel and she escapes, the whole thing is glossed over and not addressed, but honestly that could have been interesting, I was surprised that this didn't happened in the remake considering how much resentment the males feel towards girls.
16) The tension in the school having a girl is really played up alot more, with the class being divided between those who kiss up to her and those who hate her, and I found myself sympathizing with the aggressors. Sadly, she is such a Sue that it isn't well told.
17) Yaeflin doesn't flee when Ariel is attacked, he just gets defeated right away because he sucks. I prefer the remake, it is more interesting.
18) Its really badly written. Like, seriously badly written, the remake I think has a few problems, but over all is so much better
19) Ariel enjoys her first kill a bit too much than is healthy, as she viciously beats one of the boys who attacks her to death with a club.
20) When Ariel is wounded a teacher sees her but basically leaves her to die either because he disliked her or just didn't care.
21) Yaeflin is actually sympathetic rather than a whiny selfish little brat
22) Ariel's Uncle seems to be brainwashing her in some way, there is some sinister
23) Ariel seems to have middle school level relationships with Yaevin and Faen. While it is handled EXTREMELY awkwardly in the start, i am curious that the remake never included her awkward romance. Considering the...ahem...between her and Faern, I wish that had been included, just handled more maturely than the original. To be fair though, in the orginial I can't really tell if i'm suppose to be creeped out or just accept it as normal. Ariel keeps trying to pressure Yaeflin to kiss her (and later Faen) and they are both around 15, which makes sense for kids that age, but there are hints that it might be sexual, which was common in real life ancient culture but still a bit unnerving (maybe i'm just conservative though). More to the point, I can't tell Drow mature differently or if we are suppose to be like "wow, they are really young"
24) they buy Maya for extremely shallow reasons, pretty much "Hey that looks exotic I wantzs one" which honestly makes more sense to me than in the remake where I never got why they bought Maya.
25) In the remake Q is basically drow Conan the barbarian, a massive musclebound pyschopath who is possibly the most badass thing to walk the earth (apart from Fuhrer King Bradley), and a dedicated warrior. While an abominable mother and a hypocrite, she is a cunning warrior, a master of tactics, and a fearless leader of men. In this she is LE to the extreme, a duty bound ice cold women who sees everybody else as simply tools to be disposed off. When Ariel comes to see her after school, instead of giving her a horribly traumatizing and brutal test of her character, she instead chooses to simply say "Hey you passed your first 5 years, work hard and you will get another 15" and instantly gets back to plotting. instead of forcing Ariel to avenge herself on the man who attacked her and beat a 15 year old child to death with a morning star, she forces Ariel and her brother to fight to the death for her amusement. Needless to say, I am not a fan of the original Q.
26) I will say though, they do seem to play up the PTSD aspect of this though, Ariel has this rather sickening scene right after she killed a nameless brother where she goes "Its alright, mother tested me, but thats normal. Thats normal right, its just to make sure i'm worthy" in a clearly trying very hard to block out the painful memories kind of way which is disturbing to say the least. Wish we had more of that, because in the remake Ariel has 4 flashback scenes and seems to have moved on
27) maya has a character and a personality. She is basically a terrified women who unlike Vaelria is perfectly aware of how monsterous the Drow are, and is now understanding what turns them into such psychopaths, a life time of systemic abuse. Thus her relationship with Yaeflin is more about her trying to stop another monster from being created.
28) Faern instead of being a child Ariel's age is Yaeflin's elder sister, and is a kind and understanding sibling. The romantic undertones between her and Ariel are even more blantant if that is possible.
29) The party scene is apparently so shocking that its censored and we can't see any of it....but its Ash'warden's party so no surprise there. Ariel mentions being stoned at one point which I find really amusing to picture
30) Jer'kol's whole "I am your father" deal is a little bit less of a nonsequetor, its actually built up
31) There is a big focus on the "Priests vs. Mages" dynamic in drow culture which honestly is not nearly as interesting to me as the politics in the remake.
32) Mel is really creepy in this version, there is alot of tension that she might rape Ariel, and we are scared on her behalf, while Mel in the remake seemed like she would eat Ariel rather than rape her.
33) There is a big focus upon the religious aspect, with the different ways people worship Lolth being a major part of the story. Q is judged by the other leaders because she saw Lolth was a war goddess not a chaos goddess, and Faern sees her more as a nature goddess. Mel is sort of like a hermit priest or favored soul, somebody who is obviously blessed by the Goddess but has a really eccentric worldview.
34) Ariel does ALOT more evil actions, such as whipping that boy to death with a Lolth snake whip. The focus of the story is "Look at this sweet little girl, see how she brutally tortures people to death and is torn down by her society" while Ariel killing people in the Remake is more of a personal journey rather than a society tale.


Conclusion: The remake is better.....gasp. No seriously, it is better told, better presented, better though through, and comparing the art is just a joke. However, my greatest complain with Drowtales has always been that I feel like it rushes things too much and doesn't pace itself, meaning that key scenes and events don't have the emotional impact I feel they could have, and there is alot of material in the original that I wish had been kept and used to expand the first few chapters which suffer from this the most. There is also a good deal of complexity that I feel was cut, Syphile's being a rape victim really just makes sense to me honestly. However, there is also alot that was cut that really, really needed to be cut and thank goodness Ariel is now understandable. Strangely enough, if somebody else remade the first few chapters and made them more about FR just better it would actually be decent, at least as much as the Drizzt novels.

Edit: I was able to find chapters 4-8 on the wayback machine, but apperently chapters 1-3 were remade, then remade again to there current versions, so I can't find 1-3 remake 1.5. If anybody can find those I would much appericate it, I am really enjoying comparing these versions.