Eilistraee and love/lovers

Since the Chosen of Eilistraee is a religious oriented player group, naturally there is a place to have theological discussions. That is in-game religions; please leave real-world religion out of it. Debate the fine points of a certain dogma, how a church can enforce worship while staying true to its tenets or simply why one deity is better than another one is. All are free to talk about it here.

Moderators: Shir'le E. Illios, Bhaern Quel

User avatar
Shae
Maid
Maid
Posts: 62
Joined: Thu Jan 29, 2015 8:58 am
Location: California

Re: Eilistraee and love/lovers

Post by Shae »

Seeing how Greenwood has handled issues with Eilistraee in the past, like all the problematic issues that cropped up with Changedance between her good alignment and the apparently peculiar drow context l'm not so sure l can have your confidence he can put things to rights, even acknowledging that she is in the end his character. But I'll wait for this book you mention and hope for the best I suppose.

I had a long answer about my concerns originally but I'm using my phone so I'll probably just alter this post later if there's time. I'm just reluctant to envisage Eilistraee as having a direct connection to love without more lore at the moment. I like the idea and agree it fits but I also somehow feel like it doesn't mean it's necessarily a good idea unless the alternatives are worse, which could be the case too, idk.
Well known path to Chang'an resembles yiqi.
Hundred years of life cannot bear the grief.

--Du Fu
User avatar
Irennan
Champion
Posts: 703
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2011 5:13 pm
Location: Italy

Re: Eilistraee and love/lovers

Post by Irennan »

[quote="Shae":24ymxvsg]Seeing how Greenwood has handled issues with Eilistraee in the past, like all the problematic issues that cropped up with Changedance between her good alignment and the apparently peculiar drow context l'm not so sure l can have your confidence he can put things to rights, even acknowledging that she is in the end his character. But I'll wait for this book you mention and hope for the best I suppose.

I had a long answer about my concerns originally but I'm using my phone so I'll probably just alter this post later if there's time. I'm just reluctant to envisage Eilistraee as having a direct connection to love without more lore at the moment. I like the idea and agree it fits but I also somehow feel like it doesn't mean it's necessarily a good idea unless the alternatives are worse, which could be the case too, idk.[/quote:24ymxvsg]

The changedance is no longer needed after Eilistraee's return. She learned from the time she spent as the Masked Lady, and this led her to change, so that males can cleave to her without needing to spend time as female. She also currently is at peace with Vhaeraun, as a result of all that. Given this change, I'm encouraged and looking forward the lore that Ed will give us. I'm quite confident that the editors won't cut that lore, as WotC seems to no longer be suppressing anything Eilistraee-related: she is in fact included in the list of currently active deities and briefly described (more than the other non human deities get) in the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

On a side note, most sexism-related issues were caused by other authors, who saw that Eilistraee had only priestesses and thought that, for some reason, they had to be discriminating and even hostile towards males, despite the fact that sourcebooks had literally nothing pointing to this. Ed has explicitly stated that, despite the differences in the clergy, this is not the case, and as a general rule priestesses would be happy to welcome followers of Eilistraee, no matter what gender, or race).

When making this thread I wasn't suggesting a direct connection with love (as in ''goddess of drow love/lovers''), more like Eilistraee being seen and worshiped by some drow as a protectress of lover.
Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things.
Kaote Bruchedaine
Maid
Maid
Posts: 89
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2012 11:21 am

Re: Eilistraee and love/lovers

Post by Kaote Bruchedaine »

So at the risk of kicking a dead horse (sorry horse). I just want to spin another thought onto this conversation that is loosely related.

How do you think Eilistraee and the Clergy would look upon Half-Drow? I certainly can't imagine there would be any negativity. I just have this thought process that they might get some (minor) preferential treatment. Given that they are practically a symbolic token of the racial peace that Eilistraee seems to strive for.
User avatar
Irennan
Champion
Posts: 703
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2011 5:13 pm
Location: Italy

Re: Eilistraee and love/lovers

Post by Irennan »

[quote="Kaote Bruchedaine":cl358t4x]So at the risk of kicking a dead horse (sorry horse). I just want to spin another thought onto this conversation that is loosely related.

How do you think Eilistraee and the Clergy would look upon Half-Drow? I certainly can't imagine there would be any negativity. I just have this thought process that they might get some (minor) preferential treatment. Given that they are practically a symbolic token of the racial peace that Eilistraee seems to strive for.[/quote:cl358t4x]

It's possible. Eilistraee has a lot of half-elf and half-drow followers, after all.
Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things.
User avatar
Shir'le E. Illios
High Priestess
High Priestess
Posts: 2352
Joined: Mon Feb 13, 2006 9:51 pm
Location: Eilistraee.com
Contact:

Re: Eilistraee and love/lovers

Post by Shir'le E. Illios »

I'm not convinced that half-drow would be considered preferential. They might be in the eyes of some members, but equally some other members might see them as a dilution of the drow identity. None of that would, I feel, come from the religion or from Eilistraee herself. I think that by-and-large half-drow would be considered the same, from a religious standpoint, as anyone. The birth of a half-drow would be a joyous thing, but so would the birth of a drow, or a human, or an elf, or... etc.

Of course, as I said, individual members and even communities might have a slightly different view on it. :)


Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le
F'sarn natha tithaur wun l'su'aco.

-= Shir'le E. Illios =-
Chosen of Eilistraee
User avatar
Irennan
Champion
Posts: 703
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2011 5:13 pm
Location: Italy

Re: Eilistraee and love/lovers

Post by Irennan »

[quote="Shir'le E. Illios":1rptrq44]I'm not convinced that half-drow would be considered preferential. They might be in the eyes of some members, but equally some other members might see them as a dilution of the drow identity. None of that would, I feel, come from the religion or from Eilistraee herself. I think that by-and-large half-drow would be considered the same, from a religious standpoint, as anyone. The birth of a half-drow would be a joyous thing, but so would the birth of a drow, or a human, or an elf, or... etc.

Of course, as I said, individual members and even communities might have a slightly different view on it. :)


Love -x-x-x-

Shir'le[/quote:1rptrq44]

Oh, I agree with that. Eilistraee is described as welcoming of any race and gender (barring Lisa Smedman's depiction of her), so--even though she is focused on the drow, her people--I doubt that she would show pereference of any kind based on race. But from the perspective of groups of her followers, a half-drow could be a symbol of what they're trying to achieve. And there's the fact that Eilistraee has a large number of half-elf/drow followers, so her faith is definitely appealing to them.
Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things.
Post Reply