History Headscratchers / DrowTales

* It's more or less implied that the above is the case, since [[spoiler:Mel'arnach]] was trying for years to get pregnant, and the fact that [[spoiler:Quain'tana]] couldn't get pregnant after her injury set much of the plot in motion. And Zala'ess is mocked even by other drow for how many children she has since it means that she's been screwing around a lot. And since having children is a major way to gain status the idea that you wouldn't want them is practically unheard of. There is also the implication that Snadhya'rune has had abortions (which, even in a pre-industrial society, aren't that hard to induce if you know what you're doing), and the way Sil'lice talks about it makes it sound like that's considered really unusual for a drow to do. It might also be that the commoners do have some form of contraception, but since the story mainly focuses on nobles they don't have much need for it so we, the audience, don't see it.

* This is a spoiler answer. [[spoiler:The Kyrol'solenurn's attitude towards tainting is partly justified. While some of it may be irrational fear of influence by the demon seeds upon their hosts, it's been revealed in the manga that many, most even, of the currently tainted Drow have had the procedure done incorrectly. This was done purposefully by the Nidraa'chal, working in the shadows, and this incorrect type of tainting will kill all of those who have received it in a matter of decades. There is a form of tainting that is perfectly safe, but only a few know it. Even those tainted correctly would likely be hunted down by the Kyorl'solenurn and their sympathizers, they are zealots after all.]]
** That still doesn't answer the question. [[spoiler: The Kyrol'solenurn have the same information as everyone but the Nidraa'chal. They should all come to the same conclusion regarding the dangers of taint.]]
*** One of the reasons it's dangerous is that while it makes you immune to other nether beings coming after you, even if you don't [[spoiler:have one of Snadhya's faulty seeds]] you might still lose control of it and get taken over by it, as happened to the teacher in Orthorbbae. The dangers of tainting are also due to the fact that it involves accessing nether beings, who are by nature dangerous, and it increases the odds that someone would open a nether gate accidentally (or on purpose) and possibly cause lots of casualties. The Kyorl oppose any use of nether beings except to seal them because open nether gates are so dangerous.
*** [[spoiler: Snadhya's faulty seeds]] I wonder if they apply to most of the Vel'Vlozress as well or whether they had access to the original taint that Kiel'ndia's mother began? Assuming that Kiel'ndia was already tainted before the Nidra'achal War. And then there's Kharla'ggen. Who knows how she became tainted and if she ever lost control of her seed what that would mean for Chel'el'sussoloth.
*** I think the implication behind [[spoiler:Snadhya's seeds]] were that she went to Kiel's mother specifically to ''get'' them, since whatever she wanted Ven'ndia to do [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=449 really upset her]] to the point that she [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=450 considered telling the other clans]]. It's not clear how Kharla was tainted, but the [[http://www.drowtales.com/wordpress/?p=763 Sea of Spirits]] audiobook implies that it has something to do with the high concentration of spirits in Char (which is why "Char Spirit Summoning" is such a rare and unique ability) and that they somehow took her over.
*** Thank you for discussing the above. Something interesting was raised about the eye colour of tainted drow in [[http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?s=9b543c3f6d264430fa3a4af8d99e5d91&t=160365&page=5 ''The Infodump'']] which should also be clarified. The suggestion was that the deeper the taint (e.g. tainting to the core, like Naal'suul) the whole eye turned red save for white schlera around where the iris would have been, whereas a supposedly light taint (other tainted drow) keeps the iris red but the rest of the eyeball white. How canon is this and would it [[spoiler: help readers possibly identify which character's seed is going to consume them and which character has a "crushed" seed. [[FridgeBrilliance The whole eye colour thing might also help readers spot undercover Nidraa'chal agents]]...]]

* In most media they are. In the Drowtales universe, Dark Elves (aka Dokkalfar) are the ancestors of the Drow who lived on the surface. The Drow are the children of the Dark Elf race, changed by the environment of the Underworld, gaining much darker skin, losing the color in their hair and some other minor cosmetic changes. [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive//20070711c0p006.jpg These]] [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive//20070712c0p007.jpg two pages]] explain somewhat. The Drow are divided into four main types as seen on the second page: Drowolath--most common type of Drow, descended from the dokkalfar; Drowussu--lighter-skinned than other Drow [[spoiler:they are descended from the Vanir (aka Light Elves) the ancient enemy of the dokkalfar]]; Xuile'solen--not much to say, they're a genetically degenerate sub-species. Ver'drowendar--Drow that have undergone Tainting.

[[spoiler: Are actually the descendants of Light Elves and not Dark Elves.]] Okay this is not a problem. But I am just wondering how their population came to be. [[spoiler: Who were the Light Elves that went underground with Sharess and her people? Were they originally allies that the Drow and their ancestors just forgot about? Or are they descendants of Light Elf slaves of the fleeing Dark Elves - who somehow split from their dark elf counterparts and formed their own clans? If the latter is true how large a population would there have had to have been in order to form their numbers? Is Drowussu skin so close to regular light elven complexion that they can afford to have actual Light elves underground as members without anyone noticing?]]
* There are a few implications as to how this happens. In the current setting [[spoiler:the surviving light elves are almost always covered fully as Judicators, so that's why no one (including, it seems, most other drowussu) know who they really are. As to how they came to be, this hasn't been made clear, but the fact that the Dutan'vir were part drowussu and Diva's guards suggests that she knew about some of them and probably accepted some light elves back when Chel was first founded. There's also a podcast where they suggest that drowussu developed in another part of the underworld and came to Chel, though this isn't necessarily canon]].

* If empathy is just influencing and feeling emotions, how did Faen manage to rip off [[spoiler: Nihi'liir's]] arm in her psychic attack? Empathy should be a passive rather than active power and at the very least Faen's ability to rip off an arm should have something to do with telekinesis?

*** Also, [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=512 Nei'kalsaider]] are descended from elves who were transformed into driders but somehow retained the ability to breed. It seems that once an elf's gone through some form of metamorphosis if they can still breed their offspring will either also shared their transformed form (i.e. have spider legs or be a dragon) or a regular elf. It seems to depend on the combination of parents, so Thera is probably a drider + drider while [[spoiler:Ariel]] was the result of a regular elf and a transformed elf, and it was brought up that she might not have been a regular elf, so it might just be chance. It's been hinted that Rik's mother was a regular drow, so who knows what his father was. Dragon + dragon most likely gets you a dragon.

** Also in regards to Chiri, she's clearly not the only drowussu with naturally yellow hair (which is one of the early hints that [[spoiler:drowussu are all descended from light elves]]), so her father being a light elf probably has little to do with it. It's also worth noting that dark elves tended towards darker shades and those disappeared pretty quickly, so the environment might just favor lighter shades like drowussu tend to have. And WordOfGod on drowussu hair is:

* My guess is [[spoiler:Snadhya'rune convinced them to get tainted]], since Sha'sana [[spoiler:more or less states that part of Snadhya'runes' plan was to deliberately undercut the Dutan'vir's stability, and what better way to cause a rift than to convince them to do something her mother hated and would go after them for?]] Also it's implied that prior to the war being tainted was considered some sort of form of rebellion since it was tied to the Nidraa'chal, who prior to the war were seen as eccentric but more or less harmless nether cult like the Vloz'ress, and Diva went after the tainted because she thought they might be Nidraa'chal sympathizers.

I think the Daydream Goddess Knight story puts her as Ash'waren's mother, but then again in the main comic, Koma'lawen is described by Ash'waren in the Council of Nine as being her aunt/great aunt. Which is it? I assume the former as it makes more sense [[spoiler: since Ash'waren's actually a dark elf]] but why say she's her aunt as surely this would have placed her out of the line of succession were it not for the deaths of her sisters and parents in the Sharen/Sullisin'rune War.

!! Should readers believe that Zala'ess really loves her children if she willingly agreed to tainting most of her lineage [[spoiler: given what we know of Snadhya'rune's faulty seeds?]] It all depends on how much Snadhya'rune has told her sisters.
* I think it's fairly likely that either Zala doesn't know that detail, given what Snadhya'rune says [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=6869 to Sarv'swati]], or Zala's family ''is'' protected [[spoiler:from the faulty seeds]]. Sil'lice seems under the impression that Zala doesn't know, but then again Sil'lice isn't exactly in the best position on this, so I'd take what she says regarding the [[spoiler:faulty seeds]] with a grain of salt. It's also entirely possible that Zala didn't know then, but after the timeskip now does, which might be why [[spoiler:she made her bid for Empress]] as a "screw you" to her two other sisters. It's also telling that we haven't seen Sabbror so far, and the last time we saw him [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=6875 Zala looked very concerned]], and this is the exact same page where [[spoiler:Sha'sana's describing the faulty seeds]], so I'm interested in how this develops.

* There seems to be no middle ground here if you look at the comments on the forums. My personal theory is that she did what she could with what she had and if she wasn't exactly "nice", that was because she couldn't afford to be in the setting -- look what happened to Nega'fanae in Chapter 34 as an example. Her being strict with her daughters to the point of stifling them doesn't seem to hold up with the treatment of Sil'lice, Nishi'kanta and Ashu'athama. Snadhya'rune mentions how restricted she felt by Diva'ratrika but she was the "first" daughter which in general drow society seems to mean that you have the most responsibility heaped onto you, and even then it seems the major issue between Diva'ratrika and Snadhya'rune seems to be the latter's [[spoiler: assumed]] lack of children. Zala'ess as the youngest probably had the most freedom of all her daughters, yet even she [[spoiler: joined in on the two eldest daughters' matricide and coup d'etat]].

* You make some good points above, but to add to the idea of Diva'ratrika being a bad parent-well Nishi'kanta and Sil'lice didn't seem to think so, hence why they were not part of the original coup. Plus the main tension seemed to be between Diva'ratrika and Snadhya'rune and even then mostly because of the latter's refusal to have [[spoiler: publically known]] children. Its possible that Snadhya'rune could have exaggerated her feelings of being stifled and Diva'ratrika may have deliberately blinded herself to Snadhya'rune's desire for independence by mistaking it for a minor inconvenience.

After the timeskip between Chapter 32 and Chapter 33, we see that [[spoiler: Ariel]] has grown considerably in comparison to her peers. This is to be expected since her female line of family are all very tall ([[spoiler: Quaintana and Mel'anarch]]) and she also has direct Dark Elf parentage from her father [[spoiler: Zhor]]. Kalki has her mother's line directly descended from a Dark Elf and both her parents are tall. At 50 years of age she was around Syphile's height, now at age 65 (see Chapter 34) she appears to have remained the same height as she was fifteen years ago. What has skewed the height dynamics for Kalki and [[spoiler: her half-sister]]?
* Kalki's apparently not ''that'' short. In reality, [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=6846 she comes up to]] [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=5897 above Mel's shoulder]], not too different from [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=7094 Snadhya herself]], who's about half a head shorter than Mel. Plus Lulianne is specifically defined as 5'8" in her concept art, so [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?order=chapters&id=981 comparing the two]] means Kalki's likely somewhere around six foot, which is about average for a drowolath female. And quite frankly Mel's kind of a freak, and even [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=6190 presumably average heighted women]] have half a head less on her, while Lulianne is [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?sid=5894 below Mel's shoulder]]. Kalki's probably about average for a drowolath, and in Ariel's case the [[spoiler:direct Dark Elf genes]] might be the main factor. Plus, we have no idea what [[spoiler:Zhor's]] height was, or really anything about any of the paternal ancestors on either side, so we're only seeing half the story when it comes to both girls. It's also not certain exactly how tall Ariel is, since we've yet to see her next so someone who's not a child like Wafay or anyone who can give us a real idea of where exactly she ranks. She might've wound up slightly shorter than Mel, and it's worth nothing that [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?id=1807 Shala]] seems to come up to about where most drow females seem to fall in relation to Mel, and all the people in that lineup are not yet fully grown at this point, being around the drow equivalent of 15 years old. (Also, height can be weird, I, for instance, wound up taller than both of my parents, and most closely resemble my maternal grandfather in that regard)
** Small update to the above: [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?order=chapters&id=1833 we've now seen Ariel and Lu side-by-side]], and while it's possible that [[spoiler:Khaless changed Lu's height, even though that probably would be noticed]] it gives us a better idea of where Ariel ranks, and eyballing [[http://www.drowtales.com/mainarchive.php?order=chapters&id=981 Kalki and Lulliane]] suggests that Ariel and Kalki are probably fairly close, since they both have about a head on Lu. This also points to Ariel being shorter than Mel is, so a rough guess (based on a really rough bit of math involving heads) is that Ariel is somewhere between 6'4" and 6'6", so that's about half a foot taller than the average, and based on that same comparison Kalki's maybe more like 6'3", and using the same formula Mel herself comes out to somewhere around 6'10". Also a random note is that Faen's apparently the same height as Lu, lending more evidence to the theory that Sullisin'rune tend to be shorter.

!!How did Waesoloth react when she found out that [[spoiler: Naal'suul had died]] from likely Khal'harror when he returned home?

*** Naal'suul was referred to as being Waesoloth's heir, which was why I thought that maybe she had only had the two children above. If Naal'suul was her heir, then [[spoiler: her death]] would obviously have been even more devastating to Waesoloth; however if she indeed have other, older daughters why would she make her [[YoungestChildWins youngest be the heir]]?

!! ''How'' is it a secret that [[spoiler: Ash'waren is really a Dark Elf]]?

I'm new to the Drowtales comic so I'm sorry if this seems like a newbie question, but if Ash'waren is said to be the next in line of succession for being Val'Sharess (due to being the next person to personally know Sharess after Diva'Ratrika)considering that Sharess discharged her aura to close the nethergates soon after leading the Dark Elves underground and entrusting leadership of her clan to her sister, and as can be presumed, before the Dark Elves started giving birth to Drow; the only way that Ash'waren could have known Sharess is if she were [[spoiler: a Dark Elf herself]]. Then with the whole Thalamani exodus that Rel'Lumia Val'Nal'Sarkoth mentions at the Illharess Gathering, considering that this occurred on the surface and Ash'waren mentions she remembers it, this could only mean that [[spoiler:she is actually Dark Elf]].

** [[http://www.drowtales.com/wordpress/?p=3116 WordOfGod]] now confirms that exceptionally tall drow get their heights from their dark elven ancestors. This brings me to question if [[spoiler: Ash'waren]] is just short for her race or whether empathy can be used to make herself shorter as well, given how she compares to Quain'tana.
*** I think the implication of [[spoiler:Ash'waren's]] height is just that she's small for a Dark Elf, and since the Sullisin'rune are implied to be from the same area that Vaelia's people are from (just compare the architecture) and the Emberi are shorter than the average Halme that it may just be a racial trait.

!! Why is [[spoiler: Mel'arnach]] considered Kalki's "father" and [[spoiler: Snadhya'rune]] her "mother" ?
* When it was [[spoiler: Mel'arnach's egg]] that was used to create Kalki? Assuming that the Jaal'daarya just used [[spoiler: Snadhya'rune's]] genetic material and implanted it into the egg, shouldn't it be the other way around?

** My theory: [[spoiler:The first Dutan'vir were some surviving light elves that went with Sharess to the Underworld, and they interbred with some of the surviving dark elevs. When their children were born as drowussu Diva'ratrika adopted them as her guards as a gesture of goodwill, and agreed to keep quiet about their heritage so as not to inflame the old rivalries again.]] That's all speculation on my part, but it makes a certain amount of sense, since Diva ''has'' to know that [[spoiler:drowussu were originally light elves]].


!! Why didn't Sarv'swati just kill Quain'tana instead of simply [[spoiler: making her barren]]

** Don't forget that Sarv'swati also [[spoiler:left her mother to die rather than straight up kill her]], and talked Zala out of offing Yaeminira after she killed the original Vy'chriel. Diva'ratrika also didn't kill Ash'waren when she had her at her mercy, and it turns out that Snadhya [[spoiler:didn't actually kill Sha'sana]]. So maybe not finishing people off when you have them cornered runs in the family, so yeah, it may have been GenreBlind on Sarv's part to leave her alive, but it's not without precedent. Sarv'swati might have also left her alive because she at least knows what to expect from Quain, and a fractured Sarghress in the wake of her death would be more dangerous than a united one under a leader they could predict the actions of. I also wouldn't rule out ChronicBackstabbingDisorder as being a motivation in terms of using the Sarghress to get at the rest of her family, considering some of the other stuff she's done.

* Besides [[spoiler: Zhor being the father of Ariel]] why are they together? I thought he was her guardian, much like the driders of the Beldrobbaen?
** The Daydream story about the early days of Mel and Snadhya seems to imply they're mostly close friends, and she found him in Orthorbbae. I personally get the sense that they're both outcasts, her because of her relationship with Quain'tana and he because he's one of the last surviving Awares, so that's why they stick together. As for why [[spoiler:Zhor is Ariel's father]], I get the sense that it's because he's pretty much the only male she can trust, morphed into a spider or not, and Mel's options were essentially [[spoiler:get pregnant from one of Quain'tana's men, or get pregnant on her own terms by someone she trusted]].

* Related to this is Sha'sana. WordOfGod confirmed that the Sha'sana of the main comics is not the same as the one in daydream (the latter may be the former's mother and the name sha'sana just a title) but if Sha'sana is as old as she is implied to be (being the caretaker of Sharess's legacy and all) how is she surviving confined to the [[spoiler: ninth tower]] with only golems for company? How can she access mana from others if she is kept away out of sight?

* Well, for one [[spoiler:"Faen" in that scene is actually Ariel, and Durlyn is a huge Ariel fanboy, which was probably supposed to be a hint at who it really was]] and then general chivalry. It may have also [[spoiler:been part of the act to convince the Sharen that it really was Faen]].

They've mentioned gold and adamantium. They can't just have some real life elements, though. If their chemistry is fundamentally similar to ours, the elements will all be similar. If not, they'll all be different. It is possible for the chemistry to be fundamentally similar, but the constants just different enough for it to behave the same with the smaller elements, but gold is pretty far up there. Either they're CallingARabbitASmeerp, [[CallASmeerpARabbit Calling a Smeerp a Rabbit]], or ArtisticLicenseChemistry.

They've mentioned gold and adamantium. They can't just have some real life elements, though. If their chemistry is fundamentally similar to ours, the elements will all be similar. If not, they'll all be different. It is possible for the chemistry to be fundamentally similar, but the constants just different enough for it to behave the same with the smaller elements, but gold is pretty far up there. Either they're CallingARabbitASmeerp, CallingASmeerpARabbit, or ArtisticLicenseChemistry.

** At least from some of the ways Chiri reacts, {{seer}} abilities ''might'' be related to empathy, given that when she sees particularly gruesome visions she seems to feel what the victims feel. It might be that they're actually offshoots of the same sort of power (though this is just speculation on my part).

[[folder: Headscratchers:Drowtales-General]]

[[folder:Headscratchers:Drowtales-Character Specific]]

!! The Dutan'vir- Drowussu with a touch of drowolath or drowolath with a touch of drowussu?

[[folder: Headscratchers:Drowtales-Pronunciation Issues]]

!! Drow- do you pronounce it as '''D-ROW''' to rhyme with '''ROW''' as in row your boat or '''DROW''' to rhyme with '''COW''' as in the animal?

I'm new to the DrowTales comic so I'm sorry if this seems like a newbie question, but if Ash'waren is said to be the next in line of succession for being Val'Sharess (due to being the next person to personally know Sharess after Diva'Ratrika)considering that Sharess discharged her aura to close the nethergates soon after leading the Dark Elves underground and entrusting leadership of her clan to her sister, and as can be presumed, before the Dark Elves started giving birth to Drow; the only way that Ash'waren could have known Sharess is if she were [[spoiler: a Dark Elf herself]]. Then with the whole Thalamani exodus that Rel'Lumia Val'Nal'Sarkoth mentions at the Illharess Gathering, considering that this occurred on the surface and Ash'waren mentions she remembers it, this could only mean that [[spoiler:she is actually Dark Elf]].

* Also, keep in mind that she can [[{{Firefly}} kill you with her brain]], and most people think she's insane anyway, so it wouldn't be that much of a stretch for people to write it off as another eccentricity. Considering that Diva'ratrika dealt with her directly during the war between her clans I think it's pretty likely that she knows too, but it probably is more or less OpenSecret among the top brass who just don't care enough to spread it around. And since Ash'waren or her relatives have access to the bedrooms of a lot of nobles she probably has quite a bit of dirt on everyone else, so they wouldn't be eager to spread around dirt about her knowing she could sling some back.

** {{Early Installment Weirdness}}. The chapter where that happened came out much earlier on.

[[folder: Headscratchers:Drowtales-Character Specific]]

I'm new to the DrowTales comic so I'm sorry if this seems like a newbie question, but if Ash'waren is said to be the next in line of succession for being Val'Sharess (due to being the next person to personally know Sharess after Diva'Ratrika)considering that Sharess discharged her aura to close the nethergates soon after leading the Dark Elves underground and entrusting leadership of her clan to her sister, and as can be presumed, before the Dark Elves started giving birth to Drow; the only way that Ash'waren could have known Sharess is if she were [[spoiler: a Dark Elf herself]]. Then with the whole Thalamani exodus that Rel'Lumia Val'Nal'Sarkoth mentions at the Illharess Gathering, considering that this occurred on the surface and Ash'waren mentions she remembers it, this could only mean that [[spoiler: she is actually Dark Elf.]]
With all of the above does this mean that her true race is in fact an {{open secret}} and so she just maintains the balance using her empathy or are the Drow really and truly unaware of her true origins?

** {{Early Installment Weirdness}}. The chapter where that happened came out before Drowtales was rebooted.

** {{Early Installment Weirdness}}. The chapter where that happened came out a before Drowtales was rebootd.