For ridiculous race?

The Drow.

They're just variations on Elves.
Or sometimes they're called "Dark Elves".
Thats a kind of a bigotry within a fiction or what others might call racism in our world - just because the Drow have a different skin color.

Also silly are Humans for using terminology badly over the centuries to seperate themselves from each other. (Sometimes intentional misuse of terminology).

In the wikipedia article on 'Human' and 'Humans', there is this bit of info:

QuoteGenetic studies have substantiated the absence of clear biological borders, thus the term "race" is rarely used in scientific terminology, both in biological anthropology and in human genetics.[citation needed]

What in the past had been defined as "races"—e.g., whites, blacks, or Asians—are now defined as "ethnic groups" or "populations", in correlation with the field (sociology, anthropology, genetics) in which they are considered.

The implied conclusion to the second paragraph is that technically we are all the same race now - Human. Its just that people are too caught up in their own political baggage and upbringing to recognize that. After all, its easier to dislike, dismiss, or hate someone if you beliueve that he or she is a different race. If you acknowledge that you and they are part of the same people (or race) - gee, then you might have to talk to them

Probably a big reason why Humans are pretty ridiculous at times.

- Ed C.

Article I took the quote from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human

Aren't the 'Dark Elves' one of the groups, along with dwarves, that were created out of maggots crawling through the giant dead frost giant Ymir's corpse in Norse Mythology? Svartalfar? Or were those just dwarves with a different name?

Quote from: Simlasa;396534Aren't the 'Dark Elves' one of the groups, along with dwarves, that were created out of maggots crawling through the giant dead frost giant Ymir's corpse in Norse Mythology? Svartalfar? Or were those just dwarves with a different name?

Which author's books?

 Which game setting?

Thats part of the problem right there.


- Ed C.

Quote from: Simlasa;396534Aren't the 'Dark Elves' one of the groups, along with dwarves, that were created out of maggots crawling through the giant dead frost giant Ymir's corpse in Norse Mythology? Svartalfar? Or were those just dwarves with a different name?

Quote from: Koltar;396535Which author's books?

 Which game setting?

Thats part of the problem right there.


- Ed C.

Heh, Simsala is obviously referring to classic Scandinavian/Norse mythology - so there's not really one author

I don't think the black elves (svartalfar) of Norse mythology had much to do with Drow. They were more goblin-like, as in small hideous underground dwelling creatures, and as Simsala mentions, closer to dwarves than to (D&D)elves.

Quote from: Simlasa;396534Aren't the 'Dark Elves' one of the groups, along with dwarves, that were created out of maggots crawling through the giant dead frost giant Ymir's corpse in Norse Mythology? Svartalfar? Or were those just dwarves with a different name?

There are no clear boundaries between elves and dwarfs in classic mythology. In fact, if you go to the dictionary (rather than a Tolkien-derived fantasy gaming system), the one is used as a definition for the other.

The "Drow" and the "Derro" are actually the same word, using almost precisely the same pronunciation and only slightly different transliteration. None the less, Gygax seized upon the two spellings appearing in two different stories to produce one set of Dark Elves and one set of Dark Dwarves. This carries on a long tradition of splitting up monsters any way it can be done, which is why the Catoblepas, the Medusa, and the Gorgon are three different monsters in D&D, despite the fact that mythologically speaking that's only two ("Gorgon" being simply a word that means "monster that turns things to stone" that includes both Medusa and Catoblepas - and Basilisk for that matter).

So I would nominate the Derro as the most ridiculous. Because they were actually already in the game under that name with a functionally identical schtick when they were written in separately.

-Frank

Quote from: FrankTrollman;396571There are no clear boundaries between elves and dwarfs in classic mythology. In fact, if you go to the dictionary (rather than a Tolkien-derived fantasy gaming system), the one is used as a definition for the other.

The "Drow" and the "Derro" are actually the same word, using almost precisely the same pronunciation and only slightly different transliteration. None the less, Gygax seized upon the two spellings appearing in two different stories to produce one set of Dark Elves and one set of Dark Dwarves. This carries on a long tradition of splitting up monsters any way it can be done, which is why the Catoblepas, the Medusa, and the Gorgon are three different monsters in D&D, despite the fact that mythologically speaking that's only two ("Gorgon" being simply a word that means "monster that turns things to stone" that includes both Medusa and Catoblepas - and Basilisk for that matter).

So I would nominate the Derro as the most ridiculous. Because they were actually already in the game under that name with a functionally identical schtick when they were written in separately.

-Frank

Huh.  I always figured that the Derro were a Shaver swipe.

http://cobblerkhan.blogspot.com/2009/12/detrimental-robots-are-coming-for-you.html