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Quiz Description: Temptations of Evil


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#1 Leo

Posted 26 May 2003 - 03:15 AM

/Images/Viconia.jpgGreetings, rivven. I am asked to be the next host of this gathering of minds, as is perhaps fitting. The concepts of art and storytelling are not foreign to the drow, although they perhaps do not exist in a manner with which you would be familiar. Drow tales exist to expound on the glory of Lolth and to teach lessons. Harsh lessons, the kind that are needed for survival in a land as harsh and unforgiving as the Underdark.

Do not trust. Do not love. Do not forgive. These are the watchwords which I held dearest to my black heart in my first centuries of life in House DeVir. I stood highest amongst the daughters of the Matron Mother, having proven my ruthlessness in the murder of three of my sisters. Recoil if you wish, for they would have done the same to me, given the opportunity. I would have murdered the Matron, herself, had the chance presented itself...or had I believed Lolth would favor our House more because of it. Yet for all the cruel instincts my home had impressed upon me, there was one of my family with whom I could not deal as with other drow. My brother, Valas. I had had my share of men and husbands, yet for no man had I felt affection. It was a foreign concept, yet I would have forgiven laughing, jesting, kind Valas much. It was a weakness I would pay for dearly. "Perhaps my undrow-like feelings for Valas allowed a sickness to creep into my heart like a spiral worm. Or perhaps the sheer scope of its heartlessness is the clay at the foundation of my race. I have not decided which, and perhaps I never will. Regardless, there came a day when I believed that the burgeoning cup of blood that the Spider Queen drank from was too much. That cruelty for its own sake and nothing more showed a weakness in my mistress rather than a strength. I balked at the sacrifice of a child and my life was forfeit.

The Matron of House DeVir turned against me, as was only right...for Lolth did not appreciate my shortcoming. And yet it was Valas who freed me from my certain doom, exchanging his life for my own and allowing me to flee the only home I had ever known.

And so I came to the bright surface lands, my heart filled with loss. To my busom I took the worship of my lady of sorrows and darkness...Shar would be my deliverance and a reminder to me. My pain would bring me strength, my loss give me more than any other drow had known. I thought to bend the surface lands before my will...and yet it seems it is I that have bent. I have encountered hatred and prejudice and contempt...all that I had expected...and yet I also found compassion. These strange surface-dwellers that I reviled so much yet had a strength in their character than I could not define. I was alone, and yet I found companionship. I place myself above all others, and yet I have performed the unintentional work of heroes. I am drow, and yet I found love.

And yet still I am evil. I do not require nor would I welcome redemption. And yet there are always questions that I must ask myself deep in my heart, questions I would not share. Evil is not a puzzle box, easily solved. It is not coin to be spent, nor a religion to be worshipped. There is no ideal involved, no reason or calculated set of attributes. I am not without the capacity to change, and perhaps I will...but if I do, it shall be on my own terms...and in comparison to so many who would hold structure and the good of others above themselves perhaps that is the best definition of all.


Temptations of Evil



Evil is full of many contradictions. In a world of grey, it is an extreme that holds many temptations to those of us who live in a society that places so many restrictions upon our behavior and conduct. Perhaps that is why the nature of evil characters in fiction holds such fascination for us. This quiz is dedicated to the exploration of evil characters...both those who are yet heroes as well as those who are the villains.

Explore, if you will, how Irenicus and Bodhi might have arrived at the point they were at in Baldur's Gate 2. Might it have been possible to redeem them? Were they evil in every sense of the word or did they have redeeming characteristics? How might Viconia feel about something as inimicable to the drow nature as love? What is it that makes Edwin or Korgan tick? What don't we know about their histories? What, especially, would drive an evil-natured Child of Bhaal? Where would that evil nature lead them and how would others react to it? I'm sure almost everyone has been tempted to play an evil character at least once...why is that?

As always, feel free to write a story that touches on this topic or not, as you wish. Discussions are welcome, and of course Viconia will be present to offer her insight on whatever results.

Viconia DeVir
c/o Dave Gaider




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