#Drow Language

[lunastrophe]

Mysterious Drow Inscription in BG3

Something I found during my recent run: drow inscription in the Underdark, in a very dark corner that is very easy to miss.

I recognized these letters as the angular variant of Drow script - if you want to know more about it, I mentioned it in this post, along with some other scripts useful for drow writing language.

So... you can probably imagine my disappointment when I realized that the inscription makes no sense. I was able to decipher it, but it was not even resembling a proper word or a name. I was getting only some random letters: AACTB... Seriously?😔

My stubborn brain was refusing to give up, though. Drow script uses the same symbols for various letters, but turned upside down or mirrored. Maybe the inscription needs to be mirrored, or rotated...

And it worked😃After flipping the screenshot upside down, I got:

GEORGII NOMEROVSKII

Apparently, Georgii Nomerovskii is a 3D Environment Artist and was among artists who worked on BG3. You can find some of his projects on Artstation.

Such a cool signature 😊

[sorcerous-caress]

I've been reading the drow dictionary to incorporate it into my Minthara writing, and here is a list of my favourite words so far.

Mine - Usst

lover (female) - mrimm d'ssinss

lover (male) - mrann d'ssinss

Love and lust meaning the same thing is very interesting, since it puts onto perspective how much drow culture doesn't see a difference between the two, or how they see love as glorified lust.

love - ssinssrigg

lust - ssinssrigg

loving - ssinssriggin

lusting - ssinssriggin

Even compliments are very few in drow language, and the ones that do exist, despite their translation, are still taken directly from the lust word.

allure - ssinss

attractive - ssin'urn

beauty - ssin

beautiful / handsome - ssin'urn

[duzemine]

Silk dancer by night, assassin by even later night, Malice’s twin skills of sexy silk dancing and incredible violence are how she earned her nickname, L’lotha Aphyon (The Little Death)

Also being 5”

[hubridbunny]

Love this, but I'm wondering about Minthy's name. Is that translation ("Minor/Second Glyph") based on Elvish, or Drowic? Because the drow word for two is dra (or draa), according to what I can find from The Forgotten Realms wiki and the Temple of Lolth.

I can't help it, I have to nerd out a bit here. Numbers in drow are just so beautifully regular, and honestly one of my favorite parts of the language.

Ordinal numbers are formed by adding " ar " to the end of a number (or just " r " if the number already ends in " a ").

The only exceptions are the words for first, second, and third, which are irregular.

Each number also has prefix and suffix forms, which are simply combined together to make larger/specific numbers.

(I'm sure 100 must have a prefix form, but I'm not sure what it is)

For example:

To say how many times something is done, just add " 'ena " to the end of the number's prefix.

(I assume it may be added to the cardinal number form when saying something like "16 times," but I haven't seen this confirmed anywhere.)

The only exception is the word for one time/once, which is irregular.

Nonspecific numbers (like none, some, many, etc) are another part of drow I really love, because of the elegant way they're used to form compound words like nobody, someday, etc... But I could seriously go on for hours, haha.

the "you have third son vibes" line is infinitely funnier if you're a tgirl minthara truther imo

[cha-c-san]

I really like how Kha came out in this panel! This is from the final book in my graphic novel series, Dragens Øye.

[theonceandfuture]

the stoneforged are my non-ableist replacement for "dwarves" (see here and here, i think bbc merlin has its own issue of ableism regarding characters with dwarfism) as a species in mythology. they are technically a type of elf (think lightforged = high elves, shadowforged = dark elves, minus the racism associated with the drow's writing)

hopefully, soon i'll have found the time to draw out my designs for some of the species prominent in albion, and i can reblog this post and add my personal designs for these species. keep in mind that i'll still have characters with dwarfism in this story! i don't think the solution to ableism is to erase the characters with dwarfism entirely (cough cough, disney's snow white), instead i've just been Normaler about it.

[spiderwarden]

Minthara’s voice softening a lot when speaking drow?? Yes.

[m1lkteaboi]

Erthrysn (Tav) cares I swear.

[oblivious-flesh]

headcannon that gale can't fuckin roll his r's. I have no basis for this claim, it just feels Correct. Like imagine tav speaks literally anything but common and they have either rolled r's or like a soft r or throaty(?) r and they try to teach him. He's great at picking up vocab and grammar and such, but his pronunciation is actually terrible. I just think it's cute I love him sm

[aperture8]

BG3 Digital Character Book

Instead of spending my time for Ardreyth's profile, I suddenly found myself busy developing recipes from the Underdark. A big thank you to @leysendris as she is always an inspiring source. :D Here I present one of the dishes that Ardreyth prepares once a year. Not for any particular pleasure, but because it reminds her of her deceased loved one. It was the last meal they shared together before the eighth and final initiation, and with the enchanted dream spore wine, she manages to remember his last laugh.

Other pages of my little character book wip: Ardreyth Mizzrym Page 0-4 Ardreyth Mizzrym: More background

Dance of the Damned

alure d'l'xsa'us

Ingredients & Preparation: Main ingredients:

~Living cave eels ~ marinated in a poison (extracted from giant millipedes), so that they twitch slightly when eaten.

~Sauce~ Hot moss puree made from bioluminescent nyctar moss, mixed with crushed fire lichenpowder for a spicy, numbing flavour.

~Garnish`~ Pickled spider eggs in vinegar made from drow tears (sour savoury mushroom marinade) and shadowberries. Garnished with black pearls (from sub-kingdom oysters) that release blood flavour when bitten.

Special features: The dish is a kind of interactive eating. The eels twitch on the tongue as soon as they come into contact with saliva - a sign of the eel freshness and the eater‘s courage. It is also a poison resistance test because the paralysing poison numbs the lips, but drow enjoy the tingle as a sign of Lolth's blessing and last but not least the hallucinogenic supplement. The dish is served with dreamspore wine that evokes volatile visions of deceased enemies and friends

Lolth's cuisine knows no mercy - only taste

[lunastrophe]

Drow Lore 🕷️ More Drow Phrases and Sayings

More phrases in drow language, this time from Drow of the Underdark (2e) - some common curses, battle cries and sayings useful mainly for Lolth-sworn drow:

🕷️ Ssussun pholor dos! - Light upon you! (curse, spoken to another drow)

🕷️ Ssussun! - Light! (curse, a shortened version of Ssussun pholor dos)

🕷️ Oloth plynn dos! - Darkness take you! (curse, spoken to a non-drow / surfacer)

🕷️ [House name] ulu usstan! - [House name] to me! (to rally comrades in battle)

🕷️ [House name] ultrin! - [House name] supreme! (battle cry)

Common sayings:

🕷️ Jal khaless zhah waela - All trust is foolish

🕷️ Oloth zhah tuth abbil lueth ogglin - Darkness is both friend and enemy

🕷️ Xun izil dos phuul quarthen, lueth dro - Do as you are ordered, and live

🕷️ Lolth tlu malla; jal ultrinnan zhah xundus - Lolth be praised; all victory is her doing

🕷️ Ilharessen zhaunil alurl - [Matron] Mothers know best

🕷️ Lil alurl velve zhah lil velkyn uss - The best knife is the unseen one

🕷️ Lil waela lueth waela ragar brorna - lueth wund nind, kyorlin elghinn - The foolish and unwary find surprises - and among them, waiting death (waela can mean either "foolish" or "unwary", so maybe the meaning depends on pronunciation?)

🕷️ Khaless nau uss mzild taga dosstan - Trust no one more than yourself

🕷️ Nindyn vel'uss kyorl nind ratha thalra elghinn dal lil alust - Those who watch their backs meet death from the front

🕷️ Ulu z'hin maglust dal Qu'ellar lueth Valsharess zhah ulu z'hin wund lil phalar - To walk apart from House and Queen [Lolth] is to walk into the grave

🕷️ Kyorl jal bauth, kyone, lueth lil Quarvalsharess xal belbau dos lil belbol del elendar dro - Watch all about, warily, and the Goddess [Lolth] may give you the gift of continued life

🕷️ Vel'uss zhaun alur taga lil Quarvalsharess? - Who knows better than the Goddess [Lolth]?

Many of these sayings sound more like warnings against making deadly mistakes (from the point of view of an average Lolth-sworn drow): rejecting Lolth, rejecting the House, disobeying someone of higher station, lacking caution, lacking common sense and trusting someone.

For more of my drow lore ramblings, feel free to check my pinned post 🕷️

[sorcerous-caress]

[couchtaro]

Izen

Third D&D floriograph is Izen, drider Way of Mercy monk and Undying (I think) warlock belonging to @justabitscrewy! DM is @bacoj8

Flowers

Rye: apostasy, condemnation, disgust, mockery

Barley: grain of life, false justice. The ancient Greeks sometimes determined guilt through a method of divination called alphitomancy: when someone in a group was suspected of a crime, the members of the group would be fed barley cakes or slices of barley bread. Supposedly, the guilty party would get indigestion, while all others would feel well.

Calathea: beginning anew

Begonia: Repaying a favor. While begonias most often carry a message of warning, a 17th century botanist named them after a plant collector (Michel Begon) who had done him a favor, lending them the additional meaning of grateful repayment.

Heather (Calluna vulgaris): healing from within, the inner self. Purple heather specifically means solitude.

Cockscomb Amaranth (Celosia): affection, fashion, partnerships, silliness

Bengal fig (Ficus benghalensis): meditation, reflection, self-awareness

Elderberry (Sambucus): death, rebirth, transformation, kindness

Durian (Durio): Night, misleading appearances. Durian flowers are nocturnal; they close during the day and open at night so they can be pollinated by fruit bats. In some places, durians are banned in public places because of their powerfully unpleasant smell. However, those willing to look past first impressions can enjoy the delicious fruit.

Check out the rest of the Pringles Party!

Theseus | Yancy | Phaela | “Red”

[swordmaid]

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

[plesiosaurys]

i love minthara. shes like a classic poor little meow meow but shes a WOMAN. #feminism

[selunesfavouriteprincess]

welcome to my wyllmancer Soldaer: swashbuckler rogue, flamboyant criminal, and all-round mummy’s boy

despite appearing fully drow he’s actually half-drow, but not in the way you’d think.

his father was a drow second son who escaped the Underdark and eventually settled down with a high elf woman, making Soldaer half-drow and half-high elf. his mother’s side of the family run a moderately lucrative merchant company, so while Soldaer didn’t grow up rich he was certainly comfortable, and as the only child and apple of his mother’s eye he got almost everything he ever asked for. to put it simply, he’s a bit of a spoiled brat.

now a young man, he’s taking some time for his “wild years” before he settles down and joins the family business. and wild they are; he’s developed a taste for shiny things and fine art, and when he can’t afford them he has developed an innovative new technique called simply taking it anyway. it’s more of a hobby for him than a career, and he only sells on those art pieces he doesn’t want to keep for himself, but with his debonair personality and boyish charm he’s developing a bit of a name for himself as the Gentleman Art Thief of Neverwinter.

now please enjoy this photo of the Totally Normal And Not Suspicious Leather Armour Crew I took with the patch 8 photo mode