卓尔精灵
当源初精灵们成为凡人时,对两位互相诋毁的神祗的忠诚不断撕扯着她们。而那次分裂以罗丝撤退到深渊,她的追随者们被放逐到无底深渊告终。这次放逐使得胜利者们再一次欢聚在阿梵多享受和平生活,而不曾为裂隙做出任何弥补。
这些失败的精灵们在几个世纪的时间内杳无音讯。长时间的居住在黑暗中,吸收着无底深渊中有害的的辐射,以其中腐坏污染的食物和水维生,并且经常向他们的神祈求指引并践行她的恶毒指示,罗丝的信徒们逐渐转化成了卓尔精灵——残酷的,掠夺成性的,邪恶的精灵亚种。
When the primal elves chose to take the forms of mortals, they were one people split by conflicting loyalty to gods who reviled each other. The schism led to a conflict that ended with Lolth retreating to the Abyss and her adherents exiled to the Underdark. This banishment enabled the victors to once again live in peace on Arvandor but did nothing to heal the rift.
The vanquished elves weren't seen or heard from again for centuries. Throughout that age of residing in the darkness, absorbing the unhealthy emanations of the Underdark, subsisting on its tainted water and food, and always beseeching their god for guidance and following her poisonous dictates, Lolth's worshipers gradually transformed into the drow: the cruel, predatory, and wicked offshoot of the elf race.
罗丝的写照REFLECTIONS OF LOLTH
在卓尔们年长到懂事开始,他们便被教导“卓尔比任何其他种族更优秀”,原因在于,即使生存如此不易,他们仍然坚定不移地侍奉着罗丝。任何非卓尔的生物只配献祭给罗丝,用作奴隶,或者给他们训养来巡逻城市和通道的巨蜘蛛当饲料。
From the time they're old enough to understand, drow are taught that they're superior to all other creatures, for they remain steadfast in their devotion to Lolth despite the hardships of their existence. Any creature that isn't a drow is useful only as a sacrifice to Lolth as a slave or as fodder for the giant spiders that the d~ow train t~ patrol their cities and tunnels.
在所有其他低等生命中,生活在阳光下的精灵最遭卓尔们鄙夷,因为他们是很早以前背叛罗丝的源初精灵们的后代。他们先是接受了罗丝提出的成为凡人的建议,为了主宰命运;尔后又起而反抗她,做着徒劳的努力,期望重获科瑞隆的青睐。卓尔们把这些精灵看成胆怯的孩子,在暗地里讲者父母的坏话,却在他们回家时躲藏在角落,害怕坏事被发现。
Among these other, lesser forms of life, the elves that live in sunlight are especially despised because they are descended from the primal elves who betrayed Lolth so long ago. First they accepted Lolth's offer of mortality in return for destiny, but then they turned against her in a pathetic effort to win back Corellon's favor. Drow view the elves of the surface world as cowardly children who defy their parents when they're not around but cower in the corner when their parents return, terrified of having their bad behavior found out.
对罗丝的崇敬渗透进了卓尔生活的每一个角落,所有的黑暗精灵无时无刻不在揣度她的喜乐。任何事件或自然特征都可以解释为她的暗示,而女祭司们会迅速将这似是而非的暗示解释为对自己有利的一面。
Reverence for Lolth touches every aspect of drow life. All dark elves constantly watch for signs of her favor. Any incident or physical feature can be interpreted as such a sign, and priestesses are quick to attach meanings to obscure omens that benefit their own interests.
所有这些取悦罗丝的努力是一种充满智慧的预防措施。即使罗丝栖息在无底深渊中,她也不是遥远的神灵。她有时候把最虔诚的信徒的灵魂拽到深坑魔网,让他遭受她的考验。她的追随者们从不知道他们是否将于何时接受考验。那些声称自己遭受考验并通过了的人将被回报以卓尔的恭敬与升官加爵。即使有人成功撒谎声称自己经受住了罗丝的考验,他仍能收到同伴们的尊敬,因为撒出如此弥天大谎也能证明他对罗丝的价值。(谎言与阴谋在卓尔社会中一向无所不能——译注)然而这次,谎言与阴谋也没办法救回那些在考验中失败的卓尔了,因为确凿的证据表明在深坑魔网失败的卓尔灵魂会被转生成一只蛛化精灵。
Though she resides in the Abyss, the Spider Queen isn't a distant god. She sometimes tests her most faithful by drawing their spirits to her in the Demonweb to undergo her judgment. Followers never know when or if they are to be tested. One who claims to have undergone the test and passed it is rewarded with respect and elevated status. Even someone who successfully lies about having taken the test can earn the respect of their peers, since perpetrating this falsehood is a way of proving one's worth to Lolth. Lying and conniving can't save those who fail the test, however, because the evidence of such an outcome is immediately obvious- a drow whose spirit has failed its test in the Demonweb Pits becomes transformed into a drider.
当罗丝被侍奉的不错时,她以宠爱回报她的信徒们。当她遭到反抗时,她以她的形态来到无底深渊,以自己的方式亲自动手惩罚冒犯者,并以此警示那些谋划反抗她的人。也许像这样对冒犯者杀鸡儆猴仅仅是罗丝残酷个性的冰山一角。也许这也印证了罗丝从科瑞隆在她背叛后如何对付她中学到了很多——任何一点反抗的星星之火必须在形成燎原之势前掐灭。
When Lolth is well served, she rewards her faithful with favors. When she is defied, she visits the Underdark in one of her forms and takes a direct hand in punishing the malefactor in a manner that discourages anyone who might be contemplating a similar kind of disobedience. Perhaps making an example of malcontents in this way is simply an aspect of how Lolth's cruel personality works. It also might be evidence of a lesson that she learned all too well from the way Corellon reacted to her betrayal of him: the smallest flame of resistance must be snuffed out before it grows into a conflagration.
沐浴在血与毒的社区
在卓尔文化与社会中,最基本的组织结构便是家族——一个由许多家庭,连带着许多效忠于他们的低等家族组成的庞大组织。一个家族的成员同时也囊括了许多(很可能是很多)签订了契约的卓尔仆人和其他种类的奴隶。一个家族通常专注于一门生意,一项服务,或者一种手工来为家族开源。
The principal organization in drow culture and society is the house, an extended clan that comprises many related families, plus a number of lesser families who have pledged loyalty to the house. A house's membership also includes some (potentially very large) number of indentured drow servants and slaves of other species. A house usually specializes in a business, a service, or a craft that supports by providing income.
诸家族无时无刻不在互相竞争。他们争夺金钱,攀比声望,而最为重要的,便是争夺凌驾于其他家族的权力——罗丝的首肯。
Houses are in constant competition with one another. They vie for money, for prestige, and, more than anything else, for power over others- the surest sign of Lolth's approval.
在这场无尽的争斗中,计策层出不穷,没有下限。突袭其他家族的偏远财产(比如说洞穴农场,贸易商队,狩猎小队)仅仅是家常便饭。背叛的传言,对地表精灵谋划阴谋,以及对罗丝的异端邪说实在是太稀松平常了,以至于没有卓尔知道应该何去何从。暗杀,无论是通过刀刃还是特制的卓尔毒药,都是时时刻刻地威胁。因此对身居高位的卓尔来说,贴身保镖和试毒者如同空气和水一样不可缺少。在一个家族内部,亲戚间随时可能为了争取地位而争吵。很罕见的,作为公开的秘密,有卓尔为了自己的晋升之路暗杀自己的父母和兄弟姐妹。
No tactic is outside the rules in this ongoing conflict. Raids against another house's outlying property (farming caverns, trade caravans, or hunting parties) are commonplace. Rumors about disloyalty, conspiracies with surface elves, or heresy against Lolth are circulated so frequently that no one knows what to be sure of. Assassinations, both by blade and by the use of special drow poisons, are a constant threat. Bodyguards and food tasters are as necessary to the survival of a high-ranking drow as air and water. Squabbles within a house also occur from time to time as relatives jockey for position. It's a rare occurrence, though far from unknown, for drow to assassinate their own parents or siblings if that's what it takes to create a path for advancement.
没有太阳的城市
或许卓尔们不是主动选择居住在幽暗地域的,但他们把幽暗地域视作他们的家,而不是囚牢。正如海精灵们适应了他们的海底王国,卓尔们早已适应了幽暗地域的残酷生存环境。他们远离阳光如此之久,以至于他们再也不能忍受阳光触碰他们的皮肤,这也是为什么他们偏好于在晚上“拜访”地表的原因。
The drow might have not chosen to live in the Underdark, but just the same they consider it their home, not a prison. Just as the sea elves adapted to their aquatic realm, the drow have long been accustomed to the harsh conditions of life in the Underdark. They've lived away from sunlight for so long that they can't bear the touch of it on their flesh, and thus they prefer to visit the surface only at night.
虽然卓尔们居住在地底,他们可比穴居人厉害多了。他们的城市毫不逊色于地表精灵建造的,而且他们的防守更加密不透风。他们最重要的城市坐落于巨大的,镂空的钟乳石与石笋中,入口皆有守卫看守。
Even though they Live underground, drow are much more than cave-dwellers. Their cities are as magnificent as anything built by surface elves, and their defenses are even more secure. Their most important sites are located inside immense, hollowed-out stalactites and stalagmites, with entrances well guarded.
边栏:蛛化精灵:所有low逼卓尔里最low的 LOWEST OF THE Low
非卓尔种族们有着各种关于关于蛛化精灵的误解和迷惑,但所有的黑暗精灵都十分清楚卓尔精灵们是——失败者。他们要么在罗丝的测试中表现糟糕,要么在其他方面冒犯了她
Much confusion and misinformation exists about driders among non-drow, but all dark elves know exactly what driders are: failures. They have either fared badly in Lolth's test or displeased her in some other way.
当蛛化精灵的转化完成时,这位“新晋的”蛛化精灵便会被他的家族遗弃,并且被社区流放,只携带着些许粗劣的补给和头脑中关于幽暗地域的知识来保护自己。卓尔们聚集在一起,朝着这个失魂落魄的生物扔石子,驱赶他到城市背后的荒凉通道里。如果他走了霉运,它会被树绳妖袭击,被食腐虫纠缠,或被另一位蛛化精灵刺穿胸膛。如果他运气够好,他能找到一个安全的庇护所,作为自己恢复期间的容身之处。
Once its transformation has taken hold, a newly created drider is shunned by its house and exiled from the com· munity, with nothing but a few meager supplies and its knowledge of the Underdark to protect it. Drow congregate to throw stones at the still-dazed creature and drive it into the tunnels beyond the city's environs. If it's unlucky, it's attacked by a roper, a carrion crawler, or another drider. If it's lucky, the new drider finds a safe place to hide while its wounds heal.
蛛化精灵的流放之旅就此拉开序幕。另一个广泛的误解是蛛化精灵们以先锋斥候,精英部队,甚至神风突击队的形式为卓尔们服务。但事实上他们根本不做这些事。他们作为被歧视的离群者,生活在卓尔领地边缘。即使卓尔们谩骂蛛化精灵,他们却不动手杀掉蛛化精灵,因为对蛛化精灵的惩罚只能是悲惨而漫长的后半生。处决他们只会打断罗丝的处罚,很可能引火烧身,受到同样的判决。
So begins a drider's life in exile. Another widespread misunderstanding about driders is that they serve the drow as pickets, elite troops, or even suicide squads. They do none of those things. They are despised outcasts who live on the fringes of drow territory. Even though drow revile driders, they don't kill them, because a drider's pun· ishment is to live a long life in wretchedness. Killing one would cut short Lolth's judgment and possibly earn the same sentence for the perpetrator.
那些存活许久的蛛化精灵们可能变成幽暗地域的熟练的猎手与旅行家。卓尔社区的大门永远不可能对蛛化精灵们再次打开,但有时候一位蛛化卓尔可能在卓尔之外的社区为自己找到一席之地。那些需要幽暗地域向导的人,或许找不到比一位在各路通道中摸爬滚打多年的蛛化卓尔更适合的人了。
Driders that survive for a long time can become accomplished hunters and navigators in the Underdark. Nothing will reopen the doors of drow society to them, but some· times a drider can find a place in another community. Someone who needs a guide through the Underdark might not find a better one than a centuries-old drider that has faced every hazard those tunnels hold.
主母的规则
在卓尔社会中,女性有着至高无上的地位。家族的大脑永远是一位精明的商人,一位技艺精湛的战术家,和一位罗丝的女祭司,还很可能有着一位手上沾满鲜血的无情刺客。与其他种族不同的是,女性卓尔通常比男性卓尔更高更强壮。
Females are the top figures in drow society. At the head of each house is someone who is a shrewd business operator, a skilled tactician, a high priestess of Lolth, and probably also a merciless assassin with blood on her hands. Unlike with many other races, female drow are typically taller and more robust than males.
为了达到权力的顶峰,一位女性卓尔必须首先成为罗丝的女祭司。在此之后,为了成为高阶女祭司,她必须背靠强大的后台或者有着特殊的联盟。通往权力顶峰的道路总是曲折蜿蜒,并且由尸骨铺就。
To rise to the top echelons of power, a female must first become a priestess of Lolth. Then, to ascend to the status of high priestess, she must take advantage of powerful connections or craft special alliances. The path to ultimate power in drow society is never direct and is always paved with death.
一名男性卓尔可能成为无双的战士,consort,或者两者皆可。漂亮的身材和健康的体魄一向受到女性卓尔的青睐,而那些特别受宠的男卓尔收到来自女主人的庇护和礼物。一小部分男性可以在社区中取得极高的地位,尤其是那些男性法师,但他们永远不能盖过家族中女性的风头。无论哪个城市哪个家族,即使最机智,最意志坚定,最狡猾的男性也永远只能屈居二线。只要罗丝仍然稳坐女王之位,这种形势永远不会改变。
A male drow can advance in standing as a combatant, a consort, or both. Physical beauty and fitness are highly prized in male drow, and those who are especially favored in this regard can earn protection and gifts from their matrons. A few males can attain high status in their society, especially those who serve as mages, but they never overshadow the females of their houses. Even the most intelligent, strong-willed, and devious male will never be more than a second-class citizen in any drow city or house. That situation will never change as long as Lolth reigns as their queen.