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Originally posted by Zireael

And there's always Irae T'sarran, the drow albino. Her kind even had their own name in Greyhawk, don't remember it though.

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Originally posted by Laerrigan

Actually, albinism always produces visual problems, which are due to poorly-developed retina (due to lack of melanin in it) and abnormal nerve connections. There is occular albinism, which affects only the eyes on an otherwise normally-pigmented person, and the visible indications of albinism range all the way to "classic" Type A, with cornflower or lavender eyes (not pink for eyes as large as a human's, unless light reflects directly out of them, like red-eye in a photo), pale skin, and white or cornsilk hair.

Check out albinism on Wikipedia. Even better, NOAH (National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation) has some great info, along with forums where you can read stuff straight from people who actually have albinism, and talk with them. "People with albinism always have problems with vision (not correctable with eyeglasses) and many have low vision. The degree of vision impairment varies with the different types of albinism and many people with albinism are “legally blind,” but most use their vision for many tasks including reading and do not use Braille. Some people with albinism have sufficient vision to drive a car. Vision problems in albinism result from abnormal development of the retina and abnormal patterns of nerve connections between the eye and the brain. It is the presence of these eye problems that defines the diagnosis of albinism. Therefore the main test for albinism is simply an eye examination. " (from NOAH's site, specifically "What is Albinism?," emphasis mine) I'm not trying to chew on anyone, I've just long found the subject fascinating and so much research is available nowadays, with the Net .

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Originally posted by Beppe63

Hello,

someone remember of any official human or half-human albinos in the Realms? And, in case, where I can find information about him/them (also novel)?

Thanks in advance for any help.

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Originally posted by Markustay

Yes he did.

Ed's originals were 'white', and thats why he gave them a nod when he wrote 2e's DotU.

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Ed makes reply this time to this Wooly Rupert query: “Was the Underdark always part of the Realms, or was it something that was added later? Ditto for drow: did the Realms always have dark elves, or were they a later addition? And if dark elves in the Realms pre-dated drow, what were they like?”
Ed speaks:



The Realms always had multi-layered underground “realms atop realms,” though I called them “the Realms Below” or “the Deep Realms” (the latter being a dwarven term for their kingdoms, that humans had corrupted into applying more broadly to all subterranean lands), with glowing fungi, underground glowing magical radiations (that among other things made mosses, lichens, and myconids grow with incredible speed), lava flows, convection currents (deep to near-surface and back again) among water flows, fungi that derived nutrients from the waters and cleaned them of creature dung and taints in the process . . . and so on. I just hadn’t coined or heard of the later (TSR, Greyhawk) term “Underdark,” and so didn’t apply it to my underworld. (You may someday see more of my original subterranean lands concepts in a novel or novels from another publisher, BTW, though that’s very much still “up in the air.”)
The Realms always had subterranean-dwelling (with fortified “forward bases” on the surface, e.g. the Twisted Tower of Ashaba), evil, jaded, and sophisticated elven families - - very much akin to the Borgias or to the drow houses as we first saw them in the series of modules that were much later collected and updated as Queen of the Spiders, though mine were neither dark-skinned nor called either “drow” or “dark elves” (exception: in certain ballads that I penned circa 1970-72, they were POETICALLY referred to as “dark,” meaning fell or evil rather than skin pigmentation, which I envisaged as dead-pale pearly white). My subterranean elves needed foodstuffs, wood, and textiles from the surface, and so had to trade (gems, magic [especially potions], poison antidotes derived from underground plants, fungi and potent cordials made from fermented fungi) with certain bold and unscrupulous surface-world merchants, for such needs.
I saw my elf houses (the Starym, retreated from Myth Drannor, among them) as haughty esthetes who viewed dwarves as their true foes, gnomes as degenerate dwarves, and humans, halflings, orcs, and all crossbreeds as “children” so far beneath elves in their intelligence and cultural development as to be dismissed as little better than animals able to follow instructions (hence, ideal slaves who could be collected, bred for traits, experimented upon with herbs, poisons, magic, and surgeries, hunted or used in races, fights, and other sports for amusement / entertainment / betting purposes, and so on).
As you can see, once the Code of Ethics swept away most of the nastier details of how my under-elves treated other races, all of this could easily be squared with the “official” D&D drow, when the Realms became an official TSR setting.
I eventually had great fun doing the Menzoberranzan boxed set, especially the maps and spells, and still consider Bob Salvatore’s HOMELAND a “classic” fantasy novel, not just one of the best (if not THE best; I recently described Rich Baker’s THE FORSAKEN HOUSE as the best-written Realms book yet, but that’s not quite the same thing) Realms novel. (Please note that neither is my personal favourite; though it’s hard to pick just one title for that honour, I still best love going back to Elaine’s ELFSHADOW every so often.)

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Originally posted by Fillow

Does someone remember the elfic name for albino drows please ?

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Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

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Originally posted by Tyranthraxus

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Drow vary in shape, features, and hair
color as greatly as humans do. The only
exception to this rule is their uniformly
jet-black skin (the few exceptions tend to
be bone-white albinos).

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Drow of the Underdark FRO2, page 5.

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That I found. Not the szarkai and ghost spider bits.

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Originally posted by Tyranthraxus

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Drow vary in shape, features, and hair
color as greatly as humans do. The only
exception to this rule is their uniformly
jet-black skin (the few exceptions tend to
be bone-white albinos).

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Drow of the Underdark FRO2, page 5.

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Drow vary in shape, features, and hair
color as greatly as humans do. The only
exception to this rule is their uniformly
jet-black skin (the few exceptions tend to
be bone-white albinos).

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Originally posted by Duneth Despana

They are called the szarkai wich means "ghost spiders" and are described in Drow of the Underdark. Apparently they are easily mistaken for surface elves, to answer the question above..well it's what the text says.

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Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

I'm curious as to what brought up this question...

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Originally posted by Dunkey

There was an albino drow in the Maztica series of novels. Also look in the Sembia series about Tazi and her adventures in Thay. I can't remember the name of the book at the moment.

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Originally posted by Thelonius

Then it may be blinded, as drows is I am concerned, suffer some sun-blinding... If a drow has weak sun-light eyes, this combined with an albino weak sight will result as a blind, or at least day-blind drow...

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Originally posted by Thelonius

Now I am curious, how drow society, or whatever society would react in front of such an event? Can an albino drow hide in the surface as a normal elf? The charastericthic feat of a drow is his dark skin, ... so. If it's not that the white skin is "too white", if you know what I mean...

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