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Jorkens
Great Reader
Norway
2950 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Jan 2007 : 08:11:46
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I saw the mentioning of male Medusa's in a previous post. I was just wondering, does this mean that the Maedar are now replaced or are these male Medusa's more or less the same as the creature from the older ed.?
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2007 : 11:12:56
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There is a novel that features a "male medusa," . . . I won't give away anything else, but it seems to indicate that he is just like a female medusa, although he appears to be completely human except for the "snakes for hair" thing. Further reinforcing this is the fact that in City of the Spider Queen there is a male medusa statted out in an encounter.
I'm still trying to figure out how to reconcile all of this without invalidating old lore. For example, its possible that the male offspring of a medusa could be born either as a male medusa or as a maedar, and that male medusa aren't able to reproduce with female medusa, but could be cross fertile with humans, etc., and that their offspring would be maedar.
I know, it seems needlessly convoluted, but somehow I think it can still be tweaked to keep Maedar in existance while acknowledging the new lore about male medusa. |
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Jorkens
Great Reader
Norway
2950 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2007 : 11:33:02
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Hm, I think the maedar has enough background that I would keep it in Faerun. Maybe the male medusa is a rare, sterile, weaker result of a medusa mating with a human. Or it could be a result of ancient magic that made a subspecies that had members of both sexes. These have only recently made their way to the more central areas of Faerun. I wonder how the maedars reaction would be to those though? This might lead to some campaign ideas.
Seems like I can still find a way to use the maedar without going completely against cannon. Just out of curiosity, there hasn't been a 3ed. version of the maedar, has there? |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2007 : 15:53:16
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| Not that I've been aware of there has been no 3/3.5e version. It seems, as Knight said, that the old version has been replaced. :( |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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RodOdom
Senior Scribe
USA
509 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2007 : 17:03:23
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| In the recent novel "Lady of Poisin" the main character is a male half-medusa. |
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Jorkens
Great Reader
Norway
2950 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2007 : 17:33:22
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I seem to remember the maedar first being mentioned in one of Ed's old Dragon articles. For this reason alone I would keep them in the realms, plus, they were one of the more interesting "monsters" in the game. I will have to dig up that article a little later.
It is of course simpler to have males and females of the medusa species, but that would be a little like having male harpies. I will have to think about this.
Well, thanks for the help guys. |
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Drunken Master
Acolyte
USA
39 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jan 2007 : 19:09:14
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I don't care for the idea of male medusa - and certainly not male harpies.
I was always a big fan of the maedar, though... sad to see 'em go :( |
Erik Nowak
Graphic Designer, Blackdirge Publishing |
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Ardashir
Senior Scribe
USA
544 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jan 2008 : 23:23:48
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Wasn't the maedar done for 3.5 in the last Dragon 'Creature Catalog'?
And while we're talking medusas and maedar, does anyone remember any Realms-specific information about them? |
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Jorkens
Great Reader
Norway
2950 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jan 2008 : 11:17:24
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quote:
Originally posted by Ardashir
Wasn't the maedar done for 3.5 in the last Dragon 'Creature Catalog'?
And while we're talking medusas and maedar, does anyone remember any Realms-specific information about them?
The Anauroch book of the Elminster ecologies has a bit about the creatures if I remember correctly. I also think Ed wrote an Ecology article about the Maedar in an old Dragon magazine. |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31799 Posts |
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freyar
Learned Scribe
Canada
220 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jan 2008 : 15:07:34
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quote:
Originally posted by Ardashir
Wasn't the maedar done for 3.5 in the last Dragon 'Creature Catalog'?
Yes, in Dragon #355. If you don't have that issue, you can also find a 3.5e version here, I think done by the same people who submitted it to Dragon.
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My DnD Links and Creations |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 23 Jan 2008 : 19:02:45
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While doing the research for the two stonelands maps, I came across an entry for Medusa living in the Hunter's Hills, between Anauroch and the Stonelands, and they made a rather big deal about their being a 'hive' of such creatures, which is rare, bacause they are normally solitary. The thing that kept them together though was a small group of Maeder living there, and the Medusae protected them and took care of them (not unlike the way female lions take care of the males).
I always thought that that the Maeder had been ret-conned as the Maenads in the EPH, but there's really no logical reason for that other then the similarities in name.
In the Utter East thread over at WotC, we postulated the existance of two sub-species of Medusae - the S'stheno, which has the lower body of a serpent, and the Euryale, which had wings. We came up with the serpent-variant to explain why sometimes meduse are pictured that way, and they made another nifty 'Sarruhk experiment'. We had no back-story for the Euryale, but it just seemed like their should be a sub-type for each of the ones from Greek Mythology. The Euryale are very rare, and perhaps date back to a time when the Aeraee were trying to copy some of the Sarrukh magics.
Not exactly having to do with the topic, sorry, but I thought a little new lore couldn't hurt. 
I do like KEJr & Jorken's takes on them - with the Male Medusae being infertile (impotent?), and the product of Human/Medusa pairings. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 23 Jan 2008 19:04:53 |
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Ardashir
Senior Scribe
USA
544 Posts |
Posted - 26 Sep 2008 : 19:02:46
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quote:
Originally posted by Kuje
Not that I've been aware of there has been no 3/3.5e version. It seems, as Knight said, that the old version has been replaced. :(
I think they did the maedar in Dragon's last Creature Collection, though if you're using 3.5 its chalenge rating seems a bit low to be a good match for the medusa (4 for the maedar, 7 for the medusa).
But yeah, I like the maedar. It's an old Realms beastie, isn't it? I seem to remember them from a Dragon 'Ecology Of' article from back before they hit 100.
EDIT: Auugh! Sorry, I forgot that I already posted here. |
Edited by - Ardashir on 26 Sep 2008 19:03:28 |
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Are Maedar still found in the Realms?
