夜空的守望者 2007-12-29 14:15
一个分裂的民族 精灵的内战，分裂，和重生
[color=Red]本文原作者及版权所有者为：Ed Greenwood和Wizards of Coast公司；除中文译本外，本人对此篇文章不拥有任何权力。本人系英文翻译爱好者，翻译此文的目的是用于提高自身翻译水平。本人将译文贴于此论坛是为了让朋友给本人的翻译提出意见。本文禁止以任何形式传播，转载，歪曲，借鉴，改编，严禁将本人文章用于任何谋取商业利益的行为；对于传播本人文章所引起的任何法律问题，本人概不负责。[/color]
[color=RoyalBlue]作者：James Wyatt
翻译：夜空的守望者
来源：[url]http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20071221&authentic=true[/url][/color]
[color=Magenta]A Fractured Family....Elvish Strife, Separation, and Rebirth
一个分裂的民族
精灵的内战，分裂，和重生[/color]
Once they were a single race: The elves say they were elves, the eladrin say they were eladrin. The drow say they were debased, unfinished, and fatally flawed, and would have stayed that way but for the help of Lolth.
他们曾经是同一个种族：精灵称他们为精灵，eladrin称他们为eladrin，而卓尔则称他们是下贱的，未开化的，有致命缺陷，因为有了罗丝的帮助才能得以升华。
In the younger days of creation, a fey race walked the borders between the world and the Feywild. Corelllon and the two sisters, Sehanine and Lolth, delighted in this race, for all three gods saw in them the qualities they most valued. Corelllon prized them for their artistry, their innate sense for the ebb and flow of magic, their song, and their fierce anger in battle. Sehanine loved their stealth, their gentle footsteps in the shadows of the forest, and their curiosity and wonder at the newborn world. And Lolth particularly enjoyed those who sought power and seized it, who spied and schemed to achieve their goals, who showed no mercy to their enemies or their rivals.
在造物之初，在世界和精灵之野（Feywild）的边缘生存着一个超凡的种族。由于在他们身上发现了自己最看重的品质，科瑞隆和一对姐妹,莎罕妮（Sehanine）和 罗丝都眷爱这个种族。科瑞隆赞赏他们的艺术天赋和生来对魔法奥妙的感悟，他们的歌声以及在战场上的勇猛。莎罕妮则欣赏他们的潜行能力，以及在林荫下优雅的步伐，还有他们对这个刚刚诞生的世界的好奇与惊讶。而罗丝则特别宠信那些权欲强烈，为了目标精明算计，对对手和敌人毫不留情的个体
For this young race, like most of the fey, had a very different sense of morality from that of other races. Moradin, Pelor, and Bahamut taught their followers the noble path of law and good, encouraged them to shun evil, value life, and build societies that protected their weaker citizens. The elves, though, were as changing as the seasons and the moon, mercurial in their passions. 科瑞隆 taught them to love beauty and savor life but to kill in an ecstatic fury of blasting magic and whirling blade when they faced their enemies in battle. Sehanine taught them to find their own paths without any particular ethical code. And Lolth extended Sehanine 's doctrine to its extreme, teaching the elves to place their own goals above all other cares and to stop at nothing to achieve them.
这个年轻的种族，就就象大部分fey种族一样，有与其他种族完全不同的道德感。摩拉丁，培罗和巴哈姆特教导他们的追随者高贵的法律和道德之路，鼓励他们避开邪恶，珍重生命，建设一个保护弱者的社会。而精灵，个性飘忽不定，科瑞隆教导他们热爱美丽，享受生活；在战场上用奔狂的魔法和飞快旋转的刀刃痛击敌人。莎罕妮教导他们直视自己的内心，不为外物所羁绊。而罗丝则将莎罕妮的法则极端化，她告戒精灵把自己的目标放在第一位，不息一切代价也要实现自己的目的。
The elves as a race were neither good nor evil -- they didn't think in those terms. They enjoyed beauty and pleasure, and many of them found pleasure in kindness and beauty in every facet of life, and so acted in good ways. Still, they might inflict pain or even death, not out of cruelty, but purely out of curiosity. Others found pleasure in causing pain, and turned their path to evil.
精灵是一个即不好也不坏的种族——他们并不认为自己属于任何一个阵营。他们热爱美和欢乐，其中的多数亦能够体验善行带来的的欢乐和发现生活的美好，并因此品行端正。当然，他们也会造成痛苦甚至死亡，但这并不出与邪恶，而仅仅是由于好奇。其他人则喜好把自己的快乐建立在他人的痛苦之上，并逐渐踏上邪恶之路。
Sehanine, god of the full moon, was fair-skinned and dark-haired, while Lolth, god of the new moon, was the opposite. As the race of elves spread and built their first cities, Lolth marked her favorites -- those elves who delighted in murder and destruction -- by matching their coloration to hers. Even before Lolth 's rebellion, these dark-skinned elves began to claim the name of drow, an ugly Elven word that refers to the things that haunt the night.
莎罕妮，满月之神，有着白皙的皮肤和暗色的头发，而罗丝，新月之神，则完全相反。当精灵种族日益壮大，开始建造他们第一座城市的时候，罗丝改变了她所宠幸者的外貌，使他们和她看起来一样。这些精灵都乐意与谋杀和破坏。在罗丝背叛之前，这些黑皮肤的精灵开始自称卓尔，在精灵语中这是个污秽的词语，意指那些在夜晚出没的邪恶之物。
Up to this point, the legends and histories of the three races mostly agree. Some details may differ – most notably the name by which the unified race was known -- but the broad outline is the same. With the rebellion of Lolth, however, the histories diverge. They agree on the fact of Lolth 's revolt: She turned against her sister and Corelllon and led her chosen ones in battle against the other elves. The reason for her revolt is less clear. The most common legends include the following:
到这里为止，三个种族的历史和传说基本一致。只有一些细节上的差别，主要是关于这个统一的种族的名字，但大体上是一致的。关于罗丝的背叛，虽然历史有区别，但关于罗丝反叛的事实却是一致：她与科瑞隆、莎罕妮的对立导致了她的信徒与其他的精灵兵刃相见。关于罗丝的背叛的原因不详。最常见的传说包括了以下内容：
􀁺 Lolth grew tired of sharing her power and authority with Sehanine and tried to kill her sister, to claim the shadows and the moon as her exclusive domain.
􀁺 Lolth was jealous of the affection between Corelllon and her sister and tried to kill one or the other of them.
􀁺 Lolth descended into the Elemental Chaos and even plumbed the Abyss in a search for knowledge or power, and she made alliances with demons -- and then Corelllon and Sehanine sought to punish her blasphemy.
􀁺 Or Lolth believed that her chosen people should rule the elf race and led them to seize power, which only then resulted in conflict among the gods.
􀁺罗丝厌恶了与莎罕妮分享权利，试图杀死她的妹妹，独占阴影和月亮的领域；
􀁺罗丝嫉妒莎罕妮和科瑞隆之间的亲密关系，试图杀掉其中一人；
􀁺为了探寻知识和权利，罗丝开始涉及混乱的领域，甚至拜访无底深渊，与恶魔结盟。这样的亵渎行为自然使科瑞隆和莎罕妮不得不对其施加惩罚；
􀁺还有一种可能是，罗丝认定她的信徒理应统治精灵族，因此怂恿其夺取权利，最终导致了神氏之间的冲突；
Whatever the reason for the revolt of Lolth and the drow, the consequences were devastating. War tore through the shining fey cities and consumed the woodlands of the world with fire. Some say that the world and the Feywild grew more distant from each other, making passage between them more difficult and driving a wedge between the elves who favored one over the other. Ultimately, the drow were cut off and banished from elf and eladrin communities, driven into the dark places of the world, the Feywild, and the Shadowfell. Lolth made her home in the Abyss, taking the title of the Demon Queen of Spiders.
无论罗丝背叛和堕落的原因是什么，其结果是灾难性的。战争磨平了精灵的城市，烧光了世界的林地。有人甚至认为这场战争使精灵之野更加远离了这个世界，导致两个地方的来往更加困难，对两个世界各有偏爱使精灵之间因此出现了分裂。最后，卓尔被从精灵和eladrin中驱逐流放，流落到世界，精灵之野和Shadowfell的各个黑暗角落，罗丝则在无底深渊安家，成为了恶魔蛛后。
随着叛乱的结束，精灵，eladrin，和卓尔成为了三个不同的种族。他们都被家园的环境和其所信仰的神氏改变了外貌。
[b]Elves: A Closer Look
精灵：详细地描述[/b]
Whatever the history and legend of their origin, the elves of the present day are
very much creatures of the world. Though still fey in their nature, they are attuned to the world and its primal power, at home in the woodlands, and they live in harmony with the beasts and trees that share their home.
无论起源的历史和传说如何描述，现在的精灵已经是这个世界的一个重要种族。当然他们保留了天性，将其本质与世界和谐统一，在林地安家，在家园里的野兽和树木和睦共处。
Since the revolt of the drow, the elves have walked quietly over the earth, leaving little trace. As kingdoms and empires grew and collapsed -- the human realm of Nerath, the dragonborn Arkhosia, the tiefling Bael Turath, and countless nations before them -- the elves remained in their woodland homes, mostly unaffected by the rise and fall of nations. On a few occasions, the eladrin built kingdoms in the world. Sometimes these kingdoms sought cordial relations with their elf neighbors, and elves and eladrin lived as close as they ever had since Lolth's rebellion. At other times, the eladrin tried to force the elves into a reunion of the races and met bitter resistance. There can be no doubt now that the two races will never again be one
自从卓尔的背叛之后，精灵就在这个世界上不留痕迹地安静生活着。期间无数王国和帝国——奈色，dragonborn Arkhosia，tiefling Bael Turath，以及它们之前的无数国家——成立、没落，精灵仍然居住在他们林地中的家园中，几乎不受其他种族命运沉浮的影响。在非常偶然的情况下，eladrin会在这个世界建立它们自己的王国。有时候，这些王国努力与他们的精灵邻居良好的关系，两个种族就像罗丝叛变之前那样和睦相处。其他时候，eladrin则试图强迫精灵重新回归到统一的民族，这当然遭到了强烈的抵触。毫无疑问，这两个种族再也不可能重新合并在一起了。
Shunning kingdoms of their own, the elves no longer build cities as their ancestors did, but make their homes among the trees. They live in family or clan units, sleeping in tents or under the stars as they range through the forests and gather what they need to survive. At other times, they in temporary villages built on platforms in the branches, linked by vines and ropes -- almost a natural part of the trees themselves. They roam with the seasons, following animals on their migrations or journeying to where fruits and nut grow in greatest abundance. At least twice a year -- at midsummer and midwinter – elf families and clans gather together to observe the turning of the seasons, share stories and news of the recent months, and celebrate marriages, births, and deaths.
精灵没有自己的王国，也再没有象他们的祖先那样建立城市，而是在树林中安家。通常他们都是以家庭或部落外单位居住在一起，当在山林游荡或者逃难的时候，他们都睡在帐篷里或者躺在星光之下。其他时候，他们住在树枝上用蔓藤，绳子临时搭建的村落里，几乎把自己变成了树林的一部分。他们随着季节游荡，与动物一起迁徙，寻找果实和坚果最多的地方。一年中至少两次——通常是在夏至和冬至——精灵家庭和部落会聚集在一起观察季节的更迭，分享最近发生的故事和消息，举行各种红白喜事。
In the darkness that has been growing since the fall of Nerath, the elves find it more and more difficult to maintain their traditional ways. Many of their forests are no longer safe even for their keen-eyed archers and hardy warriors. Some forests have burned to their roots, driving the elves to find safe refuge in the better defended settlements of other races. Where, in the past, it was unusual to find elves in human towns except as traders, now many elf families have taken up permanent residence among humans, halflings, and even dwarves, joining with these other races for protection against the darkness.
自从耐色没落之后，黑暗的时代开始降临，精灵们发现维持传统的生活习俗越来越困难。很多他们的森林，即使对那些目光尖锐的射手和勇猛的战士也不再安全。一些树林已经被完全烧光，这迫使精灵们不得不到其他种族那些受到更好保护的居住地去寻找避难所。在很多过去难得见到精灵的人类村镇，在人类中也出现了很多永久居住的精灵家庭，半精灵，甚至矮人，他们与别的种族一起对抗黑暗势力。
As a race, elves are fleet of foot and agile. Though they are by no means stupid, they do not place the same value on learning and intellect that their eladrin cousins do. Rather, they value the wisdom of years and the truth of intuition and insight. Their more comic legends are full of eladrin who are puffed up with their own knowledge but lack even a modicum of common sense, and cunning elf heroes who trick their foolish cousins.
精灵是一个步伐敏捷，身法轻盈的种族。虽然他们并不愚蠢，但和他们并不象他们的同胞eladrin那样看中学习和智力，实际上他们更重视岁月累计下来的智慧以及凭直觉和洞察力所带来的真相。在他们滑稽的故事中，总是少不了那些满腹经纶，却毫无生活常识的eladrin，以及愚弄这些堂兄的狡猾的精灵英雄们。
Elves share a passionate and emotional nature with many of their fey cousins. They experience feelings deeply and intensely, and their emotions are often mercurial. An elf can swing from wailing grief to heartfelt laughter in a moment, and as quickly to burning rage. They make bitter enemies, sometimes clinging to grudges through long generations, but they are reliable and compassionate friends who remember gratitude longer than wrongs
精灵和他们的fey同胞一样，天生感情丰富。他们的感情深刻而强烈,情绪善变。一个精灵可以在瞬间从悲痛欲绝转变为开怀大笑，也可能马上怒火万丈。他们对敌人的刻苦仇恨可以几代不变，但是他们同时也是可信赖的热心朋友，对（他人）感激的记忆长于过错。
Many elves still revere Corelllon and (particularly) Sehanine, but many others worship Melora, god of the wilds where they make their homes. Even those elves who drift toward evil rarely turn to Lolth. The legend of her rebellion stings too much. Instead, they worship the Raven Queen, Zehir, or occasionally savage Gruumsh.
许多精灵仍然尊敬科瑞隆特别是Sehanin，但很多精灵亦信仰Melora，旷野的神氏，因为野外正是他们的安家之处。即使是那些投靠邪恶的精灵也很少会信仰罗丝。她背叛的故事给他们的印象实在过于深刻。因此他们会信仰Zehir，乌鸦女皇（Raven Queen），或者偶尔是野蛮的格乌什。
For many elves, the gods are not much different from the clan elders who have moved on from this life to another. They remember the gods in thanks and might pray for insight, but not many elves become champions of any god's ideals as a cleric or paladin. They are not as fascinated with arcane magic as theireladrin cousins, often growing impatient with its intricacies and precision. They are drawn more to mastery of primal power, which keeps them attuned to the natural world with its spirits and forces. Elf rangers, rogues, druids, and barbarians are the most common adventurers.
对很多精灵来说，神灵和部落中阅历深刻的长者并无多少区别。他们为了感恩而记住神氏的名字，为了获得启示向他们祈祷。但成为牧师或者圣武士这样神氏信仰拥护者的精灵并不是很多。他们也并不像他们的同胞eladrin那样沉迷与奥术，他们经常没有耐心去体会魔法的复杂与精密。他们更多地喜欢把握原始的力量，这样可以使他们在精神和力量上和自然更好地融为一体。精灵冒险者一般都是游侠，流浪者，德鲁伊，野蛮人。
[b]Eladrin: A Race Apart
Eladrin：一个被分离的种族[/b]
The eladrin claim to be the original race from which both elves and drow split, with the (usually) unspoken implication that both other races fell away from the state of near-perfection that the eladrin embody. Certainly, the eladrin are still the most fey of the three elf races, still steeped in the magic of the Feywild and still the favored children of 科瑞隆. Arcane magic suffuses their bodies and souls, sometimes emanating from them in a soft nimbus of fey light.
Eladrin宣称自己才是正宗，精灵和卓尔都是从他们中间分离出去的，这一说法无意在暗示这两者不如eladrin表现的那么接近完美。的确eladrin是三个种族中最超凡脱俗的，他们仍然拥有精灵之野的魔法，仍然是受到科瑞隆眷顾的子嗣。他们的身体和灵魂中都充满了不可思议的魔力，有时候这样的力量会以柔和光环的形式从他们的身上体现出来。
Many races of the world can look back in history to a shining example of their ancestors' accomplishments: the dragonborn empire of Arkhosia or the human realm of Nerath, for example. When the eladrin reflect back on their days of glory, they think first and foremost of the time before Lolth's rebellion, when the whole Feywild shined with the light of the eladrin cities. Those cities now lie in ruins, still hauntingly beautiful among the fey forests with moonlight shining on their shattered spires and ivory walls, but haunting in their testimony to the violence of the rebellion.
世界上的许多种族在回顾自己的历史的时候都喜欢列举他们祖先的成就来炫耀：例如Arkhosia的dragonborn帝国，人类的奈色。当eladrin回顾自己的光辉岁月的时候，他们第一个想到的就是罗丝背叛之前的时光。那时候整个精灵之野都在eladrin城邦的光辉之下。那些城市现在都已经成为了fey森林里的废墟，象牙色的墙壁和破碎的尖塔在月光照耀下依然浮现着美丽，但同样诉说着那场叛乱的惨烈。
Eladrin still build towers of graceful beauty in the grandest places of the Feywild -- breathtaking gorges and verdant glens – and sometimes even among the ruins of their ancient cities. But no eladrin city of the present day, or of the past hundred centuries, can compare to the heights of the eladrin race in that mythic time before. Eladrin cities of the present day are usually little more than a single ivory spire rising above a scattering of smaller homes, all built in perfect harmony with their surroundings as if carved from the earth by wind and rain.
在精灵之野的重要地方——那些雄伟的峡谷和青翠的幽谷中——Eladrin建立了美丽的城堡，有时候甚至就在他们祖先城市的废墟上。但到目前为止，甚至在以往上百个世纪中，还没有哪个城市能达到eladrin在那段传奇时代所达到的水平。现在的eladrin城市通常都只是在一片较小的建筑中耸立着一座象牙尖塔。所有的建筑都与它们周围的环境和谐统一，就象是自然界用风和雨塑造出来的一样。
There have been times in the history of the world when eladrin tried to rebuild the ancient glory of a united race, extending their city-states into the natural world and making overtures to nearby elf communities. These dreams of kingdoms that would bridge the worlds have always crumbled to dust with the passing of years, usually within the span of a single generation.
历史上曾经有一段时间，eladrin试图重建一个统一的种族，恢复祖先的荣耀，将他们的城邦推向自然界（natural world）并且说服附近的精灵村落（加入进来）。这些通过建立新王国以重新连接世界的梦想在过去的岁月里总是化为泡影，通常很难超过一代人的时间
Eladrin society has more in common with the human structures of nobility and rulership than it does with the family-based society of the elves. Noble houses ruled by eladrin with titles such as Bralani of Autumn Winds or Ghaele of Winter govern tiny princedoms scattered across the Feywild. The eladrin swear loyalty to their noble protectors, who promise to help defend them against fomorians and other dangers of the fey darkness. Unlike human rulers, these noble eladrin wield tremendous power derived from a close connection to the magic of the Feywild, so their tiny city-states do remain as lights, however dim and flickering, standing against the encroaching darkness.
与精灵那以家庭为单元的社会不同，Eladrin社会结构拥有与人类类似的贵族和权贵阶层。受到Bralani of Autumn Winds或者迦勒天使（Ghaele of Winter）统治的贵族们管辖着各自分布在精灵之野各处小小的领地。Eladrin立誓忠诚与他们的贵族保护者，而贵族们则允诺帮助他们抵抗来自fomorian和其他黑暗妖魔带来的威胁。与人类的统治者不同，这些Eladrin贵族由于其与精灵之野魔法的密切联系而能施展极其强大的力量。所以他们小小的城邦仍然能有文明之光，然而在不断侵蚀的黑暗面前，这光芒正在不断暗淡，颤动欲灭。
Eladrin share the grace and agility of their elf cousins but place more value on the developed intellect than on intuition and emotion. All eladrin are scholars to some degree, versed in the history of their race and the theories of magic and more inclined to calculate possible solutions than to run with a gut feeling.
Eladrin和他们的精灵同胞一样敏捷灵巧，但对重视开发智力而非依赖直觉和感情。所有的Eladrin在某种程度上都可以称得上是学者，精通自己民族的历史，通晓魔法的理论，同时（在行动之前）他们会考虑所有可行的方法，而不是直接依靠内在的感觉。
The eladrin can seem cold and emotionless to outsiders, if sometimes capricious, and they are certainly less passionate than the elves. Their grief manifests as a wistful melancholy, their pleasure as a soft smile, and their anger as a simmering glare. Much like the elves, they have long memories for both gifts and grudges.
从外表看来，eladrin似乎是冷漠无情的，有时候还有点反复无常，他们的确不像精灵那样热情洋溢。对他们来说，悲痛通常表现为苦闷的忧郁，一个微笑就代表了愉悦，而当他们生气的时候，也只是怒目而视。和精灵一样，他们对别人的恩惠和过错都能记住很久。
Most eladrin worship Corelllon and Sehanine. Some temples in the Feywild are still arranged as they were before Lolth's rebellion -- built as three interlocking circles, each with its altar to one of the three elf gods. In most of these temples Lolth 's altar has been destroyed or defaced Sometimes it is draped with black cloth most of these temples, Lolth’s altar has been destroyed or defaced. Sometimes it is draped with black cloth to hide it from view, and sometimes it is visible but simply unadorned. There are eladrin who believe that the three gods will one day be reconciled, just as the three races will again be one.
大部分的eladrin都信仰科瑞隆和莎罕妮。在精灵之野仍然有一些神庙是按照罗丝背叛前的方式布局的——三个连锁的圆环，每一个奉献给三位精灵神氏中对应的一位。罗丝的祭坛在大部分的神庙都被去除，或者被用黑色的幕布遮盖起来，有时候虽然未加遮盖，但也未加修饰。也有eladrin相信终有一日，三位神氏回重新和好，三个种族将重新统一起来。
Some say that Corelllon 's dominion of Arborea lies in the Feywild, while others claim it floats in the Astral Sea. It's possible that it drifts between the worlds or somehow exists in both places at once. To the eladrin mind, Arborea is perhaps not so different from the court of any noble eladrin -- larger and more magnificent, perhaps, but a place where any eladrin would feel at home, even in the presence of so great a lord as the noble Corelllon. Sehanine, it's said, wanders freely in and out of Corelllon's home but spends much of her time in the Feywild, where travelers might stumble across her path. Some who attend one of Sehanine 's moonlit feasts are said to become lost for centuries, while others awaken after a single night to find themselves blessed with gifts and powers beyond their imagining.
一些人认为科瑞隆在奔放之野的领域就位于精灵之野，而其他人则宣称这块领域漂浮在星海之间。有一种可能是这块领域在不同的世界之间漂移着，或者它能同时在两个地点存在。在eladrin的构想中，奔放之野或许与eladrin贵族的宫廷没有太大差别——只是更大更壮丽而已，但却是一个任何eladrin都能视为家的地方，有着像高贵的科瑞隆一样伟大的统治者。而莎罕妮，据说（虽然）在科瑞隆的家园里自由出入，但大部分时间都呆在精灵之野。这里旅行者有时候能发现她的足迹。一些参加莎罕妮的月光下的宴会的人据说会失踪好几个世纪，而其他一些人在一晚上的酣睡之后醒来时则发现自己得到了超出自己想象的礼物和力量。
More so than the elves, eladrin sometimes become champions of a god in much the same way that one might become a fey knight in service to a noble eladrin. Divine magic is not alien to the eladrin, but arcane magic is their love and part of their nature. Eladrin wizards are far more common than warlocks, sorcerers, or bards, but any form of arcane magic is a source of endless fascination for the race.
与精灵不同，eladrin有时候会成为神氏的忠实信徒，就如同他们成为eladrin贵族的骑士一样。神术并非eladrin所长，但奥术则是他们的至爱，并且是他们本性的一部分。Eladrin的巫师远超过普通的术士、巫师，或者吟游诗人，任何形式的奥术都会引起这个种族无尽的迷恋。
[b]Noble Eladrin[/b]
The lords and ladies that rule the eladrin are powerful fey who embody the character of the race. Their magic is tied to seasons and emotions. A ghaele might lash out with a blast of wintry cold, while a coure sows strife among her enemies. They are enigmatic and aloof and can be very capricious, especially when mortals venture into their domains. The tale of Ferrin Toth, a human wizard who ventured into the Feywild seeking arcane secrets, illustrates the nature of the noble eladrin.
统治eladrin的男女都是非常强大的fey，在他们的身上体现着整个种族的特性。他们的魔力随着季节和情绪而变化。一个迦勒天使会先诅咒她的敌人，使其内部争斗，然后施展出寒冷的狂风（予以打击）。她们生性孤僻，高深莫测，同时也反复无常，特别是当凡人进入他们的领地的时候。一个叫Ferrin Toth的人类巫师曾经进入精灵之野冒险，试图了解这些不可思议的秘密，探究eladrin贵族的天性。
Proud of his knowledge and confident in his arcane power, Ferrin Toth used a ritual to transport himself into the Feywild. After parting the veil between worlds, he found himself in a lovely valley with a crystalline spire rising beside a sparkling waterfall at the valley's head. He presented himself at the palace gate in the late afternoon, asking for an audience with the ruler of the place.
Ferrin Toth对自己的学识引以为豪，并对自己的奥术非常有信心，他通过一个仪式把自己传送到精灵之野。在穿过世界之间的屏蔽之后，他发现自己来到了一个可爱的村落，在村子的尽头有一条闪闪发光的瀑布，瀑布旁边是一个水晶的高塔尖顶。他走到宫殿的门口，问一个人谁是这里的主人。
Two women escorted him into the presence of their lord Immeral, Firre of Passion. Warm braziers lit the audience hall against the approaching twilight and fire seemed to dance in the opalescent eyes of the eladrin lord. He welcomed the human wizard graciously, descending from his throne to escort the traveler on a tour through the palace. Ferrin lingered by the doorway to the eladrin's magnificent library, but Immeral told him he could explore the library in the morning. Ferrin tried to protest -- there was still enough daylight for him to read -- but the eladrin wouldn't hear him. He hurried Ferrin to a luxurious guest room, warned him not to leave the room until dawn's light burned on the horizon, and left him alone.
两个女人陪着他来到她们的领主Immeral，Firre of Passion的面前。在黄昏的微光下，温暖的火盆照亮了会客厅。eladrin领主乳白色的眼睛里似乎也有火焰在舞蹈。他和蔼地欢迎了人类巫师，并且离开宝座，亲自带他参观整个宫殿。Ferrin在eladrin壮丽的图书馆的门口徘徊，不愿意离开。但Immeral告诉他他可以早上再来。Ferrin试图反对，因为现在还未到晚上，他还有足够的时间阅读，但eladrin并没有听他的。他把Ferrin拉到一间奢侈的客房，警告他在黎明的曙光出现在地平线上之前不可离开，然后就走了。
Ferrin couldn't sleep. His glimpse of the lord's great library tormented him, and desire to plumb its secrets consumed him. When the palace was silent and the full moon glittered in its spires, Ferrin crept from his room and tried to retrace his steps to the library. As he walked, the corridors seemed to twist in on themselves, and soon the gleaming crystal walls melted into thickets of briars. He wandered through what had become a labyrinth until dawn began to brighten the sky. Then the two women who had brought him to the lord's audience hall stepped out of the thickets. Their lovely faces and forms vanished in a flash, revealing monstrous creatures of wood and vine, swinging arms like mighty cudgels at him.
Ferrin无法入睡，对领主那壮丽的图书馆的一瞥不停地折磨着他。对图书馆中的秘密的渴望消耗着他。当这个宫殿沉寂下来，满月爬上塔尖的时候。Ferrin蹑手蹑脚地离开了他的房间，试图沿着来时的路径回到图书馆。可当他走动的时候，走廊似乎开始自我扭曲，很快水晶墙壁就开始与石南灌木融化在一起。他就在这样的一个迷宫里穿梭一直到黎明天空破晓。这时，那两个把他带到领主会客厅女人走出灌木丛。她们那可爱的面孔和形体一下就消失了，变成了由树木和蔓藤混合的恐怖怪物，挥舞着手臂似乎要抽打他。
With a word of refuge, Ferrin returned to the sanctum of his own tower. But the vision of the Firre of Passion's library haunted him. Every night he tossed and turned on his bed, thinking of the library and the wonders he had glimpsed through its doorway. Every morning, when dawn's light burned on the horizon, he thought he stood again in that doorway, and hope surged in his chest -- but as soon as the sun rose above the distant hills, his vision cleared and he was still in his tower. Many times he returned to the Feywild, but he was never able to find Immeral's palace again.
通过一句庇护咒语（a word of refuge），Ferrin回到了他自己高塔中的密室中。但Firre of Passion的图书馆情景在他的脑海中挥之不去。每个晚上他在自己的床是辗转反侧，满脑子都是那座图书馆，以及他在门口所见的壮丽景像。每个早晨当地平线上燃起曙光的时候，他就会觉得他重新站在了那座图书馆的门口，希望再次在心中澎湃起来。但当太阳升上远方的山峦的时候，幻觉又消失了，他又重新回到他塔里了。他回到精灵之野许多次，但再也没能找到Immeral的宫殿。
[b]Drow: Lolth's Chosen
卓尔：罗丝的选择[/b]
The drow are creatures of evil and darkness, exiles banished to the subterranean realms beneath the Feywild, the world, and the Shadowfell. Their ties to the forests and valleys of nature are cut, and they live by cruelty and domination, no longer in harmony with the beasts of the wild.
卓尔是邪恶和黑暗的造物，他们被驱逐流放到精灵之野，世界，和Shadowfell的地下区域中，他们本性中和森林、溪谷的联系就这样被切断了，他们依靠残忍和支配生存下来，不再与野外的动物和睦共处。
The drow build their cities deep underground, their slender spires and fey lit towers echoing or mocking the graceful eladrin cities of the 精灵之野. Their society is a study in paradox. Within a drow city, various families or houses hold power. A drow without a connection to one of these houses is an outcast, and members of other races are rarely anything but slaves to these houses. The drow are inclined to empire, unlike their cousins, and the well-ordered houses would perhaps conquer both the Underdark and the surface world were it not for Lolth and her priests. Lolth is a god of treachery and chaos, and at her urging, her priests lead the house matrons in constant battles for dominance. Even when a single house manages to cling to power for an extended time, it must be constantly vigilant against the threat of a lesser house trying to claim its position, and struggles among the lesser houses prevent the city from acting in anything like a concerted effort toward conquest.
卓尔在深深的地底建立了他们的城市，它们那纤细的尖顶和鬼火闪烁的塔楼似乎是对精灵之野中eladrin城市的模仿和嘲笑。他们的社会充满了矛盾。在一个卓尔城市中，各种各样的家族和议会执掌着权利。一个和这些家族没有联系的卓尔只能被驱逐，而外来民族在这里几乎只能是奴隶。与他们的远亲们不同，卓尔倾向帝国性质。如果不是因为罗丝和她的女祭祀的话，那些秩序井然的家族们本来可以同时征服地底和地表世界。作为混乱和背叛之神，罗丝鼓励她的当任家族主母的女祭祀们为了权势争斗不息。即使一个家族已经盘踞在权利的顶峰多年，它也必须时刻警惕那些较弱的家族的挑战。次等家族之间的争斗可以使城市免于acting in anything like a concerted effort toward conquest.
Drow share the agility of their cousins, which they often put to use in stealth and trickery. Although they are no taller than eladrins, they have a presence that often makes members of other races feel smaller and on edge -- a fury seems to be at constant boil behind their blank white eyes, ready to explode at the slightest provocation. Like the elves, their moods can change in an instant, most often transforming into blind, murderous rage.
卓尔与他们的表亲一样敏捷，这对他们的潜行和欺骗大有好处。虽然他们并不比eladrin高大，但他们的出现常常会让别的种族感到渺小和紧张——在他们白色的眼睛里似乎燃烧着不灭的怒火，随时准备惩罚那些哪怕是最轻微的冒犯。他们的情绪也和精灵一样善变，经常会变得盲目而危险的狂怒
The drow remain Lolth's own, and they tolerate the worship of no other god. The names of Corellon and Sehanine are blasphemy to a drow's ears, and even a euphemistic reference to either god is accompanied by spitting on the ground. The drow revere spiders because Lolth chose them as her symbol, and they traffic with demons because Lolth has made some demons her servants. The priests of Lolth hold political as well as spiritual power, serving as advisers to the house matrons if not actually filling that position themselves. Drow society revolves around Lolth, though it means a constant state of civil upheaval.
卓尔依然保留着对罗丝的忠诚，他们无法容忍其他神氏的信仰。科瑞隆和莎罕妮的名字在卓尔看来完全就是亵渎，提到别的神氏的时候，向地面吐口水已经是最婉转的方式了。卓尔敬畏蜘蛛，因为这是罗丝的象征。他们与恶魔打交道是因为罗丝制造了一些恶魔作为自己的仆人。罗丝的女祭祀同时在政治和宗教领域都牢牢掌握着权力。如果她们没有成为主母，她们一般都会成为家族主母的顾问。卓尔社会的一切都是围绕着罗丝进行的，虽然这也意味着这个文明永远都在动乱的状态。
While elves and eladrin are inclined to view the gods as simply a greater form of their own lords and elders, the drow give Lolth their unquestioning devotion. Far more drow follow divine paths to become clerics or paladins than either elves or eladrin do -- perhaps in part because of the temporal authority that comes with service to Lolth but also for the opportunity to commune more closely with their god and savor her power flowing through them. They have not forgotten their heritage of arcane study, however, and produce many mighty wizards and warlocks. While religion and politics are primarily the arena of women among the drow, the arcane masters of the race are mostly men.
精灵和eladrin都倾向与把神氏看作自己的长者和领主，而卓尔则毫无保留地向罗丝奉献他们所有的热情。成为神氏的牧师和武士的卓尔远超过精灵和eladrin，部分原因是为罗丝服务可以带来现世的权利，更重要的是有机会更接近神氏，体验她的力量流过身体的感受。他们当然没有放弃奥术的天赋，出现了很多了不起的术士和巫师。在卓尔的世界里，宗教和政治基本上都是女性的舞台，而这个民族的奥术大师基本上都是男性。
The more high-minded elves and eladrin sometimes take a compassionate view of the drow, perhaps believing that the three races might one day be reunited. The drow, on the other hand, permit no such weakness of thought, as they see it. Whatever their short-term plans of conquest or rebellion, the drow long for the day when they will exterminate their kindred, obliterating the stain of elves and eladrin from the world and the Feywild. Only occasionally do these dreams manifest in any kind of action, but drow have been seen fighting alongside fomorians in the Feywild.
很多品质高尚的精灵和eladrin经常会带着同情的目光来看卓尔，他们可能也相信未来的某天三个种族将重新统一。而卓尔却完全相反，他们绝对不会有这种在他们看来“软弱的”想法。无论他们短期内征服或背叛的计划是什么，卓尔渴望着有一天他们能最终灭绝这些远亲，从这个世界上抹去精灵和eladrin的污点。只有在很偶然的时候这些打算会转化为行动，但是有人看到在精灵旷野有卓尔和fomorian一同战斗。
Without a doubt, the aspirations of the drow echo the dreams and schemes of Lolth, the Spider Queen. In her Abyssal domain of the Demon web Pits, she sits and waits, plotting the day when she can snare her sister and Corellon in her webs and finish the work she started at the dawn of time.
毫无疑问，卓尔的这些期望正是对罗丝，即蛛后的梦想和计划的回应。罗丝盘踞在她那无底深渊的深坑魔网中耐心地等待，计划着有一天她能在她那张网上诱捕到她的妹妹和科瑞隆，完成她在创世黎明的时候就开始的工作。
And then the three races will be only one.
而到那时，三个种族就将真正成为（或剩下）一个。