Greetings all!
Not too long ago, I had someone reach out to me asking about the vedzryyf’len’s design. The inquirer asked if they were inspired by the Tieflings from D&D. Without much detail, I said no, stated their inspiration simply, and left it at that. However, this came to me as a probable conundrum: I imagine many readers will see them and say, “Oh, that’s just a blue tiefling.” Well, this post is here to set the record straight.
I will admit I have very little — almost none, in fact — interaction or experience with D&D proper. I have, however, had much and more experience with properties inspired by the game. One such property I have significant experience with is World of Warcraft.
Now, some of you may see the vedryyf’len, hear WoW, and immediately know what the inspiration is. For many others, I will explain.
There is a race in Warcraft called the Draenei, a blue goat-like alien race from the planet Argus (later emigrating to Draenor, where they get their name). They were the first non-humanoid race for the Alliance faction, and I immediately fell in love with them. However, to adopt them myself, I decided to make them almost entirely human, completely removing the Draenei’s hooves, tail, and neck tendrils, leaving my non-human race with the horns, ears, and skin color.
My inception of this new race in the Sovereign Guardian remained largely with a different name, that of the Yr’ven, a word I completely made up that I would translate into “horned people”; the nynyr’ven mentioned in the book are the remnants of this word.
So, where did “vedzryyf’len” come from?
To understand that, I must introduce you to another MMO I am rather fond of: Black Desert Online.
BDO has elves which worship a goddess, and they are split into two subraces: the Ganelle who are descended from the sun, and the Vedir who are descended from the moon. When playing, I was drawn much more to the Vedir, given their history and willingness to do the unthinkable to save the world. Without delving too much into how exactly I did it, I derived the word “vedzryyf’len” from Vedir fairly simply and easily.
On top of this, the vedryyf’len inhabit a continent that has a massive tree in its center (if one recalls, the environment is referred to as “root jungles”). This, too, as well as their creation being from the moon, and that certain weapons are made from the tree which lies in their land’s center, was also pulled from BDO.
But, that is where the similarities and inspirations end. The vedzryyf’len slave trade, their reproductive habits and rituals, their magic, are completely different from that of either the Draenei of WoW or the Vedir of BDO. The insights to those I reserve for the books, not here.
And there you have it: the origins of a prominent Sovereign Guardian race. There are more, of course, like the Gek’reken and those in the southern lands, but that’s for another time.
o7
