Pretty sure I never called them evil societies even once (Feel free to find a quote where I said so) It´s you the only one that said that I do.
Fair enough, I suppose I assumed because that's what the topic is supposedly about.
I always said that they condone behaviours that are considered evil in most societies in modern times. Those societies are the product of their times like our societies are the product of the era we are living in.
And there are plenty of historical recounts and archaeological findings that prove the existence of State-condoned human sacrifices, ritual cannibalism, slavery and many more practices that are considered taboo in modern times.
Only fault I can really find with this is when the fantasy setting forgoes the more nuanced take and goes straight for the 'these things make the society as a whole evil' (or rather, they do these because they are evil), orcs are not written as raiders because they've been driven to the harsh edges of society and they have families to feed, but because they are violent savages, drow (and others) are not slavers because the ruling class is unwilling to compensate their own to work the fields and would rather enslave others for cheap/free labour, but because we need them to be evil, and how to easier to show that than, oh yeah, slavery. (yeah, these have been come up with in 5 seconds, I'm sure and actual writer could do better).
And while yes, there has been added nuance to those, the legacy of it is still alive, and WotC are trying to have a look at it and a think about it. I am curious what will come of it.
That said, apply modern morals to a fantasy medieval word is pointless. I expect people in Faerun behave more like renaissance people and less than Modern millennials or car salesman, for example.
They are not really medieval people in most fantasy though. Like, I'm sure there is fantasy that's very gritty and medieval-but-magic, but most high fantasy is just modern people's wouldn't-it-be-cool-if, settings that resemble those times, but have been twisted by popular perception. And the criticism of glorification of harmful stereotypes and behaviour can very much be applied to the latter.
sneaky you, removing and rewriting the post after I started to reply xP
