First, thanks for taking the time to read and THINK about some (not all) of my "walls of text".

Tieflings are explicitly described in the D&D 3 versions of the Monster Manual as predisposed towards evil because of their fiendish heritage, which is not the sane as depicting them as flat out evil like Lolth Sworn Drow. Haer'Dalis describes the destruction and razing of Saradush to an increasingly horrified Aerie as "a marvel to behold indeed. 'T would be rare to find something to compare even on the planes... I am a Doomguard, my dove. The forces of entropy seek to destroy all of the universe, and it is our place to hasten the process whenever we can,... and marvel at its' effect." Earlier, he in reference to CHARNAME's transformation into the Slayer comments: "I find myself unable to tear my eyes away. In the Doomguard, we appreciate the forces of entropy that bring destruction in their wake... and with each passing day, I see a personification of that force taking shape before me." A verbatim quote from BHAERD25, his banter file from Throne of Bhaal. Unless you played BG2 ToB with both Aerie and Haer'Dalis in your party, and a brief romance developed between the two, and you didn't have an ongoing romance with Aerie, you would never see this side of that Tiefling bard. It promptly ends their romance!

My bad about Larian's location in Ghent. I'm actually half Belgian (Wallonian) by ancestry. NO Western European nation, even in prehistorical times even approached the extraordinary biodiversity of present day SE Asia, South and Central America, and even subtropical and most of temperate East Asia today, and roughly half of Western Europe's biodiversity has been lost since industrialization. Belgian consistently rated at the very bottom of measures of environmental safeguards and biodiversity among EU prior to the admission of former Soviet Bloc nations such as Poland and Lithuania.

I referred to Kagha as a "stereotypical misanthropic tree hugger", because they really exist in great numbers, and they have and continue to use conservation as a neocolonial weapon against demonized "other"people. Those who are unwilling to tolerate the ugly realities of bears, Wolves, etc as destroyers of crops and livestock are often quite willing to overlook the impact of Tigers, Lions, African Wild Dogs, Dholes, and Asian and African Elephants on the livelihoods and very lives of the Human inhabitants of other nations. PART of that process is the depiction of these animals in anthropomorphic, sentimentalized, and sugar coated and even romanticized ways.

I have NO problems with anthropomorphic animals in fantasy per se, and loved Okku, the very unrealistic magical talking male bear in NWN2. Many others did not. What I criticized in this game were the use of an anthropomorphic viper, an animal we are INNATELY predisposed to fear and hate (vipers kill, maim, cripple, and permanently disfigure thousands of people worldwide annually, and people in less developed nations suffer the most) and which as a consequence has been linked with Original Sin in Abrahamic religions, as a plot device to further incite us against a Druid who is already a one dimensional cliche collection plot device.

There is a huge difference between manipulation of players and forcing them to do things. David Gaider tried to force us to take Imoen (a thieving, lazy, vapid, dim witted, underachieving slacker) with us in Spellhold by turning our party against us. He tried to manipulate us into killing Zathrian and effecting regime change among the Dalish, or gleefully engaging in genocide, with his (angry white male) Werewolves, ham fisted sob story about the Dalish victim of lycanthropy, and his truly bizarre "Lady of the Forest" (a display of his contempt for straight males, like boorish philistine belching Ogrim), and even branded Dalish supporters who killed Witherfang and the 'weres as "Poachers" in the achievements. He also refused to develop a "comrades in arms" ending for the fight between Zathrian and Witherfang for a Dalish Warden. But he did not force us to support the Shemlen Werewolves!

I told Zevlor that I would escort him and his people to safety, which made him and Tilsis turn hostile, so I killed both. I was not give the possibility of explaining that I was risking my own life to escort them to Baldur's Gate, but it's still EA! Kagha grinned makuciously whrn informed of Zevlor's death, but that was that, and after I defeated (killed) Gut, Minthara, and Raghslin, Asharak briefly referred to Zevlor's "passing", then announced forthcoming festivities, as if nothing had happened to Zevlor. Earlier, I was railroaded (FORCED) into fighting the Druids, when I slept at camp, then returned to the Grove; a cutscene featurin Gnomish Druid Halah started and all of the Druids except Rath turned hostile. Likewise, if I put Arabella's parents out of their misery after Teela killed their darling thief, the Druids guarding the Sacred Grove and their bear turned hostile. If I killed Tiefs in the hollow, Arron (?) immediately tried to arrest my Tav.

I was able to kill Asharek, then talk my way out of arrest, leaving his bloody corpse while Tiefling trainees worked alongside with Wyll as if nothing had happened! I NEVER claimed that Larian's writers prevent the player from killing adult Tieflings, as I had killed over a dozen before putting up my first post on this thread. What I affirmed was the FIRST and starting comment by Twinkle Toes; Larian lets you kill Goblin children but Tiefling children are unkillable.

I explained in painstaking detail how Larian's writers MANIPULATE AND RAILROAD, not FORCE, players to side with EITHER the Tieflings or the Goblins (and the Goblins leg spreader ally Minthara) against the Druids. Apparently your reading overlooked this! As for "darker fantasy", it's very much a feature of French and Gallic children's tales as compared to their Anglo equivalents, as my Wallonian mother explained to me during my childhood. Within limits, I like it, too. What I hate is being manipulated into choices that in a real world are antisocial, decadent, and ultimately self destructive.

Oh, no Druid would tolerate a Sharran cleric, because enclosing Toril in shadow would kill all photosynthetic plants and the ecosystems that depend on them! Fantasy has its' limits; all of Toril's higher vascular plants have leaves and chlorophyll for a reason! Are the "Leaflord" and the "Great Oak" mere euphemisms?