Drow

Tens of thousands of years ago, the elves were divided, with those of benevolent disposition battling those that were selfish and cruel. The war among elvenkind ended when the good elves banished their malevolent kin to the subterranean depths and to the far North. In the lightless caverns and endless warrens of twisting passages, those who would become the drow found refuge. They also found leadership in the only elven deity who had not forsaken them. At her command, the drow built an empire in the underworld...

The drow worship Lolth, a deity who resides in the Abyss. Known as the Spider Queen or the Demon Queen of Spiders, she is the figure around which the drow have built their subterranean civilization. Whatever she demands, the drow do. Drow are seldom seen by the surface world. Though they plot to destroy the elves that banished them, they no longer see themselves as exiles. They are the destined rulers of the darkness, and when Lolth commands them to rise up and destroy their surface-dwelling kin, they will.

The drow have lived underground for so long that they have evolved to their surroundings and can see in the dark. However, they can no longer stand sunlight. When laborers are in short supply in the Underdark, the drow send raiding parties to the surface to capture humanoids under cover of darkness, bringing them back to their cities to be tortured into submission. Beyond those occasional excursions, the drow are content to remain in their subterranean realm, where they feel secure and in control.