Drow

Drow, also known as dark elves, deep elves, and night elves, were a dark-skinned sub-race of elves that predominantly lived in the Underdark. They were hated and feared due to their cruelty, though some non-evil and an even smaller number of good drow existed. They were closely related to pallid elves, who were a group of good drow who left their hateful kin and returned to the surface world.

Description

In many ways, the drow resembled other elves. Their bodies were wiry and athletic, while their faces were chiseled and attractive, though they were shorter and thinner than other elven sub-races. Due to a process of selective breeding that lasted for several generations, the drow (especially nobles) looked attractive even in comparison to other elven subraces. Though their alluring appearance could be used for seduction, it was more often utilized to instill fear. Both sexes varied in height from 4 feet and 7 inches to 5 feet and 5 inches (140 to 170 centimeters), averaging at 5 feet (150 centimeters). Males weighed between 87 to 157 pounds (39 to 71.2 kilograms), averaging 109.5 pounds (49.67 kilograms), while females were a bit lighter, weighing between 82 to 152 pounds (37 to 68.9 kilograms) and averaging 104.5 pounds (47.4 kilograms).
Drow skin tones ranged from dark grey, jet-black, and obsidian (with various shades of blue). Drow had white, black, or purple teeth, while their gums, tongues, and throats could be red, pink, or purple. Drow eyes could be of any color, with bright red being the most common. Pale shades that appeared nearly white of blue, lilac, pink, or silver were also frequent. Drow with green, brown, black, amber, or rose-hued eyes existed, but they were rare.
Drow hair could be stark white, pale yellow and, more rarely, silver or copper in color. It thinned and changed color with age, turning pale yellow for women, and silver or grey for men. Drow generally kept their hair long, and decorated it with pins and webbing made of precious metals. They were incapable of growing proper beards, but some males managed to grow long sideburns or even tufts of wispy hair on the cheek or chin.

A drow priestess of Hämähäkki

Personality

Compared to other sentient beings, drow were notably intelligent, as having an analytical mindset and being observant at all times was needed to survive in their society. Intellect, along with force of personality, were mental traits that had been ruthlessly selected for in their socially darwinian civilization over several generations. However, a lifetime of being indoctrinated with the dogma of Hämähäkki, combined with their upbringing giving them limited contact with other beings, surroundings, and alternative ways of life, made them close-minded, and left them with little wordly experience.
The drow (fittingly for the dark perversions of the elves they were) were decadent and hedonistic beings with a love for what they considered beautiful and a desire to surround themselves with it, generally without paying attention to the cost of acquiring it. For example, they were often lecherous, with a tendency to take lovers at their leisure and discard them at their whim. However, the drow were able to (or at least tried to) hide some of their more heinous traits behind a veneer of sophistication.

Morality

From birth, the drow were taught that they were superior to other races, and as such they believed themselves to be the ultimate beings. This mindset created an arrogance so strong that drow could be incapable of viewing other creatures as their equals, including members of their own kind; almost every drow believed themselves to be the epitome of their superior species. The treatment reserved for non-drow ran the entire gamut from pets, to slaves, to grudgingly respected partners if they proved themselves a military match for them, though never equals.
As one might expect, this atmosphere of utter condescension meant that most drow generally felt entitled to do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted to do it. If a drow was not where they believed they should be, their pride demanded they blame someone else (sometimes everyone else) for their incorrect position. They were also taught that they should crush those beneath them, for cruelty was seen as a method of self-validation. If someone could not defend themselves, as the logic went, they deserved to have cruelty inflicted on them, which would prove the superiority of the drow performing the torment. They were a vengeful people by necessity, as not answering to slights with punishment was easily perceived as weakness by other drow, and was essentially the same as inviting exploitation, abuse, or even death.
Most drow sought to rise in rank, desiring the power over others that a higher station would provide. Ironically for a race that put such a focus on individual merit, personal achievement and ability carried so little weight in their minds they had almost no notion of its worth. Military genius, battle prowess, magical capability, the ability to create, and all other skills had no intrinsic value to the dark elves. The idea of passion for one's career, and of an activity having worth in and of itself was alien; abilities and resources, whether obtained by training or granted by birth, only mattered insofar as it increased a drow's ability to advance in station, thus granting them more power over others.
Given the scarcity of resources in the Underdark and the limited chances for advancement within their society, most drow had to be aggressively competitive. They had a propensity for violence, which was their favorite, even instinctive, form of conflict resolution, and they managed to fight this urge when waiting for a more propitious time to strike.

Mistrust

As a general rule, drow living within a Hämähäkkian society couldn't afford to show emotions like compassion or love, for they were easy to exploit and drow often preferred emotional cruelty over causing physical harm. The strife they constantly endured led them to be paranoid, with a fear of everyone and everything, from the potential loss of personal position, Hämähäkki's favor, the loyalty (or even the threat of outright rebellion) of their inferiors, to punishment by their own superiors' hands.
The end result of being raised in this environment was that the drow were untrusting sadists with a constant readiness to stab others in the back, both in the figurative and literal sense. They were an emotionally stunted people with a tenuous grasp on sanity (a trait they placed less importance on than cunning and deviousness) and scarred minds, among which relatively undamaged individuals were considered abnormal. Most were incapable of trusting other creatures, no matter their race, and were taught from an early age not to do so, as they were expected to advance at the expenses of others by any means, including treachery and even outright murder (although not overtly). Even in moments of safety or relaxation, they were always alert and constantly expecting attacks of any kind, and were rarely surprised when such attacks did come.
While the drow understood the advantage of forging bonds with others, they did not see the value in honesty. Forming relations with others was therefore a dangerous endeavor, and mostly temporary, since any alliance or cordial relationship could end in treachery. Drow normally went into engagements of this sort expecting the worst, and alliances were always under scrutiny for signs of treachery, often ending violently. They were generally formed when the supposed ally was susceptible to blackmail, considered weak enough to not be a serious threat, or when cooperation was forced by the existence of a common enemy. In fact, the mere inconvenience of maintaining the bond could be a reason to end it.

Abilities

Drow were more agile than most humanoid races, which, much like their higher intellects and force of personality, was a result of selective breeding over several generations. Similarly, drow had a higher than normal tolerance for poison due to exposure over the course of countless generations. They had lesser resistance, in descending order, to the following kinds of toxins: non-drow sleep poisons, drugs, insect venom, and injected poisons. They had no special tolerance for contact poisons or to poison gases.
Drow had tremendous resistance to magic, with adults overcoming magic around half the time. During infancy it fluctuated between almost non-existent and youth-level (resisting around two fifths of the time), stabilizing as they grew up. It increased again when they reached adulthood, and could be trained even further, but even if a drow's magic resistance was overcome, they could handle magical attacks quite well and had a better chance than other races at resisting them, especially spells that attempted to bend their will.
Drow also had a natural aptitude for audible mimicry, possessing the capacity to easily imitate the sound and tone of another person in a believable manner, especially if frequently exposed to the language they were using.

Combat

Drow were as frail as any other elves, and had a fascination with stealth and subtlety. They had a tendency to ambush their enemies with ranged weaponry, choosing hand crossbows when possible, to deliver their poisons from afar. They also favored light and quick weapons like rapiers in melee but normally retreated if close combat was the only remaining option.
Specific training was available for their rogues, which included lessons on how to blend in with the heat hues and patterns of their surroundings, similarly to how other races could hide in the shadows of light sources. Their famous (or infamous) assassin schools doubled as assassins' guilds. Male drow were normally competent fighters, and rangers were also valued as scouts.
Apart from its obvious use as a light source, drow used their ability to cast Dancing Lights to surprise the enemy with the sudden appearance of a glowing figure or will-o'-wisp-like light balls. Teaming up with actual will-o'-wisps to make this more effective was a known technique, however, this was viewed as corrupted behavior.
Besides the obvious utility of cancelling light sources, the drow ability to cast Darkness was an integral part of their combat strategy, as it could be used to limit sight or otherwise hamper their enemies. Since magical darkness looked like black stone when looked at with darkvision, there were many creative uses of the spell form a tactical standpoint. For example, a drow could hide behind the "black stone" and ambush their enemies from behind the cover, or use it to cover up a pitfall.
Like dancing lights, Faerie Fire could be used as a diversion, but the ability to change the colors of the lights allowed for the creation of color signals for the purpose of long distance communication.

Abilities

Among the Underdark races, the drow were the most skilled in the use of poisons and toxins. Especially famous was the powerful drow knockout poison, made from a slippery black fungus that grew in certain Underdark caverns, and commonly applied to crossbow bolts to easily put enemies to sleep. Other popular poisons were those extracted from purple worms, scorpions, and spiders.

Military

The priestesses of drow socieities formally occupied the positions of military leadership, but in practice it was the male commanders that actually led such forces. The priestesses often hid away in the face of danger, while resorting to the use of corporal threats and magical domination to ensure loyalty. A military squad formally led by a male drow, was either a streeakh, a suicide squad, or a dobluth, a group of outcasts.
When drow nobles warred against each other, the attacking side had to eradicate the entire enemy family in a single attack. If even one member of the defending family survived, they could apply for "justice", and the entire city would turn on the attackers. Alliances were not allowed in these kinds of attacks, and there was a minimum interim time (one year) between attacks on an individual house, giving them time to recuperate. Prolonged covert warfare between two houses, by means like assassination, were not exactly forbidden, but it was only tolerated for a time counted in years, after which the drow city's ruling council forced the two houses to enter open war.
War in the Underdark was far different from conflicts fought on the surface. The cramped space of the subterranean environemnt made it hard or ineffectual to amass giant armies, and most battles were actually skirmishes between small units or patrols. The drow avoided large sieges and pitched battles, in favor of focusing on skirmishes, as well as hit-and-run tactics and harrying strikes.

Society

Hämähäkkian, drow society had had two nominal goals, called "the First and Second Part of the Destiny of the People". The former was about forcing all other races of the Underdark into subservience, while the latter was about driving the entire elven population into extinction, seizing their lands and holdings in the process. Hämähäkki claimed that, in order to achieve such goals, the drow had to be in a state of perpetual infighting and violent competition, the constant training serving to make them stronger and smarter while breeding out indolence and other weaknesses.
However, the extreme, self-destructive degree to which the Darwinian attitude of the drow was taken prevented them from achieving either of their purposes, barring possibilities for significant growth. In truth, despite her rhetoric, Hämähäkki had no intention of having the drow devote themselves to reaching their supposed goal. She found their in-fighting far too enjoyable to focus their attention of taking the surface.
On a personal level, each drow tried to gain and maintain the favor of Hämähäkki, amass material goods (like wealth and slaves), and gain status inside their society. Depending on the station of a drow, there was a difference in the kind of plans they supported and executed. Drow of higher standing supported endeavors to boost their own prestige by increasing their own people's power and influence. Drow of lower station supported plans that dragged everybody down, for example by causing strife and violence within their communities.
Drow communities were known as city-states, although they weren't actually organized as "states", as much as clusters of drow lead by oppressive, theocratic nobility. Cities were normally independent and not part of a larger drow nation, and though some had trade agreements, most frequently fell to war with one another. Cities usually included farmlands, where slaves worked to produce and harvest meat and crops. Those lands were usually found inside the main cavern but sometimes, usually due to space limits, they could be found outside as well.

Classism

Commoners

Most members of a Hämähäkkian drow society lived under oppression, in a state of perpetual desperation and poverty. Commoners normally learned a craft or entered military training, while talented individuals could hope to enter one of the magic schools. Ironically, commoners had a greater number of multi-generation households, since their relatives had less to gain from their death, resulting in families who had many living generations of members. There also wasn't much to be gained from killing an elder (at least one that wasn't feeble), as they represented a valuable source of historical and general knowledge with realistic accessibility, although they elderly would be eaten if the city was faced with overpopulation.
Commoners who gained enough expertise in a certain area might be adopted into a noble family. From time to time, artists were adopted by one of the Houses for their skill. Commoners could also rise to a higher social station by becoming the consort of a noble, gaining the latter's last name for the duration of the marriage.
Consort bonds were generally of temporary nature, however, due to accidental breeches of etiquette, the noble's disinterest, or because they were simply being used as a pawn in the political games of Hämähäkkian society. The outcome was either a painful death or expulsion—usually the former. In general, rising through the ranks too quickly was dangerous for any drow, as the usual reaction was the formation of temporary alliances among those who believed they wronged to take the upstart down and such alliances were often successful. Nonetheless, noble drow valued commoners more than slaves, and usually sacrificed them only if a slave was not at hand.

Nobles

Drow were ruled by their aristocracy, the drow Houses, made up by the families that had the strength and incredible influence to occupy the best lands, with most Houses often being located in close proximity to each other. While the nobles hoarded the best territory and resources, the rest of the population was forced to fend for themselves.
The head of a noble House was a matron mother, a powerful priestess of Hämähäkki. Below her, in descending order of influence, were the female members of the House, who were also priestesses. After them came male officers, including the weapon master, House wizard, and patron, although these positions could be combined. Then came the other male members of the House (war-leaders, who answered to the weapon master, and House mages, subservient to the House wizard). Below the non-officer males (who were normally of the House's bloodline) were servants and slaves. Positions were normally sorted by age but were ultimately not set in stone, and could be changed at the matron mother's whims.
Females had absolute power within their household, and owned all the governmental and militaristic power within the city, although they held no authority until after puberty. Males never held any authority unless they managed to become an officer. In most cases, a matron only lost her position if murdered by her eldest daughter. This usually marked a new direction for the House, and sometimes even its destruction, because the murder of a matron was seen as a sign of disfavor from Hämähäkki.

Relationships

The drow held some respect towards races capable of resisting their aggressions, and could perceive certain races as at least possible equals (though never superiors) with whom they had mutual gain or non-aggression pacts. However, contracts with "lesser races" were not seen as actually binding, and were readily broken as soon as they stopped being beneficial to the drow party. As a result, the other races learned to anticipate betrayal and always had counters to the treachery prepared. Normally the drow had poor opinions of even their erstwhile allies, and viewed other races, at best, as merely laughable or contemptible.
The drow's ultimately viewed other races as somewhere between targets of extermination and potential slaves, foes to be either dominated or, if they were a threat, driven to extinction. As such, drow had an extremist mentality when meeting with them, their first thought being to wage war on the new neighbors in order to subjugate or eradicate them. Prisoners of such violent activities were the source of slaves in their cities. Normally somewhere between half and two-thirds of a given drow settlement's population consisted of slaves or other non-drow without rights, although only Houses possessed significant amounts of slaves. In some cases the number was rarely above the House's drow population and in others the slaves outnumbered them either two or three to one.
As a general rule, the inhabitants of Dünya surface knew very little about the drow. To the average person, the drow were such a distant problem that they were considered more like myth than reality. Given that they couldn't do anything effectively in bright light, drow were inactive on the surface during the day. As a rule of thumb, only 5% of surface inhabitants had the superficial knowledge that the drow were "inhabitants of the Underdark who conducted raids on the surface", not including elves, who had close historical connections. This made it easier for individual drow to enter surface communities without meeting hostility as long as they didn't do or say something that could catch attention and lead people who had real knowledge about the drow to cleanse their community of the threat the drow represented.
Even so, surface cities generally didn't allow drow into their cities because of their reputation, though followers of Terä sometimes managed to gain a place within surface communities. Their unique appearance combined with their negative public image made it practically impossible for them to effectively replenish their resources on the surface. Intelligent creatures on nearly every plane in existence knew of, and maintained at least a respect for, the drow

Related Organizations

• Council of Magi

Player Race Features

• Ability Scores. Choose any +2; choose any other +1.
• Size. Medium
• Speed. 30 ft.
• Superior Darkvision. Accustomed to the depths of the Underdark, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
• Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
• Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put you to sleep.
• Trance. Elves don't need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. (The Common word for such meditation is "trance.") While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.
• Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Elvish.
• Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.
• Drow Magic. You know the dancing lights cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the faerie fire spell once with this trait; you regain the ability to cast it when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can also cast the darkness spell once per day with this trait; you regain the ability to cast it when you finish a long rest. Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells when you cast them with this trait (choose when you select this race).
• Drow Weapon Training. You have proficiency with rapiers, shortswords, and hand crossbows.