Drow (Dr-ow)
Dark-skinned elves that are native to the Ardlam, drow are feared for their sadism and cruelty. Having black or purple skin, with pupil-less eyes and white hair, the drow rule over a vast majority of The Underrealm. Driven into the Underrealm follwing the Great Separation, the drow turned to worshipping one of the darker gods of the elves, casting aside their tenderness for rugged survivability. No longer able to see in the daylight, drows instead possess exceptional darkvision and the ability to push magic away from their bodies.
Naming Traditions
Family names
Drow typically have their names; their given name, the name of their personal family, and the name of the noble house of which they belong to.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
The drow speak Undercommon instead of Common, and Abyssal instead of Celestial.
Average technological level
The drow love to utilize both poison and dark magic, reveling in the pain it causes their victims. They often capture prisoners and subject them to a process known as fleshwarping, where they utilize both alchemy and magic to change and warp a creatures body over time into a completely new and monstrous creation.
Common Etiquette rules
Drow society is full of minced words and carefully maneuvered political posturing, as each noble family competes against each other to hold what power they have. A drow that cannot compete with their peers and siblings is likely to find themselves gifted to another family as a political bargaining chip, and such an exchange often leads the gifted strapped to a fleshwarping table.
Common Dress code
Many drow wear dominating leather or extremely tight clothing that other races would find uncomfortable or even painful to wear. Such garments are often even crafted out of the flesh and hair of unfortunate drow victims, and the drow view their ability to wear such clothing as yet another sign of their devotion to Sarnel.
Art & Architecture
The drow dwell in large, subterranean cities carved from cavern walls. While the drow claim to have crafted such cities themselves, most of the dwellings are in fact ancient duergar cities that fell to drow forces long ago. These cities often hover over the massive left-behind tunnels of the crawlings, so that the drow may control the passages to the different levels of the Underrealm.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
Drow babies are inspected at birth for physicals deformities. If a deformity is found, a priest of Sarnel is consulted to determine if the deformity is a blessing from the god. If it is determined to not be a gift, they then considered the use of the child for further alchemical experiments or potential fleshwarping. If deemed not useful for experimentation, the baby is then unceremoniously tossed into the drow death pits as an offering to Sarnel. Stories abound of children tossed this way landing in Weaverling webs, surviving and being raised by the spider-folk, only to return centuries later to enact a furious vengeance on those who tossed them away.
Coming of Age Rites
When a drow comes of age, they must prove themselves by personally sacrificing something they love to Sarnel, whether that be a family pet, close friend, or even a sibling or aged grandparent. Should they lack even those connections, the drow may even be force to sacrifice parts of their own body to prove their devotion to their dark god.
Funerary and Memorial customs
The drow have little respect for their dead, the only consideration they get is that their corpses are not utilized in unholy experiments. After being thoroughly looted, the drow dump their corpses into giant pits that lead to the deeper reaches of the Underrealm as offerings to Sarnel. Many weaverliings build their nests around such holes, and continue to pick over and even venerate the carcasses tossed to down to them.
Common Taboos
Kindness, mercy, and honor are all weaknesses to the drow, and a weakness in any form can cause the "stone" of drow society to crack and break. Thus, the drow tolerate no forms of weakness, with those who fail to harden their hearts often sacrificed to Sarnel or fleshwarped into monstrous driders. Those that resist the cruelty of the drow often must flee to the surface as children, but even their struggle to survive to due their exposure to the sun and the tendencies of surface races to attempt to kill them on sight.
Common Myths and Legends
When the Realms where first separated, the drow were much more peaceful creatures who dwelt on the surface. However, the lack of world space and the advent of the Humans of Ardlam pushed the two races into conflict, and the drow were forced to retreat underground. It is then that they turned to the fifth child of Erá, Sarnel, who offered them the strength and power of stone in exchange for unconditional worship. The drow agreed, and overtime adapted the cruel, unwavering, and unfeeling hardness of the earth. Heretical drow might be found worshiping other members of the Elven Pantheon, or sometimes even a Fiendish Lord, but such drow must act carefully to keep their true allegiance hidden.
It is believed by some that the progenitor of the weaverlings, Harreh the Beast, is an escaped drow experiment, crafted when ancient drow fleshwarpers attempted to imbue Sarnels divine power into a massive spider-like beast, or that Herrah might even be a old, abandoned herald of Sarnel.
Historical figures
Two mysterious drow named Merrinvato and Houndril were members of the villainous group known as the Darkmoon Alliance, who were responsible for bringing about The Sundering.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
A drows view on beauty is even more intense than other elves, as they view anything that isn't a drow as inferior creations, good only for amusement, slavery, and experimentation. The only things that come close to drow perfection is spider-like creatures, and thus the only Enthos that a drow would even consider interacting with is the Weaverlings, who closely resemble them.
Gender Ideals
The drow value strength and survivability above all else, and thus they care little for gender and more about perseverance. Most drow families are matriarchal, as it seems that female drows are often more cunning and ruthless than their male counterparts.
Courtship Ideals
Most courtship for drow is taken through political bargaining and arranged parings, with prominent drows holding large, multi-family harems.
Relationship Ideals
Drows often only view each other in terms of usefulness and survivability. If a creature as outlived its worth or is no longer contributing to the drows chances of survival, it is swiftly abandoned of sacrificed. Drow children are encouraged to make friends and deep connections, so that they may be tested at their Proving ceremony by sacrificing whatever they hold most dear as an offering to Sarnel. Thus, some lucky drow might have one or two close friends even in adulthood, but must be constantly on guard, lest that friendship be exploited.
Major organizations
Drow society is primarily divided into 8 noble houses, of which countless minor families are contained:
House Hel-dei, (Hell-dai): The largest and most influential house, House Hel-dei oversees religious aspects of Drow society and the worship of Sarnel, the god of the Drow.
House Anmór, (An-moor): The most prominent mage house, House Anmór delves into ark arcane magic. They have a fierce rivalry with House Hel-dei, as Hel-dei thinks they are turning away from the tenets of Sarnel.
House Achil, (A-chill): One of the most prominent and large houses, House Achil is responsible for the entertainment and culture of drow society, creating new fashion trends, throwing lavish parties for other houses, and running numerous brothels
House Dinfiar, (Din-fee-ar): The noble house of assassins and warriors, House Dinfiar is known as the strongest house in terms of martial might, and is feared for their ability to invade others.
House Lauei, (La-ooh-ey): A highly influential house, House Lauei runs the banks and facilitates the trade of drow society, and often acts as a mediator between other houses.
House Rawheem, (Raw-heem): The noble house of slavers and fleshwarping, the drow of House Rawheem are the most proficient fleshwarpers and tortures, and are often utilized by the other house for their work.
House Curcet, (Sur-set): The noble house of smiths, carpenters, and builders, House Curcet is known for its excellent craftsmanship. Despite their importance to infrastructure, they are considered one of the weakest noble houses
House Chwolva, (Che-wolf-a) (Farmers and Fungi Growers): One of the smallest and weakest houses, House Chwolva grows most of the food for drow society in the form of vegetable-like fungus and insectile-like livestock, as well as cultivating deadly poisons.
Random Drow Homelands
| % Rolled | Homeland | Trait Gained |
|---|---|---|
| 01-60 | Subterranean | Surface Stranger |
| 61-79 | Dark Forest | Poisonous Upbringing |
| 80-94 | Desert | Grit Goggles |
| 95-00 | Unusual Homeland | (Roll on Unusual Homeland table) |
Related Organizations
Related Locations
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