Elf, Night

First and foremost, while all Drow are Night Elves, not all Night Elves are Drow. Until the Deluge, there wasn't much of a point of distinction since nearly every Drow was devoted to the ideals of Lolth and the Drow. Sometimes not by choice, as an faltering from their cultural norms was met with swift and awful repraisal. 
While may painted the Drow as inherently evil, many were not. They generally behaved the same way as evil drow due to social pressure, as being soft in any way was lethal in drow society and often resulted in the death of such drow. Raised in an environment of constant back-stabbing, in-fighting and bigotry, many were warped into twisted sensibilities by their environment rather than some innate evil within their souls.

Basic Information

Biological Traits

Night Elf skin tones are usually dark grey, jet-black, and obsidian, with mixed-race Elves usually having a grey skin tone.
Their eyes can 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. Night Elves with green, brown, black, amber, or rose-hued eyes existed, but they were rare. 
Purple or blue eyes indicated surface elves and/or human ancestry. The color of a their eyes could also be indicative of their current mental or physical state; drow eyes redden when they are angry, and turn yellow when they are sick, poisoned, or under some negative magical influence.
Their eyes are also quite sensitive to light. Lifetimes living in the Underdark makes them blind under the rays of the sun without the proper eyewear.
Drow generally kept their hair long, and decorated it with pins and webbing made of precious metals. However, many Night Elves have taken to going bald or keeping their hair short as another mark of defiance against the Drow culture. Interestingly, it was believed that they were incapable of growing facial hair, but that may not be the case since Night Elves with beards have been seen.

Additional Information

Facial characteristics

While this is a contested issue, Night Elves are said to be the most beautiful of the Elves. Maybe it is their danger that other races find so alluring, or the selective genetic breeding they underwent in the Underdark. They say "it is easier to find a needle in a haystack than it is to find an ugly Night Elf."

Geographic Origin and Distribution

The population of Night Elves is quite sparse. The Deluge devastated many Underdark cities, and the mass exodus invoked Lolth's bloody reprisal. Once on the surface, the Night Elves were forced to contend with environments they were unfamiliar with, the blinding sun, and the ire of those they'd long fought against.
Currently, the greatest concentration of Night Elves is in the City of Artisans, Antronec.

Average Intelligence

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 Lolth's dogma, 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 worldly experience.
Since living on the surface, their keen minds haven't dulled, but have applied it to shrewd business and social manipulation instead. However, getting over their close-mindedness is still a struggle.

Civilization and Culture

Beauty Ideals

Night Elves still covet beauty, and their discerning sensibilities make them quite picky when it comes to beauty standards. In both people and art, they are highly critical, quick to point out flaws and are scathing in their assessments.

Gender Ideals

Drow society was Matriarchal, where the head of a noble House was a matron mother, a powerful priestess of Lolth. Females had absolute power within their household, and owned all the governmental and militaristic power within the city. Males never held any authority unless they managed to become an officer. Otherwise they were servants and slaves, only slightly above non-Drow slaves. 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 Lolth.
These gender norms have been some of the hardest for the Night Elves to break away from.

Relationship Ideals

Tenderness and love are things that weren't required in a Drow relationship. They embraced hedonism and decadence, acting on passion, pain and pleasure, alone. They were selfish lovers, who even at the best of times could be brutally intense one moment, but distant and cruel the next. Their coveting of superficial beauty took no consideration of feeling or emotions.
Among themselves, many Night Elves still hold these relationship ideals, scoffing at the ideas of "love" and "romance". However, as they try and embrace the ways of Eilistraee, some are opening themselves up to be more considerate partners. However, this is still quite extreme by most races sensibilities. They engage in polyamorous relationships and engage in various forms of debauchery

Culture and Cultural Heritage

Formerly fanatically loyal to Lolth, many Night Elves find themselves lost without the oppressive focus she provided. With most of their culture lost in the Deluge, they've been forced to cobble together something new. After hearing the voice of Eilistraee, many have substituted devotion to Lolth to a devotion to her daughter.
Eilistraee was the chaotic good drow goddess of beauty, song, dance, freedom, moonlight, swordwork, and hunting, within the drow pantheon known as the Dark Seldarine. She was the patroness and protector of the few dark elves who longed to return to the surface and live there, at peace with other races, and to abandon the endless conflicts and intrigues that dominated the lives of most drow

Common Taboos

To the Night Elves that escaped Lolth's grip, there is no greater taboo than invoking her name. On the surface, she has far less power, but any who lived under her oppression know that she is still very dangerous. Even using her name could give her unwarranted power, draw her attention, and her wrath.

History

Yet, as the Underdark caverns and the Drow cities began to flood from the Deluge, the Goddess Lolth demanded that her people stay. The mad spider Goddess would rather see her race drown than have them leave her purview. After millennium faithfully following Lolth, this was the final straw. Everything they'd ever done and erected in her name, all of it was being washed away, along with her web of lies. Lolth was laid bare as the fearful, insane Goddess she was and her people abandoned her in droves. Only the most loyal, fervent believers obeyed her.
As her followers abandoned her, she flung her full fury at them, cursing many to become Driders or Ettercaps. Yet, she'd raised her people too well to endure suffering and to be unshakeable in their actions. Their resolve bested hers and they abandoned the Underdark for the surface world.
Of course, nobody was happy to see throngs of Night Elves suddenly emerging, and the Night Elves were no more sociable just because they'd abandoned Lolth. Yet, without their mad Goddess commanding them to slay or enslave everything that wasn't Drow, they were amenable to negotiations.
Their ability to weave spider silk was invaluable in replacing much of the cotton and wool resources that were lost during the Deluge. Ships needed sails, and none could create them faster than the Night Elves. They leveraged this skill to ensure their position in the new world that was forming after the Deluge. They made deals with creatures that normally had just been scum to them, fit only to be slain or enslaved.
They quickly realized that the control and power they'd enjoyed in the Underdark could be replicated on the surface, but not through whip and collar, but through shrewd negotiation. Better still, this new form of control didn't draw the ire of other races. They grumbled and grovelled, but ultimately relented to what the Elves wanted.
Thus, they grew wealthier, and more powerful, establishing The Golden Web, a weaving company with business partners from all over. The Night Elves are now a powerful members of Antronec's Mercantile Guild, part of the Textile Collective.
While not every Night Elf is directly related to the Golden Web, it continues to grow and recruit more Night Elves, reconstituting their numbers and amassing more power.

Station: In all the world of the Night Elves, there is no more important word.

Lifespan

Up to 750 years

Average Height

4′7″ ‒ 5′5″ (140‒170 cm)

Average Weight

82 ‒152 lb (37 ‒ 68.9 kg)

Average Physique

Of all the Elven Subraces, Drow are the shortest, with wiry and athletic bodies.