"I must warn you: no matter what your idea of right and wrong on the surface, you must cast it away in this place. These people do not share your ideas on that subject, if they have any ideas on the subject at all, and you best not broach the topic with any of them. Just stay quiet, pay your dues, and keep your head down, and we can be on our way to the Tranquil Sea in three-days-time."

-The Underdark Guide, Warrick the Long-Toothed

Drow Culture

The Queens of Darkness

The Drow were born out of subjugation, and would thusly subjugate for the rest of their days. In the latter days of Underdark expansion, the then nascent Duergar, or in Dwarvish, Under-Dwarves, under the noses of their masters above, began to lead raids on the surface. They built connections to the surface that were unknown and unregulated by the dwarves, and used them, particularly in and around Adra Majoris, to move across the surface looking for wealth, supplies, and most importantly, slaves. Most slaves they took capture of were quick to perish. The long-lived Duergar could not stand having to capture 100 kobold slaves only for them to die a few years later, or even sooner of exposure. Unwilling to engage in some sort of breeding program, or create a major infrastructure for the slave-trade (or rather in those days, unable to do so under the thumb of their dwarven masters), they required a long-lived race, and eventually came upon the bold solution of enslaving elves. The Elves of the Blackwood had long since let down their guard, and through a series of quick and brutal strikes on the outlying villages of their people, the Duergar captured thousands of elves over the course of a few hundred years. Eventually, the elves drew up their guard, a guard that remains to this day. Still, in the short term, this longer-lived work force allowed the Duergar to expand mightily in their ambitions, and would provoke them to rebel from the Underkingdoms, breaking entirely free and moving further into the Underdark to forge fortresses of their own. These original elf slaves were certain that their countrymen would come to their rescue; to their credit, they tried. However, the Duergar were very difficult to track in the bowels of the earth, and when they were found, attacking one of their strongholds was usually a losing proposition. A few elves were saved, but the majority would remain subjugated. Believing that their fellows had abandoned them, these elves grew bitter and estranged. Far from the light, and the wood from which their life-energy sprang forth, these elves slowly became corrupted, partially by the same powers which corrupted the Duergar, partially from their own hatred of their captors and kinsmen. Overtime, these embittered and corrupted elves would become the Drow, or Dark-Elves. Many Drow remained in captivity for a long time, but over the centuries, the Drow staged a series of major escapes from the various Duergar strongholds. Seizing on any infighting, chaos, or treachery they could muster or happen upon, the Drow would slowly but steadily free themselves, or if not themselves, their children, or their children's children would free themselves. Some drow, in addition to a host of other races, would always remain enslaved by the Duergar, but the majority would begin to gather and craft a civilization of their own. Long gone was any desire to return permanently to the surface. Instead, their deep and abiding hatred for the surface dwellers (a common attitude among the Underdark peoples) fueled them to go on raiding parties of their own. Suddenly, villagers of the surface had another boogeyman to fear, as Drow would mercilessly pour into a village or town, burn houses, steal grain, pilfer treasuries, and kill indiscriminately, capturing and leading off any they didn't kill as slaves of their own. Over time, the Drow would perfect the kind of Underdark slave trade which the Duergar first pioneered. Whole Drow cities, far more sophisticated than any other settlements in the deep below, would be created, and upon the backs of slaves they would run. Mighty matriarchical clans would rise to power, and complex networks of slavers and slave traders would build up along the roads of the Underdark. And overtime, in their eternal war against the Duergar, the Drow arcanists and flesh-warpers would slowly create abominations to wage war with against each other. This everspanning war would slowly but surely complete the corruption of the Underdark. No more would it be a vast quiet place for mining, as the dwarves intended, instead it would be a maze like haze of tunnels and chambers, filled with an ever expanding network of peoples, settlements, and horrid monsters beyond compare. In the end, the Aboleth, and eventually the Mind Flayers, would come to dominate and usurp much of the power wielded by the Drow at their height. However, the Drow still remain today, and they remain a terrifying monster to most Kith, and a sobering reminder to the elves of their own imperfection.

          The Drow are a cunning and treacherous people. Given their origins, and their need to survive in an incredibly hostile world, the Drow have learned to do anything that is required of them in order to survive. Stealing, killing, cheating, and all manner of underhanded behavior is practiced by them, particularly towards non-Drow. On the surface, this usually means that people keep away from the Drow like a plague, even from the minority of Drow that are peaceably integrated into surface society. In the Underdark, it is different; those who roam the Underdark are well-aware of Drow treachery, but the plethora of far worse creatures, and the primacy of Drow civilization, means that few in the world below can stay away from Drow settlements. Therefore, the Drow have also, perhaps somewhat in tension with their tendency towards brutality, is their preparedness towards hospitality, bureaucracy, and trade. Overtime, the Drow came to realize that there was an increasing desire for security along Underdark Trade Routes. Rather than prey on the insecurity of the Dwarven and Gnomish merchants, they seized on the opportunity to collaborate with them, and thwart their old Duergar rivals. As such, the Drow are able to maintain civility towards outsiders, and are not needlessly bloodthirsty or brutal. Usually, it is more beneficial for them to work with those that come through their doors, rather than subjugate them. That is, usually it is; the moment an arrangement no longer remains beneficial to the Drow, you may bet that they will change the conditions of the relationship dramatically. And that in general characterizes the Drow, infinitely adaptable, without many in the way of scruples or principles to get in their way. Their personal survival instincts are kept in check only by the realities of their lives, and the strict hierarchical society in which they live. All Drow life is situated around the Drow Matriarchs, Drow women who rule over their settlements. These Matriarchs hold within in them all the combined desires, ambitions, and grudges of their people. And if the Drow people did have one coherent ideology holding together their society, it would be subservience and loyalty towards the Drow Matrons. Of course, regardless of the positive aspects of the society and its people, the Drow are at their core, a people completely comfortable and in fact in praise of slavery. Furthermore, the brutality of Drow slavery pales in comparison to the slavery of the surface. Drow slaves almost never have a chance at freedom, and their lives are filled with cruelty, disgrace, and pain. Slaves are often thrown into fighting rings for the amusement of the drow elite, and killed at a moment's notice for the slightest of infractions. To the Drow, they are property, not people, in every conceivable way.

          The Drow people are most highly concentrated in their Underdark cities, though there are some found in other parts of the world, usually as a distrusted minority. The races of the Drow are most predominately Drow Elves, but occasionally a non-Drow elf or non-elf is integrated into the culture, though this is most unusual. Out of fear, as many do in the Underdark, the Drow pay homage and sacrifice to Goretawn. For obvious reasons, the Matriarch of Destiny and her pantheon tend to have temples in every Drow settlement. Drow tend to be adaptable, cunning, and capable. They also tend to be treacherous, cruel, and domineering. The Drow speak Under-Elvish as a rule, though most also are fluent in Undercommon in order to communicate with merchants, travellers, and slaves.

If you choose the Drow Culture, you gain the following:

~Either a +1 to your Charisma score or a +1 to your Constitution score~

~A -1 to your Wisdom score~

~As a known language, either Under-Elvish or Undercommon~

~A Sub-Discipline in every knowledge skill on checks relating to Drow Culture~

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