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y-rhywbeth2 · 9 months

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Lore: Drow #1

Cultures, Part 1 Link: Disclaimer regarding D&D "canon" & Lore Index [WIP] [tldr: D&D lore is a giant conflicting mess. Larian's lore is also a conflicting mess. You learn to take what you want and leave the rest]

Ssri'Tel'Quessir, the People of Darkness. I love these messy little bastards so much. An eye for an eye might make the whole world blind, but that is the price the drow are willing to pay.

They're also a surprisingly diverse bunch, and since everybody knows the backstabbing social darwinist spider-matriarchy, let's talk about some of the other drow cultures first. Let's see, there's the split between the dark elves of Ilythiir and Miyeritar; the original dark elves; the surprisingly large number of different hidden societies of surface drow; aquatic dark elves; the merchant clans... This isn't even quite all of them, it was just getting long so I had to stop there.

Also, which asshole was responsible for naming a place “Jhachalkhyn”? Come here. I just want to talk...

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Dark elves, pre-Descent: Information on the dark elves before their exile tends to be scarce.

They and the Green Elves are branches of the same elven ethnic group, and these two were the first elves to arrive on Toril, and the first of their people to travel through it, learn it and build their homes on it (alongside some avariel). The dark and green elves were the most aggressive and highly driven of their people, and the dark elves were the most successfully established - initially.

Dark elves have always been described as dark skinned, though their skin was originally brown and became desaturated as a mark of their banishment. Whether their hair was always pale or whether it was originally dark has varied by source. Black hair is a rarely seen recessive gene amongst drow, and the green elves have blonde hair as a rare colour, so it's quite possibly both.

As green elves are significantly taller than the drow, one can assume that the dark elves have grown smaller over their 10,000+ years living in the Underdark.

Miyeritari VS Ilythiiri Better covered in-depth when I get to elven history:

In short, Ilythiir was the first elven kingdom on Toril and a beacon of elven culture and glory for thousands of years. It grew into a corrupt empire (and was hardly the only example of its kind; imperialism, corruption and intrigue isn't the sole domain of the dark elves). The Ilythiiri were eventually corrupted by Lolth, and their actions in the numerous wars between the elven empires - and unwillingness to stop despite (almost) every other elven nation wanting the centuries of nonstop war to end - became so bad that the other elves and the Seldarine banished them from the surface in a High Magic ritual called the Descent of the Drow or the Curse of the Seldarine, binding the dark elves to the ambient faerzress radiation of the Underdark, which cut them off from the elven gods and the Weave.

The result of this is that drow no longer have their innate connection to the elven afterlife/plane of origin, Arvandor. They may still go to that afterlife, if they worship the Seldarine or Eilistraee, but they are not welcome there by default. While they are no less cut off from the Weave than any other race, and may practice magic, they do not have an innate connection to it and their lifespans are reduced from 700+ years to around 350 (although individual drow have been known to live far longer, and editions have not been consistent on this). It is also supposedly responsible for sunlight blinding and causing unbearable pain to the drow, and allowed the elves to drive the dhaerow into the Underdark. (It should also be noted that the effects of faerzress seem to wear off over time, if a drow leaves the Underdark. Their sunlight sensitivity also fades with time. Returning to the Underdark will cause them to fall back under the radiation's effect.)

The Ilythiiri drow feel that they won the Fourth Crown War, and that the Seldarine (especially Corellon) condoning their exile and showing blatant favouritism to the other elves despite their own war crimes is unjust (especially in light of the crimes committed against the dark elves of Miyeritar by the sun elves of Aryvandaar).

Over the course of their history, the Ilythiiri mixed their blood with that of the demon lord Wendonai, and as a result of having the balor for an ancestor, dark elves of Ilythiiri descent often have red eyes. It's genetic, and the most often seen eye colour on drow.

Miyeritar was a nation further north, in the location of what is now the High Moor. Their primary religion was that of Eilistraee, a Chaotic Good dark elven goddess of moonlight, dance, hunting and music. The majority of its population was dark elven, living alongside a significant number of their green elven cousins. It was eventually annexed by the neighbouring sun elven empire of Aryvandaar, and later annihilated in an act of genocide that also utterly destroyed Eilistraee's church for the better part of a millennia and severely weakened her ability to counter Lolth's influence. Two notable enclaves of Miyeritaran refugees secretly survived with the help of the neighbouring moon elven empire of Illefarn, who gave them out-of-the-way land to settle on within their borders and hid them from the Aryvandaan forces. These grew into the cities of Ascarle, the underwater City of Ice and Fire, and Jhachalkhyn, the subterranean City of Eternal Twilight.

Unlike their cousins, the Miyeritari had no connection to the violence of the wars except as victims, but the Curse of the Seldarine didn't merely single out the Ilythiiri, and all dark elves were exiled from the People. This betrayal led to a significant amount of bitterness, and allowed Lolth a foothold amongst the dark elves of Jhachalkhyn.

Something many drow, regardless of ancestry, affiliation or reasoning agree on is something along the lines of the following:

"[Drow] burn with hatred for the Seldarine and their coddled children, and want nothing more than to return to the surface and bring to the elves there suffering a thousand times greater than that which the drow have been forced to endure over the past ten thousand years."

The drow refer to the surface elves as Darthiiri (Darthiir, in singular), meaning "traitor."

The Jhachalkhynnar drow became radicalised from within over time, ousting opposing voices and eventually turning their blades against their green elven Miyeritari kin (who had been spared their magically enforced exile); the Illefarn darthiiri who had once sheltered them; and the dark elven Ascarleans (who had temporarily side-stepped the Descent by magically transforming themselves into a unique form of sea elf (this protective loophole didn't last, as some survivors of Jhachalkhyn's genocide later learned))

The Jhachalkhynnar drow have cooperated with their Ilythiiri neighbours at times, though drow of Miyeritari heritage are not terribly welcoming of their cousins, blaming them for their fate as much as they do the surface elves.

Around 1372-ish DR another High Magic ritual was cast to remove the curse from dark elves descended from the Miyeritari. They are no longer bound to the faerzress, and it no longer inhibits their innate elven connection to the Seldarine, Arvandor and the Weave. Their skin has regained its original saturation and sunlight no longer pains them. (This little incident with the dark elves changing back kind of just got forgotten as canon went forward, so information about what this small population of Ssri'Tel'Quessir are actually doing in the world after this is non-existent.)

Surface drow (EIlistraeean): Although they have never been focused on, apparently there are plenty of surface-dwelling dark elves living quietly out of sight, deep within quiet woodlands (often deep within the tropical forests, down South) minding their own business - 22% of all drow live on the surface and most of their communities worship Eilistraee as their primary deity. Some of them are exiles, self-imposed or voluntary, who came to the surface. Some of them resisted the Descent and never left the surface in the first place.

Part of the reason their population is so large is simply that the founders of these communities chose to live in peace rather than constant warfare and backstabbing, and thus their population has been able to grow unhindered. These communities do have to be on guard against attacks, especially from Lolthite and Vhaeraunite drow, and do their best to go unnoticed by other surfacers, but mostly get on with their lives in peace.

Their population sometimes also includes a minority of other elves and half-elves.

As of 5e, these settlements (which do long precede 5e, regardless of whoever's complaining about how drow must all be evil or that non-evil drow are special exceptions) likely include Callidae and Saekolath, founded by drow who never followed Lolth or descended into the Underdark in the first place. When the drow were banished, some drow simply left for the most remote places they could find and stayed there.

A few places where surface drow exist include:

The High Forest, which features a sacred site, has a small population of drow.

Callidae is a city of about 50,000 people, built inside a glacier in the far North. Callidae is unknown to anyone except for the neighbouring Ulutiun humans and arctic dwarves, who they coexist with.

Saekolath is furthest South, deep within one of the jungles, and their culture places great emphasis on living attuned with the nature that surrounds them. They are highly isolationist, and avoid all contact.

As of 1490, after the Second Sundering when Eilistraee announced her return by manifesting outside of the city walls of Waterdeep, many of her followers have migrated to the city to build a shrine to her there. Despite the hostility dark elves face from surfacers, they were assisted by allies in the Harpers, and the shrine stands in the North Ward despite the fact that the city does not particularly welcome them.

These communities are Eilistraeean, and their worship often incorporates the Seldarine and the Dark Maiden's allies as well; Callarduaran Smoothhands (patron god of Deep Gnomes), Haela Brightaxe (the cheerful dwarven goddess of battle), Lurue, Mystra, and Selûne - plus any other gods that might appeal to an individual, past the communal level. Some communities will even send a pacifying offering to Vhaeraun now and then, to keep them hidden from the eyes of the world. Worshipping Lolth, on the other hand, is not going to go down well, ever.

Eilistraeeans are not the only drow communities on the surface however, and her brother Vhaeraun also encourages his followers to seek the surface world for very different reasons.

Maeralynnar Drow: Some of the descendants of the aquatic dark elves of Ascarle have their own city in the Underdark. Their ancestors were given a new home in a hidden space along the coast, and fell in love with the sea, using magic to turn themselves into sea elves so that they could live beneath the waves. When the armies of Jhachalkhyn arrived, the survivors were those who fled or who were away at the time. Survivors include House Ildroun and House Meirityn, who fled into the warmer seas to the South.

In 882 DR, Lady Maerala of House Meirityn was experimenting with a High Magic ritual that would allow her and her people to alternate between their sea elven and original dark elven forms at will, allowing them to survive on land and in sea. Unfortunately for her, while the spell worked and allows them to now switch between aquatic and terrestrial forms, upon taking on their original dark elven forms they were subject to the Curse of the Seldarine and branded as drow. The descendants of Ascarle had by this point forgotten their history as Ssri'Tel'Quessir - 10,000+ years is a long time even for elves, and Maerala and her house had been driven out by 887 DR

The refugees established themselves in the Seadark (the ocean in the Underdark), building the city of Maeralyn (no prizes for guessing who that's named after). The drow of the city divided their time between learning how to survive the Underdark and uncovering the explanation for their transformation. They eventually found it in 1051 DR, when Maerala managed to trace her people's tracks back to Ascarle (currently under new, non-elven management. Specifically a mind flayer, oddly enough) There she met a kraken named Slarkrethel (who is also pretty important, but not in a way that really matters much here). In exchange for serving the ancient sea monster, he taught her of her ancestors and the betrayal they suffered.

As there was nothing the Maeralynnar could do about the exile placed on them by the gods, they went for the next best thing, and in 1357 DR they launched an attack on the Jhachakhynnar drow, slaughtered the vast majority and razed their city to the ground. They looted every Miyeritaran artefact and scrap of culture they could get and took it home to Maeralyn.

Little else is said about them, except that their society is currently held hostage to the will of a titanic, ancient sea monster running a massive information network spanning the North of Faerûn. They currently serve as spies.

In their aquatic form, sea elves of dark elven heritage take on skin in shades of deep green, banded with irregular brown patches and stripes. Their hair comes in various colours including white and silver. Also they have gills around their collar bones and over their ribs and webbed digits, standard aquatic elf stuff.

The description given for the Maeralynnar elves in aquatic form is also the description given for one subgroup of aquatic elves in Races of Faerûn. From this we can assume that that write up is how these dark elves' culture has also worked for 10,887 years, during which they would have missed out on the development of drow culture and related bitterness.

They are ruled by a ranked nobility, and this group in particular had a monarchy. Traditionally, the titles are passed down the male line in a mild patriarchal tradition, but it seems that in Maerala's case the kingdom was either matriarchal or egalitarian, with the monarch being elected from amongst the nobility by their proving their merit through some great service to society or useful discovery.

The community is very tightly knit and prizes cooperation, for the sake of survival. There is no concept of private property, and all things within the community belong to everybody. (This does not extend to outsiders, who can expect a stabbing if they try to take anything)

Aquatic elves have little contact with the world above sea level and are wary of outsiders. In light of their exile, ancestral history and current environment, this trend has likely been strengthened and may have led to a culture of mistrust and xenophobia.

Their martial training involves tridents, spears and nets. Due to a history of living in the water, and the new amphibious lifestyle, they tend to favour wearing as little as possible and making sure that whatever they wear allows them to dress and undress quickly - or at best doesn't hamper their swimming in the water.

Most elves wear their hair long, but warriors keep it short.

Maeralynnar drow lack the small stature and the sexual dimorphism of regular drow (men are, on average, smaller and thinner than women). They standing at the same height range as the humans of the Realms.

Due to the removal of the curse from Miyeritaran dark elves around 1372-ish DR, the Maeralynnar are no longer magically exiled. What effect that might have had on their society is also unknown.

Presumably they aren't currently under Lolth's sway - not fully, anyway (although considering she tends to consider the dark elves "hers," she's likely to have tried to change that).

Eilistraee, as a goddess who actively reaches out to all drow, and the historical patron of their Miyeritari ancestors who the Maeralynnar are so interested in connecting with, is a likely candidate for worship.

Living by and in the oceans as they do, Umberlee will hold a primary position in their religious practices. Sea elves fall under the purview of the elven god of the sea and knowledge, Deep Sashelas, and they would have been worshipping him as a primary deity before their exile in 887 DR. While becoming drow might've strained their relationship, it's possible that the Maeralynnar continue to worship the Seldarine (who generally have no problems accepting drow, as long as they're not brainwashed by Lolth or similar cults).

Merchant Clans: Drow are one of the most prominent traders in the Underdark. Trade with their inferiors is beneath the Matriarchs of the Noble Houses of the various drow cities, and so it falls to those living outside their walls to interact with outsiders. The Matrons insist that the merchants are irrelevant, however the trade they bring is the vital lifeline of drow cities. Without them even Menzoberranzan would be in trouble.

Different clans organise them differently, but the trend is for there to be some kind of "inner ring" or council calling the shots. Membership will consist of the wealthiest and most experienced merchants, and many of them will be men. Interactions with outsiders is a dangerous and demeaning task, best left to inferiors.

Many of the men in the inner ring are wizards - Lolthite society has a tradition called The Test; when a wizard reaches a certain level of power, he is subject to examination by the Spider Queen to see if she's happy with a male wielding power. If she's not, he gets to enjoy the rest of his life in permanent agony and hunger as a drider. Some wizards, deciding that they'd rather not risk the whims of an infamously fickle and sadistic goddess prone to trolling, simply pack up and get a job outside the city as a trader.

While the merchants are no less arrogant than the average drow, as a rule, they are far more relaxed around outsiders and surfacers, and the "second ring" of drow trade organisations are quite happy to have non-drow on staff in manager positions.

The "assets" - the lowest ranks in the organisation, menial labourers and low ranking guards - are almost entirely made up of non-drow.

Merchant clans are just as likely to fight amongst themselves as the Houses - moreso, in fact, because in the open Underdark it's a free-for-all.

Some cities are/were governed by the clans instead of the noble houses: The city of Eryndlyn, located in the Underdark under the High Moor where Miyeritar once stood, is ruled by various merchant clans. The city was founded by drow seeking to recover the lost empire, and was a major trading hub for the various peoples of the Underdark, and even saw traffic from the surface when there are (usually less than moral) surfacers willing to risk trade with the likes of drow and duergar. Eryndlyn thrived specifically because its settlers founded it with an areligious view in mind. For a while, most of its conflict came from the various merchant clans squabbling and engaging in intrigue against each other for wealth and influence. Eventually the city was infiltrated by the cults of the drow gods Lolth, Vhaeraun and Ghaunadaur (who is technically god of oozes, but he is technically in the Dark Seldarine). One of the key ways to make your cult profitable in Eryndlyn, incidentally, is to make sure people know it's profitable. The city was effectively been split into three sections, where the faiths of the three ruled the city through the clans. There was no open warfare, but the friction between the three makes living in (and especially governing) the city highly difficult. During 1372 DR, when Lolth broke contact with Toril to focus on moving house (long story, different post), the Vhaeraunites and Ghaunadaurans allied in order to destroy the Lolthite presence. The ensuing civil war destroyed a large third of the city.

The city was destroyed in the Spellplague, in 1385 DR because fourth edition hates me personally. However, most of the residents had already left to get away from the civil war and have mostly just relocated elsewhere.

#Aquatic Dark Elves who walked into the drow nonsense 100 centuries late with a starbucks are my new favourite thing #Thank you Eric L. Boyd and George Krashos #I am absolutely going to build a campaign and at least one PC on this concept #drow tav #half drow tav #long post #seldarine drow

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