The drow, also called dark elves, were an evil subrace of elvenkind that lived below the surface, in the huge Caverealm. There, they lived in great citadels such as Gezneth and Zann'Elth. These were hotspots of slavery and other horrors; long columns of kidnapped humanoids marched through the tunnels towards the cities, while fierce demon-warriors of all kinds marched out from it to bring back spoils of raids. While often a source of destruction for the people around them, drow citadels were sometimes also sought as places of knowledge in the deep arcane and holy realms.

Origins

Before the great Elvish War in 4'157 b. OW, the drow were just another subrace of elvenkind which lived in relative harmony with the others. At the time, the great Elvish Empire ruled over most of Oshmondu, and it contained many drow houses. But the war was sparked when most dark elves banded together into the Black Spider under the leadership of the demon lord Lolth and attacked the "light elves". The war ended in the defeat of the dark elves, most of which fled into prepared Caverealm fortresses.

In Khali culture, this moment was called the Descent or schism. While most dark elves who had remained on the surface were exterminated during the Elvish Empire's collapse, those who had gone underground survived. They lived in close communion with Lolth, who nourished their hatred of the surface elves and shaped them into the fiendish, malevolent society that was called "Khali", meaning "below" or "suffering" in the drow tongue. This period, during which the dark elves recuperated before setting out and building their citadels as a new race, was called the Recreance.

Thereafter, drow almost exclusively were Khali and lived underground, endearing unchanging through centuries of great political and racial revolutions on the surface.

Biology

During the Recreance, the drow completely changed. They were no longer the same race as the one that had fought the surface elves and fled into the dark Caverealm.

Physiology

Drow were lean humanoids, of a mean height of about 1.6 meters for males, 1.8 for females. They had marble black skin which shimmered when shone upon, like a smooth glass surface. Their hair was pearl white, with no variation of shades, and grew thick and straight. It was relatively common for dark elves, especially males, to be bald or have patterns where hair didn't grow. They had no facial or body hair. Their eye color was not genetically inherited, and had a number of variations, ranked by rarity: black, violet, green, blue, and red. Many said that Lolth personally chose a young drow's eyes from a pile of gems and gifted them to the newborn. Thus, blind children were often immediately sacrificed. Drow also had exceptional darkvision, being able to see twice as far as other elves in darkness, and some specimens could even switch to infravision, allowing them to see in the infrared spectrum to some distance.

Male drow were on the average weaker and less agile than females and their surface counterparts. About two thirds of them was born sterile. Females however were larger and stronger than the average humanoid. By humanoid standards, drow were generally seen as endowed with an innate beauty.

Reproduction. After being fertilized, which could happen through intercourse with a male or through magical means, a mother was pregnant for a whole year. It was common for them to have twins or triplets, though not all survived. Births were often messy and dangerous both for the mother and the child.

Nearly 90% of fetuses were male; however, female fetuses - if present - could actually kill their male brethren, so only 80% of newborns were male.

Growth. A young dark elf matured relatively quickly. They could walk around age 2; males were seen as mature around age 12, while females only at age 22. Males fell into dementia around 150 years of age, but were often killed beforehand. Females could live up to 750 years.

Psychology

The most common traits of all drow was mistrust and selfishness, derived from an innate need to attain high social ranking and seeing everyone else as competitors and threats. A drow was alone in the world, and had to care for themselves if they wanted to survive. This implied a complete ruthlessness towards all others; if someone had to die for a drow to gain a minor profit, so be it. Accordingly, drow never trusted anyone or anything, to a point of paranoia. They liked to wear armor and magical wards, and were always armed; they feared a stab in the back both because of their own psychology and because of the society around them. They were also innately chaotic, despising any too-firm structures which didn't have any grey zones they could work with. For this reason, few large drow societies or armies emerged, and even citadels were deeply split amongst small factions.

Male drow by nature enjoyed killing above all else; if they could drive a blade through flesh and feel the warm blood on them, they knew they had removed one threat to them, or a stone in their way to greater status or wealth. They also had a naturally submissive attitude towards females, including those of other races, and liked to please women. However, they also gained great glee from killing females.

Female drow were exceptionally cruel. They rarely killed, but instead restrained and tortured for long periods of time. Where males wanted to see blood, females wanted to see suffering. They also appreciated to dominate other creatures, especially their own kin. Notably, they loved if their cultivated beauty could attract drow males which they could then reject. A woman saw it as her greatest success when she was the unattainable object of lowly men's desires.

Culture

A core part of Khali culture were spiders. Everything was about the great arachnids. Architecture, while practical in the sense that many buildings used the natural stone of the caves around them and espoused their shapes, was marked by spider-like decorations. Many districts were laid out in spiderweb patterns, and important buildings were built in the shapes of spiders. On a smaller scale, many walls were engraved with demonic or arachnid patterns, and furniture also espoused this style.

Dark elven fashion was one of the most known things about drow; in the words of a human adventurer, "they're the embodiment of foul demons and evil in the disguise of beauty". Based on Caverealm produce such as black leather, spider's silk and various metals, drow fashion was often described as beautiful. Males wore simple tunics in proud cuts such as tall collars or billowing cuffs to accentuate their stature. The colors were very subdued, but the style was majestic. However, it was often also practical: most clothing incorporated breastplates of boiled leather or metal, other pieces of armor, and various hidden scabbards for daggers, throwing knives and poison darts. Women, however, rarely cared about such worldly means of defense. They wore light fabrics, of spider silk or transparent widowmaker's silk, which draped over them and often revealed much. Even their "armor" often had generous cuts that sacrificed protection for looks. The female nobility liked to put themselves on display, even if it was just to have the pleasure of rejecting males or being able to manipulate their followers better. However, they still had potent magical wards and weapons, of course.

Traditions

One of the most important rules in drow society was: "don't get caught". Some things were crimes, but if someone could do something - say, a murder, or destroying a house - without a trace remaining afterwards, they were not pursued.

Sacrifices. It was common for people, drow or slave humanoids, to be sacrificed. The reasons could be varied, but often had to do with gaining Lolth's favors or getting rid of disturbing opponents which had been "chosen by Lolth". After being tortured in diverse ways, the sacrifice was either killed directly in a ceremonial chamber or public court, or brought to an altar known as the Gift Stele. The drugged subject lied on a large slab of stone, where they were killed in messy ways that produced as much blood as possible.

Mating. There was no marriage in Khali society. Instead, a woman typically chose when she wanted sex, and also arbitrarily decided her partner. Often, such choices were based on political motivations such as to gain status or the partner's support, but could just as well be for physical reasons. Fertilization happened only rarely and could be fully controlled by the woman. It was common for the mate to suffer wounds, and sometimes even die, during the process. Still, it was considered an honor for a man to be chosen.
Women's Maturing Ceremony. Although the structure of religious cults varied greatly over time and in various citadels, a basic maturing ceremony was shared by all cults of Lolth. When a woman reached a mature age, typically 22, she was presented to the clergy of Lolth and went through a series of tests. Often, this included mating and sacrificing a male drow. These tests were very dangerous, however, and it was common to fail. Many died, some who did very badly were punished by being transformed into driders, and few others succeeded and joined the ranks of society as nobility.
Raids. It was common for houses to muster small strike forces, often to a large part consisting of their male nobility, to raid certain locations. This often consisted of attacking neighboring races, such as deep gnome or other enclaves, but sometimes raiders also targeted surface settlements, especially those of elves. Forces from Gezneth or Zann'Elth were known to march across the whole Caverealm on a year-long journey just to attack small villages in the Silurian countryside, slaughtering surface elves for often meagre loot.

Religion

All Khali drow were subservient to Lolth, their one and only "god". Arachnid clergy took many forms, but clerics - called priestesses, with their leaders being high priestesses - always formed the highest rungs of nobility. Large temples - usually in the likeness of a spider, a yochlol, or a naked female drow - were located in prominent positions in cities. The clergy formed the most powerful branch of citadel spellcasters, and also maintained the best schools. All women who matured spent their first century in those clerical schools, learning the precepts of Lolth and the other important skills of life.

There were some citadel-wide prayers which were performed in temples. Usually, such ceremonies were accompanied by incense, orgies, and sacrifices. However, the most common location for a woman to pray was in her house's chapel. Individual or group prayers were held there, and the matron communed with Lolth's emissaries in a special chamber. Males, meanwhile, either prayed individually or just didn't, because they were never answered. The most contact with religion they had was when serving the clergy or when participating in orgies.

Lolth occasionally responded to prayers directed to her. She could grant certain houses or people "favor", giving them a much better status and a better position when making alliances. She could also give boons to some followers, although that was rare. Most clerical magic was derived from her power, using her fugue. Most often, high-effort prayers received a response - of a disembodied voice or by the actual physical appearance - of a Yochlol, a demonic handmaiden of Lolth.

Society

Despite drow being innately chaotic and despising social structures, they formed some systems that were exceptionally rigid, clear, and enduring. The most characteristic trait of dark elven society was still its ongoing civil wars and chaos, but the system of houses and citadels remained unperturbed and unchallenged throughout Khali history.

The smallest element in drow society was the extended family, or house. At its top were the matron mother and her daughters, the immediate rulers. A house's high priestesses were usually also from their ranks. Below them were all the other nobility, the remainder of the house's women. Most were interrelated, primarily because a house nobility usually did not accept children with blood from outside; such bastard children either became commoners or were killed, if they were female. Some men, the immediate relations of the matron mother, were also considered as nobility, but of the lowest rank. They served in roles such as weapons master, slave intendant, or concubine.

The nobility ruled over a much larger commoner class, which consisted of all the other drow males. They were the house's workers, often affected outside the citadel in farms or as the house guard.

Citadels

Drow lived in few relatively isolated citadels. These were huge cities, often spanning over hundreds of meters in height and much more in width, built into large cave and corridor complexes. There was some activity beyond city borders, of course, in the form of large fungal farms, hunting grounds, drider colonies and patrols. However, much of everyday life remained within the citadel, and foreign policy was traditionally isolationist.

A citadel was ruled by a council of the dominant matron mothers, typically the top seven or eight, depending if Lolth was counted as a "member" or not. This council made decisions that affected the whole citadel, but commanded no force of its own. Any house could choose to obey council commands, but few were those who didn't: rival houses could seize the opportunity and destroy them. The council subcontracted common tasks - such as building city infrastructure or supplying patrols - to various houses, which were sometimes paid by common taxes and sometimes rewarded with status.

There were some bodies which were independent of the house structure. These were the citadel clergy, which was constituted of house nobility but commanded some independent forces, and some other groupings, such as commonly arcane courts or martial schools.

Thus, the whole citadel - which appeared unified from above - was actually shattered into a multitude of houses which were all engaged in a somewhat-covert war for power. But these houses were not stable elements, because they too were fractured into many different factions and shifting alliances. Some nobility also maintained relations with nobility of other houses against their matrons' interests. This made Khali society infinitely fractured in a web of tiny groups and shifting alliances, which many drow called the Spider's Web.

Lolth's Unions

Sometimes, the houses had to unite to face a foreign threat or, much more often, to constitute a raiding army. Only Lolth had the power to unite the opposed houses, and any of her forced alliances were called Lolth's Unions. The word "union" was often used sarcastically, because these armies were rarely united and continued their covert feud for power. These unions were very rare, however, and often were of very special significance.

These united armies were nevertheless a huge threat to whomever the drow were marching against. They featured large numbers of well-trained footmen constituted of house guards, the citadel's various spellcaster factions - including any arcane schools and the feared clergy, elite soldiers constituted of the male nobility, driders, and often summoned demons. Often, the armies marched against other Caverealm societies which had been encroaching on their territory. But sometimes, the armies served a specific interest of Lolth, such as retrieving a magical artifact or destroying a people that had insulted her. Then, whole armies could surface during the night and annihilate whole cities, or they could attack dwarven enclaves and hopelessly overpower them. News of a Lolth's Union was always received with great fear by the surface people.

Drow to Other Races

In the Caverealm, the dark elves were well known and feared. Some drow merchants went to other races' markets for trade, and some foreigners visited citadels for the same reason, but most of the time the presence of dark elves spelled doom. There were few peoples who had never been raided by drow, and nearly all Caverealm cities were heavily fortified at least partly because of drow. The dark-skinned and stealthy elves were generally seen as the most dangerous predator of the underground.

On the surface, dark elves were less of an everyday horror, although many cultures did portray drow as deadly raiders that came during the night. On Silur especially, people were scared of the drow and sought means to protect themselves from raids. But because these were relatively rare and usually of a small magnitude, most of the time the elves simply ignored the problem and lived on as normal. For some other races, notably humans, dark elves were primarily a scary bedtime story - although whenever a raiding group was heard to have surfaced, a wave of terror and a call to arms spread across the villages. Dwarves, meanwhile, knew of the drow danger, but were hardly afraid - their heavily fortified cities were usually invulnerable to singular houses' raids, and most dwarven Caverealm trade routes went through secure tunnels relatively close to the surface that were rarely raided. Drow didn't look usually look for spoils when raiding, anyway: they were on the hunt for easy surface prey, which the dwarves were not.