Races of Theril: The Drow

Drow

Of all the beings of the Utterdark, the Drow are the self-professed rulers of them all. Created as a twisted image of the Elves, the Drow have no care for the world around them, seeing everything only as a resource to be used, including each other. The cities of the Drow are hot beads of lies, betrayal and manipulation.

Elves of the Deep

The Drow were the second of the dark races made by Belough, formed from captured elves who had been tortured in the unfathomable depths. They share most of the elves features but with skin ranging from dark blues and purples to near pure black, their eyes are pupils globes of solid colour, the most typical being a pale pink, but white and light blue are also common, their hair is purest white unless dyed.

Exploitation and Subjugation

Whereas true elves see the world as something to be nurtured and cared for, the Drow are a subversion to this. To a Drow everything in the world is a tool for them to use, and if it has no use it needn't exist. Drow cities run on mutual distrust and constant political turmoil, each citizen striving to secure their 'rightful' position as N'zar, the current leader of the city. N'zars are rarely in power for more than a week or so before being deposed, the longest reigning N'zars rarely lasting more than a year. One would think a society plagued by such a crippling leadership system would lack the productivity to survive in the Utterdark, and this would be the case if it weren't for the Drows strong slave culture. Capturing Surface and Dark races with equal quantity, the Drows traffic a large number of slaves into their cities, such traffic is needed as the bound lead short and utterly miserable lives.

Persuasion and Extortion

There is no currency in the bizarre underground cities of the Drow, commerce is instead performed through barter and extortion. As a race Drow are remarkably good at getting what they want, and somehow the cities are well supplied without the need for standardized commerce. The only people who are disadvantaged by this system are outsiders, who often end up receiving unfair payment, losing their inventories or even being taken as a slave.

The Pursuit of More

Belough created the Drow such that they were never satisfied by their possessions, and always jealous of what others have. Their perception that each Drow is the only being that deserves to be in control is also ingrained into their very souls. Post-breaking, the absence of Belough lessened theses urges, particularly due to Drows no longer receiving her blessing during their rights of adulthood, but these urges still remain.

Weaves of Taint and Shadow

Just as the Elves are skilled in the Art, so too are the Drow. They have a distaste for Mysth's weave, preferring the use of the Charis' Shadow Weave, but the Drow also pioneered a new form of magic. The deep places of the world are filled with malign energies they call Tar'Zarin, a dangerous energy with the power to twist and corrupt mortal flesh. Belough infused the Dark Souls contained by all of her creatures with Tar'Zarin rendering them immune to their mutating effects, but the Drow discovered a way to harness it to perform magic. This became even more useful following the breaking; the magic may have left the world but the Tar'Zarin remained. Some rare Drow are infused with Tar’Zarin altering their form somewhat but allowing greater proficiency with it’s tainted energies. Tar’Ziran infused drow are easily recognised by their eyes which extrude purple flame, and the glowing runes that cover their body from birth.

Allies of Convenience

The Drow are a friendless people, all interpersonal connections are for personal gain. This also applies to their relationships with the Gods, often considering deities as a source of power, but still dreaming of a time when they can cast them off, or take that power for themselves.

A Family of Convenience

So pervasive is the belief that each Drow see themselves as the rightful owner of everything they around them, Children as young as 6 share this belief. Drow do not practice marital bonds, and Drow families only hold together while the members feel they have a use for each other, Drow parents seeing their children as a vessel for their legacy and potential political gain, and Drow children see their parents as a provider of food and shelter and a pathway to prestige. Family units often break up well before the young Drow is considered an adult, which is typically within their 110th year. Before the breaking, a Drow child would become an adult after taking the blessing of Belough and taking their own family name, permanently severing their ties to their kin. Post-breaking the tradition was continued despite the absence of the gods.

Favoured of Belough

The drow that make their homes below the ground almost exclusively worship Belough, though they also might prey to Caris or Silicia.

Hungering Hearts

It is in the soul of the Drow were Belough lies, driving them to greed, envy and desire, pushing them to see everything around them as possessions. The Drow though were the first to reveal the effect of souls on the mind, some Drow in the overworld had their souls driven out of them which had a profound on their personalities.

Races Language

The drow speak a tongue similar to Elven, but filled with harsher consonants that break up the melodic flow of the tongue. The Drow way of life is so prevalent in the underground that their tongue has dominated the underground, leading to the language being called undercommon in the common tongue. Regional dialects of undercommon exist in areas dominated by other races but the common feature of long elegant words shattered throughout by hard consonants and removed vowels.

Drow Communities

The events around the breaking of the world had a profound effect on Drow societies, taking a more or less uniform social structure and shattering it into a variety of different opinions.

The Drow of Utterdark. The base of Drow power is vast caverns of Beloughs Utterdark. Here the dark Drow cities hewn from the stone form the base of an empire of sorts spanning the entire underworld. By far the most common of all drow, they have recently begun trying to find purpose in the world now that Belough no longer intervenes directly in their lives. Many have used this as an opportunity to seize power, either over their kin or the other Dark races. The main bases of Drow power are the cities of Loth’Kaal the Daemon Web, Angrl’Thzak the Crystal Spire, Zell’Nagrtha he Dissonant Caverns, and Zarin’Ghul the Malign Islands.

The Drow of Talor Val. The city of Talor Val is an oddity amongst elven towns, as it has a small population of Drow. The Drow omf Talor Val joined the city when refugees of a Chitine attack forced the denizens to rise to the surface. Unable to seek asylum themselves they did secure a home for their young children, who was brought into a great orphanage. The priest of Selus saw that Belough was still influencing the children despite his best efforts, so he decided to exorcise her. What he did not know was that he was in fact, destroying their souls. The orphanage was shut down a mere 10 years after its founding, driving those who had not found homes were driven to the streets. All of this was before the breaking, and at this time any of those Drow are now entering adulthood. Drow on the surface fight prejudice leveraged against them for their race, as a response the Drow of Talor Val try their best to subvert common Drow types.

Drow Traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2.

Age. Although Drow reach physical maturity at about the same age as humans, the Drow understanding of adulthood goes beyond physical growth to encompass worldly experience. An Drow typically claims adulthood at around the age of 100 and can expect to see the end of their 8th century.

Alignment.

Size. Drow range from under 5 to 0ver 6 feet tall, with slender builds. Your size is medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision. Accustomed to life underground, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern colour in darkness, only shades of grey.

Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.

Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.

Chitter.  Through clicks and gestures, you can communicate simple ideas with Small or smaller insects.

Weapon Affinity. You have proficiency with the rapier, glaive, whip and hand crossbow.

Languages. You can speak, read and write Undercommon and Elvish.

Cavern Drow

Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.

Belough's Favour. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic cannot put you to sleep.

Extortionists. You are proficient with intimidation or deception skills.

Telor Val Drow

Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.

Mark of the Crescent Moon. You have immunity to Charm effects.

Shattered Soul. You must choose a flaw from the table of Indefinite Madness (or some equivalent effect) in addition the other flaw you take during character creation.

Daylight Adaptation. Your Darkvision is reduced to 60 feet but you are not effected by sunlight sensitivity unless the source of the light is magical.

Ter'Zarin Drow

Tainted Knowledge. You gain proficiency in the Arcana skill.

Ter'Zarin Infused. You know the minor illusion Cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the charm person spell once per day. When you reach 5th level, you can also cast the darkness spell once per day. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.