drow

Drow, also known as dark elves, deep elves, night elves, under-elves, and the Dark Ones among orcs, are a sub-race of elves that predominantly live in the Underdark. They are usually feared due to their notable cruelty within the society and past wars with elven kingdoms.
In many ways, the drow resemble other elves. Their bodies are often wiry and athletic, while their faces are chiseled and bony. Drow skin tones range from dark grey, jet-black, and obsidian with various shades of blue, all the way to the albino drow known as the Szarkai. Drow have white, black, or purple teeth, while their gums, tongues, and throats could be red, pink, purple or black depending on their diet. Drow eyes could be of any color, with bright red being the most common. Pale shades that appear nearly white of blue, lilac, pink, or silver are also frequent. Purple or blue eyes indicate often surface elves and/or human ancestry.
Drow hair is often pale grey or white, although other hair colours are not unheard of.
Drow generally keep their hair long, and decorate it with pins and webbing made of precious metals. They are incapable of growing proper beards, much like other elvenkin. Long hair signifies wealth and victories over one's enemies, and during fights, the winner might shear a lock of hair (or cut the hair entirely) to keep as a trophy, sometimes worn as an extension to be braided into one's own hair.

Abilities

Drow are more agile than most humanoid races, which, much like their higher intellect and force of personality, is a result of selective breeding over several generations. Similarly, drow have a higher than normal tolerance for poison due to exposure over the course of countless generations and Underdark providing mostly a mushroom-based diet.
Drow have tremendous resistance to magic, with adults overcoming magic around half the time. During infancy it fluctuates between almost non-existent and youth-level (resisting around two fifths of the time), stabilizing as they grow up. It increases again when they reach adulthood, and could be trained even further, but even if a drow's magic resistance is overcome, they can handle magical attacks quite well and have a better chance than other races at resisting them, especially spells that attempt to bend their will.

Drow also tend to have a natural aptitude for audible mimicry, both of other people and animals alike.

Base arcanic properties

Base arcanic properties are abilities that the drow can cast without any schooling, needing only simple practice. They vary slightly from person to person due to various reasons, including but not limited to genetics, personal talent, and divine favor. Drow magical abilities are somehow tied to the faerzress, the radiation of the Underdark, and its intensity in the birthplace of a drow could influence their base powers. These abilities could also vary in the same person temporarily, depending on their personal (mental and physical) health situation, age, and degree of training.
The drow could use their powers once every day and, once employed, they could end the spell, move it around at their whim, or downsize it. Spells like dispel magic could end a base power's effect. Normally, a drow could not continue using these abilities when they started using another one, or started to cast a spell. A common or untrained drow could neither use nor maintain their innate abilities under the effect of light that was as bright as, or brighter than, sunlight, as it impedes their concentration.
A drow's innate dancing lights spell-like ability can create a larger number of light motes than the normal spell whenever the caster is in the Underdark, and provides better control as the power of the caster increased; for example, the light spheres could be moved further away from each other than normally. Reports vary if it could also be cast once per day, as with the other base powers, or at will.
In addition to the normal effects of a darkness spell, which creates an area that is impervious to normal sight and infravision, a drow's spell-like variant could also create a globe that could be moved around and grew in radius with the strength of the caster. They could further enhance the spell-like ability to cast it more often, and learn to deepen it so that a daylight spell could not overpower it any more.
Unlike the normal version of faerie fire, a drow's spell-like version could create a glowing field that grew wider with the strength of the caster. According to Seldszar Elpragh, a drow's faerie fire worked by channeling faerzress.
Mature Powers Upon reaching a sufficient degree of expertise, the drow gain their so called "mature powers". These include the spell-like abilities detect magic, know alignment, and levitate. Particularly intelligent and powerful drow could maintain two inborn abilities, or one inborn ability and one normal spell, simultaneously, using levitate and darkness at the same time for example. Like with base arcanic powers, it is normally impossible to cast mature powers in the presence of intense light.
Light Weakness Before the 1360s DR, the drow would gradually lose their base and mature powers, as well as their defenses against magic, if exposed to sunlight. However, during the 1360s DR, Liriel Baenre, guided by Eilistraee, carved her rune in the Child of the Mother Tree with the intent of preserving her own drow magic away from the Underdark, but the act ended up allowing all drow to keep their powers on the surface. However, direct sunlight is still enough to weaken a drow's arcanic powers especially if the person remains in the sunlight for long periods of time.

Biology

Initial exposure to sunlight is dangerous for a drow and cause of heavy sunburns. Even after getting used to the sunlight, drow have a strong tendency to cover their skin and head when exposed.
Senses
Drow eyes may be oversensitive to light, but are particularly adept at heat, possessing infravision up to a range of 120 feet (37 meters). Formal education or much practice is needed to "read" heat hues however, as the drow have no innate ability to discern the meaning of the various patterns from birth. Cold objects appear grey, while heat is seen, in ascending order of intensity, as blue, purple, red, and warm yellow. These bright colours also feature in cultural aspects such as decadence of fashion. They also have darkvision up to the same range, but not the low-light vision characteristic of other elves. It takes a drow about ten years of exposure for them to get used to the sunlight and to use their infravision and normal vision simultaneously.
Drow have excellent hearing, a trait developed by necessity given the paramount importance of foreseeing rock shifts, collapses, and other hazards in the Underdark. It is also the primary means by which they find water in the cave systems. They usually have long, slender fingers and a keen tactile sense, to the point of being able to read subtle markings on stone as if they were Braille. On the other hand, drow have a human-like sense of smell, far less keen than in the other Underdark races and than their other senses. Smells are dulled in the Underdark, and the ubiquitous smell of damp rocks and the fungi-riddled air of their natural environment, combined with the strong incenses and perfumes, makes it difficult to develop a keen olfactory sense.
In contrast to creatures such as dwarves or deep gnomes, who have a deep, intuitive sense of stone and subterranean conditions, the drow race's specialty lays in the sculpting of stone, the cutting and shaping of rock into smooth-flowing forms.

Sleep
Like all elves, drow require no sleep, instead entering a meditative trance while retaining full awareness of their surroundings. The trance lasts around four hours, and provides the same benefits as a member of any other race having a full period of rest. However, while elves relive parts of their memories, including those of past lives during their trances, drow normally experience nothing, save for the occasional dream. The fact that drow don't relive memories of past lives during their trances is usually viewed by elves as an indication that, unlike the elves, their souls may not reincarnate.

Lifespan
Drow lifespans are comparable to the rest of the elven race, but the constant strife of their society keeps their numbers low, dropping their actual rate of population growth to dwarf-like levels. Provided they do not meet a premature and violent end, a drow's natural lifespan is about 750 years. They start to show signs of aging at around 600 years, and rarely live past their seventh century, with about 94% of natural deaths occurring before 800 years of age.

Civilization and Culture

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Barring the most primitive among them, the drow are a literate race. As is common for elves, drow speech is quite eloquent and their speech is almost musical.Most drow only know two languages, namely Deep Drow and the Sign language, since they usually stay in their cities and therefore have limited exposure to or need to learn other tongues. However, drow adventurers, outcasts, and merchants often learn more languages. Drow are known to use their ability to read subtle markings in stone to leave secret messages. These markings have later influenced the written form of Thieves' Cant.

Deep Drow
The everyday language of the drow is commonly called "Deep Drow", as well as "Low Drow" or "Drowic". It is an elven dialect similar in structure to Common and Undercommon, with a lot of borrowed words from other languages like the orcish, dwarven, and human tongues.
The Drow Sign Language
The Sign language is also commonly known and used among drow. It can convey information as well as any spoken language within range of 120 feet (37 meters) and has no written form (Deep Drow) The language is part of the drow's compulsory education, and is particularly useful on scouting missions and any stealth operations.
High Drow
High Drow is an archaic dialect which the clergy learn in order to be able to speak without fear of others understanding them. It conveys information through both spoken word and certain gestures.
Undercommon
It is quite common for drow to be proficient in the trade language of Undercommon.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

The majority of drow wear a piwafwi, a fire-resistant, protective cloak, footwear that functioned as boots, and a drow house insignia if they happen to be from an official House. The latter shows the House or merchant clan to which a drow belongs, be it as a member or servant. However, with the exception of the First House, insignias aren't openly displayed except when inside the House territory or the clan's base.
Compared to other sentient beings, drow are notably intelligent, as having an analytical mindset and being observant at all times was needed to survive in the competitive society. However, a lifetime of being indoctrinated with one dogma, combined with their upbringing giving them limited contact with other beings, surroundings, and alternative ways of life, often makes them close-minded and leaves them with little wordly experience.
The drow tend to be decadent and hedonistic beings with a love for what they consider beautiful and a desire to surround themselves with it, generally without paying attention to the cost of acquiring it. Expensive silks, wines and jewelry, but also taking multiple lovers without it being considered a faux pas is seen as rather common among the higher society.
Most drow seek to rise in rank, desiring the power over others that a higher station would provide. Ironically for a race that put such a focus on individual merit, personal achievement and ability carries so little weight in their minds they have almost no notion of its worth. The idea of passion for one's career, and of an activity having worth in and of itself is often perceived as alien; abilities and resources, whether obtained by training or granted by birth, only matter insofar as it increases a drow's ability to advance in station, thus granting them more power over others. Given the scarcity of resources in the Underdark and the limited chances for advancement within their society, most drow have to be aggressively competitive. The most common form of conflict resolution between prominent Houses is dueling, and other bloodsports are also seen as acceptable forms of entertainment. If a citizen of an Underdark city is down on their luck, they might resort to joining "fighting pits" or the larger scale coliseums that offer more monetary compensation but are also much more dangerous.
The drow have a number of customs and gestures. For example, it is a commonly accepted gesture to drop held weapons and fall on a knee as a sign of surrender. There are many rituals as well, like the graduation ceremony for the graduates of the mage, priest, and warrior schools as well as any formal education, which is highly valued. When participating in a meeting, due to their weakness to light, the creation of an intense light source is usually seen as a hostile act by the drow.


Art Due to the dark elves' love of beauty, the demand for art and skilled craft, particularly exquisitely forged weapons, is high. Good artisans, especially innovative ones, are highly sought after by the noble Houses who often patron such artisans in favour of getting their work exclusively for themselves. Families that don't produce artistic talent on their own acquire it from the outside.
Architecture Drow architecture, like typical elven works of construction, puts an emphasis on beauty and is considered a marvel to behold. The drow are the best architects when it came to shaping and hollowing out stalactites, stalagmites, and cave columns. They are also known for their stone bridge, balcony, and buttress designs, as well as their intricate spiral tunnels. Suspension bridges are the norm, for they could withstand earthquakes, and cave fishers were trained for the purpose of slinging their lines. The drow use the very environment of the Underdark as material for their architecture, and can make use of growing sedimentary structures to shape their buildings. They are particularly interested in the magimorphic clear black stone, because creatures with darkvision could see through it. In some cities, clay is used by the poor to create dwellings for themselves in "lower tier" districts. The same craft is used by the rich to create temporary furniture and sculptures for their parties, which are then decorated with gems, glowing fungi, and similar, more decadent material. As far as dwellings go, noble drow usually live in their mansions while the commoners live in either small caves or walled, circular houses with dug-out cellars and adobe-like construction, both designed to be as beautiful as possible.

Magic in general is a key element in drow architecture, with crucial structures often supported by spells rather than being carefully built to stand on their own (which could cause them to collapse when or if the magic wore off). It is this slapdash approach to their architecture that means that instability issues in drow cities have a tendency to persist.

Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals

• The Blooding: A coming of age event that consists of killing a dangerous or sentient surface creature.
• Illiyitrii: A formal dance, which sometimes serves as a platform for displaying wealth and power, for example, through costumes.
• Nedeirra: A dancing competition where those who mistepped were marked with harmless faerie fire.
• The Running: An annual ritual where the drow compete in scouting new areas of the Underdark.
• Spider Hunting: A game of hide-and-seek played by young drow as a kind of courting ritual during festivals.

Scientific Name

homo eladrin tenebris

Lifespan

750

Geographic Distribution

• Underdark

Related Ethnicities

• moon elf
• sea elf
• star elf
• wild elf
• wood elf