Drow

A swiftfooted hunter moves rapidly through the forest floor, moving through the dark shadows between dappled light. Several feet ahead of them, a heavyset reptile moves in a burst of speed. The hunter moves rapidly around and over obstacles as the lizard attempts to find a clear route around fallen logs and branches. The hunter's hand flashes and a many edged blade spins from their hand and deep into the side of the lizard, and then another, and another. The lizard finally collapses from the barrage of blades and the exhaustion of a chase, and the dark skinned hunter slows as they land softly beside the carcass. They murmur a whisper to an ancestor, and then plunge another blade into the throat of the lizard, taking its life.

Naming Traditions

Family names

Drow rarely use family names since their banishment from high elven societies, but they will label themselves based off of the community they hail from- something that has surprising meaning to other drow, given their long life spans. These names reflect town names, like Ch'elem, nation names, like Fajar'an, or even just regional demonyms.

Culture

Major language groups and dialects

Many drow speak Elven, but less and less study it as time passes on. The drow language, often called Undercommon or Underelven, written in the Ge'ez abugida script (as opposed to Elven's abjad alphabet).

Culture and cultural heritage

Due to their ancestral ties to the Shadow Cataclysm, drow have difficulty seeing in bright light, and long exposure to sunlight can cause serious vision damage. Due to this, much of drow culture is structured around a 'night life'- hunting is undergone in the dark, animals that are idolized are nocturnal, and crops grown by drow are those that do well in dark conditions. The drow ethnicity is often divided into two groups- although the two groups share a language, the race is divided into the Washa people, or Deep Elves, and the Ch'aka people, or Dusk Elves. Deep Elves are those Drow native to Ch'elem and the surrounding territories in the underdark caves that run under the northern reaches of Beshabha, whereas their distant cousins the Dusk Elves are resident in the rainforests of southern Aborea- known particularly for their nation of Fajar'.

Average technological level

Drow use conjuration magic as high elves do, as well, but often they don't necessarily rely on hardcore magic. The underdark drow of Ch'elema utilize demon summoning, as well as fleshgrafting and transmutation, but most drow limit their magic to simple nature magic or illusions to remain hidden in their forest homes. This isn't to say that there isn't a tradition of magic use, but many drow don't feel the need for an entrenched tradition of 'typical' magical teachings.
Although not practitioners of either the arcane or the divine, many drow are drawn to the silence and subtlety of psychic magic and the occult. Many drow community leaders are psychics, with the occasional spiritualists and mesmerists. Medium-style channeling magic is found in the Underdark more often than on the surface, channeling the spirits of fiends, while occultist magic focused on objects and ancestral memories is found often among surface dwelling drow.

Common Dress code

When in their homes, drow often wear very little clothing- enough for modesty and warmth in times of need, but not much long or baggy clothing. When having to go out in the bright sun of day, drow will wear more clothing to shield their sensitive skin and eyes. Drow from the deep rainforest are especially known for the slatted masks they wear to limit the sun hitting their eyes during the day.

Ideals

Beauty Ideals

Drow generally are similar in height and stature to humans, though female drow are generally taller and heavier set. They have dark and dusky skin tones, usually ranging from coal black to a dusky purple, with pale colored hair and body hair ranging from white to silver or grey- drow grow body and facial hair more often than other elves, and often they will wear light facial hair.

Diverged ethnicities