Drow
The Drow, also known as the Dark Elves, are a group of subterranean elves native to the Underdark of Crestfall. Due to their underground lifestyles, the Drow's appearance has adapted to differ wildly from that of other elven groups, characterized by their silvery-white hair and skin tones ranging from dark blues and purples to pale grey.
History
The Drow are the descendants of the Unseelie Eladrin who first attempted to colonize the continent of Crestfall during the Pre-Vancian Era, originally arriving on the continent from the plane of the Feywild. In attempting to seize control of the continent, the Unseelie Eladrin came in direct competition with their Seelie rivals, leading to a thousand-year conflict known as the Millennium War. The end of the War would be ushered in by the Fade, a strange event in which both sides of the conflict would have their most powerful magical knowledge erased from the minds of their general populace. Severely weakened, the Eladrin that did not flee back to the Feywild were hounded by Crestfall's native inhabitants, seeking retribution for the centuries of slavery and subjugation they had experienced during the Eladrin's occupation. The remaining Unseelie, seeking to avoid these newly-empowered foes, fled deep underground to the cavernous expanse below the continent, known as the Underdark. Stripped of the magical prowess they had cultivated for the past thousand years, the Unseelie Eladrin were forced to rebuild their society nearly from scratch, adapting to the damp, lightless realm of the Underdark which now served as their home. As generations passed, the harnessing of neon gas allowed for light to enter the elves' subterranean realm, and new advances in artificery gave the elves greater tools to navigate and traverse the Underdark's vast, cavernous tunnels and underground lakes. In time, they would even come to regain a modicum of their previous magical abilities, though it was nowhere near the advanced feats of arcane might that had been used during the Millennium War. As their civilization was rebuilt, these descendants of the Eladrin, now known as the Drow, would come to be a dominant force within the Underdark, even if their reign below was still a mere shadow of what their people had once achieved and lost.Society
Drow society is matriarchal; the Drow of the modern era are presently united under the rule of Queen Razelle IX, who enforces her reign via a vast network of spies and secret police from her seat of power in the Drow capital of Deepscar. Unlike the surface-dwelling elves of Crestfall, who largely prefer to keep to themselves whenever possible, the Drow seemingly have no qualms with interacting with other races, even going as far as to open and negotiate trade and commerce between the Underdark and the surface of the continent. This surprisingly cosmopolitan mindset is further demonstrated by Deepscar itself, which in addition to its Drow population serves as a home to many other races native to the Underdark, including the Duergar, Kobolds and Deep Gnomes. Make no mistake, however, while other races are welcome to live within Deepscar, they are expected to defer to Queen Razelle's rule unquestioningly as a prerequisite for citizenship. In spite of the totalitarian rule of their society, many Drow are considered prolific producers and patrons of the arts; the various artistic pursuits of Drow society include music, theater and dueling, the latter of which is often employed to solve petty disputes within the upper crusts of Drow society. In the Modern Era, the Drow kingdom shares a tenuous alliance with the surface-bound Hegian Empire, although many perceive this union to be a marriage of convenience for both sides. Should an event occur which would tip the scales of the political climate, many members of both the Drow and the Empire alike doubt that this alliance would be likely to endure such an upheaval.
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