Dark Elf

a.k.a. Drow

Personality

Drow believe they are superior to any other race on Tellene, indulging in their desires, and passions without restraint. They enjoy surrounding themselves with things of beauty, giving barely a thought to the cost. This fascination with beauty extends to the physical body as well, as such is the strength of this fascination, that most Drow children who exhibit physical deformities or deficiencies are slain. Dark Elves will honor their promises & maintain personal loyalties until it becomes inconvenient to do so, their pride lends them a certain sense of style and an appreciation of refinement. Dark Elves can be chivalrous and polished, even to deadly rivals. They are engaged in an eternal game of advancement at the expense of others, this has transformed the Dark Elf into a vicious, cruel race eager to increase their own stations by even treacherous means. In a Drow’s mindset, there is little room for friendship; at best they may secretly value family, or an acquaintance. They tend to be overly suspicious and paranoid by nature.

Physical Description

In silhouette, a dark elf is indistinguishable from any other elf. In full light, however, its appearance is striking. Their skin is jet black, in sharp contrast to their white hair. Their eyes are amber, blood red or shades of violet, though an occasional dark elf may be born with pure white eyes – supposedly a sign of favor from The Dark One. Dark elves, like high elves, meditate for four hours instead of sleeping.

Relations

Dark elves hate most other races. They enslave those that live near them and undertake long journeys to kill those distant. They respect mind flayers, whom they consider their equals, and fear the enigmatic aboleths. They live in cities underneath the surface of the earth, mostly beneath the Krimppatu Mountains of Svimohzia. These cities are large enough to be self-sufficient (5,000 to 10,000), but they never grow to the size of large human cities because of space constraints, warfare and the chaotic nature of their inhabitants. A single clan rules each city, paying fealty to their Empress.

Alignment

Dark elves are honorable and warlike in nature; these traits categorize the majority of Dark Elves as evil, where the outlook of alignment is concerned. In addition, most Dark Elves tend to lean towards the chaotic end of the lawful-chaotic spectrum. What drives them to evil is a chaotic environment; though extremely rare and almost always evil Dark Elves do exist in every alignment.

Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule. In general, Dark Elves believe in doing what they want to do, when they want to do it-so long as they are capable of doing so in present company and conditions. Lawful Dark Elves dwell mostly in war tribes serving their warlords, and chaotic Dark Elves being mostly mercenaries and henchmen for various groups. A rare few learn to look and grow beyond the above strictures that Drow society has ingrained into the race as a whole. Some even go so far as to atone for any evils they may have committed, most often fleeing for a society that may be more nurturing or accepting of such personal “weaknesses” , or simply leaving their cities to seek out some sort of solitary existence. These rare Drow are often still overly suspicious of other folk, but with the proper encouragement can eventually become trusted and trusting allies and friends, as well as committed champions for good.

Drow Lands

Drow populate the hard, strange realm of the Underdark. The Dark Elf prefers to live in real-world caverns deep underground with bizarre creatures and ancient races, among those that are nearly all of hostile nature.

Religion

Drow revere the gods of Chaos and Evil, with worship of the Prince of Terror being most common. Warriors most often worship the Creator of Strife, while those of lower classes prefer The Vicelord. Other commonly worshipped deities are the Rotlord, the Seller of Souls, The Dark One and The Laugher. The Confuser of Ways and the Emperor of Scorn are rarely worshipped, for stories of these deities’ foul treatment of the dark elves is detailed in many of their legends.

Languages

Dark elves speak their own language. Despite their hatred, dark elves often speak the languages of other races because cultural secrecy prevents them from teaching their own tongue to others. Their own natural Intelligence also makes it fairly simple to learn other languages. They tend to speak Drow, Undercommon, Low Elven (reluctantly) and sometimes Merchant’s Tongue, plus a diverse array of other languages common to subterranean creatures.

Adventures

Adventuring dark elves are often on a mission of destruction or renegades, and sometimes both. These renegades seek notoriety among the surface-dwellers, hoping that their terrible deeds will allow them to become members of dark elf society once again. Rare and short-lived is the dark elf that abandons his old ways entirely and turns to good.