Elves, Dark (Drow)

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DARK ELVES or DROW

Habitat
The outcasts of elven society, the Dark Elven race find themselves away from the surface and live in a network of tunnels below ground, either in caverns and caves beneath the ground or in mountains in magnificent subterranean cities built from stone and minerals, carved into strange and fantastic shapes.

Lifestyle/Society
Violence and conflict is a normal part of everyday life when it comes to the drow\'s world.  Due to this, when most drow are faced with an intruder, they are more likely to fight first and exchange greetings later.

All dark elves receive training in magic and poisons. Because of this, they often have a natural ability to cast a small handful of illusion spells, weak as they may be.  The young also receive rigorous training in weapons and fighting.  Those who fail the required tests at their graduation ceremony often meet their death.

Drow tend to follow the strongest or most powerful drow as their leader.  This might change should the leader be challenged and beaten, so leaders tend to make decisions to keep the group happy in order to not be challenged for their leadership, rather than any sense of fairness.

Drow society is fragmented into many opposing noble houses and merchant families, all scrambling for power.  All drow carry concealed brooches bearing the group insignia they are aligned with.

Drow society is highly matriarchal, and women are far more respected than men, to a point of the males being viewed as a subrace in many drow communities.
Most drow priests are female and women tend to fill many positions of great importance due to the societal worship of the dark goddess, Lloth.

Dark elves frequently keep slaves of all types, including past allies who have failed to live up to drow expectations.  Slavers cities above ground tend to be their favourite cities because they will not find merchants there who refuse them.

Common Alignment
Chaotic Evil.  Other alignments can be Chaotic Neutral or Neutral Evil.

Names
Similar to other elven names, drow names are usually a little harsher on the tongue and have a bit of bite to their meaning.  If you have no idea where to start, check out this Drow Name Generator for some examples of names, and their meanings.

An example of one that came up by the Generator was Hurzeth Detlar
Hur meaning true or faithful, Zeth meaning Obsession, Det meaning Champion of, Lar meaning Mysteries, so their name means True Obsession, Champion of Mysteries

Lifespan
Dark Elves live for several centuries (between 600-700) and are vigorous almost all the way to the end, only when their body begins to break down and die are they bed-ridden, and not for long.

Clothing
Drow clothing is usually black, functional and on many occassions, magical.  They are a magical race and often weave magic or armour into their clothes, making it difficult to cut or burn.  They often wear hooded cloaks to hide their identity from the rest of the world, who often view them with suspicion.

Physical Attributes
Nimble and graceful, elves walk so lightly that they tend to surprise people by showing up near them.

A naturally beautiful race with narrow faces and high cheekbones, lightly slanted eyes and pointed ears, they are usually slender people with a high metabolism, which means that an elf that indulges with food will only ever store a little bit of fat (though any plumpness on an elf will stand out).

Dark Elves are rarely taller than five feet.

Dark elves have black skin and white or silver hair.

Eye colour comes in either violet, blue or brown variants.

Mental Attributes
Dark elves are serious and often cynical or bitter.  They believe they are outcasts because of the hypocrisy or intolerance of others, not through any fault of their own or ancestry.  They seek vengeance for the wrong-doings against them and their clans.

Languages
The languages known are Elvish, Drow-Sign (hand signals) Orcish and Common.  Many drow also know Dwarvish, due to their subterranean proximity (but they are often at war with the Dwarves, and only because they spy on them do they know their language)

Drow-Sign contains basic information, but not emotional or subtle meanings.  The gestures are not something they\'ve put a lot of complications into.

Strengths
Elves have a quick reflex skill and the drow often favour the dagger because of it.

They can see far in the dark as their eye-sight is a great deal better than humankind. This is a natural ability of the Elven race.  The Drow can see better and further than other elves due to their longspent time underground.

Weaknesses
Sunlight and bright light hurts their eyes.  They will sunburn easily and are forced to cover themselves up in daylight.  In the daytime, drow are usually forced to stick to the shadows or even invade the sewers of cities to get around.  They most often come out at night.