Drow Culture
From Atlantic Roleplay Wiki
Title: Drow Culture
Author: Orgollree'rean
Drow are dark skinned elves with white/grayish hair and eyes that glow red or lavender in the darkness. It is widely believed that drow once freely roamed the surface, as their surface cousins do, however there is some dispute as to how they came to the Underdark.
The drow heirarchy is a matriarchy, females are usually stronger and hold more powerful posistions. Most drow worship Lloth, the Spider Queen. Spiders are sacred to the drow and should never be harmed. Males are treated with contempt by females. Their purpose is to serve the pleasure of the Matron Mothers.
Marriages don't exist, females pick their patrons at will and dispose of them at will, as well. Those disposed of by the matrons are either passed on to lesser ranking females, returned to their duties, or more often sacrificed to Lloth. They are taught this system from birth. They also can speak their language at birth. Every third born male and any child born with deformaties are sacrificed to Lloth. The Matron Mothers must be given the utmost respect, eye contact should not be made without permission.
Drow Society is made of Noble Houses, mercenary bands, such as Bregan D'Aerthe, and merchant clans. The noble houses strive to be the 1st house. The 1st house holds most of the power, runs the Arach-Tinilith, the Temple Academy of Lloth; Sorcere, the Academy of Wizardry; and the Melee-Magthere, the Academy of Warfare.
Assassinations are a common means of climbing the social ladder. For example, If the 5th house wishes to be the 4th house, they need only assassinate all the nobles of the 4th house, however, if they fail and one survives and reports this assassination attempt to the council, then the 5th house will be sentenced to death, and the entire house is slaughtered. The Mercenary bands consist of male warriors who have left their house for one reason or another, the Matrons will usually allow these bands to exist, as long as they remain loyal and serve the drow community. The merchant clans are the craftsmen and traders.
These clans usually work in a system of rings and are usually ran by males.
The inner rings are the most experienced of the merchants. The outer rings consist mostly of non drows.