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Table of Contents

Introduction – 2

History and Background – 3

Character Options – 42

Races and Classes

Feats and Traits – 52

Equipment – 59

Spells and Magic – 63

Open Gaming License – 75

Written By: Anthony Uyl
Game Mechanics Editing by:

Ryan Beaumont

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Dark Solace Campaign Setting is published by Solace Games, a division of 2165467 Ontario Inc., under the Open Gaming License
version 1.0a Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Chapter 1: History and Background

Many things lie in mystery in Dark Solace, one

of those being the creation of the drow. Although it
is generally accepted that a god or goddess of some
type created the elves as a whole, the mystery is
seen when they try to determine at what point the
drow became their own separate race. Much
speculation has been made by scholars on both New
and Dark Solace but no one can come to a definitive
answer either way. Renewed interest has come in
the drow ever since they were one of the peoples
that spearheaded the invasion of Dark Solace. In
fact, many people did not even know the drow
existed until the invasion. The elves saw the drow
as an embarrassment and never talked about their
dark brothers on the other side of the mountains.

The elves have been straightforward with those

who are asking questions about the drow. This has
led to some animosity. Everyone should have
known about them so they could have been
prepared when the drow lead the demonic armies
but the elves maintain that even if people knew of
the drow it would not have changed the outcome of
the war. The elves are most likely right. All people
before the invasion were arrogant and not
concerned with what was going on in the wide
world so would not have been too concerned about
an ancient enemy none of them have ever seen.
Scholars would most likely have written off the
stories of the drow as ancient legend that had no
bearing on the world at that moment.

What is for certain is that the elves and drow

lived peacefully for quite some time.  A golden age
even existed as the two races lived in harmony with
each other. They created art, music and uncovered
many magical and ancient mysteries that have been
lost over the ages.  The two races together were able
to dominate nature and brought everything that they
came across under their heels. The roots of elven
pride started in this era and many elves have
attempted to rebuild the glory of this era, but
without the drow. Unfortunately another elven
golden era will probably not happen since the elves
are again divided in the realm above.  They may
unite under the coming monarch but nothing is for
certain. Some more peaceful elves believe the only
way to reattain the golden age of their people is for
the drow to once again join them, but the drow will
not have anything to do with them since the elves
are the ones that originally threw them into exile.

Different reasons are given for the division of

the two elven people but the most widely held
opinion is that pride began to arise in both the elves
and drow and they both started taking credit for
advances they had achieved together. This pride in
themselves led to disagreements and conflict.
Infighting started to brew which led to racist beliefs
on account of both peoples and eventually this
infighting spilled into civil war.

The fighting was brutal by most standards.

Elves who lived for hundreds of years had all those
years to practice their arts of war and as such each
side had seasoned fighters that brought more
brutality and carnage to each other. Hatred
bloomed on both sides causing neither side to want
anyone left of the opposing forces. Civilians and
innocent people died by the thousands as each sides
armies marched through the countrysides and
forests. Forest dwelling elves began to blame the
city dwelling elves and rulers of not being able to
protect them so took up arms themselves and began
to fight off the drow invaders. With the combined
might of every able bodied elf going against the
drow, the drow were driven off to the other side of
the Worlds Edge Mountains. Even with the drow
fought off, the damage was done. The once united
elves where now divided into three groups: city
elves, forest elves and dark elves, the drow.

Exiled with no place to go, the drow settled in

vast plains on the other side of the Worlds Edge
Mountains. They did not want to venture to far into
the plains without knowing what kind of resources
would be available deeper in the plains, so stayed
close to the mountains where they would be able to
get materials and food from woodland creatures to
survive on. Grand cities were built to house their
great numbers. Still feeling animosity towards their
cousins on the other side of the mountains they
redesigned their architecture favoring spires and
towers rather than palaces and halls.

The drow also began redefining their religious

beliefs as well. Those who wanted nothing to do
with the elves or the heritage they left them with
decided to turn to evil, specifically to the goddess
Calco who they believed promised them vengeance
against their elven cousins. Others, however,
wanted to maintain a stance on justice and purity
and so infighting began once more. Many drow
began to become afraid to even step out of their
homes as brother began to kill brother in the streets.
The good aligned drow were vastly outnumbered

since the hatred of the old elven ways was
predominant in most drows hearts which forced
most drow on to the evil aligned drows forces.
What started as a minor disagreement brewed into
full scale war with no boundaries and no clear
enemy. One drow could claim to be good then the
next moment stab his brother in the back.
Eventually the evil drow won and all those who still
maintained loyalty to the old gods were killed.
Those who escaped the mass executions where
driven away often to hide in the mountains in old
abandoned mines and tunnels. More drastic
changes occurred with the change in beliefs. The
patriarchy that had ruled elven culture for thousands
of years was replaced with a female dominating
matriarchy. Males started being treated as little
better than slaves.

As was evident from the history of the drow so

far, another major conflict was brewing for which
matron house would rule the new drow nation.
With so much blood and violence evident in their
short history, it was expected that the nation would
fall with this new arising conflict. The leading
factions however managed to recognize who was
the strongest among them and an unstable hierarchy
was established. Some were unhappy with the
order of houses that was left in charge and so some
infighting did occur. The drow priestesses saw
these self contained disputes as tests against those
houses and it was determined that if they were not
strong enough to fend off some minor squabbles
then they were not worthy of being a ruling house.
Although the head house of Phelinn was never
displaced, regardless of how many attempts were
made to do so, the rest of the lead houses have
changed hands many times.

Centuries passed as the new found drow

established themselves in the plains. The drow had
anything but a peaceful time as they sought to
rebuild themselves however. Barbarian tribes of
both men and orcs had lived in the plains long
before the drow had ever come and they were fairly
well organized for the what the drow called
savages. These savages attempted to take drow
cities and technology, attempting to advance
themselves from the animal hide tents they had built
for themselves, but the drow remained ever vigilant
and fought off the savages at every opportunity.
Many drow lives were sacrificed to this cause, but
the head matron mothers deemed it necessary to
maintain their dominance over the plains they now
called home. After awhile the savages stopped
attacking and the drow mothers took the

opportunity to take the war to them instead.  The
drow marched on the savage villages killing all
from the very young to the old, showing no mercy
for anyone. Again their hearts filled with hate for
the enemy they were now fighting.  As they took
more and more land drow engineers began to move
in and build towns and cities of their own.  The
savages, now allied with each other against a
common foe, attempted to take these villages in a
last ditch attempt to keep their freedom, but the
drow were now prepared and the savages were
eliminated once and for all, any survivors were
hunted down and killed. If any were lucky to
survive, they are unheard of in the drow controlled
plains.

Far to the east, another mountain range was

discovered. The drow celebrated thinking they had
found more resources for their eastern most cities
but they quickly discovered another foe that
inhabited these mountains, the duergar. The
duergar, like the drow, saw this new people as a
group to be conquered rather than allied with. The
war broke out over the entire plains. The duergar,
who favored living under the mountains, ravaged
entire towns and cities of the drow, not relenting to
kill all they came across. The drow did the same to
the duergar outposts they managed to conquer.
Animosity began to build up and peace was the
furthest topic from anyone's mind. The war
continued for a few years with no clear advances on
either side. Drow prophetesses began talking of a
time of unity between the drow and duergar and
began pleading with the matron mothers to end the
war. At first these prophecies were disregarded and
viewed as lunacy, but the duergar too had the same
messages coming from their prophets, so both sides
agreed to sit down and talk.

At first, neither side agreed to any concessions

so the matron mothers began executing the
prophetesses saying they were speaking falsehood.
The more the matrons tried to silence the
prophecies the more prophetesses started to arise to
put pressure on the drow leaders. The duergar were
also being pressured by their own prophets so the
two sides once again agreed to sit down and after
half a year of talks, an accord was finally settled.

Once the truce was signed a new age began with

the drow as an avatar of Calco arrived in the drow
capital. The matron mothers acknowledged this as
a sign of prosperity for their people believing that
Calco was there to lead them into a new golden age
where they would seek vengeance against their
elven cousins. The avatar assured them that a time

of vengeance was at hand but began talking about
new alliances with the forces of hell that made the
matron mothers wary.  Those who questioned the
avatars wisdom were slain by the avatars anger.
Fire would erupt out of her hand or mouth and
consume her doubters causing all those who would
stand up against the avatar to agree to her demands
out of fear.  The avatar however would pick out
those who were honestly following her and those
that were paying her lip service and slew all the
“pretenders” with her unholy fire. Those who were
only paying her lip service fled the city but most of
them were hunted down and slain by Calco's forces.
Calco's anger did not stop with those paying lip
service however, she also started ferreting out those
who she saw as week and unworthy. Many men,
woman and slaves were burned on the spot for a
variety of reasons.  The surviving matron mothers
stood by and agreed with Calco's judgments.

Once the weak were slain and the drow nation

was once again viewed as strong. Calco began
inviting demon diplomats into the capital city to
start revealing the plan of an evil god named Beelzil
who was associated with Calco. Drow, duergar and
even orcs were invited to sessions where the
demons started talking about taking back the realm
of Solace for their own glory.  The three races
began to cheer the plan thinking that at last they
would be able to claim the land they were once
expelled from. Some drow and duergar vowed to
stay back in the cities to the east of the World's
Edge Mountains in order to give more land for their
people to rule and Calco viewed this plan with
approval.  The demons then started talking about
one last phase before the invasion, the construction
of what they called a hellgate to open up the depths
of hell and allow devils and demons to come from
crevices of hell to aid in the battle.  They told them
that another hellgate was being constructed in a
human city west of the mountains so the drow
began the construction with duergar help. When the
gate was activated, the demons surged forth and the
invasion began.

When the old ruling races fled to the skies the

drow settled themselves in the old capital of the
elven people and renamed it Draynor. Massive
spires were constructed just as in their former
homeland east of the mountains and pits were also
dug out for prisons and other notorious feats.

With the new advent of technology, the drow

have sought to capitalize on this new found
knowledge. Unlike their cousins in the realm
above, the drow sought to master all sorts of magic

and technology. Although unable to master black
powder and cannon technology, their wise men and
sorcerers have managed to put together some
creations that make other races afraid. These range
from the slave constructs to the deadly drow super
warriors that combine both magic and biology to
make a formidable warrior.

Current State of Affairs

The peace that established the drow and duergar

as a formidable foe is all but over. All though they
are not technically at war, constant conflict between
the two is known to exist. Villages on the edge of
peoples territories are attacked and retaken as if on
a schedule. The drow claim that the duergar started
the new conflicts but each side is just as guilty as
the other for the fighting. Often diplomats are sent
to each others new Dark Solace capitals to try and
reattain an alliance but these talks always break
down and the diplomats leave in disappointment.
Other cities, such as Mecne, often send emissaries
to try and mediate the dispute, but again talks never
get very far and these emissaries are sent back to
their cities in failure.

Although conflict has arisen again with those

that were once allies, the drow do not try their luck
with Infernus, the city where Beelzil rules. Instead
of risking conflict, the drow pay a monthly tribute
to Beelzil's coffers as demanded by the lord of hell
himself. Calco, although these days silent, has
demanded that this tribute be paid so the drow do
not question the demand but rather follow it to the
letter.

Orc and goblin tribes were the first to betray

their alliance to the drow and as such the drow are
constantly raiding their tribes to renew their slave
pools. Many orcs and goblin tribes abhor that their
kin are slaves but none of the local tribes have the
training or organization to fight off the drow
incursions. Many tribal leaders have asked other
more established nations to help them but so far no
one has been willing to help the orcs drive off the
dark elves.

Drow detest the undead so try to avoid them at

all costs. They are quite aware that the forces
inhabiting Memki are more numerous and will only
grow if the drow attack so avoid any attempts at
invasion. Some matron mothers insist that they
should overtake the city and steal its magical secrets
but the head matron is afraid to do that since they
can not be assured that the duergar will not try to
take advantage of the situation, not to mention they

would have to march their forces through Infernus's
lands to get the the desert city that lies to the south
of Beelzil's realm. Even though the drow do not
officially like the undead they secretly trade with
them for valuable magic items.

The demon-born are neither seen as allies or

enemies. The drow do not see the point in wasting
resources to invade them since they are already
using resources against the orcs and the duergar.
This does not mean that the drow have no interest in
the demon-born it is just not feasible to do anything
about them at this time. The drow would love
nothing more than to gain control of Mecne's slave
trade, but it is just not feasible at this time. Bribes
and spies are sent into Mecne constantly to try and
undermine the slave market there, but no significant
damage has been done.

Very little contact is ever made with the devlos

and the drow prefer it that way. They do not trust
the winged creatures and do not see any reason to
change their attitudes. Diplomats are sometimes
sent to the mountain city for trade reasons, since the
devlos are willing to pay top price for goods. If it
was not for the amount of gold that he drow get
from the devlos, they would never step foot into the
city at all.

Dragons are revered among the drow so the

dragon city of Wyrmrek is often visited and dealt
with by drow admirers. Geritox welcomes the drow
visitors since they usually bring gold with them to
spend in his cities shops and markets. The drow
often try to get an audience with Geritox, but he
rarely allows such visits. He is more interested in
their gold than anything else.

Conflict surrounds the drow and they would

prefer it no other way. If they are not being
attacked by the duergar or orcs, then it is the elves
from the realm above that are attacking them in
their flying ships. The drow have attempted many
times to construct these ships but they are always
destroyed before they ever get off the ground. The
drow have started to build a secret ship yard deeper
in their realm. They hope that the elves will remain
ignorant of this new ship yard but only time will
tell.

The drow believe that if Calco's avatar would

lead them again like she did back in the plains in
their home east of the mountains than, all the
conflicts will be over. They realize that Calco is a
goddess of chaos and disorder but they wish that
she would guide them as she used to. They also
expect that she would be able to tell them the
secrets of magic that they lost when the three

groups of elves were united as one, but again, Calco
says nothing and leaves them to experiment with
their dangerous magics and technology on their
own.

Matron Houses

The ruling bodies of the drow are the matron

houses. The matriarchy began thousands of years
ago when the drow of that day decided to shift their
religious beliefs from the gods of goodness to those
of evil. They found Calco to be the most desirable
of the other evil gods and so swore loyalty to her.
With Calco being a female goddess the drow
temples felt it was only appropriate that the people
be led by those better able to represent the goddess
and so the matriarchies were formed. Males of all
ranks were slaughtered in the streets as the matrons
came to power. Most expected another war to start
but the situation was calmed before a civil war ever
broke out. Although the minor houses tend to shift
with the rise of new and more powerful houses, the
lead house of Phelinn has been in power for longer
than anyone can remember and everyone seems to
be okay with that fact. Sometimes lesser houses
speak out against the Phelinn but these voices are
never given any credence since no one is strong
enough to take the lead house down.

Phelinn

House Symbol: Inverted Sword
Patron God: Calco
Favored Class: Cleric

Structure and Hierarchy

The structure of the first house of Draynor is

very stereotypical in its layout. The matron mother
rules at the top and has many other officers below
her who answer to her every whim. All power
resides with the matron mother however and she
refuses to share any of this authority with anyone
else. This is not to say that all decisions are made
by her alone. Some do act on her behalf but must
be called to account for all decisions made in the
matrons name. This authority can be easily
revoked. No council exists to share power with
although the matron does keep a cadre of close
advisers who council her on affairs that she is
unfamiliar with, which are not many. None of these
advisers have any authority to make decisions
however but do hold a lot of power when acting on
the matrons behalf.

The rest of the house is set up with the

priestesses and clerics at the top of the hierarchy.
Those who answer to Calco and claim to speak on
her behalf sit on the top of the food chain in the
Phelinn house. The pass down edicts from the
matron mother as well as from their goddess.
Sometimes these commands seem to contradict one
another but it would be unwise for anyone to
question these sometimes opposing agendas. The
priestesses are always female with males being
forbidden to act on Calco or the matrons behalf.

Sorcerors and wizards are the next in the

structure of the lead house and this group is a mix
of both male and females. Surprisingly, most of the
members of this rank are male who hold no
allegiance to Calco in any kind of way. Strangely
they are allowed to practice their sorcery without
any hindrance from the priestesses who run the
house. Female magic users do exist within this
structure but most of these females are seen as
outcasts who could not make it as priestesses so had
to chose another career path. These females are
placed in positions of authority within the magic
community of the house but they never reach the
prestige of a priestess of the same or lesser power.

The military sits in the third spot of the Phelinn

where most males are able to find their place within
the house. Strangely most of the officers are
priestesses who have been assigned to lead the
military forces in battle. Officers to rise to power
within military structure itself but to have sole
command in a sensitive or important mission is
unheard of. The priestesses are always in control of
what goes in in the military arm of the house. This
is not surprising since most of the military forces
are male and can never hope to achieve high station
within the house in the first place. Although they
may gain significant rank within the military itself,
the highest ranking males still have to answer to the
lowest ranking females and take orders from them.
This can only be counteracted by the matron mother
but no one can remember when this has happened.
Any situation that may arise of this sort is usually
controlled by a priestess anyway.

Last are the peasantry and all sorts of drow are

found in this position. Those who could not make it
in any way into the structure of the Phelinn end up
working menial tasks that are important to the
houses functions but are seen as too demeaning for
any distinguished Phelinn to perform. Most of the
drow in this structure are male but some females
tend to get overlooked in this structure as well.
This is not common but it has been known to
happen. Again, priestesses are set in positions of

authority among the peasants and these priestesses
are often scorned or being disciplined to be
assigned this kind of work.

The rank structure is very controlled as there is

an officer for every ten drow in each structure. This
is to see to the absolute loyalty of every drow and to
make sure all drow in the house are doing their
enlisted tasks. For every ten groups of ten there is
another higher ranking officer, with another ten
groups of ten having yet another higher ranking
officer. This makes it very easy to control and carry
out discipline when it is needed.

Role

The Phelinn are the ruling house in Draynor and

as a result have their fingers in everything. They
are the overall commanders of the combined
military and control trade with an iron fist. All
major decisions that involve circumstances outside
of the city must be passed before the Phelinn
matron mother for her consent. Diplomatic and
trade negotiations are made through the matron and
if desired can be passed off to another house for
their use. Quite often trade negotiations are
controlled tightly by the Phelinn with other houses
supplying the goods to be traded but not getting fair
market value for them like the lead house is.

Diplomatic envoys are forbidden from speaking

to other houses before they consult the matron of
the Phelinn. This is an attempt to control outside
negotiations from occurring that may inevitably
unseat the Phelinn from their seat of power. Any
requests by outside diplomats are carefully
considered by the matron before any decision is
made. Quite frequently however, the matron of the
lead house deals with the situation in such a way as
to make the other house not needed or required.
This can frustrate outside diplomats but they have
patience and hope that one day they can get the
audience they seek.

Order is also maintained by the Phelinn and

anyone who has any accusation to bring against
another does it before a Phelinn priestess. No other
house is allowed to act in this way as an attempt to
show that Phelinn word is law. If any other house is
seen acting as a judge, they are brought before the
matron, questioned and tortured till dead. There is
absolutely no room for other houses to act in
keeping order within the city. That is a role of the
Phelinn alone.

Religion

Although the Phelinn claim that their patron

deity is Calco, that loyalty is divided. The matron
mother performs all the ceremonies that are
required at the temple of Calco but the other
members of the house, some of them being her very
advisers, swear fealty to another god. Some have
prophesied that this will bring ruin to the lead
house, but so far nothing has occurred that would
indicate this is so. Even though there are others
who worship different gods, it is house law that
everyone must be present at Calco rites. Some
Phelinn are put off by this, but they attend
nonetheless to avoid the anger of their matron
mother.

The matron mother does tend to hold the varying

loyalty with some political clout. If she needs to be
rid of a rival within her own house, it is very easy to
claim that they worshiped another god and to be rid
of them. This is a very convenient ploy since most
members of her house are loyal to different gods.
Although the matron mother does not need any
excuse to execute anyone within the city, the fact
that they are worshiping another god can sometimes
tip the scales as to whether she will act or not.
Some of her rivals do bring their temples agenda
into their schemes and sometimes that involves
putting that temples priestess in control of the lead
house which the matron simply can not allow.

Interaction With Other Houses

Being the lead house tends to put a lot of strain

and pressure on the matron mother and her advisers.
They are always under the watchful eye of the other
houses waiting for a moment of weakness in which
to strike and take over the role of the lead house.
The matron mother is quite aware of these schemes
and takes action to ensure that she will stay in her
place for a long time to come.

It is not unheard of for other houses to try and

assassinate her but she has always managed to
survive such actions. This creates an aura of fear
around her since she has managed to survive some
of the most brutal assassination attempts. She
knows which houses are performing these acts and
puts sanctions on them each time something like
this is attempted. This makes the rest of the houses
fear the lead house but hate them at the same time.

V'neswar

House Symbol: Change Purse
Patron God: Anasta

Favored Class: Merchant

Structure and Hierarchy

The structure of the V'neswar would seem to
follow the archetype set out by the Phelinn but the
make up is actually very different. Like most
houses however, the second house does have
priestesses at the top of their hierarchy. This is not
unusual and helps to hide the hidden agenda that
this house has. As with the Phelinn, no males are
allowed to be priests or clerics and none have made
the attempt. Even though the main focus of
V'neswar worship is a non-drow goddess, they still
hold to the teachings of Calco with rigidity, since
they are the teachings that the drow have been
following for many centuries. They are not about to
break with culture now.

In the second spot of the V'neswar lies a

merchant class. This class of drow is not all that
recognized among the Phelinn because they really
have no need to develop trained merchants to do
their deals with. They mainly strong arm deals
making them believe they are getting the better
deal. The V'neswar on th other hand had to develop
a merchant class to try to undermine the trade deals
that the first house brokers. These merchants are
experts at making deals in the side streets and alleys
and even going out of their way to other cities or the
countrysides to make these deals. They are expert
negotiators and quite often are able to side track a
deal that undermines the Phelinn's agenda. How
much the lead house knows about these deals is
unknown, but they have made no move to stop the
V'neswar and so the backdoor deals continue.

Next is the magic users who are funneled a lot of

money and resources to try and discover new
magics and even technology. It is believed that the
V'neswar were the ones who cracked the code in
how to build the air-ships, but if this is true it is not
being admitted to by the Phelinn. Many other
grotesque experiments happen behind closed doors
as the second house constantly tries to find a way to
gain the upper hand in the secret arts. Even though
the Phelinn magic users do not get the same amount
of money by ratio, they still make more money than
the V'neswar wizards and sorcerors so are more
likely to develop new knowledge before the
V'neswar ever are. This does not stop the second
house from pushing for their drow magicians to get
the job done and quite often they are able to put out
new knowledge only to be thwarted or have the
knowledge stolen at a later date. The V'neswar are
well aware that it is the Phelinn behind these attacks

but there is not much that can be done about it.

The military takes up the fourth spot. Although

the V'neswar do not have the amount of troops that
the lead house has, they are able to put up a fight for
it anyway. If the second house was to put more
emphasis on its military, it is strongly believed that
they would be able to put up a fight for the first
house, but so far no attempt has been made for the
spot. The V'neswar seem to wait for an opportunity
that will never come in the situation that they are in.

Like the lead house, most of the troops in the

V'neswar military are males but none of them are
able to achieve rank in this house. Rank is reserved
for females alone. Some of the females and
priestesses who take on military duty see it as
degrading but they know that they must do as the
matron says or face her displeasure. With conflicts
constantly going against the duergar, fresh troops
are constantly being called upon from all houses to
the front lines. Some in the V'neswar see this as a
diversionary tactic by the Phelinn to make it
impossible for another house to take over, but this is
mere speculation and no one would be able to prove
it.

At the bottom of the heap is the peasantry. The

V'neswar rely on their peasants more than the
Phelinn do because they are constantly producing
goods that the matron of the house tries to use to
broker outside deals without the lead houses
knowledge. Most of these goods are decent in
quality and the second house only turns over a
fraction of what they actually produce to the
Phelinn for sale. The lead house claims ignorance
in this fact and if they know anything, and they
most likely do, they have done nothing about it.

The rank structure of the V'neswar is not as

complicated as the Phelinn but is still extravagant in
its execution. Instead of officers commanding
groups of ten they usually command groups of
twenty or even as high as fifty. Again the next rank
of officers can rule a varied amount of lower
officers depending on the needs of the matron
mother and how she wishes to relegate command.

Role

As the second house of Draynor, it is expected

that the V'neswar to assist and support the lead
house in all actions. This is not the case however as
they are the most likely to undermine the lead house
every chance they get. Trained assassins are
frequently receiving orders from the V'neswar
matron mother about key officers to eliminate in the
Phelinn ranks. The like wise is true with the

Phelinn. They both know it is each other killing
their people and it just ends in a bloody and brutal
cycle that will probably never see an end.

With the highly trained merchant class that

exists in the V'neswar hierarchy, it is no surprise
that the second house are highly trained in a variety
of production methods to make goods to trade.
Many of these secrets are the envy of the other
houses and what trade secrets exist to maintain such
a high production rate is unknown. The V'neswar
guard their secrets carefully with very little of them
being leaked. Those that are leaked are usually
done on purpose in some under handed attempt to
undermine another house.

Many of the lesser houses come to the V'neswar

with complaints about the policies of the lead house
expecting them to do something about it. The
V'neswar use these opportunities to make back door
deals that they hope will gain them the allies they
need to overthrow the lead house in the near future.
All of these deals have the V'neswar solely as the
benefactor and the lesser house as the victim. Why
the lesser houses come to the V'neswar expecting
something to be done is anyone's guess but for
some reason they come all the time expecting the
second house to keep the Phelinn in check. The
V'neswar maintain the image that they are able to
affect Phelinn policies and the lead house denies
thes claims all the time, making threats to the
second house to stop with such claims. So far no
threat has been carried out by either side. If any
threat has been carried out, it has been covered up
so no one sees any weakness from the house itself.

Religion

The worship of Anasta by such a predominant

house is often seen as strange since Anasta is seen
as an outcast goddess who does not even have a
realm to rule in hell. The V'neswar see this as a
perfect reason to give her their worship since she
stands against everything that Calco does. They
know that the temple of Calco would like nothing
more than to see this cult eradicated but so far no
attempts have worked. The V'neswar see this as all
the more reason to worship this goddess since she
has managed to stand against Calco and thrive.

This does not mean that the second house does

not pay tribute to Calco, in fact they do. The tribute
however is more like lip service than any serious
worship and the temple sees it as more of an insult
than any real zeal. The V'neswar could care less
about how the temple feels about what they have to
offer and lets them complain to the lead house about

it unafraid that anything will be done.

Interaction With Other Houses

As stated above, the V'neswar make many back

door deals with lesser houses to try and undermine
the Phelinn. They assure the lesser houses that they
can do what they ask for a price and force them into
some kind of servitude for a certain length of time.
In almost all cases, the second houses end of the
deal is never upheld but they will enforce the lesser
houses end of the contract with a vigorous zeal. If
the lesser house refuses to hold up their end of the
bargain then it will mean certain ruin for them. The
V'neswar do not fear this happening to them since
they are so far on top of them.

Khorrack

House Symbol: Warhammer and sword crossed
Patron God: Dyin
Favored Class: Cleric

Structure and Hierarchy

The Khorrack are often seen as traitors to the

drow since they have on many occasions tried to
reestablish peaceful relations with their old allies
the duergar. Most drow do not want to see peaceful
relations with the enemy and so bring many
traitorous accusations against them, most of them
true, but none of these accusations have ever fallen
negatively on the house. Due to this stance the first
step in the hierarchy of the Khorrack is that of the
diplomats. These highly trained negotiators are
experts at brokering deals between rival peoples and
factions. This group is so effective in fact that the
Phelinn have used them in other volatile situations
where their intimidation tactics would not work.
The negotiators often also serve as clerics and
profess the worship of Dyin alongside Calco in the
house.

Next in the Khorrack hierarchy sits the military.

Since the diplomats and clerics are virtually one and
the same in third house the military comes in with a
strong second. The military is very well equipped
and would be a force to be reckoned with by the top
two houses. As with all houses, the priestesses are
the ones who command the military units into what
they should be doing.

These military units however serve many

different roles. The Phelinn are thought to be
ignorant of the fact that the Khorrack sell out their
military to raid other settlements and sometimes
their own people. These mercenaries are most often
hired by the duergar who do not want to be seen as

involved in these situations. The Khorrack then
disguise themselves as Phelinn troops to heighten
the rouse.

The military also protects vast storehouses of

weapons, food and equipment that are constantly
resupplied by duergar forces. These caches are
open to both Khorrack and duergar forces, but have
remained hidden and secret to all other houses. If
the Phelinn knew about them they would most
certainly act upon the knowledge, but so far nothing
has been done.

As most other houses the majority of Khorrack

troops are male but a large number of them are also
female. The third house comes as close as a drow
family could possibly come to gender equality
giving males an equal opportunity to rise in rank in
military structures. Whenever priestesses come into
the picture the males bow out, but it is not unheard
of for a male commander to have female troops
following his orders. The temple of Calco screams
heresy at this practice, but the Khorrack have no
interest in following what they call outdated
mandates.

The bottom of the Khorrack ladder is the

peasants. The matron mother does try to encourage
the peasants and not let them be seen as weak or
inferior but the peasants feel otherwise with how
orders and directives are handed down from the
matrons officials. The peasants are very skilled at
filling demands from the matron that quite often
sends them to tend to the secret caches that the third
house has hidden all over the countryside. Only the
most trusted of peasants are allowed to even know
of these locations and even then once they see them,
they are never allowed to leave. Any drow who is
caught trying to escape from a caches location is
captured, tortured and every time have their tongue
and eyes removed to prevent them from ever
leading or telling others where the locations are.

Rank and file within the Khorrack is very

regulated. Not as much as the Phelinn, but the
Khorrack feel that discipline is needed. As a result
officers are set up in groups of twenty and every
twenty group of officers report to their commander
and so forth. A great deal of paranoia exists within
the ranks since the house secrets must be protected
at all costs. Curfews exist to make sure that house
members are not out to all hours of the night
drinking and spilling out secrets. The lower down
the ladder one goes within each step of the structure
means less that is expected of them, yet they still
expect them all to abide by the matron edicts. She
wants them all to understand what betrayal will cost

them and any time someone betrays the matron she
makes sure everyone sees the punishment that is
handed out.

Role

The primary role that the Khorrack serve within

Draynor are that of diplomats. The drow until
recent years had very little need for diplomats but
they have realized what use they can be. With
Infernus sitting just a sea away they know that they
must have a dedicated group that will be able to
appease anyone or anything's anger. Keeping that
in mind the Khorrack diplomats are compensated
very well for the service they perform the city.

The role as traitors spreads to every house in the

city. Most call them this without any serious proof
so fail to be able to do anything about it. The depth
of the treachery is very deep however. The
Khorrack quite often send city secrets and military
deployments to their duergar allies in an attempt to
try and maintain the peace that this house has
established with them. It does not take much to
realize that if this was ever discovered by any other
house, a long and bloody civil war would ensue.
The Khorrack will take the risk however since they
are very handsomely compensated by the duergar
for this information. Much of the technology that
the Khorrack troops use is actually duergar in
design. The third house takes the credit for creating
it however and it makes even the Phelinn wary
about attacking the house outright. It has been
attempted to put the traitor rumors to rest and just
take the house out of the picture, but they fear the
damage that would be done if they took that course
of action.

Many other backdoor deals are made with other

cities and races as well. Although not as devoted to
a peace deal as the duergar, other cities pay for
information that the Khorrack diplomats give them.
Some of the information is intentionally leaked to
the diplomats for the express use to mislead their
foes but the Khorrack are not to be taken as fools
and most times are able to sort out false information
from truth. Again, the Khorrack are compensated
for protecting drow enemies from dangerous false
information making the house that much farther
ahead than any other house.

Religion

Khorrack's choice of deity is strange in most

houses eyes. The choice to worship the male deity,
Dyin, is strange with the female supremacy that
exists in the house. Some outsiders have noted that

they would expect the third house to have an even
more lenient stance on males than they do because
of the deity they call their own, but that is not the
case.

The third houses reason for choosing Dyin is

interesting however. They chose him because he is
the consort to Calco, much in the way they believe
their old allies, the duergar are consorts to them.
They believe that the two races should be united
much in the same way that Calco and Dyin were.
They fail to recognize that the two gods, though
allied, are separate from their fidelity. The house
uses the example that as these two gods were able
to find common ground to share that the two dark
races that now rule a large section of the realm
below should also be united. The third house
believes that unity is the way of the future and the
only way for the drow to eventually reign as
supreme masters of the entire world.

Keeping this in mind, it should be noted that the

Khorrack revere Calco almost as much as they do
Dyin. The temple of Calco appreciates the
sentiment put into the dark goddesses worship,
however they feel that the third house should be
fully devoted. The third house does fear Calco and
the matron mother herself does plead with the silent
avatar that sits in Calco's temple. How Dyin feels
about the matron doing this is unclear, but he does
seem to allow it.

Interaction With Other Houses

Since most of the other houses consider them

traitors, the other houses have very little to do with
the Khorrack. The thirdird house as enemies of the
city to be eliminated. Many matrons plead with the
Phelinn matron on a constant basis to do something
about the Khorrack, but without concrete evidence
the Phelinn matron refuses to act.

Myri

House Symbol: Whip dripping blood
Patron God: Nihel
Favored Class: Fighter

Structure and Hierarchy

The Myri military is stong and predominant in

the fourth houses structure. Many find this
surprising with the military always taking such a
minor role in other houses but the Myri have noted
the value in putting a strong military into the
foreground.

The military is well funded and armed with the

latest weapons that the matron can get her hands on.
Myri troops are also undergoing constant training
regimes to keep their edge in combat even when
they have downtime.  This is not common however
since many Myri troops are the first to enlist on
missions outside of the city.  They are eager for
combat and will go to most lengths to get the blood
they seek.  The matron mother loves this attitude
but realizes there are troops she needs to keep back
to protect the house from other houses ambitions.

With the military taking such a high role in Myri

life it is no wonder that a majority of the armed
forces are female. Males are sometimes welcomed
into the military but this is not common. The Myri
have a heavy hand when dealing with males and try
to avoid recruiting them into the military that the
matron holds so dear. Any males that do make it in
never achieve any kind of rank and are always the
first troops to charge oncoming enemies. They are
seen as useful cannon fodder to protect the more
valuable females.

Coming in with a close second are the

priestesses to Nihel. With such a strong female
deity representing the house it is no wonder how the
priestesses are able to force the agenda of female
superiority in the house. As a result there are no
males within the priesthood of this house. Males
are allowed to serve as nothing better than slaves to
the priestesses but they never achieve any standing
within the houses priestesses themselves. The
priestesses serve as advisers and even sometimes
commanders in the military. Usually, however, it is
the other way around with military officers taking
command of temple functions. This is taken with a
bit of distaste since the military should not be able
to command temple functions but it happens
nonetheless. Priestesses do not want to upset their
matron so let her military command them as the
matron has declared.

Next in line are a group of thugs. They are not

part of any military or law enforcement station
within the city. Their primary role is to intimidate
the masses into fearing the Myri and making sure
everyone knows that compared to them, they are
nothing. The thugs frequent pubs and taverns
causing trouble in an attempt to enforce their houses
superiority. This has caused some issues with the
Phelinn since the thugs are sometimes mistaken for
law enforcement soldiers and low ranking drow will
listen to their boasting and warnings. Some Myri
thugs have ended up in the stocks but the matron of
the fourth house does nothing about it preferring to
think that those thugs were weak and do not deserve

to be free. These captured thugs are usually killed
by matron sent assassins.

The last are the peasantry that struggle to meet

the large demands put on them by the Myri military.
They constantly slave away creating weapons and
armor in an attempt to fuel the war machine. Most
peasants are glad for the constant work and
sometimes other houses purchase the weapons and
armor from them because they are of a higher
quality than any others. This has created a bit of a
monopoly that the Phelinn see as threatening their
own trade embargoes, but they too have done
nothing about it because they are sometimes just as
guilty of buying Myri equipment as anyone else.

With the military taking such a high position

with the house it is no wonder that the structure of
command is very rigid. Officers command in
groups of ten, with ten officers per ten house
members and ten commanders per ten officers and
so forth. Discipline is brutal with even the most
minor of violations being good enough for a severe
whipping or torture until death.

Role

The Myri have yet to really find their place

within Draynor society since they are fairly new to
the position of fourth house. Within the last decade,
the Myri moved against the former fourth house,,
the Zaknyar, and forced them from their position.
Some have feared that the Myri will continue on in
their attempts to gain more power and steamroll to
try and take out the next house above them until
they reach the lead house, but the Phelinn doubt this
will happen. What is for sure is that the Myri are
constantly threatening that they will be the first
house in the list of houses in Draynor and will do
everything in their power to get there. This has
brought them some ire from the Phelinn and the
lead house would like nothing better than to see this
house fall, but no other house has the resources to
take them down.

Even though not officially law enforcement, the

thugs that patrol the Draynor streets, boasting about
how great their house is, do manage to cause some
level of civility among the lower houses. These
thugs will strong arm people that are getting out of
hand and force them into conflicts that these lower
drow do not want to get into. As a result,
troublemakers will either settle down or find
somewhere else to go when these Myri thugs show
up.

Dealing through backdoor deals is not really

how the Myri operate. They are more likely to

make a trade deal and parade it around in front of
the Phelinn as an act of defiance.  As a result most
houses do not have any strong dealings with the
Myri.  The Myri have tried on several occasions to
strong arm deals in which a house will assist them
in taking down a larger house, but none of these one
sided agreements have ever been called out. They
Myri are used to having drow agree to whatever
they want to get them to leave them alone, so they
rarely call people out on these side deals. It does
happen though and when it does it can lead to a
great conflict within the city itself.  The Phelinn
despise that the Myri do this and would like nothing
better than to see this fourth house fall and all the
problems it causes to go with it.

Religion

Nihel fell naturally into the worship of the Myri

as they wanted a strong goddess to represent them
in the ambitious nature they have undertaken. They
treat males with all the disdain they can possibly
muster and preach that females are the only ones
who have any right to exist.

The bondage motif serves them well as they

strongly seek to force everyone around them into
servitude and place themselves above all others.
They desire nothing more than to conquer and force
others to abide by their will.

With some acceptance of males in their military

the temple itself has condemned them many times
saying that they males need to be taken out of the
houses top role. The Myri argue back and forth
saying that these males are nothing more than
servants and front line troops and serving Nihel
faithfully by dying before the females. The temple
argues that they could do the same with their
peasants but the Myri will not be intimidated by
anyone, even their own priestesses. This has
created some falling out between the temple and the
house since the Myri are going to do things their
own way. They are not good at following
commands from others and this has created issues
with the temple on a consistent basis.

Interaction With Other Houses

As mentioned above, the Myri are nothing more

than thugs. They like to get their own way and try
to force other houses into giving them what they
want. This makes other houses very wary about
dealing with them but some have done so in order
to get their hands on the higher quality weapons and
armor that the Myri are capable of making.

The Myri have on several occasions tried to

make political alliances to try and go against higher
ranking houses but so far nothing has worked out
for them. They are not skilled negotiators and this
has worked against them in trying to get other
houses to go along with their schemes.

Konia

House Symbol: Two crossed daggers
Patron God: Calco
Favored Class: Rogue

Structure and Hierarchy

Not much is known about the Konia and that is

the way the houses matron prefers it. They are
secretive and never share information about the
working of the inner house. A Konia house member
would sooner die than tell anyone anything about
the house.

With so much secrecy it is no wonder that the

fifth house are skilled assassins. No one is safe
from these killers and every house at one time or
another has suffered a loss to a Konia blade.

Such secrecy easily points to the assassins as

being the top and most influential group within the
house. The matron is the one who manages all
contracts and decides which requests to honor. Not
all assassination requests are accepted by this house
and sometimes it is wondered as to why. To make
their work easier, the Konia have infiltrated every
house in Draynor, even the minor ones. They take
to such measures to make their targets easier to get
to. Konia assassins are usually trusted officials
within the houses and are able to strike against their
target without anyone in the house ever knowing
who killed their houses leader.

Being worshipers of Calco it is relatively

accepted that the assassins are all female. Anyone
who has managed to deal with the house is always
greeted by a silent female that leads them into the
house that looks abandoned. No one dares sneak
into the house for fear of what lies in there, most
not realizing that the house they thought was
abandoned is actually inhabited.

The last members of the Konia hierarchy are the

peasants. Most of these peasants know they have
secretive masters but who they are they are not even
sure of themselves. Most think they are members
of another house than the Konia and many peasants
go throughout their life thinking that very fact.
Some other houses have actually began to accept
these misguided peasants as their own, actually
believing that they belong to their house. The
Konia keep meticulous records however and know

each and every member of every family and who
belongs under their banner and who does not.

All drow, even ones born of the assassins, are

automatically raised as peasants. Only those who
show the most skill and dedication are accepted as
assassins in the house. These recruits are spirited
away never to be seen by their family members
again.

To reveal yourself as an assassin to anyone is a

grave crime that is punishable only by death. There
are no second chances with the Konia, one
infraction brings the most serious price.

With so much secrecy it is hard to say how the

house structures itself but it is generally accepted
that there is very little rank structure within the
house itself. Sister and Mother seem to be the only
two ranks that the house members attain.

Role

The Konia do not play much of a role in

Draynor as a whole. In fact most houses, besides
the top ones, do not even realize the Konia even
exist. They do not involve themselves with city
politics and do not oppose the decisions made by
the Phelinn. They keep to themselves and only act
out when someone has hired them out to do so.

How the Konia get equipment is a wonder since

they do not have any known back door deals to
attain goods with other houses or outside races.
They rely solely on the goods provided by the
Phelinn and do not broker outside talks. Most
houses wonder what the point of the house is if they
do not involve themselves in anything.

The fact of the matter is, the Konia are more of a

counterbalance within drow society.  When
someone comes up that is causing to many
problems and needs to be dealt with, it is the Konia
that are hired to act.  There has been no opponent
too powerful for them to take down and they have
almost always met with success.  The few time that
they have failed and had assassins captured, the
assassin has committed ritualistic suicide rather
than give up any information on their house.

Religion

The house is devoted to Calco and only Calco.

To worship any other god is seen as a grave sin that
is punishable by death. The Konia take their
religious devotion very seriously and believe that
they are the arm of Calco in all that they do. They
strongly believe that they are doing as Calco wishes
and performing her unholy duty.

It is no wonder that the Konia have chosen to

take Calco as their patron deity since she is seen as
the most powerful of the drow gods. The temple
has seen an advantage to this sometimes issuing
orders to the Konia to have certain house members
taken down. The Konia generally do not accept
orders from anyone, but offer contracts to the
temple of Calco for a reduced rate. They do not
wish to anger their goddess and so do everything
they can to keep her priestesses happy. Since the
assassins are close to priestesses themselves they
are very much aware of what demands Calco puts
on them. They, like so many others, have pleaded
with the avatar to speak with them but it has not
responded to their cries. There are always loyal
Konia members praying to the avatar to bless their
blades and their work. It would seem their prayers
are answered with the high success rate of the
house.

Interaction With Other Houses

With some houses not even realizing the Konia

exist it would make it appear that there is not much
interaction between the various houses. This is not
the case however.

Most houses plead with the Konia matron on a

constant basis to accept their request. The matron is
at anytime able to accept or reject a houses request
just based solely on her own whim. Generally
however, once a contract is signed, nothing can be
done to stop it. Not even the house that hired them
is able to stop an assassination from happening.
Some houses have on very determined grounds tried
to stop the killing, but the matron mother will not
listen. It is only her that can cancel a contract. It
has been known, however, for a contract to be
canceled just before the killing occurs, sometimes
leaving the a victim just inches way from their own
death.

In order to do their work effectively. The Konia

have infiltrated every level of every house within
the city. This is a large expenditure but the matron
mother is convinced that it is the right call. The
assassins are definitely skilled enough that they do
not need to be in these positions but the matron has
other needs that need to be fulfilled. With these
assassins in these positions, the Konia are privy to
much information about housses that they do not
with to get out. How aware other houses are of this
fact is unknown, but the Phelinn in particular have
attempted to buy information, or hire the house to
gain information for them. All of these requests
have been denied.

Some houses, especially the Phelinn, have also

taken to hiring the house not to kill any of its
members. This money is taken but is rarely taken
seriously. Since the assassins leave no trace, and
most houses have their own pool of personal
assassins as well, it is hard to prove whether a
Konia had done the killing in any given situation.
The Phelinn pay exuberant amounts of money,
strongly believing that they are protected from
Konia contract. They would be wrong however, the
Konia only honor these deals if the money the
Phelinn is paying them is more than than the
contract is worth. If a house is willing to pay more
than the Phelinn, the Phelinn house member will
die.

Some houses have attempted to make backdoor

deals with the Konia for special treatment or to help
them attain a higher position with in the city. The
Konia have no political interest in moving up th
position of their house so turn all of these requests
down. The Myri have on several occasions tried to
make such deals and then make absurd threats that
they are never able to carry out. The Konia take
some threats seriously, sometimes killing members
of a house as an example, but rarely do they do
anything than find a threat amusing.

Nadai

House Symbol: Sword and shield
Patron God: Lisiph
Favored Class: Fighter

Structure and Hierarchy

With so many houses vying for supremacy in

Draynor it is no surprise that the lower houses
would start pushing their ambitions in other areas.
The Nadai have done just that. They still wish to
pursue higher ranks in Draynor itself but they do
not involve themselves much in city politics. They
involve themselves only as much as they need to,
but no more or no less than that. They do not
totally shut themselves off from politics like the
Konia, but they do not get as involved as the
V'neswar or the Khorrack.

The reason for this is that they are a mainly

mercenary outfit designed to serve the military
needs of those within and without the city. As such
the military sits on the top of the Nadai's hierarchy.
Even military personnel are expert negotiators able
to come to agreements over on the spot contracts
that groups may want to have the house carryout.

Women and men hold significant roles within

the military each able to achieve rank and position
within the military structure. Although no male is

allowed to serve as the head of the house, only
women may serve as matron mother. Many houses
hold the Nadai in contempt for the role they let men
play but the house does not worry about what other
houses think.

Contracts come from many different places.

Most come from the house themselves needing
troops to do jobs they do not want to be attached to
or else to get some extra troops for a sensitive
situation. Another common job is for Nadai troops
to serve as caravan guards as these merchants seek
to bring goods and trade into volatile areas that
they do not want to risk their own troops in. This
makes huge demands on Nadai troops requiring
them to stay on top of their trade causing Nadai
troops to be well armed and trained.

Priestesses fall into the next category. As would

be expected females lead this area but males are
also known to join the priestesses as priests. This is
the houses dirty little secret that they do not wish
the other houses to know about. The teaching of
their patron god allows for males to climb the
houses ladder but they maintain female control to
allow for their acceptance outside the house. They
tend to treat men with more cruelty than the women
because of drow ingrained teachings but the men
take the beatings and mistreatment since they are
able to achieve more than their brothers in other
houses.

Next is the team of diplomats that are constantly

working trying to get contracts for their troops to
fulfill. Many of these diplomats work outside the
city gaining new work and establishing a working
relationship with these outside cities to bolster trade
and other items that the Nadai will want. Most
other cities find the Nadai diplomats to be pushy
and uncompromising, but most cities are willing to
cast this aside since drow troops are some of the
best in the area and they desire to have the best in
all things.

Lastly are the peasants who are a fairly small

group. Usually these are just families that have
been left behind by females and males who have
left the home to serve in the houses military. These
children are left with temple caretakers who are
empowered to do what it takes to straighten their
children into model citizens. Some of these
children are treated badly but they do not regret it,
realizing that it is just part of their culture. Some
children are jealous that other houses have more of
a role in raising them, but they do not vocalize this
for fear of further mistreatment.

The ranking system within the house is rigid

much like other military families but not as much as
others. Officers are usually overseeing groups of
fifteen to twenty while commanders are overseeing
officer groups of twenty to thirty. Each group of
family members is ranked by a house rating to set
rates for military contracts. Again house members
strive to be the best and to be placed within a higher
ranking unit causing a lot of shifting in between
units to create the best units or to train weaker units
to become better.

Role

The Nadai do not play much of an active role in

Draynor politics but being one of the upper houses
causes them to have some responsibilities in the
city. They are often hired out to protect the city
from outside threats when Phelinn troops are unable
to perform the tasks themselves.

Recruitment is the biggest task that the Nadai

take in the city looking for new soldiers to fill out
its ranks. Many houses see this as imposing on
their own authority but the Nadai will take troops
from wherever they can get them. Some houses see
this as an opportunity to try and usurp the Nadai
and get information from them but this never works
out for them. The Nadai are well aware of that ploy
and take every security risk to ensure that non-
house troops get into any significant position to
gain any house secrets. Usually however these
troops hire on with Nadai because they are getting
nowhere within their own house and so join the
Nadai foolishly hoping they will be able to get
somewhere.

Religion

The worship of Lisiph is seen as heretical by

many of the female dominated religions. The
reason being that Lisiph commands that males be
given a chance at equality and so the Nadai allow
for this. Other houses do not realize that the house
allows for some part of equality but the matron
keeps this under wraps since they do not want other
houses to know the truth about their policies.

Lisiph's area of abuse and degradation however

are taken to a new extreme. Where other drow
would see the house as soft for allowing males to
succeed they make up for it in the cruelty they show
to those who they fight. Dying troops on the
battlefield are often kept alive for some time being
tortured by their Nadai captors. These captured
troops can live for hours even days under the
cruelty of the Nadai but eventually the drow will
kill off these captors when they feel that the

prisoner will no longer entertain them.

The temple relies on the house for many things

since it is the only house that openly worships their
god. Quite often they try to command the house
and the matron at times entertains them but most
times does not. Whenever the avatar of Lisiph
visits the temple the matron makes a point of
visiting in order to find out what their god has
decreed for them. The matron does not allow these
messages to be carried to them by a third party and
will only accept them from the avatar himself.
They fear that an incorrect message will be passed
along and disfavor falling on them so make sure
they get it right the first time.

Interaction With Other Houses

Some houses do not look favorably on the Nadai

since they tend to take other household members
away to serve in their own private militaries but
these are more commonly lesser houses that have
no chances of achieving anything anyway. Still
these houses are frustrated by them and ask the
Phelinn to step in.

The Phelinn themselves look favorably upon the

Nadai because they provide a critical service to the
lead house. As a result the Phelinn have established
a working trade deal with the Nadai to provide them
with the needed materials to do their jobs. Most
houses do not realize this since the Nadai are
getting the goods for less gold than anyone else.

Most of the other lead houses rely on the Nadai

just as much as the Phelinn do so pay them with a
great deal of respect. They offer them work at the
best and worst of times and rely on them to do the
job they have been hired for. The Nadai do not try
to threaten any of the lead houses but with the
income that's generated by the mercenary outfit it is
no wonder some do not think why they do not
achieve for more. If they are attempting to gain
more political power, they are doing so secretly and
not allowing anyone to be suspicious of them.

Louim

House Symbol: Whip and shackles
Patron God: Bilhar
Favored Class: Slaver

Structure and Hierarchy

The entire structure of the Louim focuses around

the slave trade. Although their military is not as
strong as the lead houses, most of them are
experienced slavers and are capable in combat

situations where most other houses would be
uncomfortable.

This makes the highest group in the Louim that

of the slaver. Most of them are outside of the city
gaining new slave stock for sale in Draynor. Not
only are these slaves sold to other houses but they
are used for the Louim's own purposes in
gladiatorial combat and other slave games that the
Louim host. This is big business and the Louim
hold a large monopoly in Draynor by specializing in
this trade. The Phelinn are rather jealous over the
success that the seventh house has met in this area
but they have not made any serious moves militarily
to try and take it over.

With the Louim having such a successful slave

trade there are many attempts to undermine them
form outside forces, namly the demon-born of
Mecne. The demon-born and Louim are constantly
at each others necks trying to bring each other down
so they can hold the monopoly on the slave trade.
Many times slaving ships in the Elf Gulf come to
violent terms when the two groups encounter each
other hunting the same ship or group of potential
slaves. This makes the slavers very capable fighters
since they need to protect themselves at all costs
from the violent demon-born. The demon-born are
not the only ones who oppose the success of the
slave trade in Draynor, the ogre kingdoms of the
north are commonly trying to take over the slave
trade as well, but their brutish ways are not great for
dealing with others and so many slave dealers
would rather deal with the Louim instead.

Having the need to go out and get slaves makes

the need for a strong navy to be present. The sailors
and slavers work very closely together never
leaving one without the other. Although every
house has a respectable navy, the Louim's is
definitely the best funded and equipped. Many
times this means the Louim lead the navy in
military matters much to the chagrin of the Phelinn
who control the military. Many times the Phelinn
have tried to move in on the Louim's naval
superiority but so far the attempts have not worked.

The navy have also been experimenting with the

new flying ships that the races in the realms above
have been using for centuries. They have met with
success in the last few years meaning that the drow
will soon be able to take the war once again to the
race that originally exiled them. The races of the
realm above have constantly sabotaged these ships
that have come out of production meaning that they
have not been able to build a successful aerial navy
but they keep trying in an attempt to move the war

once again against the original enemy instead of
with each other.

The priestesses take the third role with much

disdain. Although the goddess relishes in slavery
the priestesses maintain that they should be in a
better position then they are now. They preach that
unless the house takes its beliefs more seriously that
the rage of Bilhar will fall on them. The Louim
have been operating like this for as long as they can
remember and no judgment has ever fallen on them
so they do not fear the threats the priestesses make.
Instead the priestesses get less and less attention
with every passing year to the point that the
priestesses feel that they may be taken out of the
picture at some point.

There is not much of a peasantry with the Louim

but those that are take on jobs where they are able
to maintain the arenas where the gladiatorial and
slave games take place. The Louim usually manage
to buy any other goods from the Phelinn such as
food and other necessities, making other lower
duties past the Louim. Those that are relegated to
maintenance feel they are being overlooked but they
take on their jobs with as much enthusiasm as they
can or else they will find themselves as slaves in the
arenas or on the slave market.

The chain of command is fairly unregulated due

to the fact that slavers are hired into certain sections
of slavers for each job that they go on. The groups
of slavers and soldiers fluctuate all the time with
each job needing different numbers of slavers for
each job. Most ships are loyal to the teams they
have established rarely taking on new troops, but
when deaths start to accumulate these groups need
to take on new slavers. These groups are regulated
all by the matron's house which is very lax, as long
as each group of slavers is profitable, they have
nothing to fear from the matron herself.

Role

Some would consider the need for slaves to be

paramount among the drow making the Louim's
service of the utmost importance. The Louim take
all this praise and constantly remind the lead houses
of how important their service is to the city to make
sure that nothing is done to jeopardize their
business.

The different aspects of the slave trade are all

fulfilled by the Louim. From violent needs, to
perverted ones, all groups have their slave needs
met by the seventh house. There are even houses
that request a certain type of slave from the Louim
when they want a specific slave for a specific

purpose. A lot of houses are waiting for their
chance to have a full blooded elf to sacrifice to their
gods, especially Calco.

It is not only the selling of slaves that makes the

Louim so important. The entertainment that they
provide through the gladiators and slave games is
instrumental to the culture of Draynor. All levels of
entertainment are offered. Higher gladiatorial
games with champions obviously cost more than
lower games with less popular gladiators but they
are mostly run by the Louim who get a majority of
the money for it.

Religion

The worship of Bilhar comes naturally to this

house with the slave trade so predominant in this
houses activity. A lot of slaves get offered to Bilhar
who only desires the best offered to her. As a result
the most successful gladiators are often led away
thinking they are going to be set free only to find
themselves sacrificed on a slab in Bilhar's temple.
This practice pleases Bilhar and she grants her favor
on the Louim for this very practice.

All of the naval vessels that serve in the Louim's

navy also have small shrines in them where the
slavers will offer their vows and prayers to their
goddess before attacking another ship or raiding a
small outpost. The superstitious drow believe that
this is why the slavers meet with such success.
Their religious zeal makes most believe that they
will never fail in their raids. If any slave raids have
failed they have not been brought to the worry of
the house usually hidden away where no one will
ever find out about what happened.

Bilhar makes a point of trying to visit the Louim

whenever she can since she favors them above all
else. She tires of constantly being asked about what
is going on with Calco and enjoys the down time
she can spend with her followers and watch the
grotesque things they make the slaves do in the
arenas around the city. She is fond of the brutality
and only wants to watch the goriest of matches.
Whenever she is around the Louim do their best to
satiate her desires. They have never disappointed
her.

Interaction With Other Houses

The Phelinn have on numerous occasions tried

to take over the slave trade believing that they
should be the ones in charge of such a lucrative
business. So far they have had no success, not
being able to carry out the business as successfully
as the Louim. So instead they have instituted

sanctions on the slave trade taking a share of profits
from every slave sold or game attendance paid for.
The Louim never pay the full amount not caring
whether the Phelinn know this or not.

Coray

House Symbol: Skull dripping blood
Patron God: Calco
Favored Class: Cleric

Structure and Hierarchy

The Coray are the crime family of Draynor

trying to undermine the Phelinn at every turn. With
crime driving the entire economy of the house it
puts quite a lot of the even drow based morals of the
Coray in question. Although the drow themselves
are a insidious race there are some things that even
the Phelinn consider to be too extreme for even the
lead house to turn a blind eye to.

With crime being so high on Coray's agenda it is

a surprise to find priestesses at the top of the crime
houses agenda. Although they are crime oriented
the house is very religious and petitions the favor of
Calco in all things. In true drow tradition, the
priestesses are all females and any males that serve
the priestesses are slaves that will never see
freedom. Temple slaves are quite common within
the house and no one condemns them for this
practice.

Although the priestesses are at the top of the

food chain they are quite adept at the criminal
underworld. They run things like any typical crime
lord and reap the profits from innocent people.
With such an interest in crime and the profits that
come in due to it, the Coray are one of the biggest
houses that give donations to the temple of Calco.
They do not match the Phelinn by far, but come in
at a very close second. As a result the priestesses
that are not affiliated directly with a house are
favorably inclined toward the Coray and the money
that comes in.

Being so tuned into the criminal underworld also

allows for a lot of knowledge concerning the
location of wanted criminals and goods that the
Phelinn are looking for. The lead house is well
aware of this and they try many times to pry
information from the Coray on information that
they want. This knowledge is very intimate at
times, with the family knowing things about almost
everyone in the city. Most small time house
intelligence is not of much interest to the Coray but
some smaller houses do pay to get this information
from the Coray so they do maintain a network

within even the smallest houses.

Although the priestesses are on top of the

hierarcy, thugs and soldiers come in very closely.
They are constantly patrolling the streets looking
for new victims and potential people to make deals
with. All deals with the crime house are finalized
by the priestesses, but they do not make the time to
find these people themselves, rather the thugs are
the ones on the streets making deals and pushing
and enforcing money owed to the house. Since the
thugs are the most recognizable members of the
house they are the ones that are approached the
most when something illegal is wanted by a
member of the populace.

Next is a group of merchants that are able to go

out and sell the illegal goods that the Coray get their
hands on. Even though the priestesses approve all
transactions it is the merchants that do most of the
negotiating. They are experts at getting the best
price for what they want to sell. They take
advantage of other drow at every opportunity.
Lesser houses who need certain goods can find that
they are paying twice or three times as much for
goods than they are really worth. They know if
they do not pay the Coray's price, worse things will
happen. The merchants tend to give information to
the Phelinn about those who are trying to buy
products from them under the lead houses nose
without affirming that they are actually doing that.
How much the Phelinn know about what goes on in
the back alleys of Draynor is anyone's guess, but it
is suspected that they do know and do nothing about
it.

Slavers also find their way into the houses

hierarchy since they are the ones that kidnap
innocent people from the streets themselves. Many
drow slaves are sold on the market that have been
captured by the Coray from the very streets they
used to live in. These slavers are not foolish
however since they know which lesser houses to
kidnap people from. They never attack members of
houses from higher positions then their own for fear
of the backlash that would happen if they did.

Last come the peasants who are nothing better

than slaves in the eyes of the houses priestesses.
They work hard to produce the drugs and other
illegal products for the house and with very little
reward. Whenever anything goes wrong in a deal
gone wrong, somehow it is the peasants that bear
the brunt of the blame, even if they had nothing to
do with it. Some peasants become small time
merchants trying their best to get ahead. At times
they do break free from their desolate station to

become full fledged merchants but this is rare. If a
peasant is able to do better business than a
merchant, the merchant usually makes sure to
eliminate the peasant from the picture. If the
peasant manages to get the notice of the priestesses
however, this becomes a very different game.

Role

The role of the Coray is simple, they bring illicit

goods and services into Draynor for enjoyment of
the drow. They are very good at what they do and
many people buy into their prostitution rings, their
drugs dealers and other notorious devices for the
sheer enjoyment. More often than not these
enjoyments turn into addictions and these drow start
to rely on the Coray for the illicit goods they
provide.

Drug trafficking is the biggest producer of gold

for the house. All drugs provided by the Coray are
highly addictive and there seems to be very limited
ways to break the addictions. Some priestesses
have managed to heal members of their own houses
through magic and that seems to be the only way.
This process is costly however and most houses do
not have the gold to get free from the dependancy
they have got themselves into.

Prostitution is the next big seller for the Coray

and they are constantly bringing in new slaves to
provide variety to the many higher ranking drow
that seek some dark desires. No female is ever used
in this way and anyone that is is immediately
rescued by their house. Males are the most
common prostitute and many females pay very high
gold for good looking or even higher ranking drow
males. Any male that finds themselves in this
position often never sees freedom again.

Religion

The Coray are highly devoted to the temple of

Calco. They devote all their evil whims to her and
desire for her to speak to them. Even though Calco
is silent, the temple priestesses assure them that
Calco is pleased with them, but that could just be
for the amount of gold they bring into the temple.
Many servants and slaves of the crime house that
are useful and make them money tend to end up as
sacrifices to the dark goddess with hopes that they
will gain her favor. The Coray have even gone as
far as to offer up a high ranking priestess who did
so willingly believing she was serving a higher
purpose in the life of the house and temple.

Some other gods are known to be worshiped by

the Coray, but not on the scale that Calco is.

Sometimes they see that favor is not being
bestowed on them so they start performing a
religious perge cleaning out all the heretics from the
house. This act of savagery is rare however and the
Coray only perform this act when business is bad.
Sometimes members giving fealty to other gods is
profitable. They see this as an opportunity to get
more favor from other gods, but once it proves to be
unprofitable they cease transactions immediately
and start to consult with Calco once more. Usually
this is when the purges begin.

Interaction With Other Houses

Most other houses prefer to stay clear of the

Coray and their preferred methods of business. The
Coray deal mainly with Phelinn who try to slow
down the criminal activity that the crime house
indulges itself in. Usually the Phelinn do not do
anything about it. When big deals do not work out
and violence ensues, the lead house tries to fine or
punish the Coray, but these are not paid out and if
they are only very sparingly. The Phelinn are quite
aware of the devotion of the Coray priestesses and
do not wish upset the temple with dabbling in Coray
affairs. As a result the Coray are mostly left to their
own devices and the Phelinn only step in when
something goes terribly wrong.

Society and Culture

Drow culture has undergone significant changes

with the opening of the hell gates. When they lived
as exiles, east of the mountains, they had very
different goals and was focused more around the
individual rather than around a house or the city as
a whole.

When they lived east of the mountains all

achievements were only made if it benefited a
person and made them more significant in their
superiors eyes. Those in the ruling households were
very determined that they were a select few who
deserved whatever they wanted. If someone from a
lower station was selling something to a drow from
a higher station then it was the drow of the higher
station that determined the price. Since the drow
really had no trade partners at this time, the system
worked rather well even though it benefited the
higher houses more than the lower ones.

Life was also very meaningless. The individual,

unless they made themselves valuable in some sort
of way, was considered expendable if it would
advance a persons station, especially a females.
Quite commonly, nobles and high ranking officers
would find themselves poisoned or attacked in the

streets. These assassination attempts were always
made to advance someone of a lower station. If the
person could show that they had more guile and
intellect than the person they killed then all would
be forgiven and the lower stationed person would
be promoted in their place. The only way to survive
in the old drow culture was to show that you were
not expendable and that those above you needed
your unique talents to further their own.

Law was also non-existent as the houses policed

themselves. The unspoken rule among the houses
was that the strong survive. If someone was killed
in the streets the houses did have the opportunity to
avenge that act. In most cases the houses would see
an attack against a member of their house as an act
of attrition against them and would more than likely
lash out against the perpetrator. The only time a
house would not seek retribution was if the drow
that was killed was seen as useless by them and
deserving of death. This happened with more
frequency than would be believed especially if it
involved a male. Sometimes a greater house, who
would not want to be involved in the politics such
actions bring, would hire out a lesser house to do
the assassination or retribution for them. This
caused much infighting among the lesser houses but
in the end it left the upper houses stronger and so in
better positions than they were before.

Any kind of advancement whether it was

magical or technological was slow to the point of
almost being stagnant. Most advances of this sort
were never seen as having that much benefit to the a
drow's ability to move up the ranks of their station.
As a result they focused more on being subtle and
deadly, perfecting arts of death rather than
advancing themselves in any other area. This
undoubtedly made them vicious fighters in war time
but their enemies quite often would have an slight
upper hand against them. Even with that upper
hand however, the drow more than likely would
prevail, again putting the need for new technology
and magic on hold.

Militaries were more of a house affair than the

city as a whole. In only a few cases was a city wide
military put together to defend the city and this was
more common in the war with the duergar than with
anyone else. In most cases if a conflict broke out
with an outside race it was between a house rather
than with the whole city. This led to some problems
since external enemies did not see the houses as
separate entities in drow culture but rather as a race
as a whole causing many “innocent” drow soldiers
to be killed in wars that were not their own.

The arrival of Calco's avatar and the opening of

the hellgates has changed most aspects of drow
society. The focus from the individual has moved
to the interests of the house and sometimes, the city.
This change occurred as the drow realized there was
a much bigger foe present on their front steps that
they needed to be ready for. Some of the old drow
still have self-indulged interests but even most of
them realize that they need to stand united against a
common foe. This attitude has continued to gain
strength as those that were formally allies, like the
duergar and some roaming demon and devil hordes,
have turned against them and started to pursue their
own schemes.

Cultural and technological achievements started

to take center ground. Although the drow did not
know how to create the deadly dragons fire before
the invasion, they were able to figure it out with
stolen tomes from the elven libraries as well as
many other magical secrets that they had never
considered or thought were forgotten. Drow
scholars started coming to forefront learning and
discovering what they could to help in the ever
escalating war they had got themselves into. This
has led to houses stealing secrets from other houses
and killing to get them, whatever upper hand a
house can prove to have on the battlefield will only
help to advance that house politically.

Houses are still classed as higher and lower

stationed but the focus is taken off the individual.
This does not mean however that life is seen as
more valuable than before, it just means that drow
are only killed if it advances the goals of the house
rather than a lone person. Shaming a houses matron
is the gravest of crimes and is dealt with quite
quickly. Matrons have become more political in
their movements in the cities only decreeing that a
drow must die if it in some way will grant the house
as a whole more favor before Calco.

Some law has also emerged in an attempt to hold

back the ever encroaching tides of enemies that are
waiting at Draynor's gates. Laws that affect the city
as a whole and everyone with it are made solely by
the head house. The Phelinn have been very
conservative in what laws they make preferring to
let the individual houses police themselves.
Tradition still plays a huge role in law making
which makes it difficult on houses as a whole when
new laws get put into practice. Many houses get
bitter when the Phelinn make new laws often
arguing in the council chambers with them for days
on end, but after all is said and done, the Phelinn are
the most powerful house in the city and no one

would be foolish enough to challenge their right to
do what they want.

The military too has undergone significant

changes. Now instead of houses maintaining their
own personal militaries, the head house as made it
law that a certain percentage of soldiers must be
devoted to the cities military capacity. This law
shocked many houses as they refused to stand
beside another house that they had conflicts with in
the past. The Phelinn had to convince them that the
city needed to survive and if it did not then they
would all fall. Even though the houses did not like
the proposal they eventually agreed that such an
endeavor needed to be done. With the Phelinn
having the most troops they immediately assigned
their soldiers as officers over the rest of the houses
and split up the houses troops from each other to
avoid the possibility of mutiny. Some non-Phelinn
troops have managed to gain rank in the military but
this is rare with only loyal troops to the lead house
ever seeing promotion.

Festivals

Festivals are important observances for the drow

since they represent the superiority of the drow and
the conquering power they have through their
patron goddess. The highly religious drow fear the
things the gods may do to them if they do not
observe these celebrations so they do so in an
attempt to gain their gods favor.

Blood Festival

The blood festival is one of the most prized

festivals that the drow celebrate. Where its origins
come from are uncertain, but it is commonly taught
that it originates from the purge of the weak when
Calco's avatar came to them before the opening of
the hellgates. The festival focuses around killing
the weak and purging the drow people to make
them strong again. As a result anyone that has
suffered a debilitating injury, is old, or just makes
another person think they are weak are slain and
thrown out the city to rot, not even getting the
pleasure of a decent burial. They are seen as
unworthy of being drow and many drow who were
once celebrated as heroes find themselves being cut
down during this yearly festival. The festival lasts
for one day and many try to hide from the
rampaging hordes, it is not very often that they find
a safe place to hide.

Festival of Chaos

This festival is pure anarchy were people are

allowed to indulge themselves however they see fit.
They revel in the chaotic nature of some of their
gods and attempt to bring the blessing of these evil
gods down on them. Some of the more lawful evil
gods followers try to part themselves from such
debauchery but it rarely happens. Since all drow at
some level are worshipers of Calco they find this
festival suits them and they indulge in it to the
fullest. Many drow end up dead, but that is just
seen as a result of the celebration and nothing to be
to concerned about..

Soul Harvest

The soul harvest is one of the most frightening

festivals for the peasantry of Draynor. Priestesses
from all temples prowl the streets looking for
people to sacrifice right there in the street. With
this yearly festival some streets are flowing in blood
and everyone from new born drow to the elderly are
slain in glorious praise to the dark gods. Again
drow try to hide and bar their doors but the
priestesses are very efficient at getting into locked
homes and dragging out the victims they want.
Only the most worthy of victims are selected since
they want to only offer the best to their gods. This
has made some lower priestesses target Phelinn for
the soul harvest, but they generally are able to
escape the slaughter.

Night of the Dark Moon

This festival is only celebrated when there is a

lunar eclipse. This moment is chosen because it is
seen as a time of the light being shut out from the
realm. They see this as representative of when the
original races of the realm below were beaten and
forced into exile. During this festival, the drow
celebrate their superiority and assure the lesser
drow that they will one day rule the world. All will
be slaves to them just as their elven cousins are now
subservient to them.

Day of the Crimson Sea

Again this festival is a celebration of the

conquering of the elven realm. They say that when
this happened they dumped the elven bodies into
the bay south of their realm and sea was red with
blood. Many slaves are brought in for this
celebration and they once again try to make the
waters around their port city red like the day the
elves were thrown into the bay.

Days of Calco

This is a seven day long celebration where all

drow are required to observe the rituals and tenants
put down by Calco for this duration. It is law in
Draynor that the drow must observe this time and
penalty is death. The priestesses of the temple lead
the drow in litanies and praises asking for the Calco
to continue to lead them in the future to even
greater glory.

Religion

Drow religion is brutal. Sacrifices of sentient

beings tends to be the order of worship along with
many other morbid acts. Torture and sedition are
also high on the order of worship.

The drow are a very superstitious people

making them very dependent on the good will of the
god they are currently praying to. In all things they
offer sacrifices and tokens of fealty to try and
appease their dark gods mood, hoping that they will
gain their favor.

Most people assume that Calco is the patroness

of the drow. This has changed in the last few years
making it somewhat true. Before the opening of the
hellgates Calco was the leading deity that was
worshiped in drow culture. They offered many
different kinds of sacrifices to her in the attempt to
gain her favor and with great diligence. Many
people in the dark elf culture feared her more than
anything and did anything they could to make her
think they were not weak. What they often did not
realize is that Calco saw deeper into their beings
and saw what was weakness in the little things.

Worship of Calco was the height of drow culture

making everything else secondary. Entire houses
would devote priestesses to training making sure
that people followed the tenants of Calco to the
letter. The training was rigorous with many
priestesses ending up dropping out of the cults
colleges. This was always looked down on by the
matron mothers who would more often than note,
execute their failure daughters before they even
crossed their houses threshold. This was not always
the case however with weaker houses who needed
every daughter they had. Some of these female
drow would be reassigned to other duties for the
house including sorcery and witchcraft. Those of
the upper houses would see this as folly, allowing
failures to succeed to something in drow culture but
what Calco thought about this practice was left as a
mystery to even the highest priestesses.

When Calco's avatar showed up in the drow

nation many houses were obliterated overnight.
Many of the higher houses assumed this was for
allowing weaker daughters to live within the house
or else other unknown grievances but Calco kept
her own council claiming that they were weak and
that had to be good enough for everyone.

Not every house was safe from Calco's wrath.

Many of the stronger houses were taken down along
with lesser houses. Even the Phelinn were afraid
that Calco would at some point turn her wrath
towards them but it never happened and they took
that as a sign that they were the chosen to lead and
became more boastful as the purging began. They
were the first to “sell their souls” to Calco, devoting
everything and everyone they had into her service.
Calco used them to ferret out many dissenters not
caring whether the Phelinn succeeded or not.
Lucky for them, they always succeeded and where
they did not have the resources to do what was
required of them, they bribed and intimidated
people into doing the work for them, furthering
their favor in Calco's eyes.

Some accused the Phelinn for showing weakness

in this regard but Calco never rose her hand against
them. What became evident in the end was that
Calco wanted results more than anything and those
who failed to show the ability to produce those
results were destroyed. This was one of the signs of
weakness priestesses were able to show but there
were others that remained a mystery.

Once order was restored the beginning of the

preparations began for invasion.

Rites for worship were also streamlined and the

voice of Calco was heard. She made it clear to
everyone what tenants of the faith devoted to her
were supposed to be followed. This brought a lot of
change to the cult creating rifts in the leadership as
to how to implement these changes. First was the
way sacrifices were given. Calco hates weakness
and so to offer her a weak sacrifice was seen as
repugnant to her. In order to reestablish what was
an acceptable sacrifice she indicated that slaves or
non-drow were only tolerant. Offering the sick or
the elderly was blasphemous. She wanted the
strong, the proud and she wanted their blood. As a
result, many drow of high ranking stations were
killed over-night. The only sacrifice that would out
do a drow one would be a full blooded elf. She
hated the elves just as much as the drow do and it
would please her to see them dead. The next
massive change was the way rituals were carried
out. They used to be done in private enclosed by
each individual house. No one really knew what

was going on in each house and whether or not each
house was properly holding to Calco's edicts. The
change was made that all were to know Calco's
anger and all were to see the sacrifices made to her.
As a result all saw the high and mighty fall. They
saw prisoners shamed and saw the weak killed with
impunity. It brought many changes to drow culture
and all drow in all houses became to fear Calco
more and more as they saw her worship's brutality.

With all the changes in place the invasion was

ready to begin.

Once the invasion was over, the face of worship

once again changed.

Calco's avatar, although still with them, fell

silent. Houses began worshiping other gods and
Calco's cult fell into disfavor with many. The
priestesses began to claim that the silence of the
avatar was caused by the drow's apostasy and they
the needed to devote themselves back to Calco's
worship. They blame many failures and the war
with the duergar on the failure of the people's
proper worship. The apostate population began to
claim that if Calco wanted their worship, she should
start leading them the way she used to. Since she
did not they would start worshiping gods who
appreciated them and responded to their cries.
What exactly Calco has thought about this approach
again, remains in mystery but the faithful few do
maintain the edicts she gave them. All houses in
some way still pay homage in some small way to
her, even if they follow another god.

Most of the drow began following one of the

other of the major gods (as presented in the Dark
Solace Campaign Setting).  The most popular of
these dark gods was the new worship of Beelzil.
Most drow could not blame these worshiper for
starting to follow the lord of hell. Some make
pilgrimages to Infernus to try and achieve his favor
but they have never been seen again.  The cultists of
Calco have pointed at this and said he does not
appreciate their efforts but their argument is flawed
in that Calco does not really appreciate the drow's
either. Most of these worshipers have switched to
Beelzil simply on and edict of Calco's that they
should not favor the weak.  They claim that if Calco
was as strong as the cultists claim then she would
rule hell and not Beelzil. Since he is the ruler of the
darkness encroaching on all the world then it is him
they will devote themselves to in an attempt to gain
his favor in the life there after.

With their traditional ways already set in place it

is no wonder that the drow priestesses of other gods
use the same training techniques as those in the cult

of Calco. These techniques have degraded even
further since before the invasion making the process
more grueling than ever before.

If a new priestess is sent from a house they are

branded or scared with one of two runes. The first
is the nuyah rune, which states that if the potential
priestess fails, they are to be sent back to their
house. The second rune, ytan, means that if the
priestess fails, to not return her to the house but to
dispose of her however the temple sees fit. More
and more drow females are coming to the temples
with the ytan rune marked into their skin making
them more eager to please the head priestess.

The first few months of a cults initiation begin

with hours each day of torture and beatings. The
new initiate is branded, scared and beaten within an
inch of their lives. If they show weakness during
any time of this then the punishment dictated by
their marking is given out. No drow priestess is to
give in to weakness and bow out of the ritual.
Many potential priestesses fail within the first few
months of continued degradation.

Next the priestesses are pressed to measure their

use of magical abilities. These tests are performed
to determine where exactly in the hierarchy of the
temple they are going to fit in. All hope to achieve
that of a priestess, but this does not always happen.
Since certain houses have a certain amount of
political clout even in the temples, some initiates
make it through that have very little skill while
others that have incredible skill are stowed away for
more meager duties. This creates some animosity
between the skilled and unskilled but to question
the head priestess will only bring more pain and
suffering down on the complainants head. If a
priestess is determined at this point to have no
usable skills whatsoever then they are discarded as
by the wishes of their house.

Lastly their ability to lead is put on the line. All

priestesses are expected to lead their respective
houses in the ways of the god or goddess they have
chosen to perform rituals for. As a result they must
be able to lead in the most dire of circumstances.
Over the next decade they are put into combat
situations where their ability to command and lead
drow are put to the ultimate limits. Some
priestesses head out in to the front lines never to be
heard from again. Others return with the glories of
battle and the experience to lead any house in any
situation. Some priestesses choose to stay on the
battlefield while others chose a softer life inside
Draynor's city walls.

Once all these tests are concluded, the new

priestess is sent back to their matron house with a
new mark in their flesh confirming them as a
priestess of their appropriate god or goddess.  This
is the highest honor a priestess can achieve at this
stage of her priesthood.  They start off at the lowest
rank a priestess can obtain and have to work their
way up the ranks to get into any kind of position of
authority.  This can be a very difficult climb as
other more ambitious priestesses attempt to wrestle
control from those above them using every dark
deed in the book to do so. Murder, shaming and
kidnapping into slavery are common occurrences
for priestesses. It is important that head priestesses
watch their backs at all times especially from those
closest to them. Even though they may trust them
to a point, it is always the closest advisers that take
down their higher ranking priestess.

Each cult is able to maintain some control on

military assets. This may seem strange for a
religious organization but it is required in order to
enforce the strong arm of drow religious laws.
Each cult funds and supports its own militaries
along with those it influences in the city military
itself. Although these military numbers are not
great they are enough to make a serious statement if
anything where to happen where a cults military
needs to step in.

Some have argued that the fastest way to

promotion and status is to join the religious military.
They have all the best equipment money can buy
also making them a very difficult foe to face on the
battlefield. With the influence of their respective
temples behind them they are easily able to
command troops in the regular military with ease.
No soldier wants to bring the condemnation of a
god on their heads and so make every effort to
appease these military representatives at all times.
With so much power over soldiers it is no wonder
why these religious commanders are the ones that
are most commonly leading the troops.

Speculation runs high when a temple soldier

takes command of a section of the military.
Undoubtedly that group will support the wishes of
the cult but at the same time they must obey the
wishes of their matron mother as well. Since drow
culture has greatly swayed towards the honor and
wishes of the house, sometimes religious devotion
gets put on a back burner. Temples fear this attitude
since it could mean their orders are not followed but
as it stands most houses will not stand in the way of
a temple carrying out the will of their god or
goddess.

There is no over developed rank structure in

place in any temple. A priestess is either just a
priestess or one special female is made the head
priestess. In theory, no priestess has any authority
over another priestess but this is never put into
action. Priestesses that have been with the temple
longer than others have always held more power
than those who have served less. A sort of seniority
system has come into each temple sorting out those
with authority and those without.

The execution of religious law is carried out by

a select few. Whenever a follower of the god or
goddess is suspected of apostasy it is quickly
investigated. These investigation are brief and not
thorough in the least. The convicting priestess will
often kill the parishioner on sight rather than get to
the bottom of what was really going on. This has
led many to accuse others of wrong doing and many
innocent drow getting killed by the temple they
swear to their dying breath to be loyal to. The
priestesses mentality echoes from back before the
invasion that they must root out weakness and any
who show weakness must be eliminated and they
carry this out very efficiently. There is no trial, just
the instinct of the priestesses to contend with.

Calco

Symbol: A female drow sitting on a bone throne
Home Realm: 5

hell

Alignment: Chaotic evil
Worshipers: Drow
Cleric Alignments: CE, CN, NE
Area of Influence: Anarchy, deceit, deception
Favored Weapon: Longbow
Cleric Domains: Chaos, Dark, Darkness, Evil,
Trickery

Calco was at one time the single deity worshiped

by the drow. With a new world and new gods thrust
into their lives this has changed. But this has not
limited the demands that other drow have put on
themselves to appease the dark goddess.

Her avatar sits in the cults temple ever watching

over the going-on of the court in front of her. She
sees all that happens and expects her priestesses to
follow without hesitation. Whether she is upset
over the apostasy of so many drow is unknown and
the avatar is not saying anything about it one way or
the other.

The goddesses rise to power is left with much

speculation. It is believed that she was at one time
brought forth from the chaos of the spiritual realm
by some force that is greater than all other forces
known. The drow refuse to admit this is Sael and

chose to believe that some other dark entity created
Calco and brought her forth from the night.

The races in the realm above blame her for the

separation the drow and starting the first civil war
between the elves. What influence she had at that
time will remain a mystery since it was not till after
the drow were exiled that they swore their fealty to
her. True the drow were starting to turn to evil
before the exile but whether Calco had any hand in
it is largely unknown. Most drow preach this as
gospel however without really knowing the truth.
When Calco's avatar was speaking it never really
confirmed this mythology one way or the other.

Priestess Training

Since Calco does not want weak drow every

attempt is made to root them out from the possible
priestess initiates. With the initiations so brutal it is
no surprise that many potential priestess are failed
or die in the process. There is no mercy shown
during this process and every initiate is expected to
give up before the first week is out. Calco's temple
is rumored to be the most brutal in its treatment of
potential priestesses and they do not deny it. They
demand only the best and strongest and will not
allow a weak drow female anywhere near them.

Quests

Before the opening of the hellgates it was very

obvious what Calco demanded of her people. She
wanted them to unite and to conquer the elven
nations that had cast them out. It is no wonder that
the drow still follow this edict hunting down rogue
elves that have not fled to the realm above. Drow
practice this with a religious ferocity that is
unmatched anywhere else in the world. Although
most drow, who are angry at their elven cousins,
want to kill the elves in the place, they are more
often than not, captured alive so they can be
sacrificed in the avatar's presence. Other typical
quests involve subjugating those around them and
being merciless to their enemies. Even though it
was Calco that pushed to make allies of the
duergar, the priestesses no longer believe this is the
case. Calco does seem pleased at reports of duergar
being beaten. Before the avatar fell silent it did say
that it wished for the drow to rule the known world
and the drow take this to heart in every way. They
want to conquer and enslave and believe it is
Calco's will that this be so. They will stop at
nothing to achieve that goal even if that means
making allies of cities at one minute only to
subjugate them the next. Whatever it takes to bring

themselves on top.

Temples

Although there is only one true temple of Calco

where the avatar resides, it is not unknown for other
houses to still have their own private temple areas
devoted to Calco. The main temple is immaculate
shaming any other temple in Draynor in size and
architectural grandeur.  The temple is made of black
marble dragged from the mountains to the west of
the city.  The size of the temple is enough to
intimidate anyone and make them realize their place
in front of Calco.  The priestesses prefer it this way
to remind all parishioners that they are nothing
before their grand goddess and that they should be
surrendering all they are to her to attain her favor.
Even those who just pay lip service to Calco have
been known to feel scared in the temple and some
have even repented and turned back to Calco just by
entering the temple itself.  These converts are often
slain for having been weak enough to serve another
god before their prayers of supplication are ever
finished.

The temple is heavily guarded by its own

military along with fiends from the spiritual realm.
All manner of the demons and devils serve the
avatar and the priestesses at all times of day and
night. It is rumored that they are other servants
from other realms that help to man and defend the
temple but who or what these beings may be
remains a constant mystery. No one has ventured to
dig too deeply into this and the head priestess
herself will only smile with and evil grin if anyone
asks to many questions, just before they are
executed.

Rites

The rites that have been practiced by the

priestesses are the same ones that have been
practiced for centuries. Very little has changed
from since Calco arrived until now. The highest
form of praise to Calco is to sacrifice a full-blooded
elf or high ranking drow for the avatar to soak up.
The sacrifices are made in the avatars presence in it
court where it keeps watch. When the sacrifice
begins the priestesses call down condemnation on
their enemies and plead with Calco for her favor.
Once this is done they slit the sacrifices neck and
gorge on its blood. Any semblance of life or a soul
is then sucked out of the victim by the avatar.
Sometimes this elicits a smile, other times it does
not. It is a joyful day when the avatar smiles.

Other rites are performed such as initiating new

priestesses or blessing houses or quests that drow
are sent out to do. No Calco priestess will ever
bless a male, seeing this as blasphemy to the
goddess herself. The only time a male has a chance
of being blessed is if he is in the presence of a
female whose quest is blessed in general detail.
Most priestesses try to evade this mistake and make
sure to bless the females only. No male is worthy
of the goddesses favor and so need to be excluded
from such rites.

Heralds and Allies

Heralds are never seen among the drow since the

avatar is ever with them. If Calco had something
she wished communicated to her followers she
would not need a herald to do it but could do it
through the avatar herself. The fact that she is silent
now enforces the fact that no herald is needed.
Some believe it is only a matter of time until Calco
speaks again and wait for that day eagerly. Quite
often, demons in Calco's service are summoned to
determine what is happening in the 5

hell but no

demon will acts as a herald for Calco and spill any
secrets about what is going on.

Demons and devils both serve Calco with

unprecedented loyalty. Even though the demons
and devils do not get along they fear what the avatar
will do if it lashes out against them. Although it has
never done so, the fiends speak of a time when
Calco would lash out against them and their
punishments were the most severe, sometimes
ending in death. They remind each other that there
is no place for a fiend to go after they die so even
though it is against their bitter nature, the demons
and devils co-mingle for the good of their goddess's
temple.

Dyin

Symbol: A pitcher filled with blood
Home Realm: 5

hell

Alignment: Chaotic evil
Worshipers: Drow
Cleric Alignments: CE, CN, NE
Area of Influence: Drunkeness, over-indulgence,
consort to Calco
Favored Weapon: Drow Curved Blade
Cleric Domains: Chaos, Dark, Evil, Madness,
Trickery, War

Dyin is a fairly common god among the drow.

With the arrival of the teachings of strength and the
abhorrence of weakness many drow use Dyin's
vices as arguments that they are not signs of

weakness but acts of worship to their god.

Although Dyin has sent no avatar to the drow on

a permanent basis he does make his wishes known
to his followers quite commonly. It is not
uncommon to find a male drow enter temple
worship only to later realize that it was indeed Dyin
in the flesh checking up on his cultists. Dyin enjoys
coming into worship sessions and finding his
followers in the midst of drunkeness and revelries.
Without the drunk drow knowing he has commonly
taken advantage of the situation and attempted to
enjoy himself with anyone he can get his hands on.

The gods rise to power, like all mysteries with

the gods, is left to speculation. All that is known is
that at one time Dyin came into being from the
chaos of the spiritual realm and he very quickly
attached himself to the greater and more powerful
Calco. He does not like to be reminded that he is
inferior to her but makes the best of the situation
that he can. It is rumored that some of the other
minor deities are in fact love children of the two of
them but they do not like to talk about it. Whenever
questions from followers come up, they are either
punished or else not answered at all.

Males have a better chance of advancing in this

cult than most but even Dyin realizes that his
matron prefers females to males so has demanded
that all priestesses be female. Whether he wishes
males could be brought into some kind of
respectable position may be something he has
hinted at but has never openly confirmed. He has
been known to send male drow out on special
assignments but these are kept at a minimum.
Some of the Calco priestesses claim that it was
Dyin that caused the schism in drow religious
practices. Dyin himself laughs at such suggestions
blaming the drow themselves for their own
weaknesses in their hearts.

Priestess Training

Like the cult of Calco, initiates are hit hard. The

torture and physical torment may be different from
what the Calco followers do to their potential
priestesses but it ends up doing the same things.
More often that not, rather than be physically killed
from tools of torture, initiates are drowned in booze
and revelry until their bodies give out on
themselves. Even a drow can only take so much
before their body begins to fail them. This has
caused most to try and enter into this priesthood
with dying a miserable death. Body functions cease
to work and they are often seen coughing up blood
in dark alley ways moments before their death. If

they make it through it is almost a guarantee that
some addiction to alcohol will ensue.

Quests

Dyin is famous for sending his followers out on

quests into the wilderness. He greatly enjoys
testing his followers but making them hunt down
rogue drow, uprooting a barbarian camp or hunting
down elves to drag back to the city. He tries to
maintain as much control over the adventures his
worshipers undertake but sometimes he has to
follow orders from Calco who sometimes has his
followers do things that will benefit her. He laughs
when drow attempt the tasks while intoxicated often
giving them help or increased abilities to help when
the drow is to inebriated to do it by himself. Dyin
does see this as weakness and usually reveals to the
head priestess what her follower has been up to.
The head priestess then commonly approaches the
individual and kills them with no remorse. Sure the
point of their worship is to overindulge but they
must also be able to perform the edicts of worship
for the good of the temple and their god.

Temples

Temples to Dyin are to no surprise usually large

distilleries and vineyards that are used to create the
booze that is offered to the drow at the cults
ceremonies. The main temple is massive, though
not as large as Calco's temple, and holds great
stores of alcohol for the parishioners to consume. It
is unknown how many people have suffered in the
creation of all this liquid wealth but it is for sure
that there is a great team and support system to
make sure this is all in place.

Most bars and other like establishments house a

small shrine to Dyin in an attempt to bring fortune
to their business. Dyin does enjoy the wide use of
his worship in such a way, but rarely makes a big
deal of the small time bartenders who are trying to
make money rather than bring worship to his ears.

Like all drow temples a decent sized military

probes its halls. There is a great wealth of money,
booze and other indulgences that lie hidden within
the temple vaults. The priestesses are determined to
keep all the unfaithful from finding out what
exactly they have hidden in there. It is rumored that
some rare drug plants have been grown and
cultivated that is now being sold on the streets of
Draynor. Although it can not be pinned on the
temple itself many are there to accuse and the
military is always quick to answer those who would
bring those accusations to their door. The military

also quickly deals with those who would try to
forsake Dyin and run to another god or goddess.
They hunt them down and kill them without
remorse.

Rites

The rites of Dyin are simple compared to Calco

by far. Dyin just wishes for revelry to begin and for
drow to overindulge in whatever they can.
Although the main focus is getting drunk this does
not stop others from extending this rite in to
something else. Some use the overindulgence
aspect of Dyin to explore pain, drugs, sex or murder
and all this falls with favor on Dyin.

Sacrifice is not common in Dyin's rituals but it is

not unheard of. Mostly this happens with those
who indulge in murder. They will often speak a
small prayer to Dyin as they plunge their dagger
into their victim and watch them die. Whenever
times of trial do come to the temple as a whole, the
head priestess does initiate a time where an
intelligent sacrifice is offered to regain the gods
favor. Dyin has never openly stated that this
displeases him and since it is part of the drow
tradition they still follow this edict and hope to gain
Dyin's blessing in whatever emergency is
happening at the time.

Asking for blessings at the temple usually does

not go very far. The priestesses will more often
than not just offer the parishioner a glass of mead or
wine to give them a blessing. Males are rarely
blessed in such a way but it has been known to
happen. The priestesses of Dyin realize their god is
male and so try to make a place for males in the
temple and in worship but drow culture pushes
them not to and so usually keep males out of the
focus of Dyin rituals.

Heralds and Allies

Dyin has mainly surrounded himself with

demonic servants and sends a quasit or nabasu
when such a herald is needed. Unlike with Calco,
no devils serve Dyin and he either shames or
annihilates any devils that come into his realm of
the 5

hell.

Quite often he sends his avatar to interact with

his followers and give them directions. If he does
not make a physical appearance he has also been
known to visit followers in their drunker stupors as
a vision that most of them mistake as a
hallucination. Most of them however do not want
to run the risk of gaining Dyin's disfavor so
hallucination or not they carry out the request.

Nihel

Symbol: Whip and chains
Home Realm: 5

hell

Alignment: Neutral evil
Worshipers: Drow
Cleric Alignments: CE, NE
Area of Influence: bondage, daughter of Calco and
Dyin
Favored Weapon: Whip
Cleric Domains: Chaos, Dark, Destruction, Evil,
Strength

Nihel is one of the newer gods for drow worship

and those that follow her are fully devoted to her.
Unlike most other drow gods, Nihel does not allow
males to worship her or to place themselves in her
temple. Any who dare to enter her domain are slain
or else imprisoned, never to be heard from again.
This puts many worshipers of Dyin at odds with
Nihel's faithful but so far beyond some minor street
disturbances, no major outbreaks of civil fighting
have occurred.

The goddess makes fairly constant visits to her

followers making sure they are following her edicts
to the letter. Although she claims to be more strict
than the priestesses of Calco the reality is that she is
not. She demands complete loyalty and will not
stand for one to fall by the wayside. If theis were to
happen it would make the priesthood appear to be
flawed and she will not allow that under any
circumstances. Rather than kill them like Calco's
priestesses would, she commands that they be put
into dark prisons where the convicted will never see
the light of day again.

Her rise to prominence was followed with much

controversy as many potential parishioners thought
that following the daughter instead of the mother
would bring torment on their heads from the
priestesses of Calco. This was not the case
however. Although the Calco priestesses were
angered at this move they did nothing about it
waiting for the word from their avatar of what to do.
Luckily, that word never came.

Nihel is the first born of Calco and Dyin and

lords it over the rest of her siblings. She attempts to
enslave the lesser gods to her will and in constantly
waging war in the hells to try and maintain
dominance but these acts are often overruled by
Calco since Nihel's realm is within Calco's overall
area of control.

Priestess Training

Initial candidates are imprisoned in the deepest

depths of the temple to await the judgment of the
head priestess. They are fed little and see no light
for months on end. Some potential priestesses are
locked in the depths for years, some have spent
nearly their whole lives in those prisons. Some are
driven to insanity and others are subjected to the
harshest of tortures to try and prove the power of
the potential priestesses willpower. Higher
priestesses watch in glee as potential priestesses go
slowly insane over the time of imprisonment. Some
of these priestesses that are locked in the depths try
to devote themselves to prayer and meditation to try
and make the time go by and maintain their right
states of mind but this tactic does not always work.
Since these insane priestesses do not get released
once they fail the initial tests it is a wonder how the
prisons are not filled to capacity. Where priestesses
end up going is anyone's guess.

Quests

Followers of Nihel are often sent on campaigns

to capture prisoners for the enjoyment of the
priestesses. All of these prisoners are locked away
most never even having the chance to serve their
new masters. Slavery is not the main goal of the
followers of Nihel but they realize it is a necessity
so maintain a small number of slaves to serve their
purposes. Whenever these slaves do not meet the
expectations of their mistresses they are imprisoned
and new slaves are brought in. Once a prisoner is
sent into the prison they never come out again. The
slaves realize this and try to please their mistresses
to the bitter end. None have ever lived their full
lives in service to their mistresses.

Temples

The places of worship for Nihel are not so much

temples as they are massive prisons. There is an
official temple but even this temple has holding
pens. The temples are not as lavish as Calco's but
they are in decent condition considering they are
glorified prisons. Many smaller temples but larger
prisons are stationed in Draynor along with a
massive secret prison complex in the mountains to
the west. This secret prison is the largest prison in
the world and digs deep into the depths of the
mountain. Many prisoners tire laboriously at
digging the temple deeper into the bedrock with
never knowing what exactly they are digging for.
Most of these prisoners are blind since they have
not seen light in so long that their irises have

collapsed trying to take in light. They just dig blind
and the priestesses decide where to chain up more
prisoners for their amusement.

A large number of military law enforcement

offices hold a small shrine to Nihel to try achieve
her favor in capturing wanted criminals. Even these
small shrines have a resident priestess who makes
sure no men take part in Nihel's prayers or enter the
unholy sanctum. It is rumored that if a priestess
does not enforce Nihel's rule of no men, then the
shrine itself will lash out and strike down both the
man and the priestess. This is the only rumored
time that Nihel commands death in her presence.

The main forces in the temples and prisons are

jailers that ever watch over the imprisoned. A
standing military is fairly small since most of the
religious military is out seeking new prisoners to
honor their goddess. Most of the temples do not
need much protecting since most other gods
followers do not see Nihel and her followers as
much of a threat. In fact some houses pay to have
prisoners sent to the temples to be hidden away for
ever. Nihel's priestesses take the payment with glee
and some high ranking drow have been lost in the
prisons of Nihel without ever being able to defend
themselves.

Rites

Rites are fairly complicated in the execution but

all have a single focus in mind. When prisoners are
brought in they are consecrated to Nihel and then
sent to the prisons to live out their fates. When
campaigns to capture prisoners are waged elaborate
ceremonies are conducted to try and gain Nihel's
favor. Priestesses are eager to send out forces to
capture more prisoners and so the favor of Nihel is
handed out quite easily. The only exception is if
there are males involved in the raids. As a result
many leaders try to hide the fact that men will be
involved in the raids and try to pull one over on the
priestesses they seek the favor of. Sometimes this
works and at others it does not. Most of the time it
ends in those leaders being imprisoned in the depths
of the secret prison.

Blood sacrifices are rare since a dead prisoner is

not bringing any glory to Nihel. They do happen
however when circumstances become desperate and
so a few select prisoners are set aside just for this
purpose. Those in the cult of Calco berate the Nihel
cult saying that non-prisoners should be being used
but the Nihel priestesses disagree. They refuse to
sacrifice one of their own but would do it only if
Nihel commanded it. It has been commanded at

times but Nihel does not often demand what exactly
she wants as a sacrifice but rather just soaks up the
sacrifice as any god would.

Heralds and Allies

Nihel quite often uses heralds to do her bidding

preferring devils over demons for this purpose. She
does not usually have the opportunity to visit the
realm below as an avatar since she is busy waging
war in the 5

hell most times. How she even makes

time to offer orders and ordinances to her
parishioners through these heralds makes many
wonder but she always sets aside time in her war
efforts to make sure her faithful get the proper
direction.

Devils are the main fiend used by Nihel mainly

as a bane to her parents and sibling who prefer the
use of demons. She has found devils easier to
manipulate and more needy of her power than the
demons who would seek to rule over her rather than
serve her.

Anasta

Symbol: Phallic symbols
Home Realm: Nether region of the hells
Alignment: Neutral evil
Worshipers: Drow
Cleric Alignments: CE, NE, LE
Area of Influence: Perversion
Favored Weapon: Short Sword
Cleric Domains: Darkness, Death, Destruction,
Magic

The bastard child Anasta has no real claim to

drow worship since she is in no way related to
Calco or her consort Dyin. Some speculate that she
is a rejected child of Beelzil but the lord of hell has
never spoken of or even to her to end any
disagreement between the priestesses loyal to her
and to her enemies. Most drow find Anasta area of
domination to be distasteful as perversions usually
emerge in quite disgusting and demented means.

Anasta came to the knowledge of the drow when

her avatar stumbled into Draynor looking for some
people for her to call her own. She sat down in bars
and taverns speaking with the locals spreading her
messages of perverse freedom and that they would
not have to hold back when worshiping her. This
appealed to many, especially men who had
demented fantasies they wished to carry out.

Due to her not having any real claim to being

drow or a drow goddess. Many of the cults in the
city have tried to eliminate this cult in order to

pacify the demented form of worship and allow for
the pure drow gods to rule once more. The cult
proved hard to destroy however and eventually the
city leaders allowed the cult to flourish as long as
they paid their due to the real drow gods as well.
Anasta allowed this as a cost of trying to maintain a
foothold in the world but the battle always seems to
be an uphill one.

Many of the drow gods have tried to wage war

on Anasta's realm but none have been able to truly
track down her realm of rule. She rules in the
nether realm of the hells where no one has been
able to claim dominance for any period of time.
Many gods have tried to tame this region but there
have never been any long term success in this
endeavor. As a result many rogue gods and
goddesses have found their way into this region to
ever be shunned by other more “noble” gods. It has
enabled them to thrive and the find the place easy to
live in rather than be under constant attack in any of
the official hells.

Priestess Training

Potential priestesses have to prove themselves

by acting out perverse acts or furthering the act of
perversion in all that they do. Many find these acts
in their deepest desires or else in their imaginations
where they try to bring these ideas to life. They go
out into the world and try to bring in the most
perverse creatures of the world in to the temples to
experiment on and with in an attempt to further the
praise of their goddess. Torture and brutality are
not common place against the the potential
priestesses since their ideas are allowed to flourish
and blossom. They try in all things to corrupt the
pure intentions of the good gods. In all things those
that are able to show the most debase of perversions
are the ones that are allowed to enter the full
priesthood. Anasta wants only the best and she is
very specific about those she wants.

Quests

Adventures outside the city are quite common as

many of the priestesses go to try and find new and
interesting creatures to experiment on. They have
an idea that since the hellgates have opened up that
many new unnatural creatures are out and they will
capitalize on it. Many teams go out to try and
capture these creatures and bring them back to their
respective temple in the city. Sometimes it is not
even creatures but sentient beings that are brought
in to be experimented on. This is one redeeming
factor among the other cults that they respect about

Anasta. They go out of their way to corrupt and
destroy the pure and beautiful things in life and the
other temples do respect that.

Some of these quests involve going into the

realms of the hell to find new creatures and fiends
to make even more perverse. This causes some
competition in the priestesses as the most senior are
the only ones that are allowed to venture into the
hells to hunt these creatures down. It is a dangerous
prospect but many priestesses aim for it as the
highest honor they can pay their goddess.

Temples

The temple of Anasta is probably the smallest of

all the temples in Draynor. This is not lost on the
parishioners and they strive at all times to spread
the word of their goddess to the other drow in the
city. As a result many have shown disdain but some
are starting to pledge more and more support to the
temple for some of their perversions are proving to
have military applications and some of the more
powerful houses are seeing this as useful and so are
secretly funding the temple to continue its
“research”.

Even though there is a large official hall set

aside for worship there are even more back rooms
set aside for laboratories that priestesses use to
further their craft. These laboratories are vast and
hold many secret formulas that only the priestesses
of Anasta know how to create. Many scientific
secrets are held within the halls of the temple and
many seek to learn these secrets. Laboratories are
not the only things hidden in these back rooms
however were lavish rooms for all sorts of rooms
for all kinds of perversions that their members come
up with.

A sizable military resides around and within the

temple. With the amount of experience and effort
that many of the priestesses of the temple undergo it
makes them quite a formidable military force. They
are quite often known to be hired out to perform
other missions for houses that only they know they
can do. These adventurers have no hesitation in
devoting themselves to Anasta and can take on most
other fighters from other temples quite easily and
they relish in the thought that they may be the
single most powerful and experienced military force
in the city of Draynor.

Rites

There are not many rites in way of religious

worship. They do exist within the temple, but
mainly in the laboratories. While making up their

perversions the priestesses murmur their prayers
trying to empower their creations to give them life
and that they will last in what they have done.
Those that are partaking in physical perversions of
the body do so in their own back rooms where not
so innocent victims are hurt or even killed. The
rites that exist are employed to give their priestesses
the most chances at success or else the highest
chance at pleasure in what they are doing.

Blood sacrifices are not the common way of

worship for some of the parishioners but it does
happen. Those who are expressing their worship in
physical ways are the ones that quite often offer up
sacrifices to their goddess. These priestesses will
lull them into a false sense of security and then
plunge a dagger or weapon of choice into their heart
just at the point of maximum pleasure. These are
quite common among this sect of Anasta worshipers
but those who create perversions of nature will
often offer up their creations as sacrifices to their
dark goddess.

Heralds and Allies

Anasta does not have many in the way of fiends

as heralds and allies. Since she is seen as an outcast
of the dark gods her heralds quite often show up as
some of the outcast fiends that exist in the nether
realm of the hells.

This does not mean she does not have servants.

She does. She has a decent amount of devils and
demons that do serve her and they relay messages to
her followers on the realm below. Sometimes she
also sends her avatar to send the messages when she
feels it is appropriate.

Lisiph

Symbol: A rod dripping in blood
Home Realm: 5

hell

Alignment: Lawful evil
Worshipers: Drow
Cleric Alignments: LE, LN, NE
Area of Influence: Abuse, degradation, son of
Calco and Dyin
Favored Weapon: Drow Fine Blade
Cleric Domains: Dark, Death, Destruction, Evil,
Law

Lisiph fell naturally into the hearts of the drow.

Abuse and degradation came naturally under the
edicts of Calco, but the teaching behind the cult of
Lisiph brought this to an all new high. With this
new option in worship, the already angry drow
devoted their anger to Lisiph and asked for his favor

in their cruelty.

Lisiph came about around the same time as

Nihel when the children of Calco and Dyin came
into the knowledge of the drow. Being a male child
of a goddess that favors females, he had lived a hard
life until this point. He was treated cruelly and
abused viciously by his mother and sister just due to
the fact that he was male. He tried to fight back
against his mother and sister but found he was
unable to stand up against their combined might.

His decrees to his followers largely contradict

what Calco and drow culture have taught their
society as a whole. He teaches that men must
reclaim their place. He realizes that women are the
majority voice in drow culture, but he pushes that
men must rise from the fold and stand up to be
declared as capable consorts to the female
population. He never expects that they will be
recognized as equals and would never expect his
mother to change her cults viewpoints either. Even
to this point in the 5

hell he is still mistreated by

his mother, but he has received an inheritance in
that realm of hell to rule as his own. This has been
seen as contradictory of Calco, yet also is seen as a
way to deal with a potentially volatile son that she
does not know what to do with.

Lisiph commonly talks to his followers and

teaches them new acts of cruelty and gloats in how
cruel his followers can be towards each other and
those that fall under their sway. He does not hold
back against those that follow him and when his
avatar comes to direct them he is known to beat
them to within an inch of their lives. He treats his
followers as he teaches them to treat others. Some
believe that he hates all things and this is easy to
believe and could be true. His avatar denies such
claims and that he just is trying to show them how
to be strong and rise among the drow. It is rumored
that the only god that is more cruel than Lisiph is
Beelzil himself.

Priestess Training

Cruelty is the predominant teaching in Lisiph's

ways and the priestesses enforce this right to the
end. Most potential priestesses are beaten to within
inches of their lives only to be healed and beaten
again. Some get treated so poorly that they begin to
find enjoyment in the harshness of it creating a
monster in the flesh. The priestesses find this as a
new level that must be contained. All priestesses
must be taught their place and not to enjoy
receiving the pain, but to enjoy in giving it out. Not
all fall into this category however and some commit

ritualistic suicide when they can not handle the
abuse any further. It brings great shame to the
house when these potential priestesses give up as
they do, but it does happen and the cult makes sure
that the house is shamed when it does.

Some would expect that male priests would be

allowed in the temple but since Lisiph is used to
females being in control that is the way he has
decreed his cult be run. Males have aspired to
priesthood but this has never been entertained.
Lisiph honestly believes that females are to be in
control and some even speculate that he keeps
females in control so that when he comes to unleash
his anger it is females he lashes out against instead
of males. Females that have treated him badly
throughout his entire life.

Quests

Quests and adventures are not commonly

exercised since they teach those in the cult to
exercise their teachings on those under their
command. Although followers of Lisiph do have
slaves and other servants, it is usually through other
means that these assets are obtained whether they
be through other houses or through other temples.
They tend to lord over their subjects and only really
bow before the cult of Calco. They are very
diligent to follow the orders of Calco's priestesses,
mainly because they are afraid of their anger. These
are usually the only quests or adventures that the
temple followers undertake.

Temples

The temple itself is large enough to be noticed

by every other cult in Draynor. There is a main
fellowship area in which in their worship sessions
slaves or followers are brought forth to be beaten to
within an inch of their lives to the joy of the
gathered followers. Some followers of Calco's do
come to these services in order to see the enjoyment
of it but they do not come to worship but rather to
be entertained. These Calco priestesses are treated
as honored guests despite the fact that Calco's
priestesses still see them as apostates that need to be
punished.

Although the temple is large there is no real

network of rooms or secret tunnels that hidden and
debasing acts are committed in. All cruelty is out in
the open and not hidden. They do not believe that
they should hide what they do and want all to know
the cruelty of Lisiph.

A large cult based military is based within the

temple. Temple guards are as cruel as their masters

and will not suffer anyone to break in or steal from
them. If they do, these criminals are beaten and
flayed alive. Quite often they are revived and
flayed again. This can go on for various cycles
until the priestess gets bored with them and kills
them mercilessly.

The military is also known to team up with

Calco's military to fight against common foes. The
Calco military commonly sends the Lisiph troops
out as cannon fodder in an attempt to save their own
lives. The followers of Lisiph put up with this, not
willing to upset their Calco mistresses.

Rites

There are no real rites beyond the abuse of

slaves and followers. Even during cult services
beyond the torture and then yelling praises to Lisiph
there is nothing to behold. The favor of Lisiph is
only given to those who can be cruel to those
around them. They do not stand for weakness
making most of Lisiph's followers nothing but
glorified bullies. They try their hardest to be as
cruel as possible to maintain Lisiph's favor on their
homes and persons.

Blood sacrifices are made once a month as a

way to appease Calco. These sacrifices are taken
from those who do not expect them. Since Calco
demands strong sacrifices they often ambush the
cruelest of their cult and lock them away to be
given over to Calco to appease her once a month.
Lisiph does not glorify in death but rather wants
subjects to live to continue the cruelty. Necessity
makes them do drastic things.

Heralds and Allies

Lisiph makes a point in visiting his followers

with his avatar on a regular basis, but makes use of
heralds quite often. Since he depends so much on
his mother, he uses mainly her servants when she
wills it to send messages to his followers when he is
unable. This is not to say he does not have
followers he does have a few but not enough to
make his real any serious competition in the
spiritual realm.

Of the few servants he does have, demons are

the most common. Devils tend not to attend to him
because of the presence of the demons and they
keep their distance in an attempt to save their own
hides. Lisiph does not mind this since he sees
devils as things to be abused rather than used as
loyal henchmen.

Bilhar

Symbol: shackles
Home Realm: 5

hell

Alignment: Neutral evil
Worshipers: Drow, duergar
Cleric Alignments: N, NE, LE, CE
Area of Influence: Slavery, ally of Calco
Favored Weapon: Net
Cleric Domains: Death, Destruction, Evil,
Strength, War

Another non-drow goddess, but this one has

actually managed to earn a rightful place among
Calco's realm. How this arrangement came about is
pure speculation but it is believed that the slavery
business of Bilhar was found as favorable to her
and her purposes. She does not rule a domain of
her own but rather keeps court with the queen of the
5

realm herself. Although she does not openly

oppose Calco, she does secretly with to rule her
own realm and so with her own bastion of followers
she manages to maintain some semblance of
godhood rather than be a servant the rest of her
existence.

Although she hates being subjugated to Calco in

her court she realizes she is not strong enough to
claim a region of hell for herself. True there are the
nether regions but no god has braved to try and
conquer these realms for themselves. If even the
strongest gods fear what lay in the nether regions
then Bilhar wants nothing to do with it. True
Anasta has managed to maintain a hold in that
wildness, but what are considered the “sane” gods
have not. Besides what kind of fiendish servants
would she be able to gather out in the nothingness
of hell? So she waits in Calco's court, waiting to be
granted a realm in the 5

hell to rule.

Bilhar makes a point of visiting her followers

but not as frequently as she'd like. Quite often she
is asked what is going on in Calco's court and as to
what Calco is doing, but she never replies. She
does not want to reveal what is going on in the hells
to feeble minded beings and prefers to keep her
followers in the dark. She is only concerned with
them following the edicts she has given them and
nothing more if any of them ask questions that she
does not approve of, they are immediately put on
the slave block. A most dishonorable position for
any Bilhar priestess to be in.

Priestess Training

Potential priestesses are often brought in from

houses heavily involved in the slave trade. Most

houses who have no influence in the slave trade
never see their daughters accepted into the cult and
are often killed before they even get into the temple.
Of those that are accepted they are driven hard to
deal with slaves and how to barter with and for
them in the market. They hold a distinct advantage
in the slave trade since they are so devoted to the
act.

Priestesses that are accepted are also expected to

bring in slaves. Even though the temple has a
slaving military, it is the priestesses that are
expected to lead it. Sometimes these slavers patrol
the streets of Draynor late at night in search of
slaves rather than going out into the realm below.
This is not seen as favorable by the priestesses, but
they do nothing to openly stop it.

Those who manage to succeed at slaving are

then elevated in status in the temple and allowed
certain liberties when it comes to dealing with the
slaves that are brought in. What these liberties are
is left up to each priestesses indulgences. They are
just slaves afterall.

Quests

Quests and adventures are quite common with

the Bilhar priestesses as they are frequently
combing the wilderness looking for new slaves.
They are brutally efficient and bring all sorts of
slaves into the city by the droves. Little hamlets
and villages that thought they were safe from the
dangers in the realm below find themselves overrun
by drow slavers and taken into chains to Draynor
and to other more notorious cities like Infernus, to
be traded like cattle.

Some of these requests do not come from just

the temple however. Powerful houses such as the
Phelinn are known for making requests for slaves
and having slaving parties sent out with the specific
intent on gaining slaves for that specific house.
This is an expensive proposition, but with the war
with the duergar going on, many of the houses do
not have the resources to constantly be devoting to
their own personal slave trade and so go to the
effort and put out the money to get the temple to do
it for them.

Temples

The temple is quite lavish and is well decorated

and maintained. Being one of the richest temples in
the city has its benefits and it is obvious by the pure
grandeur of the temple. Fine drapes and tapestries
from all over the realm below decorate the temple
halls and the main court where the rituals and

ceremonies are performed are decorated even more.
Of course there are also manacles and pens in the
main court where the slaves are held until they are
auctioned off by the priestesses. They area of the
temple not seen by anyone but priestesses is lined
with cells for this purpose.

Due to the highly experienced slaver priestesses

that exist within the temple, there is a pretty
decently equipped and trained military force
protecting the temple. This force barely ever goes
out to attack other temples or other drow houses but
rather squanders its resources to improve its slave
market. It can be expected that at least half of the
priestess warriors are out gathering slaves while the
others help to maintain order and protect the assets
and high priestess within. No one dares to cross the
priestesses since with the highly experienced
military that the temple holds they could quickly
find themselves on the slaves auction block the
following day.

Rites

The rites around the temple are rather unique.

The priestesses realize that their goddess is pretty
much enslaved to Calco so they petition her to
break free from Calco's grasp. They offer all kinds
of prayers and power to her thinking that they can
empower their goddess to make her free. How
effective these attempts are is unknown but they
have developed a highly evolved liturgy for this
exact purpose.

Of course the most common ritual is the ritual of

bonding the slaves. All though the bonding is
thought to actually bind the slaves to their masters
the priestesses know this is not the case. It is just
more of a scare tactic to whittle the emotional
defenses of the slaves down to make them easier to
use in whatever duty is deemed worthy of their
attention. They are often coated in blood, whether
from an animal or sentient being, and have runes
drawn into their skin. Once the slave is accepted by
Bilhar, the runes start to glow showing her approval
of the offering.

Blood sacrifices are very common in the attempt

to empower and please their goddess. They think
that slave sacrifices are worthy of Bilhar but she has
reminded them on several occasions that, like
Calco, she desires a free sacrifice, one that is
willing to die for the good of the temple. There are
usually some who are willing to be sacrificed
thinking they will gain an honored position when
Bilhar breaks free from Calco's control. They do
not know whether this power from the sacrifice

goes anywhere but to make themselves feel useful
they usually assume that it does.

Heralds and Allies

Since Bilhar is enslaved to Calco, she has no

standing heralds or allies of her own to speak of.
She usually has to use Calco's demons or devils to
do the work for her. Since she is a favored servant
of Calco, most of the evil goddesses fiendish
minions are more than willing to help out Bilhar
when the need arises. Every now and then when
Bilhar is not tending to Calco's court, she is able to
send her avatar to the temple to direct and guide
them. These opportunities are rare however and the
priestesses must learn to appreciate them when they
can.

Ranor

Symbol: dice
Home Realm: none, wanders the hells
Alignment: Neutral evil
Worshipers: Drow, duergar
Cleric Alignments: N, NE, LE, CE
Area of Influence: chance, gambling, ally of Dyin
Favored Weapon: Spiked Chain
Cleric Domains: Chaos, Evil, Knowledge, Luck,
Trickery

Ranor is a relatively new god on the scene of

drow religion and is gaining popularity all the time.
Drow, being a superstitious lot, believe the gods
hands are in everything and so want to have a god
that can give them favors in business and gambling
thinking that a god of chance can do just that.

They are not wrong.
Ranor is able to tip the scales of chance to allow

things to happen one way or the other. Although
not a necessarily truly evil god, he does manage to
take bribes from mortals to have the fates of chance
fall into their favor. Ranor does not find it
demeaning to make drow and other mortals plead
for his favor and intervention and enjoys watching
them grovel or strive to fulfill his terms.

His terms are not always light and he makes this

known through his priestesses. He does, like all
other gods in Draynor, have a strictly female only
priesthood. This is not the case in other cities but
he knows he must appease Calco if he wishes to set
up his worship in her city.

The silence of Calco is somewhat unnerving and

he wishes he would be able to know whether he is
meeting her terms, but as long as she is silent he
does not fear her striking out against him so bides

his time in everything he does.

Although not a major god, Ranor came into

being with the rest of the gods and quickly became
allies with Dyin. They have very similar interests
and when religious activity started focusing away
from Calco, Dyin invited his long term ally into the
city to set up a cult. Ranor agreed and took time
and patience in trying to get Calco's approval.
Since she was silent, he went ahead with it anyway
but tried to appease her as much as possible in the
process.

He has no realm to call his own wandering the

realms of the hells not staying in any one realm for
any longer than a human's lifetime. This may seem
like a long time but to a god it is the equivalent of a
few days. He bounds around from realm to realm,
even visiting realms of the neutral gods where he
has earned some favor but is largely untrusted.

Priestess Training

Ranor does not necessarily disapprove of males

as priests but as for the drow in Draynor they are all
female. He fears that if a male priest was brought
into the fold, his temple would come under attack
and his faithful would be scattered and killed. So
he plays by drow religious rules with the intent on
gaining as much as he can from them.

Potential priestesses are not mistreated but rather

are taught very early on about games of chance and
using magic to balance the odds. Many of the
games designed by priestesses are tipped so heavily
in their favor that it is nearly unheard of for anyone
to win any kind of gold at all. This is true wherever
Ranor's games are played and most people fall
easily into it.

In training priestesses are needed to create these

games. Some grow in popularity while others fall
by the wayside. No priestess however is promoted
to a full priestess unless she manages to come up
with a new game of chance. That is the only way to
prove herself and gain prestige in the temple.

Quests

Priestesses go around the realm below seeking

out new games of chance to increase their market
with. Those that go out go into all lands, hostile or
friendly, to find new ways to cheat people and try to
broker new deals to have Ranor tip the scales of
chance with. Most cities in the realm below, and
rumored some in the realm above, have a temple to
Ranor within their walls making it easy for
wandering priestesses to ply their trade and
knowledge.

Temples

The temples of Ranor are nothing more than

large gambling pits. All sorts of games of chance
are played here from cards, to roulette and dice.
Most of these games are tipped so in favor of the
temple that most parishioners have no chance of
winning at anything they play. Parishioners are so
excited by the prospect however that they
constantly enter into the temple to try and get a cut
of the temple's riches. Those who are caught
cheating are thrown out, if not killed.

Priestesses also house a great number of slaves

for other more bloody games of chance. Some see
this as gladiatorial games but the priestesses
guarantee them that is not so. They do not want to
trample on the toes of the houses that host those
kinds of games so call this instead blood chance
games. Usually in these games they test how long it
will take a slave to die with a hot poker being
pushed in his back or how long the slave can hold
back a scream while being tortured. Of course the
slave has no idea that any of these bets are going
on, but once again the temple makes a great deal of
gold off these games.

The standing military keeps order in the temple

holding off those who do not spend gold and
tricking others out of what little gold they may
have. It is said that the temple guards are quite
corrupt and will take gold for nearly anything. If
this displeases Ranor, he has not said anything
about it, rather showing his favor of the activity.

Rites

Religious rites are practiced in the back halls of

the temple where they pray that the games will
always fall in their favor. Since Ranor is pleased by
this type of treachery, he goes along with it almost
all the time. The priestesses realize that drow must
win sometimes in order to keep them coming back
so they allow very few wins to happen to get people
hooked.

Ranor does have a twisted mind so when asking

for his favor makes exuberant demands to get it.
Some demands are go so far as killing a family
member, gouging out an eye, losing a hand even
doing perverse things to animals. He is constantly
pushing to see how far drow are willing to go to
change the hands of fate.

eralds and Allies

Ranor has no need for fiendish allies as he is

never in one place for too long. He deals with gods
in their realms to send some of their servants as

heralds when he needs to send a message or
warning to his priestesses, but never makes the
effort to visit the city with his avatar himself. He
prefers to stay out of the world of mortals, only
going there if absolutely necessary. Some fiends
have tried to swear fealty to him, but he has turned
them down each and every time. This has lead
some in the spirit realm to think that he is planning
something or that he would be easy to overthrow,
but they would be in for quite a surprise if anything
like that were ever attempted.

Government

Although drow society and culture has taken a

drastic twist since the invasion and the opening of
the hell gates, the technical side of how their
government works has not. The truth of the matter
is that there is no true ruling body. There is no
central monarch or government in place that
officially makes mandates or negotiates trade deals
with other cities and nations. The only reason the
Phelinn have managed to monopolize this role is
because they have the military backing to support
them making all other houses unable to compete.

Back before Calco's avatar came to the drow all

decisions were made within each house. Little
consultation was made with other houses when it
came to military or trade agreements with other
cities. War was fought with each houses private
military rather than with the city as a whole. This
created almost a street gang mentality as certain
houses began to control certain areas of each city
making those areas less hospitable to other
household members. It was not a good idea for
high ranking members to walk into an opposing
houses section of the city unless it was for
diplomatic purposes.

The closest the drow ever came to law in that

time was by treaties made between different houses.
Since each house made and enforced its own laws,
it made different sections of each city abiding by
different laws and moral codes. If a house wanted
help in trade negotiation or in military activity there
internal laws often played a role in how each house
dealt with these advances. As a result, each house
would have their own diplomatic team specializing
in each house and how to negotiate with them.
Once common ground was found, which very often
it was not, then an agreement was forged either by
spoken word, or magically and each house left to
govern itself as long as they held up the mandates
of the agreement they swore to. Often enough
however, especially in the later days before Calco's

arrival, many of these agreements were never
forged magically and so was only as good as the
drow who agreed to the concessions. This made for
much diplomatic backstabbing when certain accords
were not honored.

Magically agreed to treaties however had drastic

consequences for those who broke them. This
created an overriding fear that made houses respect
the accords their leaders made. There are still some
treaties that are honored today because the
agreements have never been nullified making the
magical contract obsolete. The kind of
consequences that occurred often took the form of
curses that would enact themselves if the
concessions were broken. Some drow families
would suffer diplomatically or else bring in poor
harvests until payment was made for breaking the
treaty. Some contracts even called for the deaths of
certain members of the family making these
agreements the most feared of all. It was common
practice for a house to try and sabotage another
houses attempts at upholding a magical agreement
in hopes the curses would be activated and bring the
violating house down. Since drow are an evil and
self-serving race, the slightest violation of a treaty
would bring the curses down on the other house
which made most houses quite vigilant on
upholding their end of the deal.

With the opening of the hellgates and founding

of Draynor, drow politics have changed quite a bit.
Now most bow to house Phelinn's dictates even if
they do not agree with them. It has become a
matter of who ever has the might to hold power in
the city is the one who makes all major decisions.
Since more focus has been put on houses than on
individual advancement, it has made many matrons
eager to be the head of the ruling houses. Most fear
the wrath of the Phelinn however and since the
Phelinn matrons are master negotiators they have
managed to secure powerful allies within some of
the other houses. Those who would wish to strip
the Phelinn of their power would most likely plunge
the entire city into a long and bloody civil war that
no one can afford right now. If the demons and
duergar saw that kind of dissention in the city, it
would cause them to launch an all out attack and the
drow would more than likely find themselves on the
east side of the mountains in exile once again.

To consolidate their position, the Phelinn have

tried to bring back the magically binding contracts
but most houses are refusing to sign. The Phelinn
have tried on many occasions to consolidate their
power even if something should happen that could

possibly cause them to lose their top spot. Many
other houses see this as an attempt for the Phelinn
matron to maker herself a drow queen and so have
not agreed to any concessions made by the Phelinn
on this front.

Law has become a matter of the strong versus

the weak. Since the Phelinn are the most powerful
house, they have the soldiers and resources to
enforce the policies they pass down. Due to the
example set forward by the Phelinn, most other
houses would now do the same. Nothing would be
better under another house since they are all just as
evil as the next house. The Phelinn's laws however
are an attempt to assure that they stay in power for
as long as possible. They are quite aware that many
houses are seeking to overthrow them for their
chance at this control. This has made the Phelinn
ever vigilant in making sure they have the upper
hand in everything they do.

Just as before the arrival of Calco there are three

major players when it comes to drow politics. The
first is obviously the houses. Only the top eight
houses have any say in what happens in the city and
even then it is up to the lead house if any
suggestions are put into place. Even if other houses
suggestions are accepted they are always twisted to
serve the lead house's interests above anyone else's.
Many houses have tried to be covert and make
council suggestions that would some how benefit
them but the Phelinn have always caught on to their
subterfuge and managed to reform the edict to their
advantage one again. The Phelinn are a very clever
house are very politically minded. They have had
to be to stay in power so long. Since all power rests
with lead house and all major decisions must be put
before them. They only entertain the illusion of the
council as a way to try and make everyone happy
but the truth is that the Phelinn care little for the
council itself and only keep it going for tradition
alone.

Calco's temple and its priestesses also play a part

politically. Even though the temple has priestesses
from all houses they are usually united as a whole
in what they proclaim Calco wants. This does not
mean that house politics do not affect individual
drow in the temple, but they try to maintain what
they think best serves Calco's interests. This can
lead to quite the theological discussions between
houses with each house holding to their own
philosophies. They have often tried to petition the
avatar to speak as to who is right, but she more
often that not just smiles and lets them fight it out
for themselves. The temple realizes that they have

the Phelinn listening to them at all times. The
Phelinn fear Calco and seek eagerly to do what she
says. This makes some houses believe that all the
power rests in the temple itself but the reality is the
temple does not try to enforce city laws and edicts
preferring rather to re-enforce the traditional drow
beliefs rather than the new ones that the Phelinn
have started to enforce. The temple does have a
standing military, but it is rather small compared to
even some of the lesser houses so does not try to
enforce its religious beliefs on the Phelinn because
they know Calco will only frown on them if they
were to lose such a conflict.

Lastly the military has quite a stake in Draynor

politics. The only time the military has traditionally
had any say in what goes on is at times of war.
Before and after the war with the duergar the
military demands were always not a concern to the
ruling houses because they saw the expenditure of
military goods as useless when that money and
resources could be used for their own personal
gains. Ever since the opening of the hellgates and
the drow's invasion, the state war as been constant
and the military has gained more political voice all
the time.  With the military leaders being members
of the head house it is no wonder they are able to
make gains politically like they have. New
technologies are first tested by the military who
then send back notes about what can be improved or
retrofitted.  The military demands are quite large
with finances and resources but the Phelinn are
eager to keep them happy.  A standing military is a
necessity in the realm below and the head house is
not going to let their forces be undermined by
anyone.  As a result of military demands, not only
have they put a standing garrison in Draynor, but
they have also managed to act as a quasi-police
force to enforce city wide edicts. It is not unheard
of for military troops to invade a drow's home who
have not paid their dues to the Phelinn or the
military. Many drow have been dragged off into the
night, never to be seen again.

Drow Life

The life of the upper houses is quite different

than the life of the regular peasant. With drow
society being a matriarchy it is no wonder that the
female is the head of the house. She rules the house
and the children within it. With the matriarch being
in place it would be suggested that the ruler of the
house would also be the provider. This is not the
case in a drow household. The males and children
are expected to go out and bring in what the

household needs. When a home is forced to go
without it can be expected that the matriarch will
show her wrath towards the family members.

The matriarch also takes no responsibility in

raising any children. This falls directly to first
eldest daughter. The eldest daughter usually resents
the role and wishes she could take on a more
leading role. The reason for this position is for her
to learn how to manage a family structure. They
wish more than anything to rule the house and do
better than their mothers, but this does not happen
until the matriarch dies or is murdered. If the
matriarch dies before the children are able to fend
for themselves, the duty falls to the second eldest
daughter. If there are no daughters in the family,
not only is it a great shame, but the duty of the
children falls to the first niece or other female
relative. This responsibility never falls to any male,
they are considered to be unreliable..

Marriage

Marriage in drow society never happens. In fact

there is very little concept of love. The only drow
that ever know the joy of love are those that flee
from drow society into other realms. Those that
stay in drow culture however will never know love,
not true love anyway. Many males have been
known to fall in love with their matriarchs but these
feelings are never returned. The matriarch sleeps
with whoever she will, whenever she will. There is
no limit to the number of consorts a matriarch can
have, the more powerful the matriarch, the more
consorts she is likely to be with. This makes
parentage very hard to determine leaving familial
lineage solely on the matriarch rather than the
father.

Conflict

Battle is considered the true test of a drow's

character and how they will react in situations of
intense pressure. They strive for battle not only to
prove character, but to show the dominance of one
family over another. Even in regular small families,
they are constantly trying to prove themselves better
than the other. This can lead to intense conflicts or
shows of superiority. To prove themselves better
than other families, even those in their own house,
is th goal of every drow matriarch and their
immediate family follows in her whims.

Education

Each family is responsible for their own

children's education. They are responsible for

teaching them the importance of loyalty to their
family and their immediate matriarch and their
houses matriarch. Once these lessons have been
learned they are then able to learn the fundamentals
of combat and faith. They are told that they are to
fight for what they need and to believe
wholeheartedly in their houses god. Once the
immediate family lessons are learned they then go
to their houses college. Each house has their own
colleges for various educations from being a
priestess, to being a magic user, a merchant and
every other occupation available to a drow female
or male.

Duty

Once the education portion of a drow's

upbringing is complete then they are let loose to
serve their houses matriarch. The head matriarch
then determines how that drow is to live out their
life. If they are to be nothing more than peasants or
something greater all lies within the judgment of the
lead matriarch. These decisions once made are
barely ever changed, but they can be changed at
anytime to the lead matriarchs desire.

Death

Death is considered part of every day life and is

treated as though it is nothing more than breathing
Only important drow are treated with any dignity
after death. Any other drow is thrown somewhere
outside the city to rot away till they are what they
are … nothing.

Places of Interest

These locations are places within the drow's

realm that may be of interest to adventurer's.

Dark Fount

This magical spot is located about two days

travel north of Draynor in a river valley out in the
open plains. There are not many trees or other
landscape markers around. The magical properties
of the fountain have baffled mages and scholars for
centuries having no ability to recreate the magically
enhancing abilities the fountain offers.

Now with the opening of the hellgates, the

fountain has started to spew out black, soup like
liquid that hurts all those who would use the liquid
for good. It pollutes and corrupts all those good
aligned creatures that come into contact with it

Why this corruption happened is a mystery even

to the drow. They wonder at what kind of

properties the fountain had before their arrival, but
also wish to keep the fountain twisted to their own
uses. Many mages come to the fountain to make
use of the evil liquid is spews up from the bowels of
the earth.

Different uses come from the liquid. Some use

it in battle spellcasting while others use it in their
experiments or in the creation of the slave
constructs and the war drow. Those who drink it
say it has a euphoric almost drug like effect. It does
have an addictive quality that makes sale of it in the
streets quite expensive. Many mages are known to
come to the fountain with the intention of selling it
on the streets which has been deemed as illegal by
the Phelinn. They claim the liquid is too valuable to
be given to lesser drow and fear that the fountain
will one day run dry if used improperly.

A small drow fortress of around a few hundred

soldiers stand guard at the fountain at all times.
Any who enter to use the fountain are questioned
heavily by the soldiers are not allowed entry unless
they show permission from one of the schools of
magic in Draynor, allowing them access. Although
the soldiers serve the Phelinn,the Phelinn have
determined that the schools of magic, of which they
mostly control, will be better suited at determining
its better uses than they will.

Evil aligned creatures who drink of the fountain

cast all spells as if they are one level higher than
they originally are. All good and neutral aligned
creatures (excluding neutral evil), suffer a penalty
casting spells as though they are one level lower
than they originally are (no level 1 spells may be
cast as cantrips however) and the creature must pass
a Fortitude check, DC 16, or start to convulse for
D6 hours.

Forest Elf Woods

These woods lie on the other side of the western

mountains that separate the old city elf realm and
the old wood elf one. This realm has not been
inhabited by the drow since they are more city
bound than the forest elves were causing this realm
to be mostly uninhabited.

With the absence of the drow in the region it has

made the ability for elves who stayed behind to stay
hidden in the realm below. These survivors are
never able to establish a home front since drow are
constantly patrolling the area. Drow patrols prefer
to stay on certain routes only straying from these
routes if there is word of a wood elf settlement
somewhere in the area. Drow priestesses are
constantly scrying the area trying to locate wood elf

settlements.

Those areas that are not inhabited by the wood

elves are infested with demons. These demons
came through with the rest of the infernal legions
and left to be savage in the wooded area for a long
time. The remaining wood elves take great care to
avoid the demon bands and to hunt them down
when given the chance. These demon bands are
what make the drow hesitant to patrol deeper into
the woods. Even though the demons are supposed
to be civilized, they care nothing for those who
show up in what they call their realm.

Deep Woods

These woods are located deep within the forest

elves old realm and contain some very powerful
forest bound creatures. These creatures used to be
friendly to the forest elves, but since the hellgates
have opened up the area has closed up and these
creatures are violent towards all who enter their
realm.

There is much secret knowledge hidden within

these woods and drow are eager to learn what there
is hidden in there. Some mages from the realm
above seek to get into contact with these old forest
creatures and have on many occasions tried to open
a treatise with them. This has never worked out
well and the races above are trying to find a way.
The creatures seem determined to keep everyone
out and have given no reason as to why they keep
killing everyone that enters their realm.

Ruins of Wayreth

These ancient ruins, located northwest of

Draynor, are said to hold the entire collection of elf
magic that they have ever managed to obtain. The
depths of the tower are also thought to contain
many other lost mysteries as well as powerful
magic items, but no one has been able to confirm
any of this. Anyone who is ambitious to go to the
tower often end up dead.

Undead guard the tower with all their might.

Any who come within half a days travel to the
tower end up encountering a large contingent of
undead that fight them off with everything they
have. The belief is that an army tried defending the
tower when the hellgates opened and they fell to the
hordes of demons and undead.

A curse is believed to lay on the tower that raises

all who fall within the towers power. As well
anyone that uses necromantic magic in the area
gains a boost of +1 to their effective caster level.

Liches also guard the tower keeping watch over

all who try to steal their secrets. No one knows that
there are even liches there. They have kept their
existence secret and any who discover them in the
area quickly fall under their sway. They are
powerful liches probably very powerful spell
casters in their time. Maybe even the old elven high
mages who stood to defend their tower from the
demon hordes.

Plains of Ash

These plains are located between Draynor of the

duergar infested mountains east of the city. These
deserted plains are desolate and smell like ash.
They look burned and withered and anything that
does manage to grow quickly withers away. Water
that flows into the area quickly becomes bitter and
is good for nothing once it leaves the area.

Everyone that knows about the plains tries to

avoid them at all costs. They are rumors of them
being haunted and many men have gone mad after
entering the plains. A Will save DC 25 is required
to avoid the madness. This madness will be
temporary if treated immediately, but anyone left in
the plains for more than a day while mad will stay
like that for the rest of their life. As a result, drow
and duergar armies avoid the area and march
around it to avoid the despairing realm.

The plains of ash also diminish magic potential

within the area. No spells of level 4 or lower may
be cast while in the plains. Any spell that is cast
here is cast as though it were a level 1 spell with the
typical restrictions for a spell of its normal level.
Any who manage to fight off the madness also can
not restore their magic spells or wands while in the
area, it simply saps all power from them. Once
mages leave the area their items and spells can
recover as normal after a full day of rest.

Ebony Cavern

This magical cavern is a mystery to the drow

and are unsure of how exactly it works. This large
black cavern is lined in what appears to be black
marble and seems to focus magical energy like a
funnel through the cavern. Those that are sensitive
to magic energy feel their skill tingle when entering
the cavern knowing that there is great power here.

The magic here is so powerful that in fact any

spell cast is considered to be effectively cast with
on caster level higher than normal. This creates
much desire for drow mages to use the cavern for
their own dark designs. In fact, many drow magic
based areas of house colleges have relocated here
believing that their arts will be furthered better by

being in an area where raw magic power is so
focused.

The city elves realized this as well and some old

elven towers exist here in the western mountains.
These towers have been picked clean by drow
raiders and the ruins were destroyed in rage as this
was the last bastion of elven freedom to fall to the
drow wave. Many drow lost their lives here trying
to capture it and many elves became stuff of legend
defending this cavern.

Not only does the cavern have effects on magic

spells but on magic items as well. Although it does
not increase the power of a magic item, it makes
them much easier to create. Any magic item
created here costs 25% less in experience than the
cost listed in the magic items description. This has
made the drow create many stores of magic items
that special warriors and matrons have been given
for use in battle and spellcraft.

This cavern is seen as essential to the drow

magical force and the matron of the Phelinn has
decreed that it is to be defended at all times. Like
the dark fount, it is defended at all times by
hundreds of troops that are very skilled and some of
the best warriors in the drow realm. Any who enter
the area must possess papers from the Phelinn
allowing them access to the cavern. If these papers
are not produced, the person is slain on the spot
with no questions asked. To enter the area without
proper documentation is highly illegal by the
Phelinn and they will not allow just anyone access
to the power in the cavern.

Dragon Peak

This peak in the western mountains used to be a

haven for metallic dragons. These dragons would
socialize and help defend the city elves from
intruders and had a good working relationship will
all elves on both sides of the mountains. When the
hellgates opened, the chromatic dragons, who have
existed at the metallic dragons mercy for so long,
made dark vows with the infernal forces and
attacked the metallic dragon stronghold.

The battle was long and brutal, but eventually

the evil dragons won. The metallic dragons that
managed to survive the onslaught either flew into
exile in the realm above or went into hiding in the
realm below. Chromatic dragons pay big money for
any information on where a metallic dragon is
hiding. They will even dare to attack the realm
above to take down a particularly powerful metallic
dragon. The attacks are bold ones and not done
with a sudden decision. With the high casualty rate

of such attacks, the evil dragons usually wait for the
metallic ones to attack them before making such
attempts.

Fortress of Light

This fortress is a headache for the drow in

Draynor. It is a fortress blessed with the power of
Shaddai that the drow have not been able to find.
They send constant patrols into the western
mountains trying to locate the fortress, but so far
they have not been able to locate it. They petition
the dragons of the dragon peak to assist them, but
even they have not been able to locate the place.
Even magic scrying and other attempts have proven
futile.

The truth is, that only good aligned people are

able to find the place. It takes many days and a
huge struggle to last long enough to find the
fortress, but those that endure are not disappointed.
Inside they find all the luxuries and comforts they
would expect to find. However, no stay there is
permanent. Even though the fortress accepts all
those that are good aligned, it only allows those
who worship Shaddai to stay for any extended
period of time. Those that do not call Shaddai their
patron deity are compelled to leave by an
overwhelming forces after at most three days of
staying there. There is no way to resist the urge and
no Will save will overcome it.

Another mystery about the fortress is that once

they leave, adventurers can not remember how to
get there, Quite often after leaving the gates, they
are magically transported to one side of the
mountains or the other, depending on where their
original direction was taking them.

Cyrmir

This secondary city from Draynor is the only

other settled city in the realm. It is the port city
where the drow navy makes base and gets repairs or
builds ships. The workers here have also tried to
build the new airships here, but they have never
been able to get one very far with the vigilance of
the realm above to destroy them. A secret location
has been decided to try and build the airships again,
but its exact location is unknown even to the
governor and ship workers of the city

Chapter 2: Character Options

Races

Drow society has existed on the premise that

they are the superior race in the world. This attitude
has given them much grief when forced to deal with
other races, but they refuse to acknowledge the
worth of other people groups around them.

The duergar for instance have proven to be a

valiant race that has stood against the drow ever
since they first encountered each other, but the drow
do not accept them as equals and as the new conflict
with them since they exiled their cousins has
proven, they have no wish to accept any other race
as their equal.

This attitude is reflected right through drow

society. Although other races do live within the
gates to Draynor, they are not allowed to gain any
position of authority or respect. Any other person
other than a drow that manages to do so, is usually
beaten, imprisoned and most cases sold as a slave in
the slave market. It is a debasing punishment for
those that have marketable skills and the drow see it
as fitting for those who would try to show their own
superiority within their city.

When new drow subraces began to emerge, the

lead houses were unsure on how to deal with this
new demographic. At first attempts were made to
eradicate them since the lead matrons were
convinced these new types of drow were impure
breeds that did not deserve to have the name drow.
As hard as they tried the new races could not be
eliminated and they were eventually assimilated
into drow society.

This does not mean that some races of drow,

such as the wild and stone drow, can be born from
normal parentage. On the other hand these two
races did emerge after living for thousands of years
in the wild and in mountains and started to reflect in
their gene pool. As well, the high drow and the
obtenshi, eventually started to breed with
themselves making any potential offshoot of their
new races almost impossible to create with two
normal drow parents.

Many drow magicians have attempted to

recreated the evolutionary process that made these
other drow races possible, but so far have been
unsuccessful. They firmly believe that if they could
figure the evolutionary process out they could make
a greater drow that could easily overpower their
enemies. Many innocent drow have found

themselves in laboratories under knives and tortured
for days on end as these researchers look for the
answers. These magicians see no issue with their
process and believe that they will one day unlock
the secret and start a new chapter in drow
superiority.

Dark Solace Drow Modifications

In Dark Solace, drow have not lived in

subterranean caverns like typical drow in normal
settings and as result are accustomed to light and
lighted surroundings. Although they do prefer to
work in the dark, they however do not suffer from
light blindness in areas of bright light. This is
optional however and the game master may use this
change as they see fit.

Drow in the Dark Solace setting also have an

improved weapon familiarity treating all weapons
with the word “drow” in them as martial weapons.
This replaces their regular weapon proficiencies.

High Drow

The high drow evolved as a bureaucratic race

that easily filled roles as leaders and diplomats.
They were the first of the new drow subraces to
evolve and as such have a very bloody history that
they openly share with all who will listen. They are
a very determined race that does not back down
from anyone or anything. Capable talkers, they are
quite often capable to food enemies into letting
down their guard so that the warriors that the high
drow are leading can attack them unhindered.

Physical Description: The high drow look

surprisingly similar to regular drow with only small
changes. Most races are not observant enough to
notice the changes but drow can pick them up with
little difficulty. High drow have a slightly noticeable
higher bone structure in the face and their hair is
paler in color than the typical silver color of normal
drow. These changes are so difficult to pick up on
that most others just ignore them, thinking them as
regular drow.

Society: Having been the first of the drow

subraces, the high drow see themselves as a step up
from the other subraces that have emerged over the
course of drow history. They are arrogant and have
a very exclusive attitude towards others. This has
commonly caused them to be treated as outsiders,
but many drow, even their more powerful drow

noble cousins, have yearned to join their select
group.

The high drow tend to hold to their own codes of

behavior and conduct. They realize that they must
follow the edicts of the Phelinn and as a result have
established a stricter code than even the lead matron
has set forth. This code is non-negotiable and any
who violate it risk expulsion from their closed
society and exile from the city. Although they
typically have no military might to enforce these
policies, they usually have enough influence to
make sure the violators leave the city or else they
will die.

Alignment and Religion: More so than regular

drow are the high drow arrogant and prejudiced. As
a result they are almost never neutral and even less
are good. They tend to follow their houses gods and
pick their alignments based on what the houses
patron deity is. Most believe that are selected by
Calco to lead the drow and so most have a secret
place in their closed society for her.

Adventurers: High drow do not typically leave

the confines of Draynor for any reason unless the
matron commands it. When they do leave, they are
escorted by soldiers or adventurers that will lead
them to where they need to go. The high drow view
this with contempt and do not see the need for them
to have to leave the comforts of the city. The only
high drow that tend to leave the city are those that
are outcast or exiled for sins against the high drow
society.

High Drow Racial Traits

High drow get all the usual drow racial traits listed
in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary with the
following changes.
+2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma, -2 Constitution: High
drow have great abilities to speak and to charm as
well as good common sense. They are nimble
however just as their drow brothers. These replace
the usual drow ability modifiers.
Keen Diplomatic Edge: High drow get a +2 to
their Diplomacy skill. Diplomacy always counts as
a class skill for high drow regardless of class.
No Light Blindness: The high drow are not
affected by bright light as regular drow.
Weapon Proficiency: High drow treat any weapon
with the word “drow” in them as martial weapons.

Stone Drow

Some drow have taken to living in the mountains

away from their drow brothers. They do not interact
much since the drow tried to purge them from

regular society. They are fairly secluded only
coming out when a drow emissary comes from
Draynor requesting their help in some situation.
Although the stone drow do not appreciate the
oppression that was once forced on them, they have
tried to reintegrate themselves back into regular
society.

Physical Description: Where the regular drow

are nimble and agile, the stone drow are sturdy and
robust.. They are more able to deal with the rigors
of living in the mountains than their drow brothers
and have the physical builds to suggest so. Other
than a broader build they look very similar to
regular drow.

Society: Stone drow have attempted to

reintegrate themselves back into the drow
mainstream ever since they exiled their elven
cousins. This has created some backlash however
since the stone drow elders are still bitter towards
their brothers over the treatment they suffered many
years ago. The stone drow do not forget
transgressions forced upon them and still today are
calling for an account of what happened and for
justice to be done. They highly believe in a sense of
right and wrong, but it is an twisted sense with the
elders dictating what is right and what is wrong.

Alignment and Religion: The stone drow are

like their brothers a naturally evil race. Neutral
aligned stone drow are more common in their
society as they like to recall the wrongs done them
and the sense of justice that they seek. This has
caused some to fight for the good of all drow, but
the stone drow, like all drow, want to be on top and
so see there good natured stone drow as a problem.
Stone drow are usually highly loyal to Calco and
will do anything they can in the name of their evil
goddess.

Adventurers: Stone drow are very eager to join

groups that travel along the countryside and perform
various tasks. They highly believe that they must
redeem themselves to their drow brothers and so
seek this affirmation by going out and doing deeds
of good, but mostly evil. Not only this but stone
drow are eager to see what is out in the world and
do not like being relegated to seclusion like so many
others.

Stone Drow Racial Traits

Stone drow get all the usual drow racial traits listed
in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary with the
following changes.
+2 Constitution, +2 Charisma, -2 Dexterity:
Stone drow are tough and bulkier than their drow

brothers but are not as agile. These replace the
usual drow ability modifiers.
No Light Blindness: The stone drow are not
affected by bright light as regular drow.
Weapon Proficiency: Living slave constructs treat
any weapon with the word “drow” in them as
martial weapons.

Wild Drow

These nature bound drow have lived out in the

woods for centuries and prefer living among the
trees rather than being cooped up in cities. They get
a strong sense of claustrophobia when forced to live
in cities and so stay away only coming into a city
when needed. Many other drow see their lifestyle
as interesting and some even venture out into the
woods to join them. The wild drow were not a
largely persecuted lot since they were able to ferret
out groups of rebels or elves that survived the
invasion.

Physical Description: Wild drow look

remarkably similar to their drow brothers with small
differences. They are stronger and their muscle
structure can be seen in their powerful arms and
legs. They also typically pull their hair back and
not let it loose often causing little twigs, leaves and
other plant life to get caught up in it. The regular
drow can easily pick out a wild drow based solely
on these grounds alone.

Society: Wild drow society is seen as nearly

barbaric by the rest of drow culture and the wild
drow do nothing to change that. They mainly keep
to themselves only coming out of the woods to sell
off captured loot and slaves that they have managed
to capture in their travels. They are fairly nomadic,
not staying in one spot for too long. They believe
that they must keep moving with the herds and their
enemies in order to stay one step ahead of them.

Alignment and Religion: The wild drow are an

evil group that often commit acts of brutality just
for the mere pleasure of it. There are typically no
good aligned wild drow and only a handful of
neutral ones in an entire generation. They push the
boundaries of barbarism and often attempt to out do
their neighbors in abstract cruelty.

They are very loyal to Calco and often make

pilgrimages into Draynor to seek her favor in the
temple. They believe they do have her favor with
the amount of slaves, loot and even elves they are
able to deliver to her.

Adventurers: The wild drow lifestyle is one of

pure adventure. They do not stick around in one
spot too long and will spend days tracking down

food or enemies to slay for their dark goddess.
They are very eager to take off into the world and
see what is out there, but will come home on
occasion to rejoin their house and make a
pilgrimage to Draynor to offer something up to
Calco.

Wild Drow Racial Traits

Wild drow get all the usual drow racial traits listed
in Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary with the
following changes.
+2 Strength, +2 Charisma, -2 Constitution:  Wild
drow are stronger than their drow brothers and their
wildness has a certain amount of charm that draw
people to them.  They are just as nimble as their
brothers however.  These replace the usual drow
ability modifiers.
Keen Survival Instincts: Wild drow get a +2 to
their Survival skill. Survival always counts as a
class skill for wild drow regardless of class.
No Light Blindness: The wild drow are not
affected by bright light as regular drow.
Weapon Proficiency: Living slave constructs treat
any weapon with the word “drow” in them as
martial weapons.

Obtenshi

The obtenshi are a weird twist in drow society

with being born blind. They have only started to
appear in drow culture in the last few hundred years
and at first the drow did not know what to do with
them. At first they executed them as flawed
children that did not deserve to live, but eventually
it was discovered that these new drow had
remarkable abilities with their minds that made
them very desired members of society. They were
able to detect immediately when other creatures
were around and this made them invaluable for
finding enemy locations and foiling ambushes. The
obtenshi quickly became highly desired in military
units as they marched to war.

Physical Description: The obtenshi look very

similar to regular drow with the only significant
difference being in the eyes. With no need to
develop regular eyesight, the obtenshi eyes are
undeveloped and commonly look cloudy and
distant.

Society: This subrace of drow have been

accepted by all levels of society and feared by their
enemies. There is no real way to tell when an
obtenshi will be born since they are born
sporadically through all houses. They have tried to
breed them together to produce more obtenshi

offspring and has proven successful. The obtenshi
do tend to take on the society trademarks of those
around them.

Alignment and Religion: The obtenshi

generally are an evil race that seek to hunt down
and kill the enemies of the drow. They see their
gifts as a blessing from Calco and none complain
about the situation they find themselves in. Since
they see their blindness and mental powers as a gift,
they are a very religious group and pray fervently to
Calco and the other gods.

Adventurers: Drow commanders are eager to

have obtenshi with them and so many of these drow
find themselves outside the city on a regular basis.
Although they are not able to enjoy the sights
around them, they nevertheless appreciate that they
are able to get out of the city like any respectable
member of society and exist as equals out in the
open.

Obtenshi Racial Traits

Obtenshi get all the usual drow racial traits listed in
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Bestiary with the
following changes.
+2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma:
Obtenshi are masters of the mind and are very gifted
in all mental disciplines.  These replace the usual
drow ability modifiers.
Blind:  All obtenshi are born blind and have no
ability to see making them immune to gaze attacks.
Telepathic Recognition:  All obtenshi start with the
feat Telepathic Recognition as a bonus feat
described later in the feats section.
Weapon Proficiency: Living slave constructs treat
any weapon with the word “drow” in them as
martial weapons.

Living Slave Construct Racial Traits

Drow experiments have led to many discoveries

one of the most popular being the living slave
construct. These constructs are living creatures that
are usually assembled from different bodies creating
a wild looking creature but that is very capable in
the arenas or as personal bodyguards. They are very
loyal to those they work for and will die in place of
their masters. They are highly sought after in the
slave market for gladiatorial purposes but they are
typically not a fan favorite. They are very efficient
however at dealing with gladiators that are rising to
the top too quickly and that slave masters believe
are getting fan sympathy.

Physical Description: Living slave constructs

can have a wide variety of looks unique to each

constructs. No living slave construct is capable of
reproducing making each one a unique creature.
Their builders usually work with the body parts they
are supplied with and as such usually come up with
some pretty twisted designs. It is possible for the
living slave construct to have a fairly normal
appearance, making these specific ones highly
sought after for their usefulness as assassins.

Society: The living slave constructs have no

society to speak of usually just following the whims
of their masters. Those that have had the
“awakening” and have managed to escape their
masters usually collaborate in hidden groves outside
of Draynor where they help each other in any way
they can. Many of these escaped creatures have
found their way into the realm above where they are
held with suspicion not knowing whether they are
there legitimately or as assassins sent by the matron
mothers. Regardless, they are most times looked at
as mindless when in reality they can be very
cunning and intelligent creatures.

Alignment and Religion: Most living slave

constructs have no real sense of right and wrong just
doing what their masters tell them too. Those that
are “awakened” usually go against their masters
and try to live a goodly life. This is hard to do with
all the horrors they are witness to and sometimes
some escape just to be as evil as the drow that
created them.

They are typically an non-religious group

preferring to believe in science and the methods that
created them. They find great interest in schools
and learning new and interesting things. Some are
religious however and those that are become highly
devoted to what they believe in.

Adventurers: Living slave constructs live for

adventure and want to be out in the world as much
as possible. They jump at any opportunity to get
out and do some good for their new found people
and gods. They want to feel like they matter in
society and they figure the only way to do that is to
prove that they are worth the effort. Many of them
end up working for mercenary or military
organizations where they are brutal front line troops
that almost always are able to come back alive.

Living Slave Construct Racial Traits

+4 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Dexterity, -2
Intelligence, -2 Charisma: Living slave constructs
are physically tough and resilient but are typically
uncoordinated and lacking in mental disciplines.
Medium: Living slave constructs are medium
creatures, and have no bonuses or penalties due to

their size.
Normal Speed: Living slave constructs have a base
land speed of 30 feet.
Natural Damage Reduction: Living slave
constructs have a DR 2/slashing which goes up by 1
at levels 5, 10, 15 and 20.
Darkvision: Living slave constructs can see in the
dark up to 60 feet.
Weapon Proficiency: Living slave constructs treat
any weapon with the word “drow” in them as
martial weapons.
Magic Resistance: Living slave constructs have a
+2 racial bonus on Will saves against spells and
spell-like abilities.
Languages: Living slave constructs begin play
speaking Common, Elven, and Undercommon.
Living slave constructs with high Intelligence
scores can chose from the following: Abyssal,
Aquan, Draconic, Gnome, Goblin.

Familiar Construct

With the coming of the living slave constructs,

wizards wanted a construct that would be useful in
their arcane arts. So they set out to create a
worthwhile servant to assist them in all their arcane
needs. Eventually a wizard was able to create the
familiar construct and started building them as
servants and selling them to whoever would pay her
price. The constructs proved very useful even being
able to help the wizards cast the spells rather than
just be errand boys. They were able to talk to their
masters giving them new options or new ways of
thinking. The wizards were pleased with this new
construct and soon they were being built on a large
scale.

Physical Description: Familiar constructs are

small creatures that are visibly weak and frail. They
typically look just as varied as the living slave
constructs but almost all have the stereotypical
hunch that sets them apart. They dress mainly in
robes and carry staffs fashioned for them by their
masters. They are not a pleasant race to behold, but
they are not as ugly as drow consider humans to be.

Society: There is no real society even for

familiar constructs that have managed to escape to
other realms. They generally join arcane colleges or
guilds and use their intelligence to advance the art.
Many times there are guilds specifically designated
for familiar constructs only and these guilds tend to
be very successful in their arcane achievements.
Those constructs that manage to escape are quickly
rescued by races from the realms above so that they

can learn whatever secrets the constructs have
learned and to use that knowledge to further their
own ends.

Adventurers: Familiar constructs do not like to

leave their colleges and guilds and will typically
only do so when the guild master tells them to, or
else if they do not feel comfortable that the group
they have hired will do the job they have requested
them to do. They are very unsociable and
distrusting lot and can be very rude towards other
people. As a result many groups are not eager to
take them on unless they need the magical
firepower the familiar construct can offer.

Familiar Construct Racial Traits

+4 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom, -2 Strength, -2
Constitution: Familiar constructs are very
mentally powerful often able to out-think even those
that created them, but are physically weak and
nimble.
Small: Familiar constructs are small creatures and
gain a +1 size bonus to their AC, a +1 size bonus on
attack rolls, a -1 penalty to their Combat Maneuver
Bonus and Combat Maneuver Defense, and a +4
size bonus on Stealth checks.
Slow Speed: Familiar constructs have a base land
speed of 20 feet.
Magical Aptitude: A Familiar construct is so
familiar with magic that it starts off with a level one
spell from any list that may be cast as in the spell
description, this spell may only be cast once a day
Darkvision: Familiar constructs can see in the dark
up to 60 feet.
Magic Resistance: Familiar constructs receive a
+2 racial bonus on Will saves against spells and
spell-like abilities.
Languages: Familiar constructs begin play
speaking Common, Elven, and Undercommon.
Familiar constructs with high Intelligence scores
can chose from the following: Abyssal, Aquan,
Draconic, Gnome, Goblin.

New Classes

Corsair

The corsair is a mostly naval soldier that
accompanies slavers on raids along the coast as well
as ship to ship combat. Although they are most
comfortable on a ship they are just as deadly to be
encountered on the ground. They are masters of
dual-wielding and are always running into combat
carrying two blades and tearing holes through

Corsair

Level

Base
Attack
Bonus

Fort
Save

Ref
Save

Will
Save Special

1st

Two Weapon Fighting

2nd

Endurance, Favored Terrain

3rd

Improved Cloak Proficiency

4th

Bonus Feat

5th

Weapon Focus

6th

+6/+1

Improved Two Weapon Fighting

7th

+7/+2

8th

+8/+3

Bonus Feat

9th

+9/+4

Evasion

10th

+10/+5

11th

+11/+6/+1

Greater Two Weapon Fighting

12th

+12/+7/+2

Bonus Feat

13th

+13/+8/+3

14th

+14/+9/+4

Greater Weapon Focus

15th

+15/+10/+5

16th

+16/+11/+6/+1

+10

Improved Evasion

17th

+17/+12/+7/+2

+10

18th

+18/+13/+8/+3

+11

Bonus Feat

19th

+19/+14/+9/+4

+11

20th

+20/+15/+10/+5

+12

Master Weapon Fighter

enemy lines.

Role: Corsairs are the main fighting force

aboard naval craft and perform such duties as
defense, assault and ground raids. They are very
capable warriors and the sight of them strikes fear
into most warriors hearts.

Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d10.

Class Skills
The corsair's class skills are Acrobatics (Dex), Bluff
(Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha),
Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge
(Dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (Nature) (Int),
Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession
(Sailor) (Wis), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis) and
Swim (Str).

Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A corsair is

proficient with all simple and martial weapons and
with light armor, medium armor and shields (except
tower shields).

Two Weapon Fighting: At 1

level the corsair

gains the Two Weapon Fighting feat as a bonus feat.

Endurance: At 2

level, the corsair gains

endurance as a bonus feat.

Favored Terrain: At 2

level the corsair gains

Water as a Favored Terrain feature. The corsair
gains a +2 bonus on initiative checks and
Knowledge (nature), Perception, Stealth and
Survival skill checks when in this terrain.

Improved Cloak Proficiency: At 3

level the

corsair gains the ability to stack his cloak armor
class with his armor's armor class.

Bonus Feats: Starting at 4

, 8

, 12

and 18

levels, the corsair gets a bonus feat that must be
selected from the combat feats or otherwise known
as fighter bonus feats.

Weapon Focus: At 5

level the corsair gets

Weapon Focus as a bonus feat.

Improved Two Weapons Fighting: At 6

level

the corsair automatically gains Improved Two
Weapon Fighting as a bonus feat whether he meets
the requirements or not.

Evasion: At 9

level the corsair gains evasion.

See the Ranger in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
Core Rulebook Chapter 3: Classes for more
information.

Greater Two Weapon Fighting: At 11

level

the corsair automatically gains Greater Two Weapon
Fighting as a bonus feat whether he meets the
requirements or not.

Greater Weapon Focus: At 14

level the corsair

gets Greater Weapon Focus as a bonus feat.

Improved Evasion: At 16

level a corsair's

evasion improves. See the Ranger in the Pathfinder
Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook Chapter 3:
Classes for more information.

Master Weapon Fighter: At 20

level the

corsair gets the ability of Master Weapon Fighter.
This ability gives the corsair double the range for
critical threats as well as does an extra 2d6 damage
on a critical hit, confirmed or not.

Merchant

The merchant is the one that goes out and supports
the local economy. He is a shrewd negotiator and
can get most items for the best price. He knows
how to find a good deal and also knows when to
take advantages of others for the purpose of making
money. They are often a greedy people that want
more gold and merchandise but they are very good
at what they do and most cities economies rely on
them

Role: The role of the merchant is to go out and

make money. They rarely care about who they have
to walk over to get to the gold and will broker any
deal they think they have an advantage in. They
play a lot of word games and commonly do not like
to get into battle With raids and pirates however,
the merchants have started to bear arms to try and
defend their goods.

Alignment: Any non-lawful.
Hit Die: d8.

Class Skills
The merchants class skills are Appraise (Int), Bluff
(Cha), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha0, Escape Artist
(Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Geography),
Knowledge (History) (Int), Knowledge (Local)
(Int), Knowledge (Nobility) (Int), Linguistics (Int),
Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis)
Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis) and Sleight of
Hand (Dex).

Skill Ranks per Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Class Features
The following are class features of the merchant.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A merchant

is proficient with all simple weapons, the light
hammer, handaxe, short sword and longsword and
with light armor and shields (except tower shields).

Keen Negotiator: At 1

level the merchant

gains the feat Keen Negotiator as a bonus feat.

Subtle Negotiator: At 2

level the merchant

gains the ability to talk down an enemy. The enemy
must pass a Will save of a DC equal to 10 + ½ the
merchants level (minimum 1) + merchant's
Charisma modifier. If the save fails then the enemy
is now at a -1 to attack the merchant as he is unsure
about whether this is really a foe. If the enemy
passes the save they also get to take an opportunity
attack at the merchant.

Pick Pocket: At 4

level the merchant gains the

ability to steal money off another person. If the
victim fails a Perception check, DC 10 + ½ the
merchant's level (minimum 1) + the merchant's
Dexterity modifier, then the merchant manages to
steal 2d10 worth of gold. If the victim does not
have that much gold, they simply lost all money in
their purse. The merchant may also take 10 on non-
combat attempts at pick pocket.

Improved Keen Negotiator: At 5

level the

merchant gains Improved Keen Negotiator as a
bonus feat.

Improved Subtle Negotiator: At 6

level the

merchant gains Improved Subtle Negotiator as n
ability. It is as Subtle Negotiator but the enemy
suffers a -2 to their attack and damage instead of -1
to their attack.

Improved Pick Pocket: At 7

level the

merchant gains improved pick pocket as an ability.
It is as pick pocket but the gold stolen increases to
3d10.

Bonus Feats: At 8

, 14

and 18

level the

Merchant gets a bonus feat from the following
list:Alertness, Deceitful, Deft Hands, Dodge,

Merchant

Level

Base
Attack
Bonus

Fo
rt
Sa
ve

Ref
Save

Will
Save

Special

1st

Keen Negotiator

2nd

Subtle Negotiator

3rd

4th

Pick Pocket

5th

Improved Keen Negotiator

6th

Improved Subtle Negotiator

7th

Improved Pick Pocket

8th

+6/+1

Bonus Feat

9th

+6/+1

Bluff

10th

+7/+2

Greater Keen Negotiator

11th

+8/+3

Greater Subtle Negotiator

12th

+9/+4

Negotiation

13th

+9/+4

14th

+10/+5

Bonus Feat

15th

+11/+6/+1

16th

+12/+7/+2

+10

Improved Negotiation

17th

+12/+7/+2

+10

Improved Bluff

18th

+13/+8/+3

+11

Bonus Feat

19th

+14/+9/+4

+11

20th

+15/+10/+5 +6

+12

Greater Negotiator

Improved Initiative, Intimidating Prowess, Iron
Will, Leadership, Persuasive and Skill Focus.

Bluff: At 9

level the merchant gains the ability

to bluff one enemy. If the enemy fails a Will save
equal to 10 + ½ the merchant's level + the merchant's
Charisma modifier, then the enemy stalls for a second
providing the merchant with an opportunity attack
regardless of the type of enemy attack.

Greater Keen Negotiator: At 10

level the

merchant gains Greater Keen Negotiator as a bonus
feat.

Greater Subtle Negotiator: At 11

level the

merchant gains greater subtle negotiator. It is as
Subtle Negotiator but the enemy suffers a -4 to their
attack and damage rather than -1 to their attack.

Negotiation (Ex): At 12

level the merchant

manages to negotiate that one enemy may not attack
for one round if the enemy fails a Will save with the
DC 10 + ½ the merchant's level + the merchant's
Charisma modifier. The enemy may still be attack
by anyone other than the merchant himself.

Improved Negotiation: At 16

level the

merchant manages to negotiate that one enemy may
not attack for two rounds if the enemy fails a Will
save with the DC 10 + ½ the merchant's level + the
merchant's Charisma modifier. The enemy may still
be attack by anyone other than the merchant
himself.

Improved Bluff: At 17

level the merchant

gains Improved Bluff, It is as Bluff but instead the
opportunity attack can be taken by the merchant's
allies as well.

Slaver

Level

Base
Attack
Bonus

Fort
Save

Ref
Save

Will
Save

Special

1st

Sneak attack +1d6, net throw

2nd

Evasion

3rd

Sneak attack +2d6

4th

Whip entangle, uncanny dodge, slave hunter +1

5th

Sneak attack +3D6

6th

Slave hunter +2

7th

Sneak attack +4d6

8th

+6/+1

Improved uncanny dodge

9th

+6/+1

Sneak attack +5d6, slave hunter +3

10th

+7/+2

11th

+8/+3

Sneak attack +6d6

12th

+9/+4

Slave hunter +4

13th

+9/+4

Sneak attack +7d6

14th

+10/+5

15th

+11/+6/+1

Sneak attack +8d6, slave hunter +4

16th

+12/+7/+2

+10

17th

+12/+7/+2

+10

Sneak attack +9d6

18th

+13/+8/+3

+11

Slave hunter +5

19th

+14/+9/+4

+11

Sneak attack +10d6

20th

+15/+10/+5

+12

Master strike

Greater Negotiation: At 20

level, the

merchant becomes the ultimate negotiator being
able to talk down even the mos stalwart of foes.
The merchant may target one foe, if that foe fails a
Will save, DC 10 + ½ the merchant's level + the
merchant's Charisma modifier, then the foe is talked
down from the fight and immediately leaves the
fight. The leaving enemy counts as a defeated foe
for experience purposes.

Slaver

The slaver is a staple in most economies bringing in
slave stock to be sold in markets all over the world.
They are a nefarious bunch, brutalizing families and
taking innocent people hostage. It takes a low man
to be a slaver, not fearing reprisals from families or

complaints from nobles who bought problem slaves.
They negotiate mainly through force making most
people unwilling but having to deal with them.

Role: The slaver captures innocent people and

forces them into a life of slavery. They will take
any or anything as a slave. They do not negotiate
and only see the opportunity for gold in most
people. Even slaves that can pay their way out of
the slavers pens do not get to go free since the
slaves that can afford their freedom are the ones that
will fetch the highest price. No one is safe from the
slaver, it is sad how many economies depend on
these people.

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral or evil.
Hit Die: d8.

Class Skills:
The slaver's class skills are Appraise (Int), Bluff
(Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Intimidate
(Cha), Knowledge (Geography), Knowledge
(Local) (Int), Knowledge (Nobility) (Int),
Perception (Wis), Profession (Sailor) (Wis), Ride
(Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex),
Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis).

Skill Ranks per Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the slaver.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Slavers are

proficient with all simple, martial weapons and the
net and whip, with light armor, medium armor and
shields (except tower shields).

Sneak Attack: As the Rogue in the Pathfinder

Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook: Chapter 3:
Classes.

Net Throw: At 1

level the slaver gets Net

Throw as a bonus feat.

Evasion: At 2

level the slaver gets the evasion

ability. See the Rogue in the Pathfinder
Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook: Chapter 3:
Classes for more information. Unlike the Rogue,
the Slaver may Evasion in light, medium and no
armor.

Slave Hunter: Starting at 4

level the slaver gets

a sense of finding slave unlike anyone else's ability
to track. The slaver gets the track feat but can only
use it towards humanoids. As well he gets an
additional +1 to track humanoids. This bonus
increases every at every third level above 4

Uncanny Dodge: At 4

level the slaver gets the

uncanny dodge ability. See the Rogue in the
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook:
Chapter 3: Classes for more information.

Whip Entangle: At 4

level the slaver gets

Whip Entangle as a bonus feat.

Improved Uncanny Dodge: At 8

level the

slaver gets the improved uncanny dodge ability.
See the Rogue in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
Core Rulebook: Chapter 3: Classes for more
information.

Master Strike: At 20

level the slaver gets the

Master Strike ability. See the Rogue in the
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook:
Chapter 3: Classes for more information.

Chapter 3: Feats and Traits

General Feats

Feat

Prerequisite

Benefit

Allure

+2 to bluff and diplomacy checks

Arcane Gift

Spell Ability, Minimum caster
level 6

+2 to spell level for casting

Arcane Knowledge

+2 to spellcraft and knowledge
(arcana)

Astro Navigator

Survival 4 ranks
Track Ability

+4 to tracking at night

Beast Tracker

Favored Terrain Ability
Track Ability

+4 to track beasts on favored
terrain

Blood Gift*

-1 hp for +1 attack

Improved Blood Gift*

Blood Gift

-2 hp for +2 attack

Greater Blood Gift*

Improved Blood Gift

-3 hp for +3 attack

Cornered*

+1 to attack when flanked

Dark Step

Drow

+4 to stealth in darkness

Dark Valor*

Drow

May Cancel a Challenge

Elf Hatred

Drow

Favored Enemy against Elves

Elite Soldier*

+6 base attack bonus

+1 to attack

Experienced Handler

Slaver
Track Ability

+1 to track humanoids

Expert Dungeoneer

Knowledge (dungeoneering) 4
ranks

+2 to knowledge (dungeoneering)

Impaling Strike*

Base Attack Bonus +6
Piercing Weapon

+1 to damage with piercing
weapons

Jaded

Trade Cha bonus for Will check

Jail Taunt

+2 to intimidate and sense motive

Keen Eye*

Proficiency with range weapons

+1 to attack with range weapon

Keen Negotiator

Appraise 4 Ranks

Additional 5% gold selling

Improved Keen Negotiator

Keen Negotiator
Appraise 8 Ranks

Additional 5% gold selling

Greater Keen Negotiator

Improved Keen Negotiator
Appraise 12 Ranks

Additional 5% gold selling

Keen Sight

+2 to perception checks

Killing Strike*

+6 base attack bonus

Additional D6 on critical

Net Throw*

Proficiency with net

Add 5ft to range increments

Painful Strike*

+4 to base attack bonus

Victim -1 to attack if hit

Ronar Gamble

Worship Ronar

Add 1D3 to one skill check 1/day

Sea Hunter*

+1 to damage on a ship

Sea Legs

+1 to attack on a ship

Shade Strike*

Drow
+1 base attack bonus

+1 to attack in darkness

Shadow Agility

Drow

+5 ft to speed in darkness

Shadow Defense*

Drow

+2 to CMD in darkness

Sidestep

Sneak attack ability

Free 5ft move after sneak attack

Sudden Attack*

Free unarmed attack after miss

Telepathic Recognition

Blind

Detect creatures in area

Improved Telepathic
Recognition

Telepathic Recognition

Gain more information through
telepathy

Greater Telepathic
Recognition

Improved Telepathic Recognition Gain detailed information

Trade Bully

Merchant

+2 to appraise and diplomacy
checks

Two Weapon Parry*

Combat Expertise
Two Weapon Fighting

Sacrifice attack to gain AC

Improved Two Weapon Parry*

Combat Expertise
Improved Two Weapon Fighting
Two Weapon Parry

Sacrifice attack to gain AC

Greater Two Weapon Parry* Combat Expertise

Greater Two Weapon Fighting
Improved Two Weapon Parry

Sacrifice attack to gain AC

Whip Entangle*

Whip Proficiency

Entangle with whip, +2 to CMB
with whip

* This is a combat feat and can be selected as a fighter bonus feat

Feat Descriptions

Allure

You are able to naturally draw others to you through
your charm.
Prerequisite: None.
Benefit: You gain +2 to your bluff and diplomacy
checks.

Arcane Gift

You are adept at casting spells and can focus greater
energy into them.
Prerequisite: The ability to cast spells, arcane or
divine. Minimum caster level 6.
Benefit: You add +2 to your caster spell level when
determining the difficulty to resist your spell.
Spells that have no difficulty this feat does not
apply to.

Arcane Knowledge

You have been raised with the theory and practice of
magic for most of your life and know how to use
and identify spells very easily.
Prerequisite: None.
Benefit: You gain +2 to your spellcraft and
diplomacy checks.

Astro Navigator

You are adept at navigating by the stars.
Prerequisite: Survival 4 ranks, Track ability
Benefit: +4 to Track at night

Beast Tracker

You are adept at tracking beasts for use by your
house.
Prerequisite: Favored Terrain ability, Track ability.
Benefit: +4 to track beasts in favored terrain

Blood Gift (Combat)

You gain focus with pain.
Benefit: As a swift action, you lose 1 hit point but
gain +1 to attack for one round.

Cornered (Combat)

You fight better when put under pressure.
Benefit: Gain +1 attack when being flanked.

Dark Step

You are adept at moving in the dark.
Prerequisite: Drow
Benefit: +4 to stealth in darkness.

Dark Valor (Combat)

You have a twisted sense of honor.
Prerequisite: Drow
Benefit: You may nullify a challenge issued against
you.

Elf Hatred

You hate your cousins that exiled you.
Prerequisite: Drow
Benefit: You gain Elves as a Favored Enemy
ability. This feat stacks with any ranger Favored
Enemy choices already chosen.

Elite Soldier (Combat)

You are adept as a soldier and have been through
many campaigns.
Prerequisite: +6 base attack bonus.
Benefit: You gain a +1 attack bonus to all attacks.

Experienced Handler

You are adept at hunting down humanoids for use in
the slave market and arena.
Prerequisites: Slaver and Track ability.
Benefit: Gain +1 to track all humanoids.

Expert Dungeoneer

You are experienced in exploring dungeons and
know how to navigate them.
Prerequisite: None.
Benefit: You gain +2 to Knowledge
(Dungeoneering) and Survival checks while
underground.

Greater Blood Gift (Combat)

You gain greater focus with pain.
Benefit: You lose 3 hit points but gain +3 to attack
for one round as with Blood Gift.

Greater Keen Negotiator

You are the best at getting the best price for what
you are selling.
Prerequisites: Improved Keen Negotiator, Appraise
12 ranks.
Benefit: As Improved Keen Negotiator, but add an
additional 5%.

Greater Telepathic Recognition

You are able to gain detailed information about the
creatures in your area and even use their abilities to
your advantage.
Prerequisite: Improved Telepathic Recognition
Benefit: As a swift action, you are able to get any

and all information on an opponents entry or
character sheet. You may also use their ability to
see around them and may use their base attack
rating as your own. The use of gaining information
may be resisted by the target by Will (DC 25). The
user of this feat must make a Will check (DC 25) to
use an opponents base attack bonus. This is a one
round bonus and must be reattempted in order to use
the opponents base attack bonus in subsequent
rounds.

Greater Two Weapon Parry (Combat)

You are very good at parrying incoming attacks
with your weapons.
Prerequisites: Combat Expertise, Improved Two
Weapon Parry, Greater Two Weapon Fighting
Benefit: You can lose -3 to your attack to gain +3 to
your AC.

Impaling Strike (Combat)

You are adept at using piercing weapons.
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +6, use of a
piercing weapon.
Benefit: +1 to damage with a piercing weapon.

Improved Blood Gift (Combat)

You gain improved focus with pain.
Benefit: You lost 2 hit points but gain +2 to attack
for one round, as blood gift.

Improved Keen Negotiator

You are experienced at getting the best price for
what you are selling.
Prerequisites: Keen Negotiator, Appraise 8 ranks.
Benefit: As Keen Negotiator, but add an additional
5%.

Improved Telepathic Recognition

You are able to glean more information from
intelligent and non-intelligent creatures within 100
ft. of you.
Prerequisite: Telepathic Recognition
Benefit: You are able to determine the skill and
natural abilities of one target in your immediate
vicinity per round. This target may make a Will
check (DC 15) to resist the attempt.

Improved Two Weapon Parry (Combat)

You are more experienced at parrying incoming
attacks with your weapons.
Prerequisites: Two Weapon Parry, Improved Two
Weapon Fighting

Benefit: You can lose -2 to your attack to gain +2 to
your AC.

Jaded

You have seen too much to be affected by the little
things.
Benefit: As an immediate action, you can lose 4 to
your Charisma bonus for 1 round to gain +2 to your
Will save.

Jail Taunt

You are well versed in derogatory remarks used in
jail.
Prerequisite: None.
Benefit: You gain +2 to intimidate and sense motive
checks.

Keen Eye (Combat)

You have exceptional vision that allows you to see
farther.
Prerequisite: Proficiency with a ranged weapon.
Benefit: You gain +1 to your attack with any ranged
weapon..

Keen Negotiator

You are adept at getting the best price for what you
are selling.
Prerequisite: Appraise 4 ranks
Benefit: Gain an additional 5% gold for an item
above its agreed value. This translates to silver for
silver agreements, copper for copper agreements.
Never applies to platinum agreements.

Keen Sight

You have sharp eye sight and notice little things.
Benefit: Gain +2 to perception checks.

Killing Strike (Combat)

You are adept at doing the most possible damage.
Prerequisite: +6 base attack bonus.
Benefit: Gain an additional D6 on damage with a
critical confirmation.

Net Throw (Combat)

You are adept at throwing nets.
Prerequisite: Proficiency with Nets.
Benefit: Gain an additional 5ft to range increments
with throwing a net.

Painful Strike (Combat)

You are adept at causing pain when hitting.
Prerequisite: +4 base attack bonus.

Benefit: The victim of the hit is at -1 to their attack
till the end of their next round.

Ronar Gamble

You are a gambling addict and take chances at
everything.
Prerequisite: You worship Ronar.
Benefit: You are allowed to add D3 to your next
skill check. May be used once per day to start and
gain an additional one use per day for every three
hit dice you have.

Sea Hunter

You are experienced with fighting at sea and know
how to use your weapon with the waves.
Benefit: +1 to damage while fighting on a ship.

Sea Legs

You are experienced with fighting at sea and know
how to balance your weapon with the waves.
Benefit: +1 to attack on a ship.

Shade Strike (Combat)

You are adept at striking from the darkness at your
opponents..
Prerequisites: Drow, +1 base attack bonus.
Benefit: +1 to attack when fighting in darkness.

Shadow Agility

You are adept at moving in the darkness and can use
it to your advantage.
Prerequisite: Drow
Benefit: You gain +5ft to your speed in darkness
while wearing light, medium or no armor. Stacks
with fleet of foot.

Shadow Defense (Combat)

You are adept at using the darkness to defend
yourself.
Prerequisite: Drow
Benefit: +2 to CMD in darkness. Usable once per
round.

Side Step

You are adept at moving around while attacking.
Prerequisite: Sneak Attack ability.
Benefit: Free 5 ft. movement after successful sneak
attack.

Sudden Attack (Combat)

You are an experienced fighter and know how to use
an opponents wild swing to your advantage.

Benefit: If an opponent misses you in melee
combat, you may make one free unarmed strike,
even if armed. You simply use the hilt of the
weapon to make your attack. Monks may not use
furry of blows with this ability. Usable once per
round or as an opportunity attack. More uses with
Combat Reflexes.

Telepathic Recognition

You are able to detect living things even though you
can not see.
Prerequisite: You must be blind to use this feat.
Benefit: You are able to sense when any living
creatures move to within 100 ft. of you and can tell
whether they are intelligent or not.
Special: All Obtenshi automatically gain this feat
as a bonus feat.

Trade Bully

You are good at bullying people to get the true price
of an item.
Prerequisite: Merchant
Benefit: You gain +2 to appraise and diplomacy
checks when there are others around.

Two Weapon Parry (Combat)

You are able to block incoming attacks with your
weapons.
Prerequisite: Combat Expertise, Two Weapon
Fighting
Benefit: You can lose -1 to your attack to gain +1 to
your AC.

Whip Entangle (Combat)

You are adept at using your whip to entangle
opponents.
Prerequisite: Whip Proficiency
Benefit: You may entangle opponents using a whip.
You add +2 to your CMB when using a whip to
entangle.

Traits

Combat Traits

Born in the Dark – You were born in a room or
cave that was enshrouded in darkness and have
always felt more comfortable in the dark than in the
light. As a result your vision adapted to seeing
better at night than most normal people. You
receive +20 feet to your darkvision.

Brutal Upbringing – No one was easy on your
while you were growing up quite frequently being
mistreated by everyone around you including your
family. You have built up a resilience as a result
and are able to resist even the most significant of
physical trauma. You receive +1 to your Fortitude
saves.

Calco's Favor – You have been chose as a favorite
by the temple of Calco and given special treatment
because of it. Throughout life you can not deny that
there seems to be a certain power working behind
you allowing your to succeed where others would
fail. You receive +1 to all saving throws.

Hardy – Unlike most other children of your people
you were born with a little more hardiness in your
person than others. You are able to stand up just
that much longer from damage or the elements and
revel in it. You receive an additional 2 hit points at
character generation.

Quick Thinker – You have always been good at
thinking on your feet and able to react to given
situation with almost lightning like thinking. You
receive +2 to your initiative.

Warmaster – You were born among the military,
your parents either being soldiers or servants of the
military and you have always been around weapons
as a result. Over time you picked up a natural
knack for using drow weaponry and are a natural at
it. You receive +1 to attack with a drow warblade.

Social Traits

Adept Slaver – You are very skilled at tracking
down people to be used on the slave market. You
are able to pick up faint trails or signs that there are
people off in the distance that would be favorable to
your pocket book. You receive +1 to track
humanoids.

Bully – Throughout your life you felt it was your
place to treat those around you like they were less
than you, whether this was true or not. You always
managed to press others for the things you wanted
from them and made people very agreeable through
fear. You receive +1 to intimidate checks.

Cave Lifestyle – You were raised in the caves due
to your upbringing as a mountain residing people or
because you were a fugitive running for your life.

Either way you are adept at finding your way
around caves and navigating them successfully.
You receive +1 to dungeoneering checks.

Gambler's Luck – You are very lucky when it
comes to games of chance have managed to save up
a significant amount of gold because of your
unnatural abilities to gamble. You receive 1d3 x
100 to your gold.

Higher Learning – You took more interest in books
and learning than you did in any other pursuit
Some referred to you as a bookworm or geek for
your interest in learning but you never let it
dissuade you. You receive +1 skill point at
character generation.

Merchant Raised – You were raised among
merchants and know how to appraise goods for their
maximum value. You have a knack for being able
to tell when your being taken advantage of and call
out others when they are not being fair. You receive
+1 to appraise checks.

Monster Hunter – You always got a thrill out of
hunting monsters and bringing them in for use in
arenas and pets. You have managed to gain quite a
bit of insight into monsters of all types and know
how to pick out signs of a specific type of monster.
You receive +2 to Knowledge (Nature) or
(Dungeoneering) checks based on monsters.

Sea Born – You born and raised at sea and feel
most comfortable behind the steering wheel of a
ship. Most trust your ability to steer a vessel
through the most dangerous of situations and you
never fail to impress. You receive +1 to Profession
(Sailor).

Shrewd Merchant – You are a shrewd business
person and have managed to get the most out of the
goods you deal in. Some have felt taken advantage
of by your business style but that is of little
consequence to you. You receive an additional 200
gold at character creation.

Silver Tongued – You are very adept at speaking
and using words to convince people of your point of
view. You are also a very capable deceiver when it
comes to words and your quite often are able to
convince people of things that are not true. You
receive +1 to diplomacy and bluff checks.

Chapter 4: Equipment

New Exotic Weapons

Exotic Weapon

Cost

Dmg

(S)

Dmg

(M)

Critical

Range

Weight

Type

Light Melee Weapon

Drow Fine Blade

50 gp

1d4

1d6

18-

20/x2

1 lb.

Piercing

One-Handed Weapons

Drow Curved Blade

100 gp

1d6

1d8

18-

20/x2

3 lb.

Slashing

Drow War Blade

150 gp

1d8

1d10

19-

20/x2

5 lb.

Piercing

Ranged Weapons

Drow War Bow

150 gp

1d8

1d10

120 ft.

6 lb.

Piercing

Drow War Bow,
Composite

200 gp

1d8

1d10

130 ft.

6 lb.

Piercing

*Weight figures are for Medium weapons. A Small weapon weighs half as much, and a Large weapon
weighs twice as much.

Drow Curved Blade: This elegant curved blade is
the size of a longsword but weighs considerably
less. Dextrous classes favor it for it's ability to be
used with Weapon Finesse. These weapons are
usually decorated with house symbols that indicate
who the weapon belongs too. This weapon counts
as a rapier for Weapon Familiarity, Weapon Focus
and Weapon Finesse purposes.

Drow Fine Blade: This elegant blade is the size of
a short sword but weighs considerably less.
Dextrous classes favor it for it's ability to be used
with Weapon Finesse. These weapons are usually
decorated with house symbols that indicate who the
weapon belongs too. This weapon counts as a
rapier for Weapon Familiarity, Weapon Focus and
Weapon Finesse purposes.

Drow War Blade: This large yet elegant blade is a
brutal weapon when used in the hands of a drow. It
is made of a light metal that reduces the weight of
the blade quite considerably. This weapon is not
usable with Weapon Finesse and counts as a
bastard sword for Weapon Familiarity and Weapon
Focus purposes.

Drow War Bow: This large bow is around 5 ft. in

length when strung for a Medium character. It can
not be used while riding a mount.

Drow War Bow, Composite: This large bow is
around 5 ft. in length when strung for a Medium
character. A penalty for a low Strength applies
when using a composite war bow. If you have a
high Strength its bonuses apply to damage as well.
You can increase the composite strength bonus for
an additional 200 gp per Strength bonus granted.

Chain Cloak:  This reinforced ringed cloak offers
the best protection that a cloak can and is idea for
those who want to keep things light and easy to
move.
Hide Cloak:  This cloak is made from tempered
animal hide and is easy for those who wish more
protection to use and move in.
Leather Cloak:  This hardened leather cloak offers
little protection but but is easy to use and move in.
Padded Cloak:  This light piece of armor offers
limited protection but is light weight and easy to
use with other equipment.

Nightshale Armor: Nightshale material is rare but
not unattainable for drow eager to gain a unique
advantage in battle. It is composed of a unique

Armor

Cost Armor/Shield

Bonus

Maximum

Dex Bonus

Armor

Check
Penalty

Arcane Spell

Failure

Chance

Spee

30ft.

Spee

20 ft.

Weight

Light armor

Padded

cloak

2 gp

-0

30 ft. 20 ft.

2 lbs.

Leather

cloak

6 gp

-0

10%

30 ft. 20 ft.

10 lbs.

Medium

armor

Hide cloak 10 gp

-2

10%

30 ft. 20 ft.

20 lbs.

Chain cloak

100

-4

20%

20 ft. 15 ft.

30 lbs.

material found deep in the mountains below where
most miners are willing to go and has great magical
properties as well. Most drow magic users who
want to wear armor use nightshale armor for its
lowered arcane failure rate.

A piece of armor made from nightshale material

is one armor class lower for weight, not for
proficiency. It also lowers the arcane spell failure
percentage by 10% raises the max Dexterity bonus
by 1 and reduces the armor check penalty by 1.
Perhaps the most unique attribute with nightshale
armor is its ability to protect the wearer from
ranged attacks. When being fired at from range,
the armor provides partial cover. These bonuses
are not applicable to melee attacks. Nightshale
armor also counts as masterwork for the cost listed
below.

Drow Sailing and Air Ships

Drow ships are a mainstay on the seas. Drow

pirates and slavers are the most experienced at sea
and know how to pilot their ships with great skill.
They spare no expense at making sure their ships
are at the top of the line since they need to get as

much of an advantage against the demon ships that
are coming out of Infernus and the demon-born
ships coming out of Mecne. There are other groups
sending out ships like the duergar and the orc tribes
but they are not near the quality as the drow,
demons and demon-born.

Sailing ships come in two particular classes,

while airships come in one class. The air ship
project has met with no success since every time an
air ship is completed it is destroyed by raiders from
the realm above. The drow are starting to try and
develop a secret port at which to develop the
airships but so far as anyone knows, this has not
been done.

Drow Destroyer

The drow destroyer in the mainstay of the drow

fleet. These workhorses are well armed and
maneuverable making them a very versatile design.
Most of their passenger space is used up by cells
used to hold prisoners for sale in the slave market.

The destroyer is also the model used in design

of the drow airship

Type of Nightshle Armor

Item Cost Modifier

Weight

Light Armor

+2,000 gp

-75%

Medium Armor

+5,500 gp

-50%

Heavy Armor

+11,000 gp

-25%

Shield

+1,000 gp

-50%

Drow Destroyer

Colossal water vehicle
Squares 48 (20 ft. by 60 ft.); Cost 15,000 gp

DEFENSE

AC 2; Hardness 5
hp 720
Base Save +0

OFFENSE

Maximum Speed 200 ft. (current) or 60 ft.
(muscle);
Acceleration 40 ft. (current) or 15 ft. (muscle)
CMB +8; CMD 18
Ramming Damage 8D8

DESCRIPTION

This massive destroyer is used for ocean travel
and coastal raids. It can carry 100 tons of cargo
on top of a full crew and passenger compliment.
A destroyer can carry 100 tons of cargo and 150
passengers.
Propulsion current (air; two masts, 20 squares of
sails, hp 150) or current (water).
Driving Check Profession (sailor) or Knowledge
(nature) +5 to the DC.
Forward Facing the ship's forward.
Driving Device steering wheel.
Driving Space the nine squares around the
steering wheel, located at the back of the ship.
Crew 40
Decks 2
Weapons 12 large light ballisa's in banks of 6 on
the port and starboard side. There are also 2
Large Light Ballista's facing forward. The side
mounted ballisa's can can only fire out the side of
the ship and the front mounted ballista's can only
fire out the front.

Drow Warship

This massive vessel is the epitome of the drow

navy and they pride themselves very much in the
construction of these vessels. For defensive
purposes they keep the warships close to port to
avoid having raiders or pirates sink or capture the
vessels from the drow.

Drow Warship

Colossal water vehicle
Squares 120 (30 ft. by 100 ft.); Cost 30,000 gp

DEFENSE

AC 2; Hardness 10
hp 1800
Base Save +0

OFFENSE

Maximum Speed 200 ft. (current) or 60 ft.
(muscle);
Acceleration 40 ft. (current) or 15 ft. (muscle)
CMB +8; CMD 18
Ramming Damage 8D8

DESCRIPTION

This colossal vessel is built with magically
enchanted wood that raise it hardness and make it
more resilient to damage. It can travel the oceans
but they do not typically go far from port due to
their vulnerability the further from port they go.
They can carry 100 tons of cargo and 180
soldiers.
Propulsion current (air; three masts, 180 squares
of sails, hp 900) or current (water).
Driving Check Profession (sailor) or Knowledge
(nature) +5 to the DC.
Forward Facing the ship's forward.
Driving Device steering wheel.
Driving Space the nine squares around the
steering wheel, located at the back of the ship.
Crew 80
Decks 3
Weapons 20 large light ballisa's in banks of 10 on
the port and starboard side. There are also 4
Large Light Ballista's facing forward. The side
mounted ballisa's can can only fire out the side of
the ship and the front mounted ballista's can only
fire out the front. The ship also carries 8 huge
heavy ballista's on the deck below the light
ballista's. These heavy ballista's are mounted in
banks of four each bank facing starboard and port.
They can not be moved to fire in another
direction.

Drow Airship

The drow airship is the latest in development in

the drow navy and the lead houses are desperate to
build a fleet of these to raid the realm above with.
The ship looks like a regular destroyer with two
horizontal masts that hold the magic used in
making the ship able to fly. So far they have been
unsuccessful. An effort is being made to construct

Chapter 6: Spells and Magic

Cleric Options

Dark Domain

Prerequisite: Drow
Deity: Calco, Dyin, Lisiph, Nihel

Granted Power: You are able to manipulate the

power of the dark realm that exists beyond most
mortals comprehension.

Dark Infusion (Sp): As a swift action, you can

snuff out any light source within a given room. You
can not eliminate such light sources such as the sun,
moon or stars, but any man or magic created light
can be nullified by the power of the dark power
within your soul. You many use this ability a
number of times per day equal to 3 + you Wisdom
modifier.

Harbringer of Darkness (Su): At 8

level, you

are able to empower dark spaces to act almost as
living beings. A patch of darkness can start to ebb
and grow in diameter and lash out against nearby
opponents. The area of darkness grows by 5 ft. per
round and will lash out with your base attack bonus
plus your wisdom modifier and doing 1D4 plus
your Wisdom modifier in damage.

Domain Spells:1st-dark pockets, 2nd-dark bolt,

3rd-dark fear, 4th-dark shield, 5th-dark wall, 6th-
dark whip, 7th-dark wave, 8th-dark blast, 9th-dark
horror.

Sorcerer Options

Dark Bloodline

Your bloodline was at some point infused with dark
power that has stayed with your lineage for a long
time. At some point a creature from the dark realm
intervened with your bloodline creating a new line
of drow that are very adept at wielding their power.

Prerequisite: Drow
Class Skill: Intimidate
Bonus Spells: dark bolt (3

), dark shield (5

dark wall (7

), dark whip (9

), dark wave (11

dark blast (13

), dark horror (15

), dark sword

(17

), dark voice (19

Bonus Feats: Arcane Gift, Arcane Knowledge,

Dark Step, Empower Spell, Extend Spell, Keen
Sight, Shadow Agility, Shadow Defense.

Bloodline Arcana: Whenever you cast a spell

of the dark, night or shadow subtype, you gain an
additional +1 towards the casters spell level
towards the DC to resist the spell with a saving
throw or spell resistance.

Bloodline Powers: The path of the dark

sorcerer is evil and twisted. Many battles of ethics
and conscious would plague a good or neutral
character but not the evil drow. They take on the
demands of the dark realm with glee.

Dark Bond: At 1

level you make a bond with

the dark realm and the creatures that reside within
it. As a swift action you may listen to the creatures
in the dark realm and gain an insight bonus equal to
½ your level to any knowledge – arcana, religion or
spellcraft skill. This bonus may also be added to a
Will save to resist an attempt to influence you.

Dark Aptitude: At 3

level, your abilities with

the dark grow and the dark creatures begin to feel
more comfortable with giving you more of their
power. As a swift action, you may trade any one of
your current spells for a dark, shade or shadow spell
available from the spell list. You do not need to
normally know this spell to use it. You do not gain
knowledge of the spell permanently, but only get to
use it that one time. The spell must not exceed your
spell casting level.

Dark Step: At 9

level you gains the ability to

step into one area of darkness or shadow and
emerge in another. The creatures of the dark allow
you entrance in their realm to travel to other places
within limit. The total amount of distance that can
be covered is 20 ft. x your current Charisma
modifier. This ability can only be used a number of
times per day as 3 + your Charisma modifier.

Dark Form: At 15

level the sorcerer gains the

ability to turn or meld into an area of darkness at
will. This may be done as a swift action instead of
as a standard action as with the spell. The sorcerer
still can not use spells or attack while in the dark
form but may move around and even enter enemy
squares without provoking opportunity attacks. To
turn back to normal form, the sorcerer simply has to
spend another swift action and then can act
normally. The sorcerer can use this power a
number of times per day as their Charisma
modifier.

Dark Sacrifice: At 20

level, the dark starts to

offer great power but at a great price. You may
surrender a Constitution point to ensure that your
spell can not be defeated or overcome. There is no
chance by the victim to resist the spell. This
Constitution loss is temporary but will affect the
your current hit points if the Constitution modifier
drops low enough.

As well, you can not be harmed by any dark

spells upon reaching 20

level.

Wizard Options

Dark School

They focus their attention and abilities on using and
manipulating the dark realm. The creatures of the
dark act favorably to you and allow you to use their
power.
Prerequisite: Drow

Empower the Dark: Whenever they cast a dark

spell that deals hit point damage, add ½ their
wizard level to the damage (minimum +1). This
bonus damage is not increased by any other spell or
feats and does not stack with them. It only affects
one spell as a whole. If multiple attacks are made
with one dark spell it only affects one of those
attacks.

Blinding Darkness: As a touch attack, they may

cause one creature to go blind for a number of
rounds equal to ½ their wizard level. This
blindness may be resisted with a fortitude save
equal to 10 + ½ their wizard level + their
Intelligence modifier. This blindness is not
permanent and will wear off in time.

Dark Speak: At 8

level they gain the ability to

speak to the creatures of the dark and have them
influence their battlefield abilities. As a standard
action. They may target one of their enemies
within 30 ft. and cause him to feel great horror at
their dark words. The creature will suffer -2 to
ability checks, skill checks, saving throws and
attack rolls for a number of rounds equal to their
Intelligence modifier. This ability may be used a
number of rounds equal to 3 + their Intelligence
modifier.

The Rise of Dark Magic

Dark magic is a never explored area of divine

and arcane power that humans and elves have never
explored. In fact, the existence of the dark realm is
so alien to the knowledge of the races of the realm
above that they know nothing about it, save that it
does truly exist.

The dark realm is a hellish region that has no

light and where creatures of indescribable horror
reside. From what drow magic users have said,
there is no one deity that rules the dark realm,
causing much chaos with various dark powers
rising within the realm itself to try and control it.
Much power shifting occurs within the realm every
couple of years making drow magic users have to

renegotiate with these dark powers for their abilities
on a constant basis.

Calco and the Dark Realm

It is believed that Calco has known about the

dark realm since she first came to godhood before
any one can remember. When the drow were exiled
to the eastern side of the mountains and they swore
their fealty to her, she had already at that point
managed to broker power from the dark realm. She
then in turn passed this power and knowledge to her
loyal followers who in turn use it whenever the
opportunity opens itself up.

Calco has tried on occasion to conquer the dark

realm and rule it as her own, away from the hells
and be one of the most potent gods in any realm but
so far she has met with very little success. She has
managed to broker an alliance with some creatures
in the dark realm and to have set up a base of
operations within the realm, but this situation is
tenuous at best and may collapse at any time.
However the more time and energy that Calco
spends in the dark realm the powerful in its ways
she becomes. Due to her silence, she may have
new powers that she has not granted to her drow
children and they desperately vie for this
knowledge.

Drow and Dark Magic

The drow love the use of dark magic and revel

in the fact that they are the only race in the world
that has mastered its use. It is hoarded over others
with joy. While other races have tried to master the
dark arts, they have all met with failure. For some
reason, only the drow have managed the intricacies
necessary to use dark magic. Whether it is the
language, rites or lack of pure evil that reside in
their hearts, all other racers have met with failure.

Dark magic is very demanding however causing

many older drow to go mad with the dark
knowledge that they can attain. These drow are
quite often secluded into their private rooms where
they are left to their own devices, speaking to the
dark and shadows within their room believing they
are attaining secret knowledge. Those that are
imprisoning them do tend to question the insane at
times trying to see if indeed the dark has told them
anything new, but this is very rare.

The drow also tend to become withered husks,

lacking any real strength or constitution after
centuries of wielding dark magic. These withered
husks are not to be taken lightly however since their
dark power is greater than any other drows in the

known world. These withered husks do in fact
speak with the dark creatures, getting their power
boosted and allowing for them to perform their
experiments and tests with ease.

Blood sacrifices are common with the use of

dark magic, but it is not required. The drow, being
a malevolent race, use blood sacrifice as a show of
piety and believe that Calco and dark realm will
hear them for this. They also try to petition the
dark creatures to tell them something of their
goddess, but even the dark creatures do not say
anything.

Spell Lists

Below are listed the new spells for the available

classes. Please see individual spell descriptions
further in the chapter for information on effects.

Bard Spells

Level Bard Spells

Voices of the Dead

Level Bard Spells

Dark Fear, Dark Voice.

Level Bard Spells

Insane Suggestion, Mind Link

Level Bard Spells

Chaotic Fury, Nightmare.

Level Bard Spells

Dark Horror

Cleric Spells

Level Cleric Spells

Bonds of Dark, Dark Pockets.

Level Cleric Spells

Aura of Night, Combat Leap, Dark Bolt, Poison
Globe, Power of Night, Premonition, Soul Grind,
Unending Cycle, Voices of the Dead.

Level Cleric Spells

Arm of Night, Dark Fear, Fury of Knives, Infect
Wound, Net.

Level Cleric Spells

Blade Wind, Dark Shield, Dark Sword, Fury Dance,
Mind Link

Level Cleric Spells

Dark Blast, Dark Wall, Dark Whip, Nightmare

Level Cleric Spells

Dark Horror, Dark Wave

Level Cleric Spells

Tale of Corruption.

Inquisitor Spells

Level Inquisitor Spells

Bonds of Dark, Dark Pockets.

Level Inquisitor Spells

Aura of Night, Combat Leap, Dark Bolt, Detect
Truth, Soul Grind, Unending Cycle.

Level Inquisitor Spells

Arm of Night, Borrow Identity, Fury of Knives,
Net.

Level Inquisitor Spells

Dark Shield, Dark Sword, Fury Dance, Mind Link.

Level Inquisitor Spells

Blade Wind, Dark Whip.

Oracle Spells

Level Oracle Spells

Premonition.

Level Oracle Spells

Enter Dream.

Ranger Spells

Level Ranger Spells

Spoil.

Level Ranger Spells

Combat Leap.

Level Ranger Spells

Filthy Attack, Infect Wound,, Net, Poison Liquid.

Level Ranger Spells

Fury Dance, Poison Mist.

Sorcerer/Wizard Spells