Drow Aristocratic Rings

The riches of the continent of Scimitarian are well known throughout the world. From mineral wealth to fertile lands, Scimitarian has offered plentiful abundance to those living in it, albeit one that needs to deal with the harshness of the volcanic plains. Even during the days of the old Western Elven Empire, the wealth of the continent was well known. However, the underground has been dug out and exploited for millennia now, and the once plentiful mineral wealth now has to be looked for deeper and deeper underground. In here, the many cities under the rule of the drow play an important part in accessing these natural treasures, and has become one of their biggest sources of wealth. The minerals from the drow are highly important to the economy of the west, as both Azan and Changrila purchase high quality gold and copper from the drow to coin their own currency. Combining that with the high degree of skill from the drow and the few dwarven settlements under their grasp, and the drow are an essential piece of the economy of the world.

And yet, while the drow are overall a big player in the world, the truth of the matter is that they punch way below their weight. This is due to the quarrelsome nature of the drow: the constant rivalries and enmities between the cities causes a great deal of conflict. And while nowadays open warfare is rare, the different factions within the drow cities keep them bogged down in never-ending unrests. This also applies to the trading families, known outside of drow society as the “**Aristocratic Rings**”. The aristocratic rings are formed by some of the oldest and most powerful families of drow, mostly those coming into power during the Drow Uprising or the fall of the Second Elven Empire. These families managed to establish a position of dominance for themselves, while avoiding most of the politicking and backstabbing at the time, allowing them to focus on growing their power base. The results are powerful aristocratic clans, living in opulence and surrounded by backstabs and treachery wherever they go. They have a considerable grasp upon their cities, seeking to control them entirely, though the many other noble factions within each population often keep them at bay from controlling local politics fully. The fact they have to deal with so much infighting and scheming even within their own has worked to their advantage, as it has bred some of the most ruthless and deadly individuals around. In fact, some of them have been known to start their own conspiracies against themselves to test the loyalties of their underlings, as well as their skills.

Drow aristocratic rings are well known for financing corsairs to attack their drow competition. The drow see violent raids against their competitors as a valid strategy, though there is a long set of unwritten rules. First and foremost, no corsair raid can, under any circumstances, attack a vessel of one of the major human powers. The risk of a drow city entering a war on their own against Azan or Changrila is simply too dangerous for any individual city to take, and if it ever happened, the rest of the drow cities would leave them to their fate. As such, if rumors spread that an aristocratic ring has attacked an azanese or changrilese vessel, the populations of the city would not stop until all of the aristocrats’ heads are put on a pike as an apology to avoid war. Smaller nations are much more of a grey area, though, though often drow corsairs only display true violence against rival drow vessels. Another thing that has drow corsairs have to account for is to protect the privacy of their client if they so choose, as revealing who ordered the hit is seen as a great betrayal and a breach of trust, and that corsair captain can expect to not be welcome in any drow port if they break their bows. However, hiding their mercenary nature can be quite dangerous, as if they are spotted by a third party warship, the corsairs will take the risk of being hunted down as mere pirates.

### Zeish’errean Ring

The **Zeish’errean Ring** is one of the most powerful aristocratic rings in the city of Ben’zo’varr. The Zeish’errean are an old family, with established records from before the Drow Uprising. However, their power did not truly rise until the fall of the Drow Confederation, as the more susceptible city-states were more vulnerable to manipulation by the local aristocratic rings than the short lived confederation was. The rise of the City States launched a big war between the rings within Ben’zo’varr, which had grown to house dozens of them. Nowadays, the Zeish’errean are one of the few left in the city, and through a series of marriages, alliances and carefully plotted assassinations, have managed to become a pivotal power within Ben’zo’varr. The Zeish’errean have established their roots well within the city, as well as across the Cornfloor Peninsula, where they play a big role in controlling the flow of wealth back to Ben’zo’varr. The Zeish’errean Ring has bough a decent amount of farmland in the Kihn Hee Palm Grove, since the tropical produce of that regions sells well in many other drow cities. However, the growing interest in the region by other city states, as well as the presence of changrilese authorities, is slowing down some of the more questionable operations of the Zeish’errean, such as protection rackets or human trafficking. Another problem for the Zeish’errean in recent years is their lack of a trading fleet of their own, as their resources have always been focused on the control of the caravans throughout the Cornfloor Peninsula. As such, the few vessels they have are not enough to scare trouble away, and often need to hire corsairs to protect their vessels from their competitors.

The mistress of the Zeish’errean Ring is **Lady Daunedriss**. An old woman even by elven standards, she has pushed for the Zeish’erran to invest further in the production of illegal alchemical substances. Indeed, rumors talk that is one of the means she has used to extended her lifespan. After surviving multiple coups against her, the following purges have guaranteed a considerable degree of control over her ring, making infighting within Zeish’errean considerably rarer than in other rings.

### Es’tee’ish Ring

The **Es’tee’ish Ring** is the biggest aristocratic ring in Bori’bir-sii. The history of the Es’tee’ish began with the quick growth of Bori’bir-sii after the discovery of its natural resources. The quick growth of the slums allowed many underground bands to exploit the misery of the slums, creating a criminal nobility within the region. After the shrinkage of the economy of the city, the following wars for the scraps saw the Es’tee’ish Ring come up on top, controlling most of the local underground, as well as having a considerable weight in the legal economy, puppeteering many officials from the shadows. To continue their grasp over the population, the Es’tee’ish have invested greatly in the building of temples and statues to the Cog God or the Ash Goddess, seeing as their cults are growing in popularity. The long lasting crisis of Es’tee’ish has allowed the Es’tee’ish a great deal of control, but since the local economy has shrunk considerably, so has the ring’s influence outside of Bori’bir-sii. To combat this, the Es’tee’ish have been seeking for alliances with other rings, promising access to their hidden caches of mineral wealth in exchange for ways to monetize and transform that wealth into tangible power.

The current mistress of the Es’tee’ish Ring is **Nellish’iya “the Arrogant”**. A seemingly vain and superficial woman, she enjoys demonstrating her wealth over all, financing great works of art, architecture and fashion as a way to enhance her image and reputation within Bori’bir-sii and within general drow society. While this creates a self-centered picture of Nellish’iya, the truth of the matter is that this is just a mask she wears to hide her ruthlessness and calculating demeanor. Indeed, it is rare to hear any dissent against Nellish’iya and the Es’tee’is Ring in general, as many would remind the unwise that the city of Bori’bir-sii has enough lava rivers to conveniently dispose of unwanted bodies…

### Tro’hassit Ring

The **Tro’hassit Ring** is the biggest aristocratic ring in the city of Kuri'tas-Sii. The Tro’hassit have grown in power and influence over Kuri'tas-Sii over the last couple of decades. The growing interest of the population for magic has been used by the Tro’hassit as a way to ingrain themselves with the population. The recently built Tower of Kuri'tas-Sii is forming many new wizards and leading in the summoning of fire demons and elementals to this realm, all while financed by the Tro’hassit. This gives the Tro’hassit Ring access to more wizards than other aristocratic rings, and with that advantage comes profit, particularly in the trading of unregulated magical items. The Tro’hassit are also very adept at selling magically enhanced weapons, as they have plenty of access to wizards and forges. Their star product, the “cinder knives”, are particularly effective at causing slash wounds against fellow drow, known for having a skin particularly resistant to cutting. Easy to produce and relatively cheap, they are a very popular product in the underground, as one backstab that kills on the first hit is infinitely better than one that needs multiple wounds to do the trick. However, the Tro’hassit Ring has a considerable problem in that it employs a considerably smaller number of people for their business. This is due to the problems of trust within the upper echelons of the Tro’hassit, since the last couple of years have seen multiple assassinations to the top leadership.

The current mistress of the Tro’hassit Ring is **Balan’ie “the Blind”**. Recently elevated to her position, she was allowed to rise as much as she did due to her blindness, as many of the factions within the ring saw her youth and her blindness as crippling weaknesses, only keeping her as the harmless administrator of the Tower of Kuri’tas-sii, and thus never attracted much attention. That was until her faction, which had grown considerably within the Tower of Kuri’tas-sii, gained enough power to launch a coup of her own. Due to her incredible magical talent, she was capable of taking down most of the previous administration, supplanting them with her wizard followers. Nowadays, she is focused on growing her ring outside of the city, which is worrying many other aristocratic rings.

### Shi’re-lee Ring

The **Shi’re-lee Ring** is the biggest aristocratic ring in the city of Yauntin. The Shi’re-lee were founded by renowned ship captains back during the war between Azan and the Second Elven Empire. At the time, the drow had little naval experience and even less war capable vessels, so any captain that showed any hint of success against the azanese navy was showered in praises and rewards. However, the truth of the matter was that the azanese fleet was both superior and more numerous, so by the end of the war, very few drow vessels and even less captains had survived. The Shi’re-lee were one of the few who managed to do so, and they established themselves in the city of Yauntin, where they began serving the different drow lords that lived there at the time. The Shi’re-lee became corsairs, fighting other drow fleets and raiding the growing number of aristocratic rings and their holdings. It did not take long for the Shi’re-lee to realize they could make a much more profitable cut if they took all business for themselves. The Shi’re-lee quickly most of the others lords, quickly establishing themselves as the de facto ruling power of the city. This allowed them to create their own private fleet, which serves them as both raiders and transport vessels, with other aristocratic rings from inland hiring their services to sell their products overseas. However, a series of complacent matriarchs combined with the growing competition from other rings and corsair captains have eroded Shi’re-lee’s influence considerably. Still, they remain one of the biggest private fleets between the drow, and still have plenty of sway within many to serve as their personal mercenaries.

The current matriarch of the Shi’re-lee Ring is **Fardii’ale Tarss**. As the captain of the “*Heart Piercer*”, she has participated in dozens of raids and sea battles, displaying a daring attitude that gave other drow captains pause. She is well known to be an extraordinarily skilled swashbuckler, only being wounded once in all of her life. While details of the duel are not well known, what we do know is that she was hit by a cursed rapier, meaning that the wound she took on her cheek never truly healed, often opening for no apparent reason. Many believe she is still partaking in raids to find the mysterious person who defeated her and challenge them to restore her honor.

### Fri’ese-esh Ring

The **Fri’ese-esh Ring** is the biggest aristocratic ring in the city of Sinbreena. The warring nature of this drow city, both against the humans in the north and against its neighbor Tintarn leaves Sinbreena as a wonderful market for weapons of all kinds. This also makes it a difficult place for aristocratic rings to take over, as the stronger than average defenses and more bellicose mindset makes trying to infiltrate the upper echelons of the administration tricky, especially if one does not want to be dragged into war. However, the Fri’ese-esh have managed to do just that by specializing on one of the city’s biggest markets: slavery. The condition of servitude under slavery is an open and approved condition within Sinbreena, often falling into it due to debt, crimes or by birth. The frequent infighting between the sinbreenans means that the different factions that fight over the control of the city often make slaves out of each other, swiftly selling them to foreign markets so as to keep them far away from their centers of power and support. The Fri’ese-esh have managed to carve out a massive market for themselves by taking care of sending those drow slaves to distant places, charging for extra if they wish to send them particularly far. The Fri’ese-esh also keep themselves neutral from the local fights and disputes, gaining a reputation of neutrality and professionalism that allows them to avoid participating in the wars against the humans of Arangea or Calcabra. The Fri’ese-esh also buy and sell human slaves, and are well known for kidnapping individuals from the northern human nations and send them to other slaving drow cities before they could be reported as missing. This has resulted in the Fri’ese-esh being declared as “people to kill on sight” within said human nations, only capturing them alive if there are important hostages to rescue.

The current mistress of the Fri’ese-esh Ring is **Nedrii’sha Draweniw**. A woman coming from a long lineage of aristocratic nobility, she has established a wide network of buyers and sellers throughout Scimitarian and beyond. Her acute business sense and demeanor is only matched by her love for a peaceful life, dedicating most of her time to thermal baths, gardening and tea brewing. Nedrii’sha has also survived many assassination attempts, with the instigators perishing in horrifically gruesome ways, with Nedrii’sha claiming to be utterly oblivious to the incidents every time. Many have also rumored that she is not what she seems, with some of the wildest stories talking about her going to the domains of the Bog Witch for business during her youth and returning somewhat changed…