Drow

## Physical Appearance

Drow look similar in most ways to their high elf cousins. They have slender, tall builds, long, pointed ears, and males and females both have a soft, almost androgynous look to them. The most striking difference between drow and other races is in skin color.

Drow skin tones range from grey to charcoal, mottled skin tones that assist them in camoflaging themselves in their rocky environments. Their hair on the other hand tends to be white, platinum blond, or other fair shades, and so drow commonly wear hoods or caps, or occasionally shave their heads, in order to maintain their camoflage. Eye color tends to be dark, black and violet are most common, however there are a number of drow with red, orange, or even yellow eye colors.

## History

Drow have a dark and evil past. When the world was plentiful and full of magic drow were known as dark sorcerers and wizards, wicked necromancers and abusers of magic. This propensity towards dark magic is what caused them to branch off from their brother elves and move into the jungles of Moringuard, where they practiced their dark arts and created numerous religious cults dedicated to sacrifice and death.

The upheaval of the gods and the conflict that ensued removing the magic from the world nearly wiped the drow out completely as it destroyed many of the “wicked” drow. The ones that were left were the minority that had maintained some level of “good” or even neutral, nonmagical working drow. To escape the genocide, the drow moved under Moringuard to the Underdark, hiding from the surface for many years. In this time they formed tightly knit cults of religion and worship to try and appease the gods and stop the conflict raging in the heavens.

Since then the drow have built back up in numbers and they claim that they do not worship the dark and evil gods anymore. But the Underdark is a large place far from the eyes of the rest of the world and where there is magic there will always be those who seek to use it for evil.

## Alignments

Drow have a wide range of conflicting alignments. No one alignment can perfectly encompass all of the drow equally, nor even speak to the majority. Those that are members of the Ecclesia are lawful neutral, selecting their gods and following their doctrines to the letter. The standard drow may lean more chaotic, not concerned with any action but their own and uncaring of the consequences. But to label any drow as “good” or “evil” is very subjective in the world that the drow exist.

## Society & Culture

The drow are a deeply religious society. The Ecclesia is the grand church that rules over the drow and to whom all drow are legally bound to swear fealty to. Those that do not risk excommunication and are shunned by drow society.

The drow as a whole are pretty fractured. Some are devoted entirely to the Ecclesia and are devoted to the theocracy. Some are neutral and make their living within the Underdark in their own way, following the law but ignoring the more religious rulings of the Ecclesia. The rest are excommunicates, drow who forswear the Ecclesia and their doctrine, and live their lives in fear of the Ecclesia’s Holy Agents. But there are many, many places in the Underdark that are out of the Ecclesia’s reach and so these drow can often live in relative peace.

This fractured nature makes it difficult to pin down a “typical” city in Moringuard. Other than the capitol, much of the Underdark is not much more than a series of small settlements, or roaming bands of drow with various ideals and bonds.

The drow tend to be more relaxed about certain “evil” activities. Crime is a natural part of their culture and many drow turn a blind eye to criminal acitivities. The Underdark is a favorite place for smugglers and slavers to work the Black Market and it is said that you can find anything you desire there beneath the jungle.

Outwardly the Drow present themselves as a reformed society. The Ecclesia broadcasts a culture of worship, moral superiority, and a civilized society. In truth the Ecclesia are in a constant battle with the darker forces that brew in their little continent.

### Gender Roles

The drow are matriarchal, with the head of families being women. The supreme leader is the High Priestess of the Ecclesia, a female drow who can speak to the gods and enact law to her wishes. Men are not mistreated, but are often not the focus of many of the Ecclesia’s rulings. Women are the primary inheritors, landowners, and the high ranking members of the Ecclesia are exclusively the Priestesses. Though men can join the Ecclesia they will never be permitted into the inner circles.

Birth rates in the Drow culture are actually skewed, with men numbering only 35-40% of the population at any given time. Because of this they can often find themselves with a slew of drow women competing to be their bride. Men in exchange will work hard and prove themselves worthy of a high-ranking female. Most drow men dream of marrying into the Ecclesia and all the comforts that this provides.

Drow women are highly competitive with one another and often brutally so. Assassinations are common in the Ecclesia and Priestesses are often paranoid and highly suspicious of other females. Due to this reason, men are often given the caregiving responsibilities of raising children and teaching, because they are more trusted to be protectors of others rather than attackers.

### Half-bloods

Drow half-elves are treated much the same as any drow. If they join the Ecclesia they are given full citizenship within Moringuard and there even exists an all half-drow squadron of Holy Agents that is deployed to take care of excommunicates who leave Moringuard. They are called Her Left Hand and are a brutal set of hunters designated to go and find excommunicates who have left the continent (using their ability to be in direct sunlight to their advantage) and bring them back to the Motherland dead or alive.

Half-bloods who are not members of the church are not considered excommunicates and are not actively hunted, unless they draw the ire of the Ecclesia by speaking out against the church’s doctrines.

### Linguistics

The drow language is an offspring dialect of standard elvish and understandable by all elves, though is considered to be an “accent”. The official language of the Ecclesia is Elvish, but most drow when speaking to one another use Undercommon.

Drow poetry is “encouraged” to be devoted to worship and religion and so is most often written in song form to be sung by choirs and proclaimed by the Ecclesia.

### Education

The only schools and academies that exist in Moringuard are off-shoots of the Ecclesia, and are essentially monasteries or seminaries that train children at a young age to become members of the Ecclesia. The seminaries also offer combat training in the hopes to breed more Holy Agents. The Ecclesia requires all drow between the ages of 10 and 30 to attend the seminaries and learn the ways of “proper” drow society. Adulthood comes at age 35 or so in drow society, after which the drow must enter a training program in their chosen profession. Female drow will often apply to be members of the Ecclesia but it is a harsh process and competition is fierce. Some young drow will become missionaries to Moringuard or the other counties in an attempt to curry favor with the Ecclesia. Missionaries are sponsored by the church but are not officially priests or priestesses.

### Architecture

Drow live almost exclusively in the Underdark, which stretches across the whole continent of Moringuard and even out underneath the sea which surrounds the small continent. They mostly fit themselves into the Underdark but on occasion carve out specific structures. The network of tunnels and caverns means that very few drow experience any “privacy” as there is no such thing as a door. As such, drow tend to live their lives out in the open but still in darkness.

Those structures that they do build is of stone, wood is impossible to come by under the ground. Those few drow that live on the surface of Moringuard live in the jungles, using the broad canopies of the baobob and acacia trees to block out the unwelcome unlight, building huts of leaves and animal hide.

## Government & Laws

The Ecclesia is the ultimate ruling power of Moringuard. The High Priestess is the supreme leader, a female drow who has been chosen by her god and speaks to her. She is selected every 100 years barring assassination or unanticipated death, which happens more often than the drow would like to admit.

Those that work in the Ecclesia are the “nobility”, and the Ecclesia makes the laws and runs the country. There is no one set god that Drow must worship. Instead, the people of Moringuard are free to worship any “approved” god, so long as they obey the law of the Ecclesia. It establishes moral guidelines and methods of worship, as well as laws for society and community. Dedication can be to one god or many, so long as the laws of the Ecclesia are obeyed.

The High Priestess is said to have two “hands”. Her right hand holds compassion, love, and devotion. With her right hand she provides for the  poor, heals the sick, and prays to her god. Her left hand holds brutality, passion, and savagery. With her left hand she punishes betrayers of the faith, excommunicates and interrogates, or sends her Holy Agents on Crusades for glory. Each drow priestess is also possessing of this dual nature, a product of being the “Mothers of the people”, they must show motherly affection and a mother’s discipline equally.

The Ecclesia seeks to be recognized and respected by other nations, and so outwardly the laws they pass must be seen to do so. Outlawing slavery, crime, and other “evil” acts are how they seek to reform their image for the modern world. However, at the same time that they claim to be generous and open-minded, the Holy Agents are instructed to hunt down and bring back to the fold anyone who would presume to leave the faith. Rumors of brutal interrogations and torture reach the ears of those on the coastline of Tiraguard and Morianna. Such things are called “exaggerations” by the Ecclesia.

The government has an uneasy peace with the Tieflings that also reside in Moringuard and is actively at war with the demons and devils that exist in the Underdark.

## Economy & Resources

 The Underdark does not provide much to the people that live there. Alchemical ingredients are plentiful, as are certain magical objects that were lost there long ago, if you are brave enough to go hunt for them. Mushroom farming is common, as is raising and herding meat animals, most often Darkmantles or other small beasts that can be corralled and fed minimally and still provide meat.

The Ecclesia often send hunting parties up to the surface world to get finer meat like wild boar, pheasant or other creatures. They also get fruit from the jungle above. The Ecclesia “owns” the land of the jungle and so sells out contracts for lumber, foraging, and other industries to strip the land above. This is the most worth of Moringuard, on the surface above the Underdark.

There is some mining in the Underdark but nothing particularly unique, and the danger of the creatures within the Underdark means that miners are much more wary there and less willing to delve into dark spaces in search of ore. Hunters also favor coming into the Underdark in search of the prize animals that lay beneath the earth.

The most money coming and going in Moringuard however, is on the Black Market. The Ecclesia taxes all professions, legal or not, and so they receive the greatest bounty from criminals who work within the Underdark. The illegal slave trade, the gambling dens, smugglers, all must pay to work within the Ecclesia’s grip. This is the biggest secret that Moringuard tries to keep hidden but which is actually a widely known fact globally, that Moringuard is fueled by the criminal activities that take place beneath it.

## Religion & Worship

[INSERT SPECIFIC GODS AND STUFF HERE JIM]

The Ecclesia has the following Hierarchy:

High Priestess: Supreme leader of the church, the high priestess “speaks” to her god of choice and uses his/her guidance to put forth laws.

Canon: A council of Priestesses that votes on laws and enacts laws put in place by the High Priestess

Holy Agents: Agents of the faith, tasked with ensuring that the laws of the realm are upheld, the army for the drow, as well as the police force. They are placed in every major drow city as well as in strategic points in the Underdark from which they scour for excommunicates and betrayers, and question those they believe are considering leaving the Ecclesia.

Ecclesia Generae: Initiates, Missionaries, and male Priests make up the “general” Ecclesia. They teach, travel, and worship. Initiates are tasked with building temples to their various gods and teaching the Ecclesian doctrines. They also run the seminaries and monasteries and train and raise young drow in the ways of the church.

Excommunicates are not necessarily “atheists” or without religion, but have broken the specific laws of the Ecclesia and are therefore punished. They can be “reformed” by going to a special seminary to bring them back into the fold though most commonly they are executed by law for their crimes against the faith. Only if they prostrate themselves and prove they are willing to change are they permitted to live.

## Marriage & Relationships

Like their elven cousins drow very rarely marry for life. However, they do mate more frequently than high or wood elves, as the death rates in the Underdark are much higher than those on the surface. A drow woman competes for men, as they outnumber them, by proving herself strong, beautiful, smart, or a combination of the three. Male drow get to choose their partners and will mate with as many as 40-50 different drow women in their lifetimes.

Relationships are brief but sweet, with drow females doting upon their partners. Partnership among drow females is common due to their tightly knit communities, these relationships are referred to as “true friendships” in the Drow tongue and are considered healthy ways to form amicable partnerships with other females, as opposed to constant competition and ruthlessness which pervades the gender. In the Ecclesia these relationships are very commonplace, as it allies the partnered drow against other, single drow. The High Priestess herself is well-known to groom members of her Inner Circle in these romantic friendships, in order to give herself more protection and allies against assassination. Men also have “true friendships” but it is considered selfish by many as they are removing themselves as potential fathers.

Children are raised by their fathers for the first 20 years and then are sent to schools run by male drow, whether these be small village schools or the monasteries and seminaries run by the Ecclesia depends on the mother.

## Notable Figures

**Praxana Healtouch** - Current High Priestess of Moringuard