DROW DROWS DARK-ELF

History:
The origins of the reclusive, diabolical drow of Xymerria are disputed.
The elves say that the drow were formed from the remnants of rebel elves
Who were defeated in an ancient elven civil war and were driven to hide in
caves. The drow bristle at these 'lies' and claim that the drow themselves
willingly left the elven lands, disgusted by how soft and weak the elves
had become. What is certain is that the drow and the elves share a common
heritage, and what is indisputable is that the hand of the demon queen of
spiders, Lloth, has played a pre-eminent role in the development and the
history of this depraved race.
 
As told in drow histories, in ancient times a multi-planar goddess by the
name of Lloth cast her eyes upon Aabahran and saw upon it a race of supreme
intelligence and power. These were, of course, the ancient elves. But the
elves were weak, lacking in spine and fettered by false laws and morality.
Lloth revealed her divinity to a particularly powerful and ambitious elven
mage named Xymerr, opening her eyes to the lies and falseness of elven
ideals. Xymerr became the first high priestess of the spider queen, and set
about finding other like-minded individuals. With the help of the goddess,
Xymerr led a great exodus of the most intelligent, the most cunning, and the
most ambitious of the ancient elves to the Underdark. Blessing them and
marking them as her own, Lloth gave them a new name and a new appearance;
'drow' she named them, and a pitch-black skin she gave them, to let them
fit in better with their new home. To the females alone did she grant her
divine gifts, teaching that it was natural for females to rule and males to
obey, in direct contrast to ancient elven notions of equality between the
sexes.
 
Xymerr and her priestesses founded a new city in the Underdark, a terrible
and splendid one, using a combination of divine power, wizardly might, and
slave labor. This city they named 'Xymerria', in honor of Xymerr, who had led
them here. The most powerful of the drow priestesses each enslaved armies
of stone-cunning dwarves to build them mighty Houses from which they would
rule. Xymerr's house, House Do'Rekdin, was set above all other houses, and
Xymerr herself became the first Matron Mother of House Do'Rekdin and as close
to an absolute ruler as the city would see. In a few short centuries, the drow
became the most powerful, pre-eminent force in the Underdark, obliterating
or enslaving nearly every other race, save for the duergar, whom they forced
into a reluctant partnership, and the illithid, whom even they feared.
 
Seeing how well her new children had done, one more gift Lloth did bless
the drow with. Iron is inimical to elves; it's very touch burns them. Lloth
changed the biological and magical nature of her dark children so that,
unlike the surface elves, they would no longer need to be wary of this most
base of metals. Their new bane, silver, was too rare as well as too soft to
pose a grave danger. The only reason that the drow did not overrun the
surface in the early days when they were still united under the rule of Matron
Xymerr was an unlikely partnership between the elves and the dwarves. The
elves were wary of the growing power of the drow, and the dwarves held a
deep hatred for Xymerr's drow for their enslaving of so many dwarves to build
Xymerria. One clan in particular, Clan Mith, suffered tremendous losses from
drow raids due to their exceptional brilliance and abilities, which were high
in demand. For the first and only time, elves allowed dwarves from that clan,
Clan Mith, to experiment upon them as well as the few captured drow prisoners
they had. After countless sacrifices, Clan Mith managed to invent a new 
metal alloy that was lightweight, strong, and as inimical to drow as iron was
to elves. They named this metal 'Mithril', roughly meaning 'Vengeance of
Mith'; in time, 'mithril' became the name of both the alloy and its principle
component. As soon as the drow learned of this development, they led a huge
strike force that razed the halls of Clan Mith to the ground and enslaved or
slew every dwarf, but too late. The metallurgical skills for making mithril
had already been taught to every other dwarven clan. Matron Xymerr achieved
her vengeance on Clan Mith, but her dreams of conquering the surface world,
adding it to the drow fold, died. Shortly after, she died as well, murdered by
her eldest daughter, who became the new Matron Mother of House Do'Rekdin.
 
 
 
See also: DROW2