What have you done to my Underdark Fey thread?
Hey Satan 
Pretty kool story, better than my idea for the Drow background (one elf dropping a bucket of paint on another elf.....)
Im gonna think real, real hard on more gods, just need a little contemplation. Damm, my brain is getting tested these days. Hope you can use what I already gave
Pretty kool story, better than my idea for the Drow background (one elf dropping a bucket of paint on another elf.....)
Im gonna think real, real hard on more gods, just need a little contemplation. Damm, my brain is getting tested these days. Hope you can use what I already gave
shivamuffin
First Post
Krishnath
First Post
Actually, it's not the story of how the drow became the drow, but rather the reason why they went into the underdark. Also, the drow cleric is now a very, very, powerful NPC (she is immortal after all, well technically anyways).
Also, there are three other races of 'dark elves' in my world also, all of whom are quite different from the matriachal drow (the Nevae live in a magocracy and consider all non-elves as cattle, while the Varal dwell in deep and dark forests in the far east and are equal to dwarves in craftmanship, while the Boneleaf clan are quite litterally Feral cannibalistic barbarians.)
Hey, shiv, care to join in with a few ideas?
On a closing note:
Huh, huh, huh, Beavis and Butthead Rule!
Huh, huh, huh, he said butt...
Also, there are three other races of 'dark elves' in my world also, all of whom are quite different from the matriachal drow (the Nevae live in a magocracy and consider all non-elves as cattle, while the Varal dwell in deep and dark forests in the far east and are equal to dwarves in craftmanship, while the Boneleaf clan are quite litterally Feral cannibalistic barbarians.)
Hey, shiv, care to join in with a few ideas?
On a closing note:
Huh, huh, huh, Beavis and Butthead Rule!
Huh, huh, huh, he said butt...
shivamuffin
First Post
Ideas on the origins of the Drow?
Well, I used a classical greek like format to describe the great elven civil war...Avatars, sex, and a touch of incest.
Short and sweet:
Lolth chose a special avatar to be born to a noble elven family. That child turned out to be female, but she was not alone...She shared the womb with a twin brother ( The original child that occupied the womb before the infestation of the avatar ).
They grew up. Lilth was a strikingly beautiful and a charismatic lady of the court. She concealed her true nature quite well, never really understanding where her feelings of hate came from. On her entrance into adulthood Lolth visited her special young avatar, and explained her place and purpose.
Now fully awakened, Lilth had begun the fufilment of her destiny.
Through treachery, she killed her parents and rival family members. Her twin brother alnar stood in her way, but was seduced and thus delivered his seed to Lilth. Shamed and maddened by the experience, he willed himself to die, leaving Lilth as head of the family.
It didn't take her long to charm the other powerful families, nor to corrupt them. In a mere 500 years she had gained the support of half the elven world. Her twin daughters, the result of the union between her twin brother each took an army and set out to conquer the elven peoples that had not fallen under Lilths reign.
The wars were long and bloody, but finally, the " good " elves had won the day after 1000 years of war. Lilth was slain defending her besieged domain, but her daughters and hundreds of survivors fled to the depths of the world, where they thrived.
Well, I used a classical greek like format to describe the great elven civil war...Avatars, sex, and a touch of incest.
Short and sweet:
Lolth chose a special avatar to be born to a noble elven family. That child turned out to be female, but she was not alone...She shared the womb with a twin brother ( The original child that occupied the womb before the infestation of the avatar ).
They grew up. Lilth was a strikingly beautiful and a charismatic lady of the court. She concealed her true nature quite well, never really understanding where her feelings of hate came from. On her entrance into adulthood Lolth visited her special young avatar, and explained her place and purpose.
Now fully awakened, Lilth had begun the fufilment of her destiny.
Through treachery, she killed her parents and rival family members. Her twin brother alnar stood in her way, but was seduced and thus delivered his seed to Lilth. Shamed and maddened by the experience, he willed himself to die, leaving Lilth as head of the family.
It didn't take her long to charm the other powerful families, nor to corrupt them. In a mere 500 years she had gained the support of half the elven world. Her twin daughters, the result of the union between her twin brother each took an army and set out to conquer the elven peoples that had not fallen under Lilths reign.
The wars were long and bloody, but finally, the " good " elves had won the day after 1000 years of war. Lilth was slain defending her besieged domain, but her daughters and hundreds of survivors fled to the depths of the world, where they thrived.
Krishnath
First Post
Cool idea, are that the one you use in your campaign. In my campaign, drow are simply dark skinned elves originating from the tropics. (there are no less than 4 different races of 'dark' elves in Areh: Boneleaf, Drow, Nevae, and Varal. 'Dark' has do with their association with evil, not their skin color, as only the drow elves actually have dark skin, the nevae and bonleaf elves have white skin, and the varal greenish pink.)
But I was thinking more in the line of new drow deities.
But I was thinking more in the line of new drow deities.
shivamuffin
First Post
Yeah, that's the first time I put it in garbled writing. I don't allow elves as PCs in my world, so their history, deities, and origins are not a priority.
Deities aren't that tough. I use the hero/prophet model.
I take notable figures from the cultures past and deify them. In the case of my Drow story, Lilth would have been an obvious choice, but in the spirit of the drow goddess Lolth, poor Lilth was definitely out of favor...Betrayed by her creator to die at the hands of her enemies...Now her two daughters of an incestual union would have led their people to the depths and eventually been deified, as well as a handful of champions or even their children ( Having divine blood only makes that more plausible ).
So from what I just wrote, as garbled as it is, we could have something like this:
Daughters of Lilth
Ifah
Imorah
They could have 2-12 children each? maybe a few even male?
( The females founding their own cities? )
Champions of Lilth
Let's assume that there were some loyal ( As loyal as drow can be ) female champions that followed the two daughters...
Gherra, Shenza, Frehza, Veneaux, Kirza Fey, and so on
Each could have their particular specialty in the pantheon, but read below before going that route. I retained the Lolth worship, and made them the founders of great noble houses )
An overlooked problem with the Drow, atleast from the material by Gygax concerning their culture and origins...Is that they are monotheistic. In fact, I think that they are the only monotheistic race/culture in published fantasy! and it's funny that they are evil and matriarchal ( Kind of a mockery of a certain real world religion or two....)
To break from that is to change the very nature of them. Without Lolth as the sole deity, would they remain CE? There would obviously be factions, and with that greater conflict amongst them ( Lolth likes conflict, but depends on the power received from her worshipers, so she insists on being the ONE true goddess of her people ) . The drow are drow through Lolth, and do not seem to be just a black skinned branch of the elven race...They are the embodiment of their patroness, and niether would exist without the other.
With this said, anything can be changed in a setting. It must be done with caution and consideration though. Some realism and familiarity will be expected by players.
Alignment, culture, and possibly even the racial features of non Lolth worshiping drow would change. They may even not refer to themselves as drow, choosing another name to distance or even cover up their association with a hated branch of the elven race...Who knows, grey elves could be one of those branches?
I explain the racial features of the drow as being the mark of Lolth. When the followers and daughters of Lilth fled to the underworld, I imagine that they would have looked like other surface elves...Lilths two daughters would have had the mark of Lolth ( Black skin ), and I imagine all births within the community of followers after the decent would have resulted in a similair look...those that were born with surface elven features would have been removed from the gene pool. I do allow for variations of hair color, as well as eyes...The subtle reminder of their surface dwelling origins...I reserve the white hair for nobility, who possess a higher percentage of divine blood ( relation to Lilths 2 daughters ).
That's my 2 cents folks...
Deities aren't that tough. I use the hero/prophet model.
I take notable figures from the cultures past and deify them. In the case of my Drow story, Lilth would have been an obvious choice, but in the spirit of the drow goddess Lolth, poor Lilth was definitely out of favor...Betrayed by her creator to die at the hands of her enemies...Now her two daughters of an incestual union would have led their people to the depths and eventually been deified, as well as a handful of champions or even their children ( Having divine blood only makes that more plausible ).
So from what I just wrote, as garbled as it is, we could have something like this:
Daughters of Lilth
Ifah
Imorah
They could have 2-12 children each? maybe a few even male?
( The females founding their own cities? )
Champions of Lilth
Let's assume that there were some loyal ( As loyal as drow can be ) female champions that followed the two daughters...
Gherra, Shenza, Frehza, Veneaux, Kirza Fey, and so on
Each could have their particular specialty in the pantheon, but read below before going that route. I retained the Lolth worship, and made them the founders of great noble houses )
An overlooked problem with the Drow, atleast from the material by Gygax concerning their culture and origins...Is that they are monotheistic. In fact, I think that they are the only monotheistic race/culture in published fantasy! and it's funny that they are evil and matriarchal ( Kind of a mockery of a certain real world religion or two....)
To break from that is to change the very nature of them. Without Lolth as the sole deity, would they remain CE? There would obviously be factions, and with that greater conflict amongst them ( Lolth likes conflict, but depends on the power received from her worshipers, so she insists on being the ONE true goddess of her people ) . The drow are drow through Lolth, and do not seem to be just a black skinned branch of the elven race...They are the embodiment of their patroness, and niether would exist without the other.
With this said, anything can be changed in a setting. It must be done with caution and consideration though. Some realism and familiarity will be expected by players.
Alignment, culture, and possibly even the racial features of non Lolth worshiping drow would change. They may even not refer to themselves as drow, choosing another name to distance or even cover up their association with a hated branch of the elven race...Who knows, grey elves could be one of those branches?
I explain the racial features of the drow as being the mark of Lolth. When the followers and daughters of Lilth fled to the underworld, I imagine that they would have looked like other surface elves...Lilths two daughters would have had the mark of Lolth ( Black skin ), and I imagine all births within the community of followers after the decent would have resulted in a similair look...those that were born with surface elven features would have been removed from the gene pool. I do allow for variations of hair color, as well as eyes...The subtle reminder of their surface dwelling origins...I reserve the white hair for nobility, who possess a higher percentage of divine blood ( relation to Lilths 2 daughters ).
That's my 2 cents folks...
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Krishnath
First Post
Interesting, as for drow being monotheistic (sp?) or not, is up for discussion, as for example in the Forgotten Realms they are Polytheistic (having no less than 6 or 7 deities!), but Lloth (or Lolth depending on the world) is always their chief deity.
As for how the deities of Areh are, I have all kinds of weird stuff, ranging from acended mortals (azurewing for example, the deity of chivalrous warfare and hunting birds), Deified Abominations (such as Lord Doom, an abomination from the plane of shadow that helped repel a far realms invasion, and thus became deified), ancient gods of dragons (Io anyone?), all types of deities exist in Areh, I've even coopted the Olympian and Pharaonic pantheons for the campaing world (with a few additions, such as Polyphon the threeheaded dragon deity of monsters whom I added to the olympian...)
As for the alignment of drow, in my campaign world drow are not born evil, but rather their general alignment is rather determined by their society (and religion), a society that promotes individualism and survival of the fittest. In fact only about 50% of drow children reach adulthood, having been killed either by harsh tutors, other children, their own siblings, or even their parents. This is to make sure that only strong, talented and healthy drow reach adulthood. At least in theory... Not all drow are evil either, and only about 5% are actually CE, most of the drow of Areh in fact are CN or LE. Also roughly one in five drow actually live outside of the underdark. Also there are no less than 6 subtypes of drow (as well as a few mutant drow, such as the droloch, that have been engineered by magic to be used as weapons), you can find the (short) descriptions of what they look like farther up in this thread, one of the types actually has red hair!
But as I said earlier, what I need is some ideas for various types of drow deities. Such as a drow deity of magic, perhaps one of fertility or something else entirely, any ideas are welcome, be they acended mortals or otherwise, I'm not to picky.
As for how the deities of Areh are, I have all kinds of weird stuff, ranging from acended mortals (azurewing for example, the deity of chivalrous warfare and hunting birds), Deified Abominations (such as Lord Doom, an abomination from the plane of shadow that helped repel a far realms invasion, and thus became deified), ancient gods of dragons (Io anyone?), all types of deities exist in Areh, I've even coopted the Olympian and Pharaonic pantheons for the campaing world (with a few additions, such as Polyphon the threeheaded dragon deity of monsters whom I added to the olympian...)
As for the alignment of drow, in my campaign world drow are not born evil, but rather their general alignment is rather determined by their society (and religion), a society that promotes individualism and survival of the fittest. In fact only about 50% of drow children reach adulthood, having been killed either by harsh tutors, other children, their own siblings, or even their parents. This is to make sure that only strong, talented and healthy drow reach adulthood. At least in theory...
Not all drow are evil either, and only about 5% are actually CE, most of the drow of Areh in fact are CN or LE. Also roughly one in five drow actually live outside of the underdark. Also there are no less than 6 subtypes of drow (as well as a few mutant drow, such as the droloch, that have been engineered by magic to be used as weapons), you can find the (short) descriptions of what they look like farther up in this thread, one of the types actually has red hair!But as I said earlier, what I need is some ideas for various types of drow deities. Such as a drow deity of magic, perhaps one of fertility or something else entirely, any ideas are welcome, be they acended mortals or otherwise, I'm not to picky.
shivamuffin
First Post
What about fertility? I would imagine that all drow would be concerned about that.
What about demons and devils. LE drow that worship devils outright would give the campaign an interesting twist. It could open the door to some very interesting home rules concering " Devils as Gods " and the granting of spells. Devils would be happy to fill the traditional niches too...Taking on the roles of fertility, war, and even nature for example. You could even throw in a twist that has the drow worshiping what they think are true gods, but in fact are devils.
As for gods in general:
Each area of society will need a patron god or goddess. The primary focus of the society would have the most important gods of course.
For example, a mercantile drow society will have merchant gods, artisan gods, and prosperity gods as the major deities.
If you want some examples, this is how I get a pantheon started. I keep it simple and expand it when a PC picks one...Why do a whole bunch of work until it's necessary?
Here's some demihuman god briefs I created for The Near East. I give enough to make it playable, then detail it out as the campaign evolves.
Greater Dervak Gods
Kar 'Vakka, the creator, the forger of the race, the great being that chooses the dwarven gods and protects the great hall in the after kingdom. The being is male and female, old and newborn. Never worshiped directly, although included in all prayers so as to recognize that it is Karvak that ultimately determines fate, even the fate of the gods. N domains: Earth, knowledge, strength, protection
Azund, dwarven god of war and tactics: Azmund is said to be the patron of warriors, weaponsmiths, armorers, and engineers. Worshiped by all dwarves as the founder of dwarven civilization. The first dwarf created by Karvak. LG domains: War, law, good, destruction
Breha, dwarven god of law and order: patron of law, knowledge, primary god of those that rule. Worshiped as the lawgiver and first king of the dwarves. Son of Azmund. LN domains: Law, knowledge, strength
Ben 'Dakar, dwarven god of revenge, the furious vindicator of the dwarven race. Worshiped by vindicators, and battleragers. 3rd son of Breat, blessed by Azmund with “ the rage “ during his holy war against the Duergar. CG domains: Destruction, war
Melada, mother of the dwarves, keeper of the hearth, the healer, the guardian of the family. The wife of Azmund, the second dwarf created by Karvak. Worshiped by those that heal, and always prayed to within the home at morning and evening by males and females. Melada is believed to guard the home from disease, and demons that would slay sleeping children. LG domains: Law, earth, healing, luck
Guermal, dwarven god of the dead. No priesthood is devoted to this god, but he is prayed to at funerals, so as to gain a favorable place in the line to the after kingdom. ( when dwarves die, it is believed that they must pass through a great tunnel and review their mistakes in life before entering the after kingdom, those near the front of the line have less mistakes to review, so get into the after kingdom sooner. Those that were evil and twisted in life will become ushers in the tunnel, in service to Guermal. ) N
Greater Duergar Gods
Haddrakal, dwarven god of the Duergar, spawn of evil, king of the false after kingdom( Haddrak ). Worshiped by the Duergar as the progenitor and first king of their race. The surface dwarves believe that Haddrakal was created by Karvak to allow dwarves to choose between evil and good, and ultimately decide whether the race is worthy enough to continue on. Haddrakal is said to maintain his own after kingdom somewhere in the 9 hells, surface dwarves that are truly evil ( those that served in the tunnel, but refuse to repent ) and twisted are sent to Haddrakal by Guermal after they have served a period of time as ushers in the tunnel. Brother of Azmund. LE domains: Law, evil, destruction, war
Garbok-Kor, Duergar god of war, culture, and death. The reaper of the slain. Garbok is the guardian of Haddrak ( the Duergar after kingdom ). All must pass before Gabok before entering the after kingdom, those that are unworthy are sent to Guermal. Gabok is the keeper of all Duergar knowledge. LN domains: Knowledge, war, death, earth
Grella-Kor, queen mother of the Duergar, wife of Haddrakal, sister of Melada, mother of the Duergar race. Grella protects the hearth, and blesses the people with fertility. Those that are unfit to survive are denied the blessings of Grella and left to die. LE domains: Healing, evil, luck, protection
What about demons and devils. LE drow that worship devils outright would give the campaign an interesting twist. It could open the door to some very interesting home rules concering " Devils as Gods " and the granting of spells. Devils would be happy to fill the traditional niches too...Taking on the roles of fertility, war, and even nature for example. You could even throw in a twist that has the drow worshiping what they think are true gods, but in fact are devils.
As for gods in general:
Each area of society will need a patron god or goddess. The primary focus of the society would have the most important gods of course.
For example, a mercantile drow society will have merchant gods, artisan gods, and prosperity gods as the major deities.
If you want some examples, this is how I get a pantheon started. I keep it simple and expand it when a PC picks one...Why do a whole bunch of work until it's necessary?
Here's some demihuman god briefs I created for The Near East. I give enough to make it playable, then detail it out as the campaign evolves.
Greater Dervak Gods
Kar 'Vakka, the creator, the forger of the race, the great being that chooses the dwarven gods and protects the great hall in the after kingdom. The being is male and female, old and newborn. Never worshiped directly, although included in all prayers so as to recognize that it is Karvak that ultimately determines fate, even the fate of the gods. N domains: Earth, knowledge, strength, protection
Azund, dwarven god of war and tactics: Azmund is said to be the patron of warriors, weaponsmiths, armorers, and engineers. Worshiped by all dwarves as the founder of dwarven civilization. The first dwarf created by Karvak. LG domains: War, law, good, destruction
Breha, dwarven god of law and order: patron of law, knowledge, primary god of those that rule. Worshiped as the lawgiver and first king of the dwarves. Son of Azmund. LN domains: Law, knowledge, strength
Ben 'Dakar, dwarven god of revenge, the furious vindicator of the dwarven race. Worshiped by vindicators, and battleragers. 3rd son of Breat, blessed by Azmund with “ the rage “ during his holy war against the Duergar. CG domains: Destruction, war
Melada, mother of the dwarves, keeper of the hearth, the healer, the guardian of the family. The wife of Azmund, the second dwarf created by Karvak. Worshiped by those that heal, and always prayed to within the home at morning and evening by males and females. Melada is believed to guard the home from disease, and demons that would slay sleeping children. LG domains: Law, earth, healing, luck
Guermal, dwarven god of the dead. No priesthood is devoted to this god, but he is prayed to at funerals, so as to gain a favorable place in the line to the after kingdom. ( when dwarves die, it is believed that they must pass through a great tunnel and review their mistakes in life before entering the after kingdom, those near the front of the line have less mistakes to review, so get into the after kingdom sooner. Those that were evil and twisted in life will become ushers in the tunnel, in service to Guermal. ) N
Greater Duergar Gods
Haddrakal, dwarven god of the Duergar, spawn of evil, king of the false after kingdom( Haddrak ). Worshiped by the Duergar as the progenitor and first king of their race. The surface dwarves believe that Haddrakal was created by Karvak to allow dwarves to choose between evil and good, and ultimately decide whether the race is worthy enough to continue on. Haddrakal is said to maintain his own after kingdom somewhere in the 9 hells, surface dwarves that are truly evil ( those that served in the tunnel, but refuse to repent ) and twisted are sent to Haddrakal by Guermal after they have served a period of time as ushers in the tunnel. Brother of Azmund. LE domains: Law, evil, destruction, war
Garbok-Kor, Duergar god of war, culture, and death. The reaper of the slain. Garbok is the guardian of Haddrak ( the Duergar after kingdom ). All must pass before Gabok before entering the after kingdom, those that are unworthy are sent to Guermal. Gabok is the keeper of all Duergar knowledge. LN domains: Knowledge, war, death, earth
Grella-Kor, queen mother of the Duergar, wife of Haddrakal, sister of Melada, mother of the Duergar race. Grella protects the hearth, and blesses the people with fertility. Those that are unfit to survive are denied the blessings of Grella and left to die. LE domains: Healing, evil, luck, protection
Krishnath
First Post
Oh I allready know how to start a pantheon, that is not the problem. the problem is coming up with names and portolios (I have a list of thirty something draconic deities for my campaign world for example.) But the thing is I'm a worldbuilder, once I start, I just can't stop, Areh has been growing constantly since I started with 3E, and the PC's haven't even been outside of Taria yet (the continent where they started, roughly equivalent in culture to europe at the start of the renesaince (sp?), and no, there is no gunpowder in Areh, yet ), but I have allready added no less than six other continents: Elopo (roughly equivalent to africa), Rhiran (the orient), The frozen wastes (just as it sounds like, a frozen wasteland, with barbarian tribes, frost giants, frost elves, and the like, oh and Azure Dragons ), Itlori (roughly equivalent to south america at the hight of the Azrek, Mayan and Incan civilizations), Adenth (a 'feral continent), and lastly, well it doesn't have a name yet, but it's based on ancient rome/greece. So you see I have a lot...
But back to the drow, as I mentioned earlier the drow are no longer outcasts in Areh (a campaign twist if you'd like), and thus a number of drow cities have been established outside of the underdark, in one nation, the magocracy Hyratrae (based on greece, btw) a full 15% of the population are infact drow (mostly merchant families). Drow are feared but not hated (Malarra sent no less than four legions of drow warriors to help repel the far realms invasion that was the cause of the third cataclysm).
The drow of Areh are quite adept at being merchants (and slavers!) and thus a god of merchants would be quite usefull. But I don't really want to many deities for each race, at least no more than 12...
But what I really need is the following: Name, Alignment, and Portfolio, the rest I can add myself, unless of course you really want to add it all... But damn it's hard to come up with names...
Any help would be appreciated.
), but I have allready added no less than six other continents: Elopo (roughly equivalent to africa), Rhiran (the orient), The frozen wastes (just as it sounds like, a frozen wasteland, with barbarian tribes, frost giants, frost elves, and the like, oh and Azure Dragons ), Itlori (roughly equivalent to south america at the hight of the Azrek, Mayan and Incan civilizations), Adenth (a 'feral continent), and lastly, well it doesn't have a name yet, but it's based on ancient rome/greece. So you see I have a lot... But back to the drow, as I mentioned earlier the drow are no longer outcasts in Areh (a campaign twist if you'd like), and thus a number of drow cities have been established outside of the underdark, in one nation, the magocracy Hyratrae (based on greece, btw) a full 15% of the population are infact drow (mostly merchant families). Drow are feared but not hated (Malarra sent no less than four legions of drow warriors to help repel the far realms invasion that was the cause of the third cataclysm).
The drow of Areh are quite adept at being merchants (and slavers!) and thus a god of merchants would be quite usefull. But I don't really want to many deities for each race, at least no more than 12...
But what I really need is the following: Name, Alignment, and Portfolio, the rest I can add myself, unless of course you really want to add it all...
But damn it's hard to come up with names...Any help would be appreciated.
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