D&D General Drow as Dark Fae?

[Zardnaar]

So I've been thinking about how the Drow have been over done. And their society doesn't make a lot of sense.

Anyway basic idea is the same under ground elves, dump the matriarchal structure or at least the lolthite version of it. They follow dark queen of the night or archfiends. They are NE or pure evil cities tend to be ruled by royal families and a dark fae court type set up.

Xenophobic isolationists. No civil wars bit very cut throat society. Losers do not sacrificed and inter drow physical strife is unheard of. Though shat not kill Drow (without just cause) is virtually unheard of. Noble obligations however exist more egalitarian in terms of social ckas no huge disparity between the forming Drow the nobles don't value wealth as such. Xenophobic welfare state.

However they're still Drow. These rights and obligations do not apply to non drow.

Station is achieved through social grace, plotting, scheming etc. The lisers are not obliterated in civil war to do so is uncouth. Public displays of violence are virtualy unheard of and any Drow doing so is basically a rabid dog and it's obe of the few scenarios one coukd get tge death penalty along with outright treason.

Lovers are relegated back to the lower ranks of society tge leaders are exiled for idk 100 years. These renegades can redeem themselves and reintegration back into society. Punishment for minor crimes humiliation or demotion, serious crimes or losing station exile and capital crimes is death penalty.

The rare good aligned drow would be regarded more as a fool and an idiot minor crime relegated to social exile and demotion to lower ranks. That could escalate to more serious crime if said drow was colluding with outsiders or trying to spread a good aligned faith. Either be discreet or become target for cruel tricks, harassment etc. Fleeing is regarded as treason. One way for exiles to redeem themselves is to deal with any traitors.

Surface drow virtually unheard of along with raids. They still hate surface elves but woukd be more inclined to kidbsp a human baby and raise it and train it in the dark arts to unleash on the elves vs direct confrontation.

Manipulation, deceit, trickery vs psychotic violence. Manipulating others to do violence is perfectly fine and admirable.

 

[Shardstone]

One of my fave twists on Drow are making them Dark Fey. Works well if you want to embrace the Alice in Wonderland Underdark that WotC has going on these day, and that BG3 also features.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

More interesting than current Menzo Drow for sure.

I like to use them as Unseelie Fae ruled by The Queen of Air and Darkness, Mabd, and are the main fae of that court (opposite the Seelie Court and it’s Fairie Queen Titania, and the Eladrin that make the backbone of the court).

My buddy gives them a dichotomous nocturnal desert cultural family that are all either tied to the Spider Queen, or The Scorpion. The Scorpion is a swift warrior that protects its den, and his folk trade with outsiders, train and breed horses, and generally don’t go around stabbing people without cause, though they are trained to fight starting as they learn to walk.

Folk tied to the Spider Queen are often raiders, or hide out in outsider cities as “outcasts” and have a reputation as apothecaries and secretive providers of poisons.

Both groups traditionally use poisons, with the biggest difference being that the spider folk often then execute thier victims, while scorpion folk simply use poison to knock out or disable enemies and end fights quickly, and then leave.

Less well known are the various small cultures and faiths spread around the southern continent and the Argosian Sea that forms the border between continents.

Whether the Drow are related to the ancient Fey kingdoms that once rules most of the world is not properly known, but it is known that there are Drow in the caverns and tunnels beneath the Greath Southern Forest and the fens and swamps that border it (can’t recall that regions name, there is another to the north that is Meren Gigareth).

In another world, they are the Myrkalfar, beloved of the Moon, born of The Hunt, semi-nocturnal elves of very athletic stature and reputation, with a knack for stealth and tracking.

 

[CleverNickName]

This is an interesting take on the Drow. In my home game, it's the orcs that are the "dark fey." But this is a really cool idea and now I can't stop thinking about it.

I wonder...what would the drow equivalent be for orcs? Like, how would you answer to this question:
"As the drow are to elves, the ___ are to orcs?"

 

[Zardnaar]

More interesting than current Menzo Drow for sure.

I like to use them as Unseelie Fae ruled by The Queen of Air and Darkness, Mabd, and are the main fae of that court (opposite the Seelie Court and it’s Fairie Queen Titania, and the Eladrin that make the backbone of the court).

My buddy gives them a dichotomous nocturnal desert cultural family that are all either tied to the Spider Queen, or The Scorpion. The Scorpion is a swift warrior that protects its den, and his folk trade with outsiders, train and breed horses, and generally don’t go around stabbing people without cause, though they are trained to fight starting as they learn to walk.

Folk tied to the Spider Queen are often raiders, or hide out in outsider cities as “outcasts” and have a reputation as apothecaries and secretive providers of poisons.

Both groups traditionally use poisons, with the biggest difference being that the spider folk often then execute thier victims, while scorpion folk simply use poison to knock out or disable enemies and end fights quickly, and then leave.

Less well known are the various small cultures and faiths spread around the southern continent and the Argosian Sea that forms the border between continents.

Whether the Drow are related to the ancient Fey kingdoms that once rules most of the world is not properly known, but it is known that there are Drow in the caverns and tunnels beneath the Greath Southern Forest and the fens and swamps that border it (can’t recall that regions name, there is another to the north that is Meren Gigareth).

In another world, they are the Myrkalfar, beloved of the Moon, born of The Hunt, semi-nocturnal elves of very athletic stature and reputation, with a knack for stealth and tracking.

Think Midgard has a queen of night and darkness. So might base them more on Shadow fae or Shadow Elves from Mystara.

 

[Scribe]

I wonder...what would the drow equivalent be for orcs? Like, how would you answer to this question:
"As the drow are to elves, the ___ are to orcs?"

Drow are to Elves, what Orcs are to Dwarves?

 

[Oofta]

Drow are to Elves, what Orcs are to Dwarves?

Target practice?

 

[Oofta]

I handle them a bit different in my campaign which is loosely based on Norse mythology with a smattering of Celtic. All elves have a fey ancestry are descended from the Sidhe. The Sidhe that broke their ties and permanently left the feywild (Alfheim in my campaign) became elves. Some of the elves, typically those descended from Sidhe from the winter court thought they should subjugate all the races since they were obviously the superior race. Those used to following the edicts of Queen Mab in the winter court naturally aligned themselves with Lollth, who encouraged their sense of superiority. The other elves followed Corellon and his visions of hope and light. To look at them, there was little visual difference between the elves and whom they followed.

As time went on the divisions grew more divisive and the drow were forced to retreat to Svartleheim, a separate realm of fire and darkness, the home of Lollth and also my version of the underdark. As time passed their skin grew to be a dark grey reflecting the nature of their new home. Drow that live in Svartleheim have a constant low level hatred and anger infused into them which binds them ever closer to Lollth. This binding also calls them back, virtually no drow live for extended periods of time in Midgard. The few drow that manage to break the binding slowly change and become grey elves, and join together forming communities based on repressing their emotions and relying on logic much like Vulcans.

 

[Longspeak]

My game is probably pretty close to the old party line.

An age ago, some clans of elves sided with the wrong side in a huge war among the gods. These clans, whether one fought or no, were punished by the god of elves. They became drow and those were weren't evil to begin with fell into the influence of the spider.

But the daughter of the elf god and the spider, a Goddess known as Eilistraee, rebelled against the both of them. She cast herself as a Drow, but brought hope to the condemned people. The Glimmer of Light, as she came to be known, worked to shield those who wished it from her father's punishment

Now, an age later, there is indeed a huge society of evil drow serving the spider deep under the earth. But there is an equally large nation who live on the surface, devoted to Eilistraee, striving for Equity.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

I often treat drow as a "dark fey" themed in my games. But reading your (the OP's) description, I'm struck by a number of questions:

1) HOW are they going to be dark-fae-like in your game world? Just being magical and ruthless and manipulative? What particular "dark fae" themes are you going for?

2) What makes drow society evil? And what perpetuates an evil mindset amongst them?