Scars Unseen
Hero
Personally, I'm not a fan of just dropping new subraces as a "solution" to problems that people have with existing lore. If they drop the new subraces near areas already in heavy use, publishing-wise, then it's going to contradict past products(yeah, I know WotC's recent stance on canon; not a fan of that either). If they drop them in remote areas sparsely documented enough to not contradict lore, then it effectively changes nothing anyway from a writing and gameplay standpoint.
If it were me, I'd write new stories and treat past products not as descriptive, but perspective in nature. You can keep a society oppressive without all of its inhabitants being evil, inherently or otherwise. Menzo's society in particular (or pick another city to focus on to avoid messing with RAS's stomping ground) I'd retool to be something of a perverse meritocracy where the results are what matter not matter how you accomplish them, enforced by a Stasi-like priestess caste with frequent wild and lavish celebrations to let people blow off steam and prevent the whole thing from imploding from the pressure.
Plenty of room in that kind of environment for stories about drow trying to survive without turning cruel and potential heroics involving revolt attempts and escape. Like published Ravenloft stories, the status quo would eventually win out in the city itself, but enough non-evil drow escaping could eventually turn the tide of opinion at least in select surface communities that unknown drow traveling would perhaps be met with caution and curiosity more than immediate hostility.
If it were me, I'd write new stories and treat past products not as descriptive, but perspective in nature. You can keep a society oppressive without all of its inhabitants being evil, inherently or otherwise. Menzo's society in particular (or pick another city to focus on to avoid messing with RAS's stomping ground) I'd retool to be something of a perverse meritocracy where the results are what matter not matter how you accomplish them, enforced by a Stasi-like priestess caste with frequent wild and lavish celebrations to let people blow off steam and prevent the whole thing from imploding from the pressure.
Plenty of room in that kind of environment for stories about drow trying to survive without turning cruel and potential heroics involving revolt attempts and escape. Like published Ravenloft stories, the status quo would eventually win out in the city itself, but enough non-evil drow escaping could eventually turn the tide of opinion at least in select surface communities that unknown drow traveling would perhaps be met with caution and curiosity more than immediate hostility.