On the Drow of the Twilight Sphere
On the Drow of the Twilight Sphere
On the Origins and History of the Drow
Drow are, technically speaking, not elves. However, for all intents and purposes, there is little difference besides appearance. Like the elves, drow began as a branch of fey who lived too long in the mortal world and were changed by it. The chosen followers of Llolth the Spider Queen, she marked them as such, changing them to match her own chosen appearance. But Llolth grew wicked, and discontented with her position amongst the fey, she urged her followers to perform sacrifices that saw her elevated to goddesshood. In the wake of her ascension, she declared war upon the four Archfae of the Seasons.
The war brought devestation and ruin to the Faelands, but like so much regarding the mysterious fey, the details are unknown to mortal scholars. Eventually, the combined might of the Archfae of the Seasons saw Llolth and her followers deafeated. The drow and their goddess were exiled from the Faelands into the mortal world.
The Reign and Death of Llolth
Like many of the eldest drow, Llolth suffered greatly from her exile. She descended even further into wickedness, ruling over her people as a tyrant-goddess. Centuries passed as the drow explored the caverns they'd claimed as their new home, spreading through them as their population grew. Somewhere among the tunnels, the drow discovered portals to other worlds and they traveled and spread even further. Some worlds held only a token settlement, while others grew into powerful civilizations of their own but were unable to escape the rule of their goddess. However, none of these worlds ever held a population as large as the world of their exile: Thamion.
The drow were long feared by the various peoples of Thamion who they raided for sacrifices, slaves, and wealth. About 200 years ago, they crossed a group of adventurers who would make it their goal to end the threat of the drow on Thamion forever. This conflict stretched across a decade as the adventurers pushed deeper and deeper into the tunnels beneath the world and the drow retaliated in kind on the surface. Eventually, they pushed the drow out of Thamion and collapsed the portal caverns so nothing could return through them. At the same time, they learned of an alliance, a marriage, between Llolth and Orcus and chose to intervene.
On the day of the wedding, the adventurers and their allies interrupted the ceremony in the Demonweb Pits. In a hard fought battle against two demon lords, they were eventually victorious. Orcus was routed and Llolth slain. With her dying breath, she forswore her divinity. In her place, two mortals were elevated: Galina, a new goddess of death to replace one that Llolth had slain, and Sabakeus, the paladin that led the adventurers as a new god of justice.
Aftermath and Current Events
With the death of Llolth, things began to change among the drow. The process was slow at first. The priestesses of Llolth held things together for a time, aided by their high status and social tradition. But the drow, like their fey ancestors, are individualists and ever push back against constraints imposed on them by outside authority. It was only a matter of time before drow society fractured. It took 200 years but the drow have finally broken into open civil war with one another. Their factions are numerous and varied with many turning to replacements for Llolth in their attempts to gain dominance over all of drow society like the priestesses once held.
The Truth of the Drow
However, not all that is recorded about the drow and their origins is true. Such information was deemed dangerous and so was forgotten - no, erased - by those who knew the truth.
Before their exile, the drow followed the Archfae of the Moon, and in return for their service, she marked them as her chosen, turning their skin as black as the night in which she dwelt and their eyes and hair the brilliant silver of her own reflected light.
However, whispers twisted the Moon, corrupting her and turning her against her brethren. And with the fall of their mistress, so to came the fall of the drow. After a great war against the other fey, the Archfae of the Moon was sealed away by the power of the four Seasonal Archfae.
The daughter of the Archfae of the Moon, the drow who would become Llolth, recognized the threat that her mother posed to their people. With the aid of the Seasons, she worked powerful magic over the minds of her people, replacing the truth of their origins with the falsehood of her rebellion. And thus was woven the great fable.
As a further precaution, the drow under Llolth were banished from the Realm of Faerie, their presence so close to the Moon’s prison deemed hazardous to the fable. As one final parting gift, the Seasonal Archfae each sacrificed a fragment of their power to elevate Llolth into goddesshood, so that she could better preserve the magic of the fable and prevent her people from discovering the truth.
But Llolth's death and unraveling of her spell has allowed some drow to remember. The dominant faction in the current civil war made contact with the Archfae of the Moon. In exchange for their service, she has given them power and above all else, they seek to free their new Mistress from her imprisonment.