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setting info
Jan. 13th, 2019 02:45 pmNaal'suul is a drow from the Moonless Age comic. The species there has a lot in common with the fractious cave-dwellers popularized in the Forgotten Realms setting - they live in dense cities in huge cave systems, raid the surface for plunder and slaves, and have an oligarchic society organized around various matriarchal clans whose feuding and power plays often erupt into street warfare, and their society in general is violent and places little value on life by modern human standards.
But there are many differences too. Their goddess is absent, and unlike the FR drow whose political chaos is a permanent feature enforced by divine fiat, in MA it is a passing moment in the arc of their history, a result of faltering social cohesion, economic changes, and the assassination of the Empress. Naal's pious personality and love of spiders might be typical for an FR drow but in her own setting they make her a traditionalist clinging to defunct old ways. The drow also have little in the way of unifying external enemies; for all their flaws and self-destructiveness they are the preeminent power in their post-apocalyptic setting and the recovering surface they see not as a hated enemy but a prize to be colonized.
Unlike their generally tiny FR counterparts MA drow are larger than humans, with men averaging just under and women over seven feet. Magic is more common but weaker and comprises mostly simple elemental manipulations (ATLA is a good reference point for what most Drow mages can do). Magitech is common and money-rich, manpower-poor factions often make heavy use of 'golem tech', primitive power armor and walkers, with noble troops often using exotic magitech weapons. Nether summoning arts used to open gates to other worlds and draw out insubstantial, mana-devouring demons are the weapons of mass destruction of the setting, responsible for the near-total destruction of all prior civilizations, but despite the threat they pose they are incredibly effective as a tool of war and are still practiced.
Culturally, because drow have exceedingly long lifespans and experience senescence and reduced fertility only at very great ages, the long-lived ruling class often have enormous numbers of children through their life. Most forms of dynastic politics, such as succession, inheritance, and marriage alliances, are of greatly reduced importance compared to historical human cultures. Favorite daughters and those that emerge as winners from interhouse competition may be granted power and responsibilities within the house as administrators, but being elevated to the ruler's own level as a designated heir with broad authority is much less common, even among the most powerful houses. Chrys, for example, has rarefied status as 'an Imperial Princess' due to being only twice removed from the Empress on the family tree, but even she has to fight tooth and nail to gain the far from exclusive title of Overseer in her mother's service. Thus, drow society is in some senses intensely ossified, as singular matriarchs centuries old hold vast swaths of society to their personal preferences in an iron grip, but in others intensely dynamic and meritocratic, as even the granddaughter of the supreme ruler of all drow is in intense competition to acquire any real power.
But there are many differences too. Their goddess is absent, and unlike the FR drow whose political chaos is a permanent feature enforced by divine fiat, in MA it is a passing moment in the arc of their history, a result of faltering social cohesion, economic changes, and the assassination of the Empress. Naal's pious personality and love of spiders might be typical for an FR drow but in her own setting they make her a traditionalist clinging to defunct old ways. The drow also have little in the way of unifying external enemies; for all their flaws and self-destructiveness they are the preeminent power in their post-apocalyptic setting and the recovering surface they see not as a hated enemy but a prize to be colonized.
Unlike their generally tiny FR counterparts MA drow are larger than humans, with men averaging just under and women over seven feet. Magic is more common but weaker and comprises mostly simple elemental manipulations (ATLA is a good reference point for what most Drow mages can do). Magitech is common and money-rich, manpower-poor factions often make heavy use of 'golem tech', primitive power armor and walkers, with noble troops often using exotic magitech weapons. Nether summoning arts used to open gates to other worlds and draw out insubstantial, mana-devouring demons are the weapons of mass destruction of the setting, responsible for the near-total destruction of all prior civilizations, but despite the threat they pose they are incredibly effective as a tool of war and are still practiced.
Culturally, because drow have exceedingly long lifespans and experience senescence and reduced fertility only at very great ages, the long-lived ruling class often have enormous numbers of children through their life. Most forms of dynastic politics, such as succession, inheritance, and marriage alliances, are of greatly reduced importance compared to historical human cultures. Favorite daughters and those that emerge as winners from interhouse competition may be granted power and responsibilities within the house as administrators, but being elevated to the ruler's own level as a designated heir with broad authority is much less common, even among the most powerful houses. Chrys, for example, has rarefied status as 'an Imperial Princess' due to being only twice removed from the Empress on the family tree, but even she has to fight tooth and nail to gain the far from exclusive title of Overseer in her mother's service. Thus, drow society is in some senses intensely ossified, as singular matriarchs centuries old hold vast swaths of society to their personal preferences in an iron grip, but in others intensely dynamic and meritocratic, as even the granddaughter of the supreme ruler of all drow is in intense competition to acquire any real power.
