Post/Author/DateTime	Post
GhoX 06-24-07, 01:36 AM	Man, building a drow city is complex, a challenge I'm willing to take on. And so, I got more questions... 1. How do drow nobles and commoners address each other? And what would be their reactions. 2. What does a noble of a house usually address another noble of another house? 3. Say, if a drow noble trespassed a commoner's house just for curiosity(no purpose really), will the commoner be angry, asking questions, stunned, running away or fighting back?(There could be many commoners, they live together so I heard) What would the noble's matron mother think of it? 4. How do nobles of a house get their spending money? And do commoners with no choice of how they live get paid or do they get fed? 5. What duties are often given to noble drows with professions of wizard, priestess or fighter? Also, is assassin a profession(not class) available for nobles? 6. Just how much freedom does a noble drow get? 7. Is there any specific text of the lores drow teach about elves and that kind of false stuffs? 8. Since drow can be good/neutral, can they also be lawful(even Drizzt isn't lawful)? Also, is there any good/neutral devils/demons?(Mephasm the devil in Neverwinter Nights 2 OC is actually a lawful neutral, but then NWN series are not that accurate) Thanks for answering the previous questions about drow (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=12707650), I'm gonna half copy Menzo and half making things up. Due to lack of resources, my drow city buildings look more like deep gnomes' ones, I'll just say is due to the city's lack of building material... and I cannot apply roads with smooth surface, I only have more human-like roads.
DrowBattlemind 06-24-07, 03:03 AM	Man, building a drow city is complex, a challenge I'm willing to take on. And so, I got more questions... 1. How do drow nobles and commoners address each other? And what would be their reactions. Short answer: Very carefully Long answer: Are we taking one noble/commoner to another, or inter-class dialogue? In House communication is ruled by many factors, a females rank in the clergy, a females rank in the House itself, the ranking in drow society of each House (if two nobles of dif. Houses are talking), and if male you also factor in what rank in the male household he holds (Consort, firstboy, secondboy, etc.); Communication between Nobles and Commoners depends on one of two things: whose home turf you're on, and who's got the upper hand. 2. What does a noble of a house usually address another noble of another house? See above. 3. Say, if a drow noble trespassed a commoner's house just for curiosity(no purpose really), will the commoner be angry, asking questions, stunned, running away or fighting back?(There could be many commoners, they live together so I heard) What would the noble's matron mother think of it? Said trespasser would probably end up quickly deceased, or held for ransom. Possibly eaten. 4. How do nobles of a house get their spending money? And do commoners with no choice of how they live get paid or do they get fed? Most noble Houses are allied with Merchant Houses beholden to them, and a few hold businesses of their own (corpse reanimation, slavery, etc.) Commoners rarely ever have a choice (think of the relationship between French nobility and the commoners right before the French Revolution. Having peasants staying up all night, beating the surface of lakes and ponds with sticks so as to not have the nobles sleep disturbed by frogs; Taking services and goods without payment as one's 'Just Due'; the whole Primus Noctae crap...) 5. What duties are often given to noble drows with professions of wizard, priestess or fighter? Also, is assassin a profession(not class) available for nobles? Battlemage or scryer, Captain of the Guard.. priestess? You even have to ASK about that one??? The clergy RUN drow cities, for the most part! As for assassins (profession OR class), what Matron Mother would fail to use that kind of resource? 6. Just how much freedom does a noble drow get? More than commoners, but their lives are pretty restricted, too. In a predominatly Evil society, one has to watch one's back, regardless of social rank. 7. Is there any specific text of the lores drow teach about elves and that kind of false stuffs? Not that I know of... there's a general catechism, but the priestesses seem to embellish, ad-lib, and outright lie about it on the fly 8. Since drow can be good/neutral, can they also be lawful(even Drizzt isn't lawful)? Also, is there any good/neutral devils/demons?(Mephasm the devil in Neverwinter Nights 2 OC is actually a lawful neutral, but then NWN series are not that accurate) Player characters, yes, theoretically, but a lawful aligned Drow would be even rarer than Good aligned Drow. Thier society just isn't structured that way. Lawfull Drow would be more like Evercrack's Tier'Dal dark elves, then Drow...
Dr_Tough 06-24-07, 12:35 PM	Man, building a drow city is complex, a challenge 8. Since drow can be good/neutral, can they also be lawful(even Drizzt isn't lawful)? Also, is there any good/neutral devils/demons?(Mephasm the devil in Neverwinter Nights 2 OC is actually a lawful neutral, but then NWN series are not that accurate) Well, any monster/person and can any alignment, it's all about probability. Personally, I hate the idea of chaotic drow (or elves for that matter).
Zandilar 06-24-07, 10:41 PM	Heya, Well, any monster/person and can any alignment, it's all about probability. Personally, I hate the idea of chaotic drow (or elves for that matter). Well then, it's a good thing that 3.5e Drow are NE then, isn't it? :D (Ref: Elf, Drow (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/elf.htm). Note the Drow Elf warrior has the alignment Usually Neutral Evil.) Personally, I'd make that switch (from Chaotic to Neutral) for all Elves but Sun Elves. Sun Elves are LN or LG from everything I've read about them. Player characters, yes, theoretically, but a lawful aligned Drow would be even rarer than Good aligned Drow. Thier society just isn't structured that way. Lawfull Drow would be more like Evercrack's Tier'Dal dark elves, then Drow... With Drow being NE, Lawful Drow are just as likely as Chaotic Drow. Good Drow should clearly be rarer than Lawful Evil Drow. As for the Tier'dal... When I was playing EQ, there was a large number of players who thought of Tier'dal as Drow. They even refered to themselves as Drow and a typical greeting for RPing Tier'dal was "Vendui" - which is Drowic (specifically Forgotten Realms Drowic) for Hello - and some would even converse in Drowic. It was funny to RP back at them with: "What nonsense are you spouting? I don't understand a word you're saying!" (Despite the fact that I did understand!) I did have some (OOC) conversations with some of them, and they just didn't seem to care that Tier'dal bore little resemblance to Drow. *shrug*
Bloodtide_the_Red 06-25-07, 02:03 AM	1.It's basicaly the same all over. The nobles mostly ignore the common folk, and treat them like dirt when they must lower themselfs to deal with them. The commoners show public awe and respect to the nobles, and curse them behind thier backs. 2.General respect for a noble of equal rank, a bit more or less depending on other factors. 3.A commoner would run from a noble if they could get away. If not they would have to be as nice as possible until the noble moves on. They would not want to do anything that might get the noble house after them. 4.The nobles own everything in the society, so they easly get money from that source. Commoners get paid for thier service, maybe in coins or maybe in foods and goods. In general, a commoner is left to feed themselfs. 5.Whatever needs to be done. Noble fighters are leaders of groups of warriors, and things from patrols, to guard duity, to surface raids, to training to open warfare. Noble wizards make spells and magic items and train others. Clerics have a number of religious things to do, cermonies for things and they spend plenty of time in politics. 6.A lot. Or at least as much as they can get away with. Generaly a noble must put on a good show for thier house and anyone of a higher rank then they are. Otherwise they are free to act as they wish. 7.Nothing comes to mind. 8.It's possible to have a lawful drow. A city would have at least a couple running around. Demons are always Chaotic Evil and Devils are always Lawful Evil, as they are creatures made out of that alignment. Though it's always possible to have a rouge one of any alignment. And there are lots of other kinds of Outsiders them demons and devils. BT
GhoX 06-25-07, 07:00 AM	Thanks all for replying About the first question though, what would a drow commoner call a noble? "milord" and "milady"? Surely not... And are commoners just called "commoners" as well, like on the surface? Also, does a drow noble female call a noble male in the same/different house by his name(most of the times, just "male", I know)? And does that work the other way around as well?(if not, what do the male nobles they call the female nobles?)
Darakhoranon 06-25-07, 07:14 AM	Yes, "milady" seems a bit off - a commoner daring to even look a priestess into the eyes probably has a VERY low life expectancy... But toward a male noble, something similar to "mylord" is my best guess - if not, "master [insert house name here]" should also be ok. Noble addressing commoner: "You! Get here!" Female noble (aka priestess) addressing male noble: probably depends, anything between "You! Get here!" and "Hello darling..." That sounds off, you say? Not really - ever heard of "Spider´s Kiss"? If a drow female calls you "darling", you´re in trouble... Male noble addressing priestess: "Priestess [insert name here]" - or "Matron [insert house name here]" - anything else would almost certainly be suicide. Slow, PAINFUL suicide...
Eccerion 06-27-07, 10:05 AM	Thanks all for replying About the first question though, what would a drow commoner call a noble? "milord" and "milady"? Surely not... And are commoners just called "commoners" as well, like on the surface? Also, does a drow noble female call a noble male in the same/different house by his name(most of the times, just "male", I know)? And does that work the other way around as well?(if not, what do the male nobles they call the female nobles?) Commoner to noble = Anything and everything in the most respectful and subservient manner possible to avoid getting a beating. Also more often than not commoners will do well not to speak to a noble unless spoken to first, less they get a beating. If the noble is a matron of a house, she is addressed as "matron..." or "Matron mother..." if she has children, which most either do or are in the process of getting. Otherwise the usual title for a noble is "mistress" or "master", with additions as applicable, like "misstress Beanre". Female pristesses are usally easy enough, most will refer to them as "Priesstess <insert name>", or simply "priestess", in a respectfull manner. Those with military titles are usally refered by their rank and family name, of course military titles only matter if theres a war on, else the soldiers are on the 4th lowest step of the ladder, just above merchants, commoners and slaves. Thing to remember about drow is that all their conversations and interactions have a dominant/submisive thing to it, to them status governs all and one of the speakers will always consider herself to be the superior and one will be the inferior, and any drow who speaks out of place had better be able to back it up or...yup you guessed it, beating time! From the Drow books I've read its not unusual for those of similar status to call eachother by their given name or a nickname, take the recent War of the spider queen books for instance: oh and there will be no spoilers here so relax :) Pharaun Mizzrym and Ryld Agrith refer to eachother by their first names or family names as they please, as they are of similar social status, and neither minds the other doing it as they are friends (or as close to friends as drow usally get). However Pharaun wont go calling Quentel Baenre by any other titles then "mistress","mistress Baenre" or "priestess" unless he is prepared to taste snakeheaded whip. The comparison to pre revolution france is a good one, to the drow anyone below them in status is a tool, toy or soon to be sacrifice that exists only to further their own ends.
Soltares 06-27-07, 01:37 PM	I go to the extreme of making Drow commoners and nobles different subspecies, and their interactions colored by racial supremacist overtones. The Drow nobles are the ones with the LA+1 and special powers (which any surface elf will say come from interbreeding with demons, ignoring that deep dwelling svirfneblin and duergar *also* have powers not native to their their gnomish / dwarvish heritage, suggesting that it's something to do with location, location, location), while the commoners are 'thin-bloods' created by interbreeding with 'lesser races.' Drow, like most low Con Elven races, after all, aren't the most fertile creatures on the planet, and their cities are crawling with what the Players Guide to Faerun would term 'Lesser Drow,' the result of the noble Drow males interbreeding with various slave races.
Eccerion 06-27-07, 04:43 PM	I go to the extreme of making Drow commoners and nobles different subspecies, and their interactions colored by racial supremacist overtones. The Drow nobles are the ones with the LA+1 and special powers (which any surface elf will say come from interbreeding with demons, ignoring that deep dwelling svirfneblin and duergar *also* have powers not native to their their gnomish / dwarvish heritage, suggesting that it's something to do with location, location, location), while the commoners are 'thin-bloods' created by interbreeding with 'lesser races.' Drow, like most low Con Elven races, after all, aren't the most fertile creatures on the planet, and their cities are crawling with what the Players Guide to Faerun would term 'Lesser Drow,' the result of the noble Drow males interbreeding with various slave races. A point to that; All drows have the abilities listen in their racial discriptions, their powers come from the fact that they are elves who have been living in the radiation of the underdark for a very long time, and that underdark radiation produces some weird stuff thats for sure. In the days of yore of 2nd ed your average drow had the standard set of powers and the nobles had the extra packedge (levitate, know alignment, and detect magic) and the priestesses had an additional power up (detect lie, clairvoyance, suggestion and dispel magic), nowadays the same applies cept not all of them have it, only the ones who take the appropriate feats. Drow are farily uniqe in that they are one of the only races who interbreed with demons and other nasties in order to create half-breeds on purpose. To a drow noblehouse the addition of a Half-fiend, tiefling or whatever is seen as a sign of Lolths favor and a strategic advantage, and nay house "blessed" with the birth of a draegloth will be making plans to expand its influence within minuttes of the creature being born.
Shiftkitty 06-27-07, 09:06 PM	In my gameworld, commoners do not speak to a noble of either gender unless spoken to, and he'd better answer fast. If summoned by a noble, the only correct response is to scurry your butt over there, bow as deeply as you can (going to at least one knee is always a good move) and saying (but not more loudly than the noble's voice) "Your servant awaits, milord/mistress." Among commoners, drow will address each other by whatever is comfortable. Friends (i.e., those who do not have a knife pointed at your back that you know of) may use first names, nicknames, whatever. Drow to any lesser race is either by name or race at the drow's choosing. The lesser race, unless the two are on close terms, uses 'sir' or 'madam'. Between nobles, well, who's kissing whose butt? Males, I've read, select their own heirarchy within a House while the females have a very rigid system better described elsewhere. The first book of the Dark Elf Trilogy covers quite a bit of that. Depending on an individual's goals, what they call their superiors to their faces is one thing. What they call them behind their backs is something else altogether, and should probably never be repeated (unless you've overheard something and you're currying favor with the superior...) That's just in my game, however. Here's a site where there's a lot of nifty info and some fun artwork in the gallery: http://drowcampaign.roleplaynexus.com/drowsociety.html