During the cleansing wars a small group of elves escaped Rajjat's champions by fleeing into the lands within the wind, the feywild. Back during this time the Feywild was just as verdant as Athas was in those days. These elves became quite in tune in their new environment and adapted to it, they became the Eladrin. Because of the eladrin's anger towards the champions, they launched a hidden war upon them through the feywild, aiding races in danger of cleansing, thwarting the champions' plans ect. However many of them took it a step further and decided to fight fire with fire, they learned how to use Arcane magic, the champions' primary enemy against them. One of the things they learned was that Arcane magic took a different form in the Lands within the Wind, there was simply so much life that it channeled it differently. Many Eladrin became adept in this form of Arcane Magic but found they could not use it outside of the Feywild, the Eladrin found however that through a series of complicated rituals one could bind your magic's source to a certain part of the feywild, and thus use it anywhere. This form of magic became known as a fey pact.
After the cleansing wars, the Eladrin continued their war on the Sorceror Kings, however they encountered a problem. While the Fewild offered much power for Arcane users, it paid a dear price. The barriers of the Lands within the wind were literally shrinking, and some Eladrin began to talk of not using arcane magic anymore. As the Feywild continued to shrink, most of the Eladrin restricted the use of Arcane Magic and turned to Psionic magic. However a few groups no longer cared, Arcane magic offered them power, and they would continue to use that power whatever the price. This group of the Eladrin continued, until the other Eladrin declared open war upon them in order to stop them, however these Drow (An elven word meaning outcast) had numerous tricks up their sleeves. They corrupted numerous fey creatures with their arcan magic in order to use them as servants, these included the proud Belogi, one of their most horrible creations were the Fomorians, created from Giants infused with dark arcane magic. Over centuries of using these terrible powers the Drow themselves became infused with defiling magic, their hair was drained of color while their skin turned the color of obsidian.
Still they war, Eladrin and Drow, both in the feywild and on Athas. Many Drow have fled the shrinking Feywild to establish holds in the underground ruins and caverns of Athas, coming out only at night to raid and enslave from nearby communities. In their holds the greatest Arcane caster holds court, and all Drow must pledge their allegiance to him or her or else be executed through Defiling, literally draining their life to be used for other dark projects.
Comments?
Here is how I would explain the drow. They are simply eladrin of another province/season/abstract. Their alignments are just as varied as the other races. Maybe have them mostly good. They could be eladrins who fled from the defilement and wars, deep under the Feywild. Or better yet, they could have fled into the Gray and simply adapted/evolved into Shadow Fey. And in the Gray, they could have maybe discovered and bound themselves to a primordial (or god) of darkness/entropy. And said god/primordial turned its back on Athas and left ages ago, leaving its children to fend for themselves.
I've always wanted an excuse to make the drow into a race equivalent to the [black-skinned, white haired, & long lived] Tiste Andii of the Malazan series (children of Mother Dark, a primordial goddess of entropy from which all creation sprang forth).
I suppose i was wrong in pigeonholing them, but i just didn't want all the good drow monsters that wizards has given us on some race that can't be a master villan type of race. To be honest i kind of tied them in with Dark Eldar from Warhammer 40k, and linked them with several other fey creatures like fomorians and belogi. Besides like in other settings there would bound to be rengades.
Also, having drow as the Feywild-based Eladrin's main antagonists, and responsible for much of the damage done their is a nice expansion of that idea. They're kinda analogous to the Champions in that way, exploiting the environment around them for their own gain, and ignoring the greater consequences. So the drow would always be in the Eladrin's sights, and any of the Champions would be more than interested in gaining an advantage through this alternate source of magical energy. Or maybe this is knowledge Albeorn has always kept for himself? And knowing the drow, they'll happily tempt even the Sorcerer-Kings with knowledge of the Feywild and it's untapped potential. Especially if doing so threatens the precious Eladrin all the more.
What about the Grey/Shadowfell? Does magic work in a similar fashion there, i.e. magical energy can be drawn without affecting local flora, but shrinking the size of the plane? How would this affect those with access to the Shadow power source? How would that, in turn, effect/be seen by the Shadow Giants that dwell there? And how might it affect the stability of any neighbouring extra-dimensional prisons that might just happen to be in the vicinity ..?
I might ignore thier arcane ties and make them "the eladrin that turned thier back on arcane magic". Thier "god" marked them with dark skin (maybe thier god is the obsidian scorpion).
Having them also be expert defiliers just fits though... hair drained of color and skin the color of ash... Just too easy.
Though I was at first reluctant to introduce races such as the drow in the Dark Sun setting, it appears that all of the races can have a logical reason to exist on Athas. I did not look for ways to include them because my players are quite content with the list of races from the DSCS, but I will certainly turn my attention to such matters.
There are many great ideas in this thread I will undoubtedly borrow for my campaign. The important fact is to remember that all races are very different from the original ones and must be included in the "flavor" of the Dark Sun world.
Thank you for the creativity contained within this thread.
The important fact is to remember that all races are very different from the original ones and must be included in the "flavor" of the Dark Sun world.
EXACTA!
I had another idea btw. Why not have the drow be eladrin native to what is now called The Dead Lands, an area of a vast obsidian plain to the South of the Tyr Region, inadvertently created by the Defiler Qwith, an agent of Rajaat studying the inner planes. When the arcane catastrophe transformed the land into obsidian, the Feywild counterpart, and its native eladrin, were warped as well.
This is what I wrote up some months back for the Drow (where I also tied them to the Dead Lands...heh):
Drow or “dark elves” are undead who were a cabal of elven wizards in life -- born into an era of genocidal, xenophobic conflict -- whose existence was perpetuated beyond the moment of their death through some unknown combination of arcane forces. Each is marked by the sorcerous power they wielded in life, able to conjure minor sorceries at will, though not all pursued the path of the wizard after their Rising.
-They have seen great wars and been twisted by them.
-They are few, perhaps a few dozen to a couple hundred at most.
-They live atop the mountain peaks and rarely deign to descend to the desert lands.
-Their ruined citadels of obsidian and ash host the Elloth: giant spiders psionically linked as a hive-mind.
-The elves often wear the spider’s chitin, along with spidery symbols.
-Their exact relationship with the Elloth is unknown.
-They are revered and worshiped by the elves of the Tyr region, as the oldest elders and repositories of forgotten elven lore; many young elven defilers train with the drow.
One of the reasons that i decided to have Drow still tied with the Feywild was because it allowed me to tie in a lot of other things along with it, i've seen lots of people question the existence of the Fey pact in Dark Sun, since now the fey are primarily Arcane haters, tying Drow to the Fey pact allowed me to have a reason why some fey would still associate with it, I think i might include a few Ebberonish elements, but their society would be more tied to the most powerful Arcane caster, with a ritual form of arcane dueling in order to become the new leader. However they are not scorpian worshippers, quite the contrary, while the Drow of most societies are fantics to one evil god or another, the Drow of my creation would never put some higher power above theirselves.
Also on the subject of The Gray and Arcane Magic i believe that if The Feywild and the Shadowfell are opposites then the Gray would grow in response to Arcane magic, however this would not be a good kind of growth, more like a cancer, a growth that corrupts the inhabitantes to further heights.
As a side note Shadar-Kai could be a race that has been so corrupted by this that they travel out into Athas to exsperiance the thrill of defiling everything in their path.
You need to recreate the Dark Elves much like Dark Sun recreated the Elves for Athas.
The Drow were originally created by Tolken and are too similar to his description in most D&D games.
You need to recreate the Dark Elves much like Dark Sun recreated the Elves for Athas.
Drow seem a perfect fit for the world of Athas. You could go as far as to give them their own city and even a "sorcerrer-king/queen" of sorts. Seeing as so many Athasian races are so different from other campaign world counterparts, I'd consider tweaking them significantly. I feel that without the divine influences they have in other worlds they might be a kinder, gentler race (or not). They'd definately be less chaotic. Personally, I'd likely make them albino and give them an afinity for alchemy (carry over from their extensive use of poison in other worlds), just to turn it all "on it's head".
Why do drow have to be evil at all? While I commend your creativity, I have to disagree in pigeonholing drow into the same mold other campaign settings keep putting them in. Dark Sun is about turning those traditions upside down; halflings are cannibalistic "savages", elves are gypsies, and dwarves are bald. BALD!!!
I'll have to agree. Why not give Drow a completely innovative Sword & Sorcery spin (DS style)?!? In the traditional D&D settings Drow are evil in part because of their strong cultural/religious associations with Demons and Lolth. DS has no such deities. Perhaps dark elves are the opposite, the paragons of virtue. Perhaps they are psionic aesthetes, perfecting their bodies. Perhaps they are not matriarchal at all, prefering to be led by a democratic system. Perhaps they are raised/trained/made to be the perfect assassins and live in desert enclaves where they are raised from young to become the perfect killers (for the highest bidder).
Just suggestions.
they believe in an "ideal" so strongly they can draw upon divine energy... They can be avengers and paladins , and runepriests that believe so strongly in a single ideal/virtue/or reason. I would deny clerics still as they actually representing worship.
In this way they can still be EVIL but it's the more noble Lawful evil of editions past: they can also be truely good if thier ideal is good.
The Drow were originally created by Tolken and are too similar to his description in most D&D games.
Can I get a citation on this?
The drow were originally created by Tolken and are too similar to his description in most D&D games.
Drow are actually, as far as I know, nothing like Tolkien's dark elves. In his mythology, when elves came into existence the gods invited them to live alongside them in a continental divine haven which was the only lit land in the world; there was no sun or moon yet, just the light of these special trees. Not all elves decided to go, though. Those that did became the foundations for the three broadest sub-races of elves as we know them in popular culture: High Elves were those that chose to live in the light of the gods, Wood Elves are those that began the emigration but never finished and eventually settling in areas like Lothlorien, and Dark Elves are those who never ever saw the light of the trees.
Get it? Dark? Never saw light? Har har.
Anyway, I really like Eberron's take on elves in general. The Valenar are pretty similar to how I'd view Athas' elves anyway, and I could imagine drow as some hybrid between their Xen'drik jungle-inhabiting scorpion-worshipping versions and Blizzard's night elves. They'd live in a rival tension with halflings in the Forest Ridge and be ancient masters of primal magic.
Alternatively, they might still dwell in the Underdark. This hollow cavern beneath the world would be much smaller than, say, the Underdark in the Forgotten Realms but it would be even harsher than the surface world of Athas; it would be far hotter, as if it were some baking oven in the core of the world where the dying sun's energy was amplified to a horrid degree. Drow might live as outcasts of the shattered Feywild because they chose to continue channeling defiling magic while their eladrin cousins moved on to the psionic masters they now are.
Although I really like the idea someone said of them coming from one of the moons...
Anyway, I really like Eberron's take on elves in general. The Valenar are pretty similar to how I'd view Athas' elves anyway, and I could imagine drow as some hybrid between their Xen'drik jungle-inhabiting scorpion-worshipping versions and Blizzard's night elves. They'd live in a rival tension with halflings in the Forest Ridge and be ancient masters of primal magic.
I do like how Eberron treats drow too. AFAIK Tolkien's dark elves are elves that never journeyed to the Undying lands and saw the lights of the Two Trees.
I'm not much of a lore expert, but what if the Drow were just a tribe of Nomadic Elves that try to avoid the tyranny of the Sorceror Kings. As they stayed under the Dark Sun their skin became scorched and charred creating the race of the Drow. Most adventurers seeing these charred individuals can tell that they know their way around the desert.
Most people who are not loyal to the Sorceror kings see the Drow as the epitome of freedom. Those who work for Sorceror Kings see them as rebels and the highest form of evil. Most captured Drow are thrown to the Arenas, however the Sorceror Kings have been known to recruit especially talented Drow, mainly to sell out their own race.
Drow are generally good natured but are distrusting of strangers. While Elf Bandits are more likely to ambush, Drow are more likely to disappear if adventures venture into their camps. The highest responsibility for a Drow is to be on the watch. Most of the tribe's equipment comes from fallen travellers. If they are lucky sometimes they will scavenge delect vehicles.
It is not uncommon for Drow to travel alone. If a tribe grows too large for the safety of the tribe they will banish members or send them to find their fortune. This leads to many Drow finding refuge in cities or as guides for adventurers.
I tend to stray away from backstories too dedicated to magic.
I tend to stray away from backstories too dedicated to magic.
Even though every one of my suggestions involved it somehow, I like this suggestion. All the other species' connections to magic are pretty downplayed for a setting ravaged by magic, so to say the drow are no different makes a lot of sense.
On the other hand I feel like the rest of your suggestion just sounds too much like elves and the tieflings' shoe-in. I mean no insult, I just feel like the last thing Athas needs is another desert-wandering nomadic tribe
(brano, didnt read your post before making mine :P)
I tend to stray away from backstories too dedicated to magic.
Even though every one of my suggestions involved it somehow, I like this suggestion. All the other species' connections to magic are pretty downplayed for a setting ravaged by magic, so to say the drow are no different makes a lot of sense.
On the other hand I feel like the rest of your suggestion just sounds too much like elves and the tieflings' shoe-in. I mean no insult, I just feel like the last thing Athas needs is another desert-wandering nomadic tribe
Thanks for the suggestions. I just made it on the fly and I haven't gotten my Dark Sun book yet(getting it soon). I'm planning on DMing a DS campaign in January when my friends and I are out of school.
When I was looking at the Drow for Dark Sun I immediatly saw them as sundamaged beings that if someone saw on the street would know that this guy knows the desert.
I could imagine my players meeting a Drow who acts as sort of a ranger of the wastes. He would be the type of guy who walks the world cautiously. Basically a survivalist.
The idea that the Drow have lived under the sun longer than any other race just seems right to me, I also considered how dwarves seems to have lost hair due to sun exposure, at least thats what I'm told.
The Drow were originally created by Tolken and are too similar to his description in most D&D games.
As with most of what he created, Tolkien borrowed from existing mythology. Dark elves originally came from Norse mythology, the svartálfar ("black elves") or dökkálfar ("dark elves") who lived underground.
However, in the Norse myths, the dark elves were misshapen and ugly, with corpse white skin, and bristly black hair and beards, and were generally indistinguishable from dwarves and trolls, especially in later sources. They are considered earth spirits, bringers of good or bad luck, wise and greedy, and are the greatest of all craftsmen, especially in metalwork; they live like corpses or rocks, sitting still and moving rarely, and they turn to stone/die in sunlight. Some sources state they were responsible for all the maledictions of humanity, even whispering bad dreams into sleepers' ears.
Wandering nomad tribes, sure, in a way, but they live in the steep, high Ringing Mountains. Think of like, the dark elves in Morrowind. These Athasian drow would be very xenophobic, as I picture standard drow, but they have a rich culture of mythology and clan relations. If you really wanted the Morrowind vibe you could even through them around the Smoking Crown. They don't have to be powerful magical shaman, although they would certainly revere the volcanic spirits that may (or may not) actually be there...
Drow, elves defiled by arcane magic. Before arcane magic destroyed the world the Drow were reknowed for their magical expertise. Now they are very conflicted, there are two religions of Drow the Old Ones, believers of returning to their original forms before arcane magic change them, and the Ascended, believe that they are destined to takeover the world.
Settlements can be found near defiled territory, but are seldom visited. Not just because of their choose of camp, it is not unheard of for Drow to perform ritualistic sacrifice on outsiders, especially arcanists. The Old Ones believe that releasing the life force of outsiders can give life back to the earth, while the Ascended use sacrifices to power their own defiling. Ascended camps are decorated with cages filled with prisoners and animals to help power their magic blood thirst.
Drows are rarely seen away from defilement, most travel in order to learn more while some are banished from their tribes. Sometimes traders will enslave Drow Preservers and sell them to Nobles as entertainers or as appraisers of magical artifacts.
Drows are rarely seen away from defilement, most travel in order to learn more while some are banished from their tribes. Sometimes traders will enslave Drow Preservers and sell them to Nobles as entertainers or as appraisers of magical artifacts.
I was about to ask how a preserver could safely be an entertainer... and then I remembered that bards are now an Arcane class, as opposed to the kludge they were in 1e. So I guess it could work.
I'm still sorta wondering how a race produced by defiling corruption would handle one of its own trying to preserve. Or would the idea of preserving be so alien to them that a preserver would be laughed at?
I was about to ask how a preserver could safely be an entertainer... and then I remembered that bards are now an Arcane class, as opposed to the kludge they were in 1e. So I guess it could work.
I'm still sorta wondering how a race produced by defiling corruption would handle one of its own trying to preserve. Or would the idea of preserving be so alien to them that a preserver would be laughed at?
Yeah, most of this I'm probably not going to use in my own campaign. If a player decides to do use a Drow though, Ill try and talk him through about what he thinks would be good for his own story and then build off from there.
To my comments before:
I feel its something thats hardwired into their bodies now. They can't live without it in some fashion. In times of moral strife some people decide to shun the old ways while others embrace them. The Drow are the latter in this case.
A Drow preserver would actually be seen as an honor, in this case. They are very much dedicated in both the preserving of the world and the furthering of Arcana. Most likely Drow in Cities might find themselves joining the Veiled Alliance.
As for the bit about the entertainer a battlemind could be an Athasian minstrel if he wanted, same with a Minotaur.
I'm coming up with an idea for a tribe of Drow that have created implements for absorbing small quantities of defiled area, though these implements are only able to move the defilement, not actually destroy it. It does not have the power to evaporate their own defilement.
I also like a previous poster's idea of having the drow come from one of the lush, habitable moons of Athas. The DSCG mentions defunct moongates that are scattered/buried about Athas. The drow could then be refluffed as Star Elves, with their skin as black as the night sky and hair as pale as the moon.
OR, combine both of the above backgrounds and have the drow be elves who escaped the Dead Lands through their moongate, as their homeland was being defiled and transformed.
@603 If we redubbed the drow as Star Elves, they would be the perfect race for your bard. He or she could have stranded himself on Athas by way of a moongate, and is looking to uncover and restore interplanetary travel.
Note: the real star elves are from Faerun, and they were known for their performing arts. just fyi
@603 If we redubbed the drow as Star Elves, they would be the perfect race for your bard. He or she could have stranded himself on Athas by way of a moongate, and is looking to uncover and restore interplanetary travel.
Note: the real star elves are from Faerun, and they were known for their performing arts. just fyi
Star Elves? Guess this is what I get for not being able to get my hands on enough of the 2e-era Forgotten Realms stuff to coherently piece anything together. That having been said, I'd rather such an elf was an escapee from Athas' fading Feywild than imported from another world.
A Drow preserver would actually be seen as an honor, in this case. They are very much dedicated in both the preserving of the world and the furthering of Arcana. Most likely Drow in Cities might find themselves joining the Veiled Alliance.
Lolwhut?
They're a race based upon DEFILING. Defilers don't care about whether or not arcane magic is preserved. The whole point is that they see the supply as always available, and they'll always take what they want. Having a race of defilers suddenly start producing preservers (and having preservers highly respected, no less) makes about as much sense as some of the circular arguments that the War of the Lance era of Dragonlance isn't playable because the Dragonlance novels told all the stories that can be told in that time bracket.
They're a race based upon DEFILING. Defilers don't care about whether or not arcane magic is preserved. The whole point is that they see the supply as always available, and they'll always take what they want. Having a race of defilers suddenly start producing preservers (and having preservers highly respected, no less) makes about as much sense as some of the circular arguments that the War of the Lance era of Dragonlance isn't playable because the Dragonlance novels told all the stories that can be told in that time bracket.
Well I'll defend this idea for a bit. My idea is that the Drow are trying to redeem themselves in someway. Sort of like how a drunk driver might give up drinking altogether after accidently killing someone. In this case they are not as severe as the Eladrin, because they still see the good side of using Arcana, ie preserving.
Star Elves? Guess this is what I get for not being able to get my hands on enough of the 2e-era Forgotten Realms stuff to coherently piece anything together. That having been said, I'd rather such an elf was an escapee from Athas' fading Feywild than imported from another world.
The star elves are eladrin of the Sildeyuir demiplane, a realm built in the Feywild coterminous with the Yuirwood forest of Aglarond. Anyways, you could still use the other part of my suggestion which keeps your desire to have the drow as refugees from their devastated home. They could have escaped Athas to one of its moons via a moongate.
Well I'll defend this idea for a bit. My idea is that the Drow are trying to redeem themselves in someway.
This sounds too much like Drizzt and the Eilistraeean drow. Honestly, why must the drow try to redeem themselves? What is there to redeem? Why can't they be faultless for a change? Too often are the drow punished for past crimes instead of simply being victims. And no, Eberron drow do not count as they are still thought of as outcasts among their paler kin.
IMO, if the drow were elves warped by defiling magic, then I would have them absolutely abhor anything to do with arcane magic. They would instead rely on psionics, martial, and/or shadow (assassin) power sources. Primal works as drow can now choose Wisdom instead of Charmisma. If one must pair them with arcane magic, I would have them be sorcerers; drawing upon inborn talent and energy instead of siphoning from the "Weave" of Athas.
Arcane drow: storm or wild sorcerers (bards could work as well)
Martial drow: artful dodger or sharpshooter rogues, archer or beastmaster rangers (dex/wis based fighters are viable)
Primal drow: predator druid, bloodbond seeker (dex/cha barbarians can work)
Psionic drow: ardents, centered breath monk (telepath psions and cha based battleminds work as well)
Shadow: nightstalker assassin
Shortly before the end of the Primordial/Gods war, some of the gods foresaw the ruin that was soon to come to Athas. One of the elven deities decided to try and safeguard some of his favoured children. A group of some of the most devoted eladrin were placed underground in a divinely sealed vault which the god hoped would keep them safe. What he didn't forsee was how badly the loss of the war would harm the gods. It is unknown whether the deities were actually killed or simply went silent, but regardless, the vault which should have opened within a few years never did.
Over the next thousands of years the trapped eladrin eventually gave up, as they adapted to their underground habitat, they grew to believe that the world above was either unsafe or never existed in the first place, and so fewer and fewer resources or people were focused on escape. Recently, however, escape was achieved. Through a combination of magical efforts and simple digging, a few of these drow have begun to find their way to the surface.
While not actively evil, they are a little mistrustful of other races due to their years of isolation. Other races have very few predisposed notions of the drow, simply due to the drow's small numbers (and the even smaller number of them that come to the surface) and the fact that they've only recently started making their way to the surface.)
The drow also have 2 other notable traits: due to their history and much of who they are being defined by the deities, the drow are one of the few races on Athas who still actively believe in the gods, though they also as a whole have a bit of a resentment for them. Also, they have one of the only remaining records of Athas before the Sorcerer-Kings, something the Sorcerer-Kings are surely not going to appreciate if they find out.
Combination of some stuff suggested by friends over IM, another thread somewhere on this board, and a couple references to Fallout 3.
Through a combination of magical efforts and simple digging, a few of these drow have begun to find their way to the surface.
Rather than say they were actively try to escape after so much time, why not use the big earthquake that splits the Jagged Cliffs as a sudden, unexpected opening of the drow vault to the world above?
Say they have mostly forgotten their history, having spent centuries fighting for survival, murdering one another over the scarce resources of the vault (which was, after all, originally built only to hold them for a few years), trapped in a rigid survivalist culture where everything is tightly rationed and controlled, where most of their psionic "technology" has failed or is failing.
Now, some drow want to venture out into the world beyond to gather resources, explore, and rebuild their people, a sign from the gods that the day of their return is near. Others demand it is the will of the gods for them to remain in the vault and this is a test of faith, and the new world is an illusion created by evil primordial demons (who have tricked and deluded the leaders of the expansionists).
This leads to the brewing of a civil war between expansionist and isolationist factions.
The presence of actual elemental cultists--the mentally disturbed or those who have given up on the silent gods as either a myth or as the actual tormenting demons--may not help the stability of the situation either. Especially if they suddenly begin to manifest powers after the vault's seals are broken.
Perhaps the leaders of the traditional isolationists--powerful psionicists who claim to be the priests of the silent gods--have even known about the world above for centuries, but deemed any excursion there taboo because, they believed, the gods had not yet willed an end to their time in the vault.
Or perhaps they really have been totally cut off, sealed in by ancient wards that kept them invisible and hidden from the world beyond, and as a side effect, the world beyond invisible and hidden from them.
---
Another idea unconnected to the one above, is that the drow could be elves who escaped into the Shadowfell and became trapped, they have lurked there for all the Kings' Ages since the Cleansing Wars, only occasionally finding a way to slip out of the shadows and into the sunlit world.
I'm taking them in a different, unique direction. I hope i don't offend the purists.
Millennia ago, as Athas was being destroyed by over use of magic, a large clan of Elves fled underground. It's no longer remembered why they did this, however it's likely that they were attempting to escape the arcane forces that were ravaging the fey wild of the surface, and they wanted to find peace with the nature of the underground.
Over time these elves began to change, and they began to adapt to their surroundings both physically and psychologically. They lost all pigmentation, as their natural tan skin and earth colored hair turned to ghostly white. They lost the ability to see, their eyes becoming vestigial and glazed over. Instead the perceive their world through echo-location (like bats) by making clicking sounds with their throat.
Their society changed to a "survival of the fittest" mentality, as resources are scarce underground. The once large clan split into multiple smaller clans. They became a cruel people, in-fighting and raiding being almost constant.
The surface world had faded to legend. Legends that speak of a paradise that was stolen from the Drow. A place that eventually the Drow will return to and enact vengeance on those that took paradise away from them. That being said, however, many refuted its very existence. Until one Drow (still have to think of a name) accidentally found his way out of the underground. He has now come back and told stories of his discovery. With the revelation that the surface world does truly exist, the Drow have decided that now is the time for their vengeance.
The Drow are coming to reclaim the surface, and to kill all who reside there.
**still need to work out logistics on how Drow can function on the surface. But i'm sure i'll think of something to make it work.**
If I remember correctly, the Silt Horrors are all that's left of the Illithids, over the centuries of genocidal war with the Giths, they devolved into a more base form, swimming around the sea of silt and preying upon others with their deceitful psionic powers.
One way you could incorporate Drow is that they too have de-evolved in some way. I threw a Cwindencha at my PC's recently, without giving it's origins much thought. Perhaps that's all that's left of the splinter society of elves who fled the cleansing wars.
Another thing you could explore are the 2 moons, Ral and Guthay. Perhaps the Drow live on them, having fled there through some kid of portal. Or perhaps a long forgotten network of portals exist deep beneath the sands of the tablelands.
Fun stuff.