Drow?

[DKEvermore]

I have created a sub-race of Elves who were driven underground during the
human-elf wars pre-deismaar that are kinda a neat. You might like to do
something similar in your campaign.

I took the idea of Shadow Elves from Mystara and added my own special
abilities depending on the Clan. My players read this list so I won't go into
detail, but here are some rumors around Anuire:

1) The Shadowed ones (or deep elves) have lived underground for nearly 2000
years now and have apparently thrived in their new environment.

2) They used their powerful magic (much of which was lost to surface elves in
the post-Deismaar years) to modify, can we say warp?, themselves in order to
compete in this strange new environment. This has caused some real
psychological problems for some of them (alignment CN with some derangments to
a greater or lesser degree). Note--if any of you are familiar with the
Warhammer setting, I have taken all lot from their Dark Elf cultures, minus
the diety worship. The warping gives them a few extra abilities, and I've
developed the new Witch Elf Kit fighter-mage kit.

3) They had lived primarily in 4 large subterrainien cities that existed
somewhere betwen the real world and the shadow world, and thus could not be
easily found. (The Shadow Elves have since returned to Cerilia somewhere, but
still underground.)

4) They are attempting new diplomatic ties with the surface elves and many
humans fear, intend to continue the human-elf wars. Leaders fear the elves,
discovered marching by night in Tuornen, Avanil, Rhoubhe's Domain?!, and
Boeruine last year, may now be able to use underground tunnels and gain an
edge. It is said that a Half-Elven regent in the area may have been able to
prevent a successful negotiation with Rhoubhe Man-Slayer.

5) The Shadowed ones return have disturbed many Orog tribes deep within the
earth...

But after all the rumors came out over the course of a game year, the focus in
my campaign switched to Bechtur and has been so for a couple game years now.
::chuckle::

- -DKE

[darkstar]

Brian Stoner wrote:

> My subsequent campaigns do not have them...at all. But, the possibility of some
> sort of Dark Elf in the Shadow World intrigues me...

There is of course the Dark Elf like race that was created by a player
in my pbem game that was to be part of my Adurian expansion. I am
currently undecided about using them, but the information is still there
at the following address
http://darkstar.cyberserv.com/netbook/aduria/aduriaraces.html
if anyone is interested. Even if I do not use it in Aduria I will put
the info on the race in a seperate file on my page for everyone to read.

- --
Ian Hoskins

e-Mail: hoss@box.net.au
Homepage: http://darkstar.cyberserv.com
ICQ: 2938300

[Neil Barnes]

On Tue, 17 Mar 1998, Daniel McSorley wrote:
> Reasoned response: I have never heard anything about an underdark per se in
> Aebrynis, though there is occasional mention of the network of orog tunnels
> (I think exaggerated).

I like the idea of some sorts of localised 'underdarks' - perhaps
running under some of the major mountain ranges. They're mentioned in
Sword & Crown, no? Although I thought they were presented as being a
little straight forward there - I'd prefer to make them a little more
terrifying.

I'm thinking a lot of the way the Goblin tunnels under the misty
mountains were presented in The Hobbit - they ran the length of the
mountain chains, and the deepest Dwarven mines occasionally touched
deeper, darker places under the earth...

Ecology deviation ahead:

One way that might work well to handle an Underdark to is to approach it
in more ecological terms - because there's no vegetation to support a
population, the residents of the underdark have to raid the surface, or
have remote mountain farms like the dwarves do [1]. As for the
traditional fungus growers - fungus needs a source of energy (usually
decaying organic matter) to feed off - so fungus cultivation will only
be possible in areas where this detritus can be found. The only species
in RL that cultivates fugus underground as their sole source of food are
leaf-cutter ants, which use leaves from the surface as a substrate for
the fungus.

The main source of organic input into underground ecosystems would be
from rivers which disappear underground - they represent a source of
dissolved nutrients, aquatic life and in the right seasons waterborn
detritus such as leaves. So aquatic & semi-aquatic life could be found
around underground rivers.

One fairly cool thing that happened in our Anuire campaign was being
told by one of the other players that Orog tunnels had been found under
Endier [2] - I like the image of the Orogs boring away at the heart of
Anuire, poised to strike and overthrow human society - it reminds me of
a really dodgy film from the fifties or sixties I once saw in which evil
Chinese hordes had tunneled under the Pacific with laser borers and were
about to destroy god-fearing american society (or something).

I like this sort of paranoia about what's going on under our feet - it
crops up in a few Lovecraft stories as well, and could be tapped to good
effect in a BR game, where the ground under their character's feet is
very important to the players.

neil

[1] There was an interesting photoarticle in (I think the Observer or
the Sunday Times - so you furrin types are out of luck - some months
back) which had pictures of some remote part of China where the
mountains had been quarried into rice terraces over thousands of years.
These places were huge - whole mountains had been slowly sculpted by
generations of farmers.

[2] Although when you think about it it's pretty unlikely, because you
be flooded by the watertable, which must be pretty high thsat close to
the Maesil.

[Mark A Vandermeulen]

Excellent ideas here, by the way.

On Wed, 18 Mar 1998, Neil Barnes wrote:

> [2] Although when you think about it it's pretty unlikely, because you
> be flooded by the watertable, which must be pretty high thsat close to
> the Maesil.

Not necessarily. There are many kinds of rock which are impermeable to
water: they just don't have the myriad little cracks and crevices which
water runs through in other kinds of rock. If there happens to be an
outcropping of such rock (its been a long time since my geology course,
but basalt and granite come to mind) in the area, the orogs could easily
tunnel through those areas. Although a certain amount of care must be
taken: build your tunnel two close to the edge of the formation and you've
just created a new underground river rather than a highway of invasion.

Mark VanderMeulen
vander+@pitt.edu

[Michael Andrew Cullingha]

> Not necessarily. There are many kinds of rock which are impermeable to
> water: they just don't have the myriad little cracks and crevices which
> water runs through in other kinds of rock. If there happens to be an
> outcropping of such rock (its been a long time since my geology course,
> but basalt and granite come to mind) in the area, the orogs could easily
> tunnel through those areas. Although a certain amount of care must be
> taken: build your tunnel two close to the edge of the formation and you've
> just created a new underground river rather than a highway of invasion.
>
> Mark VanderMeulen
> vander+@pitt.edu

Heh heh. I can picture it now...

"Uh, sire, a couple of orog bodies just surfaced in that lake
in the center of the city. You know, the one fed by an
underground river..."

Mike

[Neil Barnes]

On Wed, 18 Mar 1998, Mark A Vandermeulen wrote:
> Excellent ideas here, by the way.

But of course :)

> Not necessarily. There are many kinds of rock which are impermeable to
> water: they just don't have the myriad little cracks and crevices which
> water runs through in other kinds of rock.

D'oh. Good point.

> If there happens to be an
> outcropping of such rock (its been a long time since my geology course,
> but basalt and granite come to mind) in the area, the orogs could easily
> tunnel through those areas.

Do we have a geologists on the list? I'd love to see some informed
speculation about the geology that underlies Cerilia.

> Although a certain amount of care must be
> taken: build your tunnel two close to the edge of the formation and you've
> just created a new underground river rather than a highway of invasion.

This was my suggestion to rad when I heard about the problem...

Flood the tunnels and by observing where the bolting Orogs emerge you
can find out where they've tunnelled to, although it's a bit of a
bummer if they emerge in your capital. As it is he just got a mage to
collapse the tunnels instead.

neil

[Bruce MIller]

patera wrote:

> Do drow exist under Aebrynis?

In the Adventure "Warlock of the Stonecrowns" there is referance to a dead drow
with
corroded chian mail. I do nat have the tome in front of me, but I believe the
dead drow is found in a room with many pits and covered in continual darkness.

[LordSchmit]

>Flood the tunnels and by observing where the bolting Orogs emerge you
>can find out where they've tunnelled to, although it's a bit of a
>bummer if they emerge in your capital. As it is he just got a mage to
>collapse the tunnels instead.
>
>neil

That'd be an interesting Realm spell. "Flood Tunnels". Useful if you live next
to an Orog realm. (:

[Tim Nutting]

Don't know if anyone else wrote or thought of this -

The Drow were created (According to the Complete Book of Elves) when some
chose to follow Lolth against Corellan Lothlorien (sp?) in a great and
ancient war.

As there are no elven gods on Aebyrnis, how can there be drow, cursed with
black skin and forced to live underground?

If Planar Portals is the answer then what the hell, lets just throw in a
few Immortals while we're at it, eh?

Good Gaming!

Tim Nutting

[James Ruhland]

> The Drow were created (According to the Complete Book of Elves) when some
> chose to follow Lolth against Corellan Lothlorien (sp?) in a great and
> ancient war.
>
> As there are no elven gods on Aebyrnis, how can there be drow, cursed
with
> black skin and forced to live underground?
>
> If Planar Portals is the answer then what the hell, lets just throw in a
> few Immortals while we're at it, eh?
>
Sure, and a new Ehrsheghlien, The Avangion (a 30/30 Wizard/Psionicist with
godlike powers, from Dark Sun). . .oh, wait: The Avangion drove the Drow
back through the planar portal to the misbegotten realm they arrived from,
and, her job finished, she followed with them, to insure that no Drow would
breath Aerbyrnis air again (much like Harkonnens, thouse Drow.)