The Tome Of Drow Lore.pdf - RoseRed

8
The war raged on and on and the drow began to despair.
The fate of the other elven tribes was unknown to them as
the goblins and orcs formed an impenetrable wall between
the drow and their cousins. As the war continued, however,
the drow began to adapt, learning the ways of their strange
new subterranean environment and learning the skills and
tactics needed to hold the goblin warbands at bay.
The goblins were a ruthless foe, an enemy that could only
be defeated by greater ruthlessness. Still, their numbers
kept pushing the drow deeper into the earth and so the elves
were forced to change their culture further to deal with their
changing surroundings and increasingly scarce resources.
As they retreated, the voices of the elven gods grew fainter
and fainter to their wise ones and elders, prompting greater
despair and privations amongst the drow. At first, it was
thought they had simply retreated too deeply into the earth
for the voices of the gods to reach them but then, other
voices became known to them, voices of which the earlier
dreams of weapons and warfare had merely been a distant,
warning echo.
These voices offered knowledge and help in the drows’
endless battle against the goblins, knowledge and help the
drow desperately needed and gladly accepted. The voices
told the wise ones that the old elven gods had forgotten
and forsaken them, so deeply were the drow now buried in
the earth. To some, they whispered of how the Allfather
cared not for his most talented children and had not lifted a
finger to save them, instead leaving them to rot at the hands
of the goblins. Slowly, the drow began to worship these
new gods who had made themselves known in their hour
of need. Their worship was rewarded with gifts to make
their survival possible in what the drow had come to call
the Underdeep.
The drow chose to bide their time, building up their
population and resources as their new gods commanded,
preparing for their assault on the goblins. At last they
struck, driving the goblin tribes before
them as they strove back to the surface.
The goblins were routed before their
lethal warriors and the victorious drow
burst out into the sunlit world once
again.
The Return
The sun was painful to them after their
long exile in the dark, but was not yet
the crippling curse it has since become.
With the remnants of the goblins fleeing
before them, the drow chased their
enemies down, slaughtering them in a
glorious orgy of violence. The back of
the enemy broken at last, the thoughts
of the drow turned to the cousins they
had left behind here on the surface and
though the presence of the sun was an
enduring burden, they were determined
to seek out their kin.
Some drow had held tightly to their
beliefs in the old gods, certain that when
they returned again from the depths of
the earth that the elven gods would see
them and speak to the wise ones again.
Yet even now, for the drow calling to
the old gods in the dazzling light of the
sun, there was only silence. Most drow
had come to adhere to the worship of
the new gods discovered during their
long sojourn in the dark, the gods who