The Tome Of Drow Lore.pdf - RoseRed

of tons of rock. Soon, they would come to envy those slain
beneath the falling stones.
Though the elves outside the cave-in gave the Kanahraun
no more thought, believing them all dead beneath the
crumbled stone, the drow on the inside were trapped. The
caves leading out from what remained of the cavern led to
a confusing labyrinth of passageways that ultimately went
nowhere. Though the supply of water in the form of drops
falling from stalactites was nearly adequate, the caves were
otherwise bare. No fungus, no rodents, not even insects
lived within the maze. Seeing no other options available to
them, the Kanahraun were forced to make a grisly choice if
they wanted to stay alive. The only remaining food source
was the dead. Forcing down their revulsion, the drow
began to eat their former comrades.
Sustaining themselves on the corpses of the fallen, the
Kanahraun set about trying to dig their way free from
their convoluted prison. Day after day passed by, and still
the drow were entombed. The dead from the final battle
with the elves had all been consumed, their bones put to
work digging, but still the stones encased them. Finally,
Brasnaloth, a skilled and deadly warrior, proclaimed
himself First Voice of the Kanahraun, and decreed the
strong must remain strong, or all the Kanahraun would
perish. The meaning of his words was confusing to the
Kanahraun, until he illustrated his point by drawing his
sword and cleaving the head from a crippled drow, offering
the body as sustenance for the diggers. Many of the drow
panicked at this, but the strong agreed with Brasnaloth, and
digging continued, the drow sustaining themselves with the
flesh of their weakest members.
As the fruitless digging continued, the magic-wielding
members of the Kanahraun sought to contact the gods of the
drow, praying for mercy and release from the stone tomb.
At last, their prayers and supplications were answered,
but not by the gods to whom they had called. Azzanoth, a
demon prince, had heard their pleas and seen their practices
in sustaining themselves from the bodies of their dead, and
was intrigued. He appeared to the Kanahraun, offering
them a way out of their prison. Foolishly, the drow accepted
without asking the price.
Gathering the Kanahraun to him, Azzanoth took them
through an enormous magical gate to another area of the
Underdeep, far distant from any place the drow had travelled
before. Here in a complex of connected crystalline caves
of surpassing beauty, crossed with shallow springs and
rivers, there was food in plenty, from the enormous fungus
sprouting from the floor to the fat fish swimming in the
rivers. Gladly, the Kanahraun fell to this feast, only to gag
the food out moments later. The foods they had craved
during their long imprisonment tasted like ashes and
sewage to them now; only the flesh of the sentient held any
appeal. This was the First Price of Azzanoth.
Some drow would not accept the price Azzanoth had placed
upon them, forcing themselves to consume the foods for
which they had so long hungered but which were now all
but intolerable to them. Others of the Kanahraun, however,
had grown used to the diet of sentients while trapped in the
cave, and at Azzanoth’s urging they made a feast of those
who would deny what they had become.
Fortunately for the Kanahraun, their new home was close
to the underground trade routes used by the newer races
of deep gnomes and dwarves, providing a ready source of
food for their hunting parties. As the other races moved
away, the Kanahraun moved with them like the predators
they had become, though they were not above killing and
eating their own in time of need. Indeed, part of the First
Price of Azzanoth was that the Kanahraun find elven flesh
the most tasteful of all.
Azzanoth remained with the Kanahraun in their early days,
urging them deeper and deeper into depravity, taking his
meals with them and mating with them. The descendants
of his fiendish offspring are now the rulers of Kanahraun,
the Second Price of Azzanoth. He also taught them other
secrets, such as the mysteries of undeath and boneforging,
until the Kanahraun came to worship Azzanoth as a god.
This was his unspoken Third Price, and the last one.
As the years passed and the Kanahraun grew in numbers
and power, the rumour of their existence became a horror
story of the Underdeep. They haunted the trading ways of
the Underdeep, attacking, killing, robbing and plundering
without mercy or consideration for which race they were
striking against. The tales and legends of their ferocity
grew, and their prey began to fight back or hide. The
deep gnomes sealed themselves within their cities, only
venturing into the territory of the Kanahraun when they
must, and only with overwhelming numbers. The dwarves
sent several missions against the Kanahraun, intending
to wipe this scourge out, but the Kanahraun, masters of
stealthy hunting, faded away before the slow, clanking
hosts of dwarves, only to fall on them later from ambush.
Despite several attempts by other races to find and
exterminate this bestial terror of the Underdeep, the
Kanahraun have thrived.
Overview of the Kanahraun
The Kanahraun today display a surprising duality. On the
one hand, many of them are brutal, almost feral barbarians
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