The Tome Of Drow Lore.pdf - RoseRed

with the abominations that have followed were it not for
the unification of their society.
The Council is the name usually given to the tribunal of
Sulzthul who govern, as much as is possible, each individual
community of Sulzthul. Consisting of one representative
from each caste, the Council decides such matters as when
to go to war, how to distribute food, how to punish criminals
and whether to respond to an outsider’s desire to open up
trade relations.
Magic
The Sulzthul retain the innate magical abilities and spell
resistance found in most other races of drow. Additionally,
they are able to cast water breathing (self only) once per day.
Like their other innate spell abilities, this is cast identically
to a spell cast by a sorcerer of the drow’s character level,
and is commonly initiated by the Sulzthul before they rest
for the night. This is not necessary, as they can easily hold
their breath for the four hours of rest they require, but it is
more comfortable to just breathe normally.
As noted in the section on religion, there are no priests
among the Sulzthul, as they do not worship any gods. Nor
are there any wizards, as the constraints of life underwater
make such an avocation very difficult indeed to pursue – the
books needed for study by a wizard do not respond well to
constant immersion in water, and the Sulzthul have rarely
spent the time and resources to create pages of thin sheets
of metal or other materials which can survive the water.
The Sulzthul do, however, make excellent sorcerers. As
the only spellcasters, sorcerers are highly regarded among
the aquatic drow.
Relations with Others
The Sulzthul are so xenophobic they make other drow
seem gregarious. The long centuries of their enslavement
by the aboleth made them intensely distrustful of any other
race, even other drow. Should strangers enter the area of
one of their settlements, the Sulzthul will either hide if the
newcomers seem too powerful and have not noticed them,
or they will attack with a terrible ferocity. The thought of
other races knowing where they live is terrifying to them,
as they fear it will only lead to another attempt to enslave
them.
The Sulzthul do not actively hate most races, they merely
seek to avoid them. Contact with other races is extremely
limited, though the Sulzthul will sometimes trade with other
drow under strictly controlled circumstances. They will not
allow a trading caravan near one of their settlements and
indeed, they go to great lengths to make sure the locations of
their homes are kept secret. When they do engage in trade,
they will meet the other party at a pre-determined location,
preferably one they can access through an underground
river, making the chances of anyone following them home
as slender as possible.
Though their relations with other races can generally be
characterised as mistrust, the Sulzthul have an intense,
burning hatred for the aboleth. They have a healthy respect
for the power of those abominations, but it is not enough
to keep them from hunting and killing aboleth whenever
they can find a vulnerable group. The aboleth return their
hatred, and have never forgotten the slave race that rose
up against them and slaughtered dozens of their number.
The aboleth actively hunt the Sulzthul, just as the aquatic
drow hunt the aboleth, and there have been several wars of
terrible ferocity between the two races.
The Sulzthul also bear an especially deep hatred for skum,
the slave race created by the aboleth after the Sulzthul
successfully rebelled. The mindless devotion of the skum
to their masters reminds the Sulzthul all too well of what
they once were.
The foe the Sulzthul face most often, however, is the race
of the morgoshe. These fishlike creatures compete with
the aquatic drow for living space, often trying to move into
an area already under the control of the drow. Though the
Sulzthul do not hold the same hate for morgoshe they do
for aboleth and skum, they will not hesitate to kill them
should the opportunity arise.
Religion
The Sulzthul officially have no religion in their society.
They are not atheists, indeed, they are certain that the gods
do exist, but they refuse to give the gods worship. If the
gods would do nothing to help them during the Sundering
and during their wandering in the unfamiliar Underdeep,
if the gods would do nothing to deliver them from their
slavery and torment and transformation under the aboleth,
what right do the gods have to ask the Sulzthul for their
worship now?
There are, of course, some Sulzthul who still cling to
religion and worship the gods, but they do so in secret.
Religion is considered a weakness among the Sulzthul, an
inability to cope with the rigours of life in the Underdeep
on the basis of one’s own strength. It is commonly believed
that dedication to the gods weakened the ancestors of the
Sulzthul, making them dependant on the whims of other
beings, rather than willing to cope with the dangers facing
them directly.
There have been very few attempts to reintegrate religion in
the society of Sulzthul and any such attempts are dealt with
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