The Tome Of Drow Lore.pdf - RoseRed

Religion
It is difficult to discuss, in a general fashion, the role
of religion in the lives of the drow. Even more so than
government, the impact of religion on the drow differs
from city to city.
As a rule, drow are studiously observant when it comes
to religion. The gods of the drow, after all, are the ones
who gave them the knowledge and abilities they needed to
survive the initial war with the goblins and to endure and
thrive in the Underdeep after the Great Betrayal and the
Sundering. Even in the most secular of drow cities, religion
is still an important part of daily life, though the Noble
House holding the reins of power is certain to try and stop
the temples from gaining any real political influence in the
city. Most of the drow cults can coexist with one another in
a sort of guarded truce, though actual cooperation between
them is usually impossible, a situation the Noble Houses
do their best to foster and maintain as an allied group of
temples would almost certainly be able to wrest power
away from the secular authorities of the drow. The Dark
Mother’s church stands as a stark contrast to other temples
in that it will not peacefully coexist with any of them. The
Dark Mother sees herself as the only true deity of the drow,
a position the other temples understandably reject. As a
result, the presence of a Dark Mother cult in a city will
always result in at least covert warfare being waged against
the other faiths in a hidden battle for supremacy, if not
outright violence.
Slavery and Slave Training
Slavery is integral to the culture of the drow. While it is
rarely practiced upon other drow, the dark elves consider
almost every other race above or below the surface of the
earth to be fair game. As the drow are the pinnacle of life,
the race eventually destined to rule, it is only fitting that
other races be made to serve them. The only exceptions
are creatures such as shangu, which are too powerful and
dangerous to try to keep as slaves and are so deeply hated
by the drow that they are killed on sight whenever possible.
The situation is much the same with surface elves, who are
not nearly as innately dangerous as shangu but are even
more hated. Usually, a surface elf so unfortunate as to fall
into the hands of the drow is doomed to a relatively short
existence of such horror the elf will be glad for death when
it comes, most likely on an altar to one of the gods of the
drow pantheon. Dwarves too are seldom kept as slaves.
Though the drow do not bear the same loathing for dwarves
they do for their surface cousins and for shangu, there is
certainly no love lost on either side. Dwarves, however,
tend to be too stubborn and unyielding to be broken to
slavery in any reasonable length of time. Further, the
dwarves as a people have no tolerance for one of their own
being kept in servitude and wars between the dwarves and
drow have broken out in the past over the discovery that
the dark elves were keeping a meagre handful of dwarves
in chains. However, the dwarven skill in stonework is such
that some drow cities will willingly risk it.
Slavery is a part of almost every aspect of drow society.
Slaves are used for labour, for mining, for cleaning the
streets, for tending fungus pits, for sacrifice to the gods,
for gladiator matches, for war and for pleasure. Even the
smallest drow settlement will likely have some kind of
slave market and in the larger cities there is often a building
dedicated to that single purpose, thronged on auction days
by buyers and by proxies.
Though training slaves is a well-regarded and prominent
business in drow cities, most slaves sold at market are
sold untrained. Drow who desire training for their newlyacquired
slave, for example, if the slave is intended to be
used as a house servant, will have to seek out a trainer after
making the purchase. See the end of this section for more
information on slave training among the drow.
The slaves at market might be sold untrained, but they are
not sold unbroken. From the moment of capture until the
moment the hammer falls on the auction block, the drow
slavers engage in a thorough and time-honoured campaign
of humiliation, degradation and punishment to break the
new slave of thoughts of rebellion. This is also when new
slaves begin to learn the drow tongue, as the slavers bark
orders at the slaves and whip them mercilessly for not
obeying. The lash provides a driving motivation for the new
slave to learn to understand as quickly as possible. Before
going on the block for the first time, the slave is stripped
naked, blindfolded and all but hobbled by a heavy weight
attached to the slave collar. He is then ordered to perform
various tasks made all but impossible by the blindfold and
the weight and whipped vigorously if his performance is
deemed unsatisfactory.
Once a slave is bought, his troubles are only beginning.
The drow see no worth or value in a slave beyond the
money invested in his purchase. Specially trained slaves,
particularly those who excel in their new capacity as
gladiators, soldiers or concubines, are considered more
valuable and sometimes even earn the fondness of their
owners, but a slave straight from the auction block can
expect no such considerations from his new master or
mistress.
Drow abuse their slaves at will, often taking pleasure in the
act. A slave is punished for the slightest infraction, real or
imagined, and a new slave who is imperfectly obedient will
quickly begin to accumulate an inventory of his failings in
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