The Tome Of Drow Lore.pdf - RoseRed

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the form of scars all over his body. More serious
transgressions are likely to cost the slave toes,
fingers, ears, eyes, the nose or even genitalia. Of
course, any true act of rebellion is almost certain
to result in the slave’s death. If he is fortunate,
his master or mistress will be angry enough to act
rashly and kill him quickly. If not, he is probably
doomed to a slow death of the most agonising
torture his master can devise, possibly ending his
days as a sacrifice on the altar of one of the drow
gods. In most cities, any drow can punish any
slave, even those belonging to another drow, in
any way he sees fit – including death. If he does
maim or kill the slave, however, he is expected to
pay the slave’s owner half again the cost of the
slave to make up for the inconvenience.
Breeding slaves is uncommon among the drow.
When it is done, it is only in the case of truly
exceptional physical and mental specimens and
even then is a rarity. Though the drow may value
the gifts of an extremely useful slave, the breeding
process and the following cost of caring for and
feeding the offspring until it reaches maturity is
simply too much trouble to bother with. It is far
easier and cheaper to simply buy another slave,
particularly for the wealthy drow who can afford
such exceptional slaves, as they have much more
important things to do with their time. There have
been several attempts to breed slaves for profit,
but the troubles involved, combined with the long
childhood of most races used as slaves by the drow,
make this all but impossible. The one major exception to
the drow reluctance to engage in slave breeding comes from
the mages of drow society, who sometimes breed slaves for
the purposes of study and experimentation.
Humans and goblinoids of all stripes are among the drow’s
favoured races to keep as slaves, but are by no means the
only ones commonly kept. Ogres, ettins, trolls and hill
giants, though sometimes difficult to break to the collar
of a slave (or collars, in the case of an ettin), are highly
prized for their great strength, frequently making up the
front ranks of a drow army or fighting in the arena for the
pleasure of the drow. Trolls usually prove particularly hard
to train due to their general disregard for pain of any kind
other than fire and acid but are in turn greatly valued for
their resilience.
The vast majority of slaves are untrained, save for whatever
bare minimum is needed to accomplish the tasks they are
given. They spend their short, miserable lives with the drow
in capacities for which little training is needed, serving
their masters as miners, labourers or fungus tenders before
death finally comes on the floor of the gladiatorial arena or
on the altar of one of the drow gods.
For other tasks and labours, however, the drow find it useful
to have their new slaves trained. This is not some mere
matter of teaching the slave to fear the lash; that is easily
accomplished and, indeed, is done to all slaves. Rather,
slave training among the drow is a complex task that is
highly lucrative for the drow who have mastered it.
Properly trained slaves serve their masters not out of fear
of the lash or any other punishment, but because the trainer
has broken them of the will or desire to do anything else. A
properly trained slave views his master as the central point
of his world and obedience as his reason for being. Such
a slave can be trusted to watch over and protect his master
at all times, even when his master is resting and could be
killed with a single stroke. A well-trained slave would not
consider such a betrayal of his master.
Every species has its own psychology, its own weak points
to be exploited and used by a skilled slave trainer. As