The Tome Of Drow Lore.pdf - RoseRed

altar of Polshoath. Still others were the subject of multiple
magical experiments, their bodies warped and twisted by
the whims of the few wizards left to the House until they
could no longer sustain life.
Even as torment and labour were claiming the lives of the
first goblin slaves captured by House Kolnahos, the warriors
and scouts were searching for more, locating and enslaving
tribes of goblins throughout this region of the Underdeep.
Soon, the goblin slaves in Klat’huan outnumbered their
drow masters, ten slaves for every drow in the city. It had
become clear to even the dimmest goblin that the drow thirst
for vengeance over ancient wrongs could never be slaked,
that there was nothing for them in their future save more
torture and eventual sacrifice on the altar. As the tormented
screams of a new batch of captured slaves echoed in the pit
dividing Klat’huan, the goblins tried to strike back at their
captors. The battle was swift and bloody; the numbers of
the goblins were quickly overcome by the superior skill and
equipment of the drow, who slaughtered all but a handful of
their most useful goblin slaves, casting the rent bodies of
the others into the pit.
The drow of House Kolnahos were not deterred by the
insurrection and, in truth, they needed slaves as badly as
ever, as they had come to depend on the slaves’ skills to
provide them with items and knowledge the drow could not
make themselves. As there seemed an almost inexhaustible
supply of goblins in the Underdeep, the hunters and warriors
of the drow set out to capture more slaves to serve the people
of Klat’huan. However, the slave insurrection did have a
lasting effect on House Kolnahos, as the drow concluded
the best way to avoid another such incident was to break
their slaves of all thoughts of rebellion. Additionally, there
were rumours in the city that would not die, rumours that
the insurrection had actually been fomented by drow.
This led to the founding of the first slaver guilds within the
House and, with them, slavers who specialised in training.
There was little call at first for their services, a situation that
changed when the slave hunters of the House discovered a
small city of deep gnomes some distance from Klat’huan.
The gnomes were much more difficult quarry, but their
long lives and impressive abilities with stone made them
well worth the trouble. With the introduction of gnome
slaves, the need for slave trainers grew overnight.
The drow also discovered a city of duergar some ten days’
journey from Klat’huan. Though the first few meetings
of the two races ended in violence, the drow eventually
opened up trade relations with the grey dwarves, offering
trained slaves in exchange for weapons and other items
of dwarven make, far superior to what their goblin slaves
were capable of producing.
With the labour of their slaves, the drow set about
expanding Klat’huan, enlarging the tunnels and caves,
building bridges and even adding some basic engineering
to the city. The demand for well-trained gnome slaves
only increased, and drow population was outgrowing even
the expanded capacity of Klat’huan. Opting to deal with
both needs at once, the drow attacked the gnome city from
which they had been taking their slaves, clapping the entire
population in chains after an assault of astounding brutality
that terrified the gnomes into submission, and moved their
own people into its walls.
It was at this time that House Devoren first found House
Kolnahos, a propitious development for both Houses. The
nobles of Kolnahos had been seeking to expand their trading
routes, currently limited to whatever deals they could reach
with the duergar. House Devoren, far more familiar with
the ways of the Underdeep than any other beings House
Kolnahos had encountered, agreed to guide their slave
caravans to new markets where the demand for such living
property was high. Within a few years, several Houses
of the drow had re-established contact through House
Devoren’s traders and House Kolnahos was able to export
trained slaves throughout the drow realms in exchange for
weapons, armour and other items.
Culture
The central focus of House Kolnahos is the slave trade
and their cities are filled with slaves of a dozen races, all
obediently going about their business of serving the drow.
The majority of the House’s economy is built upon trading
and training slaves, sending caravans of them through the
Underdeep to other cities of the drow and sending large
forces of slave hunters out on missions to capture new
slaves. They work frequently with House Devoren’s
Explorers, hiring them to seek out new populations of
everything from giants to gnomes for House Kolnahos to
enslave.
This focus has made House Kolnahos dependent upon the
slave trade in more ways than simple economics, however.
Compared to other drow, House Kolnahos has few craftsmen
and artisans among its ranks. Many skilled drow were lost
in the Sundering and, rather than relearn the crafts, House
Kolnahos has come to rely on skilled slaves and trade with
other drow to make up the lack. If they were to be robbed
of their slaves and the slave trade, the House would not be
able to sustain itself with the paucity of knowledge they
possess of such simple things as potting and weaving.
One area of knowledge in which House Kolnahos excels,
however, is in slave training. Their skills and abilities with
this profession are renowned throughout the civilisations of
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