The Tome Of Drow Lore.pdf - RoseRed

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he is taught how to be challenging quarry for a House
Zhakhun hunter. Such is the training of these prey-slaves
that they consider their role in the hunt as sacred as do the
hunters.
The far-ranging activities of the House Zhakhun hunters
inevitably brought them back into contact with other drow
descended from survivors of the Sundering, first with a
group of House Devoren Traders, then gradually with the
remainder of their race.
Culture
The most important aspect of House Zhakhun culture is
the hunt, as it has been for centuries and likely always will
be. The Zhakhun drow view the hunt as a primal test, an
ultimate trial of personal strength and skill, and think of it
as proof of their innate superiority over all other beings.
This almost obsessive focus on personal strength and
ability has come at the expense of the strength of society
as a whole however and there is no true binding sense of
community keeping the House intact. House Zhakhun is
frequently rife with different factions and there is little or
no communication between the various cities of the House.
At this point, no city or faction has yet declared itself a
separate House, but that day is surely coming soon.
The drow of House Zhakhun are the only drow to commonly
use tattoos. Although the practice of tattooing is a simple
enough art for the drow to master, their pitch-black skin
makes normal tattooing an exercise in futility, as their skin
tone would hide any ink used. However, the Zhakhun drow
have mastered the ability to harvest luminescent ink from
some of the glowing fungi that live in their lands. Properly
prepared and applied, this ink can create glowing tattoos
easily visible against a drow’s skin. As a glowing tattoo
would be a potential liability in hunting, the tattoos are
often small and located on the upper arm, where they can
be easily hidden.
Though these tattoos may seem pointless to outsiders, they
are used by the drow of House Zhakhun to denote which
city and faction each drow belongs to. Each of the factions
has created a glyph to differentiate itself from the others
and the tattoos almost always take the form of this glyph.
When drow of House Zhakhun come upon each other in
the Underdeep, they will commonly call on one another
to reveal their glyphs, letting them know if the drow
approaching are friendly, hostile or neither.
The drow of House Zhakhun are self-sufficient, as most
of them are trained hunters and have the ability to survive
the harsh world of the Underdeep on their own, if need
be. However, this knowledge is not often put into practice
outside of the hunt. In their cities and societies, the
Zhakhun rely upon their slaves and upon the races they have
subjugated. They are certainly not as dependent upon the
abilities of slaves as are the drow of House Kolnahos but
they do receive a great deal of their food and basic goods
through the crushing levies they inflict on other races in the
Underdeep.
The drow of House Zhakhun are taught to hunt from
childhood and usually spend at least a decade or two of their
youth ranging either alone or in small bands throughout the
Underdeep, seeking prey and proof of their own abilities.
Those drow of the lower classes seek to emulate their
betters as much as possible by training themselves to hunt,
but obviously cannot afford to spend decades wandering
about the Underdeep and making no money at all.