The Tome Of Drow Lore.pdf - RoseRed
The Tome Of Drow Lore.pdf - RoseRed The Tome Of Drow Lore.pdf - RoseRed
6 History of the Drow What follows is a tale of the origins of the race of dark elves, as it is known to most drow. Like any tale of its kind, it is an amalgamation of truth and myth, and not even the wisest among the drow still know how to differentiate between the two. The surface elves tell a very different story, when they can be persuaded to speak of the drow at all. Regardless of its level of historical accuracy, this is generally regarded by the drow as the truth and it still fuels many of their hatreds and passions today. The Beginning Long ago, when the earth was young, when so many of the races that bestride the world today were not yet imaginings in the minds of nascent gods, the elves lived beneath the sun. They lived so in peace and harmony, safe and untroubled in the dawn of the world. The many trials and enemies that would plague them were still unknown during those long years. The dragons were content to leave the elves alone, feeling the mammals had nothing to offer them; and the earth had not yet felt the tread of orcish, goblinoid, dwarven or human feet. The elves had no thoughts of war, or even of wants. There was but one unified race of elves in those days, living in a series of tribes across the sunny plains, gentle hills, tall forests and alongside the eternal sea. There were no settlements, as there was no need for them. There was no need for anything at all, which is what ultimately sparked to the first division of the elves. It came to pass that over the quiet and uneventful centuries, some elves slowly grew concerned over the state of the race, a concern they voiced to others. They felt the elves were becoming stagnant, learning nothing, doing nothing, only existing as does any mindless beast. Surely the Allfather wanted more for his creations than merely this? The discussions lasted decades. There had never been discord among the elves before and they were unprepared to deal with it now that it had at last arisen. While some immediately opposed the idea of change, others quickly accepted it and still more asked, quite credulously, what it was that needed to be changed and in what manner this change should occur? The loose tribes that had hitherto formed the elven people began to fragment and move apart both geographically and culturally as the discord continued. Unknown to the elves, however, the world itself was becoming a different place and the time was coming that change would be forced on them all. The First War Even as the tribes began to drift apart, primitive clans of orcs and goblinoids were multiplying in the lands nearby with a fecundity the elves could not imagine. Spurred onward by their barbarous gods, the expansion of the goblinoids’ lands brought them closer and closer to the elves, finally breaching the ancient territories of the elder race. The elves were curious but unsettled to meet the newcomers, who seemed ugly and uncouth to their eyes and behaved in strange and unpredictable ways. For their part, the goblinoids were frightened by the older, wiser elves and so the two races withdrew from one another. Most elves were content to let the goblins and orcs go and to return to their former lives, untroubled by further thoughts of the crude younger races they had encountered, but one elf, a member of the tribe that was to become the drow, did not trust the goblinoids. Following advice he received in a rapturous dream, he gathered his tribesmen to him and they began to fashion the first crude elven weapons. The drow credit this dream as being the first intercession on the part of those deities that they would later come to worship as they ventured deep underground, gifting the elves with the knowledge they would need to become strong and survive the struggles lying ahead of them. As the numbers of the goblinoids swelled, they found themselves moving again towards the land of the elves, driven by population pressures and their rapacious devouring of natural resources. Their gods too had given them knowledge of weapons, teaching them of the slung stone and sharpened stick, and they now drove their numerous children against the elves. The goblinoids swept down upon the elves in vast numbers, sending the different tribes running before them. Even the drow had only begun to craft weapons and learn the arts of war and so they could not stand against the goblin hordes. As other elves were pushed into the mountains, the deep woods or even the sea, the drow found that their only path of retreat was into caves beneath the earth, the goblins pressing the attack in their wake and forcing them on.
Lyrgern na’Rarnel, Hidden Blade of the Seekers of na’Koth, watched from the shadows as the human wizard picked her way slowly across the rough, rubble-strewn cavern floor, the light at the end of her staff casting harsh, dancing shadows all about her and throwing her features into sharp relief. She was pale-skinned, as the humans in this part of the world tended to be and seemed to be somewhere past middleage, though what age exactly that would mean for a human Lyrgern was unsure. Their lives were so short in comparison to his own it was impossible to tell. Doubtless she meant the light on her staff to put him at a disadvantage, but Lyrgern had anticipated such a thing. As the brilliant sphere grew closer, he settled his darkglass visor over his eyes. The wizard, Terlessa was her name, was casting about, looking for him. He waited until her eyes were elsewhere, then rose up from his hiding place, carefully making just enough noise that she would hear him. She turned in his direction and the well-concealed but not quite hidden look of surprise on her face brought a twitch of a smile to his lips. ‘You impress me, human,’ he said, adopting the common tongue of the surface races. ‘I confess I doubted you would come, especially alone as we commanded. I wonder, is that courage or foolishness among humans, to come alone into the lands of the drow?’ ‘Neither,’ she responded brusquely. ‘It is only doing what must be done.’ ‘Well put,’ Lyrgern nodded. ‘Very well, you have done as we asked and paid the price we quoted, which again was a surprise. I have what you want.’ He opened a na’orsuin pack and removed a thick sheaf of papers, holding it out for the wizard to take. ‘Thank you,’ she said, moving to stow the papers in her own pack before Lyrgern interrupted. ‘I fear there is a misunderstanding. You asked us for a compilation of all our knowledge of the drow, and specifically, knowledge of our own order and we have delivered this. But we never agreed that you should keep it.’ ‘What nonsense is this?’ she demanded angrily. ‘No nonsense at all, human. You have paid our price and you may read what I have brought. But you may not take it from this place. Please understand teleportation is impossible here and there are drow waiting in case you decide to flee with those papers.’ ‘Why is it then, that I can read them here but not take them with me?’ she asked in a voice filled with annoyance, but since she had begun looking for a place to sit, Lyrgern was inclined to think she meant to acquiesce. ‘That will become clear as you read,’ he told her. ‘Now, as all stories must, this begins at the beginning…’ 7
- Page 3 and 4: Editor Christopher Allen Cover Artw
- Page 5 and 6: Drem na’Koth leaned on his cleft
- Page 10 and 11: 8 The war raged on and on and the d
- Page 12 and 13: 10 and sending the elves back to th
- Page 14 and 15: 12 The last few undrunk drops of oi
- Page 16 and 17: 14 An Overview of the Drow This cha
- Page 18 and 19: 16 Far less alien but equally dange
- Page 20 and 21: 18 This preference for elegance and
- Page 22 and 23: 20 have some hope of being restored
- Page 24 and 25: 22 The drow regard raiding as being
- Page 26 and 27: 24 The scarcity of building space i
- Page 28 and 29: 26 they partake of the pleasures wi
- Page 30 and 31: 28 and immediately punish anyone fo
- Page 32 and 33: 30 the form of scars all over his b
- Page 34 and 35: 32 Driders are monstrous outcasts t
- Page 36 and 37: 34 Sacrifices are made to Alsythuth
- Page 38 and 39: 36 create an impression of softness
- Page 40 and 41: 38 Worshippers The worshippers of K
- Page 42 and 43: 40 Additionally, vengeance holds a
- Page 44 and 45: 42 unworked clay or whatever other
- Page 46 and 47: 44 Thraud (The Pitiless Blade) Symb
- Page 48 and 49: 46 worshippers of Ydrillia have mas
- Page 50 and 51: 48 Vermthizzl (The Light in the Dee
- Page 52 and 53: 50 The Noble Houses Religion plays
- Page 54 and 55: 52 of the dark elves. The details o
- Page 56 and 57: 54 into the homes of the rulers of
Lyrgern na’Rarnel, Hidden Blade of the Seekers of na’Koth, watched from the shadows as the human<br />
wizard picked her way slowly across the rough, rubble-strewn cavern floor, the light at the end of her<br />
staff casting harsh, dancing shadows all about her and throwing her features into sharp relief. She was<br />
pale-skinned, as the humans in this part of the world tended to be and seemed to be somewhere past middleage,<br />
though what age exactly that would mean for a human Lyrgern was unsure. <strong>The</strong>ir lives were so short in<br />
comparison to his own it was impossible to tell.<br />
Doubtless she meant the light on her staff to put him at a disadvantage, but Lyrgern had anticipated such a<br />
thing. As the brilliant sphere grew closer, he settled his darkglass visor over his eyes. <strong>The</strong> wizard, Terlessa<br />
was her name, was casting about, looking for him. He waited until her eyes were elsewhere, then rose up from<br />
his hiding place, carefully making just enough noise that she would hear him. She turned in his direction and<br />
the well-concealed but not quite hidden look of surprise on her face brought a twitch of a smile to his lips.<br />
‘You impress me, human,’ he said, adopting the common tongue of the surface races. ‘I confess I doubted you<br />
would come, especially alone as we commanded. I wonder, is that courage or foolishness among humans, to<br />
come alone into the lands of the drow?’<br />
‘Neither,’ she responded brusquely. ‘It is only doing what must be done.’<br />
‘Well put,’ Lyrgern nodded. ‘Very well, you have done as we asked and paid the price we quoted, which again<br />
was a surprise. I have what you want.’ He opened a na’orsuin pack and removed a thick sheaf of papers,<br />
holding it out for the wizard to take.<br />
‘Thank you,’ she said, moving to stow the papers in her own pack before Lyrgern interrupted.<br />
‘I fear there is a misunderstanding. You asked us for a compilation of all our knowledge of the drow, and<br />
specifically, knowledge of our own order and we have delivered this. But we never agreed that you should<br />
keep it.’<br />
‘What nonsense is this?’ she demanded angrily.<br />
‘No nonsense at all, human. You have paid our price and you may read what I have brought. But you may not<br />
take it from this place. Please understand teleportation is impossible here and there are drow waiting in case<br />
you decide to flee with those papers.’<br />
‘Why is it then, that I can read them here but not take them with me?’ she asked in a voice filled with annoyance,<br />
but since she had begun looking for a place to sit, Lyrgern was inclined to think she meant to acquiesce.<br />
‘That will become clear as you read,’ he told her. ‘Now, as all stories must, this begins at the beginning…’<br />
7
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