Drow
Jyhad and Treachery
The Drow of Gero are a twisted and corrupt race. Their great
underground cities, called Domas, are fraught with internal
strife and backstabbing. Added to the economic and political
infighting is a three-way religious war being fought in the
shadows, winner take all.
Drow align themselves with Houses. Each House is a political
and economic alliance of anywhere from one to eleven families.
Each House is named for the strongest family within it, and that
family is the one which wields most of the power. In
particular, the Lord or Lady of the House determines which side
of the Shadow-Jyhad the family will support, or if it will try
to remain neutral.
Smaller outposts and settlements are usually linked to a Doma,
and, more often than not, populated by members of a single
House.
A major House will have anywhere from 3-10 "lesser" families,
while a minor House will have no more than three and often none
at all.
The Lord/Lady of each House seeks to have it dominate the Doma
it is in, while making sure that upstart elements within the
House do not succeed in their never-ending quest to gain
dominance.
Politics
The intricacies of House politics are enough to make an
outsider's head spin. These interactions can be summarized,
however.
Mergers occur when two Houses agree to join forces. This is
nowhere near as genteel as it sounds. As a general rule, a
merger is the result of a victory of one House over another.
The dominant House simply siezes the assets of the weaker one
for its own. The families of the losing House swear fealty
to the winning House as a matter of survival. There is one
major exception to this trend. The Zharn-Mizzor, or spite-
merge, is frequently used by the losing House in a feud.
Instead of joining the victorious House, the losing House seeks
out a third House to align with, thereby denying the winner the
spoils.
In such a case, the newly-formed House must be stronger than
the victor of the original feud, or the victor will simply
continue to press its assault.
Coups occur when one of the minor families in a House decide
that they have become strong enough to challenge the dominant
family. Coups are usually rapid affairs, as prolonged in-
fighting can leave a House open to attack from the outside.
A Noz'Ran (or New Order) is a lesser coup, one which
rearranges a House's internal structure without affecting the
top leadership. Naturally, this can only occur in Houses with
at least two subordinate families. Often, the Lord of the
House will encourage a lesser family in a Noz'Ran in order to
distract a more powerful subordinate family from attempting a
full coup. While a Noz'Ran will not always succeed just
because it is backed by the Lord, if a Lord opposes a Noz'Ran,
it must grow into a full-blown Coup or fail.
Breaks come about when one or more of the families decide to
dissolve their ties with a particular House, without actually
challenging that House's dominant family. Since this will
weaken both the House and the dominant family, many Lords will
fight a break with more passion than they would a coup.
Ousters are the result of the head of the House deciding that
a subordinate family is becoming too powerful. This is often
perceived as a desperation gambit, and may set off an attempt
at a coup, as the lead family will be seen as weak. Smart
House Lords will use this to trigger a coup before the time is
right, thus enabling them to crush it before it becomes too
likely to succeed. The Lord then can abort the ouster, keeping
the rebellious family's assets in the House while securing
their own grip on power. An ousted family is frequently left
with little property or wealth, and must join with another
House quickly, or be destroyed.
Diaspora occur when a feud is fought to the bitter end. One
House or the other will be totally destroyed, with the pieces
being gathered up by numerous other Houses. Often, individual
families are also broken up. Some members are adopted into
other families while others start families of their own before
seeking admission into a new House. Diaspora can also result
from nihilistic internal feuds that completely destroy the
House.
It is important to note that the actual "battles" are fought
on several levels simultaneously. Assassination, economic
maneuvers, political intrigue, magical tampering and outright
warfare are all acceptable tactics, as long as victory results.
The Jyhad
In addition to the usual motives of power and greed, there is
another force driving the maneuvering of the Drow: Religious
fanaticism.
There are three major religions among the Drow, and all three
seek the annihilation of the other two. Ironically, shrines to
other dieties are far more tolerated in the Doma, for the simple
reason that they are not viewed as a threat.
Naturally, the first major faith of the Drow is that of the
Racial Totem, Q'naan. The majority of the Drow still follow
the first of their line, and do so eagerly. They struggle
daily against the incursions of the upstart religions.
The next largest faith, currently worshipped by about one-
quarter of the Drow, is that of Sile, the ascended Drow Diety
of deceit and betrayal. She rose to power, in part, by
sacrificing a Priestess of Q'naan, so the antagonism between
the two is understandable.
The third faith is that of the Cult of Lolth, the Spider
Queen. These fanatics account for slightly less than a fifth
of the Drow, but what they lack in numbers they make up for
in sheer viciousness.
Each House aligns itself with one of these three elements,
unless the Lord is so powerful that he feels secure in
declaring neutrality. Of course, most of the larger Houses,
and several of the smaller ones, have worshippers of more
than one of these faiths. Those of the unfavored religions
bide their time, plotting for the day when they can sieze
control of the House.
More than one House has spontaneously gone into a diaspora
when the new Lady of a House announced that she was changing
the House's official faith.
The constant fracturing and realignment of the Houses
means that Drow who travel from one Doma to another may find
that their family is allied with a different House. In such
circumstances, the traveller has a host of options:
1) Stay with his family in the new House. This will
often mean taking actions against the interests of his old
House, which could, in turn, make returning to his former
Doma difficult.
2) Stay with his House, essentially being adopted by one
of the families therein. Since this means opposing his
true family, he will have similar difficulties if he ever
seeks to return to his old Doma.
3) Seek out a third House, and either be adopted or
start a new family. This is frequently easy to do, as the
newcomer can provide inside info on both of the Houses he
could have laid claim to.
4) Chuck it all and keep moving. More than one Drow
adventurer has taken up the life after being caught in this
kind of Catch-22.
As a side note, the Drow language actually has a separate
term for every one of the actions described above, as well
as for countless variations and permutations. As soon as a
new ploy is invented, a term is developed to describe it.
For instance, a Zhu'dana is a coup initiated because the
dominant family is (or at least seems) weakened by other events,
while a Zhu'mak is a coup initiated when a subordinate family
has grown in stature. (If both apply, then the whole thing is
called a Zhu'koman.) Indeed, referring to a particular
maneuver by the wrong term is often perceived as a deliberate
insult to one of the parties. (For instance, calling a Zhu'mak
a Zhu'dana implies that both families are weaker than they
claim to be.)
Family and marriage
Each family is ruled by a single figure. As might be
expected, the role of Maz-tan/Reg-tan (matriarch/patriarch) is
hotly contested, especially after the death of the current head.
Families devoted to Lolth are always matriarchal, but the
others have no specific preference.
The head of the family is responsible for all major dealings
within the House, and thus carries a tremendous burden. A loss
of face by the family head will inevitably weaken the entire
family's position within the House's pecking order. In such a
case, the head of the family must recoup the loss quickly or
face deposement--often a fatal affair.
Marriages are arranged affairs, with dowries exchanged both
ways between the families. Marriages are always between
families within the same House, or to supplicants seeking to
join the House. Often, families made loose by a Break or Ouster
will be required to cement marriages with several of the
families in their new House in order to gain acceptance.
Ploygamy is acceptable, but every union _must_ be consumated,
and preferably with the result of children. The spouse from the
weaker family must always take the name of the stronger. This
is usually counterbalanced by the new spouse aiding, subtly, his
old family in backhanded ways.
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