Post by Valkryn Valdrin Jabbuk on May 10, 2006 3:10:42 GMT -5
Lately Gia & I Have been Asked from some people About Opening Up Their Own Noble House within the room .... Some Have Expressed Concern That It is A Underground City ...
Note That we Welcome All types of Characters and races Here (Not Including God-like Characters) and Gia and I have Talked about Adding a Surface Pulldown Section To What we Have Now. One Person is recently Being waited on for approval for A Noble House And as such, if that approval goes through, That Person will Be the 2nd Ranked House within Our realm. Note that House Navere will ALWAYS be Ranked 1st House and Navere Soldiers Also Do Double Duty as City Guards Too .... NOT servants.
Anyone Interested in Joining The room And Opening A Noble House/Merchant Clan house can do so by Contacting Gia or Myself ....
For those Unsure about House Station and rank, Here are quotes From "Drow Of the Underdark" ...
Also Note That These Are Just Guidelines ... Posted to Help give you an Idea At How The drow Run things ... You Do NOT Have To Worship Lolth Or Be A drow For the room and Noble houses can usually Have they're Own Strutured Form if they so wish
Station and Rank
Drow society is strongly matriarchal, with females holding all positions of power and responsibility in government, the military, and in the home. Males are effective fighters, and can become priests and wizards of minor power. Outside drow communities, they are rarely encountered without female commanders. Male-commanded drow groups are generally either streeakh, “suicide squads,” or are dobluth (outcasts) who have rejected the traditional authority-structure of the drow.
Social station is the most important thing in the world of the drow. Ascension to greater power is the ultimate goal in drow society. Assassination is the preferred tool in this job. It must be used discreetly in the city setting, for to openly murder or wage war (on a rival House) brings down the merciless might of drow justice (not because of the act itself, simply as punishment for the boorish act of fighting in public).
Outside the patrol-range of cities, however, might is right, and Houses and merchant clans often battle each other openly in the wild Underdark.
Social Organization
There are two major social groupings among the drow. These are the relatively unimportant (according to priestesses of Lolth) merchant clans, and the staid, monolithic noble houses. In truth, both establishments are vital to the survival of the drow.
Merchant clans vary in organization. They are usually headed by an “inner ring” or council of the most experienced and/or wealthy merchant members, and hence are usually led by males (the “demeaning and dangerous occupation of trading with outsiders is an almost exclusively male one).
The membership of the inner ring of a given merchant clan consists primarily of male wizards who have either passed or evaded The Test. Removed as they are from drow society at large, the merchant clans have no compunction about dealing with the surface world. In fact, a great number of the “second ring”, or managers, are non-drow of various races. The lowest rank in the merchant clan, the “assets”, are nearly all non-drow. These are the laborers and soldiery of the merchant house. Together, the merchant clans form the trade links with the outside world that enable the Noble Houses to survive.
Noble Houses are led by a matron mother, the senior female priestess. In Lolth-worshipping drow communities, her rule is absolute, enforced by the priestesses beneath her (usually her daughters). All females of the mother’s blood, in order of their age, follow in rank, although they wield no authority until they are trained and of age (past puberty). Below the daughters come the male officers of the House: the weapons master (leader of the fighters), (chief) House wizard, and the patron (current consort of the matron mother). These ranks may be combined, and even held by the traditional next rank down in the hierarchy: the male heirs of the House.
Male heirs are also ranked by age: elderboy, secondboy, thirdboy, and so on. They are not allowed to look at the faces of other drow, or speak unless spoken to or bidden. This treatment teaches them their subordinate place in drow society. Below them come the “war-leaders” of the House (veteran warriors, who lead House patrols, attack squads, and guards, under the command of the weapons-master), and the House mages (under the command of the House wizard). Beneath these “blood” members and officials of the House rank its common warriors, its craftspeople, its servants, and its slaves. All ranks are decreed, and can be changed at the whim of, the matron mother. Her position changes at death—often at the hands of her eldest daughter.
In a Lolth-worshipping drow community, it is a deadly thing to slay a matron mother who holds Lolth’s favor, so mothers may reign for hundreds and even thousands of years, kept alive by the magic of Lolth and the diligent service they perform to get and keep it. The assassination of a matron mother is often a punishment for losing Lolth’s good will, and marks either a new direction for the House, or—if it is weak, and has strong rivals —the beginning of its extinction. If one House of a city openly wars on another, and fails to eradicate it entirely in a single attack, the survivors of the ruined House can call down the city’s justice on the attacking House. When this occurs, all Houses combine forces to wipe out the offending House. Houses who send assassins and saboteurs against each other for years will be forced into an open battle by the city’s ruling council, with the same results as above. This type of no-win scenario allows the internal strife of drow to be strictly controlled, so that drow communities are not torn apart by continual, bloody warfare.
Most internal combat therefore takes the form of eternal manoeuvering for small advantages. Underhanded intrigue, poisoned knives in dark alleys, vicious trade rivalries, and dirty dealings are all a part of normal drow life.
Clothing and House Insignia
Most drow wear a magical, shielding cloak, called a “piwafwi.” Under its collar, most drow wear a neck-purse. In it, noble drow carry their house insignia. Commoners will carry a black metal medallion denoting the house they serve, or the merchant clan they belong to.
In the streets of a drow city, house insignia are usually displayed openly (as cloak pins or sewn-on cloak or tunic adornments) only by the members and servants of the “First House” (most dominant family) of the city. Insignia of lesser houses can be seen on the walls or gates of their strongholds, and are often worn openly inside such strongholds.
The house insignia of nobles take the form of distinctive sculpted images, often equipped for use as brooches. All carry several magical powers—minor abilities known in detail only to members of the House.
Note That we Welcome All types of Characters and races Here (Not Including God-like Characters) and Gia and I have Talked about Adding a Surface Pulldown Section To What we Have Now. One Person is recently Being waited on for approval for A Noble House And as such, if that approval goes through, That Person will Be the 2nd Ranked House within Our realm. Note that House Navere will ALWAYS be Ranked 1st House and Navere Soldiers Also Do Double Duty as City Guards Too .... NOT servants.
Anyone Interested in Joining The room And Opening A Noble House/Merchant Clan house can do so by Contacting Gia or Myself ....
For those Unsure about House Station and rank, Here are quotes From "Drow Of the Underdark" ...
Also Note That These Are Just Guidelines ... Posted to Help give you an Idea At How The drow Run things ... You Do NOT Have To Worship Lolth Or Be A drow For the room and Noble houses can usually Have they're Own Strutured Form if they so wish
Station and Rank
Drow society is strongly matriarchal, with females holding all positions of power and responsibility in government, the military, and in the home. Males are effective fighters, and can become priests and wizards of minor power. Outside drow communities, they are rarely encountered without female commanders. Male-commanded drow groups are generally either streeakh, “suicide squads,” or are dobluth (outcasts) who have rejected the traditional authority-structure of the drow.
Social station is the most important thing in the world of the drow. Ascension to greater power is the ultimate goal in drow society. Assassination is the preferred tool in this job. It must be used discreetly in the city setting, for to openly murder or wage war (on a rival House) brings down the merciless might of drow justice (not because of the act itself, simply as punishment for the boorish act of fighting in public).
Outside the patrol-range of cities, however, might is right, and Houses and merchant clans often battle each other openly in the wild Underdark.
Social Organization
There are two major social groupings among the drow. These are the relatively unimportant (according to priestesses of Lolth) merchant clans, and the staid, monolithic noble houses. In truth, both establishments are vital to the survival of the drow.
Merchant clans vary in organization. They are usually headed by an “inner ring” or council of the most experienced and/or wealthy merchant members, and hence are usually led by males (the “demeaning and dangerous occupation of trading with outsiders is an almost exclusively male one).
The membership of the inner ring of a given merchant clan consists primarily of male wizards who have either passed or evaded The Test. Removed as they are from drow society at large, the merchant clans have no compunction about dealing with the surface world. In fact, a great number of the “second ring”, or managers, are non-drow of various races. The lowest rank in the merchant clan, the “assets”, are nearly all non-drow. These are the laborers and soldiery of the merchant house. Together, the merchant clans form the trade links with the outside world that enable the Noble Houses to survive.
Noble Houses are led by a matron mother, the senior female priestess. In Lolth-worshipping drow communities, her rule is absolute, enforced by the priestesses beneath her (usually her daughters). All females of the mother’s blood, in order of their age, follow in rank, although they wield no authority until they are trained and of age (past puberty). Below the daughters come the male officers of the House: the weapons master (leader of the fighters), (chief) House wizard, and the patron (current consort of the matron mother). These ranks may be combined, and even held by the traditional next rank down in the hierarchy: the male heirs of the House.
Male heirs are also ranked by age: elderboy, secondboy, thirdboy, and so on. They are not allowed to look at the faces of other drow, or speak unless spoken to or bidden. This treatment teaches them their subordinate place in drow society. Below them come the “war-leaders” of the House (veteran warriors, who lead House patrols, attack squads, and guards, under the command of the weapons-master), and the House mages (under the command of the House wizard). Beneath these “blood” members and officials of the House rank its common warriors, its craftspeople, its servants, and its slaves. All ranks are decreed, and can be changed at the whim of, the matron mother. Her position changes at death—often at the hands of her eldest daughter.
In a Lolth-worshipping drow community, it is a deadly thing to slay a matron mother who holds Lolth’s favor, so mothers may reign for hundreds and even thousands of years, kept alive by the magic of Lolth and the diligent service they perform to get and keep it. The assassination of a matron mother is often a punishment for losing Lolth’s good will, and marks either a new direction for the House, or—if it is weak, and has strong rivals —the beginning of its extinction. If one House of a city openly wars on another, and fails to eradicate it entirely in a single attack, the survivors of the ruined House can call down the city’s justice on the attacking House. When this occurs, all Houses combine forces to wipe out the offending House. Houses who send assassins and saboteurs against each other for years will be forced into an open battle by the city’s ruling council, with the same results as above. This type of no-win scenario allows the internal strife of drow to be strictly controlled, so that drow communities are not torn apart by continual, bloody warfare.
Most internal combat therefore takes the form of eternal manoeuvering for small advantages. Underhanded intrigue, poisoned knives in dark alleys, vicious trade rivalries, and dirty dealings are all a part of normal drow life.
Clothing and House Insignia
Most drow wear a magical, shielding cloak, called a “piwafwi.” Under its collar, most drow wear a neck-purse. In it, noble drow carry their house insignia. Commoners will carry a black metal medallion denoting the house they serve, or the merchant clan they belong to.
In the streets of a drow city, house insignia are usually displayed openly (as cloak pins or sewn-on cloak or tunic adornments) only by the members and servants of the “First House” (most dominant family) of the city. Insignia of lesser houses can be seen on the walls or gates of their strongholds, and are often worn openly inside such strongholds.
The house insignia of nobles take the form of distinctive sculpted images, often equipped for use as brooches. All carry several magical powers—minor abilities known in detail only to members of the House.
