The Vault of Drow, the Realm of the Dark elves., the homeland of drow bears many names, all pointing to its inhabitants, but in current age, drow live in other underground locations and other races live in the Domain as well, even in a small number.
Geography
The city states of Domain of the Silver Folk are located below the Queen’s wood, both in The Upperdark and The Middledark. It is one of the places where these two levels are connected. The Domain has no capital city, only twenty eight city states. Most city states are located in the Middledark level, but each city state lies in huge caves and close to iron and gems sources. This is where the similarities end though, as every city state looks and works differently due to its history and location.
Climate
As it is with the majority of the Underdark, there is no bigger light source in the whole Domain, making the climate cold. The Middledark part has lower temperatures than the upper level, enough to make frost appear.
Environment
There are lots of glowing mushrooms, rocks and plants near most city states, creating colorful natural light with their bioluminescence. There are creatures living close by as well, but the only animals allowed in are those that are kept as pets and those who are kept as a livestock.
Governance
In most city states there is a monarch ruling over it, her being the eldest drow woman in a noble family. Her right then goes to her eldest daughter and so on, other men in the family have no saying in the government. Each city state can contain one or more noble families with only one old and noble enough to rule. This usually creates conflicts bad enough to end with the death of a matron or another family having control over all the governmental and militaristic power within the city. There are other reasons for a matron to be killed off - sometimes her daughter wants to become a matron earlier, other times her inability to bear daughters is seen as a sign she is not a good fit.
For the rest of the city states (that being Abburth and Guallidurth) the one to rule is chosen by Veles, or so it’s believed. The drow in question can be of any gender, class, or age, which sometimes puts even children on the throne, but that happens rarely. This type of government therefore strongly relies on priestesses.
Law
Due to changes of pantheon, the law differentiates in the city states, depending on the religion and on the form of government as well. City states that still did not forbid slavery punish slaves with the worst punishments, otherwise the lowest class has the most severe punishments. Members of any noble families, especially those from a noble family that rules the city state, are never directly executed even if their act is serious enough. Usually they are taken down in the Pit of Justice (see The Upperdark), where they have a chance to save themselves, if they choose the correct tunnel at the bottom of the pit.
Depending on severity and the culprit, the punishment could include: whipping, imprisonment, mutilation (any kind of hand mutilation tends to be favored in particular), exile, shackling, blinding, branding or execution (starvation, being torn apart by trained creatures etc.). The punishment also depends on the class of a victim.
Economy
The whole Domain, having each city state specialize in different matters, has a lot to trade with and not only below the surface. The city states trade within the Domain, then with ettercaps, dwarves and the humans from the Queendom of Voth (see The Middledark). The export involves armor, weapons, timber, food and to some city states even slaves. In return, the World above gets weapons and armor as well, with the bonus of exotic goods.
Religion
As the drow society developed over the ages and started to more and more interact with the World above, their previous religion of the Dark Gods changed to the same pantheon some of the surface dwellers have. The drow respect all the gods and goddesses, but mostly worship Veles. Only a few cities stayed with Dark Gods and still continue with the old ways.
Culture
Art
One of the most beloved forms of art of drow is sculpture - some of their created statues are said to appear breathing, almost alive. Their favourite themes include monsters, drow warriors (sargtlinen), characters and heroes from drow mythology, even sceneries from legends.
Architecture
Most buildings use the environment, either making cities around columns or building dwellings inside stalactites. Stone is the main material used for construction. Each city tends to have its own style depending on its surroundings. If there’s not enough light from the fungi or rocks, the inhabitants rely on fire.
Literature
The majority of drow literature is decadent, fiction or nonfiction observing the fall of drow civilization or their past/present full of cruelty, either directly or in metaphors. Almost all drow poets either write about regret or hatred towards their ancestors. Other books contain information about history and myths. There are still books that describe different torture techniques and the anatomy of other races to see how each technique impacts them.
Music
Similar to literature, in current age there are mostly ballads with bad ending, having stories of good being punished, of death and despair. On the other hand, hope is found in music more than in literature and other art, such as love and the possibility of better days, even celebrating the change of drow mindset.
Cuisine
Most meals of any underground location are prepared from what already grows/lives in The Underdark. City states tend to contain farms where crops grow (can be fruit, vegetables or mushrooms) and where cattle is being bred. Even with most drow adoring spiders, there are some who believe eating spiders brings them luck and puts them in Veles’ favor. Therefore, the list of possible meals contains also spiders as an ingredient:
- Fluorescent fungus salad with cave grubs
- Diced blind eel and deep salts
- Amber lichen and softrock bread
- Translucent crayfish stew
- Crimson moss cakes and cave jelly
- Crustacean broth with ironloaf
- Roasted deep beetles with algae dip
- Toasted salamander in mineral pepper
- Arachnidumplings and fried fungus
- Toadstool steak tainted with myconid essence
- Lobe of grell
- Deep rothe steak (A rothe is a special type of cattle bred in The Underdark)
- Cooked Intellect Devourer sprinkled with ash
History
Due to erasing history whenever a noble house fell, there is no way to gather some information from the past, as some facts are simply forgotten and cannot be restored. There are still things known to be true, such as Guallidurth being the first city state built in the 1st age, founded by an unknown noble house. This city state is known in the Domain to strictly follow all traditions connected to drow or Dark Gods; they are also the only deities allowed here. In the following ages other city states were founded, getting deeper in The Underdark, meaning the oldest cities are usually those in The Upperdark.
Most conflicts involved dwarves, but this issue remains in the past (so far), as The Elf Queen and The Dwarven King have established peace. Among the wars that are waged between the city states or noble houses, one of the biggest changes and an immense reason for discord was the change of pantheon, that is present in most city states. The first to reject the Old gods and most of the traditions associated with these deities was the city state Baereghel. V’elddrinnsshar soon followed, going even further as to ban slavery - this first created rebellions, but nowdays the drow of V’elddrinnsshar take pride in their history, not mentioning their first reaction. Only one city state tries to maintain both religions (both Dark gods and Veles), but due to the city state now being split in two parts, it is believed the noble house of Eryndlyn - house Maerett - will soon choose only one religion to be accepted to avoid the distribution.
Throughout the ages, there were other city states created and destroyed, most sources tell different names though - might be because fallen noble houses were involved. Except for any information of noble houses that fell being erased from the books and scrolls (only their names are written down), nothing else is forgotten; all things done by drow of the Domain of the Silver folk it remembered - some drow are proud of it, some want to learn from their ancestors’ mistakes.