Religion

The Dark Elves and humans are similar in a lot of ways when it concerns religion. The religious attitude of dark elves is one striving to attain perfection, much like some human religions do. To achieve this perfection, the dark elves have created a religion that is complex and unyeilding -- and yet a complete contradiction within itself. The religion promises perfect freedom, but has stringent demands upon blood sacrifices for sin and other offerings. Called the Church of the Drow, the church perfectly mirrors certain human religions with the exception that women officiate in the offices of the Priesthood. Despite this, the Dark Elves worship as monotheists. There is only one god to the Dark Elves.

Drowism Explained
Drowism is a Church of blood sacrifice. Usually rats and skinwings are offered up instead of other mammals to their god. When the dark elves returned to the surface and started to herd sheep, kine, and goats, these animals became acceptable for use in blood sacrifice.

The Ten Commands
Similar to the ten commandments in Christian bibles, the Ten Commands strive to teach perfection.
 * Do not worship other gods beside God.
 * Do not make graven images.
 * Keep the seventh day holy.
 * Do not take God's name in vain.
 * Honor your parents.
 * Do not steal.
 * Do not kill.
 * Do not sleep with others outside of marriage.
 * Do not lie.
 * Do not covet.

The Way of Sacrifice
In Drowism, the elves sacrifice animals to their God. They used to do this with rats and skinwings, but when new animals and new foods were discovered on the surface, the dark elves have expanded their list of animals acceptable as blood offerings: namely sheep, cattle, goats, and doves.

The Sisterhood
The priesthood is controled by the women. The High Priestess of the Temple, then it's the Twelve Mothers, then the Seventy Sisters, then the Sisterhood. The sisterhood is further divided into the High Sisterhood, and the Low Sisterhood. The Low Sisterhood officiates in weddings, sacraments, and blood sacrifices, while the High Sisterhood officiates in the feast days and in the Tabernacle.

The Law
Drowic Church Law makes provision for each and every little thing. Lately, the various divisions of the Church had taken this a step further. There are laws that proscribe the killing of homosexuals and adulterers (and adulteresses), there are laws that proscribe which animals may be taken to be consumed, there are laws that proscribe the killing of murderers and rapists (with provisions for perpetrators of manslaughter). There are laws for just about everything from keeping the seventh day to how many steps one can take during the seventh day before keeping it holy; to dealing with blasphemers. Because of this, dark elf society is extremely lawful, despite the individualistic tendencies of each individual.

The Feasts
There are a couple of Feast days observed by the Dark Elves. These will be explained shortly.

The Prophets
Every once in a while, a prophet springs up to try to teach the Dark Elves that they are wayward. Most of the time, they are male. Being true messengers, the prophets do their best to correct the dark elves and to make them see what is going on. Sometimes, the feast days and the calendar isn't acceptable, and the Dark Elves Sisterhood view this as an attack on their way of life. The prophets are usually slain, but no one has seen a prophet in some time.

Other Religions

 * The Cult of the Spider Queen: the Cult of the Spider Queen is the most radical group of dark elves. This is similar to the cults of Lolth in regular D&D.
 * The Way of the Ooze: The worship of oozes and other disgusting things is the way here.
 * The Way of Raphael: The worship of a dark elf who has attained immortality and Godhood. Raphael is a god of healing and wisdom to his cult.
 * The Cult of Fire: the worship of fire.
 * The Four Winds: The worship of the wind currents and of air.
 * The Path of Origin: A religion that that is the same contradiction as drowism, but challenges the divine origin myth of the Dark Elves.
 * The Path of Inspiration: A religion that is less law based and more individual based. The Path of Inspiration shares many elements with Buddhism and Jainism.
 * The Way of Eight Million Gods: An encompassing religion amongst dark elves that includes a loose pantheon of eight million gods. This religion is similar to the polytheistic religion of the Forgotten Realms. This is to include player clerics who follow their own god and path.
 * The Church of the Light: An adoption of human religion.