Dark Elf Races

Dark elf2-1 — A dark elf fencing virtuoso with two swords, presumably owned by Wizards of the Coast.

The dark elves of the Darklands are not just drow. At least five different Dark Elven races branched off from those who were forced to go into the Underdark or the Darklands. Although all are collectively known as "drow" on the surface, however, it's a different story when you take into account that some "drow" are different from others.

Creation[]

The Creation of the Drow was not a one time event. The elves were granted the forests to live in by the gods, so the elves flourished. The other races were partitioned: to the Dwarves went the mountains, to the halflings the rolling hills and dells, and to the gnomes, the crags and rocks. To Man went everywhere else, but Man was given the right of self determination to choose where they would dwell (and so were the Elves). To the Orcs and the Goblinoids, however, they were left the deserts and snow fields, but even these expanded where they will.

Catastrophe[]

As the day was still young, however, five clans left the elves from the surface to explore the lands that would eventually become Kaldoran. Because Kaldoran was what could be called badlands in those days, there wasn't much there except orcs and other goblinoids and animal life that were possibly more dangerous than they were accustomed to. However, came the day of the falling mountains.

Mountains fell from the sky, causing untold chaos. Forced with the prospects of their own survival, these elves moved into the deep caverns to find survival from the falling mountains. In the caves, however, they were forced to adapt to life underground.

Dark Elf couple-2 — Eareen and Tjalelh by Vyrhelle-VyrL. © 2011 by Vyrhelle-VyrL.

Finding particular caverns, each clan made it so that they could survive. The clan of Mithilnir built the greatest city in one of the most unusual caverns that could accommodate them. The City of Karosolathryl, the city of the Heart, was the first city built by a dark elf clan. The Clan of Delendil found a cavern that glowed as powerful as starlight, and built the City of Orlyatar -- or the City of Night. And three other cities were built.

With life making it uneasy in the Night Below, some of the elves made it back to the surface as an expedition, to see if anything quieted down. At the worst, they found the land blighted by cold and a freezing sea of ice with the sun blazing hotly, many of the elves -- their eyes already adapted to life underground -- were blinded and they had to retreat. Their skin, many of whom had pale gray skin, could not stand the light of the sun. Many of them were permanently blinded and told the others about the "Sea of Ice and the Burning Sun."

As the years passed, they sent a second expedition to the surface to see if they could return to the surface enmasse. The expedition emerged into the Badlands of Tharros, near what is called the Sun's Bench. Lately, the expedition leader believed that what they found was not inhabitable. As time passed, the dark elves encountered other humanoids, some of which found them quite tasty. Although these humanoids found the dark elves to be delicious, they could not correct the dark elves' beliefs about the surface world.

Changes[]

As the dark elves continued to live below ground, they started to change as well. All of them changed in skin color, matching their particular surroundings. The clan that built the City of the Heart gained white skin, the ability to see in the dark, and skin tones ranging from blue and violet to those as black as night. These became known as the Celebenhel, or the "silvery ones" as noted by their hair. Another clan, clan Selmir, had taken on the hue of ash on their skin, with hair ranging from black to red to white. Their eyes changed to the color of red, and they became known as the Rustfanhel, or the "Coppery Ones."

Further changes made the Selfanhel -- the shining ones, and the Cevenhel, the "Earthy Ones." And the last, the Angoren, the "Civilized ones." The five clans diverged into five races of Dark Elves. And they lived like this for thousands of years.

Human Contact[]

Eventually, the inhabitants of the mountains that fell from the sky had come to the lands of the Dark Elves. Known as humans, these people had scarcely recognized the dark elves as elves. As so much of their appearance had changed. The elves learned from the humans that their world exploded and what humans could survive, did so in caves. The peaces of their old world (the Mountains from the Sky) crashed into the elves' world and became the surface mountains, but this ended long ago. Miraculously, a group of elves did survive and formed a kingdom.

Unskilled in diplomacy, but wanting to make contact, the Dark Elves made it to the land of the noble High Elves known as Alfa'shar. Unfortunately, peace was not readily had. Believing that the Dark Elves were the "drow" of legend, the king had captured most of the group and put them in slave chains. Disgusted with what happened, the Dark Elves' envoys returned with stories of what happened. This formed the nucleus of their racial theory: there are two kinds of Intelligent beings on the surface, the Beasts who should be subdued and trained; and the Monsters, who kill and eat Dark Elves. Eventually, the Dark Elves lost contact with humans for another two thousand years.

The Day of Lava[]

Drow — An Angloren, or "Civilized One." This is presumably owned by Wizards of the Coast.

Recently, in the last four generations, lava had been rising into the cave complexes of the Dark Elves. Faced with a terrible proposition of the extinction of their race, the dark elves sent another expedition -- a joint expedition of the five races -- to the surface. What they found was incredible! An uninhabited mountain valley containing everything they needed. Faced with moving to the surface or extinction, the dark elves decided to move the surface, as the lava began to rise in parts of one of their cities. The first wave of pioneers made it to the surface and established the settlement of Blacklight.

Faced with the Light Blindness, the dark elves worked hard to establish their city during the night. As new dark elf pioneers made it up from the caverns and established other cities: Sylvanel, Dark Forest, and Krennandan River; the Dark Elf nation began to grow. And through the generations, the Light Blindness lessened until the third generation of Dark Elves could walk amongst the light. As the fledgling nation of dark elves grows, danger lurks beyond the mountains. But as they are taught, never forget the cunning of beasts or monsters.

Dark Elf subraces[]

Miresgalnor -- the first generation of Dark Elves. Not many of these left, after five thousand years of being banished to the Underdark. The "Hidden Jeweled Ones"
Celebenhel -- "The silvery ones." This is what most people think of when they speak the word "drow" upon the surface. They are known as the silvery ones.
Angoren -- "The civilized ones."
Cevenhel -- "The earthy ones." Burnt like umber and ash, the Cevenhel work and worship their ancestors.
Selfanhel -- "The shining ones." Purplish in hue, these dark elves exist in eternal twilight.
Rustfanhel -- "The coppery ones." These people exist among mushroom forests and fly on skinwings.