Those Who Went Below

The Night Elves, also called drow, are a race of subterranean elves who live in the Underdark. They call their homeland Var'da, others refer to it as the Black City. Their skin ranges from smoky blue to purple to obsidian, though their most recognizable trait is their purely white eyes, though this trait isn't shared by all Night Elves. In the years following the elven exile, the Night Elves, once indistinguishable from their Dark Elven cousins, began to change. Slowly at first, minor physical changes, followed by more drastic changes to their faith and way of life. While the Dark Elves have always kept a guarded attitude about The Infernal Order, the Night Elves of the Underdark have come to take a view of adoration and devotion. Although people shape their environments, many say the reverse is true as well. The Night Elves were twisted and shaped by the cruelties, abominations, and horrors of the Underdark. Their culture often offends, shocks, and appalls those of the surface. As such, they often face discrimination and persecution by surface races.

Zealous Purgers

A zealous, spiteful people, the Night Elves have never had fair relations with any other race. While others live among them, both free people and slaves, their society maintains a rigid, unflinching hierarchy. While it's true that plenty of Night Elves have acquaintances or even friends from the ranks of other cultures, overall, their society retains a strong belief in superiority and exceptionalism. As the children of the Infernals, the Night Elves believe they have been given distinction as the rightful leaders of the mortals. In particular, they have an ancient rivalry with the Deep Elves, another subterranean race of elves. Their disagreements regarding reliance on technological ascent versus religious zealotry set the groundwork for relations that have only worsened over the centuries. After several wars, supremacy has not been achieved by either people.

Black Magic and Plaguewielders

While Night Elves possess skill in all the expected combat arts from swordsmanship to archery to magic, their true specialty is in the darker forms of magic inherited from their worship of The Infernal Order. They are some of the most fearsome practitioners of necromancy, summoning, and biological warfare, wielding dark magic and disease as a weapon of war. Most have no qualms about using illicit methods in war and battle. Subterfuge, infiltration, terror, torture, and theft are all part and parcel of Night Elven warfare. While many would regard the Night Elves as cruel and spiteful, resentful of a world in which they weren't as fortunate as others, they would simply say they are favored by their gods and play by the real rules that determine fortune: cunning and ruthlessness.