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THE DARK DM
Acolyte
USA
6 Posts |
 Posted - 05 Jul 2009 : 00:48:33
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Okay, I have a campaign upcoming in which I would like to introduce a major Drow metropolis of my own design. The city will be called Ilharche'el("Mother-City") and will be located below the Earthspur Mtns. It will be somewhere between The Deep Wastes and the Glimmersea. I would like this city to rival Menzoberranzan and there in lies the problem. How to create an awe-inspiring Drow metropolis that now one has ever heard of. I would very much appreciate any advice anyone would give.
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DarkDM |
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Ashe Ravenheart
Great Reader
USA
3240 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jul 2009 : 01:23:01
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quote:
Originally posted by THE DARK DM
Okay, I have a campaign upcoming in which I would like to introduce a major Drow metropolis of my own design. The city will be called Ilharche'el("Mother-City") and will be located below the Earthspur Mtns. It will be somewhere between The Deep Wastes and the Glimmersea. I would like this city to rival Menzoberranzan and there in lies the problem. How to create an awe-inspiring Drow metropolis that now one has ever heard of. I would very much appreciate any advice anyone would give.
It's been 'out of phase' with this dimension like Shade or the Star Elves. |
I actually DO know everything. I just have a very poor index of my knowledge.
Ashe's Character Sheet
Alphabetized Index of Realms NPCs |
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Arivia
Great Reader
Canada
2965 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jul 2009 : 02:04:22
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quote:
Originally posted by Ashe Ravenheart
quote:
Originally posted by THE DARK DM
Okay, I have a campaign upcoming in which I would like to introduce a major Drow metropolis of my own design. The city will be called Ilharche'el("Mother-City") and will be located below the Earthspur Mtns. It will be somewhere between The Deep Wastes and the Glimmersea. I would like this city to rival Menzoberranzan and there in lies the problem. How to create an awe-inspiring Drow metropolis that now one has ever heard of. I would very much appreciate any advice anyone would give.
It's been 'out of phase' with this dimension like Shade or the Star Elves.
On a similar note, Abeir returning could have forced such a city into that area. Just consider what Sschindylryn and Ooltul have to say about such a new arrival before making any plans. Alternatively, if you're playing in 3e, you can just handwave City of the Spider Queen out of existance and replace Maeryimdra (which does appear on DDGttU's map, but doesn't get much detail.) |
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Arion Elenim
Senior Scribe
933 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jul 2009 : 02:21:51
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quote:
Originally posted by THE DARK DM
Okay, I have a campaign upcoming in which I would like to introduce a major Drow metropolis of my own design. The city will be called Ilharche'el("Mother-City") and will be located below the Earthspur Mtns. It will be somewhere between The Deep Wastes and the Glimmersea. I would like this city to rival Menzoberranzan and there in lies the problem. How to create an awe-inspiring Drow metropolis that now one has ever heard of. I would very much appreciate any advice anyone would give.
Wow, what a great idea.
My first bit of advice would be, with the drow being SUCH a friggin religious-centric people, to figure out where the general religious concensus lies. Are they Llothites? Do the worship Vaehraun? How tolerant are they?
Secondly, what is the most common source of income? Do they mine? With whom do they trade?
Menzo is well-known for being VERY aristocratic. What is the culture like? Music? Art? Partying?
Most importantly, with whom are they the most antagonistic? Humans? Other drow?
Hope that helps! |
My latest Realms-based short story, about a bard, a paladin of Lathander and the letter of the law, Debts Repaid. It takes place before the "shattering" and gives the bard Arion a last gasp before he plunges into the present.http://candlekeep.com/campaign/logs/log-debts.htm |
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Thauramarth
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
729 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jul 2009 : 07:12:38
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There is another approach to it, of course. Menzoberranzan is known ny all... Realms fans. The general population of Faerūn (which would include a lot of adventurers) probably never has heard of it. Oh, of course, most people would know about murderous drow, but they would know only that the drow come from the Underdark, and as far as anybody knows, they all come from the same city, or there are more cities in the Underdark than there are on the surface...
Hmmm... Of all the drow cities, Menzoberranzan would probably be the best-known, mostly because it's the place of origin of "that odd drow ranger fellow, whatzisname, Drizzit, right?" It has also brought attention to itself by trying to invade Mithril Hall.
I would say that most (if not all) other drow cities are not so well-known. Even a major drow metropolis may never even send patrols to the surface if they are too busy trying to dominate the local Underdark. On second thought, they probably would - raids against surface elves, but such raids would leave no witnesses, and the drow raiders would never leave business cards behind. Also keep in mind that such raids are rare (if memory serves me right, "Homeland" mentions that the last raid to the surface before the one Drizzt was involved in took place a couple of decades earlier). In other words, unless a drow city makes a major incursion to the surface, it is probably known only to very knowledgeable sages, some adventurers, and well-informed rulers. Even the latter would keep mum - no need in spreading panic by letting the local yokels know that there are thirty thousand murderous dark elves living a mile or two beneath their fields, but that there is nothing that said allegedly almighty ruler can do about it.
If your party consists mostly of surface-dwellers, then the city might always have been there, it's just that no one has ever heard of it before. Given the location, however, it's possible that the dwarves of the Earthspur Mountains know of it. Even in those cases, the knowledge might be limited to some extent. Most dwarves probably know that there is a hive of drow nearby (patrols might clash on a regular basis), but the knowledge of the existence and location of the city might be limited to the inner circle of power.
So, bottom line, it is possible for an awe-inspiring drow metropolis to exist anywhere, and yet be unknown to a massive majority of the population (including your player characters).
What are your intentions as to introducing them to it? |
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THE DARK DM
Acolyte
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jul 2009 : 09:06:06
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| First and foremost this is a Lolthian society...Second their most common source of income would be mining of may precious metals....including an immense source of adamantine....also, I invision them as major traders in underdark commerce...thirdly these Drow can trace their bloodlines from before the Descent so yes they are aristocratic and enjoy the "culture" that implies. Lastly the primary foes of this city would be the Duergar. The feed back I am getting so far is very helpfull and I'd like to thank everyone who has contributed |
DarkDM |
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Ashe Ravenheart
Great Reader
USA
3240 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jul 2009 : 16:24:11
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The only problem I see is that you want them to be major traders in the Underdark. It's going to be hard to explain how everyone knows them as 'go-to' merchants yet have never heard of the city.
The other way to go is that it's not an 'old' city. Maybe it's a boomtown built around the adamantine mine like some of the old California towns that came up around the gold and silver mines. You'd be able to establish it as an 'outcast' town as well, where many of those that are trying to make their own fortunes (male drow, third or fourth daughters of matron mothers, etc.) came to build up a new power base. |
I actually DO know everything. I just have a very poor index of my knowledge.
Ashe's Character Sheet
Alphabetized Index of Realms NPCs |
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StarBog
Learned Scribe
United Kingdom
152 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jul 2009 : 17:03:16
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| Perhaps they're extremely paranoid about their existance and they disguise their trading as coming from another source? (e.g. they use charmed non-Drow frontmen/women/things to carry out all their external activity?) |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jul 2009 : 17:05:24
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It sounds like you are simply taking Gaullidurth and moving it into the NE... precariously close to the equally immense Undrek'Thoz.
People often make the mistake in thinking Menzoberranzan is THE Drow city... when it's not. Its actually one of the smaller ones (although fairly influential in the North Underdark).
You also have a Dwarf Kingdom in the Earthfast Mountains, and whats left of an Orcish one in the Earthspurs themselves.
However, like always, I'm merely pointing-out the canon - it's your Realms, and you can change it anyway you like to suit your style and your players. 
Note: There is evidence of Drow activity (slavers) in that area, as seen in Code of the Harpers, so there is canon to build-upon. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Faraer
Great Reader
3308 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jul 2009 : 18:49:55
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| To concur with other posters, few surface dwellers have heard of any city in the Realms Below. Even a place right below them would be the subject of legend and rumour at best: look at the knowledge of Maerimydra in the Dales as an example. (Menzoberranzan, as mentioned, is a minor city that few, also, have heard of.) So I don't see any problem introducing a big new one. |
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Wenin
Senior Scribe
585 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jul 2009 : 18:58:48
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Do you have Underdark? You can find many cities within that supplement.
BTW I wish there was a HUGE electronic version of the Underdark map available. It being spread across two pages just doesn't do it justice. Oh to have an Underdark Trails Map..... drool...
Edit: removed the repeated information =) |
Session Reports posted at RPG Geek.
Stem the Tide Takes place in Mistledale.
Dark Curtains - Takes place in the Savage North, starting in Nesmé. I wrapped my campaign into the Hoard of the Dragon Queen, but it takes place in 1372 DR. |
Edited by - Wenin on 05 Jul 2009 19:00:12 |
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Arion Elenim
Senior Scribe
933 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jul 2009 : 20:06:05
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quote:
Originally posted by THE DARK DM
First and foremost this is a Lolthian society...Second their most common source of income would be mining of may precious metals....including an immense source of adamantine....also, I invision them as major traders in underdark commerce...thirdly these Drow can trace their bloodlines from before the Descent so yes they are aristocratic and enjoy the "culture" that implies. Lastly the primary foes of this city would be the Duergar. The feed back I am getting so far is very helpfull and I'd like to thank everyone who has contributed
Sounds a lot like Menzo. I might throw in a few things that would set them apart - maybe an alliance with the Abolethic Sovreignty that has altered the architecture and produced a hitherto unprecedent number of Drow psions...or a hidden power structure of all-male priests of Bane at the top of the city manipulating the Llothites from the shadows.
I really like that they trace their ancestry further back than Menzo. I STRONGLY suggest that this play heavily into the city's makeup. Maybe a strange current of magic tied to the Ancient Weave altering the genetics of all males (or females) born in the city...or something equally weird and intriguing.
Even things that don't make sense on the surface have their place in Faerun.
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My latest Realms-based short story, about a bard, a paladin of Lathander and the letter of the law, Debts Repaid. It takes place before the "shattering" and gives the bard Arion a last gasp before he plunges into the present.http://candlekeep.com/campaign/logs/log-debts.htm |
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Hawkins
Great Reader
USA
2131 Posts |
Posted - 06 Jul 2009 : 17:33:51
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| Since you have gotten some answers pertaining to pre-4e and post 4e lore, I suggest you start by telling us in which era you are planning on running this. Also, since it is unheard of, I would go for a "Our secrecy is our strength" scenario (i.e. the reason that they are so powerful is because no one knows they exist). |
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Eilserus
Master of Realmslore
USA
1446 Posts |
Posted - 07 Jul 2009 : 17:36:57
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I have a few ideas maybe you can use. So if the city means "Mother City" that makes me think its founding or namesake has something to do with spiders. Maybe the founders discovered a giant spider cocoon in the center of the central cavern with a giant queen spider and her children. The queen spider has what appears to be the markings or a symbol of lolth on its abdomen. Seeing that as a holy site they founded the city.
Now years later generations of queen spiders still live in this giant cocoon with their children. The drow regularly feed them sacrifices. Some rare drow even brave the depths of the cocoon, to receive the bite of the queen mother spider who's poison (if it doesn't kill them) may provide dream visions of a sort or maybe even act as a commune with Lolth or her minions. This could serve as where all higher level drow go for their Test of Lolth. The failures being devoured or turned into driders.
I like the idea of these dark elves being able to trace their lineage back to the descent. House Sethomiir was one of the first houses to fall to Lolth's temptations. Perhaps a remnant of that clan exists here.
I always liked the idea of Tel'kiira, those elven lore gems passed from one elven heir to the next. Why wouldn't the drow have darker twisted versions of these type of items?
With the city located somewhere under the Earthspur Mountains and I believe someone stated there is an orc kingdom in the area, you can probably expect alot of orcish or humanoid slaves working their adamantite mines. Turn south and perhaps they'd be raiding into the Earthfast Mountains and the dwarven clans there. An easy source of fodder probably means the city exports lots of slaves. Calaunt in the Vast has stated that mysterious ships have recently begun appearing and that drow are reported to have been seen. Maybe that's their surface connection for exports. |
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THE DARK DM
Acolyte
USA
6 Posts |
Posted - 08 Jul 2009 : 22:34:51
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| YES! YES! YES! Many great ideas...and the juices are flowing. The idea of the ancient weave altering the genetics of all males/females is very interesting...just not sure what that genetic alteration would be. Perhaps the magic of this place is so powerful (also providing a mage power center)that it produces a sort of fugue state in those that are not protected or not use to it and this state causes them to forget vital facts about the city...they know its down there somewhere...just can't pinpoint it, also perhaps all major trading is down outside the city for this very reason. The era of the setting will be 1360...just after the Time of Troubles. The idea of the giant queen spider is great. I actually had been toying with the idea of a fiendish colossal spider but the queen spider idea is much better. It sets the scene for an ultra-orthodox holy drow city. I don't know anything about the House of Sethomiir, but I will look it up and I like the idea of involving it somehow in the story. Same with the Tel'Kiira...perhaps a priceless ruby known as "The Eye of Lolth" maybe there is more than one...maybe there are eight. |
DarkDM |
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Marquant Volker
Learned Scribe
Greece
273 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jul 2009 : 16:58:11
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perhaps noone can trace it because the tunnels magically swifts all the time (ala Labyrinth), however the drow that lives in the Mother-city can find their way. Looks like a haven for drow, a dark Evermeet. (maybe we should call it Nevermeet :-D )
From the previous ideas that you and the other scribes posted sounds like it would be a very Religious City, perhaps could it be the centre for Loth Worshippers? a secret City whom only the Clergy and those in favour of the spider Queen (and of course slaves) should be granted access? that's another reason for not being mentioned in maps
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Edited by - Marquant Volker on 15 Jul 2009 17:03:13 |
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Jakk
Great Reader
Canada
2165 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jul 2009 : 06:25:32
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If (some of) the drow of this city can trace their bloodlines back before the Descent, perhaps some of them are (distant) relations of the Vyshaan gold elves... and through them possibly even the fey'ri of one house or another... not to mention possible still-current connections with extremists among the Eldreth Veluuthra who believe that cooperating with drow is preferable to peaceful coexistence with non-elves... 
(Edit: I'm an amateur genealogist as well as a Realmslore geek; that's part of why I've been so obsessed with the Cormyr royal lineage, if you follow the "Questions For Ed" scroll at all.) |
Playing in the Realms since the Old Grey Box (1987)... and *still* having fun with material published before 2008, despite the NDA'd lore.
If it's comparable in power with non-magical abilities, it's not magic. |
Edited by - Jakk on 29 Jul 2009 06:27:55 |
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The infamous yet unknown Drow Metropolis
