This thread will be used to discuss the Drow

Long before the Kalagori and Wildarrow Elves went their separate ways, there was an even more prominent rift among the Elves. This rift pitted Drow against Kalagori and the dispute went far beyond the philosphical differences that drove the Wildarrow Elves across an entire continent.

From time immemorial there has been a legend among the Elves, a legend of the spilling of a lover's blood. The guilty party was not banished from the kingdom as would have been the case for any other crime committed amongst Elves. Instead, there was a manhunt and a guilty verdict without trial. Soon, two Elves were dead. One alledgedly at the hands of her lover. The second at the end of a mob's rope. The memory of the Elves is a long one, and nobody holds a grudge longer than members of the Elven Race. This grudge would not be forgotten by either side. No Elf knows for certain which side was wrong and which side was wronged. In any event, all members of the Drow were held accountable for the many failings of justice in this case and before they too could be punished, they fled the Elven Homeland.

Shunned by most races, the Drow retreated deep underground. From that point, the Drow had no dealings with the races that dwealt on the surface. Perhaps it was simply xenophobia, but the bad blood again revealed itself during the Great War. At one point during the war, someone was preying specifically on the Kalagori Elves--not the Elven Military, but its citizens. Though nothing could be pinned on them in the wartime tribunals of 316 BR, several Drow were arrested and executed as spies and assassins.

After the war, the Drow again went into complete seclusion. They did not reappear for some time. It was recorded by Osterland Skalds that in 289 AR, a race of ashen-skinned, black-eyed Elves emerged from underground and began to colonize the Skyridge Mountains surrounding Osterland. Oster's history also records that Osger decided to do nothing about these subterranean Elves as there seemed to be worse enemies to keep at bay. In the summer of 446 AR However, while Osterland's warriors were away on their usual plundering raids down the Isendorven coast, the relatively unguarded Oster city of Nasvik was attacked by the Dark Elves. The Drow did not occupy the city though it would have been relatively easy to annex it into their own growing kingdom, instead they simply looted the city of food, most of the precious goods, and a few citizens as slaves. Upon their return, the Oster raiders were furious at the cowardly attack by the Drow and they soon began a march into the mountains seeking revenge. However, the mountain passes slowed the advance of the Oster forces. This slow advance gave the Drow plenty of time to brace for the coming attack. The Dark Elf Queen Z'viir sought aid from her hill-dwelling, evil neighbors, the Black Orcs. The Drow-Orc alliance easily resisted the Oster attack.

During the period from 400 AR to approximately 1100 AR, the Drow and Oster fought land disputes with neither nation making any significant gains. However, in the year 1118 AR Osterland won a significant victory when Dark Queen Zakrenod (who had ascended the throne in1026 AR) was defeated in battle and slain with her troops. A succession of weak queens in Esemsenphis led to a period of stagnation for Drow expansion. In the year 2746 AR, the string of weak queens ended with the assassination of the reigning monarch. This vacancy was filled by Gulriel X'viir, granddaughter of an earlier Dark Queen. Accusations of the assassination were made against a lowly Drow male, Elgul Nazamroth but the he was acquited of the crime by the new Queen. Rumors ran rampant when Nazamroth began a rapid climb in power toward the position of Archmage. In 2751 AR, expansion was began anew when Teidroi Kezrel, half-brother of Zakrenod and a captain in the Order of Soul Spiders, led his Driders and Reapers to victory against the Osterland City of Bodovagen. This time, the Drow held onto the city as spoils of war, and proceeded to kill every citizen.

In time, the reasons for the Drow conquest of Bodovagen became clear. In 2968 AR Archmage Elgul Nazamroth was sent to Osterland as an envoy with a peace offering. Unknown to the people of Osterland, Nazamroth's peace offering, indeed the initial Drow conquest of Bodovagen was really nothing more than a plot against their arch-enemy, the Kalagori Elves. The Drow offered to return the former Oster city to its fatherland in return for Osterland's support against the High Elves. For Osterland this deal was very agreeable as it returned their city as well as giving them a reason to make a few extra, and very profitable stops on their voyages of pillage.

In the mod, the Drow are mortal enamies with the other elven races. Due to this, they are very likely to start a war with each other.

I happen to be an artist/writer and i think i can help you.

this is very well written the only question i have is what does the drow fortress look like is it more of a tower system or more carved into the side of the mountain(that might be to dwarfish)

I have several ideas for the drow if you have ever read The Dark Elf Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore the drow live in a subbteranean world known as the Underdark. They have a class system based on houses that are based on family's so...the houses would rage war on one another to gain power and depending if Lloth(drow goddes) favored them she might aid/protect one house from destroying another. I thought it would be interesting to have a social civic based on the house system or maybe a special mark for a unit.

Another interesting part of the Drow society was that they would have armies of drow and then have slave armies of goblins,bugbears,gnolls,etc.
That would be a nice alternative to industrial slaves of course they should have a morale decrease of somekind because they are enslaved.

this is very well written the only question i have is what does the drow fortress look like is it more of a tower system or more carved into the side of the mountain(that might be to dwarfish)
We have not created a model for the Drow fortress yet. If you would like to create a concept drawing, feel free to do so. Just remember that this would be a surface city. Also, a new drow cityset is in the works. Hopefully woodelf and winddelay will finish it soon...

Ok, I will try to come up with something for you.

I have several ideas for the drow if you have ever read The Dark Elf Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore the drow live in a subbteranean world known as the Underdark. They have a class system based on houses that are based on family's so...the houses would rage war on one another to gain power and depending if Lloth(drow goddes) favored them she might aid/protect one house from destroying another. I thought it would be interesting to have a social civic based on the house system or maybe a special mark for a unit.

Another interesting part of the Drow society was that they would have armies of drow and then have slave armies of goblins,bugbears,gnolls,etc.
That would be a nice alternative to industrial slaves of course they should have a morale decrease of somekind because they are enslaved.

Good idea with the house system and special marks to indicate the house of the drow unit. As for civics, I do not want to change them at this point, so we would apply these ideas within the current civis, but make the features specific to the Drow.

With the slave militia, this could make the slavery scripts I will soon be writing more interesting: If the civ is drow, and the units are not elven, dwarven or human, then the slave unit created would be a militia slave. If the unit is elven, dwarven or human, then the slave unit would be a worker slave. As with the normal slave script (to be coded) this would only be applicable if the slavery civic is active.

Sounds great, I was also thinking with the religious system you could fall in and out of favor of a god depending on what actions you take which would be almost a parralel to your good and evil system. That way if you followed Lloths religion and you commited various deeds for hear or started wars for her than you should be rewarded. If you were to do very little to appease your god and/or gods you might be punished or maybe even asked protection from another god.

This could be done using the random event/quest system in BTS. What types of actions and what types of rewards should do you feel would work?

An action could be declaring war on a nation that worships another deity or the possibility to be an extremist and start a holy war. Maybe a good god could grant a quest to convert five cities to that religion. Possible rewars could be gold rewards, special units, unit upgrades etc.

Heh, sorry... I keep forgetting.

Here's an overview of the basic buildings, based on original designs by woodelf. I'll start piecing the set together. Some things need more scaling, and I'll add more details as I go.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/122690/drowparts.jpg

I have a pretty cool Gothic House I made a month or so ago that might be a decent palace for now. It's not textured though. New concept drawings would always be welcome.

win - I think we need 3-4 crystals in the city set. That looks awesome!

nice city set Win :) did you use Spellforce's Dark elf buildings as a basis for some? (onyx shrine for one ;) )

No... Most of the models were made by woodelf. He might have been inspired by them.

I did use some of their pics for inspiration.

Here's a pretty good early Drow set. Sorry it took so long... :rolleyes: It was a very long week.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/122690/drowcities.jpg
http://forums.civfanatics.com/uploads/122690/drowcitybig.jpg

It still has a few problems... I'll try to sort them out. Otherwise it looks great. I uploaded to the svn.

great stuff guys! very Drow-esque

That does look terrific win. Nice job putting it together!

Awesome work. :goodjob:

Now thats what i call a city, WOW.

It'd be cool if certain houses were more favorable to certain units. For example, one could prefer divine units like the Arachne. Another could prefer War Spiders. Maybe another would prefer Infantry. The benefits would be that if you select a unit to be joined to certain house, it would have a small bonus like strength, bonus against certain units, etc. I don't know; that might be a lot of work for you guys. Cuz you would have to make something for the other civilizations. A system based off of the basic premise but with different focuses specific to the civilization. But just figured I'd throw it out there.

I'm not yet certain as to how technically to implement a house system. It may even be too fine a mechanic to implement.

One idea for houses would be that the drow would have national buildings that would represent a house. This way only 2 houses can be present in a city, representing two dominant families there.

That would be cool.

How about this:
Web Golems:

Built by drow sorcerers, these are approximately humanoid and are built from masses of spider web. They typically have eight eyes about their head and poisonous spiders fangs.

That could make for an interesting spell for an arachnomancer. What Str do you suggest. And any other promotions besides poisonous damage?

those could be cool. perhaps also give the web golems the ability to cast 'web' which removes the targets movemnt points each turn, until the spell is broken. (75% chance of spell breaking each turn?)

Good idea. I should give spiders the ability to cast webs as well.

perhaps the Web golem should be a spell only Drow priests should get?

Arachnomancers will be the Drow UU mage replacement. They will get the Summon Web Golem spell.

Sweet. I like that idea a lot.

Arachnomancers will be the Drow UU mage replacement. They will get the Summon Web Golem spell.

Ah ok, awsome :) what other kinds of spells do you have planned for them then ? :D

All the arcane spells I have planned can be found here: http://diabolicstudios.net/DragoniaIIArcaneSpells.aspx

So, question, has anyone thought of any heroes for the Drow? (I know this could apply to any civ but I love the DEs a lot. So, I'm pressin for Heroes for them 1st.) If the answer is no and it is needed, I can do some research for heroes. Of course, Dark Seldarine would have a hero and maybe the civ should have two heroes outside of religion, as well. (This could apply to any religion, as I think is planned, and any civ.)

One option would be to make heroes based off of the leaders. Another would be to simply research heroes and name them from the lore of Dark Seldarine and the Drow. Thoughts?

Edit: Oh, by the way, if we decide to go the research route, there are several characters who might work. I found them under the "War of the Spider Queen" in Wikipedia. There are even lil stories explainin the significance of the character that might work for civpedia entries. Jus a thought.

I will want to make up some heroes. I'm thinking the first hero for the Dark Seldarine will be Teidroi Kezrel, Captain of the Soul Spiders. I'll need to think up names for a couple drow civ heroes. I'm thinking that one would be a drow mage and the other a drow infantry.

Ok. Cool. Hmm...Captain of the Soul Spiders. What would his strength and movement be?

So, for the Drow mage and the Drow Infantry, what kinda character or names are you lookin for? Are you thinkin their name should be in the same vein as Teidroi Kezrel, ya know has the same type of flavor to it? And what sexes would they be? I think the Drow mage should be a female and the Drow Infantry a male, personally. Idk. What are your thoughts?

Yes, the name should be in the same vien as Teidroi Kezrel, Gulriel Z'viir, and Elgul Nazamroth.
Also, as most drow female enter the Dark Seldarine clergy, I feel the drow mage hero should be male, but the infantry hero can be female.

Hmm...ok. I didn't know most Drow female entered the clergy. Interestin fact.

I have a tentative name for the Drow mage, Pharaun Mizzrym. I'll come up with a tentative pedia entry too soon, provided you like the name. Still lookin for a name for the Drow female warrior.

Pharaun Mizzrym sounds good

Cool. I'll look for the Drow female Infantry then now.

I found a tentative name for the Drow female Infantry, Danifae Yauntyrr.

I like the first name...last name is a bit lacking.
Are either of your 2 hero names taken from a specific source?

I would have a good name for drow male hero: 'Drizzt Do'Urden' ... :D Let's see how many get the reference...

I got them from the wiki on the War of the Spider. Ya know, it's set in the Forgotten Realms world in mostly the Underdark and sometimes on the surface.

I would have a good name for drow male hero: 'Drizzt Do'Urden' ... :D Let's see how many get the reference... Dragonia isn't Faerun... I would prefer that all leaders and heroes in the mod are not direct references to characters in other worlds.

Ok, man, I'll try to think up names without research. I jus figured that since civs like Thay are from Faerun that maybe other Faerun stuff would work. Never mind, man.

Pulling a first name, or doing a similar name from other sources are fine. I just don't want a direct reference, especially for a well known character like Drizzt.

Pulling a first name, or doing a similar name from other sources are fine. I just don't want a direct reference, especially for a well known character like Drizzt.

Ok, so do you want to keep Pharaun Mizzrym then and throw away, obviously, Danifae Yauntyrr cuz you don't like it? Or do you wanna scrap em both?

We could use the first names, or something similar to their first names...but they will need new last names.

Ok. I'll think up a few last names then.

Tell me wat ya think of these names, Darque.

Pharaun Imriwzim, Drow mage

Danifae Derwinttiz, Drow female Infantry

Those are both original last names, not taken from any source but my own mind. Provided you like those names, I'll come up with the pedia entries for em, as well as for Teidroi Kezrel. Peace.

The last names are good. :goodjob:

Cool. I'll work on pedia entries then for them and Teidroi Kezrel, as well.

I obtained an idea tonight when playing Dragonia, I saw that the Wood Elf warrior unit is a Blade Dancer and that gave me an idea for all the Elven races. The Blade Dancer is the begging of the tree to becoming a true warrior the "roots" if you will. I thought it would be interesting sense Elves live for literally hundreds of years that instead of being able to buy a mid level unit like a swordsman make a elf gain a certian amount of levels before you obtain a swordsman. This means with Drow units you could not simpily produce a swordsman from your city but level up one from a drow warrior...this means that over time your elven warriors will level up and as new technology is discovered he can become a stronger unit. I wasnt sure if this should be limited to just the blade dancer but to archers, priest/priestesses units, calvary, etc... You could also pick splits in the units level tree lets say between becoming a longbowman or a cross bowman and then continue the progression. By the time you reach the final technology you should have a bad ass unit!

Im not blind by my own ideas i do see the disadvantages though if your attacked and your enemy has a bunch of buffed up unit and your running around with a bunch of blade dancers then you are going to die most likely. I thought a solution to that might be maybe building certain facilites to let your units train maybe gaining experience while in a city. Possibly you could have a skill that lets you train just about anywhere but i think that might make them too much like a disciple unit its your call Darque if you even like the idea. Another idea is maybe a unit can enter a meditation phase where he cant be used in combat but he is gaining levels and by doing this the unit would be useless untill a certain number of turns.

Well, that sounds kinda cool. But the problem is like you pointed out that your enemy might have buffed units and you might not. I see lil problem myself as the DEs for that, cept money. (And I almost exclusively play DEs). But it sounds cool. Kinda impractical tho cuz if you're buildin large armies l8er on, as most people do, then all you'd have is base units runnin round gainst the tier 2, 3, or 4 units of the enemy. Idk, Darque might disagree.

hmmmm i know you are right Rock but I was trying to think of a remedy for the problem and i came up with a couple ideas....

maybe all elf units could obtain experience quicker than other units and a reduced upgrade cost....im not sure if that will work though because the whole idea might upset a balancing factor in the game.

perhaps have a training facility that buffers the upgrade process like In the dark elf trilogy by R.A. Salvatore . The main character Drizzit spends ten years at a specialized school for combat. There is also two other schools in the city one for magic and a priestess school. These schools could be available for the drow but im not sure if elves would have a similar facility.

now that i reflect on the idea it might be to radical for this game but i think its nice to present an alternative to way things usually run.

It's possible to do. Hmm...tho I don't think Drizzt Do'Urden's experiences will play into it at all. I think we already have a wonder or two that gives +2 (or somethin like that) experience. Idk. Atm tho, we're workin to complete the ideas we have. But we'll certainly keep that in mind.

There are quite a few buildings that give experiance including barracks, warrior's guild, the Citadel Adbar, plus quite a few more.

A spell could also be created that allows certain units to be upgraded for free when the appropriate building is found in the city the unit is currently in (plus I would add a turn or two of inactivity due to "training")

so do you think this idea could work Darque?

Yes, it could work. Put together some specific details and we'll plan on adding it in for Beta 3.

Ok specifically what kind of details do you need?

Hi Darque - awesome mod! Any update on when you might be looking to release the next version publicly? I thought I had read in an earlier thread that the next release might be sometime in June. Just curious - I'd love to try it out.

I think Darque said we plan to release Beta 2 in June. But um...yeah, June's almost over. So...it should be soon.