I like the last bit of acknowledgement that many drow are a lot more reserved when it comes to choosing romantic and sexual partners than some surface dwellers would assume. It adds more depth and possibilities to Drow interacting with the surface world’s preconceived notions about who they are as people.
The second of my planned series of four cards featuring the men in Rhyme's life and her complicated relationships with all of them. Gromph, for those unfamiliar with Forgotten Realms canon, is the Archmage of Menzoberranzan, the eldest son of House Baenre, older brother of Jarlaxle, and probable uncle or great uncle of Minthara. He is very likely the most powerful drow in the world, and one of the most powerful wizards in the world
For those who have read A Heart as Cold as Ice, Ryme'dra first encountered Gromph during her unwilling tenure as Zedriniset, or Lesser Chosen of Lolth, when Lolth devised a plan following the Spellplague to try and wrench control of the Weave in Mystra's absence and make herself the greater goddess of magic. As the most powerful wizard in the Underdark, Gromph was one of the architects of this plan, and he and Rhyme were forced to work alongside one another. He despised having to treat an uneducated, poorly bred labourer as his social equal, and she hated his ego and cruelty
Of course they ended up fucking, because he enjoyed using her as a stand-in for all his dissatisfaction and hatred of female control, and she was miserable and lonely and horny, and that was all it took
Like with the first design for Myr'uss, I had a lot of thoughts about textile production in the Underdark going into this, as well as how dissatisfying his handful of canon art is. He's an incredibly rich and powerful nepo baby who canonically wears a pendant that makes him look young and incredibly beautiful - he should look young and beautiful in his art
Anyway. Thank goodness Rhyme got him out of her system decades ago and there's not a fic suggesting that he's trying to rekindle their toxic nonsense post-BG3
Spider silks, particularly black spider silk and textiles that resemble spider webs, hold a special place in drow culture and fashion. Dark elves, though, use also other textiles in their clothing, depending on their social status, personal preferences and region they live in. Some raw materials, like wool of deep rothé and fibers of mushrooms, are usually easy to obtain and to process into cloth. Some less common or luxury materials, though, are obtainable only for wealthy drow.
🕷️ Raw Materials And Trade - like many other denizens of the Underdark, drow are often forced to rely mainly on local resources. In communities with connections to trade routes, merchants often ensure supply of raw materials like fibers, fleece, wool and threads, as well as semi-finished and finished products.
In large trading cities like Sshamath, drow typically have access to assorted goods from various regions – sometimes also from the surface. Some rare and valuable surface goods, including luxury textiles, are also occasionally transported to drow cities as raiding spoils, becoming possessions of noble drow and their houses. In general, though, surface fabrics, clothing items and accessories are rare in the Underdark, and they can be incredibly expensive there.
🕷️ Where To Buy? - drow-made textiles are among major products of numerous drow settlements, including cities like Menzoberranzan or Ched Nasad.
Dark elves typically like to dress as good as they can, so in drow communities, stores that specialize in selling fabrics and clothing tend to attract many customers – from large, fine cloth emporia of big cities to smaller shops and merchant stalls.
In Ched Nasad, one of such stores was located …along the side of the street leading to the plaza. (…) The store offered fashionable, decorative silk wraps and other clothing (T. Reid, Insurrection). Its building looked a bit quaint and it had a rounded roof that was shaped like a cocoon.
In Duthcloim, a district of Menzoberranzan know also as Manyfolk, there are many drow merchants who specialize in selling textiles and clothing. The most wealthy and influential ones are drow male Du’arthe Klendara and drow female Sh’aun Darnruel (E. Greenwood, Menzoberranzan, 2e).
🕷️ Drow As Customers - drow often look down their noses at goods produced by non-drow, considering them inferior. Despite of that, many wealthy dark elves appreciate materials and products that come from the surface, and are willing to pay for them – provided they are top quality, appeal to their aesthetics and personal tastes, and befit their station and rank.
Drow-made clothing materials and items typically surpass many others in quality, so dark elves, especially nobles, tend to be picky buyers, hard to impress and even harder to please.
🕷️ Noble Houses - not all drow need to rely on goods sold by merchants. Noble drow houses typically have their own skilled workers who can weave cloth, as well as craftsmen who can work cloth and other materials into garments (E. Greenwood, DotU, 2e).
For more of my drow lore ramblings, feel free to check my pinned post 🕷️
I don’t know that many traditions there are in House Fey-Branche, but having too many kids seems about right.
Another older piece with the lineup of all of Urien’s currently living (to his knowledge) older siblings. I had so much fun coming up with designs for all of them and playing with outfits.
My entire hands hurt.
@misterartist‘s technomancer Karath’ractus and my necromancer Antonimyr, being fashionable drow mancers. May shade this later if I still have hands. There was an rp scene where the poor drow had some kinda fashion montage in Waterdeep or something.
The first of my planned series of four cards featuring the men in Rhyme's life and her complicated relationships with all of them. Myr'uss, for those who have read the early chapters of A Heart as Cold as Ice, know that Myr'uss was Ryme'dra's childhood sweetheart and fiancé, and his decision to pursue the attentions of a younger daughter of a noble house - ergo allowing him to bring gold and jewellery home to his parents to improve their standing - broke Rhyme's heart, and set in motion the events of her story and her eventual capture by the nautiloid over a century later
I have a lot of thoughts about textile production in the Underdark, and what sort of fabrics would be worn by commoner or slave drow, and some of those thoughts informed Myr'uss's design. I also have a lot of thoughts about the really lazy gender politics we see amongst the drow in canon, and I'm happy to rant and rave about either topic at a moment's notice
Needless to say, Rhyme's first love was a gold digger, as all sensible drow men should aspire to be in that culture. Let's hope she can do better with Number Two!
I feel like drow fashion would consist of very simple silhouettes that emphasize and display the natural shape of the individual, perhaps even being made with thinner more see through fabric depending on the person. The simple clothing would then be enhanced with jewels, ornaments and other such decorations to display one’s wealth. Fabrics would be selected depending on the wealth of the individual and their social standing. Drow priestess would probably favor pure spider silk, where as a merchant of great standing may use materials from the surface to show off how well connected they are. Hair would also be a way to display ones standing because those of higher standing would probably have more time and resources to take care of it and place it in elaborate styles. And obviously, most ornaments are disguised magical tools or weapons.
Also, everything would be either very vibrant in color or very tactile (this is for going out, showing off clothes, obviously) I think embroidery would be very popular, perhaps even certain kinds of raised embroidery. Most drow art is tactile in nature, so it makes sense their fashion would reflect that.
