Elerra Niraerth

They had no choice but to flee, and they could not run to the kin. She laughed, bitterly as she contemplated things. Of course they could not run to those that were responsible for all of this in the first place. Of fucking course the goblins and orcs turned against them, given just what those arrogant short sighted idiots decided to do. And of course the kin of her own people had turned against them for trying to prevent the rebellion everyone had seen coming. It wasn't like those idiots had not already been experimenting on them, and it wasn't like many of the nobles of her people didn't support the experiments.

After all the orcs were already the bulk of their military along with constructs, and the goblins were clever enough and while not the strongest could easily be put to work as skilled labor that elves did not need to do themselves. And while they could occasionally be rowdy, that was what the beer and summoned sex spirits were for along with the sports leagues! That, and given how it was not in the elves or giants or dwarves interests to make war on each other but continue to glare and grumble at each other.

Did they need to do the magically enhanced breeding programs to create new forms of war beasts in the form of ogres and trolls? In the form of hobgoblins and humans? Seeing how they had overrun entire provinces before the idiots in charge decided that no measure was too great to try and hold on to power based on the fact that there were dragons stirred into rampaging and open rifts into the lower planes, the earth heaving as super-weapons of each of the worlds great empires were unleashed due to other empires unleashing their own.

The elements were heaving even the earth shook and cracked, magic itself destabilizing under the onslaught. Even the gods had gone silent, the peoples prayers unanswered. And so, she had run along with the rest of her people. Many who had fled first, those that survived, spoke of their High and Grey kin killing them when they approached the few bastions they of, cries of treachery on the air, of how HER people were to blame, for inciting the rebellions. And so, they fled into the mines, into the depths of the world.

Separated from the ancient woods that made the realm a land of endless twilight, the cool streams that glistened with stars, the winds that made the chimes sing even as they shaped the great trees into homes and towers. Homes that were burning now, or overrun by those of their kin that turned to the darkest of powers to survive, if the dead did not rise and claim them for their own. Ghosts that ruled in the land that was, even as the ghosts of her people moved deeper into what was likely to be their own graves. But between the streams and few mushrooms...
There was a chance of survival. And that was enough, even as she wept and wished that her elder kin were with her, as she prodded the stone ahead of her with a broken spear. She was after all, scouting at the moment, not trying to hide and avoid breaking down, because big girls did not cry. She was strong, and the oldest remaining member of her family... even if they had merely been lesser nobles, only a touch above common elves. Not that past status meant anything now. No, it was only that she was lucky and keen of eye, not her blood.

Which is why she was looking at the crystal formation, and thing inside of it which seemed to be a glowing figure, flames dancing around it even as it cast its light. She was drawn to it, something about its presence as she poked the crystal, eyes locked on the form inside of it. And then she poked it again, the crystal seeming to move. And then there was a voice, brushing across her mind. "Ah, what do we have here."

The thing inside of the crystal was speaking to her mind to mind, like some of the outsiders could, even as she tightened her grip on the broken spear in her hand. "I am a daughter of my people and my mothers noble line. And what are you spirit?"

Because she was curious, as all the signs pointed to this place being old, worn down and natural. Unless this was something made by one of the mad bastards and placed here before they forgot about it. Still, there was a mental chuckling sound. "I am a fragment of the divine, cast down at the dawn of the cosmos. I have slumbered for an age, only to wake at what seems to be the ending of one."

There was what sounded like mental humming, as the figure stirred, a hand lifting inside of the crystal, reaching out to her. "Tell me young one. Would you lift your people from ruin and towards the stars once more?"

As she entered the encampment, she walked with purpose, a shard of divine power filling her, stars adorning her brow as she strode with confidence. Despite many being far older than her, they stood aside as she walked towards the leaders tent, towards Erthas Myth. A petty scion of a noble house whose support was drawn mainly by the fact that he remained the highest ranked in the old world. But... those times were over. He looked at her, and the stars... and she spoke before he could.

"I have found a new god in the depths." Her tone carried, echoing with the force of presence and charisma she had not been sure she had possessed, as she stared him down, as she all but dared him to do anything, as she channeled the gods power, as the stars glowed, a new crown for a new age. "I will stay. You may continue to run, to flee along with..." She gestured to Myth, who was looking unsure, as she turned her back on him. "Cling to the old ways if you wish, to the webs and chains that will consume you. I choose power. I choose life."

And with that, as the people whispered, as Myth raised his voice for her to stay... her feet echoed against the stone floor, as she had said all that needed to be said, even as she went among the foundations for the temple, to the people who in the end, had the skills to matter.

Factions of The Drow

Modern scholars know that the origin of the Drow comes from the ancient Dark Elves, wicked creatures whose perversions had grown so great that the gods themselves abandoned the world for a time and visited various disasters on it. Fleeing below the earth, not all went along the same routes and met the same fates. While many of them would eventually reach the darkest depths were the demonic queen of spiders would bind them in the dark pact that dominates them to this day, there were other enclaves that emerged in the dark.

And in fact, a note that has often eluded many is that the Spider Queen was the second theocracy among them to form. The first was in fact founded before the last High Magisters sacrificed themselves to bind the demons deep beneath the surface in the Underdark, as those fleeing from their former goblin and orc slaves, to say nothing of the reckless demon summoning in an effort to quell said revolts. Located initially in the upper Underdark, the Star Born claimed to have met an ancient fragment of divinity that blessed and empowered them. While it is likely that this was merely some sort of powerful aberration, evidence suggests that it was in fact capable of granting divine magic.

Some of course, suggest that these dark elves, later drow, had been hoodwinked by a elder evil, great old one, or at least a powerful servitor of one of these ancient cosmic threats. What is clear is that even in their early days when a small number split off from the refugees heading deeper is that they were able to re-establish a powerful realm backed by clerical magic. While eventually dispersed by followers of the Spider Queen, evidence suggests that the followers of the Light In The Depths remain.

Ironically, despite being a deity of purification and purity and the light aspects, said deity (who avoided the hungry maw of the drows chief goddess) is noted to be just as dark, cruel and twisted as any other creature of the deepest and darkest pits of the world.