When the primal elves chose to take the forms of mortals, they were one people split by conflicting loyalty to gods who reviled each other. The schism led to a conflict that ended with Lolth, mother of the elves, retreating to the Abyss and her adherents exiled to the Underdark. This banishment enabled the victors to once again live in peace on Arvandor, the realm of Corellon, but did nothing to heal the rift between the new elven subraces. The retreat of Lolth would, after all, eventually result in the formation of the dark elves, also known as the drow: a cruel, predetory, and wicked offshoot of the elf race. While the dark elves of Exellendra certainly carry these traits, as they're virtually universal to all drow in the cosmos, the more horrid and gruesome parts of their nature have gradually been worn down over the years, mostly likely due to Lolth's noticeable lack-of-presence on the world. This has led to a people that, while still undoubtedly seclusive, self-righteous, and vicious, focuses their efforts on building their own power and influence within the Underdark not entirely to serve their ancestral mother, but to instead prove their own superiority over the surface races of the Known World, who they view with distrust and revulsion. Such focus disintegrates when the drow are faced with their surface-dwelling cousins, however; the ancient hatred they hold for other elves still burns strong in their hearts, and though they may view other races with pity, they view their kin with full hatred and are more than happy to lapse back into Lolth's teachings when faced with high, wood, or even sea elves.   Despite Lolth's lack-of-presence on Exellendra, the dark elves still hold her teachings as centerpoints of their culture, if slightly corroded and more open to interpretation. From the time they're old enough to understand, drow are taught that they're superior to all other creatures, as their race was the result of the defiance of a god and they remain strong despite the hardships they face living in the Underdark. Any race other than a drow holds no use to them and is typically ignored, while other elves are useful as slaves, sacrifices, and fodder to the spiders they raise in remembrance of their mother. This, of course, isn't entirely universal, and especially on Exellendra drow are sometimes inclined to take a much less hostile approach towards even their elven kin, but even still, these individuals are run largely by their pride, no matter how hard they may try to ignore it. Power and pride are, after all, the two greatest teachings of Lolth, and even those dark elves with little to no true connection to the goddess still feel such ideals flowing through their veins, leaving even the most valiant of drow vengeful, arrogant, and oftentimes cruel towards those they see as having done them wrong. On top of this, dark elves are also decadent and hedonist beings by nature, with a love for what they consider beautiful and a desire to surround themselves with pleasure, generally without paying attention to the cost of acquiring it. For example, a dark elf may take multiple lovers at their leisure and discard them at a whim, or otherwise destroy troves of myconids or other Underdark creatures simply because they enjoy the view the area provides and would rather inhabit it themselves.   Despite everything stated above, however, dark elves aren't strangers to companionship among other races. Like most sapient races, they still possess a need for friends and family and a capacity for both empathy and respect, even if their culture tries its best to whittle these concepts away. Drow adventurers, though rare, are a slightly more common sight in the Known World than on other planes of the multiverse, typically serving as begrudging partners to other races or otherwise solo travelers making their way in a world that still hasn't come to entirely trust them.   Most drow of the Known World hail from the Empire of Lilorioth, which spans from the Underdark beneath Agripar to that beneath the Seamoor Isles, though a few scattered settlements and strongholds remain throughout most of the region.