Drowtales

Drowtales is technicaly not one specific webcomic, but instead a site that hosts numerous webcomics, several of which takes place in the Drowtales universe. The "main" featured comic is called Moonless Age and centers (mostly) around Ariel Val'Sarghress, and her upbringing and later her quest to find a friend who has been banished. There are also a number of different comics taking place in the same universe while focusing on different aspects or giving backstorry details of events that happened before Ariel's time.

Characters

• Ariel Val'Sarghress – The main character of the Moonless age comic. She is very young at the start of the series where we learn about her rather unhappy childhood. She was raised from birth by one of her older "sister" Syphile (she is in fact her aunt, but it is customary for the matriarch of a drow clan to adopt her grandchildren, and even outsiders who have proven loyal and valuable) Syphile who hated her for being taken out of school to raise Ariel. The young Ariel was often beaten and mis-treated by her hateful foster-mother.

• Quain'tana Val'Sarghress – Founder of the Sarghress clan, former mercenary hero and second generation drow (ie. very old).

• Syphile Val'Sarghress – One of Quain'tana's younger daughters. She was given the task of raising Ariel as a chance to be considered an adult, but Syphile came to resent Ariel because she was taken out of priestess training in order to raise her.

• Kelnoz Val'Sarghress – One of Ariel's "brothers", he is a mage and one of the only people who showed Ariel any kindness as she was growing up.

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World setting

The Drowtales world is not to be confused with the Dungeons & Dragons universe where drow are generaly evil and cruel. There are several similarities though. Drow society in the comic is for example ruled by powerfull matriarchs and the drow live underground. Some early works referred to the Underdark but these have since been re-made, both to improve the quality of the artwork, and to remove all references to D&D specific sites.

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Races in the Drowtales universe

• Fae races – These races are practicaly immortal and all have the ability to manipulate mana and use magic to some extent.
  • Faery – Little is known about them. Most mortals will never see a faery in their lifetime.
  • Light elf – Light-skinned elves living on the surface world.
  • Dark elf – Dark-skinned elves that used to live on the surface world. After the devestation of the world, they migrated underground. The children born underground had much darker skin and usually silvery-white hair and became known as Drow. The Dark elf subrace is considered practically extinct (only a handful have survived to the present time and all their offspring are Drow).
    • Drow – A collective term for the decendants of the Dark elves that moved underground; several sub-races exist.
      • Drowlath – Also known as Black drow. The most numerous of the Drow races and the most archetypical. They have black skin and silvery-white hair.
      • Drowussu – Also known as Grey drow. They have gray skin and blond (yellowish) hair. They tend to stick together and rarely involve themselves in the chaotic politics of the Drowlath clans.
      • Ver'Drowendar – Also known as tainted. They are originaly Drowlath that have become tainted by demonic energy. Some clans deliberately taint their young because they consider a slight taint to work as a kind of vaccination that prevents a full-blown demonic posession.
      • Xuile'Solen – Also known as Sightless. They are Drows who have no skill whatsoever in magic (some are also immune to the effects of magic). They were cast out of Drow society and have learned to survive on their own in the harsh, pitch black, underworld. They are few in number and rarely seen, except as mercenaries.
• Goblin races – Considered by most Drow to be lesser races, they have short life spans, reproduce like vermin and are generally violent and destructive.
  • Human – Humans in the Drowtales universe are pretty much the same as humans in the real world, except we see them from the perspective of the practically immortal Drow race. They are considered violent and destructive, but still the smartest of the Goblin races, preferring to settle in one location and build cities and empires. It is also noted that the intelligence of the humans tend to be proportionally lower depending on the size of the group they operate in.
  • Orcs – Orcs on the surface generaly operate in nomadic tribes. Generaly less intelligent and physically stronger than humans, they are considered little more than dogs on two legs, but the Drow value the loyalty they show to their masters, and often use them as guards and cannon fodder in their armies.
• Drider – Driders are drow-spider hybrids, originaly created through magical means. Several sub-types exist.
  • Waelinider – A newly created drider. During the Dark elf migration into the underworld driders were the result of mortally wounded solders beeing merged with spiders, both to keep them alive and to create a fierce warrier race. Originally they commanded much respect, but as the Drow hold on the underworld have solidified they have become shunned by Drow society at large, and became known as the cursed. Few of them survive, and 99% of them eventually go mad.
  • Streekaider – They are wild driders, Waelinider's who have gone mad. They are little more than rabid monsters, and have a special hatred for the Drow who created and cast them out. They are considered to be some of the most dangerous monsters in the underworld.
  • Ne'Kalsaider – These are "natural" driders, the offspring of two sane Waelinider's (or on rare ocations the offspring of a drow and a intelligent giant spider or a drider). Unlike the Waelinider they are typically mentally stable and civilized. They have formed a community known as the Hive.
• Dwarf

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Spirituality

Spirituality in the Drowtales Universe is Atheistic, in the sense that there is no God, or Creator Being. There are gods in the sense that the people of various races will worship either made up deities, demons, or legendary heroes.

• Souls – There are no eternal spirits, only the mana, or life force, of the Drow. This force is what is commonly referred to as the soul. Humans and the other goblinoid races have no mana, and therefore, in the Drow eyes, no soul.

• gods and goddesses – At the time this article was written only the Drow deity Sharess has been described. There have been hints of others to be explored, however Sharess is the important deity to the story. There is also the worship of Demons by the Vel'Vloz'ress clan.

• • Sharess – Sharess is not a deity in the traditional sense, but a Dark Elf who transcended the mortal/physical plane to "counter-possess" in the demonic realm. The demons are energy beings from different planes of being, with a full range from intelligent to animalistic.

• • Spider Demon – Kharla'ggen is known to be the servant of a spider demon. This is possibly one of the demons that Sene'kkha worships.

• Demons – Demons in Drowtales are predatory energy beings that feed on the mana of a being.
  • Possession – When a Demon completely consumes a Drow's mana, it can then replace the mana of the Drow with itself, thus inducing possession. Once possessed, the Drow personality is lost, and replaced by the demon. The demon now has access energy which it will use to transform the physical body, either intentionally or unintentionally depending on the intelligence.
  • Tainting – If a demon does not completely consume the drow's mana it will not possess the drow but leave a "seed". There are positives and negatives to being tainted; positive, the drow who has been "seeded" is immune to possession from a demon; negative, if left unchecked the "seed" may grow within the drow and become a new demon killing the host in the process.

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Magic

Magic in the Drowtales universe is the root of the Drow spirituality. Magic spells and other workings are the manipulation of mana or a drows life force. Every life force has a unique elemental root, and dictate the individual drow's strengths and weaknesses in spell casting.

It should be noted that humans cannot work any magic other than slight-of-hand in this Universe.

-So far, it seems that there are few to no magical artifacts, as dispelling enchantments is too easy. The plotting and bickering of the Clans of Drowtales ensures this absence.

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See Also

• R A Salvatore – author of many drow related Forgotten Realms novels.

External links

• Drowtales main site
• Drowtales Oekaki board see also: Oekaki
• Drowtales forums
• Fourt year aneversary animation on Newgrounds