Moving on after my last post about the Shadar-Kai and Warforged, I’ll be tackling the Drow and Deva this time. Like last time, I’m writing up two races for similar reasons. First, the Drow, like the Shadar-Kai, are not in the setting, but fit smoothly with some hacking around. Second, the Deva, like the Warforged, are particularly challenging because of the nature of Dark Sun. Here’s my attempt to adapt them.
Drow
In the splintering of the world, the Elves split into two distinct races. While one race became desert-dwelling bandits, the other took to the sea. The seas dried up, and these elves, having passed beyond the horizon, with nowhere else to go, went underground. When they emerged, the world was changed. Friend was foe, and foes were even worse.
These elves found themselves changed. Their skin had darkened, and their sensibilities were altered. Gone were the expanses of wilderness that they once called home. Now, there was a great Sea of Silt that captured their sense of adventure. These newly named Drow found themselves adrift on this Silt Sea, where, like their Elven brethren of the surface, the passerby held more riches than they could get on their own. Pirates they became, and while pirates are not uncommon on the Sea of Silt, an encounter with Drow Silt Pirates is not soon forgotten.
Backgrounds
Negotiator
Pirates excel at taking prisoners. When the price is right, the right hostage can be worth their weight in stolen goods. In any successful ransom scenario, not being seen is nearly as important as getting paid for the job. Knowing this, you plot out every possible hiding place, look for the most advantageous vantage points, and how to get there.
Associated Skills: Diplomacy, Stealth
Silt Swashbuckler
The pirate’s life looks good on you. That’s what they say, and you delight in the exploits of life on the high Silt Sea. You spend your days swinging from the rigging on your silt skimmer, and, when not at sea, you have a small network of underground contacts who can help you meet your needs. You might even have a relative or two in the business of trafficking goods and services away from the notice of the authorities.
Associated Skills: Acrobatics, Streetwise
Deva (The Fallen)
The Gods have left Athas. Either they chose to leave, or were destroyed, none can say for sure. They left behind legions of their most loyal followers, the angels. Some angels fought to the bitter end, and were obliterated. Without the Gods’ power to protect them, they were defeated easily. The scattered remnants were left to their own devices. In the absence of any guidance, many bargained with the primal spirits of Athas to hide them from utter destruction. In exchange, these newly established Deva, also called The Fallen, swore to protect Athas from defiling magic.
These Deva are plagued by sadness. The patterns of their skin often convey feelings of deep sorrow for the loss of their masters. Many still pray, more out of a sense of duty than anything else, knowing their prayers will never be answered. Even they don’t truly know what happened to the Gods, because during their transformation, their memories warped. As a result, no two Deva share a common story of the true fate of the Gods.
When a Deva reincarnates, instead of reappearing in a place full of life’s splendor, they appear in ruined places, foundations of civilizations long dead. It is tasked to them to find the living places of Athas, all the way being shown what defiling magic has inflicted upon the world.
Backgrounds
God-Seeker
You are convinced the gods are still out there, and will not rest until they return to Athas in their former glory. Some think you insane, but you remember things that they have never seen. Your memories may not be perfect, but you know the truth is out there.
Associated Skills: History, Religion
Mage-Killer
These mortals never should have learned the arts of magic. Look what their irresponsibility has done to Athas. A once beautiful world is now a broken waste. Your calling is to rid the world of defiling magic, from entry-level initiates to the Sorcerer-Kings. Only when the cancer is removed can life return to normal, as distant a memory as ‘normal’ is. Maybe you have learned the psionic arts, using your superior mind to battle wasteful magics. Perhaps you are of the primal world, using nature to defend against what’s destroying it. Perhaps still, you are an arcanist, taking preserving magic in the fight against arts that can be just a bit too convenient for others.
Associated Skills: Arcana, Nature
Conclusion
Another two races are adapted here for you for use in your Dark Sun games. How am I doing? For lovers of Dark Sun, I’ve done my best to connect these races to Athas in ways that weave them into the history. I hope there are also those among you who are catching on to the little literary and pop culture references I’ve been peppering this with. Expect more of that, because I’m having immense fun with it. That being said, I’m open to any input anyone can offer to make this even better.
Previous Installments
I appreciate your comments, and, as always, keep watch on your threatened squares.
Image Notes: Jarlaxle (The Drow Pirate) is property of Wizards of the Coast, and Angel of Death (used for the Dark Sun Deva) is by Victoria Frances (warning: page is in Spanish), modified by me.
The Deva story is amazing, well done. I also applaud the two pieces of artwork you found, uncanny how well they fit.
Thanks for the comment! Wait till you see what I have planned for other races. I’m excited…
I’ve never quite grokked why the drow, underground-dwellers, “evolved” from pale skinned elves to dark skin.
It doesn’t make much sense from an evolutionary perspective – I understand the opposite is the case in real life; pale-skinned humans became dark-skinned due to prolonged exposure to high sunlight.
Maybe it’s that Elvish skin has different pigments than ours, or there’s some element in the Underdark that caused Drow (and don’t forget Duergar) to change color over the generations, due to porlonged exposure. Although, from a completely scientific point of view, the stories all seem to make it sound as though these evolutionary leaps occured in a few thousand years, where it’s more reasonable to suggest it happening over a few million.
Also, real-life adaptation of humans happened in reverse. Dark-skinned people moved to areas with less sunlight, and their skin lightened over time. At least, that’s what the “Out of Africa” scenario suggests.
At the end of the day, though, I guess we should just accept that the whole thing’s made up, and move on.
@Colmarr – I apologize if that came off as a little snarky. I didn’t mean it that way. :)
I absolutely loved the Daeva part, sure the drow was nice as well, and i was looking for ways to fit in drow to a darksun campaign, because i had a few ideas.
But that just paled in comparison to your daeva idea.
really, It made me want to suggest a Daeva paladin-somethingprimal multiclass/hybrid for a darksun campaign i am part of.
Yes divine power is nowhere to be found in athas, but power once invested, cannot so easily be lost, yet still purity is tainted by contact with elder primal spirits.
linking this to my GM with my character suggestion, I really hope he likes it, and approves of a character which only fits in by the stark contrast it delivers.
I might advise against Paladin. Paladins are usually associated with knightly orders, which means there’s a dogma involved. Since the gods of Athas are absent, there have not been enough followers to carry forward such strictures. I would suggest a warden, since the deva of this concept are tied to the primal power source.
I would be very excited to hear whether or not you actually get to try this out.