Long ago, dark elves were part of the elven race that roamed the world's forests. Not long after they were created, though, the elves found themselves torn into rival factions following the tenets of evil, the other owning the ideals of good (or at least neutrality). A great civil war between the elves followed, and the selfish elves who followed the paths of evil and chaos were driven into the depths of the earth, into the bleak, lightless caverns and deep tunnels of the underworld. These dark elves became the drow. The drow no longer wish to live upon the surface of the earth. In fact, few who live on the surface ever see a drow. But the dark elves resent the elves and faeries who drove them away, and scheme against those that dwell in the sunlight. Drow live in magnificently dark, gloomy cities in the underworld that few humans or demihumans ever see. They construct their buildings entirely out of stone and minerals, carved into weird, fantastic shapes. Those few surface creatures that have seen a dark elf city (and returned to tell the tale) report that it is the stuff of which nightmares are made. Drow society is fragmented into many opposing noble houses and merchant families, all scrambling for power. In fact, all drow carry brooches inscribed with the symbol of the merchant or noble group they are allied with, though they hide these and do not show them often. The drow believe that the strongest should rule; their rigid class system, with a long and complicated list of titles and prerogatives, is based on the idea. They worship a dark goddess, called Lolth by some, and her priestesses hold very high places in society. Since most drow priests are female, women tend to fill nearly all positions of great importance. Drow fighters go through rigorous training while they are young. Those who fail the required tests are killed at the program's conclusion. Drow have black skin and pale, usually white hair. They are shorter and more slender than humans, seldom reaching more than 5 feet in height. Male drow weigh between 80 and 110 pounds, and females between 95 and 120 pounds. Drow have finely chiseled features, and their fingers and toes are long and delicate. Like all elves, they have higher Dexterity and lower Constitution than men. Drow clothing is usually black, functional, and often possesses special properties, although it does not radiate magic In the centuries they've spent underground, drow have learned the languages of many of the intelligent creatures of the underworld. Besides their own tongue, an exotic variant of elvish, drow speak both common and the subterranean trade language used by many races under the earth. They speak the languages of gnomes and other elves fluently. Drow also have their own silent language composed of both signed hand movements and body language. These signs can convey information, but not subtle meaning or emotional content. If within 30 feet of another drow, they can also use complex facial expressions, body movements, and postures to convey meaning. Coupled with their hand signs, these expressions and gestures give the drow's silent language a potential for expression equal to most spoken languages. Driders These strange creatures have the head and torso of a drow and the legs and lower body of a giant spider. Driders are created by the drow's dark goddess. When a dark elf of above-average ability reaches 6th level, the goddess may put him or her through a special test. Failures become driders.