Elf Male

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   "For as long as I believe that I am walking the true road, if I am slain, then I die in the knowledge that for a brief period at least, I was part of something bigger than myself.  I was part of the way it should be.  No drow, no man, no dwarf could ever ask for more than that. I am not afraid to die." 

                                       -Drizzt Do'Urden

http://www.digioso.org/dilly_tools/illy_armytimer.pl

 

Deep below the surface realm lies the Underdark, a dark and treacherous place that is the home of several races, among them, the Dark Elves. The Dark Elf capital, also known as Menzobberanzan, is a city of treachery and chaos. Dark elves live in a heavily religious Matriarchal society (in other words, women are in charge, men are subordinate), and the name of their deity is Lolth.

Menzoberranzan lies several miles below the surface of the world. It is one giant hollow cavern, where entire buildings are built into stalagmites, and several other natural structures. The city is described as one of the most beautifully and well crafted cities, and a cruel facade to any who dare wander too close. The city, and dark elf society in general, is very elitist, and outsiders are all regarded as "offal", and only tolerated as long as they serve a beneficial role. Each clan, or "House" seeks ascension by eliminating or proving more powerful than the clans above them. Secret wars are waged daily, and treachery is awarded with the promise of power, while failure often results in complete obliteration.

Dark Elf society in general is portrayed as cruel, and unforgiving. The third born male of any Matron Mother (the leader of any clan/house) must be sacrificed to their cruel deity, Lolth, as well as any child born with any sort of birth defect. Drow often spend the first decade or more of their life learning their place in society. Females learn their role as the born-to-be priestesses and rulers, and are taught their importance to drow society. Males, however, learn their role as servants of their ruling female counterparts. Between the ages of ten and twenty, most drow learn the place they'll take in their houses. Most females are sent to churches, while males tend to be split between Sorcere, where they learn the arts of arcane magic, or more than likely, Melee Magthere, where they learn how to fight on a more physical level.

Drizzt Do'urden was born in Menzoberranzan in 1297 DR as the third son to Matron Malice Do'Urden, the Matron Mother of House Do'Urden he is also known as Daermon N'a'shezbaernon. He was originally meant to be sacrificed to Lolth, the Demon Queen of Spiders, being the third living son, but was spared just minutes after his birth when the oldest Do'Urden brother, Nalfein, was assassinated by the second-oldest brother, Dinin, during a raid on a rival house.

Drizzt's father was Zaknafein, the renowned weapons master of House Do'Urden. Zaknafein secretly hated Drow society as a whole and it was he who taught Drizzt his formidable martial skills, but more importantly, reinforced Drizzt's innate moral code that of favoring friendship and peace over hatred and violence.

During a raid against a group of surface elves, Drizzt found himself unable to participate in the slaughter with his fellow Drow. He pretended to kill an elven child but actually helped her to escape. When the deception was discovered Zaknafein was sacrificed in place of Drizzt to appease Lolth. Following a war against another House, Drizzt cursed his family and the evil drow ways, and escaped Menzoberranzan into the Underdark. It was also at this time that he acquired the statuette that allows him to summon the panther, Guenhwyvar, from the astral plane.

He retrieved it from a drow sorcerer after slaying him. Guenhwyvar has been by his side, saving Drizzt, and the friends he gains, numerous times, as they traveled across the realms and many planes. Hunted as a traitor to his race, he found that most other people he met treated him with hatred and disgust due to the legacy of the drow, leaving only the most open-minded and open-hearted to accept him.

One of these people was Belwar Dissengulp, a svirfneblin or deep gnome. Drizzt wandered the Underdark together with Belwar and a polymorphed pech nicknamed Clacker, but after fighting off the resurrected spirit-wraith of his father Zaknafein, Drizzt left Belwar and found his way to the surface. On the surface Drizzt met up with a blind human ranger named Montolio Debrouchee. When Montolio began teaching him the ways of the ranger Drizzt realized that, unknowingly, he had been following these principles his entire life. From this time on Drizzt made his patron goddess Mielikki, Faerun goddess of the forest and of rangers.

After the death of his mentor Drizzt traveled the realms in search of a new home, and eventually found himself in Icewind Dale where he met dwarven king Bruenor Battlehammer; Bruenor's adopted human daughter, Catti-brie, the barbarian Wulfgar (Bruenor's adopted human son); and Regis (Rumblebelly according to Bruenor), a loyal but unadventurous halfling. The group had many adventures together and would come to be known as the Companions of the Hall.

Thoughtful and sensitive to others, Drizzt held himself to the highest ideals but didn't expect the same of others.  Ever alert for treachery and danger, he spoke little but was apt to be polite (if terse) in his dealings. A perfectionist who yearned to be accepted into places and groups and to make friends widely, Drizzt was haunted by the danger he brought to his friends. Those he met perceived him as having a grim manner.        

  "Reality is a curious thing. Truth is not as solid and universal as any of us would like it to be; selfishness guides perception, and perception invites justification. The physical image in the mirror, if not pleasing, can be altered by the mere brush of fingers through hair.  And so it is true that we can manipulate our own reality. We can persuade, even deceive. We can make others view us in dishonest ways. We can hide selfishness with charity, make a craving for acceptance into magnanimity, and amplify our smile to coerce a hesitant lover. The world is illusion, and often delusion, as victors write the histories and the children who die quietly under the stamp of a triumphant army never really existed. The robber baron becomes philanthropist in the final analysis, by bequeathing only that for which he had no more use. The king who sends young men and women to die becomes beneficent with the kiss of a baby. Every problem becomes a problem of perception to those who understand that reality, in reality, is what you make reality to be.  This is the way of the world, but it is not the only way.” 

                                                -Drizzt Do'Urden

                                   -Me-