OOC - New Guild

[Blackrose]

Hello.

I was thinking in creating a Half-Drow guild.

Some of the half drows are slaves, the best ones are almost a civilian. They are in the margin of our Drow society. Many half-drow are solitary souls, preferring to keep their own counsel than sully themselves with the opinions of others.

Also, the almost citizen Half-Drows are born in Sshamath, and adquire their Law Protection - with some subjectivities.

In that context, what we could do is gather forces, we could band together into a self-important group, bullying (RP) those we feel we can intimidate.
Also, we could expand the guild to all the other races non important in UD, like Duergar and Deep Gnomes, even planetouched. Everything that is not Drow could make a small group.
The objective is not overpower the Drow Society (they are always the majority and have more power), but somehow protect ourselves from them.

For that reason, the only guild I think worth take a shot is being a mercenary clan.

Here is what I created.

- 1 Leader of the Family
- Half Drow Representative
- Duergar Representative
- Planetouched Representative

Note that this guild is not formal (in Roleplaying means), we will have our codes and marks to know who is mercenary and who isnt. Everyone who enters it can go out just sending a message to their leaders, it is a way to adquire more power in Drow Society, not to create a powerfull guild.

[Servin]

Good luck on your endeavour. Fingers crossed for your success.

One note if I may. Half-drow can't be treated as slaves within Sshamath, unless they are a property of a visitor, soon to be gone from the city. Any race considered magic-capable if enslaved is automatically freed as says the law of Sshamath.

OK another note, please don't hit me Your guild looks a bit like an already existing Bregan D'aerthe.

Still I always cheer for new initiatives It means the society is active

[Blackrose]

I searched for all the topics to see if there was a guild like this.
I will look at this one.
Thank you =)

I Forgot the Gnomes... haha. But its just a first impression.

It is not supposed to be a core guild very well known, it wont have family name or something that marks it for all the drow society (probably a Lore Check to understand who you are dealing with in a Roleplay can be sufficient though), it will lurks in the shadow like a "scum" race would do. =)

The caotic way the guild will be formed could be our protection also, within the guild only a handfull of players will surely know what is happening, others will just kill or "steal" (please, only in RP, hahaha) because it was told to and recieve a good amount of gold.

[Servin]

By kill and steal, you mean from non-drow, or outside the city limits I hope. Thinking harm to a drow would activate a mythal within the city +1 mile radius away from it, which would result in paralysing pain on the thinker.

Sounds like Darkwoods would be a good place for HQ.

Also, lorewise you may find duergars to be difficult to acquire as drow treat them a bit better than the rest of other non-drow races. Something that might put this balance off, would be met with prejudice from both drow and duergar. You may find this either interesting or tl;dr or both

Population

Sshamathans are both welcoming of outsiders and xenophobic. The city's culture is steeped in fear of conquest, yet Sshamath's continued existence depends on the steady flow of Underdark traders bringing in goods for its inhabitants' artifice. This conflict enables all races to visit Sshamath, even traditional drow foes, yet ensures that such visitors are only superficially welcomed and always under great, unspoken suspicion.

The population of Sshamath can be divided into three groups:
Citizens: All Drow living in the city.
Non-Citizens: The Duergar, Svirfneblin, Humans and other races that live in or are visiting the city but aren't slaves.
Slaves: Everyone else.

Citizens
All resident drow are counted as Citizens of the city and are afforded more rights (and have a higher rank) than non-citizens. As a Citizen it is much easier to prevail in any dispute with a non-citizen or visitor, usually only taking a word or declaration from the Citizen for the non-citizen to be declared the loser in the eyes of the city establishment. All non-drow would be wise to keep this in mind, even the lowliest shebali drow Citizen could cause big problems for a non-citizen.

Non-Citizens
While the drow of Sshamath hold themselves above all other races, they do cede a modicum of respect to races capable of true wizardry. As such, slaves include only those races deemed incapable of manipulating wizardly magic, such as chitines, goblins, grimlocks, minotaurs, and ogres. Members of these and similar races who can use arcane magic are seen as anomalies or trick ponies rather than indications of wizardly ability for the race. Notable races excluded from slavery (except as slaves of visitors) include elves, humans, svirfneblin, and deep Imaskari. Constructs, conjured creatures, and controlled undead are considered objects, even when capable of wizardry, and have no rights. Races capable of wizardry who reach Sshamath of their own accord as free-willed beings have the right to remain within the city for as long as they obey its laws and conduct ongoing business with residents. Actual citizenship is never granted to nondrow, though permanent residency is allowed so long as business is conducted as mentioned above. This second-class 'ghetto' of humans and Deep Imaskari is never allowed to grow large, but the city recognizes the value of these noncitizens as scapegoats or sacrificial lambs.
NOTE: Bards, sorcerers, and the practioners of divine magic are also considered to be of second-class status, though drow of these classes may be actual citizens within the City of Dark Weavings all the same. The dark elves of Sshamath view power that occurs naturally or because of service to another creature as inferior to power won through personal achievement.

Duergar in Sshamath
Most Duergar are to be found in the Darkspires area of town where the metal-work and smithing occurs although some Duergar have trading relationships with the Conclave that permit them to maintain premises in the Dark Weavings Bazaar. Whereas all other non-citizen races are confined to the Darkwoods ghetto the Duergar live where they work for the most part, in the Darkspires.

In general Drow are inherently racist so they ALWAYS look down their noses at every other race (well except for some Drow that worship Ellistrae and Vhaeraun but those are special cases). The Duergar would not be tolerated in a Lolthian city as they are even more racist than the rest of the Drow population (and that's saying something). However Sshamath is ruled by a Conclave of wizards and they REALLY want those shiny magic items which the Duergar are unparalleled at making so as long as the Duergar keep turning them out the wizards will be quite happy. The Duergar (and all other races) will never garner full citizenship in the city however this is not necessarily a big setback as they would make their own alliances both within their race, between other races (svirf etc) and to whichever school of magic holds the most power. Being evil and insanely avaricious Duergar keep working for Sshamath (as opposed to their own Duergar towns) for the potential to make more money than they could at home. Indeed a large percentage of the Duergar in Sshamath have been sold into indentured service to other Duergar by their own families, such is the avaricious nature of the grey dwarves.

In theory the Conclave could just one day wake up and say "we want the Darkspires back all Duergar must leave the city" but in practice as long as the Duergar remain relatively neutral (i.e. not as a group ally themselves to single school of magic) the Conclave will keep them around for the benefits they bring to the city.

Svirneblin in Sshamath
Svirfnbelin (or deep gnomes) are traditionally very shy and secretive as a race and mortal enemies of the Drow so at first glance it seems odd that they would have such a presence in the city. As has been stated above Sshamath treats slavery rather differently than other Drow enclaves and this coupled with the deep gnomes natural propensity for Illusion magic confers the status of "free" if not "citizen" upon them. In general the Drow population views them even less favorably than the resident Duergar going out of their way to belittle, put-down and generally demean them at every turn. Despited this some Svirneblin still choose to live in Sshamath for the opportunity it brings to trade in some of the rarest gems and minerals in Faeraun.
Most of the deep gnome population resides in the Darkwoods ghetto along with the rest of the free non-citizens of the city although some do reside elsewhere either as retainers to one of the schools of magic or as the occasional merchant in the Dark Weavings bazaar.

Slaves
Sshamath is as close to a free city as you will get from the drow, designed to encourage trade so the Conclave can accumulate as much magical power as possible. A much larger variety of races live and work together as free people, if not citizens, in Sshamath than do in Menzo. Slavery is critical to the functioning of any drow city as compared to other humanoids they are not numerous, they reproduce slower, and require much more resources to raise to adulthood. Much as nazi germany depended upon slaves to fuel their production during the war so do drow rely upon slaves to do most of the day-to-day farming and production associated with a functional society.

That being said Sshamath treats slavery differently than in other drow cities. Whereas in other cities anyone who is weak enough will undoubtedly become a slave, in Sshamath races considered capable of wizardry such as humans, elves, svirfneblin and deep imaskari are never kept as slaves by citizens. However they are permitted as the slaves of visitors. The slaves of Sshamath are largely resigned to their fate. In addition to the liberal use of charm magic, the conclave permits visitors to bring in small groups of their own slaves and to occasionally purchase slaves from other cities. These practices ensure that Sshamath slaves are aware that their life here is not nearly as bad as elsewhere.

Creatures who demonstrate an aptitude for wizardry are considered free in the eyes of Sshamath law and are allowed to live albeit in a ghetto, the Darkwoods, that is prevented from getting too big. This ghetto is populated by a host of shebali (commoner) drow, rivvil (humans), svirfneblin and many other non-citizens of Sshamath.
The Duergar are the exception to this has they have forged a direct relationship with the Conclave, they maintain their own quarters in the place they work, the Darkspires.

Here is the makeup of the population by race:

Free Races: 50,000 total
Drow: 80%
Duergar: 10%
Svirfneblin: 5%
Darthiir (all surface elves): 1%
Human: 1%
Deep Imaskari: 1%
Other: 2% (all other races combined)

Slave Races: 50,000 total
Goblin 39%
Grimlock 19%
Orc 12%
Ogre 10%
Minotaur 9%
Human 6%
Outsider 5%

Note 1: for game purposes the ratios of "free citizens" are adjusted to reflect player-ratios better.
Note 2: If you decide to play a half-orc you will most likely start out as a slave of someone or an escaped slave that someone else (most likely a drow) will lay claim to. This can be it's own fun RP if done right so i wouldn't let that stop you from playing one. A drow city would never permit an orc or goblinoid to obtain citizenship so you're most likely outta luck there.

I shall shut up now

[Planehopper]

By kill and steal, you mean from non-drow, or outside the city limits I hope. Thinking harm to a drow would activate a mythal within the city +1 mile radius away from it, which would result in paralysing pain on the thinker.

Where is that stated? Is that backed up by DMs?

Not doubting you, but thats pretty stupid if thats the case.

[Servin]

It pretty much is both backed up by the DM's (Asgorath led an event that triggered a mythal with other DM's assisting at the time) and lorewise.

Defenses
Like all drow enclaves, Sshamath is well defended by both arms and Art, though perhaps less so than some other cities, as there are no nearby enemies to pose a threat to the city. Only the crafting of the priesthood of Lolth found in many other cities are largely absent. On a citywide scale, each recognized school of magic contributes to Sshamath's defenses, each overseeing a particular aspect or aspects. The continuing struggle between wizards and their schools to outdo one another has created an increasing layer of wards and other arcane defenses, which already makes the city nigh-impregnable to outside attack. The most formidable of these defenses consist of epic spells that harden the stone, lock down the city in a continual Dimensional Anchor, redirect Teleport spells cast by strangers, and cause paralyzing pain to anyone within a 1 mile radius who seriously thinks about attacking the city or its citizens. There are many other examples of the city's arcane defenses, too numerous to list here. The overall effect is not unlike a mythal in many regards, though the overlapping effects are not woven together as with a true mythal, and sometimes these wards and spells may combine or counteract each other unexpectedly. Such instabilities have only been heightened by the deleterious effects of the Guardian's Tear, as discussed in the Temples section below.

Lore source: http://drowcampaign.roleplaynexus.com/citysshamath.html

The source is quoted as a link in the official lore thread on our forums found here:
http://bgtscc.net/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=78

Link number two.

[Blackrose]

Thank you Servin, I readed the links and it helped me to create the guild.

The Guild has began in Underdark, any other details of the Guild will be IC (excluding the "regiment" that shall be posted only to the members and to the Staff , if needed).

The actions I told about is only examples of what we could do, if that comes to happen, it will be regulated by the server rules, city rules and oriented by a DM, so we don't need to talk about how we would kill a drow.
Surely kill a drow, IC, is not possible at all, and no mortal would do it against such a powerfull race

The information about this "group" can be used as a rumour. Any other lore will only be accomplished by IC =)

If any other person is interested, please send me a message or post here.

[illithid]

Izzrar languishes in the Gloura's Wings, a constant half filled glass keeping him company along with the three gloura's. His eyes glance sidewards, seemingly looking through the hood shrouding his face, as whispered rumours seep into his hearing. He chuckles softly, addressing one of the flitting fey.
"Ahh, interesting, pawns or princes, perhaps both and perhaps neither, time shall reveal their motive and their capability." He pushes the glass away and heads out of the tavern with a wry grin and a swagger.

[Cubicle]

Go for it. If you have a solid foundation I wouldn't mind taking part in this.

If we could build the Darkwood Ghetto up, guilds like this would fit very well. Ideas, ideas..