With a darkvision range nearly as great as drow have, a strong resistance to controlling magic, and a knowledge of the Underdark, they can be a threat to a drow community if too many of them remain together.ĭespite this, some drow communities make good use of the superior smithing skills that their Duergar captives possess. Other communities keep drow as slaves in all but name.ĭuergar can make for troublesome slaves. Some drow communities don't enslave drow at all, sacrificing or merely killing captives and dangerous criminals. With few exceptions, drow only enslave other drow captured in battle, particularly debtors and noble drow whose families do not pay ransoms for their return. Capable of speaking and understanding Undercommon, chokers are easy for drow to train. Slavers often patrol their stockyards with two or three leashed and collared chokers walking ahead of them to help subdue unruly slaves.
Dark elves use them the way surface dwellers use guard dogs. Drow who wish to keep bugbear slaves usually learn Goblin or Common tongues.Ĭhokers are stupid, nasty little predators native to the Underdark. When put to other work, bugbears become surly and difficult. Drow often put bugbears in a position of authority over other slaves, allowing them to feel superior while keeping them under control. Most athach slaves are used for mining and quarrying.īugbears are strong and hardy creatures who generally enjoy working as guardians and enforcers for their drow masters. Since they speak only Giant, a foreign tongue to most dark elves, they are useful mostly as fodder for gladiatorial combat and as laborers on projects that require a great deal of muscle but little explanation or thought. The dimwitted monsters have little sense of self and become quite docile after sufficient threats and applications of pain. Troublesome slaves are tortured and abused until they become obedient or die.īelow is a list of some of the more common slave creatures, as well as a variety of more uncommon ones, with brief notes on how such creatures fit into their roles.Īthachs are powerful creatures, far stronger than most of the drow they serve as slaves. More capable and stronger slaves have a higher starting bid. Some drow communities don't enslave drow at all, sacrificing or merely killing captives and dangerous criminals.ĭrow slavers rigorously test their stock for tractability and aptitude before they put the creatures up for sale. As some societies may have different viewpoints on this matter, that fact may vary slightly from place to place. Drow only enslave other drow captured in battle, particularly debtors and noble drow whose families do not pay ransoms for their return.
Kobolds and jermlaine are too small, agile, and independent to make good slaves (in the mind of most drow, at least), and such creatures as trolls and giants are too large and powerful. Slaves encountered in drow society are usually (meaning exceptions are possible) of the goblinoid races: goblins, orcs, hobgoblins, and the like. Slave may only bear weapons when a drow noble allows them (usually only in gladiatorial entertainment fights, or to defend a House under attack). Maiming and scarring, both physical and emotional, is another form of punishment (and amusement) commonly meted out upon slaves.Īll slaves must give way to drow nobles, and are not allowed to look any drow in the eye, even those of commoner stock. To most drow, a slave is but a pair of hands, without limits that need be thought of if it is killed, there are a million replacements to be had.Īs such, in drow society, slaves can be killed for the smallest slight, for pleasure, or out of spite. To most surface slavers, a slave is a valuable trade-good, not to be damaged more than is necessary. Drow or their servants come to the slave market to bid on the merchandise, auctioned off by the slavers who captured them.ĭrow treat slaves with no respect, using and abusing them at will. The pits stink of death, decay, fear, blood, and offal. Most drow settlements have a slave market set apart from the rest of the market district, and often just outside the settlement's limits, to keep its foul stench away from the city proper. It only follows that other races must serve them or become extinct.
Drow believe they have a manifest destiny as the best and strongest of all the races. Slavery is second nature to the drow mindset few dark elves can imagine life without slaves.