Setting:Unified Setting/Drow

Drow are native to the northern continent of Zirnitraog, related to the Sidhe in distant ancestry. This doesn't concern them in the least as they are busy building a collection of city-states filled with highly competitive individuals. They primarily inhabit the area called Zirnitraog, a collection of islands large and small East of Vanawill.

The Wila

The Drow (or more properly, the Wila, as Drow actually means "Raider") appear almost identical to their elven cousins. They share the same comely, short, lithe humanoid form with notably pointed ears. The main and obvious difference is in skin pigmentation. Unlike the fairer elves, Wila skin is jet black in color. Naturalists aren't sure why this is the case. Some suggest that it enhances their ability to absorb both solar and magical energy in a cold, northern climate. The vast majority refuse to speculate. Elven history suggests that elven skin color is determined by ambient magic levels, however. The coloration of the grey Sidhe, and the Caele, who are white as milk, supports this.

While Wila are typically portrayed with white hair to contrast with their black skin, their hair can come in a variety of other colors. White, like blonde for humans, is culturally preferred, and so some wila are known to bleach the natural pigment out of their hair to appear more attractive.

As mentioned above, Wila have the ability to absorb ambient magical energy. For the vast majority of Wila, this is an utterly useless ability, the equivalent of a human appendix. Some zealots however have honed this racial quirk into a talent that gives them an edge against mages in battle.

The noble Wila houses meet for political negotiations wearing very little. This has to do with an old tradition of showing that you have no concealed weapons on your person. When the houses established diplomatic relations with the other races, this led to a misunderstanding and now there's a belief among humans that Wila are a nation of BDSM whores. Only top Wila diplomats ever dress in this fashion however, and they only do so in important meetings.

Government

The Wila Republic is a bustling, confusing place to many outsiders. Every individual, family, business and city-state seems to have their own agenda and plans which they pursue in direct opposition to the schemes of every other individual, family, business and city-state. The land itself is also varied, containing the empty and barren tundra of the north and the booming, cosmopolitan trading ports of the south.

The independent city-states are each ruled by a House, usually a council of the most powerful factions in town. In other cases it is a democratically elected body, a collection of hereditary nobles or other arrangement. The most powerful Houses (called Great Houses) have influence, if not complete control, over a wide area.

Note: The term city-state refers to the domain controlled by a House. However in the northern reaches there are few cities worth the name and the scattered villages and trading posts serve only as meeting points for the mostly nomadic Drow living there. The term city-state will continue to be used for simplicity, even in reference to the northern "barbarians."

The government of the Drow Republic is the Great Council of Houses (sarcastically called the Council of Great Houses due to their influence). This is a meeting of all Houses to decide on matters affecting the Drow. The Republic requires almost unanimous assent to make a decision and there is little the Houses will agree upon outside of war or an urgent foreign policy matter. The Republic mostly serves as a place for the Great Houses to jockey for power and influence against each other, but it has been known to take quick and decisive action in the past (notably during the rise of Sergal Empress Rain).

The Great Houses

There are currently six Great Houses. Two are northern and are composed of ignorant, savage barbarians. Three are southern and are composed of effete, decadent swindlers. The sixth exists in a legal limbo and is known as the Lost House, despite openly conducting business like all the others. Questioners asking how an existing government can be considered lost and what they did to deserve the status are treated as if they have committed a horribly embarrassing faux pas and get no answers.

Great Houses are named after the dominant city in their area of influence.

House Chernogbog (Northern)

An icy marshland. The natives are considered somewhat slow by the other Wila. When they can be bothered to reply, the people of Chernogbog say they don't talk much. There isn't much call for conversational skills in their homeland, but it does produce the best hunters and wilderness scouts of the Wila Republic. Their ability to operate in hostile environments without support, and the demand for those skills by other houses has given them an enviable information network. They are also highly practiced in the Wila arts of anti-magic.

House Rugiewit (Northern)

A proud military house and an upstanding pillar of the Republic. Or to put it another way, the center of the Wila's abominable history of piracy and raiding. Blessed with sheltered ports, plenty of timber and a central location, Rugiewit raiders terrorized every country their ships could reach until the southern Houses put a brake on things. Now they are the shipyard and recruiting center of the Republic as ambitious sons and daughters of Rugiewit seek their fortune in the Republic military.

House Ziwia (Southern)

A strong agricultural region, often called the "Baetica of Zirnitraog." Their volcanically fertilized soil produces bounteous crops, allowing them to export both food and influence across the Republic. However the volcanic ash emitted by the Water Forest is a mixed blessing, bestowing the occasional life-warping magic alongside fertilizer. The Ziwians have capitalized on this by capturing, studying and using the occasional bizarre mutant in the alchemical arts at which they also excel.

House Ozwiena (Southern)

House Rugiewit may be the Republic's biggest ship builders, but nobody gets more use out of them than the Ozwienans. They were traders before trading was cool and excel at the mercantile and diplomatic arts. The Wila language draws no distinction between commercial and political negotiations and a member of House Ozwiena will be present at almost all negotiations inside or outside the Republic. If not present in an official capacity they will still show up and offer to handle the entire thing at half the price.

(On a side note: The Wila language draws no distinction between commercial and political negotiations and there is only a subtle distinction with the words denoting the pimping of prostitutes, marriage negotiation and murder-for-hire. Non-native speakers should be precise with suffixes.)

House Peklenc (Southern)

"Take it to Peklenc." is a common Wila saying. It is the equivalent of "In the name of all the gods I worship and on my sacred honor, what I say to you is true or may I be stricken dead!" but since Wila would still laugh at that there was a market opportunity. That has been filled by the arbitrators and appraisers of Peklenc. An early trading port, since eclipsed by Ozwiena, they sold their expertise and later their impartiality to other Wila.

The presence of a Peklenc arbitrator is welcomed in most dealings as their expertise and neutrality makes things run smoother. Less welcome are the rare, golden-masked arbitrators whose calling isn't bound by contract. Instead they mete out justice as they see fit, often harshly.

While the major Houses grumble and complain there is little they can do. The Judges (as they are called by the humans) are beloved by the Wila people and operate outside of Peklenc authority. Most Wila chalk up an encounter with a Judge as the risk of doing business, as one would an encounter with a storm or a gelatinous berg.

House Zorya (Lost)

The lost house. Their home city attempted to conquer all of Zirnitraog and was destroyed in a bloody civil war. The scattered survivors are a death cult/assassin guild plotting to control the Great Council of Houses for an unknown, but sinister goal.

Well, that is how they are portrayed in the sensationalist fiction of Vyntril. The reality is quite different. House Zorya is officially known as "The Lost House" but that doesn't seem to slow them down at all. Technically the lands surrounding Zorya are under the administration of arbitrators from House Peklenc, but they seem content to let the people manage themselves. Operating under restrictions that are never discussed with outsiders, the people have dedicated themselves to support of the arts, medicine and learning. Zoryan theaters, hospitals and universities have spread across Zirnitraog and can be found in the territory of all the Great and most of the Lesser Houses.

Despite their official status of being "The Lost House" Zorya still has a representative in the Great Council of Houses, though he is referred to as the Speaker for Zorya instead of the Speaker of Zorya.

The Great Houses and Religion

All of the Great and Lesser Houses claim that they are the true keepers and main influencers of the Wila faith. While strange to outsiders, the Wila are a pious people and treat their religion with great seriousness and pride. It is difficult to sort out the conflicting claims as Wila doctrine changes over time and is opaque to outsiders. To date no outside religious scholar has been able to determine the message of "Zantos and The Triplet Courtesans" which seems to be a bawdy romp currently packing theaters in the Wila Republic.

The Great Houses and Wila Assassins

While their spheres overlap to a great extent, the Great Houses rose to prominence by specializing in a particular field. This has lead some outsiders to speculate that one of the Houses specializes in the art of murder-for-hire (at which the Wila infamously excel). No house will admit to sheltering assassins, but they are all suspect. Chernogbog has the best hunters, Rugiewit the best soldiers, Ziwia's mastery of alchemy makes them the best poisoners, Ozwienans have the skills to get close to a target, nobody would ever suspect a Peklenc and Zorya is always suspect.

Wila when asked always laugh when pressed on the issue and dismiss the entire idea as ridiculous and a bit insulting, but if you are serious then they might know a guy who knows a guy. No promises of course and they will need a little cash up front to grease the wheels....

Assassins

Wila assassins are considered the best in the world. This is true. The reason is that Wila prefer to crush their rivals politically, economically, stylistically or legally. (Wila lawyers are considered at least the second-best in the world. Debate rages over the #1 slot.) To use an assassin is an admission of failure, which is why such hits are always untraceable. For a rival to be linked to the actual death of an enemy would be a fashion and legal disaster. Hence Wila assassins are masters of seemingly accidental and natural-causes deaths.

Rumors that any particular House specializes in or condones assassination is base slander and the foolish prattle of old women.