#underdark economy

[lunastrophe]

Drow Fashion 🕷️✨ Drow Textile Markets

Spider silks, particularly black spider silk and textiles that resemble spider webs, hold a special place in drow culture and fashion. Dark elves, though, use also other textiles in their clothing, depending on their social status, personal preferences and region they live in. Some raw materials, like wool of deep rothé and fibers of mushrooms, are usually easy to obtain and to process into cloth. Some less common or luxury materials, though, are obtainable only for wealthy drow.

🕷️ Raw Materials And Trade - like many other denizens of the Underdark, drow are often forced to rely mainly on local resources. In communities with connections to trade routes, merchants often ensure supply of raw materials like fibers, fleece, wool and threads, as well as semi-finished and finished products.

In large trading cities like Sshamath, drow typically have access to assorted goods from various regions – sometimes also from the surface. Some rare and valuable surface goods, including luxury textiles, are also occasionally transported to drow cities as raiding spoils, becoming possessions of noble drow and their houses. In general, though, surface fabrics, clothing items and accessories are rare in the Underdark, and they can be incredibly expensive there.

🕷️ Where To Buy? - drow-made textiles are among major products of numerous drow settlements, including cities like Menzoberranzan or Ched Nasad.

Dark elves typically like to dress as good as they can, so in drow communities, stores that specialize in selling fabrics and clothing tend to attract many customers – from large, fine cloth emporia of big cities to smaller shops and merchant stalls.

In Ched Nasad, one of such stores was located …along the side of the street leading to the plaza. (…) The store offered fashionable, decorative silk wraps and other clothing (T. Reid, Insurrection). Its building looked a bit quaint and it had a rounded roof that was shaped like a cocoon.

In Duthcloim, a district of Menzoberranzan know also as Manyfolk, there are many drow merchants who specialize in selling textiles and clothing. The most wealthy and influential ones are drow male Du’arthe Klendara and drow female Sh’aun Darnruel (E. Greenwood, Menzoberranzan, 2e).

🕷️ Drow As Customers - drow often look down their noses at goods produced by non-drow, considering them inferior. Despite of that, many wealthy dark elves appreciate materials and products that come from the surface, and are willing to pay for them – provided they are top quality, appeal to their aesthetics and personal tastes, and befit their station and rank.

Drow-made clothing materials and items typically surpass many others in quality, so dark elves, especially nobles, tend to be picky buyers, hard to impress and even harder to please.

🕷️ Noble Houses - not all drow need to rely on goods sold by merchants. Noble drow houses typically have their own skilled workers who can weave cloth, as well as craftsmen who can work cloth and other materials into garments (E. Greenwood, DotU, 2e).

For more of my drow lore ramblings, feel free to check my pinned post 🕷️

[crickwater]

okay but what if I dyed my hair white and cosplayed astarion and actually went to the next convention....

[visenyaism]

making the decision to release seven thousand vampire spawn into the underdark as a drow is so wild.i think this might not be good for the menzoberranzan economy. let’s do it. come to my hometown.

[venndaai]

I really want to run an Underdark campaign, possibly based on Out of the Abyss, and I was brainstorming how to make the drow... palatable... and I was like, okay, Menzoberranzan is an imperialist, expansionist city-state with a slavery-based economy, I can take some inspiration from Rome... maybe say that drow just don't have strongly defined gender roles and aboveground propaganda just portrays that as an evil kinky matriarchy... what if I made this character in the module nonbinary... what if I made them all nonbinary... ah beans, I've just made them into the Radch

[legendaryvermin]

top 10 video games:

not strictly new. but the stuff I enjoyed most this year.

1. Sea of Stars - JRPG by the folks who made the Messenger. perfect economy of storytelling, good combat that takes notes from Paper Mario and Chrono Trigger

2. Bomb Rush Cyberfunk - Tag and Grind that could teach Sonic a thing or two. amazing game, finished it twice!

3. Chants of Senaar - Puzzle game about language. You learn and translate 5 languages while climbing a tower. super satisfying to have breakthroughs in understanding.

4. Ninja 5-0 - Lost GBA gem. This game kicks outrageous amounts of ass, and has a cool grappling hook. what more could you ask for?

5. Skies of Arcadia - Steal this mana system. also, what a delightful romp, very Dragon Quest.

6. Jedi Survivor - This game learned so much from its predecessor! it switched from a Soulsborne lens to a more Metroidvania one and I think it really paid off.

7. Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon - Friendly enough to be familiar to people who haven't followed the series, adversarial enough to get you to try new bullshit. also, spoilers, but one of the bosses is a Roomba.

8. Tears of the Kingdom - It's Banjo Ka-Zelda: Nuts and Bolts, and that's a good thing. in any other year this might be number 1.

9. Ghost of Tsushima - A wonderful set of gorgeously told short stories let down by a trope-laden and western-gazey central story that seems to fundamentally misunderstand samurai in Japanese history.

10. Baldur's Gate 3 - I reserve the right to use this again next year because I'm literally still in the underdark. it's this low because it's still D&D, for good and for ill.

[skullhaver]

Night, informal, wardrobe, makeup and alternative for Athren

This set of prompts truly is well-tailored (hah) to Athren's interests. And it gives me an excuse to share the art you created of him!

wardrobe: How big is your character’s wardrobe? Do they wear things threadbare, or can they afford new clothes often? Are they any good at mending and repairing their own clothing?

Prior to coming into a small fortune during the events of Dragon Heist, Athren's financial situation was like:

Food $200 Rent $800 Clothing $3,600 Books $150 someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying

He definitely spent way disproportionately above his means on both quantity and quality of clothes. Happily made sacrifices in other areas of his life in order to dress better. In his former life as a noble House servant in Menzoberranzan, not only did he have to spend all his working hours in a uniform, but his clothing choices during his non-working hours were heavily restricted by both his finances and his caste. Now that he's on the surface, getting to express himself through clothes is HUGE to him.

Athren likes having a lot of clothes, especially by the standard of renaissance fantasy pre-industrial-manufacturing. For him, clothes are an art collection. He never throws anything out. If something he wears frequently starts wearing thin, he'd mend, modify, or get it re-tailored into something new. For statement outfits (like the outrageous Sean Connery Highlander look worn to the Cassalanters' midsummer ball), it will have a place of honor in his closet forever as an art piece to display and enjoy.

He doesn't have the skill to make his own clothes, but he does know how to mend simple tears, replace buttons, etc. The kind of thing anybody who grows up poor or middle class would know. And he also knows a lot about maintaining clothing to keep things in excellent condition, although he is very happy to have enough money to pay other people to do his laundry these days. And I love watching YouTube videos about historical clothing, so I have definitely thought about how his clothes get washed.

I was having so much fun with these!! I'll put the rest under a readmore.

night: What does your OC wear to sleep? Do they have a favorite pair of PJs, or are they more the birthday suit type?

Going to take you through my thought process verbatim on this one.

Huh, never thought about this. Even sleeping/in reverie, he'd still want to feel luxurious. But he'd prioritize comfort, too. And what's physically comfortable would be something that's familiar to him. I wonder if spider silk is soft. It would be so funny if he used his Dragon Heist earnings for super special Underdark-imported spider silk pajamas. Hey isn't Rae's Dragon Heist PC Kiarhys from a merchant family specializing in textiles, with business operations both below and aboveground?

Something something I think there is a worldstate where Athren and Kiarhys meet via his quest for fancy pajamas.

makeup: Does your OC wear makeup? How often? What kind? Why do they wear makeup, and do they like it?

Rarely, but for special occasions or to coordinate with certain ensembles, sure. I'm quite partial to the way in The Mask of Mirrors men casually wear metallic eyeshadow/eyeliner sometimes. Also I think highlighter on his already nice cheekbones would be devastating. Davil should get to be quietly dazzled on a date where he sees Athren wear makeup for the first time.

informal: What’s your OC’s lazy-day look? How do they like to dress when they’re winding down?

Although I devote a lot of time to finding sumptuous Elizabethan outfit refs for Athren, the man does actually own regular, comfortable tunic-and-trouser renaissance fantasy staple clothes.

alternate: What would your OC’s alternate universe look be? If they’re a fantasy character, what’s their modern look?

The best way to capture Athren's sartorial sensibilities in a modern AU would be to put him in a semi-alternative fashion that looks flamboyant but still sharp. I'd dress him in the Black Dandy revival style. Some examples: The Iconic Dandy Wellington:

From Meet the Black Dandies:

[splat20]

Dark Elf trilogy worldbuilding: the Underdark is so kooky! Who keeps leaving these vats of neon green acid laying around? Don't worry about it! Maybe massage a giant brain's juicy wrinkles for awhile and then you'll calm down. Would you like to add more slime? Would you like to add more spiders? Evil milfs in your area!

Icewind Dale worldbuilding: the trout economy is in shambles

[ask-the-royal-absol]

@Destino, Felix & Hope: You three better be ready for this, especially you Prime. Once you leave, there is most likely NO COMING BACK. On that note, Perhaps this can be an exception to the light luggage rule (Drops a small bag of 9 Max Revives on the floor) Use them well, Heroes, and may Arceus have mercy on your souls

Destino looked towards you, smirk on their face. They chuckled at the idea of not coming back. How ridiculous.

“Hey buddy, I get you’re trying to make this whole journey sound epic. But the whole “no coming back” thing just ain’t true. Of course Felix and I are gonna come back here when the whole ‘saving the world’ situation is done. You think the surface world is gonna accept us when it’s forced us to be down here our entire lives? Ha, get real,” this sparked a thought in Destino’s head. They needed to ask this. “Speaking of. Hope, where are you from again?”

Mind still preoccupied with thinking about her missing item, she almost didn’t process Destino had said anything to her. Snapping back to the conversation at hand, she replied, “Oh, Terrestria. Why?”

“Ah right, Terrestria. Now, if I remember, you said our kingdoms had some sort of trade alliance, right?”

“Yes.” Terrestria had been allied with the Underdark for roughly 400 years. Each member of the Terrestrian royal family were taught this from a young age and understood how vital it was for their economy to keep this trade relationship going. The ores the Underdark provided were incredibly valuable and it had made the kindgom of Terrestria quite rich with resources to sell and trade to other kingdoms. They had been incredibly lucky that this collaboration between Terrestria and the Underdark had not be discovered by other kingdoms, especially Whimsain.

“And my parents have been to the surface, correct?”

“Multiple times.” Hope remembered the first time she saw Destino’s parents. As a young torchic, she was incredibly intimidated by them. Everyone knew the rumours surrounding dark types and how they’d kill you on the spot. She honestly thought they were there to invade. But, as soon as her father had shown her that they meant no harm, she found them interesting to talk to. She didn’t talk much with them, considering they mainly focused on trade deals with her father. But, when she was able to ask the, a question about themselves or their home, she was always fascinated to hear what they had to say. She definitely enjoyed hearing the funny stories they told about Destino.

“Right. Fuck them both for going without telling me but that’s not what I want to delve into. Did they ever use a disguise up there? Because I’m pretty sure they can’t use illusions or transformations. Then again, they lied about the whole surface thing so who knows at this point.”

“Wow, you’ve actually thought of something smart to ask. Did your single brain cell have to work hard for that one?” A single “oh damn,” from Felix caught Destino’s attention and they turned towards him, giving him a glare. They looked at Hope before speaking.

“Oh yes, real funny. Insult the Pokémon who’s supposed to save the world. I could always stay down here and let the world end.” It’s not like Destino wanted to be chosen to save the world. In fact, they hated every time they were reminded of this grand duty they had to fulfil. Maybe they’ll have to speak with this Pokémon who kept talking to them in their dreams about handing the responsibility to someone else.

“I mean, you are an easy target. Anyway, no, they don’t use a disguise. We’ve got a secret tunnel that is used by them to head straight to Terrestria without discovery. It was built a long time ago so then knowledge about your kingdom and our kingdom’s alliance wouldn’t leak out. You have your disguise so I wouldn’t worry too much about being caught.”

Secret tunnels, eh? Perhaps that’s how the alliance first started, with an accidental tunnel to the Underdark. Destino was curious to find out more about their alliance but they supposed that would have to be a conversation for later on. Destino chucked the bag of max revives to Felix. The Prime had no idea what the clumps were but figured they could be traded for something good on the surface. Felix gave Destino a look, but knew he would have to carry anything the Prime wanted to bring on this journey. Destino looked through a couple of their bags and picked out some black glasses. They tucked them into their soft fur and looked towards their parent’s room, where Hershel was standing outside of it and Roy was busy doing something inside.

“Well. It’s time. Let’s head up to the surface,” Destino said. The tiniest hint of worry entered their voice as they said this.

(5/5)

[memorimae]

Whisperer Adalwolf Salzlakritz, The White Wolf of Court

Licorice Rogue (Inquisitive) - Level 5

Those with nothing to hide have nothing to fear - so why are we all afraid?

Just beyond the borders of Gumbia rests the twin regions of Cane and Maple. The latter is named for the rocky mountainous wild-woods of maple root that house the Malic-Morass; the former is for the labyrinthine Underdark of the Candy Cane mining ports that carve the mountain out from below.

Port Bon-bon of the infamous massacre, The Bon-Bomb Banquet, is part of this region, but its ill-fitting crown is Salzlakritz. It is by far the rowdiest of its kind - a lawless sort of place where state-power battles with resident authority to create a haven of misadventure. But it is prosperous and a master of the trade. 

For that reason, their Noble house of the same name is often forgotten. A licorice family of nobodies who fail to control their populace but are always sending their taxes on time. Irrelevant to all but the economy.

Until Adalwolf, that is. Adalwolf was smart and strategic. Adalwolf was raised by a guiding hand towards the purest form of currency; secrets. 

He, like Lady Hazel, waltzed into Castle Candy at it’s hour of need with a charming air and wolfish grin. It didn’t take long for him to snake his way into the court, hypnotic in his ability to lull the deepest secrets from everyone, no matter the stature.

The greatest secret he discovered, however, was the love inspired by Queen Rain-Beau. He fell for her, hard - and their secret flourished inside the castle. A love to be shared in their home but traitorous should anyone outside the castle walls discover it.

It is the nature of mortals to lie and shield their truths, for the sake of self protection. But as the Spymaster of Candia, Adalwolf knows more than most how some are kept for the protection of others.

When all the secrets erupts from within him like a tempest, what destruction will be left in the Wolf’s wake?

Character Playlist

[mykindofgeeky]

I am glad that the 2024 dnd phb included a snippet of interesting lore for orcs, and we will be getting more orcs in chaps and cowboy hats because of this which is a plus. But, I do wish that they showed an ounce of creative backbone when it comes to lore. Idgaf if the books are supposed to be more setting neutral, WITHOUT THE LORE THE BOOKS ARE LESS INTERESTING. Fucking elves got shafted so hard with this one.

I'm not saying they gotta make Drow slave traders or Orcs mindless cannon fodder, I'm saying that they can't take away lore and not replace it with anything. Drow went from a mountain of lore surrounding their god, their cities, their society, their fucked up evil economy to a snippet about them generally chillin' in the Underdark. Orcs basically went from mindless cannon fodder to bare minimum for a playable species over the course of 10 years, and that is not enough.

Personally I think they should have dedicated at least a page just to lore for each of the species in the PHB. There's nothing in the PHB for a new player to really get inspired by, they aren't just pulling out the numbers like a lot of us who have been playing for a while. People will mostly just take the numbers from these new rules and just write whatever they want to write, so WOTC should also write whatever they want to write!

Overall I do like a lot of the changes in the new phb mechanically. I especially like how much feats are not an optional rule anymore and very strongly tied to character creation. Most of the spell changes are also good and seem to focus on a lot of the spells that start arguments at tables.

IDK this is just some bullshit I needed to get into text so it was out of my body.

[softness-and-shattering]

I was fully expectinflg ghe hag to have lair acrions, after all that warning eith the door and the myltie stage descent into the lair. Though I guess having the duplicates fulfilled the same role re action economy, and a party of four isnt so big, its not like a cr or d20 party of 6-8. Ive played in bigger groups and its not great.

I wasnt feeling fantastic today so I noodled around unfinished act 1 quests. I found the letter to Kagha. Im torn bc its super fun to have a secret backstory of shadow druids but like. She cant just be a bitch, she has to be 'evil' too? Idk.

Curious if Ill get a dialogue option to tell Halsin about it and how he'll react. I still cant seem to add him to my party. Does he just hang out at camp?

I also found the Harpers lookout. Ive found the scuffed rock, and a similar significant rock by the bridge on the Risen Road but neither Laezel or Larlach can throw them, shoving does nothing, shatter does nothing. Do I specifically need thunderwave? Or a telekinesis spell? What am I missing?

While trying to work out if Wyll can learn thunderwave (seems not) I discovered he has Gaseous Form so I tried using that to investigate some of the burrows Ive come across. The risen road one behind the bouse just leads into the crllar. Havent actually looted that yet. Went into the owlbear cave but couldnt find the burrow in there. And then I remembered Auntie Ethel and got caught up in that quest area.

Thr guy hunting Asterion is interesting. Left him peacefully. Astarion doesnt like me much. I wanted to ask who was huntong him but instead he asked where he was to be taken. Baldurs Gate of course. All roads lead to Baldurs Gate. Excepting that I have quests in thr city like finding Dammon and Mol, Id be starting to believe getting there is the end of the game. I want to buy my people nice clothes! Especially Karlach! And I took Wyll out of armour so he could use mage armour and he was suddenly rather naked. Switched him to showing camp clothes but it was a bit silly.

Mm at one point I directed Wyll to eldritch blast a redkap and instead he used arms of hadar on my bard. I dont know if I misclicked badly or if his patron is messing with him but it didnt happen again. I did swap him out soon after.

Slaps BG3 thus bad boy can hold so many entrances to the underdark! Theres the selunite temple, the drop from the spider lair, the elevator from the zhentarim hideout (considering gaseous form to loot those juice treasure rooms), the feather fall portal from Ethels lair, am I missing any? Presumably the moon towers/baldurs gate exit.

I was partway through the arcane tower when I started today but I wanted lighter questing. And geez area/act 2 has so many magical weapons. Im tempted to keep them all for some super specific cirumstance but id probably do better to sell them. Slowly working out what can be sold.

Im actually kinda mad that rope isnt practical. I got into a dumb pickle in the caravan cave with the gnolls. Jumped down to loot an area and two of my guys couldnt jump back. Grabbed rope and...its useless. So I took a long redy and fed em potions of giants strength and they made the leap easy. (Speaking of I am so tempted to open the case but those letters were very strict about not opening it and idk who its for and what their significance may be. Maybe its treasure. Maybe its a chest full of eye-yeerks. Who knows?)

Im also not absorbing the other eye slugs. Was it the narrator or dream guardian, the first time I used the illithid power, who said "You have lost something you will never get back". I do nooot trust it. Probably second playthrough Ill do it just to play with the game mechanic. Also romance Minthara maybe. I dont trust the sleep guardian but I dont super distrust her either. Idk what her deal is. But we're not absorbing more slugs losing more of ourselves no thanks. Back to the yeerk pool with them.

I do really love the quest diamonds that tell you where to go. "Find my missing husband please" oh there he is he got quite lost huh. Im still laughing at "and dont try ransom him back to me or you'll be skiny and stuck with an old man". The dialogue is really good. Laezel doesnt say shes monogamous, she says "I was interested but all the dogs have been picking you over. I prefer fresher meat". A little degrading, but at leasy shes not doing some weird jealousy thing. Usually I face with my bard. But then I used Karlach to talk to Dammon and all the dialogue options are perfectly in her voice, its great.

Im also loving the map design. Theres plenty going on and plenty to do, but not so much that you get lost in the weeds. Enough that it feels like a big grand world full of history and places to explore that arent directly plot relevant. Its a delicate balance of referring back to main events and keeping things tangential. (The women dealing w the hag for her husband. I never got to tell her about her brothers?? I thought it would be the first dialogue option but no zomvie busband abd off she goes to find their corpses on the fucking path?! Hut the devs cant think of *everything*, its ok).

Also the little things, undergrounds start getting spidery consistently, underground lairs lead to the underdark its very....verisimilitudinous???

Im also wondering if I can fo the underdark and the mountain pass righer in serial or at the same time. I do need to find the githyanki for Laezel that was our very first lead. Plus double the xp double the loot but I was forced into telling Halsin one or the other so idk if the game forces the issue.

K I think thats all I have to infodump today. Oh except seems like Shadowheart was a selunitr kid and thats pretty fucked. She likes me a lot. I dont think I reciprocate to that level. But astsrion doesnt like me much so yknow. Win some lose some.

[lunastrophe]

About Drow Economy

From Drow of the Underdark (3.5e):

The drow economy consists of three separate yet inextricably intertwined systems of exchange, each of which is largely specific to a particular social and political caste.

Coins

When dealing with drow of a lower station, such as when a matriarch or priestess purchases goods from a vendor, the race makes use of coinage - just as do most surface dwellers. Gold, silver, and other precious metals have roughly the same buying power in drow communities as they do elsewhere, though the rate of exchange varies somewhat based on available metals, scarcity of resources, and the mood of the drow doing the shopping.

The drow rarely mint their own coins, preferring to make use of foreign monies brought in by outside traders or taken in raids on other races. On those rare occasions when they do mint coins, the results are exceptionally plain, either totally unadorned or stamped with the signs of Lolth and/or the house who produced them. The drow also use coins when trading with others, unless the foreigner has something of particular interest to sell.

Barter

Although one low-ranking drow might use coins to purchase goods or services from another low-ranking drow, the standard form of exchange between relative equals is a system of barter. A swordsmith might offer the neighboring baker a new blade in exchange for a few weeks’ worth of bread. A cleric might heal a wounded soldier, if the soldier in turn agrees to kill someone to whom the cleric owes a debt. A priestess might perform a marriage ceremony in exchange for several barrels of fine lichen wine and a potion of invisibility. At the upper levels of society, drow might trade slaves, individually or by the dozens, in exchange for exotic animals, valuable works of art, or access to a fertile mushroom farm.

Favors

The third practice, common only among the drow elite, is the exchange of favors. This system creates a web of debts and obligations that often stretches across the entirety of the house and church leadership, frequently binding drow to complete strangers by only one or two “steps.” A typical agreement of this sort might resemble the following: “If you ally with me to prevent the Matron of House Inlindl from gaining control of the northern trade route, I will owe you a great favor in exchange.”

The interesting thing about this system of boons is that drow actually prefer to pay off their debts as soon as possible. For a drow, having too many obligations hanging over one’s head is tantamount to political and social suicide. She cannot afford to directly challenge anyone to whom she owes a great favor, for fear of that favor being called in and ruining one of her ongoing schemes. Additionally, high-caste drow often trade favors to third parties, meaning that a matriarch might find herself suddenly obligated to someone with whom she would never willingly have cooperated, or even someone she doesn’t know.

One might imagine that the drow would simply ignore these commitments, but despite their selfish nature, very few actually do so. They know that if they refuse to acknowledge a legitimate debt, word will spread swiftly and nobody will deal with them in the future. They might even find the other houses turning against them, seeking to eliminate the threat to the system and the status quo.

Promise Tokens

Not even enlightened self-interest is always enough to keep the drow honest, so a wise dark elf making one of these deals often demands the exchange of promise tokens. These are small baubles or pendants, often made of silver, that are engraved with the symbol of the drow’s family or house. They are often also marked invisibly, such as with the arcane mark spell. If a drow refuses to honor a debt, the creditor might present the promise token as evidence of the arrangement when besmirching her name and seeking redress. Of course, it’s not impossible to fake a promise token, but their frequent usage does make reneging on a debt - or making one up - somewhat difficult.

[mrcrowblargs]

On 7000 spawn in the underdark...

has anyone done the logistics on this? What it would take to get this population reasonably functional and not a complete ecological disaster?

putting my own thoughts under the cut because I want to blabber though I am not terribly informed

so for my ending, my tav, Aldiirn, is half-drow from the underdark, he wants to help the spawn partly to give them the same chance at freedom Astarion got, partly to protect his home.

Firstly, I don't think all 7000 spawn are gonna make it or join a settlement aimed at being "good" vampire spawn. Reasons:

Would rather strike out on their own

Give into / cannot resist hunger for blood

Want to remain close to surface / their past life

Any of the above would make them targets for monster hunters and other adventurers

Monster hunters or militia acting in public safety would consider a huge march of spawn to be targets anyway

Underdark peoples and creatures defending their territory & livestock may target the spawn

Some spawn may choose to go into the sun out of desperation or as an exit

The sheer chaos of 7000 going from cruel captivity into the world with insufficient leadership

tbh I'd knock off a couple thousand from the count, maybe even cut it in half for spawn that survive and stick around for a pessimistic count. Say passing a DC5 Wisdom saving throw to resist the urge to feed is easy easy but repeat that 7000 times day after day, there are going to be a lot of failures.

other problems:

The siblings are the only ones with experience in hunting as vampire spawn, managing hunger, and generally staying under the radar, but a 1:1000 ratio uh. is not great! It's gonna be worse before Astarion & Aldiirn get on scene

There will be resentment from the spawn towards the siblings for the part they played in their turning and confinement. Even if they stick around, the spawn might not listen all the time.

Aldiirn as a bard could very well smooth out some of that but being the only living creature amongst them aside from surprise alien baby is gonna make him a huge target. At least he can get their attention easily, but he might wanna get that smell trick from the Gur.

On the flipside though, I think there are going to be a lot of spawn who will genuinely want to do something with their unlives. Everyone just wants to feel a part of something, right? Astarion was a magistrate and Dalyria a doctor, of the thousands of others there must be plenty with useful skills. And even labourers will be necessary to rennovate one of the many abandoned megadungeons into a cozy home. Others may just see the strength in numbers.

Then how are we gonna feed all these spawn? They don't need blood to survive but they have a huge compulsion to do so and have withdrawal-like symptoms if they don't. It's unknown how often they are compelled to feed, but we know animal blood can abate the hunger while humanoid blood is the only thing that truly sates it. These spawn are gonna have to get into raising livestock fast because if they all go out draining a bear every night they're gonna run out of bears.

Aldiirn may be some figurehead leader despite the dangers to him. Talking people out of conflict is what he does best! And his past with a merchant clan could help the spawn settlement get some trade going because not all lifeblood is uh, literal blood. If the spawn have skills or goods to offer, that could go a long way to being accepted by Underdark denizens. Loot and capital from Cazador's palace could help get this started for sure.

Aldiirn will very likely have to take steps to protect himself. He's still a high tier bard but losing the partial illithid powers robbed him of a lot of his offensive abilities. And even with all the offence, action economy may not be on his side. Astarion basically being the only one with a personal blood bag might cause some resentment too. Some distance may have to come between Aldiirn and Astarion, which would be sad but ultimately temporary.

But if things would out really well, and we get some good trade going, there could be blood drives from nearby settlements. Blood donated or paid for and given willingly. Enough for spawn to get a little bit of happiness. Perhaps even other spawn could strike up relationships with the living. Aaaannnd well if there's a settlement, there's laws and punishments, could be that the living can pay for their crimes with blood.

I do think the first years of the settlement are going to be absolute ass and it's gonna be and incredible amount of suck for these starving spawn to go out and be told they still can't feed. But with a little kindness and patience, maybe they can get the second chance they deserve.

And beyond? I'm thinking of a short campaign I played in where the macguffin was a Holy Grail that created either infinite holy water or infinite fresh blood. Such a thing would be like free lunch forever for the spawn! Totally worth questing for. Just make sure no one hits the holy water switch.

And of course, Aldiirn would quest for a way for Astarion and the other spawn to experience the sunlight again. Aldiirn doesn't care much for the sunlight, he thinks the Underdark and the stars are more beautiful, but he knows how much it matters to Astarion. Astarion's happiness is the most beautiful thing of all.

[honourablejester]

Librarian Dragons (D&D)

So there’s this lovely little tidbit about 5e Deep Dragons in Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons. In their regional effects, there’s this lovely little thing:

Preservation of Knowledge. Books, letters, and any other physical forms of writing within 6 miles of the dragon's lair become magically charged and can't be damaged by nonmagical means.

Because deep dragons love collecting knowledge. And that just …

Any library, archive or store of information within 6 miles of a deep dragon is just immune to non-magical fire damage, water damage, book burnings, manual destruction, or even just normal aging or wear-and-tear. You don’t have to go through and magically do this book by book or page by page, literally everything in range is automatically immune to damage as long as the dragon is alive.

If the Library of Alexandria had been parked within 6 miles of a deep dragon lair, it would have been fine.

(Granted you can still steal and/or remove all the material, move it more than six miles, and destroy it there -or, you know, kill the dragon-, so deliberate and knowing destruction is still absolutely on the cards, but the whole city absolutely can burn down and your records still be fine if no one was going out of their way)

That’s just an incredible little worldbuilding thing to throw in. How many institutions in this world want to kidnap, raise or bribe a deep dragon to lair beneath their libraries/records? Mage colleges. Bardic colleges. Scriptoria. Royal records. Evidence lockers. City libraries. Tax offices.

(You could put that in a legal code: if you attempt to hurt our deep dragon, we will take that as an attempt to damage the city’s records/economy, and if the dragon does not kill you, the city will)

Also? Great place to store your blackmail material, if you can get the dragon’s cooperation.

And on the dragon’s end … Literally the first thing I thought of here was underwater libraries. Deep dragons live in the underdark and like underwater entrances/sections to their lairs. If the bulk of their hoard were books/knowledge, and they didn’t want people to steal them, they could squirrel them away in flooded chambers around their lair, because who would look for (intact) libraries underwater? But around a deep dragon water damage isn’t a thing. The books are perfectly fine.

And just … on a historical level. Dragons live hundreds and even thousands of years. Every bit of writing that dragon thought to keep is still perfectly fine and fresh after potentially a millennium. Imagine the hoards.

Like, not even spellbooks. Not even magic. Imagine a deep dragon that just hoarded love letters for a thousand years. Imagine a whole cavern filled with tiny hopes and dreams and sweet nothings over centuries of time, lovingly preserved by this strange fungal nightmare dragon. (Bard quest line?) Imagine the city tax records. Like, from a historical perspective. A thousand years worth of records survives completely intact. If the dragon is exceptionally long-lived, or there’s a line of dragons in the one location, maintaining the same lair, then you could have thousands of years worth of history completely intact. Unless someone went out of their way to magically destroy it.

And all the little extras. Every bit of writing in range is immune to damage. All the little note scraps. The shopping lists. The notes in the margins. The pissy memos. The recipes. Yes, the love letters. Grandma’s secret romance novel under her bed. The blackmail notes and threatening letters. Everything. How much history and life does a deep dragon’s mere presence preserve?

Language drift. You could track language drift, so long as the dragon stayed consistently in the same area. Like you could just … Depending on how it was dated. Would the dragon’s preservation make dating things difficult? If the dragon or someone else wasn’t organising things?

Honestly, how many academics are just camped on deep dragon doorsteps? If you kill a deep dragon, you are committing a crime against knowledge. Just straight up. Would you like to burn the Library of Alexandria again while you’re at it?

Yes, granted, I realise the dragon themselves may be evil. I get that. But. But. Hear me out. A thousand years of records. And, yes, you have time to preserve things manually once the dragon’s dead, it’s not going to automatically crumble to dust (though if it is stored underwater, you have 1d10 days to get it all out before the effect fades), but now you have to manually protect all of it. If the dragon’s alive it’s just automatically fine. You see what I’m saying here?

What I’m saying here is leave the nightmare fungal dragon alone, and historians won’t have to personally set you on fire. Just. You know. Saying.

Skewed priorities, I don’t know her. What?

Deep dragons are perfection, and a gift to worldbuilding. I love them.

[thatguyatthetypewriter]

Another set of Hollow Knight incorrect quotes? This time original? ON MY BLOG? it's more likely than it seems.

▪︎Lace, teaching Hornet economy: Ok, one more time, say you have 30 Geo.

Hornet: Mhm.

Lace: And you buy a cape with 10 Geo.

Hornet: Yeah.

Lace: How many Geo do you have left?

Hornet: ...wait what's wrong with my cape?

Lace: *barely holds from stabbing her*

▪︎Elderbug, entering Grimm's tent: Hello travelers, this is Dirtm-

The Grimm Troupe: *Dancing among flames trying to kill each other ✨spectacularly✨*

Elderbug:

Elderbug:

Elderbug: Where's my emotional support Ghost when I need them?

▪︎Iselda: I'm a fierce warrior, killer of beasts, amazon of the underdark, no one, nothing can stop m-

*Sees Cornifer scribbling a map*

Iselda:

Iselda, blushing: shit

▪︎Radiance: Oh Pale Wyrm, what madness are you inflicting on this kingdom? What curse did you pose on this land's stones? What spell is haunting these place?

Pale King, playing with bricks: Uh, I'm an engineer, duh. Also fuck off, you're ruining the urban composition altogether.

▪︎Godseeker: A Godling of the Void? Wielder of a blade cutting through dreams and waking? Killer of the Light Goddess? Overrated. Kick him out.

Godseeker, hugging Massive Moss Charger: But he stays.

▪︎Pale King: Honey, I can't sleep...

White Lady: *Activates a buzzsaw*

Pale King, already drooling: Thanks, honey.

▪︎Hollow: ...and that's how I got this scar.

Ghost: Wow!

Hornet: That's cool, yeah.

Tiso: ...How are you still alive?

Quirrel: That's a question I stopped asking.

▪︎Salubra: Oh my... I must refrein, but... this creature... seems delicious...

Ghost, thinking of Midwife: Yep, you'd definitely be friends.

▪︎Midwife, to a group of Little Weavers: ...and so, the Princess left for a far away kingdom, in search of-

Little Weavers: -A girlfriend?

Midwife: ...I was going to say 'adventure', but you're all totally right.

[All of these are original, if you want to use 'em, feel free to.]

[vivi-the-goblin]

Paras are insects infected by Tohchukaso, which is the generic name for the Cordyceps genus that infects insects (name meaning winter insect-summer grass). You'll see it switches to a plant when becoming parasect, because according to the pokedex "The bug is mostly dead, with the mushroom on its back having become the main body." In game, it is a bit of a gimmick pokemon centered around spore. In 5e...well, it's similar. In combat paras relies on numbers and its defensive spores to disable opponents, dry skin and leech life allowing it to heal off the damage done in the process. Parasect is similar, scurrying into the center of its attackers and activating spore to swing action economy more in its favor. Sometimes it's nice to have a simple monster with a clear strategy, but that makes it no less effective. You can even have them as companions of cultists or underdark rangers, sleep massively increasing the effectiveness of anyone using the creature.

What's interesting is the goldmine of encounter starters right in the pokedex. Paras populations are self-sustaining and easily grow their population, as the mushroom holds off on killing its host until it lays eggs to infect. They group together to systematically kill trees from the roots, they actively war with fey and fungi, and their spores are used for rare youth elixirs. So dryads and ents would desperately want help getting rid of them, druid circles would go on a warpath that would easily hurt any villages or trade routes in the crossfire, and fey like unicorns and pixies would seek out any help they could find against them. If your party is more mercenary, what noble WOULDNT put a bounty out to gather ingredients for a youth potion? You could easily have cultists of Zuggtmoy protecting and spreading colonies of these, trying to take over entire forests or spreading through the underdark. Alternately, dwarves are known to cultivate mushrooms and may herd paras for thier mushrooms as a valuable resource. Paras shepherds might ask for help defending against the guardians of whatever groves the paras are feeding from.