Drow Houses

[Rebel4ever]

Hey! I play Nysharra Illith'vir and i would like to know more about the Houses and what the policies are toward creating/recruit is!

How many is there? (are they active?) How many members do they have?

Are they just not roleplaying in area's newer players are likely to be? (Nobody i have met has been a memeber of a noble House)

How does one join one/ go about making one?

Drow society is based around the Houses and from the first couple of days i have been roleplaying (low level) I have met loads of great roleplayers but none of them have a House. This is very unfortunate as House is what keeps drow players playing and together and allows the unique roleplay experience.

Honestly as a old drow roleplayer i find this rather sad as the houses are the corner stone of Drow society and in my experience its a good thing for Houses to be active and make their presence felt. Part of the appeal of playing a drow is being part of a House and its intrigue. It does require a little OOC organisation for players to be able to function properly as a house (in my experience) but i feel its well worth it and enhances the experience for everyone.

Any information on the Houses would be very welcome, my thanks in advance!

[Cortex]

Haven't played in the UD for over half a year so I can't comment on current houses. However...

Creating one just takes you and other people to create one. I don't think I remember any house born without a group of friends starting it up together (and later other people would join), which I guess is part of the "OOC organisation" you mention.

[BegoneThoth]

You may want to use the noble reward to be able to actually be a drow noble instead of a pretender.

[Cortex]

You may want to use the noble reward to be able to actually be a drow noble instead of a pretender.

Nothing dictates this anywhere in the rules, there is nothing currently in Andunor that benefits nobility. Plus, settlements can grant nobility.

Not really reassuring to tell a new player they need to level up to 16 just to play an unfinished award.

(The idea of requiring a noble background to play a noble drow in a backwater city like Andunor is also laughable)

[Maladus]

Currently there is only one House active at the moment. The last one went down when the Matron was slain. As to the number of members that I am unsure of, things are always a little chaotic when a house dissolves and it takes a little while to see where the pieces fall.

There are some of them out there but I'm not sure they are advertising that they are in a House. Typically this is done by putting something in the description.

Like Cortex says, all it takes is you and a desire to create a House to start it. I would start with acquiring a couple allies and then declare yourself Matron.

Also, the noble reward isn't required for a noble Drow.

[Dr_Hazard89]

You may want to use the noble reward to be able to actually be a drow noble instead of a pretender.

I wouldn't advise that. Just be a noble without it.

[Blood on my Lips]

Drow houses turn over pretty fast. Information about them is pretty much a FOIG thing. Ask around in Andunor. I think from the sounds of things you have only been running into other new drow, which is why they are all without a house.

[BegoneThoth]

You may want to use the noble reward to be able to actually be a drow noble instead of a pretender.

I wouldn't advise that. Just be a noble without it.

Are you allowed to claim things that you don't have that are mechanically represented and you can get?

I don't think so.

[Dr_Hazard89]

You may want to use the noble reward to be able to actually be a drow noble instead of a pretender.

I wouldn't advise that. Just be a noble without it.

Are you allowed to claim things that you don't have that are mechanically represented and you can get?

I don't think so.

Drow nobility is different to human nobility. It's not necessary to have the reward. Also, yes you can claim anything you want it's a roleplaying server.

.. And to add to that, there are currently no 'mechanically represented' things in the underdark to do with the nobility award AFAIK.

[BegoneThoth]

Some things I don't think you should claim when you arnt a thing. Rewards exist to curb the number of "thing" around. Noble being a reward is the reason not everyone is a noble.

It feels really scummy to just say you're a noble when you didn't want to spend the reward, because there are "no mechanical effects."

That said I have an underdark noble that actually took the reward.

[Mithreas]

In historic Udos (the old Drow city we had on the server), the top 3 houses were noble and shared the running of the city. They occupied the three guildhouses.

There were usually 1-2 other houses active at any one time, but they would be "common houses", and would need to earn nobility by displacing one of the other 3.

Obviously, with Andunor, it's a bit different. But I think it would be absolutely fine to start a new "common house" and earn your nobility by, for instance, taking over a guildhouse. Nobility through property has plenty of precedent both within Arelith and outside it.

[Durvayas]

*cracks knuckles*

Okay. So to clarify on nomenclature for drow houses.

A 'noble' house, is a house that is run by a priestess, and is one of the top three houses in the UD at present(not counting NPC houses Freth and Claddath). There are only three noble houses at any given time. Anything more, and they fall into the next catagory.

A 'common' house, is a house run by a priestess, that is ranked fourth or lower in the housal ranking.

A 'merchant' house, is an entire catagory of its own, and where drow house RP gets more diverse.

Merchant houses are NOT required to be theocratically run. Canonically, merchant houses are often collectives of merchants that are run by a council, and on this council, there are often males. On arelith, its been done that way before. It has also been done with female leaders that just happen to not be priestesses(more common, these are also often merchants). These houses, if they are in the top three, have in the past tried(and in some cases) succeeded in getting themselves recognised as 'noble'. House Xar'zith is the most recent example of that. Run by a druid, they insisted they were a noble house, and(by dint of being the only house in existance at the time), got away with it for a while.
Usually, this is stiffly resisted by noble houses that are in power(And before noble house Barrith left, leaving Xar'zith as the only house present, they made a point to whip the druid matron of house Xar'zith publicly in the hub for the hubris of claiming such a title) because drow are fairly traditionalist when it comes to their power structure.
It should be noted that merchant houses tend to be a lot looser on membership requirements, and take on a lot of retainers(PCs that work under the house's banner, but are not officially 'members', and thus lack some of the expected protections) that are racially non-drow.
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As for the OP's question, there is only one drow house that I know of, and it appeared recently.

House Azz'anir; which is one of a few remnants of Xar'zith that has recently emerged following Xar'zith's collapse. The UD is cyclical, and I'm expecting a second drow house to appear sometime soon, due to the sheer number of unaffiliated drow(as usually happens around these times). If you don't like the lack of drow houses, consider this a good time to make one of your own, as there isn't too much competition for bannerless recruits at the moment.
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As for making a house, I've run three different houses in my time on arelith, and my advice for it is unchanged after all that time.

1. Make a female drow. (A male run house is playing arelith on hardmode. I don't recommend it as you will face stiff resistance from the lolthite drow, and the traditionalist drow, so I won't give advice on this, because I've only ONCE, ever seen it pulled off with any degree of success, and that was by someone who has been playing drow for YEARS).

2a. Go through temple RP (if cleric) until your PC finishes her priestess test and becomes recognised by the temple archpriestess as a fully fledged Yathrin.

2b. Become a prolific merchant or warrior(if non cleric).

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3. While RPing your way to some degree of recognition, either in rank or reputation, make your intent to form a house known, and get to recruiting houseless drow.

4. When you feel you are ready(At the earliest, you can get away with this at lvl 8, but most people wait until later) raise your banner, and announce the formation of your house. Get it recognized by the archpriestess immediately.

5. Congratulations; you are now the lowest ranked house in the underdark. Take your time building in power, never stop recruiting, try not to punch too high above your weight. Work on building your house's reputation, and its soft power(influence via intrigue and diplomacy) at first, because until your members start getting into the mid epics, you won't have a lot of hard(read: PvP) power.

6. Remember to delegate. Drow house RP is very intrigue heavy, and very past paced, and its no secret that it can be stressful. Know what you are getting into is more than a single PC can handle on their own. The house's 'daughters'(the highest ranking females in the house, usually priestesses themselves) are the matron's lieutenants. Delegate to them to keep it from being overwhelming for you.

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You are new, so you've not learned yet that virtually everything Begonethoth says on the forums is either an arguement in poor faith, or outright trolling.

DO NOT take his advice to take the noble reward. It is mechanically useless in the underdark, and the drow wouldn't pay any attention to it anyways. Drow RP is too dynamic for mere words that are only seen on your PC's corpse to mean anything. Nobility is reflected by roleplay, and recognised rank among the drow themselves. You can have it one day, and then your house can collapse and you're a commoner the next. Clawing your way to noble status is just part of drow RP, as is the intrigue of keeping yourself up there once you've got it. Part of the greatest allure of playing drow, is that you are always playing the game of thrones.

[The_Queen~s_Rebuke]

It should be mentioned that 'true nobility' for drow would include spell like abilities such as levitation. Since this is virtually impossible to implement in game, and therefore, unable to be roleplayed, you will never be able to be perfectly canonical. Don't sweat it - part of the fun is finding your own way.

[Nitro]

Some things I don't think you should claim when you arnt a thing. Rewards exist to curb the number of "thing" around. Noble being a reward is the reason not everyone is a noble.

It feels really scummy to just say you're a noble when you didn't want to spend the reward, because there are "no mechanical effects."

That said I have an underdark noble that actually took the reward.

Don't tell other people to take a reward that does nothing in the underdark just because you did.

[BegoneThoth]

As it was on the surface, it will, at some point, do something, and it's going to be really awkward when your 'noble-ness' is suddenly dis-proven by a few Drow NPC's.

Either way, saying you are something, when you arn't, is really disingenuous. Moreso when it's something as cornerstone as 'drow nobility.' It's true that right now you likely won't be 'caught' lying about it, for the time being, but it's still a very lousy thing to be doing when all players have the ability to take the reward and then actually be the thing they claim to be.

Frankly I don't see how this is an argument, at all. Noble isn't something that isn't mechanically represented; it is. You can take it. Not taking it and lying about it IC is just.... not right.

To me, it's the same as playing a black-skinned wild elf WM and just telling everyone you're a drow because the racials are better and hey its not like anyone can find out.

[Cortex]

They can find out by having lore and examining them!

And again, nobility can be granted by settlements, so if it's ever expanded on Andunor, noble houses can still exist without having the noble background so long the council decides to grant it.

[BegoneThoth]

They can find out by having lore and examining them!

Indeed. Only recently was that added. Which is why I started that post with

As it was on the surface, it will, at some point, do something, and it's going to be really awkward when your 'noble-ness' is suddenly dis-proven by a few Drow NPC's.

[DarkDreamer]

Something Begonethoth is NOT saying, is you dont NEED to take the reward, there ARE other ways to get the Nobility background effect. Epic feats or something or DM if it matches the RP. So dont worry about it.

[BegoneThoth]

That is true as well. Epic Reputation can grant the effect, but I wouldn't say it's really worth the epic feat.

That said if you want to RP a common drow that was raised to nobility w/o being a noble, that's fine. I imagine the position being like the tribunus plebis in old rome, who worked with the actual aristocracy to do some government work and had some power. And that could be a source of good RP!

[DarkDreamer]

Honestly...I say stop trying to police other peoples RP, only the DMs have the right to do that.

[BegoneThoth]

Honestly it's the same as saying you can make potions w/o taking alchemy or brew potion, only because currently nobody can 'find out' that you're lying. Not to mention, the whole reason it was made into a reward was to limit the number of pure-blooded nobles running around, by circumventing that, you defeat the whole system.

The mechanics are there, you can select the abilities at the expense of something else, if you don't, why are you saying you did?

I don't see why, "if you want to be a noble, take the reward that says be a noble" is too much to ask, and I still do not understand why it's even up for debate, specifically when DM's can grant the title to people for exceptional IC deeds.

[DarkDreamer]

Again, you are not here to police peoples RP, if the DMs have an issue with the players RP, the DM will step in and speak to them, they don't need older players that feel its their right to designate how rp MUST be scaring them off.

[BegoneThoth]

I don't do any of those things? I'm not policing anyone.

I'm just stating that if you want to act like 'thing' and you could just be 'thing' then hey you should just take 'thing.' I know it's a drow thing to lie constantly and betray literally anyone but it seems like a bad practice.

Because when they change it and noble content comes to the UD, you dont want to be left out. Not taking it is very, very short sighted, and not the kind of way you want to mess up a bran new players character.

[DarkDreamer]

The Mechanic was put in place to add boons for the Castles, right now, its totally irrelevant to the UD and not enforced either, if YOU don't like how that is played, thats entirely on you, but I have played noble drow without the reward, and I will continue to until such time as a DM enforces that is MUST be done that way.

[Queen Titania]

For the record, you can RP a noble without mechanical reinforcement , you just will not have anything mechanically reinforcing it. This could be preferable for someone planning on taking the epic reputation feat down the line. Obviously its advised to probably take the feat if you are RPing a noble, a solid way of having your nobility known down the road.

Also for the record, we don't give out nobility status DM side. Feat, formerly picked Noble Background, settlement selected, or minor reward picked are the ways of obtaining it.