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 Underdark is only in FR
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LWhitehead1
Learned Scribe

124 Posts

Posted - 04 Dec 2024 :  23:38:28  Show Profile Send LWhitehead1 a Private Message  Reply with Quote  Delete Topic
Hi I need to know that Underdark is only in the FR setting officially,

I need for my homebrew setting create a homeland for my Drow.

LW

The Sage
Procrastinator Most High

Australia
31791 Posts

Posted - 04 Dec 2024 :  23:43:01  Show Profile Send The Sage a Private Message  Reply with Quote
There are many versions and iterations of the concept of the Realms “Underdark” across many official settings and worlds published by TSR/Wizards. But the Underdark of FR is wholly its own thing unique to that world.

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LordofBones
Master of Realmslore

1540 Posts

Posted - 05 Dec 2024 :  00:55:03  Show Profile Send LordofBones a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Make up your own homeland.
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LWhitehead1
Learned Scribe

124 Posts

Posted - 05 Dec 2024 :  02:54:32  Show Profile Send LWhitehead1 a Private Message  Reply with Quote
This is true but Drow Race in FR have complete set of Gods and Goddess and there own citystates as well,

LW
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Delnyn
Senior Scribe

USA
971 Posts

Posted - 05 Dec 2024 :  06:58:23  Show Profile Send Delnyn a Private Message  Reply with Quote
LWhitehead1,
What established settings are should not dictate whatever homebrew you make. You don't "need to know Underdark is only in the FR setting." Other settings - such as Greyhawk - have their own Underdark even if the term "Underdark" is not used. Think GDQ series. Make your own pantheon and city-states for the drow. Don't invent constraints that exist only in your imagination. Feel free to use the Dark Seldarine and Menzoberranzan as base templates if creating from scratch is too much work in the timeframe you have.
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TBeholder
Great Reader

2431 Posts

Posted - 06 Dec 2024 :  02:36:26  Show Profile Send TBeholder a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Well, there were underground adventures back in Mystara, and Gazetteer splatbook Shadow Elves.
Then there were D series.
And only then...
quote:
Originally posted by LWhitehead1

but Drow Race in FR have complete set of Gods and Goddess and there own citystates as well,

If you play in Planescape cosmology, it’s a non-issue in that none of the drow deities were even implied to be single-sphere, AFAIK (even Zinzerena ascended in some other world).
So you could take them as is, just somewhat redesign the local social adaptations (you did pay attention to variations among the lolthites, right?), sects and power balance however it fits together.
There are also a few local interlopers (Mystra, Shar) and opportunistic alter egos of some gods for whom the drow are an afterthought (of these Malyk was the only one as much as named). They are non-essential, you can easily drop them all and add your own interlopers.

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And even I make no pretense Of having more than common sense -R.W.Wood
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Edited by - TBeholder on 06 Dec 2024 04:04:43
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
Moderator

USA
36809 Posts

Posted - 07 Dec 2024 :  19:20:10  Show Profile Send Wooly Rupert a Private Message  Reply with Quote
There was a third-party book that mentioned, in passing, an Underdark-type plane that linked the Underdarks of various worlds.

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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist

USA
11849 Posts

Posted - 08 Dec 2024 :  14:03:09  Show Profile Send sleyvas a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by TBeholder

Well, there were underground adventures back in Mystara, and Gazetteer splatbook Shadow Elves.
Then there were D series.
And only then...
quote:
Originally posted by LWhitehead1

but Drow Race in FR have complete set of Gods and Goddess and there own citystates as well,

If you play in Planescape cosmology, it’s a non-issue in that none of the drow deities were even implied to be single-sphere, AFAIK (even Zinzerena ascended in some other world).
So you could take them as is, just somewhat redesign the local social adaptations (you did pay attention to variations among the lolthites, right?), sects and power balance however it fits together.
There are also a few local interlopers (Mystra, Shar) and opportunistic alter egos of some gods for whom the drow are an afterthought (of these Malyk was the only one as much as named). They are non-essential, you can easily drop them all and add your own interlopers.



Just to note for the original poster... the shadow elves were NOT drow, and they were pale skinned. Their culture was different from drow. There WERE drow in Mystara as well. The shadow elves were the boogeyme to the surface elves as well, and they weren't intrinsically evil necessarily.

Alavairthae, may your skill prevail

Phillip aka Sleyvas
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High

Australia
31791 Posts

Posted - 08 Dec 2024 :  23:56:32  Show Profile Send The Sage a Private Message  Reply with Quote
There’s also the Shadow [Fey] Elves of 3e’s RAVENLOFT which kinda sorted had their own Underdark beneath the Dread Domains … which contained haphazard portals to other worlds/domains.

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hashimashadoo
Master of Realmslore

United Kingdom
1155 Posts

Posted - 09 Dec 2024 :  00:48:57  Show Profile  Visit hashimashadoo's Homepage Send hashimashadoo a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Not only is the Underdark not unique to the Forgotten Realms setting (it might be called something else on other settings, but it's still essentially the same biome), but drow do not have to come from there. There are drow living in jungles on at least two settings, drow living on the polar icecaps, drow living in temperate forests like other elves, drow living in surface cities, and drow whose lives are not dominated by their religion.

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Edited by - hashimashadoo on 09 Dec 2024 00:49:37
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LWhitehead1
Learned Scribe

124 Posts

Posted - 11 Dec 2024 :  08:18:08  Show Profile Send LWhitehead1 a Private Message  Reply with Quote
What about the other races that live in the Underdark are they only in FR?,

LW
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist

USA
11849 Posts

Posted - 11 Dec 2024 :  12:46:26  Show Profile Send sleyvas a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by LWhitehead1

What about the other races that live in the Underdark are they only in FR?,

LW



Please go do some research on your own.

Alavairthae, may your skill prevail

Phillip aka Sleyvas
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Old Man Harpell
Senior Scribe

USA
497 Posts

Posted - 12 Dec 2024 :  15:18:20  Show Profile Send Old Man Harpell a Private Message  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by LWhitehead1

What about the other races that live in the Underdark are they only in FR?,

LW



There are as many answers as there are campaign worlds (and that includes homebrews). What can be found in the Realms can pretty much be found in Greyhawk, for example, as both are designed to be all-encompassing. Some worlds, such as Birthright or Dragonlance, you will find absolutely none of them. There is truthfully no stock answer, as each campaign world has characteristics unique to it. A setting-by-setting analysis is really the only way to acquire the information you need.
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High

Australia
31791 Posts

Posted - 12 Dec 2024 :  22:53:27  Show Profile Send The Sage a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Indeed.

And while there are some regions beneath the surface of Ansalon on Krynn [the campaign world of DRAGONLANCE] that could be labelled “Underdark-lite” … the concept of races like dark elves and illithids and beholders and such inhabiting these dark depths… isn’t such a thing for that world.

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LWhitehead1
Learned Scribe

124 Posts

Posted - 13 Dec 2024 :  22:04:48  Show Profile Send LWhitehead1 a Private Message  Reply with Quote
That's what I'm talking about other races other then Drow in the Underdark in homebrew setting such as Illithids and Beholders, we know that Illithids are spelljamers so they can reach other worlds.

LW
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High

Australia
31791 Posts

Posted - 14 Dec 2024 :  00:40:17  Show Profile Send The Sage a Private Message  Reply with Quote
Illithids don’t need spelljamming vessels to access other planes or crystal spheres. They’ve developed some pretty aggressive and invasive planar transportation techniques over thousands of years that have allowed them to populate worlds across the D&D multiverse.

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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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