My fellow Underdarkers,

The topic of Nobility in the Underdark was recently discussed between Dusty and I and considering Nobility is a touchy area on Amia in general, we thought we'd best allay some confusion.

As you know for surface related characters, a request is required for a character to be considered "of Nobility." The reason for this is two fold:

- The sheer influence over the common NPC that one "of Nobility" possesses; and
- For us to control this influence and maintain a sense of rarity for Nobility.

Now, for the Underdark Drow this server rule poses a few problems: every Matron, every House Member, and every priestess would require a request. It would be an administrative nightmare for the DM team. Fortunately however, the playerbase has always had that unwritten rule between them: we are now putting that unwritten rule to text.



Unless requested otherwise, your Drow PC is automatically considered of Noble Standing.



This means that in a Drow dominated settlement such as Nec'perya:


- NPCs will bow to your PC where applicable.

- Your PC can apply to join a Noble House.

- Your PC is entitled to any benefit Nobility receives under the settlement's current management and laws.



But, there are a few restrictions in place:


- Your PC can't be a Noble from a lore established Drow House without an approved request. For example, your PC can't be a Noble of House Baenre without the DM team's approval.

- The influence of your PC's Nobility may not be recognised in the world outside of Nec'perya. Exceptions to this may occur on a case by case basis, but don't expect L'Obsul citizens to bow to you or any special treatment at Underport.

- The server rule of command over NPCs still applies: you may write posts about issuing instructions to NPCs and may do so ingame as well, but its the DM team's perogative to dictate the NPC response. Remember that NPCs are not mindless as well: they will respond but not always in the way you want them to. Be prepared for this.

- Dusty's rule for establishing Noble houses still applies: you require 6 PCs who are regularly active for a period of time. These PCs cannot be alternate characters of fellow Drow players. You can also only have 1 PC in a Drow house so choose wisely.




Now, you are probably asking the question "what about commoner Drow PCs?"


- If your PC was a commoner at creation but has since joined a Noble House, they are now considered a Noble (or affiliated with Nobles) by the NPC playerbase. This still applies even if your PC is not currently in an active house.

- To keep a uniform standard, all Commoner Drow PCs from here forward will require a request. The reason for this is that the NPC populace (and most likely the players) will treat commoner PCs very differently to Noble PCs and as DMs we like to keep tabs on this so we can respond accordingly. The format for submitting a request is located here.


I have copy + pasted this into the Drow links sticky thread but have posted this here for the inevitable questions that will arise. As I said above, we've really just put that unwritten rule to paper to help create better immersion and NPC response for you.

If anyone still has a commoner PC out there, can you please PM me with the following info for record keeping:

- Name
- Gender
- Is it your primary character?
- Do you intend to join a house eventually?

_________________
Plays:

"I'll think of something once Amia:EE drops."

so basically, the only change in policy is forcing a request for commoner drow.

One of the things Isen has long said is 'you may take my quellar and my titles and my life, but you will never take my blood'

He did like to draw a distinction between noble blooded drow and drow who happened to be retainers in a noble house.

_________________
Slander [Zanthair Akarupa of the Horsemen of the Apcalypse] - Sorcerer 'Mediocreare'
Isendu't'tar Ussen'd'Vhid d'My'ana'd'Xull'd'Vharcan - possibly the longest name in Amia
Tiffany Seagrass - weak and fragile weaver of words

Sort of. It's more that we actually have a policy now.

_________________
Plays:

"I'll think of something once Amia:EE drops."

You can still have your characters be stuck up about being a "proper noble by blood drow" although to it more seems like needing to request to not be a "noble" is rather pointless in most cases because by the time you have a few levels under your character's belt they will be more powerful than the average NPC citizen. Which means that they are going to get the same respect that a noble would anyway (Maybe to a lesser degree but still all the bowing and taking orders and all that) because the reason drow do all that is because they are smart enough to not want to die for angering someone more powerful than they are.

The only reason I see it for a request for a "non-noble" would be if you were wanting to make an average NPC level citizen that would never get very strong. In which case a slightly altered version of the slave rules would be better.