>After massive amounts of the underdark become uninhabitable, drow are forced to the surface
>the colonize the frozen north because it's always overcast, which is less horrible to their sensitive eyes
>even so, they wear straw hats and ??? to shade themselves
Does this make sense? What else would they wear? What would their straw hats actually be made of?
Cloth coverings. Like Tusken Raiders, or muslims.
>drow samurai of the far north
Cool
Why don't they just use hardened spider silk for everything like they always have? Maybe they dig their own tunnels like dwarves to raise their spiders, hide their numbers, and ambush interlopers on the surface proper. It's not the underdark, but they already know how to expand down.
The surface is most likely to become uninhabitable first and the surface race seek home within it. I thought the underdark was always uninhabitable, but the stubborn and forsaken creature made their home there any way. If you really want to force them out then do whatever you want. Shroom hats and dry slime blubber as coats. If you decide to force them out, I recommend a Black Dragon.
How well do spiders handle frostbite?
Agreed. They still have various caves and what not that they use but have dwellings above ground that allow them to access them where they store food and maintain a population of various insects to farm for various purposes.
Then again they could adapt and use the artic animals in their place and looking back at the Frost Bite book ( I think that's what it was called) there are plenty of animals for them to choose from.
The question is, how well do magical spiders handle frostbite. I would say the answer is "as well as required for a fun adventure."
Perhaps a sundering cataclysm that causes Faerun (or whatever continent, really) to come crashing down on the underdark, collapsing the massive caverns and flooding all of its caves with seawater. Civilizations uprooted, there is little law in this now ruined society. The few drow that survived did so because they were in hunting parties or had business above the surface.
Now it's the wild west and drow samurai clash with battle-weary knights guarding the ruins they once called home. It's not the end of the world, and it certainly isn't an apocalypse: there are relief efforts and settlements cropping up in the few places untouched by "The Shattering", but it's more or less lawless wilderness for a few decades.
Now I have a new setting to jot down...
OP here. My thoughts is that there was a big cataclysm, yes, and that the underdark was destroyed by a mix of earthquakes, flooding, and mass geomancy (used to raise a mountain range or two). Drow saw this coming and were the first one out of the of the caves. Society collapses (and will eventually reform). Drow are having a bad time of it because they're ill-adapted to surface life and the climate, and they lost most of their spiders, making silk a precious resource until they get a few years of peace to breed more.
They may or may not join the coalition of former nomad tribes that got stuck together during the cataclysm, were united by some hero, and eventually settled down as one nation.
A long time ago I think I read that drow equipment degrades over time in sunlight. Maybe they try to kidnap all the low level wizards they can find and force them to cast darkness all day? The hats are cool, but I figure they wouldn't be huge fans of peasant clothes, being super entitled. Northern samurai drow is a pretty cool idea though. Makes a way better setting than any of the "realistic" tweaks my brain is suggesting, and probably just as valid.