>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.
Wrong solution
Aren't ice spiders a thing in a lot of fantasy settings?
Yep.
S-s-something original
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Wow
Kudos, OP.
The straw hats are actually a breed of mushroom cap?
>What would their straw hats actually be made of?
I'd say mushrooms?
Hard to not make that look ridiculous but they are soft and sponge-y and I assume stay dry. Maybe some dried out shroom.
???
Just find a way to run a string through that and you're probably good.
Later down the line it's an easy in into weird enchanted magic gear shit too. Maybe constantly inhaling the spores gives you a small bonus after some time, maybe you are immune to it's negative effects but dodging in combat knocks some spores loose and fucks other people up sometimes.
>>drow samurai of the far north
They're all basically Lady Snowblood, holy shit.
>What would their straw hats actually be made of?
Cedar bark
> which is less horrible to their sensitive eyes
What is snow albedo for 200$, Alex?
Ice spiders? I think you mean Sled Spiders.
You mean Sled Dog Spiders. Fluffy sled dog spiders.
I honestly can't see straw as being readily available in an arctic wasteland. Even if it were to be found, I could only see it as something ridiculously expensive. If they were wanting wear hats (because lets face it, everyone looks more bad ass with a hat on) I'd probably go for a hat built around a framework of bones made out of some sort of skin or leather.
Damn, can I steal that too?
They got little puffy patches on their tips of their legs, a bundle of spread out hairs that keep they from sinking into the snow.
OP did say it was constantly overcast, which wouldn't mean artic tundra, but more sub-arctic regions. Places where there's more constant precipitation from all the cloud cover.
In those places, there would be enough plants for something like that. At the very least, grass fibers or thin pieces of wood could be woven together.
Leather does sound more feasible though, and would also probably be warmer.
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Now I want to run a campaign where it's a cross between the iditarod and wacky racers.
Damn, wizards been getting into the weed again!
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Snow tends to magnify sunlights effect, also if a drow got snow blinded it probably be permanent
Shits painfull during winter when you go outside then into a darker room
Just give them sweaters bro
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>frozen north because it's always overcast
Not really how arctic weather works (depending on the setting).
Honestly i would imagine they would prefer somewhere near the equator in order to avoid the whole "3 months a year is one continuous day".
not necessarily. during those three months, they could have festivals and stuff. It's like a reverse of how people treat regular winter back in the day
Gamer logic that inhaling spores over a long period of time would give you a bonus instead of killing you of lung disease
Magic underdark shrooms, I ain't gotta explain shit.
This is the real solution.
Hats won't protect you from going snowblind, and in the arctic you wouldn't want something sitting that loosely anyway—closely worn layers means more heat kept.
Traditional inuit snow goggles were typically carved from driftwood or bone, and it would be easy to see an Elven race making their goggles highly ornate through scrimshaw.
If you're hellbent on them wearing straw hats, they would need to:
1. Be warmer. Thus, probably thicker too. Think straw hat shape, but made with furs instead of wood fiber.
2. Protect against snow blindness. Best way I can think of to do that with a hat would be to have tassels or some kind of hanging ornamentation from the brim of the hat to obscure their faces, so conceptually similar to the attached image but less shitty.
DESU, you could pretty easily turn these guys into some sort of Samurai Vikings, and that would be pretty cool.
Snow blindness.
>Does this make sense?
No.
>What else would they wear?
Furs. Dark spider-silk rigid masks that shelter their eyes from the light and absorb heat from sunlight.
>What would their straw hats actually be made of?
Seal skin, fishglue, certain guts from certain local animals. Even spider hair could work.
I'm wondering what they eat and how they survive. Is the spider silk they use naturally dark-looking? This may be important to my idea.
>colonize the frozen north because it's always overcast, which is less horrible to their sensitive eyes
This actually fit in very well with a campaign I ran in the Land of Black Ice in the World of Greyhawk.
The drow were refugees from a war in which their city and realm was completely overrun