So this is an aside for my character Jh'Sandra. Explaining how the dark elves work in my fantasy-world-that-has-yet to-be-named. Without further ado...

The Distant Past

For centuries, the dark elves inhabited a realm all their own. A space in the Cosmic sea, a plane hidden from the gaze of beasts great and small. Where the stars carved across the sky as the heavens turned about day in and day out. It was a time of happiness and joy. The drow at the height of their unity and camaraderie.

One day however, something seeped in. Slowly at first, such that it lay undetected for years. Until one day, all at once, it struck. What was once a place of joy was defiled. The dark elves scattering from their homes, and rushing to find any means of escape, but their home which was so carefully made to keep interlopers out was just as effective as a cage keeping them in. The mages worked hurriedly as the population succumbed to their invaders, barely managing to open massive rifts, sending the drow from their centuries-old home and into the unknown.

Most of the dark elves found the other side of the rift opened into the same plane of material world, though some few were scattered to other realms of the materium. Their fate unknown, just like those left in their former home. The rifts were promptly sealed, and the drow left to lick their wounds, count their dead, and mourn the loss of all they had known.

This world was young. Its people brutish, and the harsh rays of the sun hurt the drow's dark skin. The dark elves moved underground, carving our great cavernous cities beneath the surface. As time passed and they began to settle into some semblance of normalcy, the people began to wonder at what had caused the destruction of their home, now only known as the Mournful Lands, and whether they might find a way back. Curiosity grew to suspicion grew to paranoia, until the massive underground cities cut themselves off from one-another. The Hollows, as they were called, growing as independently as possible, eschewing contact with the outside world for fear of invasion from the surface dwellers burgeoning civilizations.

Such was the way of the drow and their Hollows for years. Returning to a semblance of their former glory, their cities growing lavish and opulent. Their people keen and cunning and powerful, but tainted and corrupted by years of fear and hatred..

The present

The dark elves today are considered myth by most people, if they've ever even heard of such a concept. In truth, the dark elves almost exclusively occupy their great Hollows, living in luxury in their expansive cities carved into the stone, great cave networks offering a natural defense. They've cut off contact from the rest of the known world, living in secrecy, only leaving for the occasional raid. After all, surface-world luxuries are still welcome. Fine wines, crafted goods, and of course the surface dwellers themselves all fetch a fine price.

In this world beneath the sun, not all is well. To ensure that what destroyed their home does not find them again, the Hollows have instituted a rigorous inquisition on any that might seek to know of the Mournful Realms, or how to access them. Their hold is great, and their decision absolute. Even the highest of the high could be brought low before an inquisitor.

Drow Society

In the Hollows, luxury and lavish depravity are the ways of life. For the dark elves, hedonism is a replacement for the carefree joy they'd lost. When one isn't indulging in their prefered vices, they're likely scheming.

The Hollows are run by the ruling clans. Collectives of families, often headed by a single family line and the leader of said line, the Matriarch or Patriarch. The clans all convene in a council, headed by a grand tribunal to make final decision. Scheming and politicking is normal among the drow, all seeking to improve their station in their clan and on the council.

Though loyalty to the Patriarch or Matriarch is expected of a clan member, it is rarely fully given. If one can gain power, they will, and take control of the clan. Even if the punishment for treachery is either death, or enslavement (likely at the hands of whomever you tried to betray) for you and your family, successful coup absolved one of any crimes. After all, it was hardly disloyal if the leader was so weak as to be deposed like that. Naturally, the polticial process is hardly efficient.

For the dark elves, superiority is a way of life. One always wants to be on the top. Though there is no poverty, even the lowest of a clan lives in relative comfort, the fight for power is constant, and the punishment severe. It is not uncommon for families to find themselves on an auction block, or serving in their rival's house because one member sought to overthrow someone else and failed. Nor is it uncommon to see the wealthier members of society, clan heads and aristocracy, indulge in purchases of exotic servants. Surface-dwellers were uncommon but valuable. Docile or aggressive, male, female or otherwise, they always sold well..

Jh'Sandra

Jh'Sandra Tanor'Thyrr is the powerful leader of Clan Tanor'Thyrr in Hollow Illistyn. Her reputation says she is as cruel and calculating as she is beautiful. Her clan is vying for power, attempting to fill a recently vacated seat on the tribunal to try and garner further influence.

Jh'sandra's primary vice is the pleasures of the flesh. She keeps an extensive collection of servants, and one of the largest selections of surface-dwellers, if not in all the drow hollows, at least in Hollow Illistyn.

A switch with a dominant streak, Jh'sandra keeps her servants trained to satisfy all of her needs. Domestic needs, as decor, to give her pleasure through their submission to her will, and to claim her as she sees fit. She's just as likely to whip her servant for hours, delighting in the act, as she is to order one to pin against a wall and claim her. Her desires are vast and bountiful indeed.

Unlike many living dark elves, Jh'sandra was there when her people left the Mournful Realms. Barely a girl, she could vaguely recall their flight from that place. In spite of the inquisition, she intended herself to one goal.

Jh'sandra had made herself a promise that she would gain poverty snd become the Grand Meitrarch of the hollow, a position not seen in years, and unite her people in a crusade to reclaim the Mournful Realms. To do that, however she needed information. Information that she couldn't necessarily find in the hollows. As such, she began taking expeditions onto the surface world. Unable to trust that any would-be usurper might not try to leverage this to have her flung from power and into an inquisitorial dungeon, Jh'sandra has made these expeditions alone. Using her gift of scrying, she's succeeded in gathering much information regarding the Mournful Realm, but she still needs more. No matter the danger, she will find it. For her people, and for herself..