Geography: This vast realm contains many excavated
caverns that link a number of large living caves. The area is the
high point of drow culture in Deepearth.
Central to the drow realm is a perfectly circular chamber that
has been laboriously hollowed out from the rock. It is over a mile
in diameter, and the ceiling rises to a dome 1,000 feet from the
floor. Many massive columns support the dome. In its center, a
vertical shaft through the ceiling leads to the matriarchs’ council
hall. It is accessible only by flight or levitation.

Drow dwellings are located throughout the hundreds of linking
caverns in the area. The drow cities, towns, and villages are
unlike those of the duergar or svirfneblin; instead of living in side
tunnels bored through the walls of large caverns, the drow erect
buildings in the caverns. If not for the encompassing darkness
and looming ceilings overhead, these communities would resemble
the communities of surface dwellers.
Water flows plentifully here, and the drow have created huge
reservoirs in several places. Wide, placid waterways connect
many of the caverns, and boat travel is nearly as common here as
walking.
The realm of the drow includes caverns on many different
levels, but all of the connecting passages have been meticulously
sculpted. Elegant spiral stairways circle around shafts in
the rock, and occasionally miniature versions of the matriarchs’
council chamber allow access only to drow of 4th level or higher,
since that is the level at which levitation ability becomes universal.
In times of dire emergency, rope ladders can be used to lift
the rest of the population into these refuges, which are virtually
impervious to attack.

Denizens: The drow leave no doubt as to their complete mastery
of their realm. More than 12,000 of them live here, along with
the rothe and cave pigs they raise for food and wool. Although a
few rats and bats also dwell here, other monsters are as rare as
they would be in the streets of a bustling city on the surface.

Resources: The bottom access tunnel to the windpipe provides
a steady flow of fresh air. The drow do not understand
exactly what causes the massive air flow, but their sages postulate
that small fluctuations in the earth’s crust cause great
changes in the air pressure in the narrow shaft.
Water is abundant, and the drow keep their water sources
clean with meticulous dedication. Many large caverns are
devoted exclusively to fungus growing, and this food supply is
capable of feeding the populace with a slight surplus. Population
is strictly controlled, with imperfect babies ruthlessly killed at
birth.
The drow also work a series of mines from which they draw the
minerals needed to perform their complex metalworking. Iron,
copper, silver, gold, and occasional finds of adamantite and
mithril provide them with a steady supply of raw material.

Unique Features: The drow cities are marvels of subterranean
architecture. Their soaring columns, elegant buttresses,
and huge domes create a bizarre, yet beautiful, spectacle.
Although they despise sunlight, the drow employ numerous
phosphorescent fungi among their dwellings, for the purpose of
displaying the architecture.
All buildings consist primarily of stone that is expertly sculpted
for smooth lines and a clean look. Occasionally, prominent
offices or dwellings of the wealthy are embellished with gold and
silver ornamentations. Such metal is never structurally essential;
it is used only to enhance a building’s appearance.