The Onyx Kingdom
Xunari
Nimruil
Beksesha
The Onyx Kingdom is a domain forged in the anvil of civil unrest, tempered by the blood of its former regents: Dalrithia and Elzyrra. In the wake of a power vaccuum, the once exiled queen Vyx'aria pounced upon Zar'Ahal with her closest supporters. Now she rules a rising drow empire, attempting to stamp out discord and bring about an age of strict unity and iron zeal.
Hierarchy
While nominally having retained the old power structures of Zar'Ahal, with its Royal Palace at its top, its noble Houses, its priesthood of Maelzafan and its academies of excellence, some of the old hierarchies have irrevocably shifted.
The priesthood demand less obedience than they did before, kept on a tighter leash by the oversight of the Palace and the Onyx Court. A new body of government has appeared to serve as the blind arm of administration, indifferent to the political machinations of individual houses, only having the interests of the kingdom at large in heart. At least theoretically.
It can equally be argued that the Onyx Court serves to enhance the autocratic powers of the palace and its Queen Regent. Under the guise of fairness and safe anonymity, its masked courtiers and conclave members undermine the jealous grasping for power by disparate factions, turning them against one another and undermining them from within rather than look to depose their new ruler.
The Royal Palace:
The Royal Palace is the apex of the Kingdom’s capital city—a colossal citadel carved into a titanic cavern pillar. Its architecture is deliberately oppressive: vast halls that dwarf visitors, obsidian floors that reflect no light, and spires that disappear into darkness above.
The palace contains:
The Onyx Court:
Every rule requires delegation. It is with cautious grace that the throne of Tor’Rahel distributes power to its Onyx Court – the most trusted councillors, administrators and advisors of the Queen.
Any member who enters the Onyx Court is granted a magical mask. This onyx mask neuters their voice, conceals their appearance and for all intents and purposes renders them anonymous. It makes it difficult for members to engineer and politically maneuver supporters behind their own causes. The mask renders it impossible to name any names of individuals beyond House names and other proper nouns.
This makes engineering matters for certain Houses more difficult. The Court is divided up into select conclaves, focusing on various aspects of government. Each conclave is segregated into male or female members; male conclaves administering areas considered "lesser" or less important in drow culture versus female conclaves managing what is considered of greater importance. For grandscale decisions, the Onyx Court convenes all its conclaves and the regent. There are more conclaves (or bigger conclaves) for women than men, skewing that balance on royal decrees.
Some prominent conclaves are:
Conclave of War and Expansion (Female)
Conclave of Faith and Ritual (Female)
Conclave of Beasts and Slaves (Male)
Conclave of Trade and Alchemy (Male)
The Queensguard:
The Noble Houses:
The Kingdom is divided among Noble Houses, each a matriarchal dynasty controlling territory, wealth, and influence. Houses oversee mines, trade routes, manufactories, military contingents, and cultural institutions.
Ruling matrons command their house with absolute authority. Bloodlines are curated through selective breeding, strategic marriages, and adoption of exceptional outsiders.
Houses compete in:
Greater Houses:
Myrlochar
Suulet’jabar
Ulthrel
Lesser Houses:
Voiryn
Suvalissaere
The priesthood demand less obedience than they did before, kept on a tighter leash by the oversight of the Palace and the Onyx Court. A new body of government has appeared to serve as the blind arm of administration, indifferent to the political machinations of individual houses, only having the interests of the kingdom at large in heart. At least theoretically.
It can equally be argued that the Onyx Court serves to enhance the autocratic powers of the palace and its Queen Regent. Under the guise of fairness and safe anonymity, its masked courtiers and conclave members undermine the jealous grasping for power by disparate factions, turning them against one another and undermining them from within rather than look to depose their new ruler.
The Royal Palace:
The Royal Palace is the apex of the Kingdom’s capital city—a colossal citadel carved into a titanic cavern pillar. Its architecture is deliberately oppressive: vast halls that dwarf visitors, obsidian floors that reflect no light, and spires that disappear into darkness above.
The palace contains:
- The Queen’s Throne Hall, where edicts and judgments are issued
- The Conclave Chamber for the ruling mage council
- Private royal quarters and war planning sanctums
- Intelligence archives, prisons, and ritual chambers
- Barracks and training halls for the Queensguard
- The Onyx Court
The Onyx Court:
Every rule requires delegation. It is with cautious grace that the throne of Tor’Rahel distributes power to its Onyx Court – the most trusted councillors, administrators and advisors of the Queen.
Any member who enters the Onyx Court is granted a magical mask. This onyx mask neuters their voice, conceals their appearance and for all intents and purposes renders them anonymous. It makes it difficult for members to engineer and politically maneuver supporters behind their own causes. The mask renders it impossible to name any names of individuals beyond House names and other proper nouns.
This makes engineering matters for certain Houses more difficult. The Court is divided up into select conclaves, focusing on various aspects of government. Each conclave is segregated into male or female members; male conclaves administering areas considered "lesser" or less important in drow culture versus female conclaves managing what is considered of greater importance. For grandscale decisions, the Onyx Court convenes all its conclaves and the regent. There are more conclaves (or bigger conclaves) for women than men, skewing that balance on royal decrees.
Some prominent conclaves are:
Conclave of War and Expansion (Female)
Conclave of Faith and Ritual (Female)
Conclave of Beasts and Slaves (Male)
Conclave of Trade and Alchemy (Male)
The Queensguard:
The Noble Houses:
The Kingdom is divided among Noble Houses, each a matriarchal dynasty controlling territory, wealth, and influence. Houses oversee mines, trade routes, manufactories, military contingents, and cultural institutions.
Ruling matrons command their house with absolute authority. Bloodlines are curated through selective breeding, strategic marriages, and adoption of exceptional outsiders.
Houses compete in:
- Economic production and innovation
- Military prestige and conquest records
- Political influence within the court and council
- Cultural and arcane achievements
Greater Houses:
Myrlochar
Suulet’jabar
Ulthrel
Lesser Houses:
Voiryn
Suvalissaere
Onyx Academies
Youth Cadres:
There are several youth cadres, training noble-born drow youth and the very most promising of commoner youths in highly competitive regimens.
House Suulet-jabar's ten-year cadre program trains youth from as young as age 10 until around age 20 or 21. Suulet-jabar Cadre students learn both to be self-sufficient and to work together effectively with those of different talents. Many Suulet-Jabar graduates are routed next into the Zar'Ahal Military Academy. Aspiring battlemages and battle priestesses tend to gravitate to Suulet-jabar, as do those youth with athletic or stealthy inclinations likely to become warriors, scouts, and assassins.
Other youth cadres focus on training prospective acolytes in the faith of Maelzafan or in the rudiments of arcane magic, in preparation for more specialist academies after cadre is graduated. These spellcaster-specific cadre programs typically last 12 years, and are intended more for progeny destined for the Temple of Maelzafan or to become house mages or other non-military types of spellcasters.
In keeping with the drow way, these cadres do not shy away from the deadly Underrealm perils nearby Zar'Ahal. Training missions outside the city are increasingly frequent as the training progresses, and provide necessary hands-on training at danger recognition, survival, and improvision. Casualty rates for most graduating classes exceed 50%.
Military Academies:
While there are numerous military academies within the Onyx Kingdom, most have modeled their curriculum and structure around the Zar'ahal Military Academy which is the most prestigious of all military schools. With admission typically reserved to those with means or resources, completing training at a military academy is the most common route for Drow to become officers in the military.
A ten year process beginning at the age of 20, trainees undergo a wide range of military training that is as brutal as it is efficient in creating potent officers and soldiers. Each year create a foundation in a certain topic with combat training both at the personal and unit levels being interspersed throughout the entire ten year curriculum.
The first year is spent almost exclusively on individual combat training. Soldiers learn to fight first with their bodies - tooth, fist, and foot - and quickly move onto sword, spear, shield, bow, and more. While a foundational understanding of all these weapons is provided, recruits are allowed to focus their efforts on honing specific weapons that they enjoy and even specialty weapons from across the world.
The second year is spent on military theory and maneuvers. Candidates are instilled with training in skirmishing as scout pairs all the way up to exercises and theories in large scale warfare on the scale of thousands.
The third year is widely considered to be the most difficult year with the highest rate of attrition - both in the form of fatalities and wash outs - throughout the ten year process. Year three is focused on survival in all its forms. During this grueling year-long process, candidates undergo wilderness and wild lands training, learning how to survive and evade capture in enemy territory. Throughout this process, candidates periodically are placed in training exercises where they are forced to evade capture by instructors for as long as possible. At the beginning of the year, recruits are inevitably caught by instructors and then subjected brutal "interrogations" to train them to resist torture. Attrition is so high in third year due to a combination of candidates giving up due to the brutality of the interrogation training, death in the field during survival training, and other "training accidents" that have been known to occur during interrogation.
Fourth year is spent learning the basics of combat magic. Although not nearly as extensive as going to a proper magic academy, cadets are taught the basics of casting combat spells, defending themselves, and exploiting the limitations of mages.
Fifth year is spent on mounted combat, learning the intricacies of light and heavy cavalry and becoming comfortable on the back of a vornyx as if it were an extension of their own body. They learn to use bow and lance from vornyxback, ride as screeners for an army, and break enemy formations from vornyxback.
Sixth Year is spent learning the details of siege warfare. From artillery to sapping to all manner of siege equipment, this time is spent learning how to break into fortresses and how to secure a fortress of your own.
Seventh year is spent learning how to scout, tracking enemies and hunting prey often behind enemy lines. This is where combatants learn to be self-dependent, hunting and skirmishing and implementing screening tactics in advance of a main army. Skills of stealth, infiltration, and even poisoning are taught during this time in order to make officers proficient in any setting.
Years eight through ten are more flexible than the rest. In these years, cadets are given more freedom and autonomy to practice according to their specialty they wish to pursue. Advanced training in scouting, mounted combat, and combat magics are common though other paths may also be pursued according to the discretion of the instructors.
Throughout their ten years, the candidates compete constantly on the tournament board. The tournament board is a means through which candidates may challenge one another for prestige, gaining it on victory and losing it on defeat. Governed by a complex series of rules, combatants can face off in a series of one-on-one duels that may encompass a variety of scenarios but must always have a winner and loser. Although anyone who has completed their first year may compete, the leader board is most frequently dominated by upper classmen who have significantly more experience and training than those in the lower classes.
Those who finish in the top 10 each year are eligible to undergo the Tososs Barra or "Kiss of the Shadow." A highly secretive, weeklong ritual that transforms the body of those who undergo it to make them the pinnacle of fighting ability. It strengthens the bones and muscles, makes the body stronger and more durable, and heightens the speed and reflexes of those who undergo it. Although the payoffs are great and highly coveted, make no mistake, the entire process is a torture in its own right.
Those who graduate from the academy are among the most dangerous beings in all the Underrealms, capable of unleashing death in a myriad of different ways and leading their troops into the jaws of danger.
Academies of Skill:
The Academy of Invoked Scrolls
The Academy of Crossed Blades
The Priesthood of Maelzafan:
There are several youth cadres, training noble-born drow youth and the very most promising of commoner youths in highly competitive regimens.
House Suulet-jabar's ten-year cadre program trains youth from as young as age 10 until around age 20 or 21. Suulet-jabar Cadre students learn both to be self-sufficient and to work together effectively with those of different talents. Many Suulet-Jabar graduates are routed next into the Zar'Ahal Military Academy. Aspiring battlemages and battle priestesses tend to gravitate to Suulet-jabar, as do those youth with athletic or stealthy inclinations likely to become warriors, scouts, and assassins.
Other youth cadres focus on training prospective acolytes in the faith of Maelzafan or in the rudiments of arcane magic, in preparation for more specialist academies after cadre is graduated. These spellcaster-specific cadre programs typically last 12 years, and are intended more for progeny destined for the Temple of Maelzafan or to become house mages or other non-military types of spellcasters.
In keeping with the drow way, these cadres do not shy away from the deadly Underrealm perils nearby Zar'Ahal. Training missions outside the city are increasingly frequent as the training progresses, and provide necessary hands-on training at danger recognition, survival, and improvision. Casualty rates for most graduating classes exceed 50%.
Military Academies:
While there are numerous military academies within the Onyx Kingdom, most have modeled their curriculum and structure around the Zar'ahal Military Academy which is the most prestigious of all military schools. With admission typically reserved to those with means or resources, completing training at a military academy is the most common route for Drow to become officers in the military.
A ten year process beginning at the age of 20, trainees undergo a wide range of military training that is as brutal as it is efficient in creating potent officers and soldiers. Each year create a foundation in a certain topic with combat training both at the personal and unit levels being interspersed throughout the entire ten year curriculum.
The first year is spent almost exclusively on individual combat training. Soldiers learn to fight first with their bodies - tooth, fist, and foot - and quickly move onto sword, spear, shield, bow, and more. While a foundational understanding of all these weapons is provided, recruits are allowed to focus their efforts on honing specific weapons that they enjoy and even specialty weapons from across the world.
The second year is spent on military theory and maneuvers. Candidates are instilled with training in skirmishing as scout pairs all the way up to exercises and theories in large scale warfare on the scale of thousands.
The third year is widely considered to be the most difficult year with the highest rate of attrition - both in the form of fatalities and wash outs - throughout the ten year process. Year three is focused on survival in all its forms. During this grueling year-long process, candidates undergo wilderness and wild lands training, learning how to survive and evade capture in enemy territory. Throughout this process, candidates periodically are placed in training exercises where they are forced to evade capture by instructors for as long as possible. At the beginning of the year, recruits are inevitably caught by instructors and then subjected brutal "interrogations" to train them to resist torture. Attrition is so high in third year due to a combination of candidates giving up due to the brutality of the interrogation training, death in the field during survival training, and other "training accidents" that have been known to occur during interrogation.
Fourth year is spent learning the basics of combat magic. Although not nearly as extensive as going to a proper magic academy, cadets are taught the basics of casting combat spells, defending themselves, and exploiting the limitations of mages.
Fifth year is spent on mounted combat, learning the intricacies of light and heavy cavalry and becoming comfortable on the back of a vornyx as if it were an extension of their own body. They learn to use bow and lance from vornyxback, ride as screeners for an army, and break enemy formations from vornyxback.
Sixth Year is spent learning the details of siege warfare. From artillery to sapping to all manner of siege equipment, this time is spent learning how to break into fortresses and how to secure a fortress of your own.
Seventh year is spent learning how to scout, tracking enemies and hunting prey often behind enemy lines. This is where combatants learn to be self-dependent, hunting and skirmishing and implementing screening tactics in advance of a main army. Skills of stealth, infiltration, and even poisoning are taught during this time in order to make officers proficient in any setting.
Years eight through ten are more flexible than the rest. In these years, cadets are given more freedom and autonomy to practice according to their specialty they wish to pursue. Advanced training in scouting, mounted combat, and combat magics are common though other paths may also be pursued according to the discretion of the instructors.
Throughout their ten years, the candidates compete constantly on the tournament board. The tournament board is a means through which candidates may challenge one another for prestige, gaining it on victory and losing it on defeat. Governed by a complex series of rules, combatants can face off in a series of one-on-one duels that may encompass a variety of scenarios but must always have a winner and loser. Although anyone who has completed their first year may compete, the leader board is most frequently dominated by upper classmen who have significantly more experience and training than those in the lower classes.
Those who finish in the top 10 each year are eligible to undergo the Tososs Barra or "Kiss of the Shadow." A highly secretive, weeklong ritual that transforms the body of those who undergo it to make them the pinnacle of fighting ability. It strengthens the bones and muscles, makes the body stronger and more durable, and heightens the speed and reflexes of those who undergo it. Although the payoffs are great and highly coveted, make no mistake, the entire process is a torture in its own right.
Those who graduate from the academy are among the most dangerous beings in all the Underrealms, capable of unleashing death in a myriad of different ways and leading their troops into the jaws of danger.
Academies of Skill:
The Academy of Invoked Scrolls
The Academy of Crossed Blades
The Priesthood of Maelzafan:
Intent
The old order of Zar'Ahal was crumbling. Decadent. It has been felt by many drow for centuries; an agonisingly slow death of a once mighty dominion, giving way before poor decisions and ill-planned ambitions. Within the walls of Zar'Ahal, what thin veneer of order and deference had once existed evaporated, leading to unmitigated slaughters among rival Houses, rampaging priestesses and nobility in the streets and an ever increasing number of unaccounted agents working their own schemes.
This would not do.
And so, the reign of Tor'Rahel came to be reborn; fuelled by a desire for discipline and efficiency mitigating the roiling impulses of the drow.
The Drow Kingdom is built on controlled ambition. Every institution is designed to cultivate excellence while preventing fragmentation. Religion is regulated. Nobility is monitored. Military power is centralized. Knowledge is weaponized.
The Queen does not fear ambition—she shapes it into a blade pointed outward.
Order is enforced not through chaos, but inevitability.
Power is respected, not worshipped.
Shadow is not sacred—it is strategic.
And beneath the earth, under the Queen’s gaze, the Drow Kingdom endures as a disciplined, predatory empire waiting to expand.
This would not do.
And so, the reign of Tor'Rahel came to be reborn; fuelled by a desire for discipline and efficiency mitigating the roiling impulses of the drow.
The Drow Kingdom is built on controlled ambition. Every institution is designed to cultivate excellence while preventing fragmentation. Religion is regulated. Nobility is monitored. Military power is centralized. Knowledge is weaponized.
The Queen does not fear ambition—she shapes it into a blade pointed outward.
Order is enforced not through chaos, but inevitability.
Power is respected, not worshipped.
Shadow is not sacred—it is strategic.
And beneath the earth, under the Queen’s gaze, the Drow Kingdom endures as a disciplined, predatory empire waiting to expand.
