Hi, I started this thread to ask if anyone could fill me in on Teir'Dal customs, things like holidays and traditions. I'm creating a Teir'Dal character on Lucan D'Lere soon for a static group and and almost done with her background, I just need to find out a little more to finish it off. If anyone knows anything, please tell me, K?
First, I must note that this is not specifically about EQ Teir'Dal, but is a link I googled up that has a decent amount of information regarding Drow, which you may or may not want to flavor your character with. Drow Culture.
Several things about Drow are not the same for Teir'Dal. The ruling house for Teir'Dal is the Thex family. About Teir'Dal names/houses. Teir'Dal names are characterized by a capital letter, or Provincial Designate, such as "L" followed by an apostrophe and a proper name of ancient Elf descent. The capital letter preceding the proper surname was an indication of the province of the underworld called the Underfoot that the proper name hailed from. So two Teir'Dal with names of L'Kar and L'Gez share a common origin in an ancient Teir'Dal province of the Underfoot. In those provinces it is common to run into only those surnames sharing a similar Provincial Designate, but a variety of different Surnames. Only in the larger metropolises of the Teir'Dal empire, such as the capital Neriak, will one find a great variety of Provincial Designates. Teir'Dal names tend toward harsher consonant sounds, with short direct spelling of their names. The true and full names are long, but usually kept private. It is beneath a Dark Elf to share more than the shortest and most basic form of his name with those who do not deserve their attention. There are some Surnames that are never preceded by a Provincial Designate. Those surnames are known as Liege Names. These Liege Names are the oldest surnames from the dawn of Teir'Dal history and demand respect by any Teir'Dal with the typical Provincial Designate surname. The Liege Names members are of pureblood and are forbidden to mate with anyone that does not bear the same Liege Name. Names such as Punox and Thex are two of these ancient Teir'Dal Liege surnames. Teir'Dal scoiety isnt run only by women either. They have/had a king a queen, and both sexes could be the head of a family, house, or city guild. However, the attitudes of the Drow (think house assassination from the link above) are often the same as Teir'Dal. Assassination happened but was normally kept quiet, they are basically a lawful evil society. Course, not every Teir'Dal is that way. A blending of Drow ideas and in game lore is a great mix to create a character, or you could of course choose to go one or the other. Holidays and details on traditions for any race are not very detailed, so it is up to you to improvise in these areas. Having traditions that were only part of your family, or a group of families, is an interesting way to do this. Such as in my wood elves family they take shrouds when they become an adult, and the most important day of the year to them is the first day of spring. They have a family reunion kinda thing that day, and party and what not.
Thanks, Kamimura! There's some info in your post I didn't know before, and I know a little about Drow, so I can use some of that information for RP.
I have posted on my guild website a Lore section that is growing a bit more every day, this included stuff from the EQ1 site, mostly a generic description of Dark Elves and Innoruuk. But one of my guild mates also compiled some stuff from in game about the 2nd fey war and such that you may find useful. Tilludar Maelthra Head of House Maelthra
