drow with a birth defect

[Ettina]

OK, so my friends and I are working on a campaign with a trio of characters, one blind, one deaf and one mute. I decided to play a mute drow quietus (kind of like a psionic assassin). My idea is that she was born without functioning vocal cords. She communicates mainly through writing and drow sign language.

My question is, what would her childhood have been like? I could imagine her defect going unnoticed (or denied) for a few years, as they just say she's 'quiet' and don't realize she's incapable of making noise. But as she gets to the age when most kids start talking, it would be pretty obvious she isn't talking.

From what I understand, drow are not tolerant of disabilities, so her life would not have been pleasant, but exactly how awful would it have been?

[Bobbybobby99]

Well, she's a she, so she likely won't face the worst of what abuses in Drow society that would occur if she were male. She may possibly be made a slave of some sort, or perhaps be kept around as a very obvious figurehead as head of family or some such, with someone 'translating', at least before she learned sign language.

[Keltest]

She probably would have been killed. Assuming that's a non-starter for your character though, she probably would be an outcast from mainstream society. She probably would have fallen in with the seedier elements who don't care about who you are so much as what you can do. She would have learned her skills, martial or rougue-ish out of necessity, having no formal training. She might be bitterly resentful towards Lolth, for depriving her of the lifestyle she feels she deserved.

And she definitely wouldn't have any clerical training at all, or wizardly. No vocal chords means no magic, at all.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

What social class is she? I imagine that being Noble might actually be worst, given how Drow politics work - though actually, she'd be pretty unlikely to remain Noble for long with that kind of weakness, either ending up getting killed or chucked out into the street. The best place would probably be merchant or middle class - rich enough for a disabled child to be worth keeping, but not so important as to be a political vulnerability.

[Ettina]

What social class is she? I imagine that being Noble might actually be worst, given how Drow politics work - though actually, she'd be pretty unlikely to remain Noble for long with that kind of weakness, either ending up getting killed or chucked out into the street. The best place would probably be merchant or middle class - rich enough for a disabled child to be worth keeping, but not so important as to be a political vulnerability.

I had been thinking Noble, but I'm not wedded to that idea. If it would work better if she were a merchant...

[Keltest]

I had been thinking Noble, but I'm not wedded to that idea. If it would work better if she were a merchant...

You hinted that she was psionic. Is this actually part of the concept?

[Ettina]

You hinted that she was psionic. Is this actually part of the concept?

Her being psionic? Yes, she's a rogue 1/psion 5/quietus 4. Quietus is in Hyperconscious, it's basically a psionic assassin, with skills very similar to the assassin class but as psionic powers instead of weapon attacks and spells.

[chainer1216]

Well the mute part would be a problem but the psionic part might be a sort of balancer. In most settings psionics is rare, so someone with such abilities would be seen as an asset by a draw house.

[Storm_Of_Snow]

A merchant, especially one who spends a lot of time away from their home, might be able to keep such a child concealed from the rest of the population for longer, wheras a noble may have to show the child off to the court or something similar.

A merchant may also be "tainted" by their contact with other cultures and elect to raise the child despite their disability (and if they've got psionic talents that are useful to a merchant, such as being able to read another traders mind and tell when they're lying, then feed that information to their parent, their parent might train them to use them to their advantage) - a noble would be more likely to kill them to protect their family honour, despite any advantage it might give them.

Another point against being the child of a noble is that they could have access to magics that could cure the disability (a carefully controlled polymorph, for example), so you'd need to come up with some reason why they either didn't use them, or they didn't work - a merchant is less likely to be able to have that access.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Being mute is not very noticable at first glance, especially amongst the drow, who use sign language regularly. If you don't get out in polite (cough) society, it might take other drow weeks (of social contact) to find out, if they ever notice you only use signs. And if you're strong and ruthless enough when you do get found out, being mute is not a loss of power (psionics don't have verbal components). Communicate with words carved in the skins of your still-living enemies, and so on, and it should be clear Lolth has favoured you or somesuch.

[GrayDeath]

Being mute is not very noticable at first glance, especially amongst the drow, who use sign language regularly. If you don't get out in polite (cough) society, it might take other drow weeks (of social contact) to find out, if they ever notice you only use signs. And if you're strong and ruthless enough when you do get found out, being mute is not a loss of power (psionics don't have verbal components). Communicate with words carved in the skins of your still-living enemies, and so on, and it should be clear Lolth has favoured you or somesuch.

That if you want to be a hardass evil bitch of a Drow Psionic Assassin.


if you want a "nicer" (^^) Variant go with the silent outcast on a vengeancedriven Quest to silence all that mocked her for her Disability.

[Segev]

A female natural psychic who cannot speak would be a natural for the assassin school. She'd be a mistress of the hand-language that drow already use, and her natural silence might be taken as a sign from Lolth that she is to be a secret-keeper and a silencer of heretics and traitors. Mockery likely occurred at first, but if she did as her culture encourages and murdered those who mocked, it would end swiftly and a reputation of fear would build, making her all the more valuable as a THREAT of assassination.

[Red Fel]

A female natural psychic who cannot speak would be a natural for the assassin school. She'd be a mistress of the hand-language that drow already use, and her natural silence might be taken as a sign from Lolth that she is to be a secret-keeper and a silencer of heretics and traitors. Mockery likely occurred at first, but if she did as her culture encourages and murdered those who mocked, it would end swiftly and a reputation of fear would build, making her all the more valuable as a THREAT of assassination.

This.

You can totally put into your backstory "outcast because of perceived weakness." Or you could go this direction, and say "esteemed because they found use for someone like her, and because she was ruthless enough to prove that she had no weakness."

And there are enough Drow who were forced to leave because boo-hoo, other Drow are mean and nobody understands them. Be one who left because she was too badass.

My question, though, is different - how do the Drow feel, not about her silence, but about her psionics? If memory serves, there was a Psionic House in Menzo, House Oblodra. I say "was," because Lolth conspired with the head of house Baenre, and a Balor, to destroy House Oblodra and cast its head still living into the Abyss. Between that, and the fact that the most prominent psions in the Underdark are the Illithids (and there is little love lost between Drow and Illithid), I wonder if people would be very pleased with her freaky mind magic.

[Keltest]

This.

You can totally put into your backstory "outcast because of perceived weakness." Or you could go this direction, and say "esteemed because they found use for someone like her, and because she was ruthless enough to prove that she had no weakness."

And there are enough Drow who were forced to leave because boo-hoo, other Drow are mean and nobody understands them. Be one who left because she was too badass.

My question, though, is different - how do the Drow feel, not about her silence, but about her psionics? If memory serves, there was a Psionic House in Menzo, House Oblodra. I say "was," because Lolth conspired with the head of house Baenre, and a Balor, to destroy House Oblodra and cast its head still living into the Abyss. Between that, and the fact that the most prominent psions in the Underdark are the Illithids (and there is little love lost between Drow and Illithid), I wonder if people would be very pleased with her freaky mind magic.

Lolth was quite pleased with House Oblodra, up until the point where they decided "Screw Lolth, were taking over." She found their psionics intriguing, to the point where they had a disproportionate amount of power given their lack of piety.

[Red Fel]

Lolth was quite pleased with House Oblodra, up until the point where they decided "Screw Lolth, were taking over." She found their psionics intriguing, to the point where they had a disproportionate amount of power given their lack of piety.

Well, I sit corrected. I admit that my knowledge of the facts was incomplete.

Yeah, definitely go with mute psychic assassin and Lolth's personal murderpet, in that case. Provided that at no point Lolth finds her lack of faith disturbing, you should be fine.

[Spore]

You hinted that she was psionic. Is this actually part of the concept?

How about this then. Her birth was long awaited as she should be the heir to her house. Her mother tried to hide her disability because otherwise she would have no heir since the prophecy tells her that this will be her only child. She was hidden from the populacew until someone use the knowledge of her being unable to speak to publicly blame her, marking her house for destruction since she showed mercy. In the first attack, she is mutilated but gets rescued by a small faction that ironically needs a publicly known female as their spokesperson. They take her in and train her in the psionic arts as they feel that this is a more free form of magic, free of the oppressive clergy and the dangerous wizarding environment.

But being Drow they're not nice to her during the training (comparatively nice? yes, but not good nice or neutral nice). Fill and adjust the story to your liking.

[Envyus]

Normally Drow would have have just sacrificed the Baby, you can think of a justification why they did not. But the norm is that they would be killed. The reason why the Drow almost uniformly are all attractive is because they simply kill defective and unattractive ones. A drow can be be killed by a superior for having gained too much weight.

The Former Matron of House Baenre Triel was looked down upon by some Drow because she was shorter then average.

[Kareeah_Indaga]

I'd also be inclined to think that they'd kill her without a pressing reason to do otherwise (only girl child or whatever). From a drow cultural standpoint I think the easiest way to go mute would not be, 'she was born mute' but 'she angered the wrong people and had her tongue cut out.' But I don't know if that would work with your concept, so...maybe the family wizard used her in an important spell and it only continues to function as long as she's alive?

[hellspawnfish]

She can be a result of some sort of ritual. Make a magic holy baby to be the Mouthpiece of Lolth. Then when she's born mute it's seen as a sign from the goddess and expected that she'll speak when Lolth wishes her will be known.

Would be an exceptionally useful political tool too, a holy person you can control. Throw in some intrigue in there (a fanatical head of the house pushing for even more religious fervor being shut down by rivals? was the ritual intentionally sabotaged? etc etc) and you'll have the specialest snowflake background ever

[Red Fel]

The Former Matron of House Baenre Triel was looked down upon by some Drow because she was shorter then average.

Or, as the Drow say, Ba'dum-t'sht.

[napoleon_in_rag]

Her being psionic? Yes, she's a rogue 1/psion 5/quietus 4. Quietus is in Hyperconscious, it's basically a psionic assassin, with skills very similar to the assassin class but as psionic powers instead of weapon attacks and spells.

Maybe, as part of their training, Drow psionics have to sacrifice their vocal cords. By not having a voice, she is required to rely on her mind.