Okay so I'm fairly new to proper D&D, and so far I've been enjoying the Forgotten Realms setting (basic? sure, but I like it)
My current character right now is a high elf bard named Rai, and their whole shtick is that they were part of this like wandering fellowship/band/troupe thing that I'm currently calling The Gilded Vagabonds. They had been part of this fellowship thing ever since they were a toddler with their fathers. The Gilded Vagabonds are essentially just a group of adventurers/travelers that don't have a home to really go back to as that home is this group. They have moments where they settle in cities for like three month breaks or something. However, by some certain circumstances that lead them to an opening to the Underdark, Rai ends up somehow falling deeper and landing in a spot that the rest of the troupe out right refuse to go back down to get them. Rai's dads try to argue but somehow they end up being forced to accept that Rai is nothing more than a loss.
In the end Rai ended up falling deep enough to encounter monsters that scar them pretty bad before getting found by a drow wizard named Vex'arn. He's very much a Lolth worshipper and is rather cruel. He ended up taking Rai to Menzoberranzan and essentially turns them into a slave/pet project to soon sacrifice for Lolth. His house is currently slowly losing Lolth's favor and can only probably fix that is by offering some ultimate sacrifice. And...y'know a surface elf getting stuck down there should be enough right?
However, there is another drow that wishes to prevent that; a male-ish presenting drow named Sol'tyrr - a rather well off merchant (that visits Vex a lot), secret worshipper of Eilistraee, and Vex's secret lover. He frequently finds himself soon forming an acquaintanceship with Rai over the 40-something years of their imprisonment (for reference Rai was about 75 when they fell which is equivalent to around 15-16 and are presently 120 which is around 21-23).
Now, I have a LOT of questions here. Mostly due the fact I don't have money to buy the books right now and I'm too lazy to read the damn wiki. I just need help in making this story plausible in this world. So...imma just list them out:
1. So, where would Rai need to fall to in order for the group to think they're already dead and choose to not go back to get them? I don't really know the maps very well here so yeah.
2. Which house should I put Vex in, considering it's slowly losing Lolth's favor? If there isn't one that would fit, should I just make a homebrew house? And if that's so, how does one go about making a homebrew house in Menzoberranzan? (3 questions I know but...yeah)
3. How does the house hierarchy work? I'm unfortunately the type of person who can only understand things if it's put in like outline or flow-chart format. So could anyone help me and put this into perspective for me please?
4. How can I avoid making Sol'tyrr into a Drizzt clone? Basically that. I want him to be kind and sensitive but with what little knowledge I have on Drizzt, I feel like I'm more susceptible to making a Drizzt clone. The only things that sort of separate the two are that Sol is a merchant, neutral good, and an arcane trickster rogue thief type.
I'll see if I'll come back for more. Anyways, thanks haha!
I'm sad that you haven't had anyone else reply to your post before now. I love the Underdark as a setting and the Drow are some of my favorite characters. First, kudos for not wanting a Drizzt clone, hat's the easy way out.
House Heirarchy can work however it works best for your needs. Each House has its own Politics and Internal conflicts. I'll give you two examples from my own character's histories:
The fire’s glow flickered against Vexlin’s scorched form, the smell of burnt leather and pride hanging heavy. Khaless had already turned back, calm as stone, speaking as though nothing had disturbed her.
“I’m sorry, dear. You were saying?”
Maedra gathered herself, breath hitching, eyes wide in the ice-blue gaze. Her voice wavered as she tried to continue.
“They hunt me as they hunted you. The Loom Court twisted my silks into nooses. Please… stand for me.”
Khaless tilted her head, goggles lowered, her stare unflinching. The sprite hovered close, quill scratching brighter and faster as though eager for this part.
“Pray tell me,” Khaless said, voice smooth as silk and twice as dangerous, “what do you know of me and House Dalael? Those are names I’ve not heard in many years.”
The words landed heavy, not just question but test — the kind only a Fey-blooded courtier could phrase, a blade wrapped in etiquette.
Maedra blinked, lips parting, her hands trembling as though clutching invisible thread. At last, she bowed her head.
“I know enough,” she whispered. Then louder, steadier, her mask slipping away stitch by stitch:
“I am Maedra Vhorrin, once Silken Voice of the Loom Court. My House—Xil’Zratha—wove power into every cloth, every veil, every shroud. We wrapped spies in shadow, dressed nobles in lies. And when I dared speak of opening trade to the surface… my own kin cut my envoy down. My aunt, Matron Zelythra, named me traitor. My titles stripped. My silks turned into shackles.”
Her breath shuddered, but she pressed on.
“Your House - Jaelre —was whispered of in my youth. Minor nobility, yes, but ambitious. They spoke of you and your twin. Some claimed the Summer Court had taken an interest—others scoffed. And then… fire. Blood. House Dalael gone in a night. We thought you all dead.”
Her voice cracked. “But you stand here. Titania’s chosen. A blade in darkness, wielded by light. And I—” she faltered, then forced the words out— “I am hunted as you were. The Silken Blades wear my silks, twisted into weapons. One of them may even walk among us now.”
The camp was silent but for the fire. Even Vexlin’s ragged breathing faded against the weight of her confession.
Maedra’s eyes brimmed with dangerous hope.
“Stand for me, Khaless. By your Mother’s grace. If not, I am already dead.”
Khaless did not soften. Her ice-blue eyes held Maedra like a pinned moth. When she spoke, the words were cool, precise, dangerous:
“That is twice you have invoked my Mother’s name twined with my own as a plea for aid. Once might be desperation. Twice is presumption.”
The sprite’s quill scratched faster, petals scattering as it captured each syllable.
“And now,” Khaless continued, voice rising like the edge of a blade being drawn, “you dare to claim that my Mother — Titania herself — may have taken an interest in my House? My House.”
Her smile was sharp, too many teeth glinting in the firelight.
“Tell me, Maedra Vhorrin of Xil’Zratha… what do you truly know of Dalael? What whisper dares suggest Titania’s hand in its ruin or its survival? And why should I not judge your plea as nothing more than a silken trick, woven to ensnare me in your feud?”
The fire snapped, sparks leaping. Maedra trembled, caught between survival and the peril of speaking too much truth. She dared one more breath.
“There were whispers. Old ones. That Titania had taken an interest in the younger twin of House Dalael. That she walked with you when none believed. That when fire consumed your kin, it was not chance you survived — but will.”
Her voice cracked, but she forced the words through.
“I do not know the truth. I dare not. But I know what it means, standing before you now. If Titania chose you, then my plea is not to trick, but to beg. For one exile to another. For one hunted soul to another. If your House burned by her design, then at least your survival was her gift. My House burns by betrayal alone.”
She lowered her eyes, shoulders trembling. “I ask not for her mercy. Only yours.”
The sprite’s quill blazed brighter, carrying every word away.
Khaless listened without flicker of expression. Then she lifted one hand, idly, as though brushing away ash. Her fingers snapped, sharp as breaking glass.
“Go.”
Virelys darted upright, wings scattering Angel Trumpet petals of light. “Tell my Mother. Report back with Her decision. Now.”
The sprite bowed low, spun once, and vanished in a shimmer of Brugmansia-scent and starlight — bearing Maedra’s words into Titania’s endless garden.
The silence left behind was suffocating. Maedra trembled, her fate suspended in the Queen’s whim. None of the caravan dared stir.
Khaless lowered her hand again, calm and certain, eyes never leaving Maedra’s face.
“Now,” she murmured, just loud enough for the nearest to hear, “we wait.”
And wait we did. Until, as if nothing had passed between them, the two Drow returned to the circle.
Maedra’s mask was frayed but resewn, her expression pale yet set. Khaless gestured once, dismissing her, and Maedra sank back among the merchants, eyes fixed low.
Another gesture, and Thorne drifted down from the unseen grip that had held him. He landed beside Tavi, stiff but steady, then turned back to his charge with soldier’s silence.
Khaless knelt by the boy. Her voice softened, almost tender, though still edged with chill.
“Go ahead,” she told him. “Open it. It’s for you. We think you’ll like it.”
And she smiled.
Gods, that smile… beautiful beyond reason, terrifying in its promise. The smile Lyra coils with, the grin Raven bares before tearing into prey.
Vexlin flinched, even burnt and cowed, as though the smile itself scorched him.
Tavi’s fingers tore the paper away. The firelight glinted off brass and silver — not Whisk, not wood, but a spider of clockwork. Gears whirred softly in its belly, mandibles opening and closing like a living thing.
The boy gasped, then set it on the ground. The spider stirred, scuttled two metres across the dirt, turned, and returned, clicking and whirring. Its mandibles snapped shut with eerie precision.
Tavi laughed aloud, bright and raw, the sound startling after so many days of silence.
The rest of us watched, hushed. Not awe. Something heavier, edged with dread.
Khaless rose to her full height, voice carrying over the fire.
“It is no toy. It is a construct. It will bite any who harm this child, or seek to break him again. Its venom is no plaything — five strokes of death in its fangs, necrotic and poisonous, enough to unmake flesh from bone. Even a half strike leaves the victim poisoned, trembling, weak.”
Her ice-blue eyes swept the circle, pausing on Thorne.
“You are his guard. Hear me well: as I said, my Mother does not kindly suffer those who mistreat children. She is rather fond of children. Especially children who miss their parents.”
The spider clattered back into Tavi’s arms, whirring, mandibles opening and closing in steady rhythm. The boy hugged it tight, fearless, as though it had always been his.
Khaless’s gaze lingered then. Not on the child. Not on Vexlin, still smoldering at the edge of the fire. But on me.
And then, deliberately, on Maedra.
Her smile did not fade.
The spider ticked and clicked, the sound like an hourglass turning. Each beat a reminder: judgment was not finished. It was only waiting.
Maedra gives her House and what's it's done to her, and gives and abbreviaed version of the rumours of Khaless' House Jaelre. Khaless heself doesn't know what actually happened with her family and House.
House Jaelre: The Exiled Flame of the Underdark Origins & Ideology • House Jaelre was once a minor noble house in Menzoberranzan, exiled for rejecting the tyrannical dogma of Lolth. • They turned to Vhaeraun, the Masked Lord, embracing ideals of equality, surface exploration, and freedom from matriarchal rule. • After discovering a portal to the surface, they claimed the ruins of the Elven Court in Cormanthor, establishing Minauthkeep in the Upper Underdark. • Their structure resembled a militia, not a traditional Drow hierarchy—egalitarian, disciplined, and ideologically radical.
The Family of Dalael: A Splinter Line in Buiyrandyn • A Jaelre splinter cell, led by Ilmryn and Ilmra, settled in Buiyrandyn, a remote Underdark city in the north. • Their children: • Elkantar (eldest son) • Urlryn (second son) • Jhanniss (daughter) • Khyless (eldest twin) • Khaless (youngest twin) • The family maintained Jaelre’s ideological flame, but their presence in Buiyrandyn made them vulnerable to political and divine enemies.
The Fall and Fey Intervention • At age 10, Khaless was in the Feywild with her “imaginary friend” Tiandra—actually Titania, the Summer Queen. • During her absence, her entire family was murdered—by unknown forces. Theories range from Lolth’s agents, rival Drow houses, or even surface factions. • Khyless died in the attack. Khaless survived only because she was with Titania, who then claimed her as a ward and spiritual daughter. • Titania refuses to reveal the truth behind the massacre, deepening Khaless’s paranoia and mistrust—even toward her patron.
Khaless was born the second of twins - her sibling was named Khyless, to a wealthy, but minor nobility family - Dalael, of the House of Jaelre, in the city of Buiyrandyn, in the Northern Underdark. As a child, she would often play with her "imaginary friend", called Tiandra (Titania). whom, For some reason, as yet unknown, Titania had taken an interest in the child, although she rarely showed any interest in her twin, Khyless. When she was 10 (barely a toddler, by Elfin standards), her parents (Ilmryn and Ilmra), twin, and siblings - two older brothers (Elkantar and Urlryn) and a older sister (Jhanniss), were killed by someone - some House, some Guild, some Ruling Noble, Higher/Lower Power - who, exactly, Khaless does not know; Titania likely does, but has refused to discuss the matter with her any time she has asked. Khaless survived only because she had been away from the family, with Titania in the Feywild, when the attack occurred. It was at this time that Titania claimed her, and arranged for her continued upbringing, with random families, Elven and otherwise, over the years.
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Met D&D in 1976 while in the Navy, learning Russian, and fell in love. We were steady for several years, then drifted apart and saw other people. Ran into each other a few years ago and the spark kinda rekindled, ya know? It’s an open relationship and I hang with GURPS and DragonQuest, but we’re all mutuals and it’s good. Open communication is the real key to any polydice, it’s the only real rule.
Yeah, a Drow, adopted by the Queen of the Summer Court of the Feywild and then made her Warlock (Pact of the Chain). My DM's sggestion. I loved it. The goggles mentioned in the excerpt are a Pact Gift that allow her to be a Day Walker without penalty, downside is that while wearing them she loses Darkvision and has disadvantage on certain rolls, but it's worth it. The person referred to as "Cousin" is a Tiefling, sworn to the Court of Stars - a different Fairy Court, which owes no alleigience to any of the seasonal Courts and sits above them, if anything - and is the Court to whom the Wild Hunt obeys. He is a Gloom Hunter Ranger/Soul Knife Rogue and is the narrator's Guide and lover (and she's a Changeling Bard. - and the character I actually play in that campaign; this is an entry from before the actual capaign began which I wrote as part of her back story, and I could play with my other PCs as NPCs in it.)
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Met D&D in 1976 while in the Navy, learning Russian, and fell in love. We were steady for several years, then drifted apart and saw other people. Ran into each other a few years ago and the spark kinda rekindled, ya know? It’s an open relationship and I hang with GURPS and DragonQuest, but we’re all mutuals and it’s good. Open communication is the real key to any polydice, it’s the only real rule.
1. So, where would Rai need to fall to in order for the group to think they're already dead and choose to not go back to get them? I don't really know the maps very well here so yeah.
Rai could fall in The Darklake, a series of connected bodies of water in the Underdark within a huge cavern more than 100 miles across.
2. Which house should I put Vex in, considering it's slowly losing Lolth's favor? If there isn't one that would fit, should I just make a homebrew house? And if that's so, how does one go about making a homebrew house in Menzoberranzan? (3 questions I know but...yeah)
House Hun'ett from Menzoberranzan lost two of its wizards and the favor of Lolth for failing to kill Drizzt Do'Urden was originally the the fifth noble house. Vex could be one of the few remaining wizards from it.
3. How does the house hierarchy work? I'm unfortunately the type of person who can only understand things if it's put in like outline or flow-chart format. So could anyone help me and put this into perspective for me please?
Typical hierarchy of a noble Lolth-sworn drow house from Menzoberranzan consist of;
🕷️ Matron mother - the senior female of the family and the dictatorial ruling head of the house. Her rule is absolute, enforced by the females beneath her (usually her daughters). All lesser roles are decreed by, and can be changed at the whim of, the matron mother. Her reign ends only with her death, which often comes at the hands of her eldest daughter.
🕷️ First daughter - who usually claims the title of first priestess of the house. She serves as her mother’s advisor and supervises day-to-day operations of the house. She is also typically groomed to replace her mother at some point.
🕷️ Other daughters, in order of age - also priestesses. They wield little true authority until they complete their training at the Academy. A daughter who is not in direct line to rule due to having older sisters sometimes separates from her matron’s house (with permission, of course) and forms a house of her own, with nominal loyalty to the “parent” house. In this way, drow houses spread their influence, but also often create their own eventual rivals.
🕷️ Other female relatives of matron mother - sisters (if they are still alive, since they are often seen as potential rivals), cousins, granddaughters and so on.
🕷️ House wizard - the leader of the house’s arcane spellcasters. It is one of the three most important house positions that are available for a male, and sometimes also considered the most prestigious one (priestesses usually treat their house wizards with at least modicum of respect).
🕷️ House weapon master - the best warrior of the house responsible for training and leading the house troops. Another important male-only position.
🕷️ House patron - matron mother’s favored consort. Prestigious, but often precarious position, since some matron mothers like to replace their patrons quite often.
🕷️ First son - usually trained to fill the position of the house wizard or weapon master at some point.
🕷️ Other sons, in order of age - often trained as “backup” house wizards or leaders of warriors. Male heirs of noble drow houses are ranked by age: elderboy, secondboy, thirdboy, and so on. The thirdboy is customarily sacrificed to Lolth shortly after being born. Only one such sacrifice is required of each matron mother, as a one-time test of her loyalty to the goddess.
4. How can I avoid making Sol'tyrr into a Drizzt clone? Basically that. I want him to be kind and sensitive but with what little knowledge I have on Drizzt, I feel like I'm more susceptible to making a Drizzt clone. The only things that sort of separate the two are that Sol is a merchant, neutral good, and an arcane trickster rogue thief type.
Sol'tyrr could be farther from Drizzt by being an androgynous CN Drow Cleric Sword Dancer posing as a Skullport merchant for cover.
IIRC House Hun'ett was destroyed with only the matron surviving to become Malice's "daughter" I want to say Si'Nafay. It was quite some time ago that I read the books though so, my memory would be hazy.
As far as the houses go, anything ranked below 20 should be fairly fluid. There was 60 or so at one point, but most of them are pretty minor. Agrach Dyrr might be a solid option. They were strong in wizards, and were once ranked 5th, but after a betrayal they were stripped of their seat on the ruling council and made vassals to House Baenre. I don't think they have been spoken of since, so are likely still out there in some form or another. Being essentially subjugated to Baenre, they'd be seen as weak, and certainly not in Lolth's favor.
As far as not being a Drizzt clone, you can make him be good and show compassion, but perhaps a bit less 'principled'. A little common sense and pragmatism would serve him well while he hides his allegiance in the City of Spiders. Where as Drizzt would nearly always throw a petulant temper tantrum, if Sol'tyrr's a little more willing to say "well there's nothing I can do about this right now" he'd be miles away from Drizzt.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
House Hun'ett was eventually destroyed yes, in 1328 DR after losing a covert war to House Do'Urden, but depending on the timeline for his campaign it could be an option.
Alternatively, Vex could be from House Maevret, was is barely considered a noble house at all which wouldn't be much in favor of Lolth.
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Okay so I'm fairly new to proper D&D, and so far I've been enjoying the Forgotten Realms setting (basic? sure, but I like it)
My current character right now is a high elf bard named Rai, and their whole shtick is that they were part of this like wandering fellowship/band/troupe thing that I'm currently calling The Gilded Vagabonds. They had been part of this fellowship thing ever since they were a toddler with their fathers. The Gilded Vagabonds are essentially just a group of adventurers/travelers that don't have a home to really go back to as that home is this group. They have moments where they settle in cities for like three month breaks or something. However, by some certain circumstances that lead them to an opening to the Underdark, Rai ends up somehow falling deeper and landing in a spot that the rest of the troupe out right refuse to go back down to get them. Rai's dads try to argue but somehow they end up being forced to accept that Rai is nothing more than a loss.
In the end Rai ended up falling deep enough to encounter monsters that scar them pretty bad before getting found by a drow wizard named Vex'arn. He's very much a Lolth worshipper and is rather cruel. He ended up taking Rai to Menzoberranzan and essentially turns them into a slave/pet project to soon sacrifice for Lolth. His house is currently slowly losing Lolth's favor and can only probably fix that is by offering some ultimate sacrifice. And...y'know a surface elf getting stuck down there should be enough right?
However, there is another drow that wishes to prevent that; a male-ish presenting drow named Sol'tyrr - a rather well off merchant (that visits Vex a lot), secret worshipper of Eilistraee, and Vex's secret lover. He frequently finds himself soon forming an acquaintanceship with Rai over the 40-something years of their imprisonment (for reference Rai was about 75 when they fell which is equivalent to around 15-16 and are presently 120 which is around 21-23).
Now, I have a LOT of questions here. Mostly due the fact I don't have money to buy the books right now and I'm too lazy to read the damn wiki. I just need help in making this story plausible in this world. So...imma just list them out:
1. So, where would Rai need to fall to in order for the group to think they're already dead and choose to not go back to get them? I don't really know the maps very well here so yeah.
2. Which house should I put Vex in, considering it's slowly losing Lolth's favor? If there isn't one that would fit, should I just make a homebrew house? And if that's so, how does one go about making a homebrew house in Menzoberranzan? (3 questions I know but...yeah)
3. How does the house hierarchy work? I'm unfortunately the type of person who can only understand things if it's put in like outline or flow-chart format. So could anyone help me and put this into perspective for me please?
4. How can I avoid making Sol'tyrr into a Drizzt clone? Basically that. I want him to be kind and sensitive but with what little knowledge I have on Drizzt, I feel like I'm more susceptible to making a Drizzt clone. The only things that sort of separate the two are that Sol is a merchant, neutral good, and an arcane trickster rogue thief type.
I'll see if I'll come back for more.
Anyways, thanks haha!
I'm sad that you haven't had anyone else reply to your post before now. I love the Underdark as a setting and the Drow are some of my favorite characters.
First, kudos for not wanting a Drizzt clone, hat's the easy way out.
House Heirarchy can work however it works best for your needs. Each House has its own Politics and Internal conflicts. I'll give you two examples from my own character's histories:
Maedra gives her House and what's it's done to her, and gives and abbreviaed version of the rumours of Khaless' House Jaelre. Khaless heself doesn't know what actually happened with her family and House.
House Jaelre: The Exiled Flame of the Underdark
Origins & Ideology
• House Jaelre was once a minor noble house in Menzoberranzan, exiled for rejecting the tyrannical dogma of Lolth.
• They turned to Vhaeraun, the Masked Lord, embracing ideals of equality, surface exploration, and freedom from matriarchal rule.
• After discovering a portal to the surface, they claimed the ruins of the Elven Court in Cormanthor, establishing Minauthkeep in the Upper Underdark.
• Their structure resembled a militia, not a traditional Drow hierarchy—egalitarian, disciplined, and ideologically radical.
The Family of Dalael: A Splinter Line in Buiyrandyn
• A Jaelre splinter cell, led by Ilmryn and Ilmra, settled in Buiyrandyn, a remote Underdark city in the north.
• Their children:
• Elkantar (eldest son)
• Urlryn (second son)
• Jhanniss (daughter)
• Khyless (eldest twin)
• Khaless (youngest twin)
• The family maintained Jaelre’s ideological flame, but their presence in Buiyrandyn made them vulnerable to political and divine enemies.
The Fall and Fey Intervention
• At age 10, Khaless was in the Feywild with her “imaginary friend” Tiandra—actually Titania, the Summer Queen.
• During her absence, her entire family was murdered—by unknown forces. Theories range from Lolth’s agents, rival Drow houses, or even surface factions.
• Khyless died in the attack. Khaless survived only because she was with Titania, who then claimed her as a ward and spiritual daughter.
• Titania refuses to reveal the truth behind the massacre, deepening Khaless’s paranoia and mistrust—even toward her patron.
Khaless was born the second of twins - her sibling was named Khyless, to a wealthy, but minor nobility family - Dalael, of the House of Jaelre, in the city of Buiyrandyn, in the Northern Underdark.
As a child, she would often play with her "imaginary friend", called Tiandra (Titania). whom, For some reason, as yet unknown, Titania had taken an interest in the child, although she rarely showed any interest in her twin, Khyless. When she was 10 (barely a toddler, by Elfin standards), her parents (Ilmryn and Ilmra), twin, and siblings - two older brothers (Elkantar and Urlryn) and a older sister (Jhanniss), were killed by someone - some House, some Guild, some Ruling Noble, Higher/Lower Power - who, exactly, Khaless does not know; Titania likely does, but has refused to discuss the matter with her any time she has asked. Khaless survived only because she had been away from the family, with Titania in the Feywild, when the attack occurred. It was at this time that Titania claimed her, and arranged for her continued upbringing, with random families, Elven and otherwise, over the years.
Met D&D in 1976 while in the Navy, learning Russian, and fell in love. We were steady for several years, then drifted apart and saw other people. Ran into each other a few years ago and the spark kinda rekindled, ya know? It’s an open relationship and I hang with GURPS and DragonQuest, but we’re all mutuals and it’s good. Open communication is the real key to any polydice, it’s the only real rule.
Yeah, a Drow, adopted by the Queen of the Summer Court of the Feywild and then made her Warlock (Pact of the Chain). My DM's sggestion. I loved it. The goggles mentioned in the excerpt are a Pact Gift that allow her to be a Day Walker without penalty, downside is that while wearing them she loses Darkvision and has disadvantage on certain rolls, but it's worth it.
The person referred to as "Cousin" is a Tiefling, sworn to the Court of Stars - a different Fairy Court, which owes no alleigience to any of the seasonal Courts and sits above them, if anything - and is the Court to whom the Wild Hunt obeys. He is a Gloom Hunter Ranger/Soul Knife Rogue and is the narrator's Guide and lover (and she's a Changeling Bard. - and the character I actually play in that campaign; this is an entry from before the actual capaign began which I wrote as part of her back story, and I could play with my other PCs as NPCs in it.)
Met D&D in 1976 while in the Navy, learning Russian, and fell in love. We were steady for several years, then drifted apart and saw other people. Ran into each other a few years ago and the spark kinda rekindled, ya know? It’s an open relationship and I hang with GURPS and DragonQuest, but we’re all mutuals and it’s good. Open communication is the real key to any polydice, it’s the only real rule.
Rai could fall in The Darklake, a series of connected bodies of water in the Underdark within a huge cavern more than 100 miles across.
House Hun'ett from Menzoberranzan lost two of its wizards and the favor of Lolth for failing to kill Drizzt Do'Urden was originally the the fifth noble house. Vex could be one of the few remaining wizards from it.
Typical hierarchy of a noble Lolth-sworn drow house from Menzoberranzan consist of;
🕷️ Matron mother - the senior female of the family and the dictatorial ruling head of the house. Her rule is absolute, enforced by the females beneath her (usually her daughters). All lesser roles are decreed by, and can be changed at the whim of, the matron mother. Her reign ends only with her death, which often comes at the hands of her eldest daughter.
🕷️ First daughter - who usually claims the title of first priestess of the house. She serves as her mother’s advisor and supervises day-to-day operations of the house. She is also typically groomed to replace her mother at some point.
🕷️ Other daughters, in order of age - also priestesses. They wield little true authority until they complete their training at the Academy. A daughter who is not in direct line to rule due to having older sisters sometimes separates from her matron’s house (with permission, of course) and forms a house of her own, with nominal loyalty to the “parent” house. In this way, drow houses spread their influence, but also often create their own eventual rivals.
🕷️ Other female relatives of matron mother - sisters (if they are still alive, since they are often seen as potential rivals), cousins, granddaughters and so on.
🕷️ House wizard - the leader of the house’s arcane spellcasters. It is one of the three most important house positions that are available for a male, and sometimes also considered the most prestigious one (priestesses usually treat their house wizards with at least modicum of respect).
🕷️ House weapon master - the best warrior of the house responsible for training and leading the house troops. Another important male-only position.
🕷️ House patron - matron mother’s favored consort. Prestigious, but often precarious position, since some matron mothers like to replace their patrons quite often.
🕷️ First son - usually trained to fill the position of the house wizard or weapon master at some point.
🕷️ Other sons, in order of age - often trained as “backup” house wizards or leaders of warriors. Male heirs of noble drow houses are ranked by age: elderboy, secondboy, thirdboy, and so on. The thirdboy is customarily sacrificed to Lolth shortly after being born. Only one such sacrifice is required of each matron mother, as a one-time test of her loyalty to the goddess.
🕷️ Other male relatives of matron mother.
🕷️ Servants and slaves.
Sol'tyrr could be farther from Drizzt by being an androgynous CN Drow Cleric Sword Dancer posing as a Skullport merchant for cover.
IIRC House Hun'ett was destroyed with only the matron surviving to become Malice's "daughter" I want to say Si'Nafay. It was quite some time ago that I read the books though so, my memory would be hazy.
As far as the houses go, anything ranked below 20 should be fairly fluid. There was 60 or so at one point, but most of them are pretty minor. Agrach Dyrr might be a solid option. They were strong in wizards, and were once ranked 5th, but after a betrayal they were stripped of their seat on the ruling council and made vassals to House Baenre. I don't think they have been spoken of since, so are likely still out there in some form or another. Being essentially subjugated to Baenre, they'd be seen as weak, and certainly not in Lolth's favor.
As far as not being a Drizzt clone, you can make him be good and show compassion, but perhaps a bit less 'principled'. A little common sense and pragmatism would serve him well while he hides his allegiance in the City of Spiders. Where as Drizzt would nearly always throw a petulant temper tantrum, if Sol'tyrr's a little more willing to say "well there's nothing I can do about this right now" he'd be miles away from Drizzt.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
House Hun'ett was eventually destroyed yes, in 1328 DR after losing a covert war to House Do'Urden, but depending on the timeline for his campaign it could be an option.
Alternatively, Vex could be from House Maevret, was is barely considered a noble house at all which wouldn't be much in favor of Lolth.