Who can describe the differences between the Surface Drow & the Drow of the Underdark?

Question

Who can describe the differences between the Surface Drow & the Drow of the Underdark?

Answer 1

Surface drow are nearly always renegades, having fled the chaotic, destructive and decadent lifestyle of the drow living in the Underdark.

Many are followers of Illistrae, the sole good-aligned deity of the dark elves.

Those that have fled the depths of the Underdark face great prejudice amongst the surface races, but can overcome them with hard work and kind deeds (Drizz't, for example). I will compare the dark elves to their surface brethren hereafter, as the dark elves who flee their kind for the surface bear more in common with their surface cousins than they do with their own flesh & blood in the Underdark.

The dark elves who live beneath the surface are, in many ways, the polar opposite of their surface cousins. Life, for them, is cheap, whereas the surface elves hold life as one of the holiest of all things. Surface elves view war as something that should not be entered upon lightly, but WILL fight, when and where needed. For the drow, warfare is a nearly-constant process: either against their enemies in the Underdark, or against each other.

Surface elven society, though seen as flighty by other races, still possesses some sense of structure, without impeding the personal freedoms of the individual elf. For the drow, social status for the family is everything, even more important than personal freedoms. Noble houses fight (covertly, for the most part, but overtly when needed or if they can get away with it) nearly constantly in an eternal struggle for superiority over the other noble houses.

Where the surface elves are godlike beauty, personified, the dark elves are likewise beautiful, but tragically so. The friendly smiles of the surface elves have been twisted to the nearly constant sneer of the underdark drow.

Answer 2

I think Drow give more obvious potential for conflicted characters. I dislike them because they're bitches, though that's a generalization (of a fictional race?). Surface Elves are kinda... overdone. But so are drow, in a way. There're too many cliches. In the end, Tieflings are the best.

Answer 3

from what i know the surface drow isnt that bad, and the underdark are very chaotic, evil. and i think the surface drow live up here.

Answer 4

the surface drow are more peaceful while the drow under dark are more fighter type