Drow commoners

In the city state of Negeémiliel, the drows are divided in three classes: The citizens -adult drow women, who have served as acolytes of Negeé, matron goddess of the city, and have economic power, being born in a rich family-, the Commoners and the Slaves.

The Commoners are a very diverse group, but that have in common that they are free, but they don't have the citizenship.

They can be divided first by gender: females and male commoners. While none of the commoners have political rights, the females have a serie of rights about the ownership of property for example, right the drow males don't have.

Between the commoners, there can be identified as well diverse groups:

The males of acolytal families: sons, brothers, husbands, fathers and familiars of citizens, who are then part of the ruling oligarchy, but from their houses, and without a political role.

Then, there are the rich traders and artisans, parts of the upper class, but who don't have citizen rights, for diverse reasons -being foreigners, having been born commoner, having failed the Acolytal service, or that doesn't have reached their wealth the value assigned by the law, so their daughters can become Initiated of Negeé, and eventually citizens-

Then, there are the middle class: artisans, traders, independt workers, persons of the liberal professions, mercenaries, and drows with some wealth.

An finally, the poor commoners.

Clothing

For the commoners, is banned to wear acolytal clothes, or use the clothes, robbes, ranks and insignia from priestress and sorceress, and in case they contradict this law, the punishment can even be the dead penalty.

As well in genera, the commoners wear much more clothes than the acolytes.

Among the middle and higher class of Commoners, colourful clothes with drawings and patterns are some of their preferences, and since the arrival of the cult of Jabharil, flower designs have become popular, and not allways related to the Cult of the Flower and the Goddess of love.

The drows, like many other elves, give great protagonism to how they look, and normally good dressing it's a priority, as it's all well the higiene, and only the very poor will have ragged clothes.

Alimentation

The higher and middle classes have a much more varied diet, coming from the importations from the surface -meat, fruits, vegetals, grains, wine, beer, oil- , aside from food from the underworld, such as mushrooms, algae and fish from the ponds of the city, meat of underworld creatures, etc.

Having a varied diet it's given much importance to the Negeémi, and so, importations from the surface are a sign of wealth.

The lower classes depend as well from the importations of the surface, as one of the cheapest foods it's are the grains and cereals: However, not allways the prices are accesible, or due wars, catastrophes or other reasons, not enough grain it's imported, and this mean famine for them, as the population of the drow city as expanded beyond the autosustentation from only the resources of the underworld. Aside of the grain and cereals from the surface, any other surface importation is prohitibe for the poor commoners, and they must depend of underworld products, being many of the poor of Negeémiliel malnourished.

The introduction of the "Goblin potato", a underworld tuber, basis of alimentation of the cave goblins, meant the possibility of other cheap food source, but it's varely enough for supervivence and the dietary needs of a drow.

Because of the problems of alimentation and famines, often some of the poorest drow commoners may sold some of their own as slaves, or even themselves, to try to avoid to die from hunger: the problem it's that in cases of famine, many times the households release the slaves they can't mantain, and aren't either accepting new ones.

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Any other question about the Commoners of Negeémiliel? Please ask!

Drawing done for ~larqven, as he allways it's interested in some of the details of my world of Aiers, and his story for my contest:


Here, as a representant of the more or less middle classes -or at least, who leaved poverty, thanks to earnings in the Cult of the Flower!- Numeda Tri'Se

As well, a child from a merchant family, and in the background, a "deep drow".

The "deep drow" normally are the poorer of Negeémiliel, who hadn't ever seen the surface, and will never see it, having a lackluster grey skin colour, being malnourished, small -and having normally small ears-.

Skin colour isn't allways related to exposition of sun and nutrition, but normally among the drows, darker skin colour mean a better nutrition, maybe exposition to the surface, and a better and more pure lineage, being often a cause of pride.