The Black Daggers
A powerful and secretive knighthood that protects the
surface world from hostile excursions from the under-dark
by taking the battle into the under-dark.
THE BLACK DAGGERS
FOUNDED: fifty years ago
GOAL: Protect the surface world from deep earth foes
METHODS: This group accomplishes its goals by taking the
fight to the underdark; they seek to neutralize threats to
the surface world, before they ever reach the surface
world.
HISTORY: Sixty years ago a kingdom was suffering from a series of
raids from a group of drow elves. The elves maintained a
strong hold in a dungeon near civilized lands. In the dark
they would attack villages and either kidnap (enslave) or
slay anyone in the village. They would then raze the
village and flee back into their lair. The ruler of this
country sent an army of 1000 soldiers to attack and kill
the wicked drow. The troops attacked the drow strong hold
and then pursued the fleeing drow deeper into the earth.
That is all that anybody heard from the soldiers in ten
years. In 1965 the survivors of this army returned to the
surface world. There were only 50 soldiers left. They were
led by Sierl "Dark Sword" Wyrgon (F12). When the army had
entered the underdark, Sierl was a young fighter (18 years,
level 2). The survivors told of brutal sneak attacks in
which the fighters were forced to battle opponents that
they couldn't see. The first battle against the Drow was
devastating for the humans. The first thing the Drow did
was douse the humans light sources with magic. The battle
was swift and brutal with the human army destroyed. Very
few survived the brutal battle, and those that did were
scattered to survive as best they could. Sierl found
himself in an isolated cavern with about 100 other
survivors. Over the next several years the survivors
attempted to escape to the surface world, but all such
attempts failed. Finally, Sierl found himself to be elected
leader of the meager 50 that were left alive. Sierl had
warned the previous leaders about attempting to make a
blind attempt at escape, and the remaining survivors
realize that he had been right all along in his advice.
Sierl first managed to befriend a small tribe of deep
gnomes (he had known about them earlier, but the previous
leaders refused to trust them). The deep gnomes taught the
humans how to fight in the dark and other deepearth
survival skills. It is by using these new found skills that
Sierl was able to finally lead them back to the surface
world. When the survivors returned, Sierl was brought
before the king. Sierl gave the king the grim news about
his army, but also gave the king hope. Sierl proposed
creating a specially trained knighthood that would serve as
the kingdoms first line of defense against future invasions
from the underdark. Sierl created the Black Daggers. The
members of the Black Daggers must sever all ties to the
surface world, and stage their own death (in order to
protect their families for Deepearth assassins). After that
was accomplished, the new recruit was given intensive
training on how to fight and survive in the underdark.
Later on, the group gained chapters in several other areas
vulnerable to attack from the underdark. This group is very
secretive to protect the members and their friends and
families. They are very dedicated to each other, and will
usually risk their life to rescue a captured comrade. This
society has also forged alliances with several good and
neutral aligned races in the underdark.
LEADERSHIP: Sierl "Dark sword" Wyrgon (F12)
MEMBERS: currently about 1000 spread out over 20 different
outposts.
BASE: Various small deepearth bases, main base is still run
by Sierl, and is located near the original kingdom.
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? Responses (2)
This is very interesting, a group like this a nice hook for all kinds of scenarios, players could members, players could hired by them for a particularly nasty mission, this could be a players back story or a whole campaign about player infiltrating the group...you get it there is a lot of ways a DM or a player could take what you have written and expand on it or apply it. Well done.
My first D&D book ever was the Dungeoneers survival guide by douglas niles (I bought it by mistake thinking it was the player handbook), I had never played before and only had the smallest ideas about how the game worked. I poured over that book. Ever since, pictures and written descriptions of vast underdark have been the corner stone of high fantasy for me. And as a super fan, I'd love to hear more about you conceptions of the Underdark. Are the Drow world wide or local? How do they really feel about the over world, is it something that features strongly in their societal view or is it just something visit occasionally by drowish sports men and raiders? You say 1965, are you setting this in the modern world or a modern world? How is this group funded? How do the black dagger recruit? Are the drow leading some of sort intelligence network on the surface...thus the need to hide identities. The drow don't have a parrell society do they...golden cudgels?
First: thanks for your kind words. I play in my own home-brewed world that I have been creating for over 30 years now. The drow are world wide and often try to cause trouble for the surface world. In my campaign, the drow wars were not about good vs. evil but about slavery vs. anti-slavery. The drow used slaves and other elves didn’t. That way I can use real world civil war battles as inspiration. As this is my own world, it is a traditional campaign world, for now (it’s about to go steampunk). However, the current years is 2000 (not in our world). The year 0 was the end of a massive god war as four major pantheons fought to dominate the world. Three were defeated and forced to withdraw, while the last survivor assumed control. The black daggers, seek out noble and good adventurers with few/no family ties. Once a candidate is identified, they are approached by an agent who extends an offer. If accepted the new candidate must fake their own death and then begins training. The group is well funded by the kingdoms that they protect as well as money they earn through trade with the good/neutral underdark races. A drow Parallel society!? I never thought of that. Now that is some serious food for thought. One of the main hooks of my world are the numerous secret societies.