The Aimehzenyr was a social movement among the younger drow nobility of Zann'Elth.

Defying the Tyrana's Einandelvyr

The Tyrana espoused a militaristic, rigidly traditional social order for her empire. Drow houses enjoyed few freedoms, unwavering loyalty was expected from them, and widespread military service rubbed off on civilian life as well.

Many young drow born into wealthy merchant or noble families were unhappy about their futures: they lived under the harsh contempt of the older generation, and could only look forward to militaristic service to the Tyrana and Lolth. The movement originated among the young folk of the Newborn Houses, a group of recently founded Zannyr houses which had formed when minor matrons chose to band together, because they were so weak and small as to fear extinction and they had financial troubles; the change from free, autonomous Khali life to a strict regime was the most felt there, and these amalgamation houses, without a clear hierarchy of one ruling family with its system of priestesses and house guards, were not able to discipline their younger members.

So those people, who would take to calling themselves Aimehzenyr (the free women, in Khalisk), chose to reject the order imposed on them in an inoffensive defiance of the Tyrana's order. They broke Einandelvyr rules in fashionable, empowering ways which took the young population by storm.

The Tyrana, angered by the young dark elves' insubordination, was however unable to take real action against them. She was already stretching her forces thin repressing real, armed rebellions in the provinces, and imposing martial law later; she could not justify persecuting inoffensive breaks from custom, especially because virtually the entire new generation of the depleted drow citizenry supported the Aimehzenyr. She did however take some actions to reduce the movement's presence inside her government and her army by slowly getting rid of the Thylvunne, one of its strongest symbols and inspirations, and enforcing even stricter clothing regulations in public business.

Cultural Characteristics

The inspirations of the movement were varied. The most proximate influence were Thylvunnyr and other such irregular government troops, an elite force with considerable clout which mostly consisted of autonomous, capable drow women. The Thylvunnyr were entirely different from the regular army, preferring to travel light, wearing provocative black leather rather than draping armor and cloth, and keeping their hair open. Another, understanded influence was Gezneth; though the northern citadel was Zann'Elth's sworn enemy, its troops had a special mystique to them, and especially the powerful nobles there (who ruled their society, in contrast to the much less influential role of Zannyr nobility in the Tyranaen) hit the youth's imagination; Gezznyr nobles believed that they, as children of Lolth, were the most beautiful in their natural shape, and thus wore plain black cloth, "spiderweb" silks, and showed a lot of skin. Finally, the earlier Drakana fashion movement, quenched out by the Tyrana, had gone in a similar direction.

The Aimehzenyr espoused anything that went against the established norms. Fashion played a major role. They wore their hair in special ways, often cutting it short and wearing it loose. They rejected the Einandelvyr style of wearing heavy official robes composed of black and silver, opting instead for black compositions cut exotically and made of exquisite materials. They also showed far more skin than was customary, though this never went too far outside of private circles because any kind of exhibitionism was punishable by whipping by Lolth's priestesses.

They also engaged in activities which Zann'Elth had not seen for centuries, importing some of the activities of young drow in Sunell and Gezneth. They spent time together, rather than studying and competing each other in schools. They picked up games, ranging from card and luck games to physical activities in the citadel's erstwhile silent and sombre Fungal Gardens. And they staged parties in isolated caves, which involved the screeching tunes of lutes, chaotic dances, hallucinogenic fumes, and many-colored gem lights.