Hello Everybody, Jorphdan here the PH is silent.
Today we’re talking about the Drow Pantheon.
So we’re covering all the drow deities and their relationships with one another.
I know I’m terrible with pronunciations.
For these deities I pulled the pronunciations from the AD&D Accessory Demihuman Deities.
Which if you want to know more about the Drow Pantheon is a great book, links in the references
below.
With that let’s dive in with Lolth!
I went in to Lolth's history last video and in previous videos as well.
So if you’re new consider giving those a watch for further information.
Lolth’s history is also greatly tied to the novels.
The War of the Spider queen (which I really enjoyed) details Lolth’s ascension from
a lesser deity to greater.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Lolth was originally known as Araushnee, a lesser elven goddess of destiny and artisans.
She was Corellon’s consort and the two had twins together Vhaeraun and Elistraee.
This story differs from Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes though.
In previous Forgotten Realms history Lolth aided Gruumsh in trying to kill her husband
Corellon.
In Mordenkainen’s it states that Lolth was created from the blood Corellon shed during
his fight with Gruumsh.
I’m not sure if this was a separate fight, but it isn’t documented in Mordenkainen’s.
But in older Forgotten Realms lore, Lolth was attempting to overthrow Corellon, who
is the head of the elven pantheon.
This failed and she was cast into the Abyss where she conquered part of it and became
the new ruler of the demonweb pits.
She took the dark elves with her in the fall and nurtured them to worship her.
Not literally taking them to the Abyss, but she was the deity of the dark elves so they
continued to worship her after the descent.
Here in the Abyss Lolth destroyed the demon lord Zanassu who held dominion over spiders.
She did this through trickery having her grandson Selvetarm and Zanassu fight.
Lolth then inherited the portfolio of spiders and became known as the Spider Queen.
It was during the novel series “War of the Spider Queen” that Lolth separated herself
from her followers for a short period of time.
Well short for a goddess I suppose.
She cut off all divine magic from her followers and cocooned herself up preparing for a transformation.
Through this transformation Lolth ascended and became a greater deity and also turned
the Demonweb Pits into an independent plane of existence.
Her symbol is a black spider with a female drow head hanging from a spider web.
In the underdark her church is well known, evil, and hated by the other races.
Mostly due to the cruelty of Lolth’s clerics.
On the surface Lolth is synonymous with the Drow and both are feared.
Clerics of Lolth are always female.
Lolth loves offerings, and her followers will offer up magic items, valuable gems, and lives
to their goddess.
The dogma of the church is Fear is as strong as steel.
Love and respect are soft and useless.
A follower of Lolth is ordered to weed out the weak and rebellious and destroy the non
faithful.
The clerics of Lolth in drow society are the rulers, police force, judges, juries, and
executioners.
They wield power from Lolth that reflects Lolth’s evil personality.
Her clerics pray for their spells before or after trance and are in an everlasting competition
with one another.
Which must be amusing to Lolth who hands out divine power to her followers.
Up next is a servant deity of Lolth Selvetarm, also known as the Spider that Waits.
He is the Champion of Lolth and is the son of Vhaeraun.
Selvetarm is the drow demigod of warriors and battle prowess and his church is more
or less a military sub division of Lolth’s church.
Oddly enough he hates everyone, including Lolth, but is enslaved to her and is a dutiful
servant.
Selvetarm is the child between Vhaeraun and Zandilar the Dancer, who was a demi goddess
of the elves.
Selvetarm rejected both parents but did begin to appreciate the good drow deity Eilistraee.
Lolth didn’t like that Eilistraee found a friend and tricked Selvetarm into attacking
that demon lord I mentioned earlier Zanassu.
Selvetarm absorbed Zanassu’s demon essence and became corrupted enough that Lolth was
able to bind him to her will.
Some male drows become clerics of Selvetarm.
They can become Drow Judicators, a unholy knight of sorts.
Selvetarm is in the shape of a drider with a sword and mace in each arm.
Drow fighters worship Selvetarm, probably the only other deity a drow male can worship
and still be kept in the city of Lolth.
Vhaeraun is the son of Lolth.
Known as the Masked Lord, and The Shadow, he is the god of drow males and thievery.
He is commonly worshiped by drow males who wish to have a better life than slavery under
Lolth’s matriarchy.
Vhaeraun is arrogant, and an evil deity.
He urges his followers to believe they are above other drow, and of course other creatures.
It is the belief of Vhaeraun that all races shall be subjugated by the drow.
Vhaeraun is a lesser deity and was cast out with other elves by Corellon when he betrayed
him during Lolth’s uprising.
It appears that Vhaeraun hated his father as much as his mother and wanted to stop them
both, for this I believe he was exiled.
It is well known he hates Lolth and wants to overthrow her to become the main deity
of the drow.
Vhaeraun has the largest drow following on the surface and the second largest overall.
Most of his followers are drow or half-drow who wish a better life for themselves.
Leaving Lolth’s societies of the underdark they formed new villages and camps on the
surface.
His followers believe a war is coming with the clerics of Lolth to take back drow society
and mold it to Vhaeraun’s wishes and not Lolths.
Kiaransalee also known as the Lady of the Dead and the Vengeful Banshee she is the female
deity of necromancers, drow, and the undead.
She is a mad god but still retails her twisted cunning.
She is powerful and swift to anger against all who have wronged her.
Kiaransalee isn’t related to Lolth like previous deities mentioned but she is subservient
to Lolth.
Not interacting with other deities she prefers the mindless company of the undead.
Clerics of Kiaransalee are secretive and usually found in small drow communities or special
enclaves.
Many of her clerics multiclass as necromancers, it just kind of makes sense.
Kiaransalee was once mortal, a powerful dark elven necromancer queen from another plane
of existence.
She ascended and became a demigod turning into an unwilling vassal of Lolth.
At one point Kiaransalee took over the Belly of Death, a cold plane that Orcus controlled.
She apparently killed Orcus but he returned, and she is ever on watch for his attacks.
Although controlled by Lolth Kiaransalee is always attempting to loosen Lolth’s web
and control over the drow.
It was during Lolths silence when she was transforming into a greater deity that Kiaransalee
got a large influx of worshipers.
The dogma of her church states “Death comes to all, and cruel vengeance will be exacted
on those who waste their lives on the petty concerns of this existence.”
Ghaunadaur Probably my favorite drow deity just because
of how weird he is, Ghaunadaur is the lesser deity of oozes, slimes, jellies, outcasts,
and rebels.
Not only do the drow worship Ghaunadaur but aboleths, ropers and oozes as well.
Ghaunadaur is also known as the elder eye and that which lurks.
Despite being my favorite he is not popular.
Outside of Drow Aboleth cities the church of Ghaunadaur is more or less a bunch of scattered
cults.
Because of his ooze nature clerics will familiarize themselves with acids, poisons, and alchemist's
fire.
Ghaunadaur is extremely evil, and often requires live sacrifices to be made in his name.
He enjoys these sacrifices to be willing, so often charmed creatures will be lead and
devoured by an ooze or jelly.
Ghaunadaur is a distinct entity unrelated to the demon lord Juiblex.
Outside of Out of the Abyss Juiblex isn’t very active in the realms, most ooze worshiping
cults revolve around Ghaunadaur.
Lolth fears Ghaunadaur (or used to before she became a greater deity) but he doesn’t
seem to pay her much attention, which might be why Lolth gives him so much attention.
Ghaunadaur is an ancient deity said to have emerged from the primordial ooze.
Many of his worshipers are defiant drow males who are looking for an alternative to Lolth.
However to speak his name in most drow cities is punishable by death.
His dogma is to consume.
Hunt and weed out the week.
Convert followers to Ghaunadaur.
Make sacrifices in his name and destroy other temples and places of worship that are not
for Ghaunadaur.
I just think he’s neat.
Finally the only good deity in the drow pantheon, and daughter of Lolth Eilistraee.
Known as the Dark Maiden, and the Lady of Dance.
Eilistraee is the chaotic good deity of the drow.
She left with her mother when Lolth and friends were cast out by Corellon because she knew
the dark elves would need a light in such dark times.
She is that light.
The drow can look to her to cast off the chaotic evil shackles of Lolth and live a life a peace,
love, and trust with one another.
Eilistraee is a lover of beauty, and peace; but will strike back against those that harm
her followers.
Her church is little known and poorly understood by those of the surface world.
Good aligned drow are unheard of on the surface so it’s difficult to understand there is
a good deity that watches over them.
However in recent times the Harpers have begun secretly supporting Eilistraee’s church
and work towards a day when it will be fully accepted throughout Faerun.
Rituals involve dancing, wearing little to nothing except a sword.
Usually during a moonlit night after a feast.
Her clerics often multiclass as fighters, bards, or rangers.
Her dogma consists of the nice stuff.
Always be kind except in battling evil.
Encourage happiness everywhere.
Learn and teach new songs, dances, and skilled swordwork to those willing of following the
Dark Maiden.
Many of her followers are skilled music makers, they are singers and play instruments.
Temples to Eilistraee are found near caves, or in dimly lit forests on the surface world.
Moonlight is sacred and important to her followers and often rituals are performed during the
full moon.
The church has little in the way of a formal hierarchy.
The followers gather in small, independent bands in forests across Faerun.
And that’s it for today.
It’s a lot of deities and a lot of information so thanks for sticking with me till the end.
I said earlier but I really like Ghaunadar and I want to have an evil cult of sentient
oozes that worship him.
Causing problems in Faerun for our adventurers to stop.
Or maybe playing a drow cleric of Ghaunadar, or a Drow Paladin of Selvetarm.
A drow follower of Eilistraee could be interesting, maybe multiclass into cleric and bard.
Lots of potential with the drow pantheon, I encourage you to use it in your campaign.
Thanks for watching everyone, and thank you my patrons on patreon that make these videos
happen.
I’ll see you all in the next video.