 | The Church of the Dark Seldarine, Gods of the Drow Vell Mor`Seldarinae (The Dark Seldarine) is the name given to the fallen, evil deities of the subterranean drow elves. They are not truly a pantheon in the same way the Seldarine are, though, as they do not co-operate. The Dark Seldarine were once led by Nocticula (before her transformation) but are currently led by Lolth, whose power sometimes forces the others into obeying her. Their planes are various layers of the Demonweb Pits. The Dark Seldarine is rather young as a pantheon, and it came into being only after Corellon's Descent, when the dark elves were cursed and turned into drow. Originally, Lolth (at the time known as Araushnee) and the twin deities born from her and Corellon Larethian—the elder, Vhaeraun, the younger Eilistraee — were dark elven gods and part of the Seldarine. Araushnee, with the help of her son Vhaeraun, gathered a host of evil deities opposed to the Seldarine, and convinced them to attack Arvandor, in an attempt to overthrow Corellon. She had planned for the assault to ultimately fail, as her actual goal was for his consort to be killed during the battle and to replace him as Coronal of Arvandor. She tricked Eilistraee into dangerously injuring her own father, but the Weaver's conspiracy was ultimately thwarted by Sehanine Moonbow, and Corellon's life was saved. After her betrayal was revealed, Araushnee was banished by Corellon and turned into a Demon while Vhaeraun was simply exiled. Eilistraee chose to share her mother's and brother's punishment, because she knew that the drow would need her light in the times to come, Although secretly she remained a part of the Seldarine. Araushnee took the name of Lolth, and made the 66th layer of the Abyss, the Demonweb Pits, her new home. She had to struggle to gain control over the layer, fighting the power of both Ghaunadaur and of Kiaransalee, but neither of them were able to prevent Lolth from reaching supremacy. Kiaransalee was subdued by the Spider Queen, reduced to an unwilling vassal. Ghaunadaur, on the other hand, became the author of his own defeat, as his failure to seduce and subsume Lolth drove him to kill and steal the intelligence from his worshippers in a fit of rage, leading to a great loss of followers, and therefore of power. Several Millenia later, the Demon Goddess Nocticula gained supremacy over the panteon and held it, with Lolth as her second. Lolth has regained control of the pantheon in the last century and has cemenmted her powerbase. The Drow, often portray their gods as spider deities. Vhaeraun, for example, is sometimes depicted as a Masked Spider, while other deities are often portrayed in poses that could lead to think to subservience to Lolth,or confused with each other (like Lolth and Kiaransalee on occasion as an undead spider with weapons drawn). However, all these are only the results of how some Drow interpret the relationships among their deities, and the main gods of the nation often kill their followers for such depictions. |
