Lolth, Goddess of Drow

Queen of the Drow, Queen of Spiders

Symbol: Eight-pointed star
Home Plane: Demonweb Pits
Alignment: CE
Portfolio: Drow, spiders, darkness
Worshipers: Drow
Cleric Alignments: CE, CN, NE
Domains: Chaos (PH), Darkness (SC), Drow (SC), Evil (PH), Spider (SC)
Favored Weapon: “Spiderfang” (Dagger)
Dogma: Fear is as strong as steel, while love and respect are soft and useless. Convert or destroy nonbeliever drow. Weed out the weak and the rebellious. Destroy impugners of the faith. Sacrifice males, slaves, and those of other races who ignore the commands of Lolth or her clerics. Raise children to praise and fear Lolth; each family should produce at least one cleric to serve her. Questioning Lolth’s motives or wisdom is a sin, as is aiding nondrow against the drow, or ignoring Lolth’s commands for the sake of a lover. Revere arachnids of all kinds; those who kill or mistreat a spider must die.
History/Relationships: Lolth was once the consort of Corellon Larethian, God of Elves. She was the goddess of elven destiny and the keeper of those elves who shared her darkly beautiful features. However, she betrayed her lover and tried to wrest control of Arvandor. For her crimes, she was banished to the Abyss in the form of a spider demon and her people were banished from elven society and driven underground, where they became the drow. Eventually, Lolth escaped the Abyss and moved the Demonweb Pits to the Astral Plane. Lolth has many enemies and few allies, save for temporary alliances that she breaks at the first opportunity. Among her enemies, Corellon is the most hated.
Clergy and Temples: Clerics of Lolth are exclusively female and organized into noble houses made up of clerics related by blood. They are the leaders, police, juries, and executioners of drow society. Nearly every drow home has at least a small shrine to Lolth. Larger temples are usually laid out in the shape of a spider. They serve as meeting places, sacrificial sites, and centers of entertainment for high-ranking drow. Each individual temple has a strict hierarchy, but separate temples are only loosely connected. When participating in rituals, clerics of Lolth work unclad or wear black robes trimmed with dark red and purple. High priestesses often wear helms carved to resemble writhing spiders.
Holidays:
None.
Known Temples:
The Sacred Palace of Lolth (Church)