The Way of Lolth

"Lolth, our divine and terrible mother. She walked with us from the blinding light of the surface, and brought us to the darkness and safety of the Underdark. It is by her will alone we survive, and by her good graces we can subjugate the lesser speicies of our world.
To her we give thanks, our Spider Queen, our sacred matron. Her will be done, and all oponents be vanquished!"
 - First Canticle of Lolth, "Queen and High-Priestess, Mother of Spiders"

Mythology & Lore

Believed to be the eldest and most powerful of the drow, Lolth was the Matron who led her people in exodus from the surface world and into the comfort and safety of the endles underdark. She has guided and defended her chosen people for millenia, and ruthlesly enslaves or destroys any who dare stand against them.

Tenets of Faith

1. There is no spirits or ideals greater than Lolth. Any who follows the dictates of another entity or ideal will be slain, preferably in sacrifice to Lolth.
2. Ritual worship of any entity or ideal other than Lolth is forbidden within any drow city. Non-drow who violate this tenet is fined and expelled from the city. Second offenders or any drow who do so are slain.
3. Slaves have no rights, and there are no limits to the punishments or duties that can be set for them. The treatment of slaves is the affair of their owners. It is a capital offence for a slave to refuse any order from a drow of the house that owns the slave.
4. A commoner or a student of the academy who refuses to obey a priestess can be punished as the offended priestess sees fit, up to and including death. If the offender is the property of another house and the noble of that house is present and objects, the two must agree on a punishment (usually flogging).
5. Any drow who falsely wears the colors of another noble house or who deliberately alters his or her appearance to masquerade as one of a different station will be slain.
6. Any non-drow who adopts the appearance of a particular drow, a drow of noble rank, or a drow of a house other than his or her own will be slain.
7. If it can be proved that two or more houses attacked another house, all the houses that participated in the attack will be destroyed jointly by the remainder.

Sentences are usually carried out on the spot to serve as an example to others.
Severe crimes may be dealt with publicly at events in the Lashed Languish's Torture Yards.
Whipping and torture are the most common penalties because the priestesses enjoy delivering the sort of punishment they can inflict repeatedly.

Worship

Drow are expected to visit chapels or shrines of Lolth daily, and offer vows of loyalty.
Followers are expected to visit a Chapel of Lolth once a week and give small offerings of gold, jewels or fine silks.
Males are always expected to be subserviant to Females, with the exception of noble males dealing with non-noble females or Non-drow.

Priesthood

1. Matron Mothers - A Drow Priestess of at least 500 years, and whom has borne at least 1 female child. These are the most powerful and revered of all drow society.
2. Blessed Mother - A Drow Priestess of at least 300 years, and whom has borne at least 1 female child, but the child was lost in the Trials of Lolth.
3. High Priestess - A Drow Priestess of at least 300 years, but has borne either no children, or only male children.
4. Black Priestess - A Drow Priestess of any age, who was cursed by Lolth with the "Mark of Fangs", these priestesses (while feared and revered) may never ascend higher in the Priesthood.
5. Silver Priestess - A Drow Priestess of at least 250 years, who has not borne any children. They may not ascend higher in the priesthood until they have birthed a living drow child.
6. Pitcaller - A Drow Priestess of at least 250 years, who has specialized in speaking with the beings of the Abyss.
7. Arachnomancer - A Drow Priest or Priestess of at least 200 years, who has been trained both in Arcane and Divine magic.
8. White Priestess - A Drow Priestess of at least 200 years, who specializes in the unusual arts of healing and divination magic.
9. Priestess of Lolth - Any Drow Priestess of at least 50 years, whom has completed their training and joined the full Priesthood.
10. Lay Priest - Any Drow Priest, this is the highest rank a male can hold in drow society (aside from perhaps the tenuous position of Favored Consort or Weapons Master).
11. Acolyte - Any Drow Priest or Priestess of at least 50 years, considered still "In Training".
12. Faithful - Any Non-Priest of Priestess Drow who worships Lolth.
13. Celebrant - Any Non-Drow member of the religion, they cannot become true members of the Priesthood.

Granted Divine Powers

Powers granted by Lolth are fickle and often dangerous.

• Those who most closely follow her are often blessed with the ability to communicate with or even summon her abyssal allies.
  
• Others may be granted the power to speak with or command the large spiders that often dwell along side Drow society.
  
• Spells that cause poison damage or sickness are also common.
  

Sects

Outside of the traditional Lolth-worshipping faith structure there are some small sub-faiths;

• Fangs of Lolth - An order of Assassin-Priests, who serve as suicidal killiers, targeting enemies of the faith.
• Those of the Trials - Acolytes and Lay Priests who have failed the Trials of lolth and now serve as guides and teachers to others who wish to undertake the dangerous trials.
• The Eyes - A secret sect of Wizard-Priestesses who monitor the drow empire using divination magic and Scrying. Serving as a secret police force in conjunction with the Fangs of Lolth.

Permeated Organizations

• The Silken Court

Deities

• Lolth