Nareau
Demon Queen of Spiders, Queen of the Demonweb Pits, Goddess of Chaos
Nareau, the Spider Queen is the evil god of deceit, shadows, and spiders. She is known for weaving a complicated web of schemes and treachery through her worshipers, deceiving allies and enemies alike to gain power. Her worship is entwined with the drow society.
Few, if any, other gods evoke so many raw emotions, fear, or hatred as Nareau. She stands as the epitome of a number of seemingly contradictory domains, including retribution and seduction, horror and lust, and everything in between. She is one of the few gods that does not dwell within the Astral Sea; instead, she lives in the Abyss within the vast realm of the Elemental Chaos, a dark and horrible layer known as the Demonweb.
Nareauis most known for her part in the splintering of the eladrin race. Nareau's conniving and plotting resulted in a bloody civil war amongst the eladrin. The end result, the Sundering, left the noble eladrin race divided into eladrin, elves, and drow. As a result, Nareau is known first and foremost as the patron goddess of drow. Although a number of gods are considered especially close to a specific race (such as Veles' connection to eladrin and elves), Nareau is often viewed as the exclusive deity of the dark elves; few creatures of other races would ever worship the Demon Queen of Spiders, and it is unlikely she would accept more than a few exceptional non-drow into the midst of her clergy.
As mentioned, Nareau exists within the Abyss, imprisoned therein and only rarely able to escape for brief periods of time. She remains fundamentally linked to the Abyssal Heart, and she garners a considerable portion of her power from its magic. Given her part in the Sundering, her attempts to murder Veles and Selene, Nareau earned eternal imprisonment in the Abyss. She has no burning desire to escape or deep need to gain vengeance against the other Gods. Indeed, Nareau seems to prefer her home in the Demonweb, and she has forged an impressive empire in this dark domain. Although Nareau certainly enjoys striking back at the other gods, fomenting discontent and sowing chaos amongst mortals, she pursues her schemes with little concern for long-term consequences, overarching goals, or even apparent logic.
Amongst the various gods, Nareau ranks near the bottom in terms of power or influence within the surface world of the mortal realm. She has no public temples or even shrines, she has virtually no non-drow clerics or followers, and only a handful of surface dwellers pray to this goddess under any circumstance. Indeed, most mortal surface dwellers have an intrinsic dislike or fear of spiders in general – an emotional response that seems to extend to the Spider Queen and her followers. Drow and all things connected to dark elves are uniformly viewed as evil, corrupt, untrustworthy, and sinister.
Beneath the surface of Irion, however, Nareau holds tremendous influence. She boasts tens of thousands of rabid and loyal servants. Entire cities swear fealty to the Spider Queen and praise her name in cruel, bloody, and debased ceremonies. Her clergy, almost entirely female in the higher echelons, are amongst the most zealous, cruel, cunning, and dedicated of any religion, either above or beneath the surface. With a word, Nareau could launch the entire drow race into civil war. With another word, she could unleash a terrible crusade against the surface world. Fortunately, Nareau rarely operates on such a grand or epic scale. She prefers to manipulate and plot on a smaller scale, playing out her whims a few individuals at a time.
Elves and eladrin alike share in common their unyielding hatred of Nareau and everything she represents. In the shared mythology of these two fey races, Nareau stands as the reason for all their losses, tragedies, and catastrophes. If something sinister occurs, if someone dies of poisoning, if someone is murdered, then somehow Nareau is involved, even if only in a peripheral way. Even though these races understand the irrational nature of their hatred, they seem powerless to overcome these prejudices.
The efforts of Nareau's faithful amongst the surface dwellers are usually focused on corrupting specific leaders, toppling governments, murdering key figures, and spreading dissension. In many cases, the commands Nareau issues make little or no sense to mortal creatures – including her own priests, yet they carry out her orders with fanatical zeal. A great many of these secret missions are aimed, in one way or another, at harming elves, eladrin, or both. If other creatures are harmed or killed in the process, so much the better. In the end, the result inevitably involves a lot of chaos, confusion, paranoia, suspicion, and fear – and Nareau is well pleased.
Few, if any, other gods evoke so many raw emotions, fear, or hatred as Nareau. She stands as the epitome of a number of seemingly contradictory domains, including retribution and seduction, horror and lust, and everything in between. She is one of the few gods that does not dwell within the Astral Sea; instead, she lives in the Abyss within the vast realm of the Elemental Chaos, a dark and horrible layer known as the Demonweb.
Nareauis most known for her part in the splintering of the eladrin race. Nareau's conniving and plotting resulted in a bloody civil war amongst the eladrin. The end result, the Sundering, left the noble eladrin race divided into eladrin, elves, and drow. As a result, Nareau is known first and foremost as the patron goddess of drow. Although a number of gods are considered especially close to a specific race (such as Veles' connection to eladrin and elves), Nareau is often viewed as the exclusive deity of the dark elves; few creatures of other races would ever worship the Demon Queen of Spiders, and it is unlikely she would accept more than a few exceptional non-drow into the midst of her clergy.
As mentioned, Nareau exists within the Abyss, imprisoned therein and only rarely able to escape for brief periods of time. She remains fundamentally linked to the Abyssal Heart, and she garners a considerable portion of her power from its magic. Given her part in the Sundering, her attempts to murder Veles and Selene, Nareau earned eternal imprisonment in the Abyss. She has no burning desire to escape or deep need to gain vengeance against the other Gods. Indeed, Nareau seems to prefer her home in the Demonweb, and she has forged an impressive empire in this dark domain. Although Nareau certainly enjoys striking back at the other gods, fomenting discontent and sowing chaos amongst mortals, she pursues her schemes with little concern for long-term consequences, overarching goals, or even apparent logic.
Amongst the various gods, Nareau ranks near the bottom in terms of power or influence within the surface world of the mortal realm. She has no public temples or even shrines, she has virtually no non-drow clerics or followers, and only a handful of surface dwellers pray to this goddess under any circumstance. Indeed, most mortal surface dwellers have an intrinsic dislike or fear of spiders in general – an emotional response that seems to extend to the Spider Queen and her followers. Drow and all things connected to dark elves are uniformly viewed as evil, corrupt, untrustworthy, and sinister.
Beneath the surface of Irion, however, Nareau holds tremendous influence. She boasts tens of thousands of rabid and loyal servants. Entire cities swear fealty to the Spider Queen and praise her name in cruel, bloody, and debased ceremonies. Her clergy, almost entirely female in the higher echelons, are amongst the most zealous, cruel, cunning, and dedicated of any religion, either above or beneath the surface. With a word, Nareau could launch the entire drow race into civil war. With another word, she could unleash a terrible crusade against the surface world. Fortunately, Nareau rarely operates on such a grand or epic scale. She prefers to manipulate and plot on a smaller scale, playing out her whims a few individuals at a time.
Elves and eladrin alike share in common their unyielding hatred of Nareau and everything she represents. In the shared mythology of these two fey races, Nareau stands as the reason for all their losses, tragedies, and catastrophes. If something sinister occurs, if someone dies of poisoning, if someone is murdered, then somehow Nareau is involved, even if only in a peripheral way. Even though these races understand the irrational nature of their hatred, they seem powerless to overcome these prejudices.
The efforts of Nareau's faithful amongst the surface dwellers are usually focused on corrupting specific leaders, toppling governments, murdering key figures, and spreading dissension. In many cases, the commands Nareau issues make little or no sense to mortal creatures – including her own priests, yet they carry out her orders with fanatical zeal. A great many of these secret missions are aimed, in one way or another, at harming elves, eladrin, or both. If other creatures are harmed or killed in the process, so much the better. In the end, the result inevitably involves a lot of chaos, confusion, paranoia, suspicion, and fear – and Nareau is well pleased.
Divine Domains
Drow, spiders, shadows, lies, retribution, the Underdark
Divine Symbols & Sigils
The spider web, a corruption of Veles' holy symbol.
Tenets of Faith
- Do whatever it takes to gain and hold power.
- Rely on stealth and slander in preference to outright confrontation.
- Seek the death of elves and eladrin at every opportunity.
