The Dark Seldarine (Drow Pantheon)

The Ssri-Tel'Quessir of Abeir-Toril, the dark elven subrace of the Fair Folk, have long been divorced from the Seldarine, the traditional elven pantheon of Arvandor. The drow, as they are now known, venerate a wide range of dark powers, the most prominent of which are presented hereafter. The deities of the drow are a pantheon in name only, united only by the common heritage of their worshipers, long ignored familial ties among four of them, and occasional, short-lived alliances forged only as a matter of convenience.
Drow culture is distinguished by a curious mixture of monotheism and polytheism uncharacteristic of most human and demihuman cultures of the Realms. Most drow cities-such as Guallidurth, Menzoberranzan, and Ched Nasad-are ruled in the name of Lolth by priests of the Spider Queen and even the mention, let alone the worship, of other gods is forbidden. A few drow cities-such as Llurth Dreier (Ghaunadaur) and V'elddrinnsshar (Kiaransalee)-are ruled by the clergy of the other drow powers in similar fashion, but they too forbid the worship or mention of all other gods. The few drow cities that exhibit the open worship of two or more deities-such as beleaguered Eryndlyn, located beneath the High Moor, or Golothaer, from whence the founders of Menzoberranzan and Ched Nasad fled-are riven by strife and are usually destroyed by civil war within a generation of such a split appearing.
Nevertheless, most of the drow gods have a few secretive worshipers in every drow enclave, as such devotions afford dissidents the opportunity for additional weapons in their endless quest for increasing personal station. Aside from the faithful of Eilistraee, who venerate the Dark Maiden in a fashion resembling the veneration of the Seldarine by elves of other races, most drow venerate one (or in some cases two) deities out of fear, respect, and a desire for additional power of their own, not out of any sense of true piety.
By Corellon Larethian's decree, the destiny of the dark elves was placed long ago in the hands of his consort, Araushnee the Weaver. At that time she was a minor, but secretly ambitious, elven power and member of the Seldarine. After a series of betrayals of her fellow gods, Araushnee was banished to the Abyss by Corellon for plotting against her lover and for secretly assembling a host of evil deities-the Dark-Seldarine-to assault Arvandor, home of the Seldarine, in a bid to replace Corellon as Coronal of Arvandor. After her banishment, Araushnee assumed the name Lolth, Demon Queen of Spiders. She set about establishing her new realm in the Abyss and driving off or subjugating rivals like Ghaunadaur, Kiaransalee, and Zanassu.
Araushnee was not the only elven power to be cast out of Arvandor and the Seldarine, however, for her webs ensnared her two children as well. When his mother's perfidy was exposed, Vhaeraun, son of Araushnee and Corellon, was banished to Abeir-Toril for his complicity in the Weaver's plots to replace Corellon as head of the Seldarine. Vhaeraun's sister, Eilistraee the Dark Maiden, agreed to exile as well, although she was only an unwitting participant in her mother's plots. Lolth dominates all the other powers and brooks (or at least admits) no challenge to her ultimate authority. Only Kiaransalee and Selvetarm acknowledge the Spider Queen as head of the pantheon, an unavoidable acknowledgment of Lolth's great power.
Eilistraee, Vhaeraun, and Ghaunadaur remain independent of the Spider Queen's control, but none of them is strong enough to challenge her directly, and their mutual enmity precludes any possibility of alliance against her. Kiaransalee only recently fought free of Lolth's shadow, but she has little influence (and few worshipers) in the Realms. Selvetarm is still firmly enmeshed in his grandmother's webs, despite the efforts of his followers to break away from the Spider Queen s cult. Eilistraee and Vhaeraun are brother and sister, children of Araushnee (Lolth) and Corellon Larethian. Selvetarm is the offspring of an ill-fated tryst between Vhaeraun and Zandilar the Dancer (Sharess), a goddess of the Yuir elves. Ghaunadaur is a primordial evil who joined the other members of the Dark-Seldarine in the assault on Arvandor. Kiaransalee is a once-mortal dark elf of another world who achieved divinity and was named drow before the fall of Araushnee.
With the notable exception of Eilistraee, the dark powers of the drow pantheon are intimately involved in the lives of their followers, demanding absolute obedience and exclusive veneration in exchange for great power. Aside from the Dark Maiden, the gods of the drow pantheon care nothing for the fate of their followers except as it advances their own personal power. All but one dwell in the Abyss or other dark realms, embodying the banishment of the drow from the Lands of Light. Eilistraee seeks to redeem the fallen dark elves and lead them back to the great forests of the surface world that their ancestors forsook many millennia ago. However, the Dark Maiden is quite constrained in her actions by the power of Lolth and the other gods of the pantheon, and she acknowledges the need for individual drow to find their own path to redemption that heavy-handed interference on her part would preclude.
The origin of the drow is firmly enshrined in the minds of all the elven subraces whose ancestors fought in the great Crown Wars that split the Fair Folk. While the other elven subraces recall with horror the depraved actions of the Ilythiiri, as the dominant tribe of dark elves was known, that led to the Descent, the drow weave their own lies regarding the perfidy of the Seldarine and the other elven races whom they hold turned on the Ssri-Tel'Quessir and unjustly banished them to the Underdark. Only those drow who have answered the redemptive call of the Dark Maiden recall and preserve the elven myths regarding the ancestry of the Fair Folk, for such tales are of little interest to those who seethe in anger at the Creator they now scorn, Corellon.
Over 10,000 years ago, the Crown Wars exposed the depths to which most dark elves had fallen in the service of fell powers such as Vhaeraun, Ghaunadaur, and Lolth, despite the mitigating efforts of the good-hearted Eilistraee. As a result, by means never discussed by the Fair Folk, the dark elves were forever banished to the deep tunnels beneath Faerun by the Seldarine and the allied elven nations and thereafter named drow (originally dhaeraow, an elvish term meaning face of shadow, heart of night, traitor), circa-10,000 DR.
The first drow civilizations arose in the Underdark of southern Faerun circa -9,600 DR. The first great kingdom of the drow was Telantiwar, with its capitol in the great cavern of Bhaerynden, the conquered heart of the first great kingdom of the Stout Folk seized by the drow in -9,000 DR. The drow fought among themselves, noble against noble, priest against priest, for rule of their new realm. This all-out war ended amid great magical explosions that brought down the roof of Bhaerynden. The ceiling collapsed entirely, burying many drow and the shattered dwarven cities that they had seized. The cavern, now open to the sky, became known as the Great Rift, and the chasm and the surrounding caverns were later resettled by the ancestors of the gold dwarves to form the Deep Realm. In a great diaspora known as the Scattering, the surviving drow nobles and priests gathered what people, slaves, and equipment they could seize and fled into the Underdark in search of places to dwell.
Since that time, countless cities and smaller settlements have risen and fallen, and the drow are now found throughout the deep tunnels beneath all of Faerun and even farther afield. The web of chaos and cruelty that enmeshes the drow is embodied in the constant strife between the gods they venerate. Likewise, the hatred they hold for all other races, particularly the Fair Folk of the surface world, is played out as well in the never-ending conflict between the Seldarine and those they banished long ago. Only a small fraction have returned to the surface lands of their forefathers, typically by way of the welcoming hand of Eilistraee.