Dark Seldarine The Dark Seldarine was the drow pantheon of gods . Overview . The Dark Seldarine , the pantheon of the drow , was led by Lolth , the Spider Queen . She dominated the drow race ’ s lives and urged them into heavy infighting . She was opposed to varying degrees by the rest of the pantheon . Vhaeraun , her son , was among the opposers . He had the largest following on the surface and the second largest overall among the Dark Seldarine . Lolth considered him her real rival and enemy . The others were minor players . This might give off the impression , that the Dark Seldarine was characterized by this two - top battle , it wasn ’ t . In truth , Lolth ’ s domination over the pantheon and the drow was to such an extent , that even information on the other gods wasn ’ t readily accessible to the drow . Vhaeraun ’ s existence and agenda was common knowledge among surface drow and in the Underdark where the Spider Queen wasn ’ t absolute , in other words , it was scarce where she was absolute . Eilistraee , Lolth ’ s daughter , was both on the surface and in the Underdark the stuff of wildly inaccurate and wrong legends . The majority of the rare few , who knew of Kiaransalee , believed her to be an undead madwoman who was a goddess only in her fantasies , while Selvetarm was practically forgotten . Only Ghaunadaur was capable of making his presence known or at least felt on some level by most drow . Members . Between 1375 DR and 1379 DR , the drow pantheon downsized itself to a single deity , Lolth . Ghaunadaur left the Demonweb Pits , the others died . The dead members revived themselves over the course of the Second Sundering . The pantheon consisted of : Dead Members . These members stayed dead or faded even after the Second Sundering : History . The Dark Seldarine was rather young as a pantheon . This had to do with the fact that the drow , needed for the existence for a drow pantheon , came into being only after Corellon ' s Descent , when the dark elves were cursed and turned into them in - 10 , 000 DR . The Dawn Age . 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 , residing in Arvandor . Ghaunadaur was a very ancient deity , according to Lolth far older than Ao , rumored to have emerged from the primordial ooze itself . In that age , it was worshiped by slimes and other crawling creatures , many of which had an alien intelligence . Kiaransalee was a dark elven lich from the world of Threnody . After being banished by her husband , the king of Threnody , for her experiment on undeath , she managed to raise an army of undead and exact revenge upon the inhabitants of her former world , rendering it lifeless , she fled from the Seldarine ’ s revenge into the Abyss , where she ascended to divinity as a demigod ess . War of the Seldarine . In - 30 , 000 DR , 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 . Ghaunadaur entered the fray on his own without being asked by anyone . 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 tanar ' ri , while Vhaeraun was simply exiled . Even though she was cleared from all guilt , 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 . Aftermath . 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 . Meanwhile , Eilistraee and Vhaeraun were active on Toril , home of , among others , the dark elves . With time , Vhaeraun gained a strong influence in southern Faerûn , becoming a major patron of the elves of Ilythiir , and the driving force behind their expansion of territory and and power . Ghaunadaur ’ s faith also set foot on Ilythiir and filled a similar but secondary role . Eilistraee strove against her brother ' s corruption of the Ilythiiri , but in the end it was to no avail , and she only gained small groups of dark elven followers in the region . After her banishment , Lolth ' s attention started to turn towards Toril only when the moon elf Kethryllia Amarillis intruded into the Demonweb to retrieve her lover . Kiaransalee helped her finding the direction towards and Lolth didn ' t interfere with the elf taking her lover back . By this point , Lolth already came up with the idea to regain her divinity and used her scrying magic on the elves to find out which world they came from , therefore learning about Toril . Her interest was immediately captured by the presence of dark elf followers of Vhaeraun , and she was delighted by the ambition and ruthlessness in the hearts of the Ilythiiri , deciding to spread her taint among them and to use them as the instruments of her vengeance . The First Flowering . During this age the green and dark elven kingdom of Miyeritar was founded by political refugees from Aryvandaar . Eilistraee became a major patroness of the nation , which would later grow into one of the greatest centers of magic and art of Faerun . Lolth kept working to spread her influence among the dark elves of Ilythiir . Her activities poisoned the formerly peaceful relationships between Ilythiir and the newer elven realms . It lead to the casting of the First Sundering to create a dark elf - free piece of land , in - 17 , 600 DR . The collateral damage caused the destruction of a great part of Ilythiir ( including its capital , Atorrnash ) , and the death of many followers of Vhaeraun with it . The Masked Lord ' s influence ebbed with the loss of his worshipers , and his savage efforts were undermined by the ongoing conflict between him and Eilistraee , granting Lolth and Ghaunadaur the opportunity to fill the void . The Crown Wars . The Crown Wars had deep consequences on the deities that would later form the Dark Seldarine . For example , the drow race came into existence , fulfilling the core requirement for the existence of something like a drow pantheon . First Crown War . The series of conflict started as an Aryvandaari military campaign to conquer Miyeritar , which was quickly occupied , even tho many of its people continued resisting . Second Crown War . The dark elves of Ilythiir decided to war against Aryvandaar ' s allies . Believing that Aryvandaar would soon invade Ilythiir , Geirildin Sethomiir ( llythiir ’ s coronal ) summoned and made pacts with Wendonai , a balor in Lolth ' s service , for power to defeat his enemies . The demon became the Spider Queen ’ s tool to corrupt the Ilythiiri . The nation ’ s aristocracy followed their royalty ’ s example and bought power from other fiendish patrons . By the Fourth Crown War , Ghaunadaur , Kiaransalee and Vhaeraun provided Ilythiir with similar power . The demonic counselors soon changed the nature of the war : the Ilythiiri nobles and warriors started to enjoy slaugther and violence , and their former purpose of avenging Miyearitar began to look less and less believable after centuries of massacres . The Ilythiiri , who were still refining their worship of the Dark Seldarine , used to portray their gods as spider deities . Vhaeraun , for example , was depicted as a Masked Spider ; Kiaransalee and Lolth - - or , arguably , Eilistraee - - were on occasion confused with each other and portrayed as an undead spider with swords drawn . The drow gods were at times portrayed in poses that could lead to think to subordination : for example , in at least one depiction , small spiders representing each deity ( some masked , some with skeletal features or melted faces , others singing praises ) were all linked to a larger spider representing Lolth , in a manner resembling spiderlings that had just been hatched . However , all those were only the results of how some Ilythiiri interpreted the relationships among their deities , and the main gods of the nation ( Lolth , Ghaunadaur , Vhaeraun and Kiaransalee ) personally killed their priests for such depictions . Dark Disaster . During the interim years between the third and fourth Crown War , the Dark Disaster struck Miyeritar in −10 , 500 DR . It was a magical cataclysm unleashed by Aryvandaar on their own territory , an accusation not based on evidence . Although many inhabitants had already left Miyeritar , the majority of those who stayed were killed by the cataclysm , many of the Dark Dancer ' s followers among them . In fact , Eilistraee lost most of her people during this event , which severely weakened the goddess ' power . This downward trend continued until her church virtually collapsed when the transformation of the dark elves into drow kicked in , and with the rise of Lolth and Ghaundaur . Fourth Crown War . Ilythiir accused Aryvandaar for the Dark Disaster . As a retaliatory assault , they laid waste on Shantel Othreier , by this point Aryvandaar ’ s territory . The remaining elven realms decided to curse all dark elves ( including Eilistraee ’ s followers ) by channeling the power of Corellon Larethian . The dark elves were turned into drow and violently exiled into the Underdark - - an event known as " Descent " . Post Crown Wars ( - 9000 DR to 1372 DR ) . Lolth became the dominating deity of the Dark Seldarine . She turned drow society into an oppressive theocratic and matriarchal society , where males were less than second class citizens . Under the pretense to cull the weak and strengthen the overall power of the race , she forced the drow against each other in endless infighting . All towards the goal of hers and the drow ’ s vengeance against Corellon . In truth , this was all a scam . Lolth had so much fun at urging and seeing the drow fighting themselves , that she never put coherent efforts regarding the supposed goal , the aforementioned vengeance . To remain in power , she directed her clergy to mitigate and slow any kind of change and progress in drow society and worked towards extinguishing the drow ’ s desire to return to the surface . Vhaeraun strove to counter his mother ' s influence and tyranny over the drow . His goal was to shatter the order Lolth was trying to impose on the drow , unite his people and then take back all that they had lost after the Crown Wars , including their place on the surface . He attracted especially male drow , due to his call for gender equality , those drow who wanted change and growth in their society , be it of societal , economic or territorial nature , and those drow living on the surface . While he couldn ' t challenge his mother directly , he acted in the shadows to disrupt the satus quo . The Masked Lord gained the second largest followers base among the drow gods , and largest on the surface , resulting in Lolth considering him her real enemy . Eilistraee tried to be a mother goddess to her people and bring them the hope of a new life . She fought to lead them back to the lands of light too , and helped the drow rediscover the love , kindness and joy that were taken from them . She wanted them to flourish and prosper in harmony with other races , free from Lolth ' s tyranny and the strife that dominated their lives . Hers was an uphill battle , but despite the many hardships and setbacks , Eilistraee never gave up fighting for her people . Eilistraee ' s ideals were very different from the kind of mindset that the drow became used to under Lolth , and few were the ones who heeded the call of her song . In fact , after the near collapse of her church , it was only in the centuries after Dalereckoning that her faith regained a degree of prominence in Faerûn . Ghaunadaur ’ s drow worshippers consisted of those , who grew tired of Lolth ' s tyranny , and sought out alternatives . He never really cared enough for matters outside of his own ambitions , including his own followers , and thus his follower base , and with it his influence , never really grew . However , his presence managed to prosper in cities torn by strife , or where the presence of the other drow gods was weak . During this period Kiaransalee managed to acquire some freedom from Lolth , by killing Orcus and taking the cold plane of Thanatos from him . She worked to erase all mentions and recording of his name , to redirect his followers to her worship , but she still remained a little known power , even among the drow themselves . The birth of Selvetarm . Selvetarm , son of Vhaeraun and Zandilar the Dancer ( an elven goddess worshiped by the elves of the Yuirwood ) , became part of the Dark Seldarine long after the Crown Wars . Seeing her people attacked by Lolth ' s minions , Zandilar sought out Vhaeraun and tried to seduce him , in order to gain his help against the Spider Queen . The Masked Lord however betrayed and imprisoned the elven goddess , who in turn would later manage to escape thanks to the help of Bast , a Mulhorandi demigoddess , but not before having conceived Selvetarm . Zandilar gave birth to Selvetarm shortly after having gained her freedom , and after having merged with Bast ( forming Sharess ) . Selvetarm walked alone for centuries , after having spurned both his parents , until he was found and befriended by his aunt Eilistraee , to whom her grew very close . Selvetarm came to admire her goodness and appreciate her teachings , and the goddess hoped that , by teaching him her ways and redeeming him , he could become an exemplar that would aid her in healing the rift between the dark elves and the Seldarine . However , said hope and friendship ended in the late 3rd century after Dalereckoning , when Lolth tricked Selvetarm into slaying Zanassu ( a demon lord whom Lolth considered her rival , as he claimed to have power over spiders ) , by promising him that doing so would gain him the appreciation of the Dark Maiden . Selvetarm killed the demon , but was overwhelmed by the demonic essence and he fell wholly to evil , ending up as Lolth ' s champion . Spiteful Lolth did this to prevent her daughter gaining an ally among the Dark Seldarine . Time of Troubles . During the Time of Troubles , Lolth appeared in Menzoberranzan for a short time . Some actions during her time on Toril involved spreading rumors about the existence of a goddess from another world called Zinzerena . Lolth also took the aspect of Moander , the dead god of corruption and decay in an attempt to gain further followers on the surface . Selvetarm appeared in Eryndlyn during the Time of Troubles . He wreaked havoc there , but was driven away by the combined efforts of the followers of Ghaunadaur and Vhaeraun there . It got him his major , albeit small , follower base on Toril . After the Time of Troubles . Zinzerena , the Hunted , whose rumor of existence was spread by Lolth , actually appeared on Toril . She was killed by Lolth as part of an experiment to understand how the distribution and absorption of divine power worked . Lolth gained Zinzerena ' s portfolios in the process . Another entry into the options for worship among drow was Malyk . He was a drow lich who rose to godhood as the patron of wild magic after the Time of Troubles , at least in the imagination of his drow worshippers . In truth , Malyk was an aspect of Talos . He was quite popular among the arcane spellcasters of the drow , so much that Lolth thought it necessary to provide these spellcasters spells to keep herself attractive to them in the face of Malyk . This ceased when the new Mystra , after the Time of Troubles , stopped Talos from infringing her monopoly over magic . War of the Spider Queen . The Silence of Lolth . In the Year of Wild Magic , 1372 DR , the goddess Lolth went into a state of hibernation , a period called the Silence of Lolth , for about a year . The goal was to transform herself into a greater deity and turn the Demonweb Pits into a realm independent from the Abyss . A side effect of this was that she stopped granting spells to her priestesses . The other members of the Dark Seldarine were capable of taking advantage of this opening to increase their influence and numbers of followers . All in all , it was a time of great upheaval among the drow ( see also here ) . Lolth went into her comatose state without informing her clergy beforehand . The drow of Menzoberranzan sent an investigation team , led by Quenthel Baenre , to discover the cause and nature of Lolth ' s silence . After witnessing Ched Nasad ’ s fall and understanding that the loss of magic among Lolth ’ s priestesses wasn ’ t just a local problem in Menzoberranzan , the team went to Cormanthor to gain the cooperation of a priest of Vhaeraun to see what happened to their goddess . By this point , the group included Halisstra Melarn and Danifae Yauntyrr . In Uktar 1372 DR Quenthel ' s company finally managed to gain the collaboration of Tzirik Jaelre , a cleric of the Masked Lord , who could lead them to the Demonweb Pits with the help of his god . However , they were betrayed by their Vhaeraunite guide , who summoned his deity as part of a plan to attack the defenseless Lolth . Lolth was heavily injured , but Selvetarm came to defend her . Her grandson fought against her son and her life was saved . Later , Lolth was about to awaken and called for her Chosen candidates , Quenthel Baenre , Halisstra Melarn and Danifae Yauntyrr . A priestess of hers was to come to her in the Demonweb Pits to become her Chosen , thus completing her transformation . The Masked Lord made another attempt at his mother ' s life again . Banned from entering her realm , he offered to assassinate the yugoloth Inthracis ' s superior on confirmation of success ( which would have lead to the promotion of the fiend ) at killing Lolth ' s Chosen candidates . Meanwhile , one of the candidates , Halisstra Melarn , a former member of the investigation team since the fall of Ched Nasad , converted to Eilistraee . The Dark Maiden chose her new priestess to kill Lolth with an artifact known as the " Crescent Blade " . Halisstra was sent on the Demonweb Pits with two fellow priestesses of the Dark Maiden , but once there they met defeat at the hands of Quenthel ’ s and Danifae ’ s group , and one of the dark dancers was slain in the battle . Halisstra became convinced that the Dark Maiden betrayed her , so she killed her other fellow and converted back to Lolth . Inthracis failed too , and Lolth was able to chose Danifae Yauntyrr as her Yorthae , completing her transformation . Quenthel was sent back to Toril , and Halisstra was turned into the Lady Penitent , Lolth ’ s Chosen , charged with killing Corellon ’ s , Eilistraee ’ s , and Vhaeraun ’ s followers as a punishment for her former heresy . The " Crescent Blade " was left broken in the Demonweb Pits . After the Silence . Even after Lolth emerged from her Silence , the deities of the Dark Seldarine continued battling for supremacy over the drow . In 1375 DR , Eilistraee and Lolth decided to play a game of divine " sava " with the fate of the drow being at stake . Selvetarm joined the game as the Spider Queen ' s champion , ordering his Judicators to initiate a series of attacks against the shrines and temples of Eilistraee . Vhaeraun also meddled in the game , as he and his followers hatched a plan to kill Lolth . The Masked Lord was meant to kill his sister in order to gain her portfolio and to unite their two churches , thus increasing the his power to a level that would have allowed him to kill his mother . Lolth ’ s Lady Penitent , Halisstra Melarn , informed Qilué Veladorn ( leader of the Church of Eilistraee ) and Cavatina Xarann ( a Darksong Knight ) about the whereabouts of the " Crescent Blade " . Cavatina was dispatched to the Demonweb Pits to retrieve the sword , which she found intact ( it had been possessed by Wendonai ) . Meanwhile , Selvetarm tried to strike at the heart of his aunt ' s forces , as his followers attacked the Promenade of the Dark Maiden . However , his attempts ultimately failed : on Nightal 20 of the Year of Risen Elfkin , 1375 DR , the defenders of the Promenade bested the assailants , while Cavatina Xarann killed the demigod himself ( with the help of the Lady Penitent ) in the Demonweb Pits . This would later cause Selvetarm ’ s church ( which already acted as the armed wing of Lolth ' s church , and which wasn ' t even free to worship the Spider that Waits as a deity on his own , rather than a servant of the Spider Queen ) to be almost completely absorbed by Lolth ’ s . She claimed to have planned Selvetarm ' s loss as part of the game , and Eilistraee too was led to believe this . On the same date , Vhaeraun managed to enter his sister Eilistraee ' s realm to assassinate her . His attempt failed , and Eilistraee emerged from the battle changed : she became known as " the Masked Lady " , holding both the Dark Maiden ' s and the Masked Lord ' s portfolios . Some of Vhaeraun ’ s followers joined Eilistraee , others joined other gods like Shar , others refused to have anything to do with Eilistraee , others stayed with their old faith or never became aware that their god died ( they later formed the skulkers of Vhaeraun ) . In 1377 DR Kiaransalee joined the gamble , too . Her followers tried to bring the army of Death Heart on Toril . A by - product of these efforts the augmentation of " faerzress " in the Underdark , which interferred with divination and teleportation magic . To counter this , Q ' arlynd Melarn and his students ( apparently ) erased Kiaransalee ’ s name from every living being ’ s memory , thus killing her . After an assault against the Acropolis of Thanatos ( Kiaransalee ' s main temple ) , Qilué Veladorn , who had taken hold of the Wendonai - tainted Crescent Blade , struggling against the Balor ' s infuence , ordered the death of the surviving clerics of the Revenancer in the Acropolis . In 1378 DR , Ghaunadaur started to actively involve himself into the power play between deities . In 1379 DR , his followers tried to free their god ’ s avatar in the Promenade of the Dark Maiden . Qilué tried to lead the invaders into a trap , but a group of former followers of Vhaeraun intentinally botched her plan , and the followers of Ghaunadaur succeeded at their liberation attempt . Naxil , another priest of the Masked Lady , managed to imprison the avatar , but the Promenade fell . Using the portal network of the temple , Ghaunadaur ’ s followers inflicted heavy losses to the church of Eilistraee . Halisstra Melarn tried to be a worshipped as a demigoddess , but failed and was only - - if at all - - worshipped as a servant of Lolth . Under Lolth ’ s orders , she killed a large number of Eilistraee ’ s followers . In 1379 DR Eilistraee , while inhabiting the body of Qilué Veladorn , tried to free Halisstra from her torment and convince her to kill the Spider Queen . However , Wendonai successfully nudged Halisstra into slaying Qilué alongside the Masked Lady . Meanwhile , Q ' arlynd Melarn conducted an elven high magic ritual ( with the help of the Dark Maiden ) , which he meant to transform all the drow who worshiped the goddess or who were not of Ilythiir i descent , into dark elves . However , the spell managed to turn only hundreds among the followers of Dark Dancer ( who , as a lesser power , had at least a few thousands of worshippers ) , and the non - Ilythiiri drow ( albeit without their consent ) . Corellon Larethian took their souls under his protection , allowing them into Arvandor . Later , Lolth tried to destroy Ghaunadaur but misjudged the extent of his powers . He successfully left the Demonweb Pits and founded his new realm in the Deep Caverns . Post - Spellplague . After the Spellplague occurred , only Ghaunadaur ’ s followers and the remnants of the church of Vhaeraun , collectively called the skulkers of Vhaeraun remained to oppose Lolth . The Spider Queen tried to become the goddess of magic from 1480 DR , but she ended up failing with the return of Mystra . The Second Sundering . During the 1480s DR , the Overgod Ao separated the twin worlds Abeir and Toril once again and rewrote the Tablets of Fate ( an artifact which contained the name of every deity of the pantheon and their portfolio ) , in an event known as " the Second Sundering " . Because of that , many deities of Toril who were considered dead or lost managed to return to life , and after about a century of total supremacy , Lolth was forced to assist to the renewal of the Dark Seldarine :