Lloth

Lloth: Spider Queen, Goddess of plots and conspiracy, embodiment of envy. Queen of the Drow. Former Wife of Pale. Mother of Dynam, Kibni, and Ohzoz.

Lloth was the titan of small lifeless planet visible in the night sky of Terra. A beautiful and cunning being, she charmed the God Pale and married him despite his parent's reservations. Shortly thereafter she bore twin sons, Dynam and Kibni. Jealous of the power her husband and his family gained through the faith of mortal kind, but not strong enough to quickly gain such a following herself, she hatched a scheme to steal the power of the Astral Court for herself. For centuries she stoked discord between her husband and their sons. Kibni responded by isolating himself and turning to wine and debauchery, but Dynam grew increasingly volatile. 2500 years before the cataclysm, Lloth engineered a terrible fight between Dynam and Pale. The result was Dynam leaving the Astral Court for good, and Lloth, making a show of supporting her son, left as well.

In 2370 BC, Lloth disguised herself as a elvish maiden and seduced the Eternal Emperor Orgol and was made his empress. The first objective of Lloth's plan was to have Pale killed and replaced by their son Dynam. Knowing that Pale was in turn protected by his divine parents Adthea and Dakoram, Lloth wormed her way into the heart of the elvish civilization and used that position to begin subverting their religion. Stoking fears of imminent dwarven invasion, Lloth worked to change the morals of the empire. She made a bargain with Ohzoz, the old Draconic god of pride and dominance, if he would lend his power to her schemes, she would introduce his worship to the eternal empire. Soon powerful elves began joining the new cult in an effort to curry favor with the empress, and the common folk began to pray to Ohzoz to save them from the "Growing Dwarven Menace". She convinced the elves that their divine creation was proof that all other races where meant to serve them, it was during her time as empress consort that the elves first began enslaving humans and other "lesser races". The Emperor was like putty in her hands, even more so once she bore him a son and heir, Maeglin. To further distract the gods and push the elves further down into corruption, she convinced the Emperor to make a preemptive strike on the dwarves. The attacking elves were ruthless, and the dwarves responded in kind. These were the first days of a series of wars that would last for centuries known as the Wars of Terror.

Like and envious spider, Lloth spun the webs of her plots with stealth and precision. Within two and a half centuries of living among the mortals, Lloth was ready to strike. She reached out to Pale and convinced him that Dynam wanted to meet with his father and repair their relationship. Eager to reunite his family, Pale failed to see the trap. Weakened by their abandonment by most of their faithful, Adthea and the other elven gods could do little when Dynam slew his father Pale and took his place as the God of Death. Moments later, Emperor Orgol died from a poison that miraculously failed to take his wife who had drank from the same cup.

With her son Dynam now holding the power of a god, Lloth no longer needed Ohzaz as an ally. Lloth tricked and bound the dragon god, let Dynam slay him, and had Maeglin drink his power. Maeglin ascended to the Eternal throne heralded as Ohzoz made flesh. Maeglin reigned as God-Emperor for 350 years, and those were among the darkest days the world has ever seen. The Wars of Terror raged, and with Dynam as the god of death, slaughter and violence reigned supreme. Lloth no longer hid her identity and attracted her own cult, as slavery, necromancy, and blood-lust filled the Empire. Soon Lloth was powerful enough to claim godhood in her own right and carved out a realm of her own in the shadow plane. Back on Terra, the dwarves days seemed to be numbered, despite their most desperate attempts to fight back. Even the dead had no rest, rather than returning the Field of Souls or being gently guided to their patron god’s afterlife, Dynam brought all the souls he could catch to his twisted domain where he made the dead fight each other and be repeatedly devoured by terrible beasts for his amusement.

Unbeknownst to Lloth and her allies, Pale had not been utterly destroyed when struck down by his son. With the last shred of his power, Pale had transported himself to Terra where he was tended to by an elvish healer named Airmed. For three hundred and fifty years she nursed the comatose god back to health, a feat which saw her posthumously elevated to goddess of healing and medicine. Meanwhile, the people of Terra were desperately praying for the return of the kindly release Death had once brought their ancestors.

When Pale awoke, the power of combined prayers of mortal kind invigorated him. Pale renewed his alliance with his divine parents and siblings and declared war on his former lover and their son. The forces of the Astral Court marched on the realms of Dynam and Lloth. On the mortal plane, the gods chose as their champion Turcano, the grandson of the healer Airmed. While gods and angels battle across the astral and shadow planes, Turcano gathered the faithful elves under his banner and led a revolt against Maeglin. Without the direct support of his godly mother and half brother, Maeglin fought a losing war on two fronts against the dwarves and Turcano. Meanwhile the gods had broken Dynam's domain and driven him into hiding in the shadow plane while Lloth had fled back to Terra. Pale reclaimed his position as god of death, and on Terra, the tide began to rapidly turn against Maeglin and Lloth.

Facing defeat, Lloth convinced Maeglin to challenge Turcano to a single duel to determine the war. Maeglin took the field and unleashed the power he had accumulated as Ohzaz, the God of Pride and Domination made flesh. The show of force was devastating, but channeling the power of the entire elvish pantheon, Turcano stood against him and broke him. Casting off his broken mortal body, Maeglin fled to the shadow plane where he created an astral body for himself and took on the role and name of Ohzaz, the dragon emperor. The duel being lost, Lloth and her followers surrendered, and appealed to her captor’s to honor the terms of the duel. Lloth and those who would not denouce her were exiled into the endless tunnels and caverns of the Underdark, the gods enforced this banishment by making the sunlight burn their eyes and cause them great pain. Lloth led her people defiantly into the dark, where over the years her power has changed them into the Drow, the dark elves who serve the spider queen.