Tenebris

Often called "The City of Spiders" by outsiders, Tenebris is the Drow capital and the largest city in The Underdark. It is ruled over by Queen Lolth, the Demon Queen of Spiders and mother of all Drow. Tenebris is the birthplace of Amaranth.

**History**

Over a milenia ago, the Elven priestess Lolth was banished from the Elven queendom of Calvexia for attempting to harness Sky Stone’s power. The Old Gods cursed Lolth, causing her to take the horrid form of a giant mutated spider. The sunlight burned her skin and she dug deeper and deeper into The Underdark before reaching the enormous subterranean cavern that would become the city of Tenebris. Originally the home to giant spiders and beholders, Lolth and her Drow followers claimed the immense cavern for themselves and started building their city.

**Culture**

The population of Tenebris is estimated to be around 250,000, comprised entirely of Drow. The vast majority of Drow in the city are female as most males are either sent into the Drow army, the slave pits or are used for security outside the city’s walls. On the very rare occasion non-Drow slaves are brought into the city, they aren’t counted as part of the city’s population.

The culture in Tenebris is cold, calculating and focuses only on growth. Ran by the High Priestess of Queen Lolth while she continues her hibernation, Drow society is the strongest known matriarchy in any of the known realms. If a Drow female is born, she is trained in the ways of the city life (economics, religion, geopolitics, etc.) but if a male Drow is born, he is sent away before he hits puberty. The main purpose of male Drow are to join the Drow army and protect the city, work alongside captured slaves in the slave pits and perform heavy labor or construction. A male Drow isn’t allowed to hold any titles or lands and the Drow church only permits females. The strongest male Drow warriors that prove themselves in battle are rewarded with the opportunity to mate with a Drow female, ensuring that the Drow species only keeps the strongest genes.

**The Church of Spiders**

After Lolth and her followers founded Tenebris, the Drow praised her new spider form and claimed she gave them a better home and opportunity than they ever could have had in Calvexia. The Drow in turn claimed all spiders as holy and worshipped their spider queen’s form as a thing of beauty. The Drow High Priestesses ruled over the city itself while Lolth goes in and out of her hibernation state. These priestesses are each the head of their own Drow household and all Drow desire to climb the ranks so that their smaller households can be in good favor with the High Priestesses and, in turn, Lolth herself.

The church condemns the harming of any spider, giant or tiny, and killing a spider (even accidentally) is punished by death. High ranking Drow wear clothing made of fine spider silks and the Drow military utilize giant spiders in their armies as they believe they will bring Lolth’s blessing in addition to raw strength.

**Slave Culture**

Drow females view themselves as the ultimate supreme race and encourage the growth of their culture by means of using slaves. Male Drow strike teams will sometimes raid the upper regions of The Underdark and occasionally even raid the surface world in an attempt to abduct potential slaves. Due to close proximity and their skills with mining, Drow prefer capturing Dwarf slaves but have been known to catch Orcs, Ogres and Cave Trolls to provide extra muscle. Humans make poor slaves as they are weak and short-lived but their populous numbers allow them to be plentiful on the surface level. Other races in The Underdark have learned to stay away from Tenebris in fear of being captured as well.