The Sisters

## Common Knowledge

The dark elves of the Underdark are a deeply religious people, with a small pantheon of gods from which to choose. Only the most devoted dark elves, or drow, have seen the miracles of the Sisters motion, or perhaps even one of the Sisters themselves.

## Further Description

Through the devoutness and worship of the Dark Elves across countless generations, their goddesses are among the most powerful progenitors known to exist. These goddesses are worshipped in all parts of the Sym’fadè Confederacy and Koda, as well as wherever dark elves can be found.

## Members

All three “main” goddesses (Lolth, Muse, Vague) are worshipped equally in the city of Parthetique, the only Underdark city with natural light.

### Vague

A goddess of focus, sorcery, the mind, and magic (especially Phantasmal magic). Her symbol is the bass clef, the color blue is associated with her worship. The center of her follower base is found in Locria.

### Muse

A goddess of creativity, the arts, and passion, with strong affiliations with Celestial magic. Her symbol is the alto clef, and the color yellow is associated with her worship. The center of her follower base is found in Aoelia.

### Lolth/Maelstrom

Lolth, or Maelstrom as her drow followers know her, is the oldest of the dark elven goddesses, and also the most complicated. She is a two-faced goddess of war, emotion, and the elements, with strong affiliations with Elemental magic. Her symbol is the treble clef, and the color red is associated with her worship. The center of her follower base is found in Phridgia.

Roughly 8,000 years ago, ancient texts depicting Maelstrom’s original, near-genocidal nature surfaced. Some members of the Sisterhood, Maelstrom’s body of priestesses, wanted to return to the old ways and worship the goddess as she was “meant to be”. This sparked a religious schism between the dark elves, who followed the modern worship of Maelstrom, and the drow, who followed the ancient teachings of superiority and conquest. Since both factions worshipped the same deity but in different fashions, Maelstrom changed accordingly to become the two-faced goddess she is today.

#### Lolth

The dark elven goddess, worshipped by the Sisterhood whose members are not genocidal and do not wish to return to the surface. Lolth and the Sisterhood teaches that the Underdark is the right place for the dark elves to reside.

#### Maelstrom

The drow goddess, worshipped by the Delbima (literally “of the Abyss”), a faction of the Sisterhood that broke away during the schism, and advocate for genocide of non-dark elves and seek a return to the surface. Maelstrom and her Delbima teach that the Underdark is an unfair punishment forced upon them by the world above, and it is the right of the dark elves to retake the land on the surface by any means available.

### The Masked Lady

The youngest dark elven goddess, so young that her worship is not recognized by either the Sisterhood or the Delbima. The Masked Lady began her life as a mortal woman named Cadence, a member of the Sisterhood. Though her deeds were lost to time, the faith of the Sisterhood and many others in her led to her ascension upon death. Cadence was reborn as a goddess in her own right: the Masked Lady.

The Masked Lady is a goddess of beginnings and endings, doors, life, and death, and she has strong affiliations with Soul magic. Her symbol is the ghost note, but she has neither a singular center of worship nor a color associated with it.

## History

### Origin (C. 45,000 - 35,000 B.B.)

According to myth, Maelstrom was brought to life by the will and passion of a single dark elf, whose name has been lost to time. Supposedly, she would aid him in his life, and he would spread word of her glory. In time, the worship of Maelstrom spread to all dark elvendom, and Maelstrom became a powerful deity who truly did exist.

Not long after, Maelstrom would be joined by her two sisters, Vague and Muse, who were originally born as deities embodying nature and its mysteries.

### The Descent (28,737 B.B.)

In time, and through her worship, Maelstrom began to teach that all other mortals were inferior to dark elvendom, which she called “drow”, and that it was their rightful place to rule all others. Maelstrom spurred her followers, and by extension all drow, into a religious fervor that culminated in a war against all other races and peoples. Fighting a war against everyone else, all at once, went predictably poorly, and the drow were driven underground in an event known to the dark elves as “The Descent”.

In the aftermath of the Descent, the worship of Vague and Muse changed to reflect the dark elves’ seemingly-unnatural home. Muse’s worship shifted from a desire to replicate the beauty of nature to prayers for the arts and blessings for creativity, Vague’s worship shifted from the miracles of nature to understanding the forces of the world through magic, and the goddesses themselves shifted accordingly.

### Battle of Pasticcio  (1,877 A.B.)

Starting in the late 1600’s A.B. the Meztec Empire, a bellicose theocracy hellbent on global conquest, made moves to conquer the underground and even as far down as the Underdark. They successfully took some of the uppermost regions of the central Underdark, but not without a fight. During one of the later battles of this incursion, in a small town called Pasticcio, the Sisterhood priestesses pleaded with Maelstrom to come to their aid.

Maelstrom obliged her devotees and attempted to wipe out the invading Meztec army, but was blocked by Sol Invictus, the Meztec’s own patron progenitor. For days on end, one would attempt to out-maneuver the other, and each time they would be blocked or otherwise circumvented.

When it became clear that direct intervention would be necessary, both Sol Invictus and Lolth took to the battlefield themselves. Both sides stopped their fighting altogether as they watched their patron deities trade blows, devise strategies and counterstrategies in seconds, and proclaim the superiority of their truth and might. Both the Dark Elves and the Meztec Lizard-Folk have hundreds of myths regarding this battle, to the point that discerning their veracity or order is nearly impossible.

Records of an ultimate victor in the fight have been lost, but the battle likely ended in a stalemate. Meztec forces and their powerful but fledgeling god would retreat from the Underdark starting in 2,000 A.B..

### The Separation (2,242 A.B.)

In 2,242 A.B., ancient texts belonging to pre-descent worshippers of Maelstrom emerged. In the millennia following the Descent Maelstrom’s worship had become less warlike, less focused on the inherent superiority of dark elves, and Maelstrom had changed according to the prayers of her faithful. Some members of the Sisterhood believed that they should return to the old ways and worship the goddess as she was “meant to be”, while others believed that the modern interpretation of Maelstrom was true to the goddess’s true intentions.

The priestesshood split along these lines and formed two factions: the Delbima, who worshipped Maelstrom’s original teachings; and the Sisterhood, the original priestesshood who taught from Maelstrom’s modern teachings. Dark elf society, too, split along these lines, as followers of the early form of Maelstrom took the name “drow” for themselves as Maelstrom’s chosen. With the characteristics of her worship changing, Maelstrom soon changed to accommodate the change. Maelstrom became a two-faced goddess. To the Sisterhood, Maelstrom became Lolth.

### Darkfell (10,014 A.B.)

The atrocities perpetrated by Vierfrynn during Darkfell, and all her other deeds save perhaps the invention of the Fel, were done in the name of Maelstrom and reclaiming the surface for the drow. Vierfrynn herself was, in her life as Ezyne Barath, a member of the Delbima.

### Song of Broken Minds (10,015 A.B.)

Chant’folne Sforza, in the days before her time as a Binturian and long before her ascension to the Seat of Power, prayed to Vague for a way to get out of her arranged marriage without killing her fiance. To fulfill this prayer, Vague sought counsel with a being who could grant that boon: Amageala, the goddess of deceit. Amageala offered to grant Chant’folne one use of the Song of Broken Minds, a spell-like song that irreparably rends the mind of those who hear it, but demanded that Chant’folne become her servant in exchange. Vague, already intending to make Chant’folne her own servant, declined. An unlikely ally intervened in the dispute on Vague’s side: Amageala’s father, the God of Madness. Madness insisted that Amageala help Vague, and so she granted Vague the power to give Chant’folne the spell.

Vague would appear to Chant’folne and offer her a solution to her plight in exchange for her servitude among other things, and she agreed without reservation. She would go on to use the Song of Broken Minds, though it had a slightly weaker effect than it might have if Amageala had granted it directly.

### Intervention to Aid the Binturians (10,018 A.B. - 10,019 A.B.)

Some of the most prominent members of the Binturian Party have been dark elves, such as Chant’folne Sforza. In times of great need, these Binturians would sometimes call upon the Sisters to request aid, usually either Vague or the Masked Lady.

The known instances of these interventions were: against Aavaa, to ensure she was dead and could not be resurrected after her defeat; on Penskruingman, to ensure that the Shoggoth species was extinct; and atop the tallest mountain of the Crinoids in Binturia, to ask for guidance before battling Delcho.

### Current Residence and Worship

The Sisters reside on the Material Plane, with worshippers in all parts of the Sym’fadè Confederacy. Worship of Maelstrom is confined to places of high drow population, such as Koda or Phridgia (depending on the outcome of the Beating of the Drums).

All but the Masked Lady can only be seen by their worshippers.

## Further Information

* Aavaa, the Monstrosity
* Amageala
* Beating of the Drums
* Chant’folne Sforza
* Dark Elf
* Darkfell
* Delcho
* Draconic Incursion
* Incarnation
* Koda
* Madness
* Meztec Empire
* Penskruingman
* Shoggoth
* Sol Invictus
* Sym’fadè Confederacy
* Vierfrynn