Lolth, Spider Queen Jesper Ejsing Magic: The Gathering set Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
Lolth
Lady of Lies / Queen of the Demonweb Pits / Lady of Chaos / Spider Bitch
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Power: Lesser Diety of the Dark Seladrine Alignment: Chaotic Evil Realm: The Demonweb Pits of the Abyss Domain: Trickery, War
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“Lolth was within every reasoning being, that dark and selfish side of the mind. A disease, an infection, most often suppressed to a great degree. But not when Lolth got these beings under her thrall. Then the malignancy did grow, and the dark thoughts emerged."
R.A. Salvatore, Relentless
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Lolth is the unquestioned goddess of the drow, the subterranean dark elves who have made the treacherous Underdark their home. But goddess is too small a word to fully understand what Lolth is to the drow, much less her own self. A capricious goddess who will not hesitate to use her most devoted followers to fulfil her ambitions, Lolth's will is absolute among the drow. Her wishes, when she chooses to communicate them, are implemented by the Matron Mothers, high priestesses of her corrupt worship. Her presence is felt in all Lolthite drow settlements, but most especially in the largest city Menzoberrnzan.
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NOTE: The lore of the circumstances behind how Araushnee would be Lolth has varied from Edition to Edition. The whole cosmology changed from 3e to 4e along with a great deal of lore, so a lot of Lolth's history in 5e ends up being shrouded in mystery. I've tried to stay canon as much as possible, but I have used some of the lore I've found around to fill in the blanks. ---------
“Protect none,” the godlike Spider Queen finished. “You have rolled the stones from the mountaintop. Enjoy their paths of destruction.”
R.A. Salvatore, Lolth's Warrior
Once, Lolth was known as Araushnee, a lesser goddess who held dominion over destiny and artisans among the Seladrine. She was dark and beautiful, wise and witty, and ruled alongside Corellon as his queen and lover. She bore three children to him: Vhaeraun and Eilistraee, and Vandria, each of whom would become minor dieties in their own right.
The truth of Lolth's fall is largely lost to time and vigorous propaganda on all sides. It is said that even before she fell from grace, Araushnee had some tendency towards darker fascinations. Her witty repartee could easily turn sharp as a knife. When Corellon fought the orc god Gruumsh, Araushnee secretly admired the orc's pitiless fury and may have had an affair with him. She even began to consort with the beings from the Abyss, the plane that birthed demons. But while her curiosity for the dark and terrible grew, destiny continued to weave its intentions.
It began when Araushnee had a dream. In it, she conceived of beings that resembled herself. Obsidian-skinned, white haired mortals of lithe but enduring bodies and magical prowess. They called to hr in worship, speaking a name she did not recognise. Araushnee saw in them great potential and also unending ambition, and wished to make them be. Their worship would empower her, and their offerings would increase her status among the pantheon. She took her dream to Corellon and asked to be allowed to make these elves, who she said would worship the Seldrine with all their hearts (though some say she always intended to make herself their supreme goddess).
Corellon said he would consider this and told Araushnee to wait. She was patient for a time, but her fury overtook her when, after some time, Corellon called the Seladrine together. Lo and behold, he presented a new race, light-skinned and tall with lithe forms and elegant magic. The Seladrine cheered their lord's new, magnificent creation...
And Araushnee seethed.
She had told no one else of her dreams, shared her desire to create with none. If she spoke now, who would believe her? So she smiled and praised these new mortals, these elves. And day by day, a new ambition began to ensnare her heart.
She began to make the drow. In some versions, she dug deep in the earth and took the darkest clay filled with hard gemstones and spilled her own divine blood into it. It took immense divine energy, with some claiming that the goddess even carried these mortal progeny within her own womb, truly making them her children. When they came into being, Araushnee presented them to the Seladrine, daring Corellon to challenge their creation when he knew of his own theft.
But the newly fledged drow did not mingle with the creations of Corellon. They were fierce and independent, seeking to challenge themselves against the world they now walked in.
Araushnee was clever and knew it would take a great deal to put her plans into action. She attempted to aid Gruumsh in a second attack on her lover, planning to enchant Corellon's sheath so it would shatter during the fight. But Sehanine Moonbow(fellow goddess and lover of Corellon) caught the act and was able to lend her aid to Corellon, saving him.
She would try again, provoking the wild god Malar into an altercation wth the lord of the Seladrine. This did not end well, as even a wounded Corellon could chase off the Beastlord.
Finally, she began to plan a full-scale assault, an army of those who would gladly go to war with the Seladrine at her behest. But they were only a distraction, as Araushnee planned to return the cursed scabbard to Corellon so it would attract their daughter Eilistraee's arrows to his chest. This would leave Eilistraee to blame for hr father's death and clear the way for Araushnee's ascent.
Knowing she intended to betray him, Sehanine confronted Araushnee about the treachery, but was surprised when Araushnee attacked first, using the help of her son Vhaeraun, to imprison Sehanine. The scabbard was delivered as planned, and all Araushnee had to do was wait.
Araushnee came perilously close to achieving everything she wanted. As her army attacked the Seladrne, her drow children went to battle against the creations of Corellon. The battle went perfectly, with Eilistraee unaware that her arrows would be drawn right to her father's chest. When he fell, Araushnee approached with a promise to aid him and nearly convinced Corellon to drink a vial of poison she claimed to be healing waters. However, Sehanine had escaped from Vhaeraun prison and arrived in time to prevent this. Along with aid from other gods, she was able to save the Seladrine lords life.
Likewise, the battle between the drow and the surface elves was not going well for Araushnee's new creations. The surface elves proved more hardy than they appeared, with the battle ending in a stalemate.
When Corellon awakened from his injury, the trial convened. Despite her clear guilt and vindictive intentions, Corellon could not bring himself to destroy Araushnee. Instead, he punished her by taking away all by the smallest sliver of her divine nature, transforming her into a tanar'ri, a demon of the Abyss. Her form became that of a giant spider with the face of a beautiful dark elf woman.
Furious, Araushnee tried once more to rise against her former lover and defeat him. She charged the Seladrine with an army of demons, but the battle did not last long. Even then, Corellon still held enough love for her to allow Araushnee to escape into the demon realms.
Their children, Vhaeraun and Eilistraee, had their own fates to be delivered. While Vhaeraun had aided his mother enthusiastically and was exiled along with her, Eilistraee had been innocent of her mother's subterfuge and remained sympathetic towards the drow's plight. For this, Corellon granted her request to be exiled from the Seladrine so that she could help the drow find hope.
From the depths of the Demonweb Pit, langushing among the planar strands and endless voids, Araushnee brooded in her defeat. She had been temporarily sated by the battle with Kiaransalee, but the lich drow had proven more useful as a vassal than as prey. Ensnared here, Araushnee was not patient, for she could hear a name being called. One that drew her from her chttering realm.
Her children had called to her. Defeated by the creations of Corellon, they had retreated to the Underdark and found themselves unprepared for the dangers erupting from every corner. When they called to her in their own tongue, their goddess answered, though she demanded to know what name they had called her. The dark elves shuddered in wonder and awe, and spoke her name.
Lolth.
That name. She knew it before, from the dreams that had inspired her to take up the creation of the drow in the first place. Delirious laughter echoed through the Underdark as Araushnee began to see how destiny had woven its knotted snare around her, though she could not know what choices had been her own and what had been inevitable. In her madness, she slaughtered several of her drow and descended into the Demonweb Pits until her madness could be settled.
When she returned, perhaps hundreds or thousands of years later, it was to validate. She praised the drow and revealed herself to be their goddess, their Lolth. The name of Araushnee was forbidden, stricken from the minds and hearts of her mortal progeny. She taught them the cruel art of survival at any cost and watched with pleasure as they carved their way through the wretches of the deep caverns. She summoned the arachnids who owed her fealty and commanded them to offer up their venom for weapons and their silk for clothes. The voices of the males, Lolth warned them, were of little consideration and should be silenced unless necessary. It was to the females her drow would look for authority, for Lolth would speak her will through them.
"Go." She commanded, the horrors of the underground realm before them. "Go, and may all who fall before you know who this realm belongs to now."
And as the drow began to make their home and the first stones that would become the city of Golothaer were erected, Lolth conquered the Demonweb Pits. She was challenged by Kiaransalee, a lich and powerful necromancer worshiped as a demigoddess among the drow. Nonetheless, Kiaransalee was no match for Lolth and, rather than be killed, chose to serve as a vassal of the Spider Queen instead.
But Lolth was not alone. Ghaunadaur, a god of oozes, slimes, and abominations, dwelt within the realm. Lolth was less willing to pit herself against such an ancient and alien intelligence. That Which Lurks attempted to subsume the goddess, but its failure caused many of Ghaunadaur's followers to go insane, stealing away their intelligence. Choosing instead to make him a part of her Dark Seladrine, Lolth spared the ooze god, thus cementing her control of the Demonweb Pits.
But she was not satisfied. Perhaps she could never be satisfied. It did not seem to be in her nature. And as Lolth watched her drow begin the work of a city, her thoughts turned to the betrayer Corellon and his weak-willed creations.
