Latest revision as of 11:55, 31 May 2017

Zinzerena is (Llothians would say: was) a drow goddess of chaos and assassins. She was born a drow mortal mage with an aptitude for illusion magic. Her mother faked her death in order to smuggle her away from the priestesses of Lolth. She grew in power, studying alone as a spellcaster and assassin specializing in the use of poison and disguise, and gained her divinity by tricking Keptolo, Lolth's consort, out of a fraction of his.

As a result she is hunted by virtually the whole drow pantheon, though Keptolo hates her most of all. Though now divine, Zinzerena has not yet shaken off all the echoes of her mortality, and thus remains on the Prime Material Plane, where she hides in the cities of the drow, inspiring chaos wherever she goes.

Zinzerena plotted against Lolth much like Vhaeraun does, opposing her tyrannical methods. Lolth killed her during the Time of Troubles and now uses her name and image as a disguise, attracting rebels and dissidents to her own worship through this ruse.

Her symbol is a shortsword draped in a black cloak, symbolizing her hidden menace. She commonly takes the form of a dexterous-looking cloaked and masked drow elf. She also carries a crop with a black handle that she uses to stun; it also has the powers of a wand of wonder.

Zinzerena's followers believe in raising themselves up by bringing down others. They avoid revealing their true strength or hatred until their victims are helpless. They wait until they have the advantage to strike; fair fights are an alien concept to them. Zinzerena's followers believe in the value of cruelty, stealth, misdirection, and survival by any means necessary.

One of their proverbs, referring to Lolth, is "The legs of the spider are made to be broken". Zinzerena is beloved by those drow who wish to throw off the shackles of the priesthood of Lolth. She is a patron of assassins and illusionists. Zinzerena's clerics are more common in the cities than the wilderness, though they may be found anywhere.

Some are servants in the far-flung estates of drow nobles, and some are laborers, guides, physicians, poets, or prostitutes; even a few bohemian nobles have become traitors to their social class by joining the cult of the Princess of the Outcasts. Banished nobles have been among the greatest leaders in Zinzerena's church.

Their favored weapon is the short sword. A newer myth written for Zinzerena in Drow of the Underdark says that at the time where her renown had grown to the point that she was worshipped by many drow as a goddess in her own right, she was betrayed by a client who had ostensibly hired her to kill a rival, trapping her with web golems.

She bragged that she had become entirely illusionary, immune to capture, and when her captors ordered their golems to rend her asunder, they found no body within her clothes. Immediately after Zinzerena's alleged death, drow everywhere gained their innate powers over light and darkness for the first time.

Zinzerena continues to wander the Underdark to this day, an inspiration to rebels everywhere.