Lloth, Queen of Spiders, Our Liberated Queen
Symbol: Perfectly symmetrical spider web with nine anchor points
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Portfolio: Assassins, Order, Darkness, Drow, Evil, Spiders
Worshipers: Drow, Depraved Elves, Sentient Spiders
Cleric Alignments: LE, NE
Aspects: War & Destruction, Trickery & Deceit
Demonym: Llothite, Frethian
Deities: Our Liberated Queen
Confined to the Infinite Layers of the Abyss by Corellon Larethian, Lloth now embodies the manifest destiny of the Ilythiiri race. While malicious in her dealings with others, she ultimately covets the strength to finally overcome the Seldarine and unfetter the Ilythiiri race from their exile below ground. Lloth is known to be kind and aid those she fancies; but she thrives on the plotting, cunning, and fidelity of her worshipers.
HISTORY
The elven Goddess of destiny and artisans, Araushnee, stood as Queen Consort to the 'Ruler of All Elves' Corellon Larethian. Together with their twin children, the elder Vhaeraun and the younger Eilistraee, the couple ruled the Seldarine as peers until Araushnee uncovered her husband's infidelity. For the Queen learned Corellon the 'Elven Protector' had secretly been seduced and enthralled by the 'Lunar Lady' Sehanine Moonbow who, envious of Araushnee, desired to replace her as Monarch.
Queen Araushnee, who comprehended her husband's duplicity, opted to strike first by aiding the god Gruumsh in trying to depose her lover. However, the plan failed due to interference from the 'Daughter of the Night.' Queen Araushnee next persuaded the god Malar to attack the traitorous 'Coronal of Arvandor,' but again aided by his paramour Sehanine Moonbow, the 'Creator of Elves' managed to drive the 'Wild Hunter' away.
Left with no other choice and desperate to free the Seldarine Court from Moonbow's enchantment, Queen Araushnee gathered an alliance of gods to march upon Arvandor and depose Corellon directly. Together with her children, Araushnee's alliance assaulted the outer plane of Arborea and the battle was set into motion. The assault was furious and nearly won when Eilistraee, daughter to Queen Araushnee, loosed volleys of arrows into her adulterous father, nearly slaying him. Ultimately however, the alliance's army lost the field and retreated. The great Queen's bid to save the Seldarine from her husband and his malicious courtesan's betrayal ended in failure.
Afterward, Corellon Larethian exiled his two children from the Seldarine Court without trial or ceremony. For his rebellious Queen, a separate penalty was exacted. Poisoned by the Lunar Lady's whispers, Sehanine Moonbow persuaded the Elf King to make an agreement with the tanar'ri of the Infinite Layers. From that moment forward, the demons of the Abyss would hold the elven queen prisoner within their realm to be corrupted and tormented for her attempted coup d'état of the Seldarine Court.
Banished to confinement within the 66th layer of the Abyss, Queen Araushnee cast away her elven name in defiance of her incarceration, taking the new mantle 'Lloth.' Though now confined, Lloth was still capable of directing her parishioners within the Prime Material Plane of Toril. While she failed to protect the elves directly from the machinations of 'The Mystic Seer,' Lloth acted instead to liberate them from the elf pantheon's influence. These actions to shield the elven race would lead to what is commonly referred to as the 'First Flowering' and 'Crown Wars.' Ultimately however, the dominance of the Seldarine over the elves proved too extensive and the Ilythiir were eventually driven underground to become what many now know today as 'Drow.'
Since that time Lloth has remained imprisoned within her Abyssal domain under the ever-increasing influence of Chaos. This situation, reinforced by the Seldarine's heavily altered record of past events, has led to the eccentric and often self-destructive ideology of the contemporary Lolth Orthodox faith.
DOGMA
There is naught that keeps Our People, the Ilythiiri, from the bleak and barren Abyss, but the vigilance of Our Queen's Servants. The void of the infinite planes are unknowably vast and teeming with all manner of perilous spirits and forces, most of which are opposed to our very existence. Remember your past, remember your blessings, and Our Queen will see you through whatever calamity shall befall you.
The Doctrines of Lloth are based upon our Queen's composition; All of Her Eight Legs are equally crucial, depicting our cultural annals, but it is the Mind of our Queen that provides us with our most necessary admonition. Were we lesser creatures, we would require different gods to represent each facet of our civilization - as we are inherently greater, we require only One.
++ 1. War ++
In the cradle of our home that is the Darkness, thousands of years ago we were cast here by the foul surface elves. That their malice for us continues today is merely a symbol of Our lifework. They created us as their adversaries, their phantoms. Grown men upon the surface hear our name and grow sickly pale, like the underbellies of our anemic fish. They stare into the shadows and their faces contort in resentment and fear at the idea that we might be there. Our Queen sacrificed everything for us to become fearsome to all, and we shall serve our purpose with glee.
++ 2. Construct ++
As the spider creates a web, so must we. To create is to strengthen Our People and Our Queen. Those who create are Blessed, for those who produce make more that we might utilize, that we might thrive, that Our Queen might consume. Through the power of creation, we attain perfection. She knows we are able to. To not construct is to permit the threads of Our Peoples' webs to come undone, to pull and fray, to destroy the tapestry of our work. Those who destroy the works of Our People are those who destroy Our People, and they are truly the most heinous of the reviled, akin to those of the surface.
++ 3. Glut ++
The handiwork of the craftsman are not simply left to molder and rot. It must be harvested, it must be consumed. The works of Our People are the condensed breath of Lloth - our entirety a baptismal fluid! Know this and be honored, but honor Our Queen in ceremony by surviving, by utilizing - be it information, experience, or wealth, gather what you can in your name, knowing that in turn, you make our Goddess richer.
++ 4. Consort ++
To consort is much more than the myriad pleasures of meat. While it is a useful tool, it is much too specific to use to its utmost potential - this is why Our People sow ourselves amongst inferiors. What information they have, we shall reap a generous harvest by simply placing a few seeds of good-will and waiting. In this, time and sweet words are our allies, which Our People have in excess. Information is a valuable substance, and one of our Gifts is to glean it.
++ 5. Rest ++
To reap influence and favor constantly is to invite doom. As Our Queen's children, we must accept that while we are in Her image, we cannot achieve Her awe-inspiring and terrible drive. What we see within the quiet times known as Reverie may unsettle, but in this trance you shall know the quietude that Lloth can offer you. The visions you find within Reverie will cut away your fear, every weak part of your emotional anatomy. What you long for will come into focus when you lull, and we must strive to accept every gift She offers us.
++ 6. Deceive ++
To deceive is divine. Our Queen deceived the odious and presumptuous Host of the elves above who deemed themselves her peers. In this skill, we can find our independence from those Lessers. All ilythiiri are different, have their own goals, but we are all united within the affront delivered unto us from the surface. In this calling, we find our survival in the trap they have attempted to keep us within. We make promises, we whisper. We lie. Even those who are clever can always be deceived - and most times, it is not even with a lie. Information cannot be stopped once it is in motion, and the momentum of words are swift.
++ 7. Toil ++
Our People are the vessels for our Goddess to walk the face of this wretched earth. We are Her mouths, Her medium. Her struggle. We compete and we survive, and through this, we nourish our Queen, that She might proliferate. We will find ourselves pained. We will be ravaged. We will hunch in maligned, twisted anguish, and all of our suffering will fuel Our work. With every slight we sharpen our own suffering into a razor poignancy, a weapon, and pass it onto our children. Generations upon generations of pain build up and with each era, we remember and become more fatal to our enemies.
++ 8. Plot ++
To survive is to plan. To decipher the plans of others is to add needful information to our own. There are levels of panache that the overlooked races can only dream of, and our Goddess' gift to us is that we have the time and the eloquence to play the Game correctly. The dance stays the same as ever, but those who wish to pay respect to our most Holy Queen dance well. The struggles, the politics, all of it is a rehearsal for when we turn our gaze above to the Lesser Host.
++ 9. Abide ++
The head of Lloth deems that we restrain our roving intensity. To reach beyond your well-made web is to invite calamity, for some fleeting thing that easily catches our fancy can vanish or turn against you. Desires are never ending, and we are not swift to spot illusion. Those who are not vigilant are like a corrupt mirror, deforming Lloth's blessings to ugliness by rejecting Her truth. Rather, we must secure ourselves to that which is immaculate and true, and through it, recognize the blasphemous testaments of those who would tear Our People down.