Dark Seldarine
The Dark Seldarine was the drow pantheon of gods.
History
The Dark Seldarine was rather young as a pantheon. This had to do with the fact that the drow came into being only after Corellon's Descent, when the dark elves were cursed and turned into them in −10,000 DR.
The Dawn Age
Originally, Lolth (at the time known as Araushnee) and the twin deities born from her and Corellon Larethian—the elder, Vhaeraun, the younger Eilistraee—were dark elven gods and part of the Seldarine, residing in Arvandor.
War of the Seldarine
In −30,000 DR, Araushnee, with the help of her son Vhaeraun, gathered a host of evil deities opposed to the Seldarine, and convinced them to attack Arvandor, in an attempt to overthrow Corellon. Ghaunadaur entered the fray on his own without being asked by anyone.
She had planned for the assault to ultimately fail, as her actual goal was for his consort to be killed during the battle and to replace him as Coronal of Arvandor. She tricked Eilistraee into dangerously injuring her own father, but the Weaver's conspiracy was ultimately thwarted by Sehanine Moonbow, and Corellon's life was saved. After her betrayal was revealed, Araushnee was banished by Corellon and turned into a tanar'ri, while Vhaeraun was simply exiled. Even though she was cleared from all guilt, Eilistraee chose to share her mother's and brother's punishment, because she knew that the drow would need her light in the times to come.
Aftermath
Araushnee took the name of Lolth, and made the 66th layer of the Abyss, the Demonweb Pits, her new home. She had to struggle to gain control over the layer, fighting the power of both Ghaunadaur and Kiaransalee, but neither of them were able to prevent Lolth from reaching supremacy. Kiaransalee was subdued by the Spider Queen, reduced to an unwilling vassal. Ghaunadaur, on the other hand, became the author of his own defeat, as his failure to seduce and subsume Lolth drove him to kill and steal the intelligence from his worshipers in a fit of rage, leading to a great loss of followers, and therefore of power.
Meanwhile, Eilistraee and Vhaeraun were active on Toril, home of, among others, the dark elves. With time, Vhaeraun gained a strong influence in southern Faerûn, becoming a major patron of the elves of Ilythiir, and the driving force behind their expansion of territory and and power. Ghaunadaur's faith also set foot on Ilythiir and filled a similar but secondary role. Eilistraee strove against her brother's corruption of the Ilythiiri, but in the end it was to no avail, and she only gained small groups of dark elven followers in the region.
After her banishment, Lolth's attention started to turn towards Toril only when the moon elf Kethryllia Amarillis intruded into the Demonweb to retrieve her lover. Kiaransalee helped her find her direction and Lolth did not interfere with the elf taking her lover back. By this point, Lolth had already come up with the idea to regain her divinity and used her scrying magic on the elves to find out which world they came from, therefore learning about Toril. Her interest was immediately captured by the presence of dark elf followers of Vhaeraun, and she was delighted by the ambition and ruthlessness in the hearts of the Ilythiiri, deciding to spread her taint among them and to use them as the instruments of her vengeance.
Mythology & Lore
<Greater Drow myths here>
Divine Origins
<lore about Drow origins here>
Worship
<notes of general seldarine worship here>
Comments