Deep Duerra
Goddess of Duergar (a.k.a. Queen Mother, Queen of the Invisible Art, Axe Princess of Conquest)
Deep Duerra (pronounced: /ˈdwɛərə/ DWAIR-uh), or simply Duerra, was the duergar demigoddess of conquest, expansion, and psionics, and was venerated by those dwarves skilled in the mysterious Invisible Art. Ever the imperialist, the Axe Princess of Conquest was a resolute believer in the supremacy of psionics and the destiny of the duergar to rule all the Underdark.
Divine Domains
Evil, Mentalism, War, Arcana
Artifacts
Favored weapon: Mindshatter (battleaxe)
Divine Symbols & Sigils
Broken illithid skull
Tenets of Faith
Duerra's teachings were that it was the duergar's destiny to rule the Underdark, conquering the stone from which they were spawned, taking the voids in which they dwelt, and claiming the wealth and servitors that could be found within both. Inspired by her mythic accomplishments, her followers stood at the forefront of duergar offensives against the foes they hated most, dwarves and mind flayers, seeking to utterly obliterate such communities. She expected her priests to be capable leaders, and to use cunning strategy in their endless quest for unlimited power, part of their responsibilities being to train younger gray dwarves in the art of war and teach them Underdark survival techniques. While the Ladugueran clergy defended duergar holdings, senior mindaxes took their elite strike forces of duergar warriors and Duerran priests (as well as junior followers of Laduguer) on missions to scout, clear, and seize tunnel systems to help grow the community.
Another crucial facet of her faith was the supposed inferiority of arcane magic; though rare, wizards skilled in crafting magic items were typically respected in duergar society, but Duerra's dogma went against this idea. According to them, arcane magic was weak, unreliable, and obvious when compared to psionic power or magic that had been given and steadied by godly will (the duergar having strong divine spellcasting traditions). Those that relied on petty magics to survive would be destroyed or enslaved by the duergar by means of psionics, and one day all would bow before duergar might and the glorious Invisible Art. Part of the norothor training of youths was helping them to develop their natural psionics. They also attended to and controlled the slave underclass, Axe Princes and Princesses monitoring the thoughts of slaves and masters alike for signs of disloyalty to eliminate as needed, though recently the duergar had been moving away from slavery towards psionically-powered machines.
Worshipers
Like Laduguer, Duerra was venerated by the duergar to the near-exclusion of all other Morndinsamman members, the rest being only revered in name. Duerra's worshipers were primarily duergar that studied psionics and the militant warriors among the gray dwarves that chafed at the defensive ways of Laduguer's priests, those that sought to conquer much of the Underdark and would rather crush than cooperate with their neighbors.
Though a few rare surface dwellers called upon the Queen for help in understanding, and more importantly concealing, the Invisible Art that was so often viewed with fear and suspicion,2 few outside the Underdark had heard of Duerra or her followers. Even surface dwarves were unlikely to have heard of her, although a handful of those skilled in psionics secretly served her (making up less than a percentage of her followers).
Under the surface, Duerra's specific worshipers were known as norothor, (norothar singular) a dwarvish word roughly translated as "those who seize enemy land". The vast majority of her clergy (97%) were female, and before the Time of Troubles they were entirely so.
Rituals
Norothor prayed for spells at night.1 The duerran clergy had two annual holy days, during each of which an offering to Duerra was made in the form of dirt or stone from the borders of newly conquered land, the brains of psionic individuals, or the shattered skulls of any intelligent creatures.
Physical Description
Body Features
Duerra usually appeared as a 6 ft (1.8 m), stocky, and powerfully-built, female duergar. Most of her hair was shaved off, leaving no beard and only a monk's tonsured cut and a rear-facing, tightly wound braid on her scalp.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
Duerra was a pompous and arrogant authoritarian with the expectation that her every whim be immediately attended to. She dismissed arcane magic as inferior to psionic power, viewed the duergar as a unique race whose ancestral relation to other dwarves as an irrelevant piece of best forgotten trivia, and was resolute in her conviction that it was her inalienable right to rule.2
However, it was not the actual possession of territory that Duerra enjoyed, but the act of obtaining it; the Axe Princess was always plotting, planning, and strategizing for her next glorious conquest. Never content, Duerra was ruthless in her pursuit of assured victory, having no tolerance for anyone, no matter who they were, that didn't meet her expectations, and considering no sacrifice too great for her continued success.
Social
Contacts & Relations
For as long as Duerra had been a divine being, she had been exiled (though not stricken completely) from the Morndinsamman, and she had shown no interest in trying to remedy the relationship.2115 She had no friends among the dwarven gods,1 though Sharindlar had managed to forge working relationships with her despite loathing her principles16 and the wandering Dugmaren had no true foes among dwarven gods, tolerated as he was by lawful members of the pantheon due to the beneficial aspects of some of his inventions, though he found Duerra's company trying at the best of times.17 If some rumors were to be believed, she was the granddaughter of Moradin and Berronar and the daughter of her superior and only ally, Laduguer.215
Though thought of by many as Laduguer's daughter, whether in the literal sense or perhaps because he raised her from a mortal to a demigod, the two had a very poor affinity for one another and showed a remarkable lack of compassion towards each other.118 While Duerra enforced the principles of ambition, greed, might, and stoicism that Laduguer had set for the duergar race,8 and though she both respected and obeyed him,2 acting as his chief lieutenant,8 their alliance was completely nominal.
The Axe Princess secretly felt restricted by her patron, regarding her "father" as a man whose bitterness and spite had wasted centuries of opportunities to claim the duergar birthright,21 and whereas Laduguer was fixated on feelings of rejection and unappreciation,18 Duerra was indifferent to the duergar's distant heritage.2 Duerra endlessly schemed against Laduguer and he did the same in kind, and, in more recent times, Duerra was said to be only a hair away from trying to depose him as the primary gray dwarf deity.
Among their list of foes were the derro gods Diirinka and Diinkarazan, the beholder deities Gzemnid and the unnamed Great Mother, as well as the entire drow pantheon. There were also the deep-dwelling gods Blibdoolpoolp, of the kuo-toa, the ixzan deity Ilxendren, and the abolethic elder evil Pisaethces. Laogzed and Urdlen, the ever-hungry gods of troglodytes and evil gnomes respectively, were also among their enemies,218 with Urdlen specifically burrowing under Hammergrim's ore-rich earth looking for food.11 On the other hand, the duergar gods had less wicked opposition in Callarduran Smoothhands, deity of the deep gnomes, Psilofyr, protector god of the myconids, and Shevarash, the elven god of vengeance.218
Orcus was also an enemy of Duerra since the Prince of Undead once subverted the worship of duergar beneath the Mines of Bloodstone. Particularly fierce was the hatred between Duerra and Ilsensine (as well as Maanzecorian before he died), since the Queen of the Invisible Art had stolen much of the psionic secrets and energy from the Great Brain of the illithids.
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