Campaign Introduction
The year is 1492 DR. It has been nearly 30,000 years since the evil trickster goddess Lloth deceived the Elves and was banished to the Abyss by The Seldarine. Corellon, the creator of the Elves and the god of magic, cursed the Dark Elves and their descendants, turning them into the Drow. They became weak to sunlight and the Elves of Faerûn drove them underground. This directly caused the collapse of the most ancient civilization of Dark Elves, the Vhaeraun-worshipping kingdom of Ilythiir.
Embittered by the curse, Lloth's worship regained favor among many disaffected Drow. While the Elves can claim to have eternal souls and the ability to reincarnate, the souls of the Drow caught in Lloth's web live only a single lifetime. After their death, a drow's soul is imprisoned within Lloth's domain. Most are drained to sustain the demon they worshipped in life. Only Lloth's most highly favored High Priestesses are rewarded by being turned into the lesser demons known as Yochlol to serve as her messengers and servants on The Material Plane.
Lloth's manipulations of Drow society trap most of them within the matriarchal cities that she controls. The Drow are surrounded by monsters and enemies. Their noble families and priestesses war and betray each other, attempting to gain her favor. Escaping to the surface is an almost impossibility. Any who fail to please Lloth's whims or show disloyalty are either turned into Driders or are killed by rival priestesses at Lloth's command. At the top of the pyramid of power in Menzoberranzan's society are the Priestesses of Lloth. Below them are the noble Drow, including the mages and fighters who graduate from The Academy. Drow common folk are treated as being in a higher status of power than half-drow and visitors from other Underdark civilizations.
Almost all Elves still despise the Drow. They wrongly assume all Drow are irredeemably evil at heart as their only interactions with the Drow for thousands of years have been violent raiding parties. These are led by the Church of Lloth's most zealous high priestesses as their paranoid goddess watches everything with sadistic glee. While it is true that Drow society under Lloth's control does reward evil behavior, the Drow do not reincarnate. Therefore, not a single drow alive today was involved in the original betrayal that led to their curse.
The members of Bregan D’aerthe , a brotherhood of like-minded Drow, work to find acceptance and freedom on the surface.
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