The Church of Lolth

Great Goddess, Mother of the Dark, grant me the blood of my enemies for drink and their living hearts for meat. Grant me the screams of their young for song, grant me the helplessness of their males for my satisfaction, grant me the wealth of their houses for my bed. By this unworthy sacrifice I honor you, Queen of Spiders, and beseech of you the strength to destroy my foes.

Dogma

Fear is as strong as steel, while love and respect are soft, useless feelings that none can lean on. All who do not worship Lolth must be converted or destroyed. All who are weak or rebellious must be weeded out. All who impugn the faith must perish. Males or slaves who act independently of Lolth's dictates must be sacrificed to Lolth. Those of the faithful whose loyalty is weak must be eliminated. Children are to be raised as loyal worshipers of Lolth, and each family should produce at least one priestess to serve the Spider Queen better than her mother. Arachnids of all sorts are to be revered, and anyone who mistreats or kills a spider must die. Such are the commands of Lolth. But the priestess who follows them blindly is on a slippery path leading to swift death. Success in the service of Lolth lies with those who are attentive to the ever-changing, often contradictory will of Lolth. Lolth's capricious nature makes hard-and-fast rules few and uncertainty great. Of course, questioning Lolth's motives or wisdom is a sin. Aiding nondrow against drow is a great sin, as is ignoring the Spider Queen's commands in favor of love. (Lolth often tests her priestesses by ordering the sacrifice of a favored consort.) Those who lose the favor of Lolth are always given a single chance to redeem themselves. This is usually a dangerous or difficult mission, though Lolth may test certain individuals by setting no task at all and observing what they do. Those who willfully fail are destroyed. Lolth commands other worshipers to do this (in turn, testing them). Those who fail through mischance or poor planning or execution are usually transformed into driders. Lolth often plays favorites among her worshipers, but those who ride high one season are warned that Lolth can turn her dark face upon them without warning and undoubtedly will sometime soon.

Day-to-Day Activities

They wield social power. Most do so in a manner in keeping with the cruel and capricious nature of Lolth herself. Priestesses of Lolth strive to act as Lolth wishes and to manipulate (often by brutal force) those around them to do so too. The ultimate aim of every priestess is to achieve and keep the Favor of Lolth. The spirits of priestesses who die in her favor are believed to go to the Abyss, where they become yochlol and other servant creatures. Those who die in Lolth's disfavor are thought to pass into torment on another plane somewhere, perhaps to someday return to the Realms as a snake or spider. (Drow beliefs are confused on such matters, and often change with time and location.) The duties of a good priestess, then, are to do whatever is necessary to gain and to keep the Spider Queen's favor. Although treachery and cruelty are often rewarded, Lolth does not look kindly on those who let personal grudges and revenge-taking bring defeat or shame to their people.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies

Lolth requires homage and submission in prayer, plus offerings regularly from her priestesses. Ceremonies involving the sacrifice of surface elves are performed when they are available and on nights of the full moon. These sacrifices are seen as deliberate affronts to Sehanine, Lolth's hated rival. Rituals to Lolth are customarily practiced in female-only company in a sacred room or area. Rituals requiring extraordinary power or a public display may be celebrated in the open and in all sorts of mixed company. When Lolth's aid is required, sacrifices must be made. These are traditionally the blood of drow faithful and/or captured foes, spilled with a spider-shaped knife whose eight descending legs are blades. In other cases, gems or other precious objects may be burned in braziers, as prayers of offering are chanted. In large, important rituals, priestesses of Lolth customarily use eight braziers to provide additional flame material and in homage to Lolth (the flames represent her eight legs). The most powerful rituals to Lolth defy detailed description and are seldom seen by nondrow. Rituals to Lolth involve the burning of precious oils and incense, live offerings, and riches of all sorts, particularly gems. These are customarily placed in a bowl-shaped depression in a black altar (or burning brazier). These offerings are always consumed in the flames of Lolth at some point in the ritual. If Lolth is particularly displeased, or impostors are present, the black-and-red flames that leap from the braziers to consume the offerings may also arc to consume other valuables present, such as magical items, jewelry, and clothing. Typically, Lolth's flames do little more than humiliate a burned priestess, destroying her garments, but an impostor or intruder receives a searing flame attack. If this occurs, every priestess of Lolth present in the chamber is compelled to destroy those who would so insult Lolth.

Structure

The church is heavily dominated by female drows, as only females can become priestesses. Women of other races can become priestesses, but it is more difficult for them to gain prestige and rank within the church. The highest priestess within the church is referred to as Reverend Mother. Below her there are the Reverend Daughters and the lowest rank is the Reverend Priestess. Those women who hold rank within the church are also seen as social leaders, rulers and highly ranked members of society. This affords them the luxuries and privileges of the wealthy.

Culture

Station: In all the world of the drow, there is no more important word. It is the calling of their—of our—religion, the incessant pulling of hungering heartstrings. Ambition overrides good sense and compassion is thrown away in its face, all in the name of Lloth, the Spider Queen.
— Drizzt Do'Urden

As a general rule, drow living within a Lolthite society couldn't afford to show emotions like compassion or love, for they were easy to exploit and drow often preferred emotional cruelty over causing physical harm. The strife they constantly endured led them to be paranoid, with a fear of everyone and everything, from the potential loss of personal position, Lolth's favor, the loyalty (or even the threat of outright rebellion) of their inferiors, to punishment by their own superiors' hands. While living in the Mundane world has mitigated this greatly, they have not left all of that behind in the Shadow Realm. As their religion dictates, they are a cruel and selfish people with pride paramount. They have accepted that they must allow other races to live among them as they do not have the numbers required to create an independent nation solely of drow. Perhaps in the future, but for now, they tolerate the other races and the Mundane because they must.

History

The church of Lolth is the primary religious organization dedicated to the drow goddess Lolth, the Spider Queen, within the Shadow Realm. When Anastasia Markova came to the mundane world, she brought her religious beliefs with her. Upon establishing Markova Enterprises as a governing body, she also established her faith as the only legal religion with in Puget Sound.