Lolth

"Queen of the Demonweb Pits"
Pantheon:	Drow
AoC:	Spiders, evil, darkness
Symbol:	Black spider with female drow's head
Home P/L/R:	Abyss/66/Lolth's Web (the Demon- web Pits)

Lolth (sometimes called Lloth) is the queen of all the drow powers, though most of them'd rather see themselves installed as the high-up. It's only through malicious cunning and subtlety that Lolth's held on for this long - that and the fact that she's got her spidery spies and fiendish handmaidens all over the place, and the other deities dare not crush them for fear of offending her.

Fact is, Lolth's a tyrant, and not even her worshippers and high priestesses love her. They fear her, yes, and they revere her, but they'd never love her - not in an eon of eons. What they love is the power she gives them, the promise that she'll watch over them. Fortunately for the Spider Queen, she doesn't need love, only belief. And belief flows just as strongly from fear and respect.

Lolth's cruel and capricious, constantly turning one drow against another. She claims she does it to improve the race, to make the drow strong enough to deal a harsh lesson to the surface elves, but it seems just as likely that she does it because she likes to see pain and suffering. Still, there's little doubt that her drow are growing mightier in the caverns of the Underdark, so her methods seem to be working. It's the rest that's dark; no one who's talking will say exactly how Lolth plans on taking vengeance on Corellon and the rest of the Seldarine.

Her realm - called either Lolth's Web or the Demonweb Pits, depending on who a body's talking to - sits on the 66th layer of the Abyss. It's a tangled, loopy mass of tunnels and web strands; if it could be seen from above, it'd look like a huge spiderweb. Lolth's great iron fortress, in the shape of a gigantic spider, is a mobile thing, crawling across the web to feed. Some say that the fortress has its own will, while others swear that it's powered only by Lolth's desire. Whatever the truth, if a sod sees it coming, he'd best get out of its way.

Lolth's Web opens onto multitudes of planes, wherever she has a stronghold of worshippers (though her priests must be female, any berk can swear his loyalty). The queen's yochlol servants watch over each of the gates; only the worthy or the condemned can travel through them with Lolth's consent. All others are food for the spiders so common to her realm.