List Pages
Filter By Tag
Eilistraee
 |
Eilistraee
- Symbol: Nude long-haired female drow dancing with a silver bastard sword in front of a full moon
- Home Plane: Arvandor (also the Demonweb Pits)
- Alignment: Chaotic good
- Portfolio: Song, beauty, dance, swordwork, hunting, moonlight
- Worshipers: Good-aligned drow, hunters, surface-dwelling elves
- Cleric Alignments: CG, CN, NG
- Domains: Chaos, Charm, Drow, Elf, Good, Moon, Portal
- Favored Weapon: “The Moonsword” (bastard sword)
The patron of good-aligned drow and those of that race who wish to live in the Realms Above in peace, Eilistraee (eil-iss-tray-yee) is a melancholy, moody deity. She is greatly angered by the evil of most drow but glad that some have worked their way free of the Spider Queen’s web. Eilistraee is a lover of beauty and peace but is not averse to striking back against those who would harm her followers. She appears as an unclad, glossy-skinned drow woman of great height with ankle-length, sweeping hair of glowing silver.
The daughter of Corellon Larethian and Araushnee (who later became Lolth), and the sister of Vhaeraun, Eilistraee was banished along with the other drow deities for her (inadvertent) role in the war against the Seldarine. Despite being absolved of any crime, Eilistraee insisted upon this punishment from her reluctant father, because she foresaw that the dark elves would need a beacon of good within their reach.
Eilistraee is a melancholy, moody drow female, a lover of beauty and peace. The evil of most drow banks a burning anger within her, and when her faithful are harmed, that anger is apt to spill out into wild action. It is not her way to act openly, but she often aids creatures she favors (whether they worship her or not) in small, immediately practical ways. Eilistraee is happiest when she looks on bards singing or composing, craftsmen at work, lovers, or acts of kindness.
While the Dark Maiden and the Seldarine remain allies, it is a strained relationship that reflects the divisions that persist among the elves. Among the elven powers, Eilistraee is only close with Erevan Ilesere, and she has only recently worked out an uneasy truce with Shevarash. Eilistraee is unusually close with the human goddess of magic, Mystra; Qilue Veladorn, seventh of the Seven Sisters, serves both goddesses as Chosen of Mystra and as Chosen of Eilistraee. The Dark Maiden hates the corruption and unredeemable evil that both Lolth and Ghaunadaur represent, and she mourns her brother’s enduring cruelty and selfishness.
The Church
Prejuidice
The church of Eilistraee is little known and poorly understood by inhabitants of the surface world. Few among the surface-dwelling races give any credence to rumors of good-aligned drow emerging from the Underdark. The possibility of a deity who supports such folk is simply beyond the ken of nonelves, who generally dismiss such talk as idle rumor or a plot by evil drow raiders. Most elves willfully ignore such talk, uncomfortable for what it might mean to the central tenets of their culture: Dogma teaches that the Crown Wars were primarily caused by the unbridled evil of the ancestral drow. Only among like-minded groups active in the same regions as the church of Eilistraee has the faith begun to be recognized for the hope that it holds out. In particular, the Harpers have begun secretly supporting the church of the Dark Maiden and work toward the day when it is fully accepted throughout Faerûn.
The followers of Eilistraee are figures of legend in both the Underdark and the Lands of Light. They are the subject of superstitions and wildly inaccurate mistruths, held by surface dwellers to be the evil vanguard of the Spider Goddess’s plot to plunge all of Faerun into darkness under her rule and held by those drow who follow the Way of Lolth (or other evil gods) to be faerie (surface elf) invaders masquerading as dark elves in preparation for the coming war of annihilation. Rare is the individual-dark elf or not-who appreciates that Eilistraee is forging her own path, one that welcomes beings of all races who revel in life and the free form expression of all that entails.
Rituals
Clerics of the Dark Maiden pray for spells at night, after moonrise, singing them whenever possible. Their rituals revolve around a hunt followed by a feast, dancing (wearing as little clothing as possible), and a Circle of Song. This last is held preferably in a wooded glade on a moonlit night, in which the worshipers sit and dance by turns in a circle, each one leading a song. Worshipers of Eilistraee try to let out all the gathered emotions of the day with an evensong. This is a personal thing, often wordless, and done in private. Clerics of the Dark Maiden who have the coin to do so are expected to hire any strange minstrel or bard they meet for a song or two; lay worshipers are encouraged but not required to do so.
Eilistraee’s church observes a number of festivals. The Sword Dance is a ritual of shedding a small amount of blood and invoking Eilistraee’s favor to prevent a blade from breaking or rusting for the next three months. The High Hunt, celebrated at least once each season, is a nocturnal pursuit of a dangerous beast or monster, led by clerics of Eilistraee. By tradition, the hunters may use any bladed weapons and wear anything—except the clerics, who go naked, each carrying only a single sword. If the quarry is slain, the celebrants chant prayers and perform a circle dance to the deity. At least once a year, clerics of Eilistraee undertake a Run. Those who are not drow blacken their bodies with natural dyes and oils, and all, drow or not, boil certain leaves and berries to make their hair silvery. They then go wandering on the surface world, trusting to their music, kind ways, and sword skills to keep from being slain on sight. They go where they are strangers, making an effort to seek out elven communities, and bring them game, succor, and helping hands. They try to learn new songs, music, and sword ways, and do not come to preach their faith or make a mark for themselves.
In the end, all clerics of the Dark Maiden who do not die in battle hold their greatest ritual, the Last Dance. In their old age, they hear Eilistraee singing to them by night, calling them to her. When the song feels right, they go out unclad under the moonlit sky and dance—never to be seen again. Those who have observed such dances say that the deity appears and sings overhead, and the aged cleric begins to dance more effortlessly, looking younger and younger. Her hair begins to glow with the same radiance as the Dark Maiden’s, and then she becomes slowly translucent, fading away as the dance goes on. In the end, only a silvery radiance is seen, with two voices—the deity and her cleric—raised together in melancholy, tender song. Eilistraee’s clerics often multiclass as fighters, bards, rangers, or sword dancers (see Chapter 4).
Clergy
Whenever and wherever possible, faithful of Eilistraee encourage drow to return to the surface world. They work to promote harmony between drow and surface-dwelling races, to establish drow as rightful, nonevil inhabitants of Faerûn. They nurture beauty, music, the craft of making musical instruments, and song wherever they find it; assist hunters and hunting; and help others in acts of kindness whenever they see ways to do so. Clerics are expected to be skilled in hunting and in playing at least one of the Dark Maiden’s favored instruments (horn, flute, or harp). They must be adequate singers as well as fit, graceful dancers. They gather songs and musical knowledge constantly, and acquire training in the use of the sword when they can.
Clerics of Eilistraee wear their hair long and dress practically for whatever they are currently doing. For rituals, they wear as little as possible. Otherwise, they tend to wear soft leathers for hunting, aprons while cooking, and—rarely—armor when battle is expected. When relaxing, they favor silvery, diaphanous gowns. Most clerics prefer holy symbols of silver, typically worn as pins or hung around the neck on slender silver or mithral chains.
The church of Eilistraee has little in the way of formal hierarchy. Its congregants tend to gather in small, independent bands in deep forests across Faerûn. One individual is acknowledged as the high cleric of the faith, however: Qilué Veladorn, Chosen of Eilistraee, Chosen of Mystra, and one of the Seven Sisters. Qilué’s authority is a subtle one, her words taken by most members of the faith as advice from a wise elder sister.
The clergy of Eilistraee are collectively known as Dark Ladies, although individual temples often have a unique collective name for the Dark Maiden’s priests. Acolytes and aspirants to the clergy who wish to join a temple or who have not yet attained full priesthood are known as Maids.
The titles of individual priests vary widely—and at some temples are personally selected during a private Flame Song—but some common examples include Moon Dancer, Moon Singer, Dark Huntress, Argent Maid, Living Sword, Unsheathed Blade, Sword Smith, Bright Edge of Darkness, and Ghost of the Moonstruck Night. Specialty priests of the Dark Maiden are known as sword dancers and, including multiclassed specialty priests, make up the vast majority (90%) of the clergy. The fraction of clerics (including multiclassed clerics) in Eilistraee’s service (6%) has always been small and is continuing to shrink. A small fraction (2%) of Lady Silverhair’s clergy, found predominantly in the South, although that has started to change in the aftermath of the Time of Troubles, are crusaders, and all are members of the Darksong Knights. An even smaller fraction (less than 1%) of those who venerate the Lady of the Dance are mystics. Such priests invariably discover Eilistraee on their own and come to worship the Dark Maiden outside of any established church environment.
Special Orders
Places of Worship
Temples of the Dark Maiden are typically established in the mouths of dark caverns and in dim forests on the surface world from which her clerics can venture forth at night to brave the moonlight. It is rare for clergy of Eilistraee to found a temple below the surface. The Dark Maiden’s clergy seek out pristine, natural sites that need little modification. These places of worship are developed much like those dedicated to the Seldarine. Temple complexes typically include a glade in which to dance, offering an unobstructed view of the moon, and a sheltered place away from the light of day (often an access tunnel to the Underdark). Other common features are a thick tree canopy, a lively freshwater stream, a forge and smithy, and a vein of iron or some other metal suitable for the crafting of swords. However, the simplest shrine of the Dark Maiden requires naught but a moonlit glade and a song (audible or imagined) that draws one into a dance.
Aboveground temples of Eilistraee are known to exist in the Moonwood north of the village of Quaervarr and at the northern end of the Velarwood in Harrowdale. The Mouth of Song, as the former temple is known, is located in a cavemouth beneath a treeless hill-atop which the dark elven priests and a few half-elven and elven faithful from Silverymoon dance in a great ring on moonlit nights-a day’s travel north of Quaervarr. The Shadowtop Glade, as the latter temple is known, is located in a series of caves that line both sides of a steep-sided overgrown gully dominated by a grove of towering shadowtop trees. Dark elven priests of the temple armed with enchanted silver swords and moon-worshiping lycanthropes from the nearby Howling Hill join together to conduct sacred hunts to Eilistraee and Selune when the moon is full. Smaller shrines of the Dark Maiden have been spotted in the Misty Forest, the High Forest (where the Dark Ladies are led by Ysolde Veladorn, daughter of Qilue), the Forest of Shadows, the Lake Sember region, the Grey Forest, the Forest of Lethyr, the Yuirwood, and the Chondalwood. Hidden temples of Eilistraee may exist in the hearts of such forests as well. Temples of the Dark Maiden are conspicuously absent on Evermeet, the Green Isle, despite the rapprochement engendered by the dark elven ambassador, Lady Karsel’lyn Lylyl-Lytherraias.
The Promenade
See the Promenade.
The Twisted Tower
In the Year of Shadows Fleeting (-331 DR), the drow of the Twisted Tower fell to the armies of Cormanthyr and Rystal Wood was left in the hands of good-aligned dark elf allies. Within a century, the Tower of the Dark Moon was Eilistraee’s greatest temple in the Realms. The Dark Maiden’s temple fell once again to the drow beneath Cormanthyr in the Year of the Apparition (190 DR) and survives today as Shadowdale’s primary redoubt where it is known by its original name, the Twisted Tower. All that remains of the Dark Maiden’s legacy is the swirl of Eilistraee’s moonfire that envelops any follower of Eilistraee who mentions her name within the once-sacred halls.
Dogma
Aid the weak, strong, grateful, and churlish alike; be always kind, save in battle with evil. Encourage happiness everywhere; lift hearts with kind words, jests, songs, and merriment. Learn how to cook game and how best to hunt it. Learn new songs, dances, and ways with weapons, and spices, and recipes, and pass this learning on whenever possible. Learn how to play, make, and repair musical instruments. Practice music and sword-work. Defend and aid all folk, promoting harmony between the races.
Strangers are your friends. The homeless must be given shelter from storms, under your own roof if need be. Repay rudeness with kindness. Repay violence with swift violence, that the fewest may be hurt and danger fast removed from the land. The faithful must aid drow who are in distress. If the distressed are fighting with other drow, the combat is to be stopped with as little bloodshed as possible. So long as the drow met with are not working evil on others, they are to be aided and given the message of Eilistraee: “A rightful place awaits you in the Realms Above, in the Land of the Great Light. Come in peace, and live beneath the sun again, where trees and flowers grow.”
Priests of the goddess are allowed to keep and accumulate money given them as offerings—with the understanding that this wealth is to be used to buy food, musical instruments, and other tools (such as good swords) to serve the will of the goddess. Priests of Eilistraee are allowed to go adventuring, so long as they feed, aid, and defend the needy along the way. They are encouraged to aid adventuring parties, with the price of their aid to be provision of some sort of beneficial magical armor they can use (or failing that, an enchanted sword of some sort).
Faithful of Eilistraee are encouraged to give food to others in need with a prayer to the goddess, to act with kindness, and to give food and money they can spare to their priests. Priests are to feed themselves by their own gardening and hunting skills as much as possible and to try to convert at least one stranger per moon to the worship of Eilistraee. Leading a convert in a prayer to the Dark Maiden is itself an offering to the goddess, who often (68%) manifests as a sign to the convert. When priests of the goddess must fight evil, they are to bum the bodies of the evil creatures they slay as an offering to the goddess-unless such creatures are edible and nonsentient, and there are hungry folk near.
Any hungry travelers met with, who offer no threats, are to be fed by the faithful of Eilistraee. While traveling, priests are to carry food with them for this purpose at all times. Where food cannot be purchased or received, it must be gathered or hunted for. Faithful of Eilistraee are to set aside food and give it as often as possible to strangers in need, particularly outcasts and those of other races. If food yet remains, it is to be given to the priests of Eilistraee, that they may do the same, and none shall go hungry. In times of plenty, store food for lean times ahead. In harsh winters, patrol the lands about to find and take in the lost, the hurt, and those caught in the teeth of the cold.
Whenever possible, food should be eaten with the accompaniment of song. Except for properly sad occasions, a feast should be accompanied by merriment; the faithful of the Dark Maiden are commanded to promote happiness and gaiety whenever possible. When faithful and allies of a priest fall in battle, any priest present must, if possible, provide burial, a funeral song, and comfort to the bereaved.
“Eilistraee is the only deity to offer the drow any hope. With Lolth missing and her priestesses unable to mount a defense, the cities of the Underdark are going to fall, one by one. Soon hundreds—if not thousands or even tens of thousands—of drow will come streaming out of the Underdark, looking for refuge. Elistraee’s priestesses will offer it to them. They’ll help guide our people up into the light. They’ll teach the drow to take their rightful place in the world—to not just survive up here, but thrive. We’ll be able to reclaim our birthright. We’re creating a new home on the World Above, one in which the drow can live in harmony with one another. What more noble cause can their possibly be than that?”