The Queen of Spiders

The spider queen, demon princess of spiders, goddess of the drow, and head to the Dark Seldarine. She is capricious and malevolent, and despite her unreliability demands perfect obeisance from her followers and grossly punishes any who annoy her. She was once araushnee, consort to corellon Larethian, but grew ambitious and betrayed him. Her wicked turn corrupted her, and turned the elves who followed her into drow. They followed her beneath the earth as they fled, and Sehanine cursed her, but got cursed back in return. She took up residence in the Abyss, in the Demonweb Pits (layer 66), and has become a demon lord in addition to being a goddess. She's very constantly active on the Prime Material through her powerful clergy, constantly plotting against surface elves, and getting involved in abyssal politics.

Despite her demands for loyalty, those who blindly obeyed Lolth's demands would find themselves quickly led to their deaths. In truth, Lolth's capricious nature meant that there were few hard-and-fast rules, and much uncertainty as to her desires. The successful had to pay attention to her ever-changing wants, for her favor was fickle, and those who she played favorites with (a frequent occurrence) would inevitably find her turning on them without warning. The Spider Queen was technically capable of displays of kindness and aiding those she fancied, and would always give one chance for the disfavored to redeem themselves, but this usually meant a dangerous mission and in others might just mean silently watching their next move. She could never be relied on and her ultimate motivation was almost always manipulative.

Lolth's promotion of infighting amongst her worshipers led many to believe she was insane, and this assessment was not baseless. Indeed, ever since her fall from grace her sanity had frayed and fractured until she became the petty, conniving monster she was commonly known as. Her will was not merely fluid, but often times contradictory, although even if she was mad, the drow placed more importance on a deep and devious sense of cunning than mental stability. Ironically, for all her demands for obedience, nothing demanded her attention and admiration more than treachery, even towards herself (if only temporarily). Guile and political ruthlessness were the signs of her favorite servants, and she ultimately admired ambition more than she did loyalty.

Lolth's clerics are almost exclusively female (although there are a few males). They represent the rulers of most Lolthite communities, and strictly follow the Spider Queen's will, forcing the drow into extreme subservience to their deity, and into the constant state of conflict that dominated their lives. Each priestess strives for the favor of the Spider Queen and is ready to do anything in order to gain status in her goddess' eyes. Her clergy sacrifice the living and treasure for her glory. Their vestments are normally adorned with spider motifs. Her rituals require them to wear darker clothes or none at all. This is true for a majority of drow but the Aelf-Adal a subspecies of drow found in the far northern wastes of the Underdark by Vorovia have a different patron deity, one spawned of nightmares of Lolth, Isnoth, She Who Lies Slumbering. Lolth is Chaotic Evil and her symbol is a Spider.