Vhaeraun

Vhaeraun (Vay-rawn), also known as the Masked Lord, the Masked God of Night and the Shadow, was the drow god of drow males, territory, thievery, and evil activity on the surface. A slur to describe him among the followers of Eilistraee was the Sly Savage. Vhaeraun resided in the Demonweb Pits; his realm was called Ellaniath and was his hiding place, the whereabouts of which were unknown due to the god wiping the memories of anyone visiting it.

Appearance
As an avatar, Vhaeraun appeared as an unarmored, black-masked (or purple-masked ) male drow who was masked in shadows, had a short sword that allowed him to blind his enemies and a long sword that was invisible in the darkness, and wore a cloak that allowed him to protect not only him but also everyone nearby from harmful spells. His eye and hair color changed with his emotion (red for anger, gold for triumph, blue for amusement, green for puzzlement or curious interest). He spoke High Drow. When he appeared to Inthracis in 1373 DR, he was missing a hand.

Personality and beliefs
Vhaeraun was a proud (at times vain) and vindictive drow, rarely forgiving any slight towards him or his followers. He was willing to use any tool to reach his goals (including treachery and underhandedness), but he didn't tolerate when such ways were used against him, or his people.

Despite these harsh traits, he was also willing to cooperate for a worthy goal, especially when it came to undermining and fighting his mother, Lolth. He detested to see the drow wither because of the pointless infighting and division that she promoted. In fact, one of his main goals was to undo the Spider Queen, her idea of "society", and to replace it with one where the drow would be united, and both genders treated with equality. He saw that as the only way for the drow to conquer their rightful supremacy over all the other, lesser races. Elves represented an exception, as it was Vhaeraun's belief that all the Tel'Quessir needed to work together for the progress (and dominance) of the People as a whole.

Vhaeraun was actively involved in the lives of his followers, answering their requests of assistance more often than not. If summoned with a proper ritual and deference by his priests, he could even send his avatar as an answer to the prayer. Because of this, some followers saw Vhaeraun as an entity closer to them than a deity would generally be. Such worshipers even referred to their god as a tool to reach their goals, and were not afraid to discuss his weaknesses.

Relationships
Vhaeraun was the son of Corellon Larethian and Lolth, the brother of Eilistraee and the father of Selvetarm. He opposed and was opposed by all of his family members.

Before the Second Sundering, he used to hate his sister Eilistraee, both for having  been the favored child of Corellon, and for having hindered his efforts to become the mainstream religion in Ilythiir (as the conflict between the two siblings helped Ghaunadaur and Lolth to gain influence and lead the Ilythiiri to their fall). However, post 1489 DR, after the time spent as the Masked Lady, and after their return during the Sundering, Eilistraee and Vhaeraun deeply knew and understood each other. As a consequence, they became closer, and more open to each other's ways and goals. They reached a truce and even friendship, although some of their followers still remained foes.

He was opposed by his son Selvetarm. They fought during the Silence of Lolth as Vhaeraun sought to destroy Lolth in her weakened state.

The object of his true enmity and hatred was his mother Lolth. Due to him lacking the power for a frontal fight, he tried to undermine her in secret and to unite the other drow powers against her.

Vhaeraun enjoyed a working relationship with Mask, Shar, and Talona. The relationship with Mask was interesting in that while Mask was interested in absorbing him to compensate his loss of power to Cyric, there were also Vhaeraun's followers who used the resemblance in the two gods' symbols and methods to recruit followers among humans and half-elves.

The Dawn Age
Vhaeraun was born as the son of Corellon Larethian and Lolth and the brother of Eilistraee.

About -30000 DR, Lolth (at that time called Araushnee) tried to overthrow her husband as the head of the elven pantheon. Vhaeraun supported this plan by capturing Sehanine Moonbow, while one of his sister's arrow almost killed her father, drawn to his chest by the magic of Araushnee. . After the failed coup, mother and son were banished from the elven pantheon, while the Dark Dancer willingly chose the exile, to bring her support to the dark elves in the dark times that she had foreseen.

The First Flowering
After their exile, Eilistraee and Vhaeraun chose to wander on Toril, home of the dark elves (and of many other elven people, later). Vhaeraun gained a strong influence in the southern Faerun, among the drow of Ilythiir, despite Eilistraee's efforts against his and Ghaunadaur's influence over the Ilythiiri dark elves. With time, his faith became the most widespread in the southern empire, but in -17,600 DR, the Ever'Sakkatien (the first Sundering) caused the destruction of great part of Ilythiir (including its capital, Atorrnash), and the death of many of his followers with it. The Masked Lord's influence ebbed with the loss of his worshipers, leveling the playing field for Lolth (whose attention had been brought to Toril by the unaware moon elf Kethryllia Amarillis, and who had already gained followers in Ilythiir).

The Crown Wars
The Crown Wars saw a great increase of Lolth's influence over Ilythiir. Her worship began to spread among the southern dark elves, particularly among the nobles, and the Sethomiir family (the rulers of the empire), who were corrupted by the Balor Wendonai, Lolth's champion and emissary, during the Second Crown War. This culminated in -10,000 DR, when, after realizing that Lolth's influence had started to spread among the Ilythiiri, the Seldarine and the elves gathered at the Elven Court, and banished all dark elves (including those who weren't corrupted by Lolth and Wendonai), turning them into drow. Despite their efforts, after the Descent, Vhaeraun and his followers no longer had the power to directly oppose the Spider Queen. However, they kept fighting in secret to free the drow from her grasp and from the self-destructive lifestyle that she was forcing upon them.

War of the Spider Queen
In the Year of Wild Magic, 1372 DR, the goddess Lolth went into a state of hibernation, a period called the Silence of Lolth, with Selvetarm protecting her, as part of a plan to increase her power and separate her divine realm, the Demonweb Pits, from the Abyss. For about one year, she stopped granting spells to her followers and became effectively inactive, leading a considerable number of her followers to seek alternatives in the other deities of the Dark Seldarine, especially Eilistraee, Vhaeraun and Kiaransalee, who gained followers and influence.

In the same year, the drow of Menzoberranzan, through Triel Baenre, sent a group of powerful adventurers (initially Quenthel Baenre, Pharaun Mizzrym, Ryld Argith, Valas Hune and the Draegloth Jeggred Baenre) to discover the cause of Lolth's silence (or, as was then suspected, disfavor). . During Uktar, Quenthel's company finally managed to gain the collaboration of a cleric of Vhaeraun who could lead them to the Demonweb Pits with the help of his god. However, they were betrayed by their Vhaeraunite guide, who summoned the Masked Lord as part of a plan to attack the defenseless Lolth. Selvetarm appeared to battle Vhaeraun but both fell off the web and plummeted into the darkness below.

Ultimately, the Silence ended with Lolth emerging from her slumber as a greater deity, but even then, the War of the Spider Queen was not over yet.

Vhaeraun himself started to plot against his sister, working to devise a method to slay her. As a result, his worshipers planned to cast a High Magic spell to allow Vhaeraun to enter his sister's realm and assassinate her. However, that kind of magic was very taxing, and would have required the sacrifice of the souls of the casters. Because of that, the followers of the Masked Lord started to kill various priestesses of Eilistraee and collect their souls in their masks (a technique which they called "soultheft"), in order to use them as a fuel for the ritual. Furthermore, unusually for drow, the Nightshadows that were working to prepare the spell also managed to reach the reciprocal trust needed for High Magic to work.

Eventually, Qilué Veladorn, leader of the church of Eilistraee, managed to learn about the plan and what was happening to her fellow priestesses, and started to work to disrupt it, alongside the drow mage Q'arlynd Melarn (who had turned to the faith of Eilistraee). Q'arlynd's task was to take the place of one of the Vhaerunites and try to disrupt their ritual.

On Nightal 20 of the Year of Risen Elfkin, 1375 DR, Q'arlynd failed to accomplish his mission and Vhaeraun managed to enter his sister Eilistraee's realm and attempted to assassinate her. Despite that, the Dark Maiden did not receive her brother unprepared, as she had been warned by her priestesses about his intentions. No mortal actually witnessed the battle that ensued, so what happened remained largely unknown. However, Eilistraee emerged from the battle alive, suggesting that Vhaeraun had failed and perished at the hand of his sister. Chaos and despair spread among the followers of the Masked Lord, but some thought that their god was still alive, and that the twins had a plan and agreed to merge and work together against their mother for a time. Others were convinced that Vhaeraun had succeeded and was disguised as Eilistraee. Either way, it was certain that after the event, Eilistraee was changed: she became a deity known as "the Masked Lady", holding both the Dark Maiden's and the Masked Lord's portfolios and causing both their followers to cooperate, albeit uneasily.

Post-Spellplague
Vhaeraun's death was a huge setback for the church, but it didn't kill his faith completely.

Some drow who didn't believe his demise still worshipped him, and their prayers were actually answered. In fact, during that time, his followers (including lay worshipers) gained some divine abilities (like that of enhancing poison, of disguising their appearance, or small range teleportation), which allowed them to complete dangerous tasks to further their cause, and safely escape afterwards. They were called Skulkers of Vhaeraun, and mostly consisted of disgruntled drow males, but also included a few females.

Speculations were that the entity answering their prayers could be identified as the remnants of Vhaeraun himself, or possibly another god masquerading as the Masked Lord. Some believed that the fervor and faith of the followers were the source of their new powers.

The Second Sundering
Vhaeraun managed to return to life during the event known as the Second Sundering. , in Flamerule, 1489 DR. . Vhaeraun and Eilistraee were separate entities again, but after the time spent as the Masked Lady, they reached a reciprocal understanding, and the enmity between them was no more. Both siblings made their return be known, manifesting through their avatars to their followers, who enthusiastically spread the word.

Worshipers
Main article: Church of Vhaeraun

The church of Vhaeraun mostly consisted of drow and half-drow wishing for their people to abandon the constant infighting and the existence of continuous strife, forced upon them by Lolth ( therefore hindering any possibilities of growth). They strove to make all drow work together, to finally be free from the Spider Queen, and reclaim their rightful place and dominance in the surface world (which they called the Night Above).

Vhaeraun's faith was particularly appealing to drow and half drow males, who sought better opportunities in life than the near slavery that most of them experienced under Lolth's thumb. They saw a worthy cause in the promise of a gender-fair society, where both males and females would have the same opportunities and value.

Vhaeraun had the second largest follower base among the drow as a whole and the largest one among surface dwelling drow. His church had a particularly strong presence in the northern part of the Forest of Mir, on the border between Tethyr and Calimshan.

The most common form of worship of Vhaeraun consisted in melting (or burning) items like jewelry, weapons, or clothing, that had belonged to defeated enemies of the drow (or to female priestesses), in black altars shaped as a bowl.

Servitors
Vhaeraun forbade his priests to use spells to summon any servant creatures, as he expected them to only perform rituals to summon his avatar. However, he was personally served by creatures like gehreleths (farastu, kelubar, and shator); mephits (air, smoke, and earth), shadow dragons, shadow fiend, and undead shadows.

Appearances

 * Novels:
 * Condemnation
 * Resurrection
 * Sacrifice of the Widow


 * Sourcebooks:
 * Demihuman Deities
 * Faiths and Pantheons
 * On Hallowed Ground