Eilistraee

Eilistraee.jpg

Overview
Eilistraee, also referred to as "The Dark Maiden", is the chaotic good drow goddess of song, swordwork, hunting, the moon and beauty. 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 appears as an unclad, glossy-skinned drow woman of great height with ankle-length, sweeping hair of glowing silver.

She is worshipped by song and dance, if at all possible, in the surface world under the moonlit night among the woods. She takes great pleasure in bards learning new songs, craftsmen at work, and the doing of kindhearted deeds.



Worshipers
The church of Eilistraee is little known and poorly understood by inhabitants of the surface world. Her worshippers are good-aligned drow hoping to escape the Underdark's evil, Lolth-worshipping matriarchal society, and regain a place in the surface world. Among her followers are drow, humans, gnomes, elves, shapeshifters and half-elves.

The church of Eilistraee has little in the way of formal hierarchy. It's clerics 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. They pray for spells at night, after moonrise, singing them whenever possible. Their rituals revolve around a hunt followed by a feast, dancing, 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.

Relationships
Eilistraee's allies are the Seldarine, Mystra, Selûne, and the good deities of the Underdark races; her enemies are the evil deities of the Underdark, especially the rest of the drow pantheon.

History
Eilistraee is the daughter of Corellon Larethian and Araushnee, who later became Lolth, and the sister of Vhaeraun. She was banished along with the other drow deities for her role, albeit inadvertently, in the war against the Seldarine. 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.

Dogma
"Be always kind, except in battle with evil. Encourage happiness everywhere. Learn and teach new songs, dance and the flowing dance of skilled swordwork. Promote harmony between the races. Befriend strangers, shelter those without homes, and feed the hungry. Repay rudeness with kindness. Repay violence with swift violence so that those who cause it are quickly dealt with. Aid drow in distress and give them the Lady's message: "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.""