Deep Duerra

Deep Duerra, or simply Duerra, was the duergar demigoddess of conquest, expansion, and psionics, and was venerated by those dwarves skilled in the mysterious Invisible Art. Ever the imperialist, the Axe Princess of Conquest was a resolute believer in the supremacy of psionics and the manifest destiny of the duergar to rule all the Underdark.

"The mind is but another material, set before us to shape into a weapon."

- Gargosa Ironmind

Description
Duerra usually appeared as a, stocky, and powerfully-built, female duergar. Most of her hair was shaved off, leaving no beard and only a monk's tonsured cut and a rear-facing, tightly wound braid on her scalp.

Personality
Duerra was a pompous and arrogant authoritarian with the expectation that her every whim be immediately attended to. She dismissed arcane magic as inferior to psionic power, viewed the duergar as a unique race whose ancestral relation to other dwarves as an irrelevant piece of best forgotten trivia, and was resolute in her conviction that it was her inalienable right to rule.

However, it was not the actual possession of territory that Duerra enjoyed, but the act of obtaining it; the Axe Princess was always plotting, planning, and strategizing for her next glorious conquest. Never content, Duerra was ruthless in her pursuit of assured victory, having no tolerance for anyone, no matter who they were, that didn't meet her expectations, and considering no sacrifice too great for her continued success.

Powers
An avatar of Duerra could cast spells from any sphere and use psionics of all types. Every minute at will, Duerra could cast deflect psionics, though she herself was completely immune to any mind-affecting abilities, whether spells or psionics. She emitted a constant mental chant at all times, and allied duergar within of her were fearless, even in the face of supernatural terror like a dragon's aura.

Duerra could only be harmed using enchanted weapons. Like some other dwarven gods, Duerra could enter a ghost-like anima form upon being killed. This phantasmal form couldn't be turned, could become invisible at will, and use any of her magic powers, though she was only half as durable in this state.

Duerra could manifest her influence as a crown-like nimbus of silver light that surrounded a creature's head. For the next ten minutes, the target's reservoir of psionic power would quadruple, they would have some kind of psionic defense surrounding them (such as intellect fortress, mental barrier, mind blank, thought shield, or tower of iron will), and/or, like Duerra, their minds would be immune to magic tampering.

Manifestation
Duerra indicated her favor via the discovery of small pools of fresh, completely still water, and through the discovery of greenstones, sapphires and crown-like silver rings. If displeased, she was known to unavoidably feeblemind the annoyance.

Possessions
The Axe Princess of Conquest's weapon was Mindshatter, her enchanted battleaxe that, upon striking an enemy, could steal psionic strength and transfer it to its wielder. The enchanted, everbright chainmail armor she was clad in was both shimmering and ornate.

Realm
Like Laduguer, Duerra's home was the pessimistic plane of Hammergrim, a gray, massive fortress with windowless walls a mile thick. In Hammergrim's vast courtyard, Duerra had her own hall, her personal realm known as the Citadel of Thought. Screams of incredibly agony could be heard below the catacombs of the Citadel, the sounds of duergar that offended Duerra being tortured by ember guards spawned from Hammergrim's forges.

Activities
Aside from the constant formulization of military plans, Duerra was known to dispatch avatars to intervene in matters regarding the duergar and other races. Occasionally this was to aid in conflicts where the duergar faced psionic foes, particularly aboleths and illithids, and at other times it was because a duergar city had a perfect opportunity to expand their dominion at the expense of others, but, for whatever reason, the ruling duergar authority was unwilling to capitalize on it.

Relationships
For as long as Duerra had been a divine being, she had been exiled (though not stricken completely) from the Morndinsamman, and she had shown no interest in trying to remedy the relationship. She had no friends among the dwarven gods, though Sharindlar had managed to forge working relationships with her despite loathing her principles and the wandering Dugmaren had no true foes among dwarven gods, tolerated as he was by lawful members of the pantheon due to the beneficial aspects of some of his inventions, though he found Duerra's company trying at the best of times. If some rumors were to be believed, she was the granddaughter of Moradin and Berronar and the daughter of her superior and only ally, Laduguer.

Though thought of by many as Laduguer's dauther, whether in the literal sense or perhaps because he raised her from a mortal to a demigod, the two had a very poor affinity for one another and showed a remarkable lack of compassion towards each other. While Duerra enforced the principles of ambition, greed, might, and stoicism that Laduguer had set for the duergar race, and though she both respected and obeyed him, acting as his chief lieutenant, their alliance was completely nominal.

The Axe Princess secretly felt restricted by her patron, regarding her "father" as a man whose bitterness and spite had wasted centuries of opportunities to claim the duergar birthright, and whereas Laduguer was fixated on feelings of rejection and unappreciation, Duerra was indifferent to the duergar's distant heritage. Duerra endlessly schemed against Laduguer and he did the same in kind, and, in more recent times, Duerra was said to be only a hair away from trying to depose him as the primary gray dwarf deity.

Others
Among their list of foes were the derro gods Diirinka and Diinkarazan, the beholder deities Gzemnid and the unnamed Great Mother, as well as the entire drow pantheon. There were also the deep-dwelling gods Blibdoolpoolp, of the kuo-toa, the ixzan deity Ilxendren, and the abolethic elder evil Pisaethces. Laogzed and Urdlen, the ever-hungry gods of troglodytes and evil gnomes respectively, were also among their enemies, with Urdlen specifically burrowing under Hammergrim's ore-rich earth looking for food. On the other hand, the duergar gods had less wicked opposition in Callarduran Smoothhands, deity of the deep gnomes, Psilofyr, protector god of the myconids, and Shevarash, the elven god of vengeance.

Orcus was also an enemy of Duerra since the Prince of Undead once subverted the worship of duergar beneath the Mines of Bloodstone. Particularly fierce was the hatred between Duerra and Ilsensine (as well as Maanzecorian before he died), since the Queen of the Invisible Art had stolen much of the psionic secrets and energy from the Great Brain of the illithids.

Worshipers


Like Laduguer, Duerra was venerated by the duergar to the near-exclusion of all other Morndinsamman members, the rest being only revered in name. Duerra's worshipers were primarily duergar that studied psionics and the militant warriors among the gray dwarves that chafed at the defensive ways of Laduguer's priests, those that sought to conquer much of the Underdark and would rather crush than cooperate with their neighbors. Though a few rare surface dwellers called upon the Queen for help in understanding, and more importantly concealing, the Invisible Art that was so often viewed with fear and suspicion, few outside the Underdark had heard of Duerra or her followers. Even hill and mountain dwarves were unlikely to have heard of her, although a handful of hill, mountain, and jungle dwarves skilled in psionics secretly served her (making up less than a percentage of her followers), and the more recent efforts of Duerra's priests had made them the talk of underground waystations and trading communities.

Under the surface, Duerra's specific worshipers were known as norothor, (norothar singular) a dwarvish word roughly translated as "those who seize enemy land", and the exact opinion of them widely varied within duergar communities. While younger gray dwarves admired their confidence and assertiveness, the norothor preached their expansionist philosophy so heavily that they were considered a nuisance by older dwarves that favored Laduguer. Elder dwarves viewed the norothor as cocky upstarts whose aggressiveness would bring down the collective wrath of the drow, illithids, and aboleths (as well as other Underdark races) on their heads, and indeed other Underdark races viewed the emergence of Duerra's faith as a threat to their own lands. While in theory the norothor focus on psionic discipline would make them ideal ambassadors to beings like illithids and aboleths, in practice their inherent brashness meant diplomacy often went awry, the illithids in particular loathing the dwarven adepts that dared to use psionics against its rightful masters.

The vast majority of her clergy (97%) were female, and before the Time of Troubles they were entirely so. Novice members of Duerra's faith were called the Closeminded, while full priests were known as Mindaxes. In ascending order of rank, priests were known by the titles of Psionic Blaster, Mind Thruster, Ego Whipper, Id Insinutor, Psychic Crusher, and Thought Conqueror, with High Old Ones of the church having individual titles and being collectively known as the Axe Princes and Princesses of the Invisible Art. Around 75% of all her clerics were psionicists and in general members frequently trained as psions and fighters. Norothor could wear metal armor if they pleased, though helms not made for psionics tended to interfere with their powers. Being lawful evil wasn't a requirement to become one, with lawful neutrality also being an option.

A secretive order of Duerran psionic priests known as the Mindstalkers of the Invisible Art had cells in most northern duergar settlements in the Realms, their goal being to unify the Northdark duergar kingdoms into an empire ruled by their collective consciousness. Though centuries from being finished, their invisible tendrils had already extended, secretly controlling much of duergar trade in the Savage Frontier and, in recent decades, acting from Skullport to cull psionic talent from slaves and steal surface dwellers with skill in the Invisible Art to breed with their own kind.

Dogma
Duerra's teachings were that it was the duergar's destiny to rule the Underdark, conquering the stone from which they were spawned, taking the voids in which they dwelt, and claiming the wealth and servitors that could be found within both. Inspired by her mythic accomplishments, her followers stood at the forefront of duergar offensives against the foes they hated most, dwarves and mind flayers, seeking to utterly obliterate such communities. She expected her priests to be capable leaders, and to use cunning strategy in their endless quest for unlimited power, part of their responsibilities being to train younger gray dwarves in the art of war and teach them Underdark survival techniques. While the Ladugueran clergy defended duergar holdings, senior mindaxes took their elite strike forces of duergar warriors and Duerran priests (as well as junior followers of Laduguer) on missions to scout, clear, and seize tunnel systems to help grow the community.

Another crucial facet of her faith was the supposed inferiority of arcane magic; though rare, wizards skilled in crafting magic items were typically respected in duergar society, but Duerra's dogma went against this idea. According to them, arcane magic was weak, unreliable, and obvious when compared to psionic power or magic that had been given and steadied by godly will (the duergar having strong divine spellcasting traditions). Those that relied on petty magics to survive would be destroyed or enslaved by the duergar by means of psionics, and one day all would bow before duergar might and the glorious Invisible Art. Part of the norothor training of youths was helping them to develop their natural psionics. They also attended to and controlled the slave underclass, Axe Princes and Princesses monitoring the thoughts of slaves and masters alike for signs of disloyalty to eliminate as needed, though recently the duergar had been moving away from slavery towards psionically-powered machines.

Rituals
Norothor prayed for spells at night. The duerran clergy had two annual holy days, during each of which an offering to Duerra was made in the form of dirt or stone from the borders of newly conquered land, the brains of psionic individuals, or the shattered skulls of any intelligent creatures.

The Rallying
The first celebration was a perverse festival known as the Rallying conducted on Midwinter Eve. That night, Duerra's followers came together to commemorate the triumphs of the past year and announced their intentions to expand for the coming year. The duergar worked themselves into a grim fury accompanied by the sound of dark war chants and the pounding of hammers into stone, both causing echoes through the tunnels. The culmination of these exaltations was the display of a freshly severed head of an enemy that would be passed around the group, the race of which was the next foe they planned to besiege take territory from before the next Rallying.

The Melding
The other Duerran holy day was celebrated on the 5 of Mirtul, and it was on this day that skilled Invisible Art practitioners joined together in Duerran temples to perform the Melding, a psionic ritual ceremony where the assembled duergar minds contacted Duerra herself. While in this state, the collective duergar formed a communal mind rivaling that of the great illithid elder brains, and the results of such a collective provided all clerics many of the greater insights that led to psionic and technological advances that aided in the endless quest for power and dominion.

Clothing
Ceremonial clothing of Duerra's faith was chainmail armor made to mimic her own (often treated with everbright or blueshine), and velvet, dark blue robes trimmed with surface animal furs. Clothing was drab and dull jewelry was typically worn. Otherwise, they wore drab chain or plate mail typical for duergar and a hooded, ankle-length, gray-blue robe. No headgear was worn, but dull jewelry was common.

Most Mindaxes used a battleaxe to deliberately imitate Duerra, but they were also skilled in common duergar weapons, including heavy and light crossbows, picks, short swords, spears, and warhammers, and their beautiful weapons were often bejeweled. They carried their holy symbol in the form of a silver orb two inches in diameter carved to resemble a mind flayer skull with a large crack across the top, normally with a steel chain threaded through the ears so it could be worn as an amulet.

Temples
Duerra's temples were hewn from solid rock and always constructed in aesthetically pleasing, symmetric patterns, while also being designed to muffle sounds. These houses of worship served as armories, barracks, and command centers, for the priests of Duerra were expected to maintain training grounds and armories inside all their strongholds. The priests organized patrols, oversaw the armories, and honored Duerra by planning for holy crusades there before later executing their plans. The buildings were the second-largest fortresses in a stronghold and normally extensively fortified, housing not only weapons and armor but also emergency supplies and the settlement's army.

An empty seat was always in the center of the centermost room in one of Duerra's temples, an elevated dais called the Daul's Throne meant to remind the norothor that the Queen of the Invisible Art was always present and watching (though her avatars occupied the throne when they appeared).

History and Legends
"Our gods sprang from among us. They endured our hardships and carved a path to our salvation. What has your god done for you?"

- Morkai Ashlord

Duerra's deeds in the ancient past had long since become myth, spoken as legend in stories told by elderly duergar mindwardens. Long before she ascended to the ranks of the divine, Duerra was the greatest queen of the duergar, both an empress and warrior who ruled over an immense subterranean empire with dark ambitions to expand. Her domain (and the place her faith would become especially strong) was the Underspires, an ancient city of giant stalactites in the Northdark founded millennia earlier when the duergar first freed themselves from mind flayer enslavement. Under Duerra's centuries long dominion, she had expanded the duergar empire to include the vast reaches of the Underdark, bringing the race to the pinnacle of their power.

In -1850 DR, with her at the front of the forces, the grim duergar soldiers of the Underspires launched a series of strikes against their many foes. These including the drow of Undreath and the illithids of Oryndoll,  the latter of which captured and transformed them long ago around -8100 DR to -8080 DR. It was on one of these occasions, according to dubious tales and legends, that Deep Duerra's forces overran the city of Oryndoll, shackling the resident mind flayers that had once done the same to them. Over the course of the next century, Duerra and her surgeons supposedly wrestled the many secrets and powers of psionics from the minds of the captive illithids, stealing the Invisible Art and transferring it to her clan's bloodline. So great was her psionic might, so the legends said, that she turned the entire illithid colony into her thralls.

Some doubted the accuracy of this myth, notably the mind flayers themselves. In their telling of the story, Duerra was the leader of a slave rebellion, the duergar psionic abilities being done by the illithids themselves to create more efficient slaves. However, while the illithids did indeed modify the duergar, performing generations of countless, gruesome breeding experiments, psychic surgeries, and physical alterations to warp them into a unqiue subrace, the duegar invasions of Oryndoll had occurred, and any potential embellishments aside, Duerra did at some point steal much energy and many of the psionic secrets of Ilsensine.

Sometime around -1800 DR, Duerra's forced turned their simmering hate to the remnants of Deep Shanatar: Ultoksamrin, Holorarar, and the caverns of Alatorin. For her many successes, Laduguer rewarded Duerra with divine ascension, right before her immediate exile from the Morndinsamman. Since Duerra's departure, the Underspires fell into a centuries-long decline, fragmenting and contracting in her absence. Regardless of the questionable veracity of her legends, Duerra was honored by the duergar as the progenitor of their psychic powers, which not only established the gray dwarves as separate from other dwarves, but also enabling them to hold their own against drow magic and illithid psionics. The ancient queen was further worshiped for the uncompromised ambition she displayed to increase duergar dominion, and was revered as a symbol of duergar dominance through expansion and enslavement.

In 1383 DR, Moradin assembled other members of his pantheon to crush the forces of Hammergrim. Though Gorm Gulthyn and Haela Brightaxe died in the battle, Clangeddin Silverbeard dispatched Duerra while Moradin slew Laduguer. Hammergrim dispersed into the Astral Plane to the sound of victorious battle hymns.