Dallnothax

Dallnothax was one of three drow surface settlements in the Forest of Mir.

Description
Dallnothax consisted of only a few small structures on the surface, which provided access to the caverns where the majority of the population lived. The buildings were protected by the cover of the trees and were primarily used to stable ponies. The caverns were the upper sections of Ultosamrin.

Geography
Dallnothax was located in the northern foothills of the Marching Mountains,  north of the eastern tip of the range.

It was the northernmost of the three drow enclaves in the forest, the other two being Iskasshyoll and Holldaybim. The three settlements were interconnected by tunnels. Access to the Underdark at Guallidurth was intentionally sealed off by the surface drow.

Government
Unlike the drow of the Underdark, the settlers of Dallnothax had a patriarchal society.

In, the leader of Dallnothax was Raaghar T'Enorgh, a priest of Vhaeraun and a secret agent for the Twisted Rune.

Defenses
Dallnothax maintained a force of guards who lived on the surface so that they could adapt to the sunlight. A new guard was selected every ten years.

Notable Locations

 * Hall of Midnight Bloodshed : A small temple to Vhaeraun.
 * The Spider's Maw : A deep crevice located beneath the undercity of Dallnothax.

Inhabitants
The settlement had a population in the hundreds to low thousands. Nearly three quarters of these worshiped the god Vhaeraun;   the remainder worshiped even darker entities or rejected the gods altogether. Most were exiles or outcasts from drow society, cast out from the city of Guallidurth for their heretical beliefs.

One notable inhabitant was Tleobar T'Enorgh, the patriarch's wife and a member of the surface guard, who had a vendetta against the Company of Eight.

History
The caverns making up the enclave once belonged to Ultosamrin, which belonged to Clan Velm of Deep Shanatar. The tunnels connecting the sister settlements were built during the time of the Night Wars.

During the Eye Tyrant Wars, warriors from Dallnothax briefly allied themselves with Calishite forces against the beholders and their troops from the Alimir Hive. However, once the beholders were driven back, the drow and humans turned their attacks against each other.

Dallnothax's highest population seems to have been a few centuries before the fall of the Shoon Imperium. Because the drow of Dallnothax were considered heretics for not worshiping Lolth, the city of Guallidurth sought to eradicate them,  beginning in the 1320s DR. Every decade or so, Lolth's priestesses would start a crusade, attempt to pry open the sealed passages, and slaughter as many "heretics" as possible. A common target of the attacks was the Hall of Midnight Bloodshed, but this was in part by design of the Vhaeraun worshipers—the temple acted as a sort of decoy to keep the Lolth fanatics from attacking the true seat of power for Vhaeraun at the Vault of Cloaked Midnight under Mount Sarengard. Because of the frequent attacks, a minority of drow from Dallnothax and its sister enclaves considered allying with the beholders of the Alimir Mountains and resettling in those caves.

In, exaggerated rumors of 80,000 drow living in the forest reached Tethyr, and many soldiers from Ithal Pass to as far as Ithmong—and adventurers too—entered the forest to try and destroy the drow that they expected to find there. They found far fewer than they expected, but the human army and elves from the Forest of Tethir were able to annihilate a fourth sister enclave of Allshiwann. The Tethyrian Interregnum period allow the enclave to recover from any population losses caused by these attacks from humans and elves. A much larger threat to Dallnothax's existence was actually raids from ogres in the forest.