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.

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.

Organization and Composition
The church of Vhaeraun was loosely organized in largely autonomous cells, mainly due to persecution from the priestesses of Lolth who ruled over the majority of the drow race. Despite aforementioned persecution it had the second largest following among the drow as a whole and the largest one among surface dwelling drow. His worshipers consisted mostly of elves (especially drow) and half-elves (especially half-drow), a few humans and a handful of draegloths.

Vhaeraun's clergy was almost entirely male, but female priestesses were not unheard of. And example could be found in the Masked Traitors, priestesses of Lolth who acted as double agents and spies for the Masked Lord, their secret protected by the magic of the god. Priests often wore ceremonial veils of black silk.

Dead followers, known as Vhaerath, petitioners who have gained additional abilities in Stealth, could be called to aid by followers who knew the key for it.

Beliefs and goals
Many worshippers' primary motivation was dissatisfaction. Vhaeraun appealed to those who were dissatisfied with their societies being cruel to the point of intentionally hindering each others' growth, being unable to share into each others' joy, preventing cooperation for communal growth in power and resulting in physical confinement of their people's reach of influence inside their cities and caverns but never beyond. Especially males who could only look forward to secondary roles akin to slavery due to divine mandates were attracted to his belief.

Vhaeraun's followers shared a cooperative mindset that made them suffer the least infighting out of all evil drow groups (and it occasionally showed in leaders not having special treatment--like separate quarters). Their goal was to free the drow race from their slavery to Lolth, unite them for dominion and create a society without favoritism based on gender. In order to accomplish this, they practiced passive opposition to Lolth by teaching males disobedience, rebellion and the idea that they were as valuable as their female counterparts. They also worked to find a home for themselves on the surface, and their clerics strove to establish (preferably self-supporting) settlements on the surface, and supported them.

Activities
The methods used by the followers of Vhaeraun to reach their goals were varied, required a degree of subterfuge, and were generally directed at changing the status quo in some way. They ranged from "playing by the rules" as in Sshamath by taking over official positions as clerics from Lolth's clergy when the opportunity presented itself, to filling power vacuums left by Lolth's priestesses by merchants like in Dusklyngh, Jhachalkyn and Karsoluthiyl (who then funneled money back to the Jaezred Chaulssin, a Vhaeraunite assassins' guild who had created said vacuum in the first place). The methods could escalate in violence and trickery. Examples were their efforts to stockpile food and water (by trade with surface dwelling fellow members, through portals), while engineering a shortage of said necessities in Ched Nasad. Or raids, like those regularly launched by the members of the Dark Dagger, Vhaeraunite mercenaries and slavers, on the caravans run by the Lolth-worshipping house of Thanor'Thals, in Skullport. Occasionally, open violence was used as well, as it happened when the Vhaeraun-Ghaunadaur alliance in Eryndlyn killed nearly all the priestesses of Lolth, who used to rule the city.

The means for these more militant action to overthrow Lolth's tyranny were rumor, intrigue, thievery, robbery, poison manufacture, arson, murder, assassination, inciting riots, and so on. In short, everything a member could do, no matter how low, dirty, or underhanded, to achieve their goals--although the god didn't tolerate such from his enemies against him or his followers. Effective strategies, poison formulas and spells were shared with Vhaeraun, so he could share them with other followers.

Relationships
Priests of Vhaeraun encouraged contact and marriage with other elven races, so the various elven races could stand together and advance as a whole. An example of this kind of encouragement on the surface was the Auzkovyn clan, and an Underdark example was the offer of Vokkrzyr Rualfren, the leader of the drow clans in Ultoksamrin. Vhaeraun forbade his followers to associate with gnomes and dwarves, though it seems no punitive measure exists for violating this, neither on individual level as Nimor Imphraezl from the Jaezred Chaulssin working with the duergars from Gracklstugh in an attempt to sack Menzoberranzan, nor on organizational level, as the Dark Dagger, whose members are part of the Iron Ring with Ahmaergo, the "Horned Dwarf", as a major figure.

The worshipers of Vhaeraun didn't hesitate to forcibly reclaim their place in the Night Above, sometimes dealing in activities like slavery, or thievery (the Dark Dagger and the Dragon's Hoard were examples of this). This could lead to conflicts with the followers of Eilistraee (especially frequent in the area of the Promenade ), generally benevolent drow who strove to build their place in the surface world (much like the Vhaeraunites), but also to live in peace with the surface folk. This showed in Qilué Veladorn, the youngest of the Seven Sisters and high priestess of Eilistraee, who worked to convert worshipers of evil drow deities, particularly of Vhaeraun (whose Dark Dagger and Dragon's Hoard were very active near her temple of the Promenade), to the faith of her goddess.

When Eilistraee became the Masked Lady, many of such conflicts ceased in favor of an uneasy cooperation, which was consolidated by the truce between the Dark Dancer and the Masked Lord after their return, in the 1480s DR. Furthermore, it was made easier by the subtle change in Vhaeraun's modus operandi: his followers were in fact then encouraged to behave as "good citizens", when it proved profitable and helped their relationship with other surface dwellers, and to practice shadier deeds with as much subtley and secrecy as possible.

Rituals
Vhaeraun’s priests prayed to their god at dusk to gain their spells and every time, they have accomplished something that makes them closer to their goal.

Sacrifice of weapons and tools of defeated enemies, were done by melting them into a bowl. While the sacrifice's value was appreciated, diligence was considered more important.

Another sacrificial ritual was conducted during nights of new moon. It consisted of a vhaeraunite group, usually riding on Underdark lizards, hunting a stag to sacrifice its rack of antlers and still-beating heart. The ritual was considered a perversion of elven rituals.

The most holy ritual of the faith was called the Masked Lord’s Embrace and was on Midwinter Night. Those who wanted to engage in it, celebrated it by casting their darkness ability, which their god augmented to last 24h, on themselves to keep away sensor distraction. The idea was for the participant to think for the day what and how one can further their faith’s goals. The ritual was used as an opportunity to spend a day to form new plans new plans.

Clerics

 * Tzirik Jaelre, high priest of House Jaelre (1372 DR).
 * Xorthaul Barriath, Patron Father and head priest of the Jaezred Chaulssin (1373 DR).
 * Shakti Hunzrin, traitor-priestess of Lolth and Vhaeraun (1361 DR).
 * Henge, drow priest in the Dragon's Hoard in 1361 DR.
 * Vokkrzyr Rualfren, leader of the drow clans in Ultoksamrin (1372 DR)

Worshipers

 * Nisstyre, leader of the Dragon's Hoard (1361 DR).
 * Malakuth Tabuirr, leader of the Dark Dagger (1372 DR)
 * Amryyr Yauntyrr, courier and scholar of the Dark Dagger (1372 DR)
 * Alak Abaeir, assassin in the service of Vhaeraun

Orders

 * House Jaelre: House Jaelre was formerly a drow house of Menzoberranzan, driven away from the city for being a house of heretics. They roamed the Underdark for many years. In 1372 DR, they were based in Minauthkeep, an abandoned elven fort in the forest of Cormanthor on the surface world.


 * Jaezred Chaulssin: The Jaezred Chaulssin were a patriarchal house of skilled assassins. Their goal was to rid the drow of the tyrannical rule of Lolth and her priestesses. They were based in the ruined drow city of Chaulssin, from which they got their name, but were actually spread throughout most of the Underdark, with agents in most major drow cities. During the Silence of Lolth in 1372 and 1373 DR, the Jaezred Chaulssin instigated a number of rebellions in drow cities in an attempt to overthrow the Lolthite priestesses. Their actions led to the Siege of Menzoberranzan, the destruction of Ched Nasad, and the restructuring of society in a number of other cities, including Eryndlyn and Maerimydra.


 * Dragon's Hoard: The Dragon's Hoard was a merchant band led by Nisstyre of Ched Nasad that formed a small community in the High Forest. Their main base, however, was located in the deep dragon Pharx's lair in the notorious trade city of Skullport beneath the great human city of Waterdeep. The band was involved in the slave trade in Skullport, and were almost completely obliterated in 1361 DR by a group of Eilistraeean followers led by Qilué Veladorn.

Appearances

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


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