Church of Vhaeraun

The Church of Vhaeraun was an organization composed of the followers of the drow god Vhaeraun, the Masked Lord.

They mostly consisted in drow and half-drow who wanted to see their people freed from Lolth's oppression, and united in reclaiming their rightful place and dominance in the surface world. Many males wishing for better opportunities than the absolute subservience reserved to them among the followers of Lolth, were also drawn to Vhaeraun.

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. An 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.

While Lolth-ruled cities (like Menzoberranzan or Undrek'Thoz ) and communities of faithful of Eilistraee (like the Promenade of the Dark Maiden ) were theocracies (their leadership was collectively part of the priesthood of their respective deities), Vhaeraunite organizations were different in at least two ways.

First, organizations affiliated with the Church of Vhaeraun fluctuated in how strictly and/or exclusively they followed the Masked Lord. For example, the Jaezred Chaulssin mandated to show any kind, if only token, reverence to Vhaeraun, while Clan Auzkovyn allowed worship of several deities (rare among drow organizations).

Second, the leaders were rarely also part of the priesthood. An example was Mauzzkyl Jaezred, a sorcerer-assassin who led the Jaezred Chaulssin, who didn’t have qualms distancing his organization from the church of Vhaeraun, if he could evade frontally clashing with the church of Lolth. Another such example was the Dark Dagger. Its leader was Malakuth Tabuirr, a Rogue-Fighter, devoted follower of Vhaeraun (enough to fund at least one temple), and even clerics of the Masked Lord who were part of the Dark Dagger answered to him.

The followers of Vhaeraun were proponents of gender equality, and the distribution of power was more balanced than other drow groups. But it was also practice that the distribution was tilted in favour of male drow. The first reason for this was that male drow outnumbered female ones and thus had more representation among the leadership, and the second reason was that males gave in to grudges and kept females from the high positions. This caused a wide spectrum from the egalitarian Holldaybim to the particularly crass city of Chaulssin that killed its rare female half-dragon offspring.

Orders

 * Clan Auzkovyn: Clan Auzkovyn was a group of drow who were driven out of the High Forest by wood elves who tried to found a state there too. In 1372 DR, they were the second largest group of drow in Cormanthor.


 * Dark Dagger: The Dark Dagger was a criminal group. Led by Malakuth Tabuirr, they dealt in smuggling as well as slavery.


 * 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.


 * 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 (like Eryndlyn).

Notable followers of Vhaeraun

 * 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)
 * 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

Dogma
"The shadows of the Masked Lord must cast off the tyranny of the Spider Queen and forcibly reclaim their birthright and rightful place in the Night Above. The existing drow matriarchy must be smashed, and the warring practices of twisted Lolth done away with, so that the drow are welded into a united people, not a squabbling gaggle of rival Houses, clans and aims. Vhaeraun will lead his followers into a society where drow once again reign supreme over the other, lesser races, and there is equality between males and females. "

The church’s dogma markedly differed from other drow churches’ in that it read itself like a policy agenda and not a list of behaviours to please a deity. It clarified the organisation’s goal and purpose, the steps to take towards its fulfilment, and under whose leadership the work was done.

The church viewed itself as the successors of Ilythiir and took account of the fact that they (and by extension the entire elven race) fell from power, and made remedying to this their goal.

The steps towards that goal were to unite the drow and claim territory on the surface, which was called the Night Above. They saw an existential problem in the drow race’s tradition of infighting, which resulted in 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. The Church of Vhaeraun tried to solve it by eliminating what they deemed to be the cause of said problem: the major drow deity Lolth--who promoted strife among drow--and her supporters, Lolth's matriarchy and priestesses.

Groups and organisations of the church generally revolved around one of these steps, for example the Jaezred Chaulssin focused on the destruction of Lolth’s matriarchy,, the followers in Cormanthor worked on settling the surface, , those of Guallidurth worked to promote the idea of unity , and so on.

The church also promoted the--in drow society rare--idea of gender equality.

Attitudes
Members of the church weren’t necessarily evil but most were.

Their primary motivation was dissatisfaction at the limiting nature of their society and they weren’t choosy about their methods to change it, though they didn’t tolerate underhandedness from others against them. Their modus operandi was similar to that of Mask’s followers, that was to cultivate a cultured and trustworthy front and not committing unnecessary crimes, to the point of the two faiths being confused with one another on the surface.

They shared a cooperative mindset that made them suffer the least infighting among all evil drow groups. This "cooperative mindset" didn’t translate itself into unconditional love towards each other. Inside a given vhaeraunite group, the followers generally didn’t fight against each other, and while they regularly interacted and traded with other groups, they did punish members of those groups if given reason. For example, it was normal for groups in Cormanthor to kill trespassers regardless of religious affiliation, shared or not, but if a group gave a reason, like lack of desire to take one’s land, they grew more permissive towards that particular group and given more reason, like a common external enemy, they banded together to a full alliance.

Vhaeraunites seemed to have a rather lax attitude towards divine commandments. For example, Vhaeraun forbade his followers to associate with dwarfs and gnomes, but they frequently violated it on a regular basis for reasons like trade, incorporation into large scale plans, such as Nimor Imphraezl’s cooperation with Gracklstugh during the assault on Menzoberranzan, or even organizational association, like the Dark Dagger in Skullport did by accepting Ahmaergo “the Horned Dwarf“ as their superior in the Iron Ring. Another example was that, while priest shouldn’t be able to wear armor made of metal,, it didn’t prevent High Priests to do exactly that in their temples.

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.

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.

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. The followers of the Masked Lord abandoned their racial hatred against their fair kin. , but the attitude towards the elves varied. Some groups of Vhaeraunites still fought them, although not because of dogmatic hatred (like House Jaelre with the Eldreth Veluuthra over the Elven Court), others accepted surface elves as members when they shared their temperament (as did Clan Auzkovyn) , others even conducted actual recruitment campaigns, like the drow in Ultoksamrin.

Vhaeraun forbade his followers to associate with gnomes and dwarves, though at times they did it anyway, and it seemed that no punitive measure existed for violating this, neither on individual nor on organizational level (see Attitudes).

The worshipers of the Masked Lord 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 for their spells at dusk, and whenever they accomplished something that made them closer to their goal.

The most common ritual dedicated to Vhaeraun was the sacrifice of weapons and tools of defeated enemies, which was done by melting them into a bowl-shaped altar. While Vhaeraun appreciated the value of the sacrificed items, he considered diligence to be more important.

Another sacrificial ritual was held during nights of new moon. Followers of Vhaeraun, usually riding Underdark lizards, hunted a stag and then sacrificed its rack of antlers and still-beating heart to the Masked Lord. 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 held on Midwinter Night. Using their innate drow ability to conjure magical darkness, the participants surrounded themselves with a curtain of shadow, in order to block any eventual distraction. Vhaeraun's magic sustained the darkness, making it last up to a whole day (rather than its usual duration), and his followers spent that time meditating about new ways to further the goals of their faith, and to form new plans.

Appearances

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


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