Forgotten Realms Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Forgotten Realms Wiki

Menzoberranzan, or the City of Spiders, was a gigantic underground drow city-state. It was located in the Upper Northdark, about 3.2km (2 miles) below the Surbrin Valley, between the Moonwood and the Frost Hills. Menzoberranzan was possibly the most well known drow city in Faerûn. It was the home of Drizzt Do'Urden, and many of his early adventures dealt with the political intrigue and characters of the city.[citation needed]

The city had different factions, or houses, all of which vied for power. It was[as of when?] under the indirect rule of House Baenre which is governed by Matron Mother Quenthel Baenre, daughter of Yvonnel Baenre, also known as Old Matron Baenre, perhaps the most powerful de facto ruler the city ever saw.

Overview

The city had 32,000 inhabitants[as of when?] — one third drow and the rest humanoid slaves. The city traded poisons, tasty mushrooms, riding lizards, spell scrolls, wine, and water (clean water could be hard to come by in the Underdark). The worship of Lolth was prevalent, and the worship of any other deity was forbidden.[citation needed]

The city's priestesses were trained in the spider-shaped clerical academy Arach-Tinilith. One of the branches of the city's triune academies of Tier Brieche, Arach-Tinilith was neighbored by the warrior school Melee Magthere, and Sorcere, the school in which wizardly magic was taught.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag

Duthcloim ("Manyfolk")

Home of the commoners of the city. Tradesfolk and their shops/businesses were mostly found here. Most Menzoberranyr came from this area and it was the most varied and tolerant district in the entire city.[citation needed]

The Bazaar

A permanent trade fair located in Duthcloim. The Bazaar of Menzoberranzan attracted merchants and buyers from across the multiverse. Most races were welcome (with the exception of beholders, neogi and githyanki), and as long as the peace was kept and proper respect was shown to Matron Mothers, someone (or thing) could buy whatever they might have desired here, though non-drow were often spied upon. No permanent structures were allowed within the accepted limits of the Bazaar by order of the council.[citation needed]

Places of business were to move each day, so as to prevent monopolies on space and promote browsing, making finding a particular stall very difficult. Trainee wizards, clerics and warriors were paid to patrol the Bazaar, providing firm, yet unobtrusive law-enforcement. Several permanent enchantments and buffers which suppressed sounds, vibrations and noises were also a part of the Bazaar, the limits of which extended to everything from boot steps to merchant shouts.[1]

Eastmyr

Most struggling merchants lived in this neighbourhood. While better than the Braeryn, Eastmyr was still where you would find many poor and outlaw drow and non-drow of no discernable means. Despite the lack of wealthy residents, House Hunzrin and House Kenafin were based here.[citation needed]

The Mantle

A few passages and side caverns accessable from the main cavern could be found in the Mantle, actually part of the Dark Dominion but close enough to the city proper for residents to build homes.[citation needed]

Narbondel

Narbondel was the only unshaped piece of stone within the boundaries of the cavern. The people of the city used it as a clock. Each morning, around midnight, the Archmage of city cast a fire spell at the base of the rock pillar. The heat from the spell formed a band around it and moved up, taking twelve hours to reach the peak, before travelling down it again, going out once it reached the base.[citation needed]

Narbondellyn ("Broad Streets")

This was the home of the wealthy up-and-coming drow houses. No fewer than seven existing powerful noble houses and several of the most luxurious and profitable of businesses were located in this neighbourhood. The best gems and perfumes could be found here, as well as the city's moneylenders.[citation needed]

Qu'ellarz'orl ("the House loft")

This plateau was screened from the view of the rest of the cavern by its forest of giant mushrooms. Contrary to the rest of the city, Qu'ellarz'orl was spacious and bare, no crowds were found here, nor any businesses. The space that was taken up was dominated by the four most powerful noble houses. The chamber of the ruling council could also be found here.[citation needed]

Tier Breche

The location of the three academies of Menzoberranzan: Arach-Tinilith, Sorcere and Melee-Magthere

West Wall

The West Wall was covered in the fortresses of more minor noble houses and the proudest of the non-noble drow families. Elstearn's Escorts provided attractive drow of either sex to escort those who desired them or to act as tour guides to visitors.[citation needed]

Citadel of Xorlarrin

One of the major marvels of the city, akin in its awe inspiring majesty to Narbondel slowly marking time in the center of the city, the castle of Xorlarrin was a sight to behold. Although the family that occupied it were only fifth in the Menzoberranyr hierarchy, you would be challenged to find any other locale in all the Underdark (or the world above for that matter) that boasted such magnificence. The walls were striped in permanent and ever shifting faerie fire, with floating battlements set atop its high walls. It could be argued that the entire palace was a gigantic magical artifact in that marvels abound and magic was built into the most mundane of attributes both functional and decorative.[citation needed]

The fortress loomed into the sky dwarfing the buildings around it, and was composed of a deceptive profile. The deceptively narrow facade terminated at a modest 55m (60 yards). Once a corner was rounded, however, the lateral faces of the citadel stretched for hundreds and hundreds of yards, stretching back to blend with the gloom and becoming lost to sight. This gave the citadel a top-down view of an exaggeratedly thin rectangle. Legend held that this bizarre architecture was purposefully planned in order to facilitate some eldritch power forgotten or lost by the current[as of when?] inhabitants.[citation needed]

Environs

The Dark Dominion

All of the tunnels within an 8km (5 mile) radius of the city were known as the Dark Dominion. Drow patrols were a constant presence of the region.[2] They searched for banned creatures, monsters and surface elves and challenged them once spotted. A few guard outposts could also be found in these tunnels. At least ten of the tunnels that started here led to the surface. One that led straight past Blingdenstone and into Mithral Hall and one that led to the High Forest were the two most commonly used.[citation needed]

Dead Dragon Gorge

About six days' travel on foot from Menzoberranzan was a large faerzress-free cavern. Most people who wanted to teleport to the city aimed for this cave and a few keyed two-way portals could be found here[3] along with a waterfall that provided free fresh water[citation needed]. Several noble houses had permanent scrying sensors here though they made pains to seem like they didn't care about the place.[citation needed]

References

Further reading

Advertisement