Demihuman Deities (2e) wrote:The followers of Eilistraee are figures of legend in both the Underdark and the Lands of Light. They are the subject of superstitions and wildly inaccurate mistruths, held by surface dwellers to be the evil vanguard of the Spider Goddess's plot to plunge all of Faerun into darkness under her rule and held by those drow who follow the Way of Lolth (or other evil gods) to be faerie (surface elf) invaders masquerading as dark elves in preparation for the coming war of annihilation. Rare is the individual --dark elf or not-- who appreciates that Eilistraee is forging her own path, one that welcomes beings of all races who revel in life and the free form expression of all that entails.Faiths and Pantheons (3.5) wrote:The church of Eilistraee is little known and poorly understood by inhabitants of the surface world. Few among the surface-dwelling races give any credence to rumors of good-aligned drow emerging from the Underdark. The possibility of a deity who supports such folk is simply beyond the ken of non-elves, who generally dismiss such talk as idle rumor or a plot by evil drow raiders. Most elves willfully ignore such talk, uncomfortable for what it might mean to the central tenets of their culture: Dogma teaches that the Crown Wars were primarily caused by the unbridled evil of the ancestral drow. Only among like-minded groups active in the same regions as the church of Eilistraee has the faith begun to be recognized for the hope that it holds out.Dreams of the Dark Dancer wrote:
Source: Ed Greenwood, So Saith Ed, Nov 2006
http://www.candlekeep.com/library/artic ... 112-06.htm
Hidden: showEilistraee has always gained converts and made herself known to drow through dream-visions and personal appearances (usually dancing in moonlit woods). Many, many drow long to return to the surface and live among trees (it's a race instinct, that some recognize for what it is - - whereas other drow just feel always unsettled and edgy, and usually turn this into fighting amongst themselves, and family and/or trading rivalries), and Eilistraee has far more worshippers than the drow who dwell under the firm influence of Vhaeraun or Lolth (who is by far the most powerful of drow deities) would have one believe. I'd say a little more than 22% or so of all drow in Faerûn worship Eilistraee - - although I must again remind scribes to set aside any modern monotheistic thinking: in the Realms, the vast majority of intelligent beings worship many or at least several gods, NOT just one. It's not easy to truly believe in and worship Lolth and any other drow deity, but a particular drow individual COULD venerate both Eilistraee and Vhaeraun (though they'd serve neither well, in trying to follow or honour both). Drow who ONLY worship Eilistraee are almost entirely her clergy, and are probably between 10 and 12 percent of all drow.
Every drow who sets out on an expedition to the surface, to raid, gets "tempted by Eilistraee in their dreams" (visions sent into their minds, whether they're asleep, in Reverie, lying wounded or bored, singing or otherwise concentrating on something, or daydreaming alone or working on some repetitive task like painting or weaving). She also sends visions, in exactly the same manner, to drow who never go near the surface.
Many drow literally don't understand the visions; they feel but don't "feel" the Goddess. Others find Her troubling, or reject Her - - but about a quarter of all drow yearn for what she shows them. They may never do anything about it, or may never seek Her or Her worship, but they certainly feel Her.
So almost all drow learn of Eilistraee's existence, and even receive a true picture of what it is (Lolth can't stop that, because she too uses the dream-vision approach, and to try to block others from using it would rob her lay worshippers of much sanity, her priestesses of much daily control over those lay worshippers, and herself of much control over her priestesses). Not all that many reject Lolth and cleave to Eilistraee, but many secretly yearn (meaning they might spare a stricken worshipper of Eilistraee if they think no priestess is watching, or fail to pass on to other drow something they may have seen of the activities of faithful of Eilistraee, or stop to watch a dance of Eilistraee worshippers rather than disrupting it).
Lore
Hidden: show
Eilistraee
The Dark Maiden, Dark Dancer, The Lady of the Dance, Lady Silverhair
Eilistraee (EEL-iss-TRAY-yee or eel-ISS-tray-yee) appears as nine foot tall an unclad, glossy-skinned female drow with ankle-length, sweeping hair of glowing silver. Her hair and wandering silvery radiance cloak her body in a smoothly, continuously moving array of beauty.
Eilistraee is a melancholy, moody drow female, a lover of beauty and peace, the patron of those good-aligned drow who long to return to the Realms Above. The evil of most drow banks a burning anger within her, and when her faithful are harmed, that anger is apt to spill out into wild action. It is not her way to act openly, but she often aids creatures she favors (whether they worship her or not) in small, immediately practical ways. Eilistraee is a lover of beauty and peace, and happiest when she looks on bards singing or composing, craftsmen at work, lovers, or acts of kindness, but she is not averse to striking back against those who would harm her followers.
History/Relationships:
The daughter of Corellon Larethian and Araushnee (who later became Lolth), and the sister of Vhaeraun, Eilistraee was banished along with the other drow deities after she nearly slew her father with an arrow during a great battle between the Seldarine and a host of evil deities bent on conquering Arvandor. Despite being absolved of any crime, Eilistraee insisted upon this punishment from her reluctant father, foreseeing a time when the dark elves would need a beacon of good within their reach, and she would be needed to balance their evil of her mother and brother.
While the Dark Maiden and the Seldarine remain allies, it is a strained relationship that reflects the divisions that persist among the elves. Among the elven powers, Eilistraee is only close with Erevan Ilesere, and she has worked out an uneasy truce with Shevarash.
Her allies are the Seldarine, Mystra, Selûne, and the good deities of the Underdark races; her enemies are the evil deities of the Underdark, especially the rest of the drow pantheon. The Dark Maiden hates the corruption and unredeemable evil that both Lolth and Ghaunadaur represent, and she mourns her brother's enduring cruelty and selfishness.
Manifestations:
Eilistraee's most used manifestations are a silvery radiance, sometimes accompanied by a wordless snatch of song or a few echoing harp notes. If the radiance surrounds an item (almost always a sword or other bladed weapon), that item typically gains the following two powers for 6 rounds: full possible damage (maximum roll, plus all bonuses) and immunity to breakage or other damage (automatic success of all item saving throws). If the radiance envelops a being, Eilistraee's favor typically gives any or all of the following three aids for 4 rounds; the ability to strike first in any round, an increase in Armor Class of 2 points, and a bonus of +4 to all attack rolls, including the ability to strike creatures normally affected only by magical weapons of a +2 or greater bonus.
The Dark Maiden seldom takes a direct hand in the affairs of mortals, but she sometimes appears in the midst of a dance in her honor, leaping amid the flames of the feast unharmed. She also appears, radiance dimmed and clad in a plain, cowled cloak, at the campfires of wayfarers in the woodlands by night to test their kindness.
Most worshipers see Eilistraee only from afar, perched on a hillock or battlement, silver hair streaming out behind her. She appears to show her favor or blessing and often rallies or heartens creatures by causing a high, far-off hunting horn call to be heard. (On several occasions, this has frightened off brigands or orc raiders, who thought aid for their quarry was on the way.) When Eilistraee's hunting horn is heard but no foes are present, her followers interpret it as a sign that someone nearby needs their aid.
Eilistraee sometimes manifests to a worshiper or non-worshiper who honors her with a solitary dance as a silver radiance that transforms the recipient's hair into a mane of silver fire for a month or even permanently. Eilistraee has also been known to aid her worshipers by providing a faint silvery radiance when they need to find something dropped in darkness, or follow an unknown trail by night through dark woods, or when childbirth occurs in darkness. She sometimes sends a flutter of silvery swallow-tailed moths to show her favor, join in a dance, or lead her faithful that have become lost or need some indication of the best direction to take.
In rare circumstances, males who worship Eilistraee -or beings without any priest powers who work to further Eilistraee's aims and need her visible blessing and support (or just some light)- will temporarily manifest moonfire (see Eilistraee's moonfire below). Such manifestations are at the will of the goddess; the lucky recipient has no control over the duration, intensity, and location of the radiance.
The Faith
On Abeir-Toril, the Dark Maiden strove for centuries against the hatred of Vhaeraun and his
corrupting influence on the Ilythiiri (southern, dark-skinned elves). Eilistraee's power ebbed with the death of many of her faithful in the Dark Disaster, and the rise of Lolth and Ghaunadaur among the dark elves marginalized the influence of the Lady of the Dance for millennia.
Only in recent centuries has Eilistraee's faith regained a small amount of prominence in Faerun, as the Dark Maiden seeks to lead the fallen drow back to the long-forsaken light.
The faith of Eilistraee (some say cult) has little in the way of formal hierarchy. The faithful tend to gather in small, independent bands in deep forests across Faerûn, sometimes referred to as Circles, Covens, Hunts or Moonshards, as well as other names
One individual is acknowledged as the high cleric of the faith, however: Qilué Veladorn, Chosen of Eilistraee, Chosen of Mystra, and one of the Seven Sisters. Qilué’s authority is a subtle one, her words taken by most members of the faith as advice from a wise elder sister. (Note: Despite that construction the Promenade of the Dark Maiden will not begin until 1355 DR, Qilue and the Protectors of Song, have spent most of the last six hundred years guarding the Pit of Ghaunadaur near Skullport)
Teachings and Beliefs
Whenever and wherever possible, faithful of Eilistraee encourage drow to return to the surface world. They work to promote harmony between drow and surface-dwelling races, to establish drow as rightful, nonevil inhabitants of Faerûn.
The faithful of the Dark Maiden are encouraged to act with thoughtful kindness and gratitude, to promote happiness and gaiety whenever possible, and except for properly somber occasions, meals should be enjoyed with the accompaniment of song and merriment.
Faithful are encouraged to set aside provisions of food and offer to feed strangers in need, particularly outcasts and those of other races, and if food yet remains, that it should be donated to the priestesses of Eilistraee, that none shall go hungry.
Clergy
The clergy of Eilistraee are collectively known as Dark Ladies, although individual Moonshards often have a unique collective name for the Dark Maiden's priests. Acolytes and aspirants to the clergy who wish to join a Moonshard or who have not yet attained full priesthood are known as Maids. Those who have seek Eilistraee are often given small silver sword tokens by her priestesses, and are known as Petitioners until they take their Sword Oath.
The titles of individual priests vary widely-and at some temples are personally selected during a private Flame Song-but some common examples include Moon Dancer, Moon Singer, Dark Huntress, Argent Maid, Living Sword, Unsheathed Blade, Sword Smith, Bright Edge of Darkness, and Ghost of the Moonstruck Night. Specialty priests of the Dark Maiden are known as sword dancers and, including multi-classed specialty priests, make up the vast majority (90%) of her clergy.
Priestesses of the Dark Maiden pray for spells at night, after moonrise, singing them whenever possible.
Most prefer holy symbols of silver, typically worn as pins or hung around the neck on slender silver or mithral chains.
Priestesses must be adequate singers, fit graceful dancers, and be skilled in playing at least one of the Dark Maiden’s favored instruments (horn, flute, or harp). They seek gather songs and musical knowledge constantly, and acquire training in the use of the sword when they can.
They nurture beauty, music, the craft of making musical instruments, and song wherever they find it; assist hunters and hunting; and help others in acts of kindness whenever they see ways to do so. Those who have the coin to do so are expected to hire any strange minstrel or bard they meet for a song or two; lay worshipers are encouraged but not required to do so.
Priestesses are to feed themselves as much as possible by their own gardening and hunting skills. In times of plenty, food is stored for lean times ahead. In harsh winters, the lands about the priestesses' strongholds are patrolled to find and take in the lost, the hurt, and those caught in the teeth of the cold.
Any hungry travelers met with, who offer no threats, are to be fed by the faithful of Eilistraee. Priestesses are to carry food with them for this purpose at all times, while traveling. Where food cannot be purchased or received, it must be gathered or hunted, therefore the Dark Maiden's priestesses are expected to learn hunting.
Priestesses are to try to convert at least one stranger per moon to the worship of Eilistraee. Leading a convert in a prayer to the Dark Maiden is itself an offering to the goddess, who often manifests as a sign to the convert.
As a befitting a goddess of freedom of choice, priestesses of Eilistraee are encouraged to go adventuring, but reminded that they are to feed, aid, and defend the needy along the way.
Priestesses of the goddess are allowed to keep and accumulate monies given them as offerings --with the understanding this wealth will be used to buy food, musical instruments, and other tools (such as good swords) to serve the will of the goddess.
In battle, priestesses of the Dark Maiden must use swords whenever possible. If no swords are to hand but other weapons are available, bladed weapons must be used in preference to all others.
When priestesses of the goddess must fight evil, they are to burn the bodies of the evil creatures they slay as an offering to the goddess --unless such creatures are edible and not sentient, and there are hungry folk near.
When faithful and allies of a priestess fall in battle, any priestess present must, if possible, provide burial, a funeral song, and comfort to the bereaved.
Priestesses of Eilistraee wear their hair long, and dress practically for whatever they are currently engaged in. When relaxing, many favor silvery, diaphanous gowns, and soft leathers for hunting, aprons while cooking, and --when battle is expected -- armor. For rituals, however they often wear as little as possible.
Rites and Rituals
Eilistraee’s faith observes a number of festivals, their rituals often revolve around a hunt followed by a feast, dancing (wearing as little clothing as possible), and a Circle of Song.
The Sword Oath
The Oath of the Dark Maiden
The Oath of the Dark Lady
The Oath of the Sword Dancer
The Evensong (when the moon is viewable)
The Feast
The Dance
Holy Sites
Before the elven Crown Wars, Eilistraee's faith was strong in Miyeritar, and she had small numbers of faithful in Ilythiir and the other elven realms of the time. The Dark Disaster, unleashed during the Third Crown War, transformed Miyeritar into the blasted wasteland now known as the High Moor and dealt a devastating blow to the ranks of the Dark Maiden's followers. When the Ilythiiri were transformed into the drow and banished from the sunlit lands at the end of the Fourth Crown War some five hundred years later, Eilistraee's faith effectively collapsed and was not reformed for millennia. A few ancient, sacred sites of power built before the Crown Wars survive in the Misty Forest, along the borders of the High Moor, and in the Shaar, scattered across the once verdant savannah.
In the Year of Shadows Fleeting (-331 DR), the drow of the Twisted Tower fell to the armies of Cormanthyr and Rystal Wood was left in the hands of good-aligned dark elf allies. Within a century, the Tower (or Temple) of the Dark Moon was Eilistraee's greatest temple in the Realms. The Dark Maiden's temple fell once again to the drow beneath Cormanthyr in the Year of the Apparition (190 DR) and survives today as Shadowdale's primary redoubt where it is known by its original name, the Twisted Tower. All that remains of the Dark Maiden's legacy is the swirl of Eilistraee's moonfire that envelops any follower of Eilistraee who mentions her name within the once-sacred halls.
It is rare for clergy of Eilistraee to found a shrine below the surface, as the Dark Maiden’s priestesses seek out pristine, natural sites that need little modification, much like those dedicated to the Seldarine.
Shrines of the Dark Maiden are typically established in the mouths of dark caverns and in dim forests on the surface world from which her clerics can venture forth at night to brave the moonlight.
Shrines typically include a glade in which to dance, offering an unobstructed view of the moon, and a sheltered place away from the light of day (often an access tunnel to the Underdark). Other common features are a thick tree canopy, a lively freshwater stream, a forge and smithy, and a vein of iron or some other metal suitable for the crafting of swords. However, the simplest shrine of the Dark Maiden requires naught but a moonlit glade and a song (audible or imagined) that draws one into a dance.
Above ground shrines of Eilistraee are known to exist in the Moonwood north of the village of Quaervarr and at the northern end of the Velarwood in Harrowdale. The Mouth of Song, as the former temple is known, is located in a cave-mouth beneath a treeless hill-atop which the dark elven priests and a few half-elven and elven faithful from Silverymoon dance in a great ring on moonlit nights-a day's travel north of Quaervarr. The Shadowtop Glade, as the latter shrine is known, is located in a series of caves that line both sides of a steep-sided overgrown gully dominated by a grove of towering shadowtop trees. Dark elven priests of the shrine armed with enchanted silver swords and moon-worshiping lycanthropes from the nearby Howling Hill join together to conduct sacred hunts to Eilistraee and Selune when the moon is full. Smaller shrines of the Dark Maiden have been spotted in the Misty Forest, the High Forest (where the Dark Ladies are led by Ysolde Veladorn, daughter of Qilue), the Forest of Shadows, the Lake Sember region, the Grey Forest, the Forest of Lethyr, the Yuirwood, and the Chondalwood. Hidden temples of Eilistraee may exist in the hearts of such forests as well.
The Dark Maiden, Dark Dancer, The Lady of the Dance, Lady Silverhair
Eilistraee (EEL-iss-TRAY-yee or eel-ISS-tray-yee) appears as nine foot tall an unclad, glossy-skinned female drow with ankle-length, sweeping hair of glowing silver. Her hair and wandering silvery radiance cloak her body in a smoothly, continuously moving array of beauty.
Eilistraee is a melancholy, moody drow female, a lover of beauty and peace, the patron of those good-aligned drow who long to return to the Realms Above. The evil of most drow banks a burning anger within her, and when her faithful are harmed, that anger is apt to spill out into wild action. It is not her way to act openly, but she often aids creatures she favors (whether they worship her or not) in small, immediately practical ways. Eilistraee is a lover of beauty and peace, and happiest when she looks on bards singing or composing, craftsmen at work, lovers, or acts of kindness, but she is not averse to striking back against those who would harm her followers.
History/Relationships:
The daughter of Corellon Larethian and Araushnee (who later became Lolth), and the sister of Vhaeraun, Eilistraee was banished along with the other drow deities after she nearly slew her father with an arrow during a great battle between the Seldarine and a host of evil deities bent on conquering Arvandor. Despite being absolved of any crime, Eilistraee insisted upon this punishment from her reluctant father, foreseeing a time when the dark elves would need a beacon of good within their reach, and she would be needed to balance their evil of her mother and brother.
While the Dark Maiden and the Seldarine remain allies, it is a strained relationship that reflects the divisions that persist among the elves. Among the elven powers, Eilistraee is only close with Erevan Ilesere, and she has worked out an uneasy truce with Shevarash.
Her allies are the Seldarine, Mystra, Selûne, and the good deities of the Underdark races; her enemies are the evil deities of the Underdark, especially the rest of the drow pantheon. The Dark Maiden hates the corruption and unredeemable evil that both Lolth and Ghaunadaur represent, and she mourns her brother's enduring cruelty and selfishness.
Manifestations:
Eilistraee's most used manifestations are a silvery radiance, sometimes accompanied by a wordless snatch of song or a few echoing harp notes. If the radiance surrounds an item (almost always a sword or other bladed weapon), that item typically gains the following two powers for 6 rounds: full possible damage (maximum roll, plus all bonuses) and immunity to breakage or other damage (automatic success of all item saving throws). If the radiance envelops a being, Eilistraee's favor typically gives any or all of the following three aids for 4 rounds; the ability to strike first in any round, an increase in Armor Class of 2 points, and a bonus of +4 to all attack rolls, including the ability to strike creatures normally affected only by magical weapons of a +2 or greater bonus.
The Dark Maiden seldom takes a direct hand in the affairs of mortals, but she sometimes appears in the midst of a dance in her honor, leaping amid the flames of the feast unharmed. She also appears, radiance dimmed and clad in a plain, cowled cloak, at the campfires of wayfarers in the woodlands by night to test their kindness.
Most worshipers see Eilistraee only from afar, perched on a hillock or battlement, silver hair streaming out behind her. She appears to show her favor or blessing and often rallies or heartens creatures by causing a high, far-off hunting horn call to be heard. (On several occasions, this has frightened off brigands or orc raiders, who thought aid for their quarry was on the way.) When Eilistraee's hunting horn is heard but no foes are present, her followers interpret it as a sign that someone nearby needs their aid.
Eilistraee sometimes manifests to a worshiper or non-worshiper who honors her with a solitary dance as a silver radiance that transforms the recipient's hair into a mane of silver fire for a month or even permanently. Eilistraee has also been known to aid her worshipers by providing a faint silvery radiance when they need to find something dropped in darkness, or follow an unknown trail by night through dark woods, or when childbirth occurs in darkness. She sometimes sends a flutter of silvery swallow-tailed moths to show her favor, join in a dance, or lead her faithful that have become lost or need some indication of the best direction to take.
In rare circumstances, males who worship Eilistraee -or beings without any priest powers who work to further Eilistraee's aims and need her visible blessing and support (or just some light)- will temporarily manifest moonfire (see Eilistraee's moonfire below). Such manifestations are at the will of the goddess; the lucky recipient has no control over the duration, intensity, and location of the radiance.
The Faith
On Abeir-Toril, the Dark Maiden strove for centuries against the hatred of Vhaeraun and his
corrupting influence on the Ilythiiri (southern, dark-skinned elves). Eilistraee's power ebbed with the death of many of her faithful in the Dark Disaster, and the rise of Lolth and Ghaunadaur among the dark elves marginalized the influence of the Lady of the Dance for millennia.
Only in recent centuries has Eilistraee's faith regained a small amount of prominence in Faerun, as the Dark Maiden seeks to lead the fallen drow back to the long-forsaken light.
The faith of Eilistraee (some say cult) has little in the way of formal hierarchy. The faithful tend to gather in small, independent bands in deep forests across Faerûn, sometimes referred to as Circles, Covens, Hunts or Moonshards, as well as other names
One individual is acknowledged as the high cleric of the faith, however: Qilué Veladorn, Chosen of Eilistraee, Chosen of Mystra, and one of the Seven Sisters. Qilué’s authority is a subtle one, her words taken by most members of the faith as advice from a wise elder sister. (Note: Despite that construction the Promenade of the Dark Maiden will not begin until 1355 DR, Qilue and the Protectors of Song, have spent most of the last six hundred years guarding the Pit of Ghaunadaur near Skullport)
Teachings and Beliefs
Whenever and wherever possible, faithful of Eilistraee encourage drow to return to the surface world. They work to promote harmony between drow and surface-dwelling races, to establish drow as rightful, nonevil inhabitants of Faerûn.
The faithful of the Dark Maiden are encouraged to act with thoughtful kindness and gratitude, to promote happiness and gaiety whenever possible, and except for properly somber occasions, meals should be enjoyed with the accompaniment of song and merriment.
Faithful are encouraged to set aside provisions of food and offer to feed strangers in need, particularly outcasts and those of other races, and if food yet remains, that it should be donated to the priestesses of Eilistraee, that none shall go hungry.
- Aid the weak, strong, grateful, and churlish alike.
- Be always kind, except in battle with evil.
- Encourage happiness everywhere, lift hearts with kind words jests and songs.
- Learn and teach new songs, dances.
- Lean hunting and cooking game, strive for self sufficiency.
- Learn to protect others and yourself
- Learn the flowing dance of skilled swordwork
- Promote harmony between the races.
- Befriend strangers, shelter those without homes, and feed the hungry.
- Repay rudeness with kindness.
- Repay violence with swift violence that the danger is removed
- Aid drow in distress, ending combat with as little bloodshed as possible.
- So long as drow are not working evil on others, they are to be given the the Lady’s message:
“A rightful place awaits you in the Realms Above, in the Land of the Great Light.
Come in peace and live beneath the sun again where trees and flowers grow.”
Clergy
The clergy of Eilistraee are collectively known as Dark Ladies, although individual Moonshards often have a unique collective name for the Dark Maiden's priests. Acolytes and aspirants to the clergy who wish to join a Moonshard or who have not yet attained full priesthood are known as Maids. Those who have seek Eilistraee are often given small silver sword tokens by her priestesses, and are known as Petitioners until they take their Sword Oath.
The titles of individual priests vary widely-and at some temples are personally selected during a private Flame Song-but some common examples include Moon Dancer, Moon Singer, Dark Huntress, Argent Maid, Living Sword, Unsheathed Blade, Sword Smith, Bright Edge of Darkness, and Ghost of the Moonstruck Night. Specialty priests of the Dark Maiden are known as sword dancers and, including multi-classed specialty priests, make up the vast majority (90%) of her clergy.
Priestesses of the Dark Maiden pray for spells at night, after moonrise, singing them whenever possible.
Most prefer holy symbols of silver, typically worn as pins or hung around the neck on slender silver or mithral chains.
Priestesses must be adequate singers, fit graceful dancers, and be skilled in playing at least one of the Dark Maiden’s favored instruments (horn, flute, or harp). They seek gather songs and musical knowledge constantly, and acquire training in the use of the sword when they can.
They nurture beauty, music, the craft of making musical instruments, and song wherever they find it; assist hunters and hunting; and help others in acts of kindness whenever they see ways to do so. Those who have the coin to do so are expected to hire any strange minstrel or bard they meet for a song or two; lay worshipers are encouraged but not required to do so.
Priestesses are to feed themselves as much as possible by their own gardening and hunting skills. In times of plenty, food is stored for lean times ahead. In harsh winters, the lands about the priestesses' strongholds are patrolled to find and take in the lost, the hurt, and those caught in the teeth of the cold.
Any hungry travelers met with, who offer no threats, are to be fed by the faithful of Eilistraee. Priestesses are to carry food with them for this purpose at all times, while traveling. Where food cannot be purchased or received, it must be gathered or hunted, therefore the Dark Maiden's priestesses are expected to learn hunting.
Priestesses are to try to convert at least one stranger per moon to the worship of Eilistraee. Leading a convert in a prayer to the Dark Maiden is itself an offering to the goddess, who often manifests as a sign to the convert.
As a befitting a goddess of freedom of choice, priestesses of Eilistraee are encouraged to go adventuring, but reminded that they are to feed, aid, and defend the needy along the way.
Priestesses of the goddess are allowed to keep and accumulate monies given them as offerings --with the understanding this wealth will be used to buy food, musical instruments, and other tools (such as good swords) to serve the will of the goddess.
In battle, priestesses of the Dark Maiden must use swords whenever possible. If no swords are to hand but other weapons are available, bladed weapons must be used in preference to all others.
When priestesses of the goddess must fight evil, they are to burn the bodies of the evil creatures they slay as an offering to the goddess --unless such creatures are edible and not sentient, and there are hungry folk near.
When faithful and allies of a priestess fall in battle, any priestess present must, if possible, provide burial, a funeral song, and comfort to the bereaved.
Priestesses of Eilistraee wear their hair long, and dress practically for whatever they are currently engaged in. When relaxing, many favor silvery, diaphanous gowns, and soft leathers for hunting, aprons while cooking, and --when battle is expected -- armor. For rituals, however they often wear as little as possible.
Rites and Rituals
Eilistraee’s faith observes a number of festivals, their rituals often revolve around a hunt followed by a feast, dancing (wearing as little clothing as possible), and a Circle of Song.
The Sword Oath
The Oath of the Dark Maiden
The Oath of the Dark Lady
The Oath of the Sword Dancer
The Evensong (when the moon is viewable)
- Worshipers of the Dark Dancer are taught to release all of the gathered emotions of the day with an 'evensong'. An evensong is a personal thing, often wordless and often done in private.
- Flamesong rituals are similar to evensongs, and performed whenever one of the faithful is moved to do so, often when a view of the moon is not available; finding a private area and dancing around a candle or other flame. She sings to the goddess in whatever manner she desires, dancing as the song moves her until the candle flame goes out. It is considered the height of rudeness to deliberately interrupt the Flame Song of another, though outsiders are usually forgiven for doing so.
The Feast
The Dance
- "The priestesses danced around the pillar in a loose circle, naked save for the belts that held their hunting horns, and the holy symbols that hung around their necks. Each female had a sword which she held at arm's length as she twirled. Blade clashed against blade as the women spun together, then apart, their swords training sparkles of silver light."
- preferably in a wooded glade on a moonlit night, in which the worshipers sit and dance by turns in a circle, each one leading a song.
- Whenever a sword is finished or first taken into use by worshiper of the Dark Dancer, a priestess attempts to invoke the blessings of the goddess upon the blade.
This sacred ritual is performed out of doors and by night,
Planting the sword, point-down into the the earth, the priestess begins dancing around the blade, spinning and whirling, brushing against the blades edge and drawing a cut and a small amount of blood on each of her limbs draws as dances.
If the Sword Dance is performed successfully to the satisfaction of the goddess, the blade begins to glow with a silvery radiance, and for the next three months will not break or rust, is effective against creatures who can only be harmed by magic, and if a weapon in question is of drow make, the sword becomes immune to the damaging effects of the sun and removal from the Underdark faerzress for the same amount of time.
- Celebrated at least once each season, the High Hunt is a nocturnal pursuit of a dangerous beast or monster, led by clerics of Eilistraee. By tradition, the hunters may use any bladed weapons and wear anything—except the clerics, who go naked, each carrying only a single sword, their holy symbol, and a hunting horn. If the quarry is slain, the celebrants chant prayers and perform a circle dance to the deity.
- At least once a year, clerics of Eilistraee undertake a Run. Those who are not drow blacken their bodies with natural dyes and oils, and all, drow or not, boil certain leaves and berries to make their hair silvery. They then go wandering on the surface world, trusting to their music, kind ways, and sword skills to keep from being slain on sight. They go where they are strangers, making an effort to seek out elven communities, and bring them game, succor, and helping hands. They try to learn new songs, music, and sword ways, and do not come to preach their faith or make a mark for themselves.
- In the end, all clerics of the Dark Maiden who do not die in battle hold their greatest ritual, the Last Dance. In their old age, they hear Eilistraee singing to them by night, calling them to her. When the song feels right, they go out unclad under the moonlit sky and dance—never to be seen again. Those who have observed such dances say that the deity appears and sings overhead, and the aged cleric begins to dance more effortlessly, looking younger and younger. Her hair begins to glow with the same radiance as the Dark Maiden’s, and then she becomes slowly translucent, fading away as the dance goes on. In the end, only a silvery radiance is seen, with two voices—the deity and her cleric—raised together in melancholy, tender song.
Holy Sites
Before the elven Crown Wars, Eilistraee's faith was strong in Miyeritar, and she had small numbers of faithful in Ilythiir and the other elven realms of the time. The Dark Disaster, unleashed during the Third Crown War, transformed Miyeritar into the blasted wasteland now known as the High Moor and dealt a devastating blow to the ranks of the Dark Maiden's followers. When the Ilythiiri were transformed into the drow and banished from the sunlit lands at the end of the Fourth Crown War some five hundred years later, Eilistraee's faith effectively collapsed and was not reformed for millennia. A few ancient, sacred sites of power built before the Crown Wars survive in the Misty Forest, along the borders of the High Moor, and in the Shaar, scattered across the once verdant savannah.
In the Year of Shadows Fleeting (-331 DR), the drow of the Twisted Tower fell to the armies of Cormanthyr and Rystal Wood was left in the hands of good-aligned dark elf allies. Within a century, the Tower (or Temple) of the Dark Moon was Eilistraee's greatest temple in the Realms. The Dark Maiden's temple fell once again to the drow beneath Cormanthyr in the Year of the Apparition (190 DR) and survives today as Shadowdale's primary redoubt where it is known by its original name, the Twisted Tower. All that remains of the Dark Maiden's legacy is the swirl of Eilistraee's moonfire that envelops any follower of Eilistraee who mentions her name within the once-sacred halls.
It is rare for clergy of Eilistraee to found a shrine below the surface, as the Dark Maiden’s priestesses seek out pristine, natural sites that need little modification, much like those dedicated to the Seldarine.
Shrines of the Dark Maiden are typically established in the mouths of dark caverns and in dim forests on the surface world from which her clerics can venture forth at night to brave the moonlight.
Shrines typically include a glade in which to dance, offering an unobstructed view of the moon, and a sheltered place away from the light of day (often an access tunnel to the Underdark). Other common features are a thick tree canopy, a lively freshwater stream, a forge and smithy, and a vein of iron or some other metal suitable for the crafting of swords. However, the simplest shrine of the Dark Maiden requires naught but a moonlit glade and a song (audible or imagined) that draws one into a dance.
Above ground shrines of Eilistraee are known to exist in the Moonwood north of the village of Quaervarr and at the northern end of the Velarwood in Harrowdale. The Mouth of Song, as the former temple is known, is located in a cave-mouth beneath a treeless hill-atop which the dark elven priests and a few half-elven and elven faithful from Silverymoon dance in a great ring on moonlit nights-a day's travel north of Quaervarr. The Shadowtop Glade, as the latter shrine is known, is located in a series of caves that line both sides of a steep-sided overgrown gully dominated by a grove of towering shadowtop trees. Dark elven priests of the shrine armed with enchanted silver swords and moon-worshiping lycanthropes from the nearby Howling Hill join together to conduct sacred hunts to Eilistraee and Selune when the moon is full. Smaller shrines of the Dark Maiden have been spotted in the Misty Forest, the High Forest (where the Dark Ladies are led by Ysolde Veladorn, daughter of Qilue), the Forest of Shadows, the Lake Sember region, the Grey Forest, the Forest of Lethyr, the Yuirwood, and the Chondalwood. Hidden temples of Eilistraee may exist in the hearts of such forests as well.