Replace Sshamath with Eryndlyn

[Rinzler]

Let me preface this by saying that this will likely never happen due to the sheer amount of work required.

However, hypothetically speaking, I think this would be much better for the Underdark. Sshamath really serves no purpose in the grand scheme of things here. At the very least, PCs in Eryndlyn would be able to RP conflict (Lolth vs. Vhaeraun vs. Ghaunadaur) amongst themselves and not be reliant on a non-existent NPC Magocracy.

It would also be a smaller hub where all UD players could congregate more efficiently.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers

[Steve]

Why not both?

Could even promote Sshamath vs Eryndlyn competition!!

[Rinzler]

Why not both?

Could even promote Sshamath vs Eryndlyn competition!!

The goal is fewer / smaller maps that are more conducive to RP given player population.

[Lambert]

Very interesting. Technically we have that with Sshamath and Blue Lantern keep. What we need is a third lothite town or city. I suppose someone could found one but it would take a builder to make it.

It would be smaller scale than a whole city.

However if there is to be a city I agree Elyndrin would be a good choice, but so would a pure lothite city. In fact I suspect Eli’s and vhaerunite players may prefer trying to survive in a true lothite city. Right now in the UD it’s the heretical branches that seem to be able to bully the lothites. Not the other way around as it is supposed to be.

[Ithrinael]

I am not so sure Eryndlyn is so lolthite as people think. Further, funnily enough it is at least 3-5 times the size of Sshamath (around 12k drow), population based.

Drizzt guide to the Underdark:

Home to more than sixty thousand drow, the city of Eryndlyn lies in hidden caves beneath the High Moor in the upper Underdark. Founded by drow war bands seeking to reclaim legacies of the ancient elven realm of Miyeritar, Eryndlyn dominates the northern Undermoor tunnels. (The southern Undermoor is the domain of derro and illithids, both holding vast cities in the lower Underdark.)
Eryndlyn's far-ranging merchants periodically emerge under darkness to trade with unscrupulous merchants along the Sword Coast. Eryndlyn attained its current status thanks to the relative absence of religious fervor among its early settlers. Shortly after the city's founding, a merchant nobility rose. However, brutal competition between merchant clans drove many wealthy families to secretly curry favor with one or more dark powers. Over time, three major cults emerged: Ghaunadaur, Lolth, and Vhaeraun. After centuries of indifference, religious fervor infected the populace, and priests of all three faiths gained control over the merchant nobility. Cult-inspired strife resulted in each sect consolidating its influence on one of the three plateaus. The largest plateau lies on the western periphery of the city, dominated by the clergy of Lolth. The northeastern plateau is the domain of Vhaeraun's cultists, while the oft-flooded southeastern
plateau is home to Ghaunadaur's followers. Open warfare has diminished, but hostilities threaten to tear Eryndlyn apart.

Forgotten Realms Underdark:

Beneath the High Moor lies the drow City of Eryndlyn. About half again as large as Menzoberranzan, Eryndlyn is another mercantile powerhouse and a significant threat to all other realms nearby. War parties from Eryndlyn are frequently encountered in the dungeons and ruins of the High Moor, since the drow of the city are greatly interested in any secret vaults or lore that may remain from the ancient elven realm of Miyeritar, which once stood here.
Unlike many other drow cities, Eryndlyn is openly divided between the followers of Lolth and the worshippers of two other drow deities: Vhaeraun and Ghaunadaur. Lolth's aherents are as strong as the other two put together, and this fact is all that prevented the Houses that do not worship the Spider Queen from instantly crushing the Eryndlyr Lolthites once Lolth's silence became obvious.