Lolth (dNetHack)
| Religion in NetHack |
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- For her appearance in other variants, see Lolth.
Lolth is the goddess of the drow in dNetHack and notdNetHack, and serves as the chaotic deity for the pantheon of every drow character, minus drow Pirates, Binders and Anachrononauts.
As an engraving
For drow characters following certain pantheons, the name "Lolth" can be engraved as an analogue to Elbereth for elven characters, and similarly functions as Elbereth does in NetHack 3.4.3 for drow.
Like full-power Elbereth, it works on the vast majority of monsters, but not on shopkeepers, guards, the Wizard of Yendor, blind monsters, peaceful or tame monsters, the @ human or elf monster class, and the Riders (and any monster that revives like a Rider). Like Elbereth, it doesn't work on the elder priest, Great Cthulhu, Chokhmah Sephirah, and Lamashtu. Like Elbereth, it only has a chance of affecting some other monsters: it has a 1⁄2 chance of working on Chaos, a 1⁄3 chance of working on Demogorgon, and a 1⁄9 chance of working on Asmodeus. Unlike Elbereth, Lolth does work on lawful minions, angels, and minotaurs. The downside compared to Elbereth is that if the monster is higher level than you, it will drain your alignment record, and it won't work if it is 0 or less.
Lolth does not work in the future (i.e. in the Anachrononaut quest). Lolth also does not work for characters of gnostic (void) alignment, i.e. Binders.
A user has suggested improving this page or section as follows:
"Detail which drow gods a character must follow to be able to use Lolth's name as a protective engraving."
Origin
Lolth is a major character in the settings of the Dungeons & Dragons franchise. First created by Gary Gygax for the World of Greyhawk campaign setting, she later appeared in the Forgotten Realms setting, and 3rd edition made her a member of the 'default' pantheon. In those various settings, the drow pantheon of gods will always consist at minimum of the leader Lolth, as well as Kiaransalee, Vhaeraun, and Zinzerena, with the goddess Eilistraee as the sole good member. Lolth makes her debut in the 1978 module Descent into the Depths of the Earth, and her role as a deity is first explored in the 1980 Deities & Demigods.
Lolth (Lloth in the Drow language) is the Demon Queen of Spiders and the chief goddess of the Drow, whose realm lays within the 66th layer of the Abyss, also known as the Demonweb Pits. Lolth usually appears in the form of an "exquisitely beautiful" female dark elf that is sometimes covered in clinging spiders, or in the guise of a drider-like black widow spider. She is a cold and cruel goddess that revels in betrayal and bloodshed, toying with her minions and victims alike: she desires little more than absolute fealty and obedience from all drow and (secretly) the worship of humans and other elves, with any questioning of her motives or wisdom considered a sin.
Lolth views those less powerful than herself as either pawns or foes, while holding those more powerful than herself in contempt - naturally, she admires ambition even more than loyalty in her followers, and inspires them to employ any and every means necessary to ascend to a higher station in life, especially if it involves deception, betrayal, and murder. Guile and political ruthlessness are the signs of Lolth's favorites: those who blindly obeyed Lolth's demands would find themselves quickly led to their deaths. Lolth uses this to foment unending chaos amongst the drow, ostensibly to weed out the weak and complacent among her servants, but clearly just as much (if not far more so) for her own amusement.
Lolth highly favors drow women to the point that her clergy is almost exclusively female, with a few scant exceptions; they act as rulers of their communities and strictly follow the Spider Queen's will in forcing the drow into extreme subservience and the constant conflict that dominates their lives. Even male drow, who were considered unclean and often second-class citizens, were expected to display complete and total loyalty, and she took vengeful notice if one abandoned her faith. Success among drow followers of Lolth means paying attention to her fickle and ever-changing wants: even those she played favorites with inevitably find her turning on them without warning - though Lolth was technically capable of kindness and aid to those she fancied, and always gave one chance for the disfavored to redeem themselves, she could never be relied on and her ultimate motivation was almost always manipulative.
