Vhaeraun
Encyclopedia
Vhaeraun also known as the Masked Lord and the Masked God of Night, is the drow god of thievery, drow males, and evil activity on the surface world in many Dungeons & Dragons
campaign settings.
(1992), including details about his priesthood. His role in the cosmology of the Planescape
campaign setting was described in On Hallowed Ground
(1996). He received a very detailed description for his role in the Forgotten Realms
in Demihuman Deities
(1998).
Vhaeraun's role in the Forgotten Realms is revisited in Faiths and Pantheons
(2002).
's layer of Colothys. It's said that no one can find it without his permission.
Some priests of Vhaeraun advocate unity of the elven races in order to more easily dominate the surface world. Most, however, view this as heresy.
campaign setting, Vhaeraun is the son of Corellon
and Lolth and the brother of Eilistraee. He is allied with Mask, Shar, and Talona. He was cast out of the elven pantheon, along with his mother (Lolth), after his and his mother's betrayal was discovered.
In the revised 3e FR cosmology Vhaeraun resides in the Demonweb Pits
, where he has a territory permitted to him by Lolth
.
House Jaelre is a former house of Menzoberranzan
, driven away from the city for being a house of heretics. (Menzoberranzan is a holy city of Lolth.) They are currently based in Minauthkeep, an abandoned elven fort in the forest of Cormanthor on the surface world.
The Jaezred Chaulssin is a patriarchal house of skilled part shadow dragon assassins. Their goal is to rid the drow of the tyrannical rule of Lolth and her priestesses. They are "based" in the ruined drow city of Chaulssin, from which they got their name. In truth, they only visit Chaulssin to hold highly secret meetings. They are actually spread throughout the Underdark
in each major drow city. Recently, with the silence of Lolth, they have decided to let their major plans unfold. They have already destroyed the city of Ched Nasad, their duergar
allies quite literally sending it crashing to the bottom of the V-shaped cavern from which it was suspended on calcified webbing. The Anointed Blade of the Jaezred Chaulssin, Nimor Imphraezl, created an alliance with the duergar Crown Prince Horgar of Grackelstugh, the half-demon marquis cambion
warlord Kanyrr Vhok and his Scourged Legion of tanurruks (demon-orcs), and Lord Dyrr of House Agrach Dyrr (Fifth House of Menzoberranzan). After winning a battle at the Pillars of Woe, these combined forces besieged the great city of Menzoberranzan. However, when Lolth returned, the Vhaeraunites abandoned their plan and the armies allied with them were forced to retreat.
The Dragon's Hoard is a merchant band that has formed a small community on the surface. Their main base, however, is in a deep dragon's lair in the notorious Underdark trade city of Skullport, situated beneath the great human city of Waterdeep
. They later turned into a sort of mercenary band and were almost completely obliterated by a group of Eilistraee's followers led by a priestess named Qilué. Among this group of Eilistraeen followers were Liriel Baenre and her human companion, Fyodor of Rashemen.
In Lisa Smedman's Sacrifice of the Widow
(Wizards of the Coast, 2007), Vhaeraun is believed to have been killed by his sister, Eilistraee, when he attempted to enter her realm and assassinate her. His portfolio now belongs to her, and she is presently impersonating him for the purpose of slowly turning his followers towards good. Many Vhaeraunites claim that the opposite is true and that the Masked Lord was victorious. A growing sect believe that the two deities are equally merged and the so-called Masked Lady is the true god. This is supported by the Eilistraeen clerics becoming more ruthless in nature, while the Vhaeraunites become kinder.
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
campaign settings.
Publication history
Vhaeraun was first detailed in the book Monster MythologyMonster Mythology
Monster Mythology is a sourcebook for the second edition of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. Released by TSR in 1992 and written by Carl Sargent, with interior illustrations by Terry Dykstra, John and Laura Lakey, and Keith Parkinson, Monster Mythology was released as a companion volume for...
(1992), including details about his priesthood. His role in the cosmology of the Planescape
Planescape
Planescape is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, originally designed by Zeb Cook. The Planescape setting was published in 1994...
campaign setting was described in On Hallowed Ground
On Hallowed Ground
On Hallowed Ground is an accessory book for the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, for the Planescape campaign setting.-Contents:This book contains information about deities' planar domains from 20 separate pantheons...
(1996). He received a very detailed description for his role in the Forgotten Realms
Forgotten Realms
The Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories...
in Demihuman Deities
Demihuman Deities
Demihuman Deities is a Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition: Forgotten Realms campaign accessory, published by Wizards of the Coast. The book was designed by Eric L. Boyd...
(1998).
Vhaeraun's role in the Forgotten Realms is revisited in Faiths and Pantheons
Faiths and Pantheons
Faiths and Pantheons is a campaign accessory for the 3rd edition of the Dungeons & Dragons, for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.-Contents:...
(2002).
Realm
Vhaeraun resides in his deific domain Ellaniath on CarceriCarceri
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, Carceri is a neutral evil-aligned plane of existence...
's layer of Colothys. It's said that no one can find it without his permission.
Worshipers
Vhaeraun's worshipers include assassins, male drow and half-drow, poisoners, shadowdancers, rogues, and thieves.Clergy
The church of Vhaeraun is loosely organized, mainly due to persecution from the priestesses of Lolth who rule over the majority of the drow race. Vhaeraun's clergy is almost entirely male, and they practice a passive opposition to Lolth. Aside from that, Vhaeraun strives to reclaim the surface world from which he was forced to flee. This leads to frequent conflicts with the clerics of Eilistraee, benevolent dark elves who strive to live in peace with the surface folk and gain redemption for the evil ways of their kind.Some priests of Vhaeraun advocate unity of the elven races in order to more easily dominate the surface world. Most, however, view this as heresy.
Forgotten Realms
In the Forgotten RealmsForgotten Realms
The Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories...
campaign setting, Vhaeraun is the son of Corellon
Corellon Larethian
In the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Corellon Larethian is the leader of the elven pantheon, and the god of Magic, Music, Arts, Crafts, Poetry, and Warfare. Corellon is also considered a member of the default D&D pantheon. He is the creator and preserver of the elven race, and governs those...
and Lolth and the brother of Eilistraee. He is allied with Mask, Shar, and Talona. He was cast out of the elven pantheon, along with his mother (Lolth), after his and his mother's betrayal was discovered.
In the revised 3e FR cosmology Vhaeraun resides in the Demonweb Pits
Demonweb Pits
Demonweb Pits, in the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, is the 66th layer of the chaotic evil-aligned plane of existence known as the Infinite Layers of the Abyss...
, where he has a territory permitted to him by Lolth
Lolth
Lolth is a fictional goddess in the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Lolth , the Demon Queen of Spiders, is the chief goddess of drow elves...
.
Vhaeraunite organizations
Organizations of Vhaeraun in the Forgotten Realms include House Jaelre, the Jaezred Chaulssin, and the Dragon's Hoard.House Jaelre is a former house of Menzoberranzan
Menzoberranzan
Menzoberranzan, the City of Spiders, is a fictional city-state in the world of the Forgotten Realms, a Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting. It is located in the Upper Northdark, about two miles below the Surbrin Vale, between the Moonwood and the Frost Hills...
, driven away from the city for being a house of heretics. (Menzoberranzan is a holy city of Lolth.) They are currently based in Minauthkeep, an abandoned elven fort in the forest of Cormanthor on the surface world.
The Jaezred Chaulssin is a patriarchal house of skilled part shadow dragon assassins. Their goal is to rid the drow of the tyrannical rule of Lolth and her priestesses. They are "based" in the ruined drow city of Chaulssin, from which they got their name. In truth, they only visit Chaulssin to hold highly secret meetings. They are actually spread throughout the Underdark
Underdark
The Underdark is a fictional setting which has appeared in Dungeons & Dragons role-playing campaigns and Dungeons & Dragons-based fiction books, including the Legend of Drizzt series by R. A. Salvatore...
in each major drow city. Recently, with the silence of Lolth, they have decided to let their major plans unfold. They have already destroyed the city of Ched Nasad, their duergar
Duergar (Dungeons & Dragons)
In Dungeons & Dragons fantasy, the duergar, or gray dwarves are a cruel and evil subrace of dwarves.-Publication history:The duergar are named after the dvergar of Norse mythology, who were the builders of Gleipnir...
allies quite literally sending it crashing to the bottom of the V-shaped cavern from which it was suspended on calcified webbing. The Anointed Blade of the Jaezred Chaulssin, Nimor Imphraezl, created an alliance with the duergar Crown Prince Horgar of Grackelstugh, the half-demon marquis cambion
Cambion (Dungeons & Dragons)
In the fantasy roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons the cambion is a creature descended from a fiend.-Publication history:The cambion was introduced to the D&D game in the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons....
warlord Kanyrr Vhok and his Scourged Legion of tanurruks (demon-orcs), and Lord Dyrr of House Agrach Dyrr (Fifth House of Menzoberranzan). After winning a battle at the Pillars of Woe, these combined forces besieged the great city of Menzoberranzan. However, when Lolth returned, the Vhaeraunites abandoned their plan and the armies allied with them were forced to retreat.
The Dragon's Hoard is a merchant band that has formed a small community on the surface. Their main base, however, is in a deep dragon's lair in the notorious Underdark trade city of Skullport, situated beneath the great human city of Waterdeep
Waterdeep (city)
Waterdeep is a fictional city-state that forms part of a popular Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game campaign setting called the Forgotten Realms. It is a port city that is located along the western coast of the Faerûn sub-continent...
. They later turned into a sort of mercenary band and were almost completely obliterated by a group of Eilistraee's followers led by a priestess named Qilué. Among this group of Eilistraeen followers were Liriel Baenre and her human companion, Fyodor of Rashemen.
In Lisa Smedman's Sacrifice of the Widow
The Lady Penitent
The Lady Penitent is a series of novels by Lisa Smedman, set in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.-Plot summary:The Lady Penitent takes place after the events of War of the Spider Queen. Several fairly large realm-changing events take place during this series, ranging from the use of Elven High...
(Wizards of the Coast, 2007), Vhaeraun is believed to have been killed by his sister, Eilistraee, when he attempted to enter her realm and assassinate her. His portfolio now belongs to her, and she is presently impersonating him for the purpose of slowly turning his followers towards good. Many Vhaeraunites claim that the opposite is true and that the Masked Lord was victorious. A growing sect believe that the two deities are equally merged and the so-called Masked Lady is the true god. This is supported by the Eilistraeen clerics becoming more ruthless in nature, while the Vhaeraunites become kinder.
Additional reading
- Athans, Philip. AnnihilationWar of the Spider QueenWar of the Spider Queen is a New York Times best-selling series of novels set in the Forgotten Realms universe published by Wizards of the Coast. The series contains six books focused on the drow and their principal deity Lolth. Each of the six novels in the series is written by a different author...
(Wizards of the Coast, 2004). - Baker, Richard. CondemnationWar of the Spider QueenWar of the Spider Queen is a New York Times best-selling series of novels set in the Forgotten Realms universe published by Wizards of the Coast. The series contains six books focused on the drow and their principal deity Lolth. Each of the six novels in the series is written by a different author...
(Wizards of the Coast, 2003). - Byer, Richard Lee. DissolutionWar of the Spider QueenWar of the Spider Queen is a New York Times best-selling series of novels set in the Forgotten Realms universe published by Wizards of the Coast. The series contains six books focused on the drow and their principal deity Lolth. Each of the six novels in the series is written by a different author...
(Wizards of the Coast, 2002). - Conforti, Steven, ed. Living GreyhawkLiving GreyhawkLiving Greyhawk was a massively shared Dungeons and Dragons living campaign administered by RPGA that ran from 2000 to 2008. The campaign setting and storyline were based on Gary Gygax's World of Greyhawk setting, and used the Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition rules...
Official Listing of Deities for Use in the Campaign, version 2.0. Renton, WA: Wizards of the Coast, 2005. Available online:http://www.wizards.com/rpga/downloads/LG_Deities.zip - Greenwood, EdEd GreenwoodEd Greenwood is a Canadian writer and editor who created the Forgotten Realms. He invented the Forgotten Realms as a child, as a fantasy world in which to set the stories he imagined, and later used this world as a campaign setting for his own personal Dungeons & Dragons playing group...
. The Drow of the Underdark (TSR, 1991). - Kemp, Paul S. Resurrection (Wizards of the Coast, 2005).
- Reid, Thomas M. Insurrection (Wizards of the Coast, 2002).
- Smedman, Lisa. ExtinctionWar of the Spider QueenWar of the Spider Queen is a New York Times best-selling series of novels set in the Forgotten Realms universe published by Wizards of the Coast. The series contains six books focused on the drow and their principal deity Lolth. Each of the six novels in the series is written by a different author...
(Wizards of the Coast, 2004).
External links
- "Citadel of the Mask Lord" — contains tons of information on Vhaeraun and his clergy and churches, weapons, and orders and dogma
Images
- "Vhaeraun and Selvetarm Do Battle," by Steve PrescottSteve Prescott (artist)-Early life and education:Steve Prescott grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and he graduated with a BFA in Illustration from Columbus College of Art and Design.-Works:...
- Symbol of Vhaeraun
