Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Domains: Chaos, Death, Healing

The goddess of the L’aelus is a capricious entity. She above all seeks new sensations and experiences for herself and her people. New heights of pleasure are always sought, causing the L’aelus to become a decadent society, willing to pay greatly for any new drug, experience, or other source of enjoyment that can be found throughout their realm, or from the surface. Seeking new experiences drives the drow to far extremes; they produce fantastic artisans, creators and inventors. However there exists an underground faction that seeks to draw all their sensation and experience from the realms of death and pain. The members of this faction are masters of torture and execution, and are often sadists and/or masochists. They savor the adrenalin rush that a particularly good execution can bring, or the bite of a cat-o’-nine tails on their skin. Celebrations to this goddess involve both feasts and orgies that last for days or weeks. Sometimes they become dark initiations where individuals are sacrificed through slow torture and death.
—-

This goddess has existed for as long as the intelligent races have sought to experience the joys of life. Many consider her very shallow , especially the other gods of the pantheon. In her quest for new experiences, Ssrigg’nala has associated herself with all of the other deities at one time or another. When she had experienced all she could from one godly consort she was quick to leave in search of newer experiences. Living this existence Ssrigg’nala learned the duality of pleasure and pain. She cultivated all sensations; from the simple enjoyment of a bath in a sun-warmed pool to the base and dark pleasures found by inflicting pain and death on creatures from various planes. Despite her celestial bed hopping she has managed to avoid offending any of the other gods or goddess in particular; as few can find themselves mad at a being who exists to learn all the pleasures their particular domain has to offer and who so enjoys sharing those pleasures with her present companion. Unfortunately, though no particular deity holds ill feelings towards the goddess herself, the relationships in which she has engaged have inspired jealousy and strife amongst several of the others. In particular the dwarven god, Berur, has developed a strong hatred of Nimeth because of the rogue goddesses’ use of his relationship with Ssrigg’nala in order to steal an ancient authority symbol from his temple deep within the earth.

Of all the pleasures and experiences Ssrigg’nala has enjoyed, she never gathered together an organized set of worshippers or temples. Though individuals may have dedicated themselves to her, she’d never sent them visions or granted her followers any powers. Only when she had exhausted the possibilities of her fellow deities did she turn to a new group for her pleasures. It occurred to her that she could inspire a whole people to follow her, so she could experience all the pleasures anew when they dedicated themselves to her. For centuries she observed the races of Nordok, finding none that would suit her purpose as they all were too invested in the pain of life, rather then that of pleasure. Some exceptions often already worshipped their own deities, gods and goddesses less then accepting of her approaches to their people. Her search continued until the refugees from the war with the dark legion appeared on the continent where Ssrigg’nala’s pantheon held dominion. In this event Ssrigg’nala saw her opportunity. This group of refugees had been abandoned or disconnected from their gods, cast adrift upon the whims of the world without support of a divine presence. She observed these new arrivals closely and one race soon captured her attention.

In the L’aelus, newly stripped of their racial name and left by their goddess, she found a race that could be shaped to her ideal. Centuries of control by Lolth had left this race bloodthirsty, focused simply on the life’s pain, and believing that pain was the only source of pleasure in the world. Ssrigg’nala saw that this aspect of the race would have to be softened, and their horizons expanded to the more simple pleasures before they could function as her instrument in this realm. To ease the transition she followed the edicts issued by the other celestial beings and allowed a millennium to pass without contacting this race. The time without the influence of any deity allowed the L’aelus to forget the harsher influences of their previous patron goddess through the generations of work and expansion in their new Underdark home. Ssrigg’nala is thought to be the first deity who re-established contact, guiding her profits in the cultivating the realms of pleasure in order that the L’aelus culture may fit her image.

Ssrigg’nala’s temples are considered places of great beauty and splendor, as aesthetics are as important to her as the pleasures of the flesh. The public fronts of the temples are bright and cheery places open to all who seek a place of comfort for an evening. These temples are sextioned into brothels that bring funds into the church. Brothel rooms are always open for any who use them for pleasure’s purpose. Her private, hidden temples are deliberately kept away from public view. These dark and blood-ridden places offer privacy to priests and clerics who inflict pain, and in turn are tortured so that they may experience all the pleasures and sensations that this darker path can offer. Many unsanctioned temples to this aspect of Ssrigg’nala are hidden, because those participating in the rituals are unwilling. Males and females can both ascend to high rank in the temple; though it is said that none may become a high priest or priestess of Ssrigg’nala without fully exploring paths, that lead to experiences of death and return, the ultimate of worldly experiences. To those high priests Ssrigg’nala grants the ability to create a divinely enchanted potion that allows the imbiber to experience all physical sensations tenfold. Its effects enhance physical reactions and perceptions, but cloud the judgment of those who drink, causing them to seek out all experience, making them unwilling to protect themselves as they seek out new sensations.

The most numerous priests and priestesses of this goddess are the race that is now considered her own. L’aelus make up the majority of those who occupy the temples, but any that choose to follow the path of pleasure and experience may eventually become priests or priestesses in her public service. Common alignments for priests/priestesses in these temples are Chaotic Good or Neutral Good, and all races are welcome. Her hidden temples attract those who seek to inflict pain and suffering on others in order to satisfy their own masochistic or sadistic desires. Many throwbacks to the old L’aelus culture serve in these temples, as they try to regain Lolth’s attention through these exercises in pain. Common alignments in these temples are most often along the evil axis, with Chaotic Evil and Neutral Evil as most common.

© 2003, Geoffrey Quick, All rights reserved