The Essence of Lloth by Ilphaeryl Xun'viir

When one's mind waxes introspective to ponder upon the Faith of the Queen, the tenet of Chaos is often the first aspect to be spoken of by the Orthodoxy. Chaos is something that is intimately tied with our goddess, Lloth, by divine design. Chaos is what the Orthodoxy often touts as the Queen's ultimate tenet: Her divine gift to Her chosen people. The nature of Chaos is often professed to be the very identity of my peoples strength, and that Her Chaos should be spread to every corner of the known world.

I say that the strength of Chaos is the most insidious fallacy of the Faith.

To understand why I proclaim Chaos a fallacy, one must comprehend the history of both the Queen and Her chosen people, the Ilythiiri. Both topics are unfortunately too long to pen in great detail in this text. I will, however, include a brief overview.

The Queen was once a part of the wretched Seldarine. She was expelled for the 'Sin' of ambition and transformed by the false 'Father', Corellon Larethian, into a demon and banished to the Abyss. During this time, Her chosen people had begun to tilt the scales in the ancient Crown Wars in their favor.

The Kingdom of Ilythiir gained traction in conflict against the Sun Elven kingdom of Aryvandaar. In retaliation these reprobates gathered and pleaded to their gods, the Seldarine, for the power to defeat their foe. Instead of defeat all they could manage was, once again, banishment of the Queens chosen people. Their clumsy ritual cursed and banished not only Ilythiir, but every Dark Elven kingdom including those not directly involved in conflict. Suffice it to say, there are parallels between our fate and the fate of the Queen that are difficult to dismiss.

As the Queen was transformed and banished, so were we, Her chosen people. The Queen was transformed into a demon, figuratively shackled in Chaos by the heinous work of the false 'Father' of the Seldarine. The Ilythiiri were cursed and forced below to never again rise back up to our former glories. The truth of both our situations is that we were banished to perish, in the shackles our oppressors bound us with, for they did not have the fortitude to complete the task themselves.

The plain reality of our people is that we were defeated. It may seem weakness to confess this, but the larger weakness is cloaking one's self in a delusion to shield sensibility from the painful truth.

However, we are a resilient people. A fitting reflection of the resilience of our Queen. We did not suffocate and die as they had hoped but survived and were forged in the crucible of our pain and suffering.

The Underdark is a savage place. As time progressed, we became more like the land we inhabited. To survive our loss and anguish, many began to rewrite history. The delusion of equating Chaos with strength began of the necessity to not be driven mad by the crippling effects of grief, anguish, and loss in an unforgiving environment that requires no distractions simply to survive.

Chaos is not an agent of growth or of power. It is what has prevailed by the design of the hated Seldarine to keep our people rooted in quagmire and entropy. How easy is it to attribute a defeat to the 'chaotic whims of the Queen'? Her will is undeniably powerful, but to completely shift blame for one's personal failure onto Her whim is willful self-deception.

Delusion can be a comforting cloak, but over the centuries we lost sight of something important: Survival is not the goal.

Survival is for beasts and animals. The Ilythiiri are the pinnacle of the ancient empires that once spanned the land above. Our lot is not to survive, but to thrive. We are meant to usher in civilization in its truest form. Civilization free of sloth, free of pointless restriction, and free to grow to match the unfathomable depths of our collective ambition.

If we continue to believe the lie that we fabricated for our own comfort, we will never be able to break free of the shackles that were forged for us. Shackles that we reinforce by these fabrications and blind devotions. Keep in mind, reader, that I do not deny that Chaos is powerful. It is a potent force, but one that is ultimately without control no matter how one may attempt to rationalize it. A tool is only useful if it can be directed.

I do not deny that the Queen is Chaos. Though I do declare that it is by the design of our oppressors that She was made this way. To venerate anything a foe tries to impose upon you is the nature of a slave. Chaos has ultimately kept us in check. We slaughter ourselves in the blind acquisition of power. It is an instinctual and visceral action, but we must temper this with something that the Seldarine could not take away from the Queen or our people: Cunning, Discipline, and Ambition.

We must take power and use it to free ourselves of the shackles of Chaos our foes sought to bind us with. We must not fall into the trap they set for us, and work toward the Unity of our people. Only with collective Cunning and the pursuit of each of our individual Ambitions will we be able to eradicate the loathed Seldarine and the false 'Father's' chosen children, the Darthirii.

Only with their absolute ruin will the shackles they placed upon us be lifted. We will be able to build upon the ashes of their ill gotten inheritance, ashes wrought by the pyre of our hatred. Only then will we be free to restore our noble heritage, and dare I venture? To exceed what once was, and become the true weavers of civilization's design.

Authored by:

Ilphaeryl Xun'viir, Matron of House Xun'viir and Priestess of Lloth.