On the Great Houses and political system of Andunor by Gotty Sh'yalva, Extended and Expanded by Eclavdra
It is a somewhat battered notebook that seems to have witnessed quite a lot of creative torment, its pages are mostly covered in complicated diagrams and arcane symbols with scarce commentaries written in some frantic hand.
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As you browse the pages, particularly stands out the complex graph filled with drawings and repeatedly encircled and underlined words, tangled with arrows that link the circles and images into a chaotic web - snaring place names and events like flies.
Among the color-coded figures, you see words like "UDOS," "IZLUDE'S TORMENT," "DELUGE," or "ELG'NIZRUL," which is connected to "BAATOR, VALLEY OF SKULLS" (beside which is a drawing of a vile-looking tower), a rather well-drawn, artistically speaking, picture of Lolth in Demonwebs, words "VAULT," "ANDUNOR," "MIND-FLAYERS!!," various pictures of strange-looking drow with gills on their necks or lizard heads in place of hands, numerous infernal sigils, drow seemingly eating some gem, "[Infernal]: DOCTRINES OF LLOTH: 6. DECEIVE, 7. PLOT, 8. TOIL, 9. ABIDE -> TOTAL CONTROL!!!", two-headed squigs, a heart with 8 snakes growing out of it and other unhinged things.
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Note 0: Foreword note
/* On the first first page of this somewhat worn-out notebook is a big side note written with red ink in large letters, partially overlapping the diagrams below*/
IN SHORT: in case you wonder why VAUNTED FRETH and EXALTED CLADDATH appear apathetic, largely aloof from district life, and seemingly ignore the mess in their districts - it's not because they're so decadent and too full of themselves to care about petty squabbles, it's because THEY KNOW that SOMETHING'S COMING, and when it comes, it will make IT ALL SO IRRELEVANT that it doesn't even make sense to invest in struggle for temporary gains, they have ACTUALLY IMPORTANT things to CARE ABOUT, like to PREPARE for it, to ensure SURVIVAL - of their House, of their society, of their race.
Because THEY KNOW it was their ABILITY TO ADAPT TO CHANGING REALITIES AROUND them that allowed them to become the GREAT HOUSES to begin with - and they DO NOT plan to let it slip away when world INEVITABLY changes again.
It will not necessarily happen soon, but they ALREADY THINK in terms of WHAT'S NEXT.
Each according to their own vision shaped by their distinct beliefs.
/* Otherwise, it is a battered notebook that seems to have witnessed quite a lot of creative torment, its pages are mostly covered in complicated diagrams and arcane symbols with scarce commentaries written in the same frantic hand as above.
Particularly stands out the complex graph filled with drawings and repeatedly encircled and underlined words, tangled with arrows that link the circles and images into a chaotic web - snaring place names and events like flies.
Among the color-coded figures, you see words like "UDOS," "IZLUDE'S TORMENT," "DELUGE," or "ELG'NIZRUL," which is connected to "BAATOR, VALLEY OF SKULLS" (beside which is a drawing of a vile-looking tower), a rather well-drawn, artistically speaking, picture of Lolth in Demonwebs, words "VAULT," "ANDUNOR," "MIND-FLAYERS!!," various pictures of strange-looking drow with gills on their necks or lizard heads in place of hands, numerous infernal sigils, drow seemingly eating some gem, "[infernal] DOCTRINES OF LLOTH: 6. DECEIVE, 7. PLOT, 8. TOIL, 9. ABIDE -> TOTAL CONTROL!!! [/infernal]", two-headed squigs, a heart with 8 snakes growing out of it and other unhinged things. */
Day 4, Month 6 (Kythorn), 186 AR (1386 DR)
Gote'ewka Shax'thar'rska
1. Context
Before we proceed to discuss the subject itself, let's make sure we're on the same page regarding the historical background of the current situation, as we'll have to refer to the past events quite frequently.
So, what do we have?
We all know the publicly available history of the two Great Houses of Andunor: they both have their roots in the drow city of Udos Dro'Xun, where, however, they both faced persecution for their... peculiar, if not to say disturbing, unorthodox practices and beliefs, which led to their exile from the city as renegades.
Of course, while both of their respective religious convictions and doctrines were deemed heretical by the Udosian Temple of Lolth, the two are quite distinct and by no means the same; in fact, they rather represent two competing ideologies, naturally pitting the Houses as rivals.
So, while facing a similar punishment and both establishing their new holdings in exile below the ruins of Tollidor, in "the Vault" - the singular regional ingress point to a major juncture of various caverns in the Lowerdark - the Houses, however, remained at odds.
For this reason, apparently, each of the (now Great) Houses was entrusted with one of the keys needed to unseal the Vault and the duty to guard it (not necessarily according to their own will, which perhaps explains why each of the keys came with a powerful guardian of its own), expecting that followers of such different doctrines would, in what can be compared to an intraspecific competition, be less likely to unite and conspire against the city they were used to protecting.
As we know, however, Udos faced devastation at the hands of the mind flayers of Izlude's Torment during the Cataclysm of 61AR and was finally flooded (and the city ruins were eventually washed away deep into Lowerdark) during the Deluge of 95AR.
And while the old realm was lost to the dark waters and its displaced denizens scrambled up to the higher grounds, losing what power they had along with their submerged home - shocked and disorganized -
the Vaunted House Freth and the Exalted House Claddath, both being marginals, outcasts - and thus less dependent on Udos and the now crumbled reality it existed in - were better fit to seize the moment and adapt to thrive in the new reality that followed the Deluge.
They evacuated the Vault, sealing its entrance to the Deep Lowerdark and trapping the Mind Flayers of Izlude's Torment below to a likely death, and led the surviving refugees higher in the twisting caverns where, learning from the mistakes of Old Udos, they would establish a new city - a trade city this time - built in districts around the trade Hub (that expanded upon and replaced old Jhared's Tradepost), which was to be controlled by the Mysterious Hub Master and his Peacekeepers, while the districts of the city would be divided between the now Great Houses - Freth claiming the Devil's Table and Claddath taking the Sharps.
The Great Houses, however, distanced themselves from the immediate management of life within the districts, delegating the cycle-to-cycle issues to the self-governance bodies elected by the citizens of the districts, focusing their energy on their own pursuits and stepping in very rarely when it was necessary to ensure the city's survival against particularly grave external threats, such as illithid invasions, preferring to otherwise remain aloof.
Day 4, Month 6 (Kythorn), 186 AR (1386 DR)
Gote'ewka Shax'thar'rska
2. Introduction
The above is, mostly, a common knowledge, available to the public.
And while many would be tempted to try and dig up some dark secrets and shocking revelations in the obscure past of the Great Houses (much to the satisfaction of the Houses themselves, who would rather have people invested in chasing a red herring than meddling in their affairs, I'd assume), it is precisely the openly available knowledge that is important here, and not some alleged hidden history.
It is merely a matter of correct interpretation and piecing the available facts together.
Now, the new arrivals to Andunor may easily mistake the elected self-governance for the true rulers of the city,
while long-time citizens can live there for years without encountering any direct presence of the Great Houses - save for the ever-silent district guards and the occasional, enigmatic House priestess or other retainer moving through the district streets on House business.
In fact, most folks are quite happy to avoid ending up on a surgical table as a test subject for the next twisted research conceived by the inquisitive minds of macabre Claddath chirurgeons or to steer clear of crossing a Freth-bound Baatezu patrol in a wrong way.
Yet, while the masses - so easily excitable by the latest scandals - struggle to keep pace with yet another iteration of the self-perpetuating chaos of district politics, marked by lesser Houses tussle for control of local self-governance (and the minor financial streams that accompany it to embezzle) and engaging in petty inter-district squabbles, the more inquisitive minds cannot help but wonder: are the districts really established and ruled by the Great Houses that are either naïve enough to trust in their citizens' self-governance abilities or so apathetic and decadent that they simply do not care about their own districts?
Surely no drow House, heretical or orthodox, would so openly grant such wide autonomy out of sheer benevolence or goodwill. It is more reasonable to suggest that they simply have no choice but to (temporarily, although for a rather long period of time) offload the burden of local district management onto a complex system of elected self-governance - freeing their resources for other pursuits.
And those pursuits must be both crucial and resource-intensive, as well as challenges sufficiently grave, to necessitate such an elaborate high-level political system as that of the Trade City of Andunor.
Now, what might those pursuits be exactly? And, more importantly, what are the dire challenges that compel the Great Houses to undertake them?
/These/ are the questions that bother those not content with the dismissive "decadent noble too fat to notice me bash corpses on da streets, ha-ha" explanation the propaganda want one to accept.
Day 4, Month 6 (Kythorn), 186 AR (1386 DR)
Gote'ewka Shax'thar'rska
3. Theory
Consider this:
Both Houses began in Udos Dro'xun as marginals pushed to the fringes of Udosian Lolthite society - each adhering to a different, yet equally dubious (in the eyes of Lolthite-dominated Udosian system), set of beliefs.
Both were eventually exiled, pitted against one another in the perilous Vault, and made (quite likely unwilling) guardians of the city from the Lowerdark's threats.
In the aftermath of the collapse* of the Udosian system, however, both houses surged to power:
being marginals pushed to the fringes of the Udosian Lolthite society, they were less reliant on the old system and thus better suited to adapt and thrive in the new reality that arrived after the collapse, while, those who had dominated the Udosian society (and thus were accustomed to it and reliant on it to far greater extent) found themselves dumbstruck by the staggering losses and disorganized.
In essence, the very unorthodox beliefs that once were to their disadvantage within the Udosian system became their advantage and the foundation of their success when the old order crumbled.
---
* it is a subject for a separate paper of its own, but, very briefly, I'd dare to suggest that the real issues that blighted Udosian system and society were internal in nature and external shocks like the Cataclysm or the Deluge merely expedited the inevitable collapse of the system that had already been doomed to fall - if not to illithids and rising waters then to myconids and faerzress surges or anything else).
---
Now, we can of course see that when the Great Houses seized the moment leading the surviving refugees to establish a new city in the caverns above - they had learned from Udos' mistakes and, beyond any doubt, took those lessons into account when shaping the concept of the Trade City: a settlement built in separate districts around the Hub, designed both to diffuse internal conflicts (replacing the outright violence between the Great Houses with a Cold War, magitech rivalry and arms race)
and to foster amicable enough relations with surface realms to prevent the city's destruction before it could take root.
But who is to say that was the only lesson the Great Houses took from the fate of Udos?
Surely, they had first-hand experienced the importance of the ability to quickly adapt to the changing environment and the advantages it grants.
Surely, they drew conclusions and would not let their newly conquered station slip away should a new great calamity arrive.
Now, what if they actually KNOW that it WILL inevitably arrive?
Perhaps they know something that we do not know, perhaps some great woe is already approaching us.
Or, which is far more likely,
they DO NOT actually KNOW WHEN it will happen
or WHAT EXACTLY it will be,
BUT they're wise enough to recognize that such an event
is INEVITABLE - maybe next year, may in a hundred years, maybe in a thousand years -
SO they are already preparing for it?
After all, what little is publicly known of their activities and modus operandi - reluctance to engage in the open confrontation between each other, delegation of the serf-governance to the district population, hoarding of resources, magitech race, stepping in to the defense of the city only against the most grave external threats -
seems to suggest that the each of the Great Houses IS thinking rather in terms of WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT and is quite focused each on its own respective project, vision for the perpetual survival - of their House, of their society, of the drow species.
Of course, being Houses with actually strong beliefs (they did face persecution and suffered for them in the age of Udos, in what is beyond doubt a folly that weaker, irresolute lesser Houses cannot afford) their visions for the survival and eventual global domination of each of the Great Houses differ greatly.
Each project is profoundly influenced, if not entirely shaped, by the respective ideology of the House - and thus is rivaling another.
Just as in times of their forced co-existence within the Vault, the Great Houses remain dead-locked in rivalry, if not conflict.
However, this time, it runs on a far deeper level - a clash of post-New-Great-Calamity, post-apocalypse projects of survival,
battle of competing visions of the future,
of the beliefs and ideologies,
not merely swords and spells.
Currently the open skirmishes are replaced by the arms and magitech race of the cold war.
For indeed, think about it -
whatever happens BEFORE the INEVITABLE new calamity will ultimately be voided, erased by the devastating event.
Therefore, the House that allows their forces, their resources, their focus to get distracted from the advancing the project, the vision of the perpetual post-calamity survival, wasting them on the petty wars over the fundamentally temporary domination now - will lose in the long term.
It is only natural, then, that both Vaunted Freth and Exalted Claddath would refrain from diverting their forces, resources, attention from the preparations for the future, reserving their resources and efforts for advancing their respective post-calamity survival projects.
They would only engage in defense of the city against the particularly grave threats that could jeopardize their plans more than participation in such defense.
That is why they avoid open confrontation between each other now -
any dominance gained before the calamity can only be temporary -
even wiping out the rival House but failing to address the challenges of the new post-calamity reality would spell death as surely as the slaughter of own House.
Thus, now is the time for silent preparations, for the build up of the forces and securing a head start for the post-calamity struggle for survival and dominance against the competing vision.
Hence the reclusive nature of the rule of the each of the Great Houses,
hence the reluctance to squander forces in petty wars for temporary, and ultimately meaningless, gains.
Hence the resource conservation (including the administrative resources),
hence the delegation of district self-management to the blissfully ignorant denizens.
While we are struggling to deal with the current crises, the Great Houses already plot and prepare what's way ahead after the current system collapses - for the survival and dominance in the post-collapse reality, not to repeat the mistakes of Udos, but to replicate their own success in its aftermath.
Day 4, Month 6 (Kythorn), 186 AR (1386 DR)
Gote'ewka Shax'thar'rska
4. Analysis of the House Doctrines: Claddath
## Analysis
As seen above, covering the actual nature and contradictions of the Andunorian political system and challenges faced by the Great Houses we mentioned, quite extensively, the ways the Vaunted Freth and Exalted Claddath respond to them -
their visions of the perpetual survival of their House, their society, their race, ultimately,
so I believe it would also be appropriate to also briefly cover the specifics of these projects.
While, understandably, very little of the actual works on the each of the Great Houses' projects is known to the public,
I myself tend to believe that no great secrets are being hidden there - meaning that, the projects are exactly what they appear to be from the openly available sources.
Thus, while the specifics and crucial details, whose knowledge might endanger the projects, are fervently guarded, we can get a good overall idea of the distinct visions of the future advanced by each of the Great Houses.
- Claddath
Perhaps to the surprise of many who tried to dabble in the research of the topic,
I would like to start with Exalted Claddath - for while the specifics of their beliefs and doctrines are shrouded in mystery, the nature of their vision for the future of their House and truly the drow race is immediately visible to anyone who has encountered a Claddath chirurgeon or some abominable product of their fleshcraft.
The response of the Exalted Claddath is, of course TRANSDROWISM: heavy modifications of the flesh, primarily functional at that, experimentation in the field of enhancement of the drow body, fleshcraft, both post-birth and alterting the foetus still within the womb, perhaps things like cloning and aplacental pregnancy to that end.
Essentially the Exalted Claddath say: "We will survive by adapting our very bodies to whatever the cataclysm comes - hells or high water. If the is no more air we will change to live without it, if there is no water we will change to survive without it, if faerzress wanes we will shape ourselves to not rely on it, if the great rock vaults collapse in exposing us to the accursed sun above we will change to live in light.
We will forcefully and quite rapidly evolve our flesh in whatever direction is necessary for the survival of the drow race".
Perhaps also "We will simplify the duration and process of pregnancy while enhancing the offspring".
Of course, such a radically open-minded thought may appear quite blasphemous to some (in fact many).
"YOU DARE TO QUESTION THE ALREADY SUPERIOR DESIGN GRANTED TO US BY LOLTH HERSELF?!" a more reactionary individual would ask.
Of course, such individual would also soon find themselves donating their organs to the exciting new researches of the Exalted House Claddath and thus contributing to the extended survival of the drow race.
But, if, purely hypothetically speaking, Exalted Claddath felt a need to justify their path, they would surely claim something as simple as "With out superior bodies, our Dark Mother also granted us superior minds that bear unlimited capacity and potential for creation, so that, we would continue to adapt to the changing environments as She Herself taught us to adapt to the life in the blessed Underdark when we first found refuge in the depths below guided by Her wisdom".
Day 4, Month 6 (Kythorn), 186 AR (1386 DR)
Gote'ewka Shax'thar'rska
5. Analysis of the House Doctrines: Freth
# Freth
Most famously, it is a common knowledge that the Vaunted House claims that LLoth (as they call Lolth), our Queen. was imprisoned in the Abyss as part of ancient crimes committed against Her, and by extension - Our People, by the Seldarine, and Corellon.
And indeed way more information is publicly available in regard to their beliefs and practices.
In fact, allow me to quote the Vaunted Source itself:
"Should devastation come to call, know your doctrines, one and all.
The Doctrines of Lloth
There is naught that keeps Our People, the ilythiiri, from the bleak and barren Abyss, but the vigilance of Our Queen?s Servants. The void of the infinite planes are unknowably vast and teeming with all manner of perilous spirits and forces, most of which are opposed to our very existence. Remember your past, remember your blessings, and Our Queen will see you through whatever calamity shall befall you.
The Doctrines of Lloth are based upon our Queen?s composition; All of Her Eight Legs are equally crucial, depicting our cultural annals, but it is the Mind of our Queen that provides us with our most necessary admonition. Were we lesser creatures, we would require different gods to represent each facet of our civilization ? as we are inherently greater, we require only One.
1. War.
In the cradle of our home that is the Darkness, thousands of years ago we were cast here by the foul surface elves. That their malice for us continues today is merely a symbol of Our lifework. They created us as their adversaries, their phantoms. Grown men upon the surface hear our name and grow sickly pale, like the underbellies of our anemic fish. They stare into the shadows and their faces contort in resentment and fear at the idea that we might be there. Our Queen sacrificed everything for us to become fearsome to all, and we shall serve our purpose with glee.
2. Construct.
As the spider creates a web, so must we. To create is to strengthen Our People and Our Queen. Those who create are Blessed, for those who produce make more that we might utilize, that we might thrive, that Our Queen might consume. Through the power of creation, we attain the perfection She knows we are able to. To not construct is to permit the threads of Our Peoples? webs to come undone, to pull and fray, to destroy the tapestry of our work. Those who destroy the works of Our People are those who destroy Our People, and they are truly the most heinous of the reviled, akin to those of the surface.
3. Glut.
The handiwork of the craftsman are not simply left to molder and rot. It must be harvested, it must be consumed. The works of Our People are the condensed breath of Lloth ? our entirety a baptismal fluid! Know this and be honored, but honor Our Queen in ceremony by surviving, by utilizing ? be it information, experience, or wealth, gather what you can in your name, knowing that in turn, you make our Goddess richer.
4. Consort.
To consort is much more than the myriad pleasures of meat. While it is a useful tool, it is much too specific to use to its utmost potential ? this is why Our People sow ourselves amongst inferiors. What information they have, we shall reap a generous harvest by simply placing a few seeds of good-will and waiting. In this, time and sweet words are our allies, which Our People have in excess. Information is a valuable substance, and one of our Gifts is to glean it.
5. Rest.
To reap influence and favor constantly is to invite doom. As Our Queen?s children, we must accept that while we are in Her image, we cannot achieve Her awe-inspiring and terrible drive. What we see within the quiet times known as Reverie may unsettle, but in this trance you shall know the quietude that Lloth can offer you. The visions you find within Reverie will cut away your fear, every weak part of your emotional anatomy. What you long for will come into focus when you lull, and we must strive to accept every gift She offers us.
6. Deceive.
To deceive is divine. Our Queen deceived the odious and presumptuous Host of the elves above who deemed themselves her peers. In this skill, we can find our independence from those Lessers. All ilythiiri are different, have their own goals, but we are all united within the affront delivered unto us from the surface. In this calling, we find our survival in the trap they have attempted to keep us within. We make promises, we whisper. We lie. Even those who are clever can always be deceived ? and most times, it is not even with a lie. Information cannot be stopped once it is in motion, and the momentum of words are swift.
7. Toil.
Our People are the vessels for our Goddess to walk the face of this wretched earth. We are Her mouths, Her medium. Her struggle. We compete and we survive, and through this, we nourish our Queen, that She might proliferate. We will find ourselves pained. We will be ravaged. We will hunch in maligned, twisted anguish, and all of our suffering will fuel Our work. With every slight we sharpen our own suffering into a razor poignancy, a weapon, and pass it onto our children. Generations upon generations of pain build up and with each era, we remember and become more fatal to our enemies.
8. Plot.
To survive is to plan. To decipher the plans of others is to add needful information to our own. There are levels of panache that the overlooked races can only dream of, and our Goddess? gift to us is that we have the time and the eloquence to play the Game correctly. The dance stays the same as ever, but those who wish to pay respect to our most Holy Queen dance well. The struggles, the politics, all of it is a rehearsal for when we turn our gaze above to the Lesser Host.
9. Abide.
The head of Lloth deems that we restrain our roving intensity. To reach beyond your well-made web is to invite calamity, for some fleeting thing that easily catches our fancy can vanish or turn against you. Desires are neverending, and we are not swift to spot illusion. Those who are not vigilant are like a corrupt mirror, deforming Lloth?s blessings to ugliness by rejecting Her truth. Rather, we must secure ourselves to that which is immaculate and true, and through it, recognize the blasphemous testaments of those who would tear Our People down."
Thus the response to the challenges of the post-calamity future that the Vaunted Freth propose is that of TOTAL CONTROL - over each member of the society and of the society as a whole.
They believe that through careful planning ahead (doctrine 8 - Plot) and unprecedented total control over an individual and its urges, as well as over consumption and ambitions (doctrine 9 - Abide) exacted to guarantee the flawless execution of the plan (doctrine 7 - Toil) the drow race will be able to survive the upcoming new Calamity and thrive in its aftermath.
To which end they seek employ a strict hierarchy modelled upon that of Baator and respective methods of enforcing it: each member of the society is to be numbered and marked with an infernal sigil that regulates their freedoms (if that may be called so, rather a set of permissions that may at any moment be a subject to revocation, should given member of the society slight against the House and Our People) - where can they work, what can they consume and how much, where the may and may not be, where they may and may not live, with whom they must and must not mate.
All subject to strict, oppressive, total control, conveniently compatible with the world-view of the Freth-bound Baatezu employed to enforce the Frethian order.
And thus the doctrine which outsiders would call Frethian Faith - the rather unorthodox, interpretation of Lolthite tenets to say the least, was, to begin with, most probably itself conceived as a convenient indoctrination vehicle, designed to facilitate the spread Frethian project among Ilythiiri.
Each individual and society as the whole is to Toil according to the Plan as House and People Abide - the persecution, the preparations, the Calamity, until the glorious moment comes in the cleansing aftermath of the apocalypse, when Lloth will finally be liberated.
Or as others put it:
"Where the homicidal masquerade of most drow is a barely concealed veneer of civility over the chaos their goddess favours, House Freth instead seize their urges oppressively, mastering them and stratifying them. If Udosian Drow society's labyrinthine ranks and strata would seem seem hypocritical to outsiders, the Freth approach could appear to be the more logical one."
Day 4, Month 6 (Kythorn), 186 AR (1386 DR)
Gote'ewka Shax'thar'rska
6: Conclusion
- 6. Conclusion
We have examined the historical background that led to the establishment of Andunor's current political system, the challenges faced by the Great Houses before and after their rise to power, and their respective responses - particularly regarding the challenges that lie ahead.
We suggest that the prevailing modus operandi of the Great Houses is best understood through the lens of their past: once marginalized factions on the fringes of Udosian society, they ascended to power by filling in the void created by catastrophe. As the dominant powers of the old society crumbled, too reliant on the old system and unable to adapt to a shifting reality, the outcasts - less reliant on the old system - proved more capable of survival and reinvention.
Learning from their own past and recognizing inevitability of a new calamity of a similar, if not greater, magnitude, the Great Houses are rather committed to securing their own survival and thriving in its aftermath, than petty squabbles and competition within the current system, which, may yield only temporary gains that would be nullified when the calamity inevitably arrives.
To this end, each Great House pursues its own vision of the post-calamity future, shaped by its distinct beliefs and ideologies: Exalted House Claddath champions transdrowism and adaptation, while Vaunted House Freth seeks total control over people, resources, and consumption.
Fail Upwards!
Day 4, Month 6 (Kythorn), 186 AR (1386 DR)
Gote'ewka Shax'thar'rska (edited)Sunday, October 12, 2025 5:53 PM
===== BONUS =====
This blank page stands out being covered neither in deranged flowcharts nor frantic sidenotes, and the pages that follow it are written in different style, having obviously been attached later.
Day 4, Month 6 (Kythorn), 186 AR (1386 DR)
Eclavdra
7: Sh'yalvan internal note on the Vaunted Freth & Spire pt.1
Something I realized while investigating the Spire of House Freth on Minauros - they are more alike to Sh'yalva than I previously thought.
While a great power of the city of Andunor, on the planes they are not as mysteriously powerful and aloof as they present themselves at the Table.
But before that - about the Spire, or as I and Freth themselves call it - the Tower: quite clearly it didn't originally belong to them.
In fact, it's almost certainly not Baatezu in origin, likely Udosian, or at least it was previously inhabited by non-Baatezu aligned drow (unlike the Vaunted Freth) - likely those of Udos.
### Facts:
0) Freth came to the control the Spire relatively recently, in 127 AR;
1) the place's defenses are in ruins, debris everywhere even almost 60 years after being claimed by the Vaunted Freth. The valley outside is littered with the scattered remnants of destroyed constructs;
2) Frethian documents speak of the assault of the tower, criticizing the "backward savages" tasked with purging the Tower's (sic!) old defenses" for ruining most of it in the process;
3) same documents reveals that the Tower housed statues of the Spider Queen which got defaced during the assault;
4) within the Tower's halls there are ash piles that indicate that Freth have been burning the documents, in fact, some of the fragments still survive in a pyre of condemned documents;
4.1) surviving bits indicate that the previous inhabitant's documents were written in drowish, in so-called "Language" or "Xanalress", and a particularly annoying and elitist variation of it at that;[OOC: using untranslated words like "usst" and "naut" amidst the otherwise English representation of the -xa language]
4.2) some of the surviving bits also discuss Baatezu, covering the strengths and weaknesses of the most common kinds from a rather practical perspective of someone clearly preparing to face them in battle and listing some of the potentially effective tactics against them;
5) Frethian letters report of the condemnation of the documents left by the previous tenant (to whom they refer as a male, and whom, according to them, has long since vanished) motivating it with the "irreverent" nature of the documents being almost "insulting" to their Baatezu allies;
5.1) the letters actually expresses concerns, if not outright fear, of damaging the Vaunted Freth's standing with their infernal allies should a Baatezu Emissary stumble upon the previous tenant's records (hence the incineration of the papers), in fact, let me quote the letter directly:
"The prior tenant, long since vanished, left behind a vast body of irrelevant and irreverent works that are being condemned as I write this report. His writings on our most gracious comrades-in-darkness border on insulting, and we would not wish any Emissaries to stumble upon anything that could lose us standing.", which an important indication of power dynamics there;
5.2) the Vaunted Freth are also cautious not to invoke attention to their presence are concerned with keeping their paperwork in good order in case if any agents question them:
"Accretion of Spire Freth has been complete. Surveillance of the outside valley indicates a low chance of local disturbance, so long as we avoid stirring attention. Our paperwork is in good order if any agents question us.";
6) While the Frethian rank-and-file guards have no knowledge of the particular purpose of their assignment, they report that they house a company's worth within the halls and assess that the Tower, while its defenses had been severely damaged, still would suffice as an outpost;
7) Frethian logs provide a little more insight, proving the obvious suspicion that we had, that securing the tower, even in as ruined state as it is, served the interests of House Freth and was one of the steps of their meticulously orchestrated plan [now as for how much irony should one read in the "meticulously orchestrated plan" and Frethian grand machinations - we will discuss a little later on], particularly in the preparation for the event the Vaunted Freth refer to as the Advent.
### Historical context:
In 53AR, there occured an event dubbed "Baator's Second Awakening" - 8 gates were detecting manifesting scattered around the Underdark of island Arelith - breaching into the Prime Material plan from Baator. While not manifested fully, there apparently was little doubt that a Baatezu invasion was imminent.
The then-"First Matron" of Udos Oblodra of House Drak'aa organized an expedition of a combined forces of Udos and Grond to counter the threat. The drow forces were led by Matron Drak'aa while kobolds Orn Gixi, and Vippin, directly led all of the Grondian forces under Oblodra's indirect command.
Oblodra's plan was truly impressive in its immediate simplicity and the blessed insanity of the logic behind id - she would have force opened the portals herself, breaching them before Baatezu and use them to invade Minauros, gain a foothold there and seal the portals from the other side (???).
As one could expect, such a plan had some weaker points to it.
While the coalition did succeed in opening the portals and invading Baator to fight the legions of chain devils under the acid rains of the 3d layer, the battle was ultimately a defeat as Gixi and Vippin ended up betraying Oblodra to ensure the the gates remained open.
However, it would seem that, in the following campaigns the forces of Udos managed to gain a foothold in Baator, after all, securing one of the portals on the Baatorian side and claiming a tower amids the bogs and acid rains of Minauros.
It is told that any Faithful Lolthite drow, regardless of her arcane aptitude or clerical training could access the tower with a short prayer of praise to the Spider Queen and use the divine magicks granted by Lolth herself to scry.
Ever fickle, however, Lolth's favor eventually turned to rage, as once cycle the Spider Queen's statue that was a centerpiece of the altar is told to had come alive and tear down the place, slaughtering the inhabitants of the tower and eventually collapsing, denying the Faithful the further use of the scrying boon.
### Immediate interpretation
It does not require a remarkable intelligence to connect the dots and deduce that the Baatorian tower claimed by the Udosian Lolthites mentioned in the tales of old and spire Freth on Minauros are almost certainly the same place.
Frethian own documents reveal that they were not the original inhabitants of the tower, gaining the control over the tower (abandoned by the prior inhabitant by the time of their arrival) in result of an assaults against its remaining defenses - evidently the torn automatons scattered around the valley being one of those in the past.
The story about Lolth's statue coming to life and tearing the place down may perhaps contradict the Frethian account of the Spider Queen's images being damaged in the assault (which however, may be a mistaken assumption made in the Frethian records that the statue was damaged in the assault and not before) or the statue story itself is but a legend, but it's also possible that the both accounts are actually true and merely refer to different statues damaged at different time.
In any case, the facts that there existed prior, non-Frethian, tenants of the Frethian Tower, them leaving behind the documents in the irritatingly elitist variation of drowish language popular in Udos and the nature of the some of the documents discussing the strength and weaknesses of various kinds of Baatezu in the context of combatting them, indicate that the tower had previously been controlled by a drow force both hostile and foreign to Baator.
Which, of course, matches Udosian tales about a tower in Baator that blessed the Faithful Lolthites with a boon of scrying. The tower, however, eventually fell victim to the Spider Queen's wrath and remained abandoned until coming under the control of the Vaunted House Freth.
Despite the Vaunted Freth having to clear out the tower of its defenses I have little doubt that the Frethian control of this nook of Minauros is a result of an agreement reached between the Vaunted Freth and the infernal powers of the layer, rather than a blatant conquest - after all the Vaunted Freth are known for their ties to Baator and their Vision of drow race survival project, their ideology and beliefs, being remarkably aligned with the worldview of Baatezu.
The assumption is also, admittedly arguably, supported by the Frethian concern over keeping their paperwork in good order should they be checked, indicating that they /may/ in fact, be denied the permission to claim the tower.
They also methodically destroy the remaining traces of the anti-Baatezu prior tenants of the Tower in order to avoid potential misunderstandings with infernal emissaries, for the fear of damaging their standing with their Baatezu "comrades-in-darkness" as they call them (though they are hardly being treated as equals by Baatezu and it would appear they are quite aware of that).
This, in my opinion, quite clearly indicates that Frethian control of the tower comes not from the blatant conquest, but from the sanction of Baatezu rulers of the layer and is highly dependent on their good (or rather evil) graces.
Day 4, Month 6 (Kythorn), 186 AR (1386 DR)
Eclavdra
8: Sh'yalvan internal note on the Vaunted Freth & Spire pt.2
#### Theory
From the above we can see a narrative emerge that tells that some time between 53AR and 127AR, Udosian Lolthite drow, likely in a follow up to Oblodra's initial campaign, if not during it, came to control a small foothold - a portal and a tower overlooking it - on Minauros.
Of course, given that the Udosian society was dominated by the Temple of Lolth, such a tower claimed by Udos would most certainly be pressed by the clergy to be used as a place of worship to the Spider Queen - without a doubt glorious statues and other depictions praising Lolth would adorn its halls and an altar would be erected to enact Lolthite rituals for the Dread Mother's joy.
On the other hand, given the extremely hostile, to say the least, environment surrounding the tower, its inhabitants would be also be forced to think about their security (in the free time their minds would not be occupied with praising Lolth, of course).
A formidable system of defenses would be put up, which, perhaps would include a force of combat constructs among other things.
The place would become a place of pilgrimage to the Faithful Lolthites and merely practical individuals who would like to use the boon of scrying granted by the Spider Queen.
However, Lolth's favour eventually turned to wrath as the boon was revoked and, at least according to some accounts, the altar statue of the Lady of Chaos came to life to tear the place down.
Regardless of the veracity of the animated statue account, some time before 127AR (likely rather long time before it) the place would fall into disuse and end up abandoned by its inhabitants, its formidable defense systems, however, persisting.
No longer causing an immediate danger to Baatezu, yet requiring resources to be cleared of its defenses, the tower apparently remained unclaimed for decades, a minor annoyance in side of Mammon's dominion.
Then, at some point around 127AR Vaunted Freth approached their (senior) Baatezu partners with either a request to be granted a small outpost in Baator (which they required to advance their plans) - in which case the authorities of Minauros would use Freth and to clear out the Tower and its defenses for them and receive the resulting ruin Baatezu had no use for to begin with as a reward, eliminating an abandoned yet annoying hostile enclave and replacing it with an outpost of an allied power -
or a suggestion to clear out the particular Tower in exchange of allowing them to claim it to begin with, in which case the whole idea would Freth's own offer.
In either case, the Vaunted Freth apparently successfully filed the necessary paperwork, received the permission to claim the Tower and commenced an assault that cleared it of its remaining defenses and bringing it under Frethian control, causing, however, significant collateral damage to the structure, gaining full control of the remaining outpost by Marpenoth 22nd 127AR.
As of the moment of this writing in 186AR, almost 60 years after coming under the control of the Vaunted Freth, however, the place still remains an utter mess under the incompetent management of the apathetic commander of the local garrison Solfryn - debris litters the halls, acid rain gets inside the building through the broken windows, the gatekeeper system lets all sorts of people in, regardless of their allegiances, merely based on the simple test of temperament type.
Attempts to tidy the place up face a resistance from Solfryn, who insists that everything should remain as it is (despite the droves of squatters dragging their furniture upstairs, past the closed doors of his office where he spends his days).
When confronted, the wretched slacked of a male blames the results of his mismanagement on the "damn rain".
### The Irony: the Vaunted Freth are more similar to the Accursed Sh'yalva than they would probably like
In any case, it is ironic that certain parallels can be drawn between the Vaunted House Freth, the Founders of Andunor and mighty TRVE rulers of the Devil's Table district and the Accursed Sh'yalva, a minor House of exiles kicked out from the Devil's Table by one of its self-government administrations.
For, during the times of Udos Dro'xun, dominated by its orthodox Temple of Lolth, Freth faced persecution for their peculiar beliefs (rather heretical, however, unlike the strict and hard-core orthogodox Lolthite views of House Sh'yalva) and were themselves exiled from the city to dwell in the Vault - an entry point to the Lowerdark and a frontier between the territories controlled by Udos and those of illithid colony of Mind's Eye - serving as an unwilling first line of defense together with their long time ideological rivals and fellow exiles of House Claddath.
The parallels do not end there, however.
Being exiled even from the trade city of Andunor, the failures that are the members of House Sh'yalva ended up falling lower than Lowerdark, finding themselves on the 363d layer of the Abyss, squatting at the Iron Keep, where they were allowed to only by the grace of Zhozzad, the orog owner of the property.
Of course, they will be kicked out into the wastelands immediately after Zhozzad leaves the island and thus releases his control of the property.
And the old orog has long intended to retire, so, the fateful cycle draws ever nearer.
And Sh'yalvan questionable and inherently temporary claim on the halls of a keep in Abyss which is also dependent on Zhozzad's will, is in a way similar to the Vaunted Freth's claim over their Spire on Minauros.
It would seem that the Vaunted Freth approached their Baatezu "partners" with a humble plea to be allowed to claim a property in Baator which they required for their grand plans and were granted by the devils with a useless ruin of a tower, which was hostile to Baator and out of its control to begin with, one which they had to assault and clear out to be allowed to claim, thus saving their "comrades-in-darkness" the resources and time while also ridding them a thorn in their side.
And even so, the measures the Vaunted Freth take to ensure they do not accidentally upset their "allies" (avoiding invoking attention and clearing out the "irreverent" documents left by prior inhabitants of the tower) shows that their presence in the Tower is highly dependent on the Baatezu favor.
Also, the utter incompetence and laziness of the apathetic slacker commander of the Tower - Solfryn rivals that of the males of House Sh'yalva.
Of course, despite many similarities, there are also obvious difference between the two drow Houses.
For, while, like Sh'yalva who squat at Zhozzad's property in Abyss, Freth are occupying a tower granted to them by their infernal 'comrades' (if not matrons/patrons) in Baator, they however, unlike Sh'yalva, are sensible enough to be concerned with what their benefactors would think of them and are being careful to avoid offending their infernal sensibilities (which is however a testament to either their weaker spirit or them being reasonable, depending on whom you ask).
In somewhat similar situation, when asked whether they are concerned that Zhozzad would be offended by a play they wrote which portrays him engaged in a lustful relationship with Matron Wanre of House Z'ress, Sh'yalvas shrug the question off saying "If he gets offended it will merely means that he is not as cool as we though he was".
So there is that difference in the spirit between the Vaunted Freth and Accursed Sh'yalva.
That, and the fact that the Vaunted Freth still are one of the two Great Houses of Andunor and a major power of Arelithian Underdark while Sh'yalvas are the Accursed House of Failures, lacking any power and ambitions whatsoever beyond blindly and thoughtlessly serving the Spider Queen's Chaos. They don't even own the property they live at.
Fail Upwards
Day 4, Month 6 (Kythorn), 186 AR (1386 DR)
Eclavdra