Selvetarm
[SELL-veh-TARM]

Champion of Lolth, Thane of Lolth, The Spider that Waits, The Spider Demon, Prince of the Aranea, Lord of the Venomire
God of Drow Warriors

Selvetarm is the champion of Lolth and the patron of drow warriors. Seen as the embodiment of unequaled fighting prowess, Selvetarm is worshiped by a few drow in the northern and western reaches of the Underdark beneath Faerun, particularly in the city of Eryndlyn beneath the High Moor and in the dungeons of Undermountain beneath Waterdeep. The Spider Demon is also venerated by many of the aranea of the Spider Swamp in southern Calimshan where he is known as Zanassu, the Spider That Waits. A few drow in the Forest of Mir as well as a handful of Volothanni seeking any advantage to advance themselves politically in the Gem City of Calimshan round out the ranks of Selvetarm's faithful.

Cruel and malicious by nature, Selvetarm cares only for battle and destruction. The Champion of Lolth harbors a deep hatred for all living things, including his dominating mistress, and the only beauty he can appreciate is a well-honed and deadly fighting style. Selvetarm can exhibit a great deal of patience while waiting for prey to fall into an ambush he has set, but he prefers the wild abandon of battle frenzy to a careful and deliberate attack.

Zandilar the Dancer was a beautiful and seductive blue-skinned elven woman. She was a goddess of lust. She was said to have used her feminine wiles to gain vital information from deities of other pantheons and to persuade human chieftains and kings to leave the Yuir in peace. During one of the most deadly of dark elves' attacks upon the Yuir, Zandilar attempted to seduce the dark elven deity Vhaeraun either to gain information or to elicit his assistance in battling the forces of Lolth. However, the dark elven lord betrayed Zandilar and imprisoned her avatar, and her self-sacrifice went for naught. Vhaerun intended to seize Zandilar's divine essence for himself, but failed when Bast distracted him long enough for the elven demipower to escape. Both in gratitude and out of necessity, the severely weakened Zandilar voluntarily merged her essence with that of Bast. Bast then went on to become Sharess. Selvetarm was birthed shortly thereafter.
Selvetarm walked a solitary way for many centuries, spurning both of his parents, for he was not wholly given over to evil but neither was he aligned with the forces of light. Eventually his path crossed that of his aunt, Eilistraee, and he began to appreciate the goodness of the Dark Maiden, as exhibited in her teachings and deeds. By way of Selvetarm's redemption, Eilistraee hoped to begin to heal the breach between the majority of dark elves and the Seldarine. The Dark Maiden's hopes were dashed, however, by the insidious plotting of Lolth.
The Queen of Spiders had long resented the existence of Zanassu, a minor Abyssal Lord with pretensions of suzerainty over spiders, nearly as much as she disliked the possibility of Eilistraee winning an ally (Selvetarm) among the pantheon of the drow. When the Spider Demon lost much of his power after a conflict on the Prime (against Qysara Shoon V of the Shoon Empire), Lolth convinced Selvetarm to destroy Zanassu and seize the Spider Demon's burgeoning divine power. She did so by suggesting to Selvetarm that a victory would increase his personal power and win him favor in the eyes of Eilistraee, whom he greatly admired. While Selvetarm prevailed in battle over the Spider Demon, the absorption of Zanassu's wholly evil and chaotic nature overwhelmed Selvetarm's nascent beneficial aspects and weakened him sufficiently that he could not escape the traps by which the Spider Queen bound his will tightly to her own.

Back to the main Drow Gods Page.