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Post by DM kelsfar on Mar 20, 2009 13:41:55 GMT -5
Sshamath is a moderately peaceful city (For a Drow city) and all races and intelligent creatures are almost welcomed in. The conclave as we already know are the cities power, made up of different feuding schools, all that make up the cities power. The city does consist of alot of slaves (Mostly all are lesser creatures and un intelligent one's) Slaves can be purchased in the Bazaar which these slaves (thousands) are contained in small magical glass cubes for display. Magic is considered a valued aspect within Sshamath and any creature capable of casting magic or wields it is to not be a slave under conclave law (exception to those that wish the city harm or have been banned or considered deadly). Basically Sshamath is a magic users evil paradise.
The Conclave does slightly frown upon Sorcerers, bards warlocks and those that cast divination such as priest, they believe true magic comes from vigorous study and years of research (Wizard's), not those that wield it naturally, gifted to them by a God or weild it in any raw form. Lloth and Vhaerun have open temples within the city and work exchanges with the Conclave, helping them with spells and other things the conclave cannot use or get. Followers of Eilistaee also frequent the city and are tolerated so long as they abide the laws and do not interfere with the conclave.
Often Eilistaeeans come to the city to convert others and to try and free as many slaves as they can (though they will and can face punishment freeing a slave that is property of another without his consent) Also Shar seems to be a rising Goddess within Sshamath and it is known that a Sharite by the name of Nurissa Vyllshan is pushing the conclave to allow Shadow magic (Magic from the shadow weave) to be an official school and for her to take a seat of power within the conclave. The city has ties with the Zhentarim and Darkhold.
**These are things I have come to know through research of Sshamath, some from online such as wikia and wizards.com/dnd and a few other places as well. The biggest resource tool that I have is the novel by Lisa Smedman titled Storm Of The Dead, which gives the best to date look into the city of Sshamath and it's daily life**
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Post by adzling on Mar 20, 2009 14:45:02 GMT -5
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Post by ansient on Mar 23, 2009 23:32:20 GMT -5
Ya I wanted to add to that thread but it's locked. From Web of the Spider Queen, here's some useful lore on the limited Lolth worship in Sshamath: The Web of the Spider Queen consists of a densely packed cluster of small stalactites and stalagmites enmeshed in a vast nest of spider webbing. The preeminent temple of Lolth in Sshamath, the Web was once the seat of true power when the matron mothers of the noble houses reigned supreme. Although all priestesses of Lolth are still educated within the sprawling temple complex, the Conclave of Sshamath is the true power in the city. While the drow of Sshamath have never formally repudiated Lolth's worship, her faith inspires only token obeisance among the population, and even less deference among the wizard caste.
Like most Sshamath institutions, the temple's residents fabricate a wide range of magical items. Lolth-worshiping wizards create spells and magical items that fall within the Spider Queen's sphere of influence, particularly those that relate to arachnids, such as Cloaks of Arachnidia, Rings of Arachnid Control, Spider Fang daggers, Spider Harnesses, and Spider Keys. The Spider Queen's clergy--restricted to females in Sshamath--have established a lucrative market for their services, assisting wizards in fabricating enchanted items when a clerical component is required.
Ilharess Laele Zauviir, seventy five additional priestesses, and one hundred twelve lay worshipers serve at the Spider Queen's temple.(I play Mas'Udon, a capable priestess who is trying to better organize the temple and Lolth's faithful...just contact her IC if your char is interested : ) |
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Post by DM kelsfar on Mar 24, 2009 0:40:10 GMT -5
Waiting on a Shar guild to spring up, or some Eilistraeens  |
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Post by adzling on Mar 24, 2009 9:19:31 GMT -5
in Sshamath Vhaerun's sect holds the sharrians down to a small following until he gets killed by Ellistrae later the timeline at which point the worship of Shar explodes as many disaffected Vhaerunites flock to worship him.
nice post ansient, the political disposition towards Lolthites is covered in the "Welcome to Sshamath" thread but not the details of the church.
I will contact a forum moderator about adding in your deets on the church to the thread.
thanks!
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Post by strobhen on Mar 25, 2009 11:03:04 GMT -5
Waiting on a Shar guild to spring up, or some Elistreans There is at least one Eilistraeen. ;D |
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Post by DM kelsfar on Mar 25, 2009 16:10:23 GMT -5
And I have been aware of that "one" |
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Post by tristanvaneer on Mar 29, 2009 5:47:19 GMT -5
This seemed like a very useful resource to me considering that they stole it directly from the Forgotten Realms source books. Since we seem to be the most active three in retrieving information and such Kelsfar perhaps you, Adzling and I should discuss setting our PWs position on some of the topics that aren't totally clear, such as population. Adzling and I can continue to throw out ideas and you can put the final say on them and clear anything with the staff that needs to be. I don't think there is much up in the air but it seems to be in a lot of different places. drowcampaign.roleplaynexus.com/citysshamath.html |
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Post by adzling on Mar 29, 2009 11:45:55 GMT -5
yar i drew a lot of the stuff in the "welcome to sshamath" thread from there.
i am happy with your suggestion re overall pop being 50k tristan.
the only other difference i see is the idea of "spellcasting race" vs. "spellcaster" being immune from slavery.
for the reasons related to racial tension i stated in the other thread i'd like to see it remain "spellcasting race".
anything else im happy to discuss man im glad you're getting into the lore@!
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Post by tristanvaneer on Mar 29, 2009 14:32:30 GMT -5
Actually Adzling the link I posted has a section on the spellcasting race vs. spellcaster and they described it almost exactly like you did. I didn't have any problem with what you were saying I just wanted to open up discussion so others who might bring up the questions I did would understand the reason behind them. Since I have so much time to myself I think I'm going to work on assembling all of the ideas here and see if there is any other information that we might need to explain things a little better.
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Post by adzling on Mar 29, 2009 15:11:38 GMT -5
xclnt ok sounds good tristan.
have a look through the "welcome to sshamath" thread and see what's need clarification, pruning, editing.
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Post by astegard on Apr 30, 2009 9:28:29 GMT -5
I had a question regarding the law and all. Since the underdark and surface are about to be conected how are we as underdark to respond to humans etc. i know for sure that if i walked into baldurs gate with my drow (if i even got that far) i'd get killed instantly. what happens to say a human when he gets close to Sshamath?
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Post by adzling on Apr 30, 2009 10:52:34 GMT -5
current thinking is this:
surfacers in the tunnels are fair game.
once they reach varalla's passage (in sight of the guards i guess) or Sshamath itself they are off limits unless they somehow break the law, expose themselves as nefarious do-gooders intent on bringing down the Conclave or otherwise insult Drow ;-)
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