Vorash, known as the Mother of Spiders and Mistress of Webs, was a demon lord and deity. She resided on the 8th layer of the Abyss, known as the Motherweb.

Appearance and Form

Vorash's primary physical manifestation was that of a huge, bloated spider with a double-sized drow woman's head. This body rested in a silk bed in the center of the sprawling Motherweb, from where she monitored all that happened in her plane and oversaw her servants, while also observing the goings-on in the world beyond and weaving her "webs" of information and intrigue.

It was rare for anyone to speak to Vorash her spider form, and she rarely moved from her residence in that form. She often walked the Motherweb in the shape of an unnaturally tall drow woman, with a round face, flowing white hair, and a spider-silk dress. It was in this shape that she most often spoke to visitors or to her servants; this is also the form she espoused when appearing to mortals, whether in visions or in person.

She does not seem to have been able to "shard" her consciousness: when she wandered in her humanoid form, the huge spider was in a trance. And when she was away in the wide world, she only returned to her plane to handle an emergency when her servants sent word, even though her spider-form was still there.

History

The Descent

The Mother of Spiders was famous for her successful corruption of the drow people, transforming them into obediant subjects and tearing them from their goddess Meanillaue. After gaining control of the drow, Vorash turned nearly all her focus on her new subjects, closely monitoring them and standing in close contact with her priestesses.

The Suffering Silence

In 14 OW, a small group of warriors (including two male drow whose enmity to Vorash was born out of her contempt for them), supported by a little army of demons, entered the Motherweb and, using fireball blasts and more insidious tactics, managed to meet the goddess and deal her great damage, such that her existence was almost destroyed.

Vorash survived, and many of her followers did not even notice her comforting spiritual presence flicker; though she was barely conscious, the goddess made a great effort not to show any of her weakness to the outside. However, she was unable to communicate with her own servants, let alone answer appeals from her mortal followers; they did note the near-absence of visions and messages.

In the power void, one of Vorash's handmaidens called Luphera took over, managing the operation of the Motherweb while the mistress lay comatose. Luphera most notably handled the servants' interactions with mortals and maintained the holy magic. She did not, however, have total power; for instance, she could not stop a group of servants from regularly communing with the goddess and trying to extract her will from her mostly silent or gibberish mind.

Over the decades, Vorash's awareness of the goings-on was dimly maintained by those servants who tended to her. She had occasional moments of determination, which her servants happily picked up and transmitted to all her following; for instance, in 56 OW, she ordered the Zannyr to "destroy all followers of the False Goddess" (meaning the Meanillaue-worshipping Zelinyr)^[1]. Luphera in this regard, keeping to her overarching policy, would have given no instructions and continued her tacit support for Zinafae.