Gezneth, also called the City of Spiders, was often seen as the capital of Khali drow society after the schism. It was located in the Caverealm , far under the northeastern corner of the Thar mountains, on Intralu.

History

In 4'517 b. OW, the Elvish Wars tore the Elvish Empire apart, with the surviving drow fleeing down into the caves beneath Oshmondu after their defeat. The refugees first went through a period known as the Recreance, lying hidden in a large cave and fully imbibing Lolth's power. Afterwards, most of the refugees (around 4'500 dark elves from the six major houses of the Black Spider) found a large cave system, one featuring myriad stalactites and stalagmites, as well as a variety of fungus and other underground foods. They decided to make this their home, and quite quickly started building houses. This early settlement was ruled by the three remaining great houses' matrons: Maal Dear'Clith, Sunn'Muo Sun'Saal, and Zaal'na Meerne. These matrons each headed one of the three districts. They had a challenging relationship, each trying to prove themselves the best. As time went on, drow society in the cave became more developed. Numbering 10'000, the drow settlers had dug into stalagmites and stalactites and the districts were merging together. Mines and manufacturing industries were being kept, but the school of magic had lost in importance: only a few powerful spellcasters, the warcasters of the old Elvish Wars, were used for any tasks where magic worked better than menial labor. By 3'800 b. OW, the entire cave system was built out. A great temple to Lolth was erected in the center of the place, and in a stalactite above was placed a shrine to Sizza Maer'Duth, the founding mother of the Spider Movement and the new drow culture. This huge new population required a better government than existing one of the three matrons (by now, their daughters Manaa Sun'Saal and Zizza Meenre were matrons, although Maal Dear'Clith had magically enhanced her lifetime). A minor civil war broke out, and five new houses were formed. The now eight houses each represented one aspect of Lolth, and were therefore deemed worthy of being the rulers. Smaller houses would appear here and there, but the actual government - as much as was needed in the culturally dictated drow society - was performed by a council of eight matrons. The matron with the most powerful house led this council, and its main purpose was not government, since drow houses were self-governed and had their own economy, but the forming of an army whenever needed out of each house's militias.

Society

Gezneth was a traditional Khali citadel, with multiple houses constituing a whole - supposedly united - front.

Houses

Dear'Clith. This was the most powerful house, characteristically led by matrons that lived about two centuries longer than everyone else. Their characteristic style was nudity and reflective black material, and sleek black buildings.

Sun'Saal contested the position of second house with Meerne. It produced primarily arcane spellcasters, a lowly art that they compensated with large numbers and common sacrifices to Lolth. They wore long flowing black dresses, or skintight black cloth for males, and generally had few adornments. Their spellcasters wore golden rings on their upper arms, both as tattoos and embroidery in their robes.

Meerne was not numerous, but known for quality. They had only about three priestesses of Lolth at any given time, but these filled high offices and were of nearly unparalleled skill. The Meerne infantry constituted the elite core of any Gezznyr expeditionary forces, and their elite guard - the Silver Web Dispatch - was often used for long-distance raids and assassination missions.

Zuunze rose in power thanks to their capable raiders and slave trade network. The Zuunze nobles wear full burgundy as a sign of their total devotion to Lolth, and they command great wealth and power, though they are generally seen as less noble by the other houses.

Zennere was a founding house known for its wealth. Its nobles wore silver-and-black web robes with pink crystal adornments. The house was extinguished in 2'693 b. OW.

Culture

Gezneth was largely self-governed by independent houses and factions, a system often called theSpider's Web. It had a very strict culture variating somewhat from traditional Khali ways, and whoever didn't abide by those cultural rules was wiped out by all others.

Code of Conduct

The Gezznyr code of conduct was very simple. First, women were worth more than men: they ruled, and any man trying to push himself over a woman, or just disobeying her, was punishable by torture or death. Second, Lolth was all-encompassing, and any lack of respect for her or for spiders should be punished as above. Priestesses of the demon were given the same untouchable status. Third, any kind of subterfuge to put down other houses was allowed, but any open clashing within Gezneth was forbidden, as was a larger civil war. Similarly, if you were caught stealing in another house or otherwise caught en flagrant délit, you would be punished. This embodied the traditional drow ideal "don't get caught".

Raising Children

Children were educated quite differently depending on their gender, parents, and house. If they belonged to a more important house, then they were given easy access to higher-caste things such as the College of Spiders. If the child was from a lower house, or a bastard child, their future could just as well lie in toiling as a commoner of a better house. Commoners' children remained commoners, although daughters were usually elevated to noble rank. Part of this elevation ceremony involved torturing and killing her old parents as a sign of devotion to her matron mother and Lolth. The first two female children of a priestess underwent special schooling in the Black Spires. There, they learned hidden crafts of magic and battle, as well as demonic rituals and torture methods. They were inducted in the Spires at the age of 8, and never left them except for educational reasons until they were 88. Then, the Ritual of Darkness was held: once each year, all 88-year old to-be priestesses (usually no more than a couple) were brought to a place beneath the temple of Lolth. There, they underwent a secret test none knew, a kind of second Maturing Ceremony (a deadly ritual held at 22 years of age). Most came out hideously deformed in the form of driders: these failures were paraded in chains through the city before being dumped outside Gezneth, exiled forever. A few came back out in humanoid shape, but in a different, sleeker, more well-shaped body and a slightly demonic appearance. They then underwent a ritual of baptism for a few days and exited the temple as new Priestesses of Lolth.

Not all women went all the way to Priestess of Lolth; often, this path was reserved for those of higher birth. Other women of the same age could perform a similar ritual, becoming "normal" priestesses instead. It was also known for high-born women to circumvent the Spires outright and pursue an arcane, martial, or simply political education.

The primary vocation for high-born males was to serve their women, typically by martial means. After summary faith education in the College of Spiders, the men practiced military art for half a century at the Eight Castles.

Slaves

Slaves were a very common thing in all drow citadels. Squads of warriors, separate for each house, were regularly sent out to raid settlements and bring back slaves. Elves were prized goods, but any humanoid race in working shape was sufficient to make a drow heart rise in glee. Slave markets were major events in Gezneth, and dealing in slaves instead of money was a common thing - the younger, more beautiful and more elvish a slave is, the higher its value. Sometimes, slave traders were paid in services - say, offering five elite warriors for a week as payment for three young humans.

Even more so than in other drow citadels, the Gezznyr were renowned for physically and sexually abusing their slaves.

Architecture

Within Gezneth, almost everything was a notable building: the intertwined houses built within stalagmites and hanging from the ceiling, the vast outlying fungus farms where food for the city's population was grown, the mighty spires of the major houses. However, there were some landmarks of special importance for the citadel. In the center of Gezneth stood the Temple of Lolth. It was a single large stalagmite, with eight black spires rising from its side. Each matron mother of the eight main houses had a private room in one of the spires. The main temple, the stalagmite, was kept in shape by 64 female drow, each clad in the red garments of Lolth's clergy. They assisted drow nobility in their prayers and sacrifices to Lolth, and put the bodies away after ceremonies. Above the temple, in a small stalactite, was hollowed out a tiny octagonal chamber. This was the Shrine of Maer'Duth. Sizza Maer'Duth was the founder of the the Spider Movement and admired by all drow. She was a demi-god to most, but none would dare pray to her instead of her highness Lolth. Although Sizza's body was lost when she was assassinated by light elven killers, a ritual was developed to remediate that. Young female drow, either extremely worthy or deemed to need punishment, were morphed into exact physical replicas of Sizza and then locked up in the shrine, where they remained until they died of old age, to be replaced by a new Sizza-replicate. Between the temple and the shrine lied a levitating building, the Hall of Spiders. It could only be reached by flying, and was the seat of the Council of Spiders, the government of the drow formed by the eight matron mothers. Off in a nook in a larger the cave, behind a forest of fungus, lied the College of Spiders. This was where young nobility were educated in the ways of magic, battle, and life. In a stalactite somewhere above it lied the Black Spires, which could only be reached by flying. Promising future priestesses were educated in their art there. The Eight Castles military academy was spread over five compounds on the fringes of Gezneth. Finally, a crack in the ground led under most major caves. Within lied a vast network of torture chambers and cells called the Pleasure Halls. Newly captured slaves, and people who required special torturing devices, were incarcerated there. Each house has some part of the complex reserved for themselves, but ownership constantly changed and the place was so vast disputes rarely erupted over the rights of usage of the halls.

Foreign Relations and Depictions

Other Citadels

Despite being the most powerful citadel, Gezneth dealt very little with other drow cities - in fact, on the average it traded less with others. This was primarily because of the City of Spider's status as an untouchable power, the holy shrine where Sizza Maer'Duth rested. It also had the manpower and resources to send raiding parties across half the Caverealm to gather what it needed, mainly slaves but also some primary products that weren't available in Gezneth's immediate surroundings.

Culturally, the City of Spiders was also very cut off. The smaller citadels entertained some communications and featured changes in fashion and traditions, but Gezneth kept its own style. There were less changes here than in the other cities, and the Gezznyr took care to keep a style of clothing and architecture that was distinctly different from the rest of Khali society. This distinct style even carried over to some slaves, although only the more valuable house-maidens such as female surface elves and not common goblin workers were dressed specially.

Other Races

Many sages considered Gezneth to be the "capital" of the underground drow citadel-empire, but this was not accurate. There were few major dark elven citadels, but each was completely self-ruled and separated by days of marching through often hostile territory from other citadels. Gezneth was especially isolated. Although it was the largest and most powerful citadel, the City of Spiders did not lead the drow world politically or culturally.

Occasionally, Gezneth would trade with other Caverealm dwellers. They were much more often known as ruthless killers and feared throughout the underground. On the surface, however, Gezneth was the most active citadel. It often participated in major plots, such as Drubark's invasion of the Mruggenrykz and the creation of Holimion. Of course, the City of Spiders was also known for traditional Khali things, notably surface raids.

Trivia

In contrast to other elves and their own original roots, Gezneth drow didn't turn drim-ur, crazy. When they reached the end of their lives, instead of being pulled towards Silma Fael, they felt a distinct jerking towards the Abyss and Lolth. Each year, the old people of Gezneth joined the Procession of Glory, marching to the Temple of Lolth and disappearing within, their souls travelling to join the Spider Queen's demonic court.