D&D 4E Queen of Air & Darkness, Lolth, and 4e Lore

[Quickleaf]

I ran across mention of the Queen of Air and Darkness in some old Planescape books, and I'm thinking of using her in my current 4e campaign.

Some things occurred to me...the story about the Black Diamond corrupting the Queen is very similar to the 4e lore about a Shard of Evil corrupting Tharzidun and creating the Abyss. Also, I've noticed that the portfolios of Lolth and the Queen are very similar - (spiders, shadows, lies) and (fey, darkness, illusion) respectively - as are their origin stories where both left an idyllic fey/immortal elven society by betraying their brethren.

Her power level would probably be between the most powerful arch-fey currently written up - The Prince of Frost (level 31 solo) - and Lolth (level 35 solo).

How would you handle introducing the Queen of Air & Darkness into a D&D game? And a 4e game specifically?

 

[Balesir]

If you want to play with time as a mutable concept, maybe make the Queen actually be Lolth before she went to the Abyss (but still available to be encountered due to the time-wierdness of the Feywild)?

Alternatively, Lolth's sister? She definitely sounds like an ArchFey.

 

[Pour]

How about:

Just as the Feywild is the reflection of the mortal scape, its archfey and Kings Below are reflections of existing gods and goddesses- wild aspects of the great divinities which settled in a fitting realm, perhaps, or maybe the plane's bizarre growths to better mirror the prime world. Just as Athena sprang from Zeus' head, the Queen of Air and Darkness (and all archfey) are simply primal-arcane facsimiles, imperfect and wild enough to have developed into their very own entities with drastic differences as the ages went by.

That might be fun, hinting to PCs the Feywild has counterparts to the prime world/cosmology. Depending how entwined you would want them, maybe the Queen was destined to fall from her inception, because Lolth's choices affected her own destiny. That would make her bitter and angry, I imagine. That might even make her an enemy of the Spider Queen, or Lolth's enemies, or both? Is the Feywild counterpart tied to the goddess's immortality or ability to discorporate, almost like a phylactery.

Is Corellon's counterpart on the Feywild Oberon or Titania? And if the Feywild has counterparts, imagine the implications of the Shadowfell's version of Lolth. Grimdark!

 

[pemerton]

I can't XP [MENTION=27160]Balesir[/MENTION]'s awesome idea!

There are also strong thematic connections to Sehanine. A sister or other sort of counterpart?

I don't know if you use and/or like the stuff from The Plane Above linking Carceri to Arvandor - but that's another possible avenue to corruption. Maybe someone trapped in Carceri lured her into imprisonment there via a "black diamond"?

 

[Quickleaf]

If you want to play with time as a mutable concept, maybe make the Queen actually be Lolth before she went to the Abyss (but still available to be encountered due to the time-wierdness of the Feywild)?

Alternatively, Lolth's sister? She definitely sounds like an ArchFey.

The "earlier timeline version" is fascinating. It does open up a whole ball of wax associated with time-traveling...

If she's a sister of the Seldarine (Corellon/Lolth/Sehanine), why isn't she a goddess?

How about:

Just as the Feywild is the reflection of the mortal scape, its archfey and Kings Below are reflections of existing gods and goddesses- wild aspects of the great divinities which settled in a fitting realm, perhaps, or maybe the plane's bizarre growths to better mirror the prime world. Just as Athena sprang from Zeus' head, the Queen of Air and Darkness (and all archfey) are simply primal-arcane facsimiles, imperfect and wild enough to have developed into their very own entities with drastic differences as the ages went by.

That might be fun, hinting to PCs the Feywild has counterparts to the prime world/cosmology. Depending how entwined you would want them, maybe the Queen was destined to fall from her inception, because Lolth's choices affected her own destiny. That would make her bitter and angry, I imagine. That might even make her an enemy of the Spider Queen, or Lolth's enemies, or both? Is the Feywild counterpart tied to the goddess's immortality or ability to discorporate, almost like a phylactery.

Is Corellon's counterpart on the Feywild Oberon or Titania? And if the Feywild has counterparts, imagine the implications of the Shadowfell's version of Lolth. Grimdark!

Fascinating idea to have the Feywild reflect not just The mortal world, but also mortal beliefs... I especially like the phylactery-like connection to Lolth's discorporation ability! On the other hand, two mirrored versions (fey/shadow) of every deity would be a bit much...

I can't XP [MENTION=27160]Balesir[/MENTION]'s awesome idea!

There are also strong thematic connections to Sehanine. A sister or other sort of counterpart?

I don't know if you use and/or like the stuff from The Plane Above linking Carceri to Arvandor - but that's another possible avenue to corruption. Maybe someone trapped in Carceri lured her into imprisonment there via a "black diamond"?

I don't own The Plane Above, but the Arvandor-Carceri connection sounds interesting, could you give me the short version?

I'm not sure how to interpret the "black diamond". Originally, because of Tharzidun and Lolth's association with the Abyss, and the story of how Tharzidun had found a "shard of pure evil", I assumed the "black diamond" might be the same thing. Now I'm wondering just what the heck it might be.

 

[pemerton]

I don't own The Plane Above, but the Arvandor-Carceri connection sounds interesting, could you give me the short version?

As best I remember it without pulling it down from the shelf: the gods were anxious about all the weapons/creatures they created for the Dawn War, so locked them upin Carceri, but Corellon and friends (Sehanine, Avandra and Melora, from memory) knew that these sorts of "sweeping it under the carpet" solutions would never fully work, and so they configured the gaps in the Carcerian prison to open into Arvandor - where there is a perpetual hunt going on, of the things that escape.

I'm not entirely in love with the idea myself, but it does link some of the Dawn War themes with the freedom-loving nature of some of the gods, and also gives an excuse for a "wild hunt" trope on Arvandor.

Also, you should get a copy of the Plane Above! It's one of the better 4e sourcebooks, at least in my view.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=42582]pemerton[/MENTION]
Interesting, the 2e Planescape sourcebook "On Hallowed Ground", has something very similar. Apparently High Kings of Arvandor who rule over the elven dead send out mounted knights to hunt down monsters which wander into Arvandor from nearby realms and portals to other planes. Seems like 4e took that tidbit, tied it to the Dawn War, and tightened it up a bit.

As an aside I dug up the original A.E. Housman poem in which the Queen of Air and Darkness was created...

Her strong enchantments failing,
Her towers of fear in wreck,
Her limbecks dried of poisons
And the knife at her neck,

The Queen of air and darkness
Begins to shrill and cry,
"O young man, O my slayer,
To-morrow you shall die."

O Queen of air and darkness,
I think 'tis truth you say,
And I shall die tomorrow;
But you will die to-day.

Maybe her "towers of fear" are illusions she traps her enemies inside?

 

[Pour]

Man if that isn't a poem begging to have an adventure or even AP built around it, I don't know what is...