Maerimydra

Maerimydra
(Middle Deep Wastes)
The largest drow city of the Deep Wastes, Maerimydra lies below the Dalelands. In times gone by, its soldiers conquered Shadowdale and established surface outposts in places such as Haptooth Hill. But Maerimydra poses a threat to the surface world no longer (or at least, the character of the threat it poses has changed dramatically). The city was recently destroyed in
fighting brought on by Lolth’s silence. A powerful priestess of Kiaransalee named Irae T’sarran seized control of the city’s central citadel, while a horde of fire giants and goblinoids under the rule of the half-fiend Kurgoth Hellspawn sacked the rest of the city. Most of Maerimydra’s Lolth-worshipers are now either dead or in chains, although a few managed to flee the city and find shelter in various hidden places throughout the Deep Wastes. Underdark

++HISTORY

Maerimydra is a large drow city located below the Dalelands in the Deep Wastes.

In 714 DR, in the wake of the fall of Myth Drannor the city conquered what was to be Shadowdale. They ruled it for nearly 200 years until 906 DR when the water wizard Ashaba drove the invaders out of the Twisted Tower.

The city was relatively quiet between then and 1372 DR The Silence of Lolth began on 28 Elesias, causing some mild unrest, until the city's archmage, Duneth Wharreil, weakened the city.[citation needed] On 23 Eleint, the city was sacked by the half-fiend Kurgoth Hellspawn and his army of goblins, ogres, fire giants and demons. Most of the drow inhabitants of the city were killed or enslaved, with some escaping into the surrounding Deep Wastes. The single drow house to survive with any assets was House Dhuurniv, because most of their holdings lay outside Maerimydra.

While the mage and Kurgoth's army were destroying the city's strongholds the local cult of Kiaransalee took over Castle Maerimydra, the home of House Chûmavh which, at the time was the ruling house. The leader of the cult, an albino drow named Irae T'sarran killed Duneth and, under her god's direction summoned Kiaransalee's Undying Temple to the Prime Material Plane. She in now concerned with using the temple's negative energy to research a new spell that will raise all of the corpses in and around the city simultaneously as a singular horde of powerful undead all under her command.

A few small bands of Lolth worshipping refugees fled the sacking of the city. One party managed to travel the 100 miles to Szith Morcane, an old outpost of Maerimydra. The Lolth-worshiping leaders were slain by Irae's two children who then organized raids on Daggerdale.

LOCATION

City of the Spider Queen places Maerimydra 20 miles south (and 7 miles down) of Ashabenford. The City of the Spider Queen, obviously a more recent source book than 2nd edition Drizzt's Guide to the Underdark means we will have to ignore his location of Maerimydra on the previous map and follow what is written in the City of the Spider Queen.

(p45) Maerimydra lies roughly 20 miles south of Ashabenford in Mistledale, and several miles below it….underground connections exist between Old Skull and Maerimydra. The lord of Shadowdale sealed off the Underdark connections under Old Skull after the incidents of 1367 DR, but other entrances to this complex of caverns and tunnels are thought to exist somewhere near the Elven Court in Cormanthor and beneath the hill of Hap in Battledale….
At the time of the most recent encounters with drow near Shadowdale, the dark elves were buying or capturing dwarven slaves in the Moonsea region and ferrying them along a subterranean river to the caverns under Old Skull…the drow purchased the dwarven slaves from duergar in the Underdark near Zhentil Keep. The duergar, in turn, had tunnels connecting their domain to the sewers under the keep….
In summary, there are at least four canon entrances into the Underdark taht will lead to Maerimydra: one beneath the Dordrien Crypts, one near the Elven Court, one under Hap Hill in Battledale, and one in the sewers of Zhentil Keep…(this last entrance) involves passing through both Zhentil Keep and a thriving duergar community.

SLAVES

Prisoners captured in drow raids and battles are usually brought back to the cities to serve out the remainder of their lives as slaves. Orcs, hobgoblins, orges and other savage humanoids are common slaves. Most drow households have two to three such slave for every drow in the house. The breeding and selling of slaves is a thriving business in drow cities, because the hapless thralls perform all menial and unskilled labor in a drow city. [19]Races of Faerun

PETS

-Drow do not keep animals as pets: they prefer pets that can fully comprehend the scope of their reliance and dependence on their masters. Accordinly, many drow keep a favored slaver as a personal servant or thrall. These minions are, in truth, little more than pets for the drow, and they are generally treated as such.
-The "pets" that most visitors to a drow city remember are the spiders. these vermin are the favored of Lolth, and because her church rules most drow cities, it is only natural that spiders would be common in drow lands. Smaller monstrous spiders are often kept as pets or simply let loose to wander the streets, serving as pest control. Larger spiders are often kept as guardians or even as mounts in some cases. Training unintelligent vermin to do anything is exceedingly difficult, so many drow cities have bred specialized types of spiders to serve them. The sword spider is said to be one of the most successful of these.
-The drow also use of various breeds of subterranean lizards. They have bred species with sticky pads on their feet for use as pack animals and mounts. Drow sometimes use bats of all sizes and breeds as scouts or alarms. Various molds, fungi (especially shriekers), and oozes see common use in drow traps or sanitation areas. More rarely, drow train cavvekans as pets of guards.
-Finally, the drow often bring in dangerous outsiders from the demonweb Pits to serve as guardians or minions. Myrlochar, bebiliths, and retrievers are the most common due to their spiderlike appearances. [19]Races of Faerun

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