#but I imagine only a lolth-sworn drow would know how to treat whatever fucked up poison their cultists use on their own kin

[arcandoria]

I've been thinking how everyone has a personal quest, except you as a PC ofc, and for that reason... what would be Nat's personal quest.

Already established she's been constantly on the run for deserting Lolth's cult in Menzoberranzan, so it'd definitely be tied to that. I like to think that for the past 70 years, she's always been captured here and there but always managed to escape.

She's not under constant attack, there's a lot to do in actual service, but to turn your back on the Spider Queen is a great as sin as ever, one Nat's previously High Priestess would like to see properly punished, with a great deal of pain involved.

I haven't decided many specifics yet, but my general outline is that during Act 2, due to close proximity to a convenient Underdark entrance, Nat gets snatched up somehow and has to be freed. Between her companions realizing she's gone and actually finding her, her captors have flooded her system with poison that only an expert can get rid of.

And that's how it "bleeds" to Act 3, where either Araj Oblodra helps after some of her bizarre bargains, or the treatment has to be found lost somewhere in the Sorcerous Sundries. Meanwhile, Nat's in under constant but somewhat manageable pain and has her combat abilities (which are not that exquisite, she's a thief after all and not a fighter) severely hindered.

[shithowdy]

Strange question, but I feel like you are the go-to person for this. Is there any official lore to how lolthsworn drow treat transness? I imagine it would be very terf-y, like amabs arent allowed to transition into a matriarchal caste, and afabs would be disgraced for transitioning to male.

Oh gosh I love drow stuff but I don't think I would even remotely consider myself an expert on their lore, I've only read wikis and scraped the surface of the books. I might page @rukafais though!!

I know there are some trans drow characters, though the only one I can think of right now is Fel'rekt, but as a Bregan D'aerthe member he's more sworn to that than Lolth.

It has always been my personal impression, and thus what I reflect in my RP (my bg3 tav is a trans woman "lolthsworn" who started the game looking masc and as the game progressed became more her desired self), that Lolthite society is very rigid with its gender rules and bioessentialism. Their entire social structure hinges on the matriarchs and priestesses maintaining power, and there's an entire book series about how Fucked Up And Weird they get if anything happens that threatens that order (and the irony of living by such strict order while worshipping "chaos" is lost on them). Much like gender expression being a threat to fascist ideals in real life, I think they would see any kind of gender fluidity as antithetical to their ideals. If men could just suddenly call themselves women, what's stopping all the mages from doing that? What kind of message does it send if one of the matriarchs decides to become a "patriarch"? Where would "agender" fall on the power structure? No. None of that. You are whatever we guess you are based on anatomy at birth.

Additionally, Lolth's hatred of Corellon, an elven god that straddles masculine and feminine, is burning. Elves blessed by Corellon are able to change their physical gender at will; it stands to reason that a goddess determined to be their opposite would revoke such freedoms in her society. She also loves suffering snd giving her own people more reasons to feel at odds with one another.

I think there's room for nuance in individual characters, but from a baseline worldbuilding standpoint I can't imagine lolthite societies being anything but horribly misandrist and by extension against anything that loosens the definition of "man" and "woman".