The Spider Queen

The Spider Queen
A stylized black widow spider
Alignment	Chaotic Evil
Divine Rank	Unknown
Pantheon	Ravenloft
Portfolio	Spiders, Decadence, Torture, Spite, Greed, Deceit
Domains	Animal, Evil, Greed, Pain, Trickery
Home Plane	Demiplane of Dread
Worshippers	Evil Shadow Fey, Sadists, Poisoners, Murderers, Evil Hedonists
Favoured Weapon	Net, Razor

The Spider Queen is a minor malevolent deity from the Dungeons & Dragons setting of Ravenloft. A deranged and sadistic advocate of hedonism, deception, malice and murder, this malign deity is most commonly worshipped amongst the Shadow Fey - and is considered so messed up that her worship is actually banned amongst the Sith and the Shee alike!

As such, her cult is small, consisting mostly of lone individuals or depraved bands who find her message about taking whatever you want from life, especially at a cost to others, to be appealing.

The Spider Queen is one of four deities - alongside The Morninglord, The Lawgiver and The Ancestral Choir - to actually be a "abstractified" version of a deity from the Forgotten Realms, created when White Wolf had the rights to update Ravenloft to 3rd edition, but was worried about the legality of referring to Faerunian deities. The Spider Queen is based on Lolth, and thus her worship transforms Arak faithful into drow-like beings called Zelldrow.

Cult Details

Priests of the Spider Queen answer only to the High Priestess, who reigns only so long as she can avoid being assassinated by another priest of the Spider Queen. All other priests are equal in her eyes beyond that. A Cleric of the Spider Queen prays for her spells at midnight. They often multiclass as rogues and are most likely to take levels in the assassin and Court Poisoner prestige classes. The cult has only the one major festival; the Night of Obeisance, which requires that her faithful spend the entirety of midwinter's night praying to the Spider Queen.

Dogma

Pleasure is the only goal worth pursuing, and it must be sought ceaselessly and without thought for the consequences. Take what you want. Other people do not matter; they exist only as objects or hurdles to your satisfaction. If they are hurdles, they must be dealt with harshly, and dealing with them is itself a source of pleasure. Murder, deception, hatred and pain are all art forms, and the Spider Queen favors those who master them. Spiders, who live only for themselves and kill their mates once satisfied, are the perfect animals. You must be as selfish, deceptive and sadistic as they are. The Spider Queen helps those who help themselves.