Lore
Born into Menzoberranzan’s first and most powerful house, House Baenre, Minthara is of the drow race and a paladin with the oath of vengeance in the video game Baldur’s Gate 3. Menzoberranzan is located in the northern parts of the Upperdark (a few miles beneath the surface), also called the “City of Spiders”. This city is comprised mostly of drow (98%) with the remaining races serving as slaves to the drow.
“The labor of countless spellcasters, artisans, and slaves had turned enormous stalagmites and other masses of rocks into three extraordinary citadels.”
“On the cavern floor, castles, hewn like the Academy from natural protrusions of calcite, shone blue, green, and violet amid the darkness. The phosphorescent mansions served to delineate the plateau of Qu’ellarz’orl, where the Baenre and those Houses nearly as powerful made their homes.”
These academies taught wizardry, drows to become warriors, and most importantly in the temple Arach-Tinilith, the priestess of Lolth trained dark elf maidens to serve their deity, Lolth.
Minthara misses her home and often thinks fondly of her time there. But when she left Menzoberranzan for the surface to pursue cultists of the Absolute, she didn’t know she’d become enthralled with a tadpole in her brain, in service of the cult she hunted. Though her original oath was to enemies of Lolth, the spider queen, it was now for the Absolute. This caused Lolth to exile her from Menzoberranzan.
“Menzoberranzan is a racist metropolis glued together by religious fanaticism, oppressive leadership, and devilish scheming.”
Menzoberranzan’s noble houses often compete for power and Lolth’s favor. The society is a matriarchy and values “ruthlessness, obedience, and a burning hatred for surface dwellers”.
House DeVir was not as powerful as House Baenre and we see in Baldur’s Gate 3 that Minthara has little respect for Viconia DeVir (leads the House of Grief). When Shadowheart completes the Mapping of the Heart, Viconia disappears and Minthara says, “An astral projection. It is just like a DeVir to avoid facing danger in the flesh. They always were a family of cowards.”
“A cruel and suspicious nature is a sign of good breeding.”
The matron mother of House Baenre is Quenthel Baenre.
Powerful women in this society are revered for their confidence, resolve, and strength. It’s not uncommon for women to form romantic relationships with other women. Minthara speaks of one she had who died in front of her.
Minthara: She was a high priestess of House Vandree. Beautiful, elegant, ruthless.
Minthara: I adored her, and had been sharing her bed for some time when the order came that she must die.
Minthara: I stayed with her while the poison did its work, and whispered words of comfort as she slipped away.
Since the city is 98% drow, mostly goblins make up the slave population. It’s illegal to enslave another drow.
Though drow are considered to be evil in Dungeons & Dragons lore, newer drow families opposing Lolth are good-aligned. The drow were originally surfaces elves themselves who then became evil when rejected by other elves for following Lolth. Therefore, Lolth is accused of turning the drow evil. Those who oppose Lolth are free from her corrupting influence and may be good-aligned.
Sources:
– Byers, Richard Lee. Dissolution (The War of the Spider Queen series Book 1). Wizards of the Coast.
– Forgotten Realms wiki. Menzoberranzan.
– Welcome to Menzoberranzan, the Drow City of Intrigue
– Drow Campaign: Menzoberranzan the Mighty
– Wikipedia: Drow