Eilistraeen Enclave

The Eilistraeen Enclave within the Dales has a troubled history with the Elven settlement of Velethuil as might be expected. Despite coming to its aid in the past there is still a great deal of mistrust for the Enclave amongst the Elven population. There is closer cooperation between those tied to the faiths of the Seldarine, but it’s more under the table than openly acknowledged. The war with the Matron Mothes of Lloth does not help for the reception of Drow kindred, nor do the problems with the Vhaeraunite skirmishes in the woods that still occur. The Quessir are often the ones to suffer when Llothites or the Masked God’s followers gain the upper hand; and to the Quessir of Velethuil, it is hard to tell who belongs to which faith and who is lying — that is if Elves among those in Cormanthor even believe in the existence of Elistraee’s church. Deepingdale and Highmoon have a far closer relationship with the Enclave, if again not publicly acknowledged.

Location

The Enclave itself is more a central place of shelter and defence, an organisation rather than a viable settlement of its own. Although it does have permanent residents, most of those found in the Enclave are passing through, and the Eilistraeen presence in the Dalelands and Cormanthor is more spread out, in a collection of small hidden hamlets and villages scattered throughout the Semberholme.

Each of these is often led by a Priestess and may be tied to a ‘Drow House.’ Such houses include House Milensianon and House Deanna among others.  

To an outside observer the Enclave would seem to be found at the Drunken Badger — a small travellers Inn on the road between Deepingdale and its border with Cormyr — but this is rather just a portal at an unmarked shrine, leading those gifted a keystone to the Enclave itself deep within the Sember. Few are those even amongst the members of the Enclave who would know the way overland, this is on purpose. The security of the Enclave relies upon secrecy that no one can reveal even under the torture of their enemies. These keystones are keyed to the holder to whom they are given, and allow their holders to bring others through the portal with them, but only if the holder so wishes. Should a keystone fall into the wrong hands, it will be useless to tap into the magic of the portal.

Culture

The Enclave is very Matriarchal; almost all if not all the senior leadership are female. This is, in part, due to millenia of it being a part of the Illythiiri’s culture. Those joining the faith make many changes in their lives, it is the hierarchy that remains to provide those converting something familiar to hold onto. This does not mean that males are looked down on or mistreated or second class, merely that the members of the Enclave take comfort in the familiarity of a matron figure. It is also a Faith led community; almost all senior leadership are in some way members of the faith, be it a priestess or a member of the knightly orders.

The Enclave does take converts from all breed of elves, and even other races; all that is required is a desire to redeem and change, not a birthright. Still the majority of the Enclave are Drow — or as some prefer to be referred to as their ancient name of ‘Illythiiri.’

There is somewhat of a divide within the Enclave between those born to the faith and those who converted. This is in many ways a sign of the Enclave’s success that they have had children come of age. Those born to the faith, despite everything they have been told, do not have the same experience of those who converted and view the world differently. What holds the faithful together is that converts see this difference as a good thing; they may at times be exasperated by the new generation’s innocence, but they also envy it. Meanwhile the new generations may at times be annoyed at their older generations’ paranoia, but they also recognise it is born of a pain they are fortunate to not have known.

Though as mentioned earlier, the enclave has a good if unofficial relationship with most of the temples within Velethuil one exception does exist, that with the followers of the Black Archer. This goes beyond the obvious issues of the two faiths and back to the War with the Matron Mother, when a sect of the Black Archers faith was corrupted by the Matron Mother in her disguised role as the adopted daughter of one of Velethuil’s Elders. This sect led many attacks on Enclave Settlements and many of the Darksong Knights still remember arriving too late to those scenes of massacre, and seeing the dead there. Despite knowing they had been misled, and despite the acts to make amends by the sect, it is still a pain many of the Darksong knights and others in the Enclave carry a sight and a memory that haunts them.

Organization

The Enclave is led by a Council of High Priestesses; these are the Matrons of the various settlements spread throughout the Semberholme, and beyond beneath this council are Captains who run various activities of the Enclave. The Spymaster of the Enclave, for example is Valar Milensianon (NPC) — who is also head of House Milensianon and a member of the council. Valar spends much of her time away from the Enclave itself, milling about within Cormyr receiving reports and sending out the faction’s agents. Others Captains include the Captain of Defence who leads the Darksong Knights, a Captain of Outreach, and still another who handles the care of new arrivals and fledgeling converts. The Captains themselves answer only to the Council as a whole and not to any individual member, whether or not they also sit on the Council.

The Enclave has a small network of Silverhair Knights and Darksong Knights ready to respond to the defence of any of their settlements, and allied communities at short notice, and to act in the defense of responding clergy. 

Priesthood

While a number of the clergy of Elistraee are in fact clerics and warpriests of many colors, there is a much larger contingent of Her specialty priests, the Sword Dancers. These are the evangelical arm of the clergy — exclusively female and of drow blood, who are charged with outreach to their unredeemed kin in effort to show them a different way. They embody the unconditional love and goodness of the Goddess, and are perhaps the closest the Moonlight Dancer comes to sponsoring paladins in the Realms.

Regardless of their cloth, any clergy of Elistraee are expected to engage in the practice of dance, if not also singing and playing of instruments like the flute, harp or horn, and to exemplify the joy and goodness of the Goddess to outsiders — including their non-drow elven kindred.

Darksong Knights

The Darksong Knights not only serve as rapid defense and the militant arm of the Enclave, they also execute their cause against demonic forces by keeping close eye upon the Darkwatch — the corrupted spot of Moander’s fall in Cormanthor where demons have been tenuously contained within its perimeter. Should there be a breach of the wards about the place, the Darksong Knights will use their training as demon hunters in order to bring down the fiends they come in contact with.

To be a member of the Darksong Knights within the Enclave is to take on the duties of the Enclave. All members are expected to spend part of the year at the Enclave proper as part of it’s rapid reaction force ready to rush to the defence of threatened settlements. To aid in this the force is kept supplied with scrolls of teleport and those capable of using such scrolls are expected to visit each enclave settlement at least once to remember it’s location. (This is a roleplay requirement, you do not have to miss out on anything we can assume you do it in the times not doing something else with the character or if we get enough folks you can use it as a scene set up).

Silverhair Knights

As much as the Darksong Knights are militant defenders of the faith and their kin, Silverhair Knights are the merciful swordmaidens that seek to heal the wounds left in the Dark Seldarine’s wake — selfless and merciful holy warriors who seek out evil drow and use their sins against them in an attempt to show them the errors of their ways. Most silverhair knights fight these drow only with nonlethal attacks, offering them mercy even when none is sought. The most powerful silverhair knights are capable of pulling a drow’s sins from his body and absorbing them with her own strength of faith.