Erelhei-Cinlu is a massive Drow city-state located in the heart of the Underdark, within the Vault of the Drow. It is the principal city of the drow, built after the wars between the light elves and dark elves, and uncounted centuries old. Just the sheer mention of the city brings feer to those who are not native to this city.
House Eilservs was long the most powerful of Erelhei-Cinlu's noble houses, and long believed that the city should be ruled by a single queen of their house.
When the other noble houses allied against the Eilservs to prevent this from happening, the Eilservs renounced the worship of the demon queen Lolth, turning instead to an Elder Elemental God - Tharizdun. They then attempted to establish a puppet kingdom in the surface world dedicated to the worship of their new deity, hoping this would bring them enough power that their claims to supreme power in the Vault could no longer be denied.
Erelhei-Cinlu lies in a huge cavern, over six miles long and nearly as wide, beneath the Hellfurnaces known as the Vault (also known as the Vault of the Drow). A huge chunk of tumkeoite on the ceiling of the Vault gives the appearance of an alien moon, whilst much smaller deposits of other exotic minerals give one the impression of an starry night sky. Major bodies of water within the Vault include the Pitchy Flow, the Weeping Spring that flows north and west into it, and the Mere of Glooms in the midst of the Weeping Spring.
Much of the Vault is filled with forests of lichens, crystalline growths, and fungi. Merchant estates are scattered south of the city, as are fortresses for the male and female orders of warriors. The city itself is built on the southern bank of the Pitchy Flow in the northern corner of the Vault. A single structure, the Flying Bridge, connects Erelhei-Cinlu with the other side of the Pitchy Flow. Across the river is a plateau containing the estates of the noble houses, and a tunnel leading to the Great Fane of Lolth.
The city of Erelhei-Cinlu is surrounded by a 40-foot-tall wall of seamless polished basalt, interrupted by 40-foot square towers at regular intervals. On the shores of the river, the wall is 50 feet high and without towers; the river wall is the exclusive domain of female soldiers.
The buildings of Erelhei-Cinlu are alien and strangely disturbing to human eyes, its streets narrow and crooked. Erelhei-Cinlu boasts a population of some 27,000 souls. 74% of these are drow, 5% are troglodytes, 2% are bugbears, 4% are surface dwellers, 1% are mind flayers, 2% are trolls, 2% are yugoloths, 3% are demons, 5% are orcs and 2% are goblin.
Keptolo's temple is found in the center of the Concourse, where the main streets of the city intersect like the nexus of a web. The priesthood of Kiaransali is dominant in the Ghetto of Chattels, though always under the supervision of Lolth's priestesses.
The Great Fane of Lolth is located in a separate cavern; worshipers must leave the city and cross the Pitchy Flow and the nobles' estates to reach it. In the Ghetto of Foreigners, along the Street of Lies, the drow permit the temples of deities worshiped by other races, including Nerull, Boccob, Ralishaz, Incabulos, Erythnul, Beltar, Raxivort, Vecna, and Tharizdun, though the temple of Tharizdun is more of a museum than an active place of worship (Dragon #298, 77). After the resurrection of Orcus, one of his temples is said to be found here as well. The drow speak their own dialects of the Elven language mixed with Undercommon, the common tongue of the Underdark.
Ruling Houses
1) House Eilservs
2) House Kilsek
3) House Despana
4) House Noquar
5) House Everhate
6) House Godeep
7) House Tormtor
8) House Aleval
Drow often use Elven and Undercommon interchangeably, creating an effective pidgin language at times. Other races who come to the Vault of the Drow, including duergar, illithids, humans, and others, have their own languages but Undercommon serves as the lingua franca for trade.
A road leading from nearby tunnels and caverns opens from a fissure in the Vault's southern wall, leading past a fortress called the Black Tower a mile north before reaching the city proper. All non-citizens must stop at the Tower to be inspected; they are given green silk cloaks to indicate that they have been cleared. Foreigners without these cloaks are normally killed or enslaved by the drow in short order.
