View source for Vault of the Drow


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{{Realm
|image         = [[File:Lacofcite02.png|250px]]
|caption       = The Vault of the Drow, illustrated by Adam Paquette, ''Into the Unknown'', WotC (2012).
|alt_name      =
|alt_spelling  = 
|motto         = 
|region        = [[Underoerth]]
|ruler         = High priestess of the Fane of Lolth
|government    = Religious matriarchy
|established   = 
|capital       = [[Erelhei-Cinlu]]
|major_towns   = 
|provinces     = 
|resources     = 
|coinage       = 
|population    =  
|races         = [[Drow]], [[bugbear]]s, [[demon]]s, [[goblin]]s, [[ghoul]]s, [[illithids]], [[troglodyte]]s, [[troll]]s, [[vampire]]s, [[yugoloth]]s, others
|languages     = [[Languages#Undercommon|Undercommon]], [[Languages#Drow|Drowic elven]]
|alignments    = Chaotic evil
|religions     = [[Seldarine#Dark Seldarine|Dark Seldarine]]
|allies        = 
|enemies       = 
}}[[File:VaultOfTheDrow03.png|thumb|350px|The Vault of the Drow, illustrated in ''[[Dragon]]'' magazine #298 (2002), art by Christopher West.]]'''''Disambiguation''''': This page is about the cavern region in the [[underoerth]] where [[Erelhei-Cinlu]] lies.  For the adventure of the same name, see [[Vault of the Drow (adventure)]].

The '''Vault of the Drow''' is an enormous cavern, containing the infamous city of the [[drow]], [[Erelhei-Cinlu]].

== Description ==
{{quoted text|A gleaming but sinister gem, the Vault of the Drow is one of the most spectacular and awe-inspiring locations in the Underdark. Traveling to the great cavern is treacherous and extremely dangerous, a journey that only experienced adventurers should consider. Within its immense breadth, though, lies a place of great beauty and mystery.
Only one known road gives access to the area. An approaching traveler is greeted by bizarre sights, accompanied by a chill breeze. Countless mauve, violet, and deep blue crystals sparkle like stars in the ceiling and walls of the vault. These formations are remnants of unfinished creation, suspended in the cavern since the days of the [earliest ages]. Below these faux constellations, growths of pale fungus shimmer with golden, sapphire, and ruby hues. A soft hum buzzes within the vault, the product of native cricketlike insects that inhabit the fungal patches. To those who can see into the darkness, the walls of the vault appear hazy and somewhat insubstantial.  The road continues down into a gorge between steep cliffs. Crushed crystals faintly shimmering with blue light keep visitors from wandering off the path and falling into the darkness. From there, the road leads into an Underdark countryside that is filled with fungi of varying sizes, crystalline columns, and immense spans of lichens and molds.|{{csb|Into the Unknown: The Dungeon Survival Handbook|67}} }}

==Geography==

===Terrain and climate===
{{quoted text|Deep beneath the mighty [[Hellfurnace Mountains]] lies the '''Vault of the Drow''', an immense hemispherical cyst of [[Oerth]]’s crust over six miles long and nearly as broad. Its mineral-veined ceiling rises more than 1000 fathoms above its crystal-strewn floor; near the zenith of the dome is a huge mass of [[tumkeoite]], which as it slowly decays and transforms into [[lacofcite]] glows like a ghostly, plum colored moon in the firmament of the Vault, while other phosphorescent nodes dimly gleam like stars in the same story heaven. The lights of this subterranean sky reflect in the dark waters of the [[Pitchy Flow]] and the [[Weeping Spring]], and the image of the whole strange canopy is trapped and distorted within the [[Mere of Glooms]].

Many passages and trails wind throughout the underworld but one road enters the Vault through a fissure in its southern wall. The road descends through a gorge about 200 yards wide, which gradually become broader as it goes north. A full mile from the entrance, an ancient stronghold called the [[Black Tower]] stands four stories high, watching over the Underdark road. The tower’s foundations rest upon a steep-sided mound of stone, its massive walls worn smooth by the passing of ages, almost fused with the natural rock platform upon which the tower was built.

A narrow incline leads up to the Black Tower—all visitors are required to report there, for it serves as a checkpoint and customhouse for foreigners entering the Vault. All non-drow are questioned regarding the purpose of their visit, and those deemed acceptable are issued a cloak of silk dyed an unnatural shade of green, which they must wear to identify themselves as aliens in the drow homeland. Interlopers who lack the special cloak soon find themselves killed or enslaved by the many drow patrols that range the Lower Vault.

An enormous natural antechamber to the Vault opens perhaps two miles west of the Black Tower. Its entrance is walled and gated, with six strong towers along its length. Behind this wall is the fortress of the military sisterhood of the Vault, a society of female drow warriors sponsored by each of the eight noble houses but who swear allegiance only to Lolth. Nearly two and a half miles to the northeast of the Black Tower is a walled compound that serves as a stronghold of the military brotherhood of the vault, a society of male drow warriors in service to Lolth, which is financed by the sixteen merchant clans who dwell in the Lower Vault.

The strongholds of these merchant clans are walled villas scattered throughout the [[Lower Vault]]. Disturbing forests and thickets of fungi grow between the sixteen merchant villas here, all on the floor of jagged rocks and jutting formations of crystal. To the north, by the banks of the Pitchy Flow, the black-walled city of Erelhei-Cinlu stands as a gateway to the Upper Vault. A plateau occupied by eight noble estates stands across a leering span called the Flying Bridge on the other side of the river. Further still is a guarded passageway leading to the temple chamber of the Demon Queen of Spiders, called Lolth’s Egg. The enormous red and green ochre cavern holds an accused pagoda-like spider temple, the infamous Great Fane of Lolth.|{{cite dragon|298|73-74|The Vault of the Drow}} }}

===Administrative divisions===
; Lower Vault : where [[Erelhei-Cinlu]] resides, as well as merchant clans' villas, fighter schools' strongholds, the Black Tower, and other features like fungi forests, etc. are all located.
;  Upper Vault : where the noble drow houses' estates reside, as well as the infamous [[Fane of Lolth]].

==History==

==People==
{{main|Drow}}

===Population and demographics===
[[Drow]] 40%. [[troglodyte]]s- 15%, [[bugbear]]s 12%. others (surface dwellers and [[undead]]) 10%, [[mind flayer]]s 4%, [[troll]]s 4%, [[yugoloth]]s 4%, [[kuo-toa]] 3%, [[demon]]s 3%, [[xvart]]s 8%, deep [[gnome]]s 1%, [[orc]]s 1%, [[gith]] races 1%

===Religion===
* [[Lolth]]
* [[Keptolo]]
* [[Kiaransali]]
* [[Vhaeraun]]
* [[Zinzerena]]

===Notable individuals===

==Society and culture==
''See also'' {{main|Erelhei-Cinlu}} and [[Drow]].

===Heraldry===

==Economy==
===Resources===

===Trade===

==Military==
==Relationships==
===Enemies===

===Allies===
==Creative origins==

==Publication history==
The Vault was originally published in 1978 in the [[Vault of the Drow (adventure)]] by [[Gary Gygax]].

== References ==
=== Notes ===
<references group="note" />
=== Citations ===
<references />
=== Bibliography ===
{{index}}