What If Lolth Died?

[Irennan]

The early editions (1e, I think?) had Lolth being killed in her home realm, and yes, dying. It didn't explore the consequences of it, though. In theory, defeating a deity in their home realm is the only way of killing them, but deities can have contingencies allowing them to survive anyway (take Mystra and her surviving Cyric's murder attempt, though severely weakened for a century, as we see in Elminster Enraged).

As for the consequences on the Lolthite drow, it's quite easy. Without having any power to maintain the status quo, since most drow commoners are frigging' miserable, since males are friggin' miserable, since other groups (wizards, followers of other Dark Seldarine) are totally unhappy with the system but still retain their power, Lolth's matriarchy will likely get removed in a series of bloody wars. Even then, it's also likely that various factions of Lolthite drow will go against each other as well, leading to a total collapse of the society as a whole (and to other Underdark races also intervening and giving the coup de grace). If you ask why they won't come together and negotiate after the matriarchy is dealt with, remember: the Lolthite are the same guys who thought that trying to kill your own commanders in the middle of a battle is a good idea, and that preparing to backstab each other in the middle of being sieged by someone who wants to wipe you from the face of the planet was a stroke of genius.

That said, the followers of Vhaeraun might channel the rage of the drow against the matriarchy and avoid the subsequent series of wars I mentioned above. The followers of Eilistraee would likely go to rescue people caught in the middle of the disaster and bring them to safety (but to be honest, and if the worldbuilding of the drow cared to explore the consequences of its own premises even in the most superficial manner, splinter movements, and revolutions would have already formed, and Lolth's system would have already either change or collapsed over friggin' 12k years of absolute nonsense, even without her death).

As for the portfolio, the death of a deity doesn't necesaarily mean that the portfolio will pass to someone else. It's really up to you.

Another consideration that came to mind, expanding on this.

The crux of the matter is this: even with Lolth alive, there are plenty of factions and people who are extremely dissatisfied with her. Miserable people, the "have nots" (i.e. the commoners) are usually shut down from a social perspective, and it's unlikely for them to be the leaders in uprisings. However, they have an immense strength to be channeled.

The "have some, want more--people with the power/position to start something big, and that could benefit in a way or another from an uprising (like minor houses who don't like Lolth, male wizards, merchant clans, other drow cultures/churches--who are totally able to infiltrate Lolthite environments; look: Masked Traitors, Secret Moondancers, Silverhair Knights) are the best candidates to channel the commoners' strength, and they would *jump* at the opportunity to overthrow the Lolthite theocracy and establish a new status quo.

The thing is, if Lolth died, they would all rush to do exactly that in order to overthrow the priestesses (who, even with Lolth's death, wouldn't be ready to give away their rulership, and would likely turn to demons or the likes for power), and each of them would have their own vision of the best future for the drow. With how the Lolthite society works, however, they wouldn't unite against the priestesses, but would likely fight the priestesses AND each other, which would be the source of the massive bloodshed I mentioned above, and of the collpase of the Underdark drow as a whole. That said, if one of these factions could rise and get the others behind them, then we might see a more orderly (if still chaotic) change.

IMHO the most likely candidate to do this is the Church of Vhaeraun, because they know which levers to pull, and have a lot to offer to a lot of dissatisfied categories. If the Vhaeraunites managed to pull it off, you'd see the drow becoming MUCH more dangerous than they ever were under Lolth (they're clowns under Lolth; they ended up failing at literally everything they ever attempted on the surface), because they'd be united and working towards re-restablishing ancient Ilythiir. But that's a big if, because even if the Vhaeraunites prevailed in one city, nothing says that the same would be true for the other cities too.

The Eilistraeans would probably be in the middle of this, trying to save and offer shelter to as many as possible. Some of them might work to channel the commoners' dissatisfaction and desire of change, and they would likely manage to get a number of them to abandon the Underdark and flee the incoming war, but I don't picture the Eilistraeans being in the position to reshape the Lolthite society. Tehn again, underdog stories always have their charm, so if that's what you want, why not?