[quote="Bhaern Quel":2porod6e][quote="Unen_Stealthfoot":2porod6e][color=darkred:2porod6e]Now, correct me if I am wrong, but Vhaeraun and Eilistraee both dislike Lolth. So, enemy of my enemy is my.... Hated sister? That's what Vhaeraun classifies Eilistraee as. Shouldn't they be (at least tentative) allies?[/color:2porod6e][/quote:2porod6e]
Nice idea, but the enemy of my enemy is my friend does not work in RW and clearly does not work with the Drow Deities.
There are different ways at looking at mutual hate.
Lolth hates Vhaeraun for failure to hold captine Serine (IIRC) spoiling her plans to take control, She hates Elistraee for being daddies girl.
Vhaeraun hates Lolth for taking followers from him, he hates his sister for being "Daddy's girl"
Elistraee hates both for their path of Evil, Lolth more because she caused her to shoot her beloved father, but can not work with brother because he would use Evil tactics to kill mother.
There is only one point that Vhaeraun and Elistraee can agree on, that Drow should live on the surface. They disagree on all points on how they should live on the surface. As far as it goes Lolth also seeks control of the surface as well.[/quote:2porod6e]
Vhaeraun also hates Eilistraee for preventing him from gaining stronger control over the Ssri-Tel'Quessir, which is what allowed Lolth and the ooze to take followers from him... He blames his sister for that, and I think it's one of the main grudges he holds against her.
As for Eilistraee and Vhaeraun working together or making peace to jointly go after their mother... I find it far more likely that some of their [i:2porod6e]mortal followers[/i:2porod6e] would attempt that than the gods themselves.
Vhaeraun's pride will make it difficult to give in and ask for or accept direct and open help from his sister. Likewise, I think her mistrust of him will work against such a thing happening any time soon. Maybe if it became necessary and they were both backed into a corner, they might join up, but I think it would take a bit of influence from the drow themselves to mend the gaps between the two enough for any kind of actual alliance.
Maybe in a hundred years when there are more drow communities and cities on the surface venerating both gods, or Eilistraee's clergy have shown themselves to actually be more accepting of equality between the sexes, and co-operation with Vhaeraunite agents [i:2porod6e]and[/i:2porod6e] other elves for mutal benefit, the two gods could be more open to mending their differences a bit.
I think it would be a long process, not something that should just happen all of a sudden without some effort from both sides. (More likely, as I said, effort by some of their mortal drow followers, even without the initial support of either god.) Or without both gods being backed into a serious corner during the civil war, where a typical drow alliance of convenience may temporarily performed.
On the other hand, it IS and always has been in Vhaeraun's writeup that "he seeks to unite the other drow powers against Lolth." So it's not totally out of the question for him to seek to do so with Eilistraee. But considering their feelings for each other, and the hyperboled sibling rivalry/dislike relationship they have had for some 10,000 years now, I always took it that she would be the LAST drow god he'd approach for an alliance, instead of the first.
He'd also have an easier time convincing his sister to take him seriously, I think, if he'd already gotten one or two others to co-operate first and had a good plan.
If Eilistraee were to do something like free Vhaeraun's son Selvatarm from the Chains of the Demonweb and Lolth's influence, and give Vhaeraun a useful ally in war against Lolth, sure, then maybe I could see Vhaeraun having a change of heart and be open to consider forgiving his sister a bit--- oh wait, too bad won't ever happen in the canon now.
The intro to the new novel actually shows what I'd call a good typical example of how the two 'work together' against Lolth. Eilistraee is playing a savat game with her mother. He 'helps' his siter by swapping some of Lolth's pieces while noone is looking; only his sister sees it. She doesn't know if he actually helped her, or made it harder for her. He doesn't say or give any indication. So she doesn't tell mother what he did, and hopes that it was help he gave. (It turned out to be, as evidenced by Lolth's anger when that peice is taken in the game and she realizes she'd moved an important piece into a risky position, instead of a slave piece.)
So they sort of did both work against Lolth. But they were not co-operating to do it, really. They were both just working agianst the Spider Queen, not so much working [i:2porod6e]together[/i:2porod6e] against her like true allies would.