(Mistress of the Night, the Lady of Loss, Nightsinger)
Greater Power of Hades, NE
PORTFOLIO: Dark, night, loss, forgetfulness, unrevealed secrets, caverns, dungeons, the Underdark
ALIASES: Ibrandul (Calimshan, the Shining South, Waterdeep/Undermountain)
DOMAIN NAME: Niflheim/Palace of Loss
SUPERIOR: None
ALLIES: Myrkul (now dead), Talona
FOES: Selûne, Lathander, Ibrandul (now dead), Amaunator (now dead), Shaundakul
SYMBOL: A black disk with a border of deep purple
WOR. ALIGN.: Any, but mainly evil
Loss is the nature of Shar (SHAHR). One of the Dark Gods, she is a deeply twisted and perverse being of ineffable evil and endless petty hatred and jealousy. She rules over pains hidden but not forgotten, bitterness carefully nurtured away from the light and from others, and quiet revenge for any slight, no matter how old. She is said to have the power to make her devout followers forget their pain, yet what occurs is that they become inured to the loss, treating it as a common and natural state of being. The basic inanity of life and foolishness of hope are the cornerstones of Shar's being. She revels in the concealed, in that which is hidden, never to be revealed. She can always clearly perceive every being, object, and act performed within darkness.
In temples, representations of the goddess are either a black sphere outlined in racing, magically animated flames of purple or paintings of a beautiful human with long, raven-black hair dressed in swirling dark garb. She smiles coldly and her large eyes have black pupils and are otherwise solid purple.
Shar is the mortal enemy of Selûne and battles her ceaselessly on any planes through mortal worshipers and servitor creatures. The undying enmity between the two goddesses is older than recorded time.
During the Time of Troubles, Shar killed Ibrandul, a lesser power of caverns, dungeons, and the Underdark worshiped in Calimshan, the Shining South, and even Waterdeep, for daring to subvert those who venerate the dark away from her. She appropriated his portfolio. She continues to grant the clergy of Ibrandul spells in Ibrandul's name. She is quietly delighted that she is able to use this puppet church to subvert the worship of Selûne without drawing attention to her most faithful worshipers.
Shar's Avatar (Cleric 35, Mystic 30, Thief 25, Mage 20)
Shar favors two forms, the Nightsinger and the Dark Dancer. The Nightsinger is a 12-foot-tall presence whose female form is masked in feathers of all sorts that trail away into an increasingly intangible cowled cloak of gigantic proportions that merges into any shadows and darkness present. She sings continually, even when simply speaking, and her song is hauntingly beautiful and tragic. The Dark Dancer is a 7-foot-tall, lithe, exquisitely beautiful human woman who dances gracefully and alluringly, her jet-black body sparkling with stars and her dark eyes two hypnotic orbs that can emit boeth harmful and beneficial gaze effects. Both forms have access to all spell schools and spheres, but cannot cast spells that create light as their primary function (not just fire or heat).
AC -5; MV 18; HP 178; THAC0 -2; #AT 1
Dmg 1d10+7 (+7 STR)
MR 80%; SZ L (7 feet) or H (12 feet)
STR 19, DEX 24, CON 20, INT 21, WIS 21, CHA 24
Spells P: 14/14/13/12/11/10/9, W: 5/5/5/5/5/4/3/3/2
Saves PPDM 2, RSW 5, PP 4, BW 8, Sp 5
Special Att/Def: The Nightsinger can create darkness and continual darkness at will. As her physical attack, she can either strike with her hand or attack with her song once per round. This song can either force the loss of an experience level (unless a saving throw vs. spell is successful), cause 3d8 points of unearthly chilling damage, inflict feeblemindedness (unless a saving throw vs. spell is successful), or cause death (unless a saving throw vs. death magic is successful) in all who hear it.
All charm-type magic, charm sphere spells, and enchantment/charm spells cast or used by the Dark Dancer are at triple strength in all respects and targeted creatures receive a -3 penalty to their saving throws against such spells. Beings kissed by the Dancer are forced into a choice between becoming her loyal servant or dying instantly (unless a saving throw vs. death magic is successful). The loyalty enforced by those who elect not to risk death is a charmlike effect that converts those kissed to Shar's aims and views. It wears off only if dispelled by the use of a wish or limited wish and is so powerful that beings so affected would happily die for Shar.
Other Manifestations
Shar frequently manifests as amorphous tendrils of darkness where there should be none. These tendrils swirl and writhe constantly and are surrounded by a purple aura. Such darkness sometimes has a single steadily gazing purple eye at its heart, but even if this orb is absent, beings within the darkness always feel the ceaseless regard of a fell awareness. These tendrils of darkness can touch the faithful and transmit messages from Shar directly to their minds, indicate items of importance or direction, or grant numbness and the ability to ignore pain. The tendrils do not heal, just allow the faithful to continue on until they drop dead of fatigue or accumulated injury (at -10 hit points). Shar also works through darktentacles, doom tyrants (undead beholders), and mysterious shadow monsters, using them as messengers, guards, and enforcers of her will.
The Church
CLERGY: Clerics, specialty priests, crusaders, mystics
CLERGY'S ALIGN.: LE, NE, CE
TURN UNDEAD: C: No, SP: No, Cru: No, Mys: No
CMND. UNDEAD: C: Yes, SP: Yes, Cru: No, Mys: No
All clerics, specialty priests, crusaders, and mystics of Shar receive religion (Faerûnian) as a bonus nonweapon proficiency. All priests of Shar may see as well in natural or magical darkness as in light; however, this does not give them the heat-sensing abilities of infravision.
Shar is worshiped by blinded, nocturnal, or subterranean-dwelling humans and allied beings and by those who hate the light, such as goblinkin and their allies. She is also worshiped by many who favor dark surroundings or who must undertake deeds or do business in darkness. She is venerated by those who are bitter or are grieving over a loss and wish to find peace (especially through vengeance) and by individuals who want to forget. She is also placated by those who know their wits have been harmed and want to find peace or those who have been mentally harmed and want to remember fully or be restored in their minds. Many in Faerûn fear nightfall, the casting of the cloak of Shar, because of the dangers that lurk in its folds.
The church of Shar is largely composed of underground cells, rather than an overt, uniformed body of priests working from temples. As such, its adherents have a covert, widespread, and complex hierarchy wherein every full priest serves a direct superior, an overpriest responsible for a large area, and beings (both human and otherwise) who know the priest's Own Secret (the personal name Shar gave them and the dark deed they performed for her in order to demonstrate their loyality and win that name). Clergy members revel in secrecy, and cells of the church are organized around small congregations of worshipers who know and are led by a single prist. Many priests may operate in the same area, and although they may know of and aid each other, they work independently. In this way, should one cell of the church fail, the others can still flourish in its absence.
Most Sharran clergy use such titles of address as "Brother Night" or "Sister Night." To superiors, they say "Mother Night" or "Father Night," and lay worshipers address them so. Their formal titles include Adept of the Night (a novice), Watcher (the least senior ordained priest), Hand of Shar (a battle-tested priest who leads a force of priest-adventurers or oversees several cells), Darklord/Darklady (a senior priest able to proclaim local policy), Nightseer (the oversett of all faithful in a realm or other large geographical area) and Flame of Darkness (archpriest or personally trusted servant of the goddess).
Specialty priests of Shar are called nightcloaks. Until five years ago, they were called nightbringers, only existed outside the standard church hierarchy, and served as contacts, messengers, and enforcers of the Dark Lady's will. They still perform such detached liaison and enforcement functions, but some nightcloaks have now become integrated into the cell structure/hierarchy of the church, especially among the clergy of the Dark Embrace, discussed below.
Shar's hatred of Selûne extends to her clergy and their relationships with the chruch of Selûne. The two faiths war continually, and jihads and assassination plots against Selûnites are common where Shar is strong. One of the reason the chruch of Shar remains so small is a byproduct of this endless war. Several holy wars and vendettas led by Sharrans against more powerful forces of Selûnites have resulted in many Sharran casualties.
Dogma: Dark Followers (the faithful of Shar) are instructed to reveal secrets only to fellow faithful and to never follow hope or turn to promises of success. They should quench the light of the moon (the faithful of Selûne and their holdings, deeds, and magic) whenever they find it and hide from it when they cannot prevail. Above all, the dark should be a time to act, not to wait.
Faithful of Shar are not supposed to hope and are therefore forbidden to strive to better their lot in life or to plan ahead except in matters directly overseen by the clergy of the Dark Goddess. Consorting with beings of good alignment who actively serve their deities is a sin unless undertaken to take advantage of them in purely business dealings or to corrupt them form their beliefs into the service of Shar. Devotees of Shar must not speak out against clergy of the goddess, nor interrupt their devotional dances for any reason. Lay worshipers must prove their faith by obedience to the clergy and by carrying out at least one dark deed ordered by a priest of Shar every year—or bring at least one being to believe in, and worship, the Dark Goddess.
The lower clergy of Shar must obey their superiors in all matters, short of following orders that will lead to their own death—Shar desires to gain followers, not lose them. To win new followers and to keep the faithful truly loyal, clergy must see that some of the dark desires of worshippers are fulfilled (such as the elimination of business rivals).
Day-to-Day Activities: The clergy of Shar seem to pursue practical, local goals designed to further the power of the priesthood and of those who worship Shar, rather than to openly oppose other faiths (save that of Selûne). Shar desires to bring all humans under her sway by promoting general lawlessness and strife. In this way, most folk will suffer loss and turn to her for peace (especially through vengeance), and the influence of all other faiths will be lessened.
Specifically, Sharran clergy are enjoined to work covertly to bring down all governments, particularly within cities, and to publicize Shar's patronage of avengers so that the desperate and despairing humans of other faiths turn to her to get revenge and not the weakened demipower of vengeance, Hoar. Sponsorship of thieving guilds and hedonistic clubs of all sorts is a key part of this assault on order, as is the encouragement of political intrigue everywhere. Widespread war and slavery are things to be avoided; Shar wants to gain followers, not see their lives thrown away for no gain.
Shar's love of secrecy is strong. Her clergy work toward fulfilling her desire for secrecy by always acting through manipulation and behind-closed-doors intrigue. They also work through and promote shadowy cabals and organizations that appeal to human desires to be a part of something elite and important, to keep secrets, and to be involved in the mysterious. Fifty or more false cults that have arisen in the past two decades have been born of secret clubs and cabals begun by Sharran priests to corrupt the peace and lawfulness of various cities.
Holy Days/Important Ceremonies: As so many devotees of Shar keep their faith secret (and this secrecy is encouraged by senior clergy), the Sharran faith has no set holy days aside from the Feast of the Moon. To Dark Followers (the faithful of Shar) this holiday is known as the Rising of the Dark. They gather on it under cover of the more widespread venerations of the dead to witness a blood sacrifice and learn of any plots or aims the clergy want them to work toward during the winter ahead.
The most important Sharran ritual of worship is Nightfall, the coming of darkness. Clergy hold this ritual every night. It consists of a brief invocation, a dance, a charge or series of inspiring instructions from the godness spoken by one of the clergy or by a raven-haired female lay worshiper, and a revel celebrated by eating, drinking, and dancing together. Lay worshipers must attend at least one Nightfall (or dance to the goddess themselves) and must perform—and report to their fellows—at least one small act of wickedness in salute to the Lady every tenday. On moonless nights, Nightfall is known as the Coming of the Lady, and every congregation must carry out some significant act of vengeance or wickedness in the Dark Lady's name.
The most important ceremony of the priesthood of Shar is the Kiss of the Lady, a horrific night-long revel of slaying and doing dark deeds in the name of the lady that ends with a feast at dawn. Kissmoots are scheduled irregularly, whenever the priests of Old Night decree. Increasingly the rival clergy of the Embrace have been proclaiming that this ritual be celebrated at different times than those decreed by the temple of Old Night.
Major Centers of Worship: The Temple of Old Night in Calimport is the oldest, haughtiest seat of worship to Shar. It is a subterranean complex underlying much of the eastern city ruled by the highest-ranked known mortal servant of Shar: the aged Irtemara, the Dancer Before Dawn, a debauched and jaded Calishite woman famous for her revels and murderous whims (which, over the years, have brought about at least six changes of government in various realms across Faerûn). Irtemara is loyally served by three male priests who work covertly against each other. They will undoubtedly break into open battle for supremacy when Irtemara dies.
The Temple of Old Night vies for supremacy over the Dark Followers with the Dark Embrace, a temple founded not quite 40 years ago by clergy of the Dark Goddess dissatisfied with the leadership of Old Night. The Embrace perches atop a crag in Amn, overlooking the midpoint of the trade road linking Imnescar and Esmeltaran. Its policies are more ruthless than those proclaimed in Calimport—the faithful of the Embrace are more openly active in local politics wherever they operate, employing assassinations where intimidation and the fulfillment of dark desires fail. The Embrace is led by a small circle of clergy whose leader seem to be the Eye in the Flame Aubert Heldynstar. Most clergy of the Dark Embrace are nightcloaks.
Affiliated Orders: The church of Shar sponsors no fighting orders or knighty orders. Crusaders who serve the faith are attached to particular Sharran cells and temples, not the faith in general. Clergy of the faith who have killed one of the clergy of Selûne are rumored to gain access to an honorary order or secret society known as the Dark Justiciars. Many thieves' guilds have connections to Sharran cells, and such affiliated groups use each other for their particular plots mercilessly.
Priestly Vestments: The colors purple and black are used extensively in Shar's church and among her followers. Most Sharran clergy dress in black cloaks or soft, silent dark garb with purple trim, piping, or accessories during rituals. High ceremonial dress of those of rank or taking a special role in a ritual is a long-sleeved robe of deep purple over black tights or a black velvet chemise. A black skullcap covers the entire head, except for on women with jet-black hair. Such hair is seen as a symbol of the Dark Lady's pleasure and is left to flow unfettered and long. Less commonly encountered versions of Shar's symbol than the one mentioned above are of a glistering purple eye outlined in black with a black pupil or a cowled hunting cloak of unadorned black stretched out flat.
Adventuring Garb: Sharran clergy wear practical clothes in the fashion of the land they are in while pursuing day-to-day life. They are fond of jewelry fashioned from obsidian, black onyx, amethyst, and purple jade, but they are not required to wear it. When entering a situation where they might encounter hostilities, they wear armor and take appropriate protective measures.
Sisters of Light and Darkness
This was the birth of the world and the heavens. After Lord Ao created Realmspace, there was a period of timeless nothingness, a misty realm of shadows before light and dark were seperate entities. Within this dim chaos stalked 13 lords of shadow, the shadevari—whether they came from elsewhere or are children of the shadow itself, none can say.
Eventually this primordial essence coalesced into twin beautiful goddesses who were yin and yang to each other: they were so close they thought of themselves as one being. The Two-Faced Goddess created the heavenly bodies of the crystal sphere and together infused them with life to form the Earthmother, Chauntea. (Although Chauntea has since contracted her essence to encompass only Abeir-Toril, in the beginning she embodied all matter in Realmspace.) This new universe was lit by the face of the silver-haired goddess, who called herself Selûne, and darkened by the welcoming tresses of the raven-haired goddess, Shar, but no heat or fire existed within it.
Chauntea begged for warmth so that she could nurture life and living creatures upon the planes that were her body and limbs, and the two Sisters-Who-Were-One became divided, as for the first time they were of two minds. Silvery Selûne contested with her dark sister over whether or not to bring further life to the worlds. During this great conflagration, the gods of war, disease, murder, and death, among others, were created from residues of the deific battle. At one point during the battle, Selûne seized the advantage and reached across time and space to a land of eternal fire. Fighting the pain of the blaze, which burned her sorely, she broke off a fragment of that ever-living flame and ignited one of the heavenly bodies so that it burned in the sky and warmed Chauntea.
Incensed, Shar redoubled her attack on her injured twin and began to snuff out all light and heat throughout the crystal sphere. Again Selûne gave of herself and tore the divine essence of magic from her body, flinging it desperately at her sister in defense of life in the sphere and nearly killing herself of the spiritual injury it caused her. A just-born being of raw magic tore through Shar, bonding to some of her divine magical energy and ripping it free of her, and reforming behind her as the goddess of magic, known now as Mystra, but then as Mystryl. Though Mystryl was composed of both light and dark magic, she favored her first mother Selûne initially, allowing the silver goddess to win an uneasy truce with her more powerful, dark twin. Consumed by bitterness at her defeat, Shar vowed eternal revenge.
The twin goddesses contested for eons as life struggled into existence on Toril and the other planes under Chauntea's watchful gaze. Shar remained powerful, but bitterly alone, while Selûne waxed and waned in power, often drawing strength from her allied daughters and sons and like-minded immigrant deities. Over time, Shar grew strong again, aided by the shadevari who preferred night to blinding light and who stalked the Realms seeking to meld light and dark into shadowy chaos once again. Shar's plot to reform the world after her own desires was undone when Azuth, the High One, formerly the greatest of all mortal spellcasters and now consort to Mystra (incarnate successor to Mystryl), found a way to imprison the shadevari in a pocket-sized crystal sphere located beyond the edges of the world by creating the illusion of a realm of shadows. The Lords of Shadow were drawn to investigate, and before they discovered the trick, Azuth imprisoned the shadevari with the Shadowstar, a key of shadows forged by Gond. The High Lord then hurled the key into the endless reaches of the cosmos allowing life to flourish on in Chauntea's loving hands.
Specialty Priests (Nightcloaks)
REQUIREMENTS: Strength 14, Wisdom 12
PRIME REQ.: Strength, Wisdom
ALIGNMENT: NE
WEAPONS: All bludgeoning weapons
ARMOR: All armor types up to and including chain mail and shield
MAJOR SPHERES: All, astral, charm, combat, divination, guardian, necromantic, protection, sun (only
those which create darkness), time, thought
MINOR SPHERES: Creation, elemental, healing
MAGICAL ITEMS: Same as clerics
REQ. PROFS: Dancing
BONUS PROFS: Blind-fighting, direction sense
3rd Level
Armor of Darkness (Alteration)
Sphere: Protection, Sun
Range: Touch
Components: V, S
Duration: 1 round/level
Casting Time: 6
Area of Effect: The caster or 1 touched creature
Saving Throw: None
This spell creates a flickering, impressive-seeming shroud of magical darkness around the caster or a single touched recipient creature. The aura can, if the caster desires, conceal the wearer's features. In any case, it improves the wearer's Armor Class by 1 point for every four experience levels of the caster (rounded down). It also lessens all nonmagical damage suffered by the wearer by 1d4 points per round. (This reduction changes to 2d4 points if the caster is of 12th level or greater.)
The wearer of armor of darkness can see through the armor as if it does not exist and is also afforded 60-foot-range infravision by the spell. All beings within armor of darkness are immune to hypnotic magic and other effects that depend on vision and receive a +2 bonus on saving throws vs. enchantment/charm school spells, charm sphere spells, and psionics of similar effect. Undead creatures wearing armor of darkness are immune to turning and dispelling attempts caused by things that they must see—the blow of a mace of disruption, for instance, would still destroy one if it failed its saving throw vs. the disruptive effect.
Whip of Shar (Invocation/Evocation)
Sphere: Necromantic
Range: 0
Components: V, S, M
Duration: 1 round/level
Casting Time: 6
Area of Effect: 5-foot-long, flexible bearn of force
Saving Throw: Special
This spell creates a flickering black beam of force 1 inch in thickness surrounded by a purple halo. It is wielded by the caster, whom it cannot harm. If the caster successfully strikes with the whip in combat, the struck creature suffers 2d4 points of damage. Undead are affected as if by a turning attempt by a priest of three levels higher than the whip-caster.
Living creatures struck by a whip of Shar also have to make a successful saving throw vs. spell or be unable to attack on the following round because they are writhing in pain and unable to control their actions. Writhing victims incur no Armor Class penalties, but have to make successful Dexterity ability checks to avoid dropping all held and wielded items (one check per item). Victims struck in successive rounds are less prone to falling victim to this facet of the whip's attacks due to a numbness produced from repeated exposure. Hits in successive rounds cause the second saving throw to be at a +1 bonus, the third saving throw to be at a +2 bonus, and so on. A whip of Shar has no effect on even the most fragile of nonliving objects and can't be used to bind, constrict, or entangle. It is considered a magical weapon for purposes of which creatures it may strike.
The material components of this spell are three sharp-edged pieces of black obsidian or glass and a long, black hair from any evil creature.
4th Level
Creature of Darkness (Alteration, Illusion/Phantasm)
Sphere: Sun
Range: 10 yards/level
Components: V, S, M
Duration: 1 round/level
Casting Time: 7
Area of Effect: Special
Saving Throw: None
This spell creates a mobile, upright, vaguely human-shaped, bipedal field of magical darkness that quenches magical light and continual light on contact without itself being affected. This shadow person can be controlled from afar, floating at MV 12, and sent into areas where the caster cannot go. The caster then perceives the shadow person's surroundings dimly, as if seeing through eyes the person doesn't in fact possess. (This vision is not good enough to read by, see expressions, or recognize the features of a being.) This unintelligent aura of magical gloom cannot be used to carry solid objects or convey magical effects requiring that a target be touched (though rumors hold that the most powerful Sharran priests employ an improved version of this spell that can do both those things). The shadow person can be used to lure, to warn (pointing to beings, objects, or even markings on a map), or for concealment.
If a living being walks within the creature of darkness, its magic expands it to completely cloak the creature and so conceal its identity. Such a cloaked being can see as if the gloom of the creature did not exist. Living beings can attack or freely pass into, out of, and through a creature of darkness without dispelling it. If a creature of darkness is worn in this manner by its creator, the caster can use the magic of the creature to levitate for up to four consecutive rounds (rising up to 20 feet per round) or as a feather fall. Either such usage ends the spell.
The material components of a creature of darkness are a bit of black or gray fur or down from any flying creature, a pinch of soot, and a strand of spider web.
Darkbolt (Abjuration)
Sphere: Combat
Range: 5 yards/level
Components: S
Duration: 1 round/level
Casting Time: 7
Area of Effect: 1 creature
Saving Throw: Special
This spell unleashes a 4-inch beam of darkness in a straight line from the caster's hand. The beam ends whenever it strikes a creature within range. One darkbolt can be hurled per round until the spell expires or the caster works another spell. A darkbolt does no damage to nonliving things, but chills living creatures for 2d4 points of damage and acts as a one-round hold spell on undead creatures. (A successful saving throw vs. paralyzation negates this effect on undead.) Struck victims are also afflicted with magical silence lasting 1d4 rounds. If a struck creature succeeds at a saving throw vs. spell, it is not silenced, but suffers only the damage.