Post by gatalis on Feb 1, 2013 1:06:23 GMT -5
The Dark Goddess, The Lady of Loss, The Mistress of the Night, The Nightsinger
Greater Deity
Symbol- A black disk with a deep purple border
Home Plane- Tower of loss within The Old Shadowfell
Alignment- Evil (Recognized as Neutral Evil)
Portfolio- Caverns, Dark, Dungeons, Forgetfulness, Hatred, Loss, Night, Secrets, The Underdark,
Worshippers- Anarchists, Assassins, Avengers, Dark Moon Monks, Nihilists, The Lost, Rogues, Shadow Adepts, Shadowcasters, and Shadowdancers (anyone, but mainly evil)
Cleric alignments- Mostly NE, but can be LE or CE (N at DM discretion)
Domains- Cavern, Darkness, Evil, Knowledge, Undeath, as well as Deception, Envy, and Pride depending on source
(SoS accepted Cleric Domains: Death, Trickery, Evil and Knowledge)
Favoured Weapon- Disk of Night (chakram)
After Lord Ao created the universe, the swirling chaos coalesced to form twin deities: Selune, a being of light and creation, and Shar (shahr), a power of darkness and destruction. Shar's existence, paradoxically, is tied to the shrouded nothingness that existed prior to Ao's act of creation. Shar reflects the primal dark, the flawless void erased at the beginning of time by a distant, unconcerned overdeity. Her heart longs for a return to the calm of nonexistence, and she schemes from the shadows to tear down the establishments, destroy order, and undermine all creation.
Religious art depicts Shar as a black sphere outlined in magical purple flames or a beautiful human woman with long, raven-black hair dressed in swirling dark garb. In this guise she smiles coldly, her haunting purple eyes having coal black pupils that reflect the primeval void. Frequently though, Shar 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. Shar also works through dark tentacles, doom tyrants, and mysterious shadow monsters, using them as messengers, guards, and enforcers of her will.
History and Relations
Shar and her sister Selûne coalesced out of the material of realmspace after it was created by Ao. They were incredibly close at first, so much so that they believed themselves to be the same being. They worked together to create the heavens and the planets and then created Chauntea to embody the planets and infuse them with life. Selûne lit the worlds while Shar coated them in shadows. Chauntea though claimed that Selûne's light was not enough for life to thrive like she wanted it to and begged the sisters for warmth. Shar and Selûne argued for the first time - Selûne wanting their realm to be filled with more life while Shar was happy with the state of things as they were. The two quarreled violently, creating Targus, Moander and Jergal in the aftermath. At an impasse, Selûne reached into the plane of fire and set the largest of the planets alight. Shar attacked again and tried to smother the flames but Selûne had torn off a part of her own body and hurled it against her sister. The raw magical power of Selûne's body punched a hole through Shar's and out of the two chunks of their bodies, Mystryl formed. Mystryl aligned herself with Selûne and, outmatched, Shar fled, vowing revenge against them both.
Shar brooded for aeons, striking against her sister whenever she saw the opportunity but unlike Selûne, Shar did not have allies. At least, not until she was courted by the shadevari - 13 chaotic lords of shadow who had witnessed the births of Shar and Selûne and much preferred Shar's ideal of a realm of darkness. They helped her grow stronger but then Azuth sealed her allies away in another crystal sphere, foiling her plans.
For roughly the next seven centuries, Shar returned to brooding until Ao forced her avatar to Toril during the Time of Troubles. Shar's power increased when she killed Ibrandul, though she lost the opportunity to also kill Sharess whom she had been slowly corrupting. Nevertheless in the wake of the Godswar, Shar was revitalized in a way she hadn't been before and began actively subverting Selûne and the new goddess of magic Mystra. Shar eventually made allies of Bane and a patsy of Cyric in 1374 DR. Together, their followers attempted to conquer Myth Drannor while the Church of Shar attempted to wrest control of magic away from Mystra through various means. Shar's plots were defeated but she did absorb most of the divinity of her son Mask.
11 years later, Mystra was dead at Cyric's hand and Shar combined the Plane of Shadow with the Negative Energy Plane to create the Shadowfell where she has ruled over darkness ever since.
Shar is the dark twin of Selune. She has battled her sister since shortly after their creation. Their primordial feud has resulted in the creation of many other deities. Rather than overtly confronting other deities, Shar seeks to gain power by subverting mortal worshipers to her faith. By her very nature, however, she is opposed to the powers of light, the unsecretive Shaundakul, and her own sister. She is specifically, and violently opposed to Lathander, Selûne, and Shaundakul, though her distate in Loviatar occasionally leads to conflict. Unlike Bane or Cyric, Shar rarely encourages open conflict (the above clergy members aside) as she feels that all mortals are potential worshippers and future resources rather than seeing those who disagree as opposing forces. Shar holds a deep hatred for Mystra, likely due to her siding with Selûne, but rarely acts out against her.
Her only frequent ally is Talona, who may eventually serve Shar to stave off the predations of Loviatar. However, she has connections with Bane, Cyric, and a number of other evil deities as well as some dragon cults.
Dogma[/size]
"Reveal secrets only to fellow members of the faithful. Never follow hope or turn to promises of success. Quench the light of the moon (agents and items of Selûne) whenever you find it, and hide from it when you cannot prevail. The dark is a time to act, not wait. It is forbidden to strive to better your lot in life or to plan ahead save when directly overseen by the faithful of the Dark Deity. Consorting with the faithful of good deities is a sin except in business dealings or to corrupt them from their beliefs. Obey and never speak out against ranking clergy unless it would result in your own death. Love is a lie. Only hate endures."
Clergy and Temples[/size]
Shar's clergy consists of folks from all walks of life. Priests and Priestesses revel and build community through their ritual dances and secrets they hide and share with each other. One truth of the clergy is that they are all murderers. The initiation of a clergy member is signaled by their first murder for the church. A recruit incapable of murder is not admitted, and depending on the severity and consequence of their unwillingness, is subject to being killed themselves.
Nonetheless, the tests to join the Sharran Faith are typically less strenuous than most deities, the main requirements typically involving an act that no good-aligned individual would be capable of. Later betrayals of the faith though are met harshly, resulting in the death of the worshipper.
The clergy of the Church of Shar use corruption and subversion to spread Shar's faith, but they must do this in secret in many places due to the religion being forbidden. The atmosphere of the organization is one of unwavering faith to its leader, Shar herself. Disobeying an order usually results in death. Although devotees are perfectly willing to give their life for Shar, she often does not intend for this to happen because it will deplete the number of her dedicated followers.
From time to time, Shar requests of her priests that a certain individual, usually a sorcerer or wizard who she deems to have misused the Shadow Weave, is killed. On the other hand, Shar can forbid such acts against specific individuals. It is not uncommon for the church to make use of the Shadow Weave itself, although Shar holds onto the deepest and most powerful secrets of the magical force.
The clergy of the church will travel in small groups or individually throughout Faerûn, often disguised as merchants or pilgrims to avoid detection. Their missions usually involve either espionage or murder.
The church is split into individual cells that can operate independently from one another, often having a temple or shrine as their focal point. Cells are linked by the leadership of a priest, and one priest will typically control the cells in a geographic area. Priests communicate with one another, but rarely reveal truthful information to their inferiors.
The intent of the Church of Shar is to spread the faith of Shar. This is achieved by undermining and corrupting individuals, governments and even other religions. This enables the subject to be more likely to accept the views and dogma of Shar. Because the most valuable commodity to the clergy of Shar is a secret, information is closely guarded and is only revealed when it is essential to be known. The clergy of Shar will expect that a secret is traded for another similarly prized secret.
By revealing secrets, Sharran clergy will attempt to incite bitterness and jealously within individual, such as telling a woman that her husband is having an affair. These emotions are strongly embraced by Shar and highly increase the likeliness of a successful conversion.
The Sharran Faith's two most prominent temples are The Dark Embrace in Amn, and The Temple of Old Night in Calimshan.
Rituals/Holy Days[/size]
Rising of the Dark
As most devotees of Shar keep their faith a secret to all but those tied to the church, the only celebrated holiday is the Rising of the Dark, or, as it is more commonly known to non-members, The Feast of the Moon. During this celebration, members of the Sharran Faith congregate under widespread venerations of the dead and darkness to witness a blood sacrifice and learn of any plots or aims the clergy wants them to work toward during the winter ahead.
Nightfall
The most important ritual of the Sharran faith is the ritual of Nightfall. Every night, Clergy recite a brief invocation, a dance, a charge or series of inspiring instructions spoken by the goddess to one of the clergy or a raven-haired female lay worshipper, and a revel celebrated by eating, drinking, and ritualistic dancing together. Lay members must attend at least one Nightfall (or dance to the goddess themselves) and must perform, reporting 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 of members must attempt to carry out some significant act of vengeance or wickedness in the Dark Lady's name.
Kiss of the Lady
Announced by the head clergy when Shar has spoken to them, the Kiss of the Lady is a horrific night-long revel of slaying and doing dark deeds in the name of the lady that ends with a feast at dawn. When the Dark Goddess has not spoken to the head clergy in these regards, these Kissmoots are scheduled irregularly.
[/center]Sources: Faiths and Pantheons, Forgotten Realms Wiki, Northern Journey Campaign, Pete's Forgotten Realms, realmshelp.net
NOTE: All information above is up for interpretation and potential removal at DM discretion.
