Shadowfell
The Shadowfell, also known as the Plane of Shadow, is one of the planes of existence in the cosmology of Aetheus. Its purpose and characteristics evolved over time in its existence. Other names for this plane include the Shadowlands, the Demiplane of Shadow.
It existed as a counterpart to the Feywild, in the sense that it was a reflection, or "echo" of the Prime Material Plane. Unlike the Feywild, it was a bleak, desolate place full of decay and death.
Once considered only a demiplane, but has since been considered a parallel plane to the Material Plane. Demiplanes formed out of the proto-matter that ebbed and flowed about the Ethereal Plane, creating a finite plane within its own Border Ethereal whenever a critical mass was achieved. The largest of these was called the Demiplane of Shadow and was made up of both positive and negative energy in equal measure. However, the PLane of Shadow was no longer connected to the Ethereal Plane, even though it was coexistent within it. Rapid movements between points of the Prime were still possible by stepping into the Shadowfell and skirting the edge before stepping back into the Prime, but arriving at a particular destination was much less precise than before.
After the multiverse was plunged into upheaval during the Divine War, the Elemental and Energy Planes collapsed into the Elemental Chaos but not before Arvanos managed to manipulate some of the necrotic energies from the Negative Energy Plane and inject it into the Plane of Shadow. Such was the power of this combination that the souls of the dead began to be drawn to this altered plane and had to pass through it before reaching their final judgement of the Fugue Plane. This parallel plane became a place from which necrotic energies and shadow magic stemmed.
The most striking and immediate impression a visitor to the Plane of Shadow experienced was the lack of colour and light; no sun, no moon, or stars adorned the vault of the inky black sky, and all things looked as if the colour had leeched out, leaving nothing but black and white which in dimness were more like "dark black" and "light black". A light source illuminated only half the distance it normally would, flames and fires put out less heat, and spells that dealt with light or fire was less predictable and prone to failure, whereas shadow spells were enhanced. On the other hand, although it would not illuminate as far, any light source on the plane could be spotted at a distance of up to ten times its normal range of illumination, such was the contrast of the constant gloom, similar to a star in the night sky. Gravity and time were the same on the Shadowfell as on the Prime, but because the Shadowfell was magically morphic the landscape was a dark, twisted echo of what existed on the Prime. Upon entering the Plane of Shadow, the local features were usually quite similar. The landscape diverged rapidly away from the familiar, and on subsequent visits from the same starting point, it diverged in different ways, making mapping the Shadowfell a useless endeavour. Landmarks were usually recognizable but altered in some bizarre way: buildings might be constructed in a different style, built with different materials, at a different location, and/or in any condition from dilapidated ruins to its normal appearance, for example, or otherwise strange and distorted. Similar sites were sometimes called "shadow analogues". Due to the ever-changing landscape, the Plane of shadow was frequently subject to relatively frequent but very small earthquakes (known as Shadow Quakes) that resembled an earthquake spell in an area about two hundred feet (60m) in diameter. For those on the ground, the damage was equivalent to a Prime earthquake, but shadow quakes could also disrupt and dump unfortunate followers onto the Shadowfell in the middle of the disturbance at a place very likely unknown and far from their destination. Some areas on the Plane of Shadow seemed to have an affinity with the Negative Energy Plane and life-draining undead such as shadows, ghosts and vampires. These 'Dark lands' had a minor negative-dominant trait and unprotected visitors immediately felt the life force being sucked from their bodies - unless they exited the dark land quickly, all that was left of them was a pile of ash. Someone with protection from negative energy could stop and admire the utter desolation in an otherwise forlorn landscape, and perhaps make the acquaintance of the truly inimical undead. Thankfully, no natural vortices opened into the dark land regions, preventing the unwary from stepping through into almost certain death and keeping the creatures that thrived therefrom having easy access to other planes. Material Plane locations such as desecrated burial mounds, haunted battlefields, and necromantic foci frequently had a dark land echo on the Shadowfell. Other less dangerous but quite unsettling echoes occurred in areas analogous to towns and cities in the Prime Material Plane. They were nothing more than mirages, but familiar faces and places seen through the macabre mirror of the Shadowfell could be very demoralizing. Structures might appear altered, dislocated, destroyed, or replaced entirely by something else. Mirages of the living had visages of distorted nightmares, but were still recognizable enough to give travellers a jolt of fear and revulsion. Air, water, and food existed on this plane, supporting plants, animals, and some humanoids adapted to the shadow environment. Visitors could survive indefinitely if they were willing to endure thick, foul-smelling water, food that oozed dark blood, and a pervasive nip of cold in the air. A visitor could never feel warm, would often hear or sense the presence of things that weren't there, and could never shake the feeling of being watched. It was a constantly unsettling place. Over time, exposure to the Plane of Shadow altered living things, increasing various traits and abilities but also some vulnerabilities. Emotions and the ability to experience them seemed to fade over time for those imbued with shadowstuff. The morphic nature of the Shadowfell could produce strange effects, mainly in areas like the Black Rift that were especially morphic, and with events that had a particular affinity with the plane, like death. For example, in the Black Rift alone, a pile of bodies caused more skeletons to appear, until there were thousands. More bizarre were the strange biers upon which dead bodies spontaneously appeared, apparently drawn from wherever they rested, anywhere in existence, only to disappear after a few seconds, presumably to wherever they'd come from. Stalactites in a cave dripped ephemeral shadowstuff, which was reabsorbed into the plane rather than form a puddle. Even common mushrooms bore realistic humanoid faces, capable of twitching or blinking. More significantly, forests of grasping tendrils sprouted from some surfaces and reached for passersby, similar to the black tentacles spell.
DESCRIPTION
The most striking and immediate impression a visitor to the Plane of Shadow experienced was the lack of colour and light; no sun, no moon, or stars adorned the vault of the inky black sky, and all things looked as if the colour had leeched out, leaving nothing but black and white which in dimness were more like "dark black" and "light black". A light source illuminated only half the distance it normally would, flames and fires put out less heat, and spells that dealt with light or fire was less predictable and prone to failure, whereas shadow spells were enhanced. On the other hand, although it would not illuminate as far, any light source on the plane could be spotted at a distance of up to ten times its normal range of illumination, such was the contrast of the constant gloom, similar to a star in the night sky. Gravity and time were the same on the Shadowfell as on the Prime, but because the Shadowfell was magically morphic the landscape was a dark, twisted echo of what existed on the Prime. Upon entering the Plane of Shadow, the local features were usually quite similar. The landscape diverged rapidly away from the familiar, and on subsequent visits from the same starting point, it diverged in different ways, making mapping the Shadowfell a useless endeavour. Landmarks were usually recognizable but altered in some bizarre way: buildings might be constructed in a different style, built with different materials, at a different location, and/or in any condition from dilapidated ruins to its normal appearance, for example, or otherwise strange and distorted. Similar sites were sometimes called "shadow analogues". Due to the ever-changing landscape, the Plane of shadow was frequently subject to relatively frequent but very small earthquakes (known as Shadow Quakes) that resembled an earthquake spell in an area about two hundred feet (60m) in diameter. For those on the ground, the damage was equivalent to a Prime earthquake, but shadow quakes could also disrupt and dump unfortunate followers onto the Shadowfell in the middle of the disturbance at a place very likely unknown and far from their destination. Some areas on the Plane of Shadow seemed to have an affinity with the Negative Energy Plane and life-draining undead such as shadows, ghosts and vampires. These 'Dark lands' had a minor negative-dominant trait and unprotected visitors immediately felt the life force being sucked from their bodies - unless they exited the dark land quickly, all that was left of them was a pile of ash. Someone with protection from negative energy could stop and admire the utter desolation in an otherwise forlorn landscape, and perhaps make the acquaintance of the truly inimical undead. Thankfully, no natural vortices opened into the dark land regions, preventing the unwary from stepping through into almost certain death and keeping the creatures that thrived therefrom having easy access to other planes. Material Plane locations such as desecrated burial mounds, haunted battlefields, and necromantic foci frequently had a dark land echo on the Shadowfell. Other less dangerous but quite unsettling echoes occurred in areas analogous to towns and cities in the Prime Material Plane. They were nothing more than mirages, but familiar faces and places seen through the macabre mirror of the Shadowfell could be very demoralizing. Structures might appear altered, dislocated, destroyed, or replaced entirely by something else. Mirages of the living had visages of distorted nightmares, but were still recognizable enough to give travellers a jolt of fear and revulsion. Air, water, and food existed on this plane, supporting plants, animals, and some humanoids adapted to the shadow environment. Visitors could survive indefinitely if they were willing to endure thick, foul-smelling water, food that oozed dark blood, and a pervasive nip of cold in the air. A visitor could never feel warm, would often hear or sense the presence of things that weren't there, and could never shake the feeling of being watched. It was a constantly unsettling place. Over time, exposure to the Plane of Shadow altered living things, increasing various traits and abilities but also some vulnerabilities. Emotions and the ability to experience them seemed to fade over time for those imbued with shadowstuff. The morphic nature of the Shadowfell could produce strange effects, mainly in areas like the Black Rift that were especially morphic, and with events that had a particular affinity with the plane, like death. For example, in the Black Rift alone, a pile of bodies caused more skeletons to appear, until there were thousands. More bizarre were the strange biers upon which dead bodies spontaneously appeared, apparently drawn from wherever they rested, anywhere in existence, only to disappear after a few seconds, presumably to wherever they'd come from. Stalactites in a cave dripped ephemeral shadowstuff, which was reabsorbed into the plane rather than form a puddle. Even common mushrooms bore realistic humanoid faces, capable of twitching or blinking. More significantly, forests of grasping tendrils sprouted from some surfaces and reached for passersby, similar to the black tentacles spell.
PHENOMENA
Known as "Shadowstuff", the material of the Shadowfell could be manipulated by illusionists to form semi-real monsters and quasi-real evocations that were still effective (to a lesser degree) even if the target successfully disbelieved the illusion. Another tool of illusionists was the shadow well spell, which could turn a creature's shadow into a temporary gateway into the Shadowfell. If successful, the victim was sucked into the Shadowfell through his or her shadow and spent a few moments in a pocket realm (a very tiny demiplane attached to the Shadowfell) being terrorized by dark phantasms. No physical harm resulted from this spell, but mental and emotional trauma resulting in a fear response was possible. An unsuccessful attempt to build a gate to the Shadowfell could result in what was termed a failed Shadow Gate. A being that stepped through one was taken only momentarily to the Plane of Shadow, but in that moment a "seed of shadow" was implanted in their flesh. This could cause their flesh to be subsumed by shadow, and they would see it mist away into darkness. Many died, reduced to bare skeletons, but those who survived acquired the powers of a dark creature.
Type
Dimensional plane
