Shadowfell

The Shadowfell, also known as the Plane of Shadow, is one of the planes of existence. Not at all similar to the vast empitness of parts of The Plane of Void.
It evolved as the Moata Solar System was formed by Moatama (the Creation; the Creator). Finding some things of the Prime Material Plane too "bright" or too "dark," these parts were taken from the Prime Material Plane, creating The Feywild Realm and the Shadowfell, respectively.

The Shadowfell was made up of both positive and negative energy in equal measure - although as time past it became a place more filled with necrotic energies and shadow magic. Other names for this plane included Shadowland, and the Shadow Deep.

Home to Scythe of The Enduring Ones /The Raven Queen and Mask (the Master of all Thieves and Lord of Shadows), it exists as sort of counterpart to The Feywild Realm, 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, winter and death.

Aurusel, the Great Gardener, is an Archfey, who once had a major hand in creating the beauty of Taesiara, where he use to dwell, within The Feywild Realm - but he moved his garden to within the Shadowfell. He will kill anyone who tries to enter his garden.

The interplay between the Magical Weave and the Shadow Weave is especially malleable, allowing access from the Prime Material Plane to the Shadowfell more likely around swamps.

Also, on the Prime Material Plane of Esau, locations such as desecrated burial mounds, haunted battlefields, and necromantic focus frequently feel a echo of the Shadowfell. Other less dangerous, but quite unsettling echoes occur in areas analogous to towns and cities in the Prime Material Plane. They are nothing more than mirages, but familiar faces and places seen through the macabre mirror of the Shadowfell can be very demoralizing to people.
Structures may appear altered, dislocated, destroyed, or replaced entirely by something else. Mirages of the living have visages of distorted nightmares, but are still recognizable enough to give travelers a jolt of fear, despair and revulsion.

The most striking and immediate impression an explorer to the Shadowfell is the lack of any bright colours and full light - no sun, moon, or stars adorn the vault of the inky black sky, and all things look muted as if the colour has leeched out.
The sky changed in dimness - more like "dark black" and "light black". A light source only illuminates half the distance it normally would, flames and fires will put out less heat. Spells that deal with light or fire are less predictable and prone to failure - whereas shadow spells are enhanced. Although it will not illuminate as far, any light source on the plane can be spotted at a distance of up to ten times its normal range of illumination, such is the contrast to the constant gloom. Even a light source that only puts out shadowy illumination, like a darkness spell or a lantern burning shadowlight oil, can be seen up to five times its range of illumination.

Gravity and time are the same on the Shadowfell as on the Prime Material Plane, however because the Shadowfell is magically morphic (and divinely morphic) - the landscape is a dark, twisted echo of what exists on the Prime Material Plane. Upon entering the Shadowfell, the local features are usually quite similar:
* Casting shadow walk in a forest puts an individual in a Shadow Forest; casting it under water drops you in a similar body of water, etc.

Although, from that starting point, the landscape diverges rapidly away from the familiar, and on subsequent visits from the same starting point it diverges in different ways, making mapping the Shadowfell a useless endeavor. Landmarks are usually recognizable, but altered in some bizarre way:
* buildings may 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.

Due to the ever-changing landscape, the Plane of Shadow is subject to relatively frequent yet very small earthquakes (called shadow quakes) that resemble an earthquake spell in an area about two hundred feet (sixty meters) in diameter. For those on the ground, damage is equivalent to a Prime Material Plane earthquake, but shadow quakes can also disrupt the shadow walk spell and dump unfortunate travelers onto the Shadowfell in the middle of the disturbance at a place very likely unknown and far from their destination.

Air, water, and food exist on the shadowfell, supporting plants, animals, and some humanoids adapt to the shadow environment. Visitors can survive indefinitely if they are willing to endure thick, foul-smelling water, food that oozes dark blood or mouldy insides, and a pervasive nip of cold in the air.
A visitor will never feel warm, and will often hear or sense the presence of things that are not there, also can never shake the feeling of being watched. It is a constantly unsettling place.

Over time, exposure to the Plane of Shadow alters living things, increasing various traits and abilities, but also some vulnerabilities. Emotions and the ability to experience them seem to fade over time for those imbued with shadowstuff.

As well as The Raven Queen, the Shadowfell is inhabited by Mask. It is unclear how the two different deities can reside together in the Shadowfell.

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SCYTHE

Names: Scythe; Lady Scythe; Valentina; Uhlume; The Raven Queen; The Queen of Ravens; The Matron of the Raven; Death Bird; Winter Witch; Grand Doula; Valkyrie: Chooser of the Slain; Death
It is not by choice that The Raven Queen (aka Scythe of The Enduring Ones) has this realm as their residence. They often prefers to visit the Prime Material Plane.
As The Raven Queen 's domains are Birth, Fate, Winter and Death, there are locations to mark each of these.

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MASK

Names: Mask, the Master of all Thieves and Lord of Shadows
Mask has a region on this realm called Shadow Keep. It is made out of shadowstuff and is extremely difficult to see even when standing right next to it.
MASK = the Lord of Shadows, was the intermediate god of shadows, thievery, and formerly intrigue. A loner god most often associated with those of ill-repute. He is a chaotic neutral or neutral evil deity who makes his home in Shadow Keep within the Shadowfell. Also known as Lord of Shadows, Master of All Thieves, The Shadowlord, God of Thieves, Blackheart, and Shadowcrab.
The Shadowlord wields a pair of magical, twin longswords known as Stealthwhisper and Shadowblade. Mask's symbol is a black mask made of velvet, tainted with red. His domains is Trickery. His worshipers tend to be the worse kind of spies and thieves. His channel divinity allows Invoke Duplicity, as well as Cloak of Shadows.
Mask's form is entirely inconsistent, appearing as members of all races, genders, ages, builds, and capabilities. No matter his form however, his movements make no sound and leave no trail.

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SHADAR-KAI

There is also the Shadar-Kai (Shadow Elves loyal to The Raven Queen), other "shadow" creatures such as the shadow mastiff and shadow dragon, and a race of humanoids known as shades.

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Bheur Hags

(Fey)
The unrivaled masters of winter witchcraft, connected to the Shadowfell - although usually born within The Feywild Realm. Bheur Hags are blue-skinned beldames that make cold seasons even harsher than normal. They are cold-hearted crones who revele in the greed that bad conditions brought out.

Night Hags
(Fiend) = The most vile and nightmarish of the Hags, are connected to The Hells as well as the nightmare part of The Dream Realm and The Shadowfell. Night Hags are Fey turned fiends, so vile even compared to the rest of their kind that they are unable to enter The Feywild Realm . These fiendish degenerates are soulmongers who traded in The Shadowfell and The Hells for power and wealth.

Localized Phenomena

THE SHINING CITADEL

Not easy to locate, within the Dark Woods, the Shining Citadel always look brand-new and so clean, as if just built. Inside is the calm, which is not found outside in the rest of the Shadowfell. This is where Scythe as The Raven Queen comes to rest after her weary tasks.
Within The Dark Woods there are twisting paths where many souls move along. (Written about in a Poem by Cordites Tun).
The souls of people and other creatures that circle inside, not in a physical manner however they feel as if they are there, are lively and waiting to be born into the Prime Material Plane on Esau and Lyre. These sould have stepped from where they were created or stored, depending who is asked to what is assumed. The Raven Queen greets each one and guides them into the growing body on the prime Material Plane.
At some point in the distant past a mysterious group who worship The Raven Queen took all of the light, colour, and most of the life-force from the rest of the Shadowfell and concentrated it into a mighty citadel.

MOIRAI

Moirai is the residence of the Fates. There is no entrances or windows. Those serving the Fates are unseen and loyal. The Fates symbols are thread, dove, spindle, and scissors.
The Fates are often not thought of until the last day of the month of Pex, when people may celebrate the Night of Destiny.
The Fates are a group of three weaving goddesses who assign individual destinies to mortals at birth. Destine and Scythe are protectors of The Fates, who weave the threads of each one's destiny into people's lives. The Fates are Nona: the spinner, Lachesis: the weaver, and Morta: the collector. These three appear to be elderly women sitting at weaving looms threaded with Oōruritē , in a building within the garden maze of the Garden of Forking Ways - however truly reside inside Moirai within the Shadowfell.
The three Fates, control the mother thread of life, from birth to death. Nona spins the thread of life - sending The Raven Queen the path for the soul. Lachesis measures the thread allotted to each person - counting each life by number of Winters they live. While Morta is the cutter of the thread, choosing the moment of each person's passing - informing The Raven Queen who to guide to the Afterlife, and whose time is not truly at an end.
The Fates are even more powerful than the Gods and Goddess, which makes the need to hide them away, more important - not even Mask can enter the Moirai.

FORTRESS OF MEMORIES

One of The Raven Queen's divine realms in the Shadowfell is a castle known as the Fortress of Memories.
It is a place of overwhelming sorrow, overflowing with memories taken from mortals and fragments of dead deities, material objects collected by the Shadar-Kai (Shadow Elves) and brought to her as gifts, and apparitions of creatures and places associated with strongly emotional stories. It is said the memories of people who were taken by the Void Elementals slowly seep to there, once they drift from The Plane of Void.
Swarms of ravens occasionally fly out of the fortress, taking her cryptic messages to the far reaches of the other planes and into the Solar System and acting as the Queen's eyes and ears while away.

LETHERNA

The Raven Queen also has claim, within the Shadowfell, an region known as Letherna, a fortress of black ice, representing The Raven Queen 's Winter domain, within a frozen forest through which the souls of the deceased have to pass before reaching the afterlife,

SHADOW KEEP

It is made out of shadowstuff and is extremely difficult to see even when standing right next to it. The Shadow Keep was the main residence of Mask, who influences the Darklands, Shadow Swamp and The Black Rift.
The Shadow Keep is surrounded by a forest that is connected to the Shadow Forest in Esau on the Prime Material Plane.

THE DARKLANDS

Not an original region of the Shadowfell, formed as The Raven Queen removed the Undead from the Prime Material Plane.
This area known as The Darklands, seems to have an affinity with the Negative Energy Plane and life-draining Undead such as shadows, ghosts, and Vampires. These darklands have a minor negative-dominant trait and unprotected visitors immediately feel the life force being sucked from their bodies - unless they exit the darkland quickly, all that is left of them is a pile of ash, that scatters in the harsh wind. Someone with protection from negative energy can stop and admire the utter desolation of this region, in an otherwise forlorn landscape, and perhaps make the acquaintance of the truly hostile Undead.
Fortunately, no natural vortices open into darklands region, nor to the shadow equakes seem to rach this region. This prevents the unwary from stepping through into almost certain death, and keeping the creatures that thrive there from having easy access to any other planes, except of The Hells when sent to the 7th layer known as Zombata.

SHADOW SWAMP

This vast swamp is called the Shadow Swamp. Although the environment is similar in many ways to Prime Material plane swamps, it is a great black swamp, where the slimey water is so dark and still - only moves sluggishly through the channels.
The landscape there seems to be more water than any large Prime Material Plane swamp. It settles next to the Black Rift, sometimes the slimey waters seeps down the edge of the chasm. Swamp water flowed in on all sides, yet the water at the bottom never raises and never seems to drain out, an entirely unexplained phenomena.

THE BLACK RIFT

The Black Rift is a very massive chasm - a very deep crack across rock, earth and ice. The morphic nature of the Shadowfell can produce strange effects, mainly in the Black Rift. In the Black Rift, a small pile of Undead bodies seems to spill up from the chasm and then more skeletons and boneless, until there are thousands.
More bizarre are the strange biers on the edges of the chasm, upon which dead bodies spontaneously appear, 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 on the path down into the chasm drips ephemeral shadowstuff, which is reabsorbed into the Shadowfell rather than form a puddle.
Common mushrooms that grow in the chasm, bare realistic humanoid faces, capable of twitching or blinking. More significantly, the forests of grasping tendrils sprout from some surfaces along the edge of The Black Rift and reach out for passersby, similar to the black tentacles spell, trying to pull them off the edge of the chasm.

History

Shadow Curse

Many shadar-kai are subject to the "shadow curse", doomed to lose their souls into the dark depths of the Shadowfell. Their souls were only loosely bound to their bodies, so when they were dazed, stunned, knocked unconscious, or otherwise close to death, a part of their soul risked being sent to the Shadowfell. It took great strength of will to resist the tremendous and inexorable pull the Shadowfell had on their souls.
A shadar-kai missing parts of his or her soul are weakened, and thus less able to resist the next time their soul is drawn away. A shadar-kai so afflicted cannot be raised from the dead or resurrected, and could not advance. The curse also saps their will to live and fills their hearts with ennui, melancholy, and utter sadness. The "lucky" ones attract the attention of the Elementals from the Plane of Void, who steals them away to feed the deities of their Elemental plane.
Those shadar-kai who are overtaken by the curse, or who voluntarily surrender to it, are transformed into shadow-like undead horrors, sometimes with wraiths forming in their place.

Going to the Plane of Shadow and staying there mitigates the effects of the shadow curse, but does not cure it. An afflicted shadar-kai who return to the Esau on the Prime Material Plane will become weakened once more. The only way to fully restore their soul is with a greater restoration spell cast within the Shadowfell itself.

In order to avoid being affected by the curse, shadar-kai live extreme lifestyles, embracing strong emotions and peak experiences. Most of them use pain to keep their focus, decorating their bodies with tattoos, scarification, and body piercings, in extremely sensitive parts of their bodies. Likewise, some of them engaged in self-flagellation, to the point of injuring themselves if they felt that they were being overtaken by the curse.

REFERENCE:
+ The Planes: Shadowfell
+ Exploring The Shadow Plane

Type

Magical Realm

Location under

Moata Solar System

Owning Organization

The Raven Queen

Inhabiting Species

• Banderhobb
• Owlbear