Shar

Shar is a major deity known as the Mistress of the Night, the Goddess of Darkness, and the Lady of Loss. She embodies darkness, loss, night, secrets, and forgetfulness, standing as one of Faerûn’s most malevolent and cunning gods. As the creator of the Shadow Weave, a dark counterpart to Mystra’s Weave, Shar is a direct adversary to her sister Selûne and a threat to the balance of magic and light.

Portfolio and Domains

• Portfolio: Darkness, night, loss, forgetfulness, secrets, the Shadow Weave
• Domains: Death, Trickery (Player’s Handbook, Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide)
• Alignment: Neutral Evil
• Symbol: A black disk encircled by a purple border, often with a single eye or a veiled face
• Favored Weapon: Chakram (often called the “Disk of Night”)

Shar governs the primal forces of darkness and emotional desolation, thriving on despair, betrayal, and hidden knowledge. She seeks to extinguish light, hope, and memory, aiming to plunge Faerûn into eternal night. Her Shadow Weave offers an alternative source of magic, tempting spellcasters with power at the cost of their morality.

Appearance and Manifestations

Shar’s depictions emphasize her enigmatic and sinister nature:

• A cloaked woman with long, jet-black hair, pale skin, and eyes like bottomless voids, draped in flowing robes of shadow that seem to absorb light.
• A formless darkness, a swirling void with a single glowing eye or a whisper of malice.
• A seductive figure, veiled in purple and black, luring mortals with promises of power or forbidden secrets.

Her manifestations are subtle and insidious, often appearing as a chill in the air, a shadow that moves unnaturally, or a voice whispering despair.

Personality and Philosophy

Shar is cold, calculating, and utterly malevolent, driven by a desire to dominate and destroy. Her Neutral Evil alignment reflects her selfish ambition and willingness to manipulate or annihilate to achieve her goals. Key traits include:

• Deception: She seduces mortals with promises of power, only to ensnare them in despair or servitude.
• Despair: She feeds on loss and sorrow, encouraging betrayal and the erasure of hope.
• Secrecy: Shar hoards knowledge and manipulates from the shadows, never revealing her full plans.

Her ultimate aim is to unravel the Weave, overthrow Selûne and Mystra, and blanket Faerûn in eternal darkness, where she reigns supreme. She is patient, weaving long-term schemes through her followers and the Shadow Weave.

Summary

Shar is a malevolent force in Faerûn, the goddess of darkness and loss who wields the Shadow Weave to challenge Mystra and Selûne. Her cunning, secretive nature and despair-driven agenda make her a formidable enemy, with hidden cults threatening even quiet Shadowdale. In the Dalelands, her influence festers in shadows, targeting places of light and magic like the Old Skull Inn or Elminster’s tower.

If you’d like a deeper dive (e.g., a Sharran cult in Shadowdale, a specific relic, or a stat block for her priests), let me know! I can also generate a visual of Shar’s symbol if you confirm you’d like an image.

Shar’s followers, known as Sharrans or Nightcloaks, are secretive and fanatical, operating in hidden cults or disguised within society. Her church thrives on deception and subversion:

• Clergy: Priests wear black and purple robes, often veiled, and use titles like Dark Justiciar or Nightbringer. They are skilled in manipulation, necromancy, and Shadow Weave magic.
• Temples: Hidden in underground lairs, ruined cities, or disguised as benign shrines. No known temples exist in Shadowdale, but secret shrines may lurk in the Old Skull hill’s tunnels.
• Rituals: Sharrans perform rites in darkness, offering sacrifices (blood, memories, or hope) to gain Shar’s favor. The Nightfall ritual, held on moonless nights, strengthens the Shadow Weave.
• Tenets: Embrace darkness, sow despair, keep secrets, and undermine Selûne and Mystra.

In Shadowdale, Shar’s worship is clandestine, with cultists posing as travelers at the Old Skull Inn or hiding in Cormanthor’s ruins. Her followers target the village due to Elminster’s connection to Mystra, seeking to corrupt its magical legacy.