Shar

Shar (pronounced SHAHR), the Mistress of the Night, was the goddess of darkness and the caverns of Faerûn, as well as a neutral evil greater deity. Counterpart to her twin Selûne, she presided over caverns, darkness, dungeons, forgetfulness, loss, night, secrets, and the Underdark. Among her array of twisted powers was the ability to see everything that lay or happened in the dark. Shar’s symbol was a black disk with a deep purple border. Shar was also the creator of the Shadow Weave, which was a counterpart and attack upon the Weave, controlled by Mystryl and her successors, before both of the Weaves fell into ruin during the Spellplague.
History
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, however, 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—thirteen 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, but not before he managed to secret a portion of this power to his Chosen, Erevis Cale, using the Black Chalice. This portion was, however, absorbed not only by Erevis but also by Rivalen Tanthul and Drasek Riven.
Eleven years later, Mystra was dead at Cyric’s hand and Shar combined the Plane of Shadow with the Negative Energy Plane to create an extraplanar dimension from which she rules to this day.
Divine Realm
Shar’s realm was originally on the Plane of Shadow and was a tower that had no obvious entrances called the Tower of Loss. She would trap those who enjoyed their freedom inside, savoring their despair at their loss, though she would allow petitioners and visiting worshipers to freely come and go (perhaps to further torture the trapped ones).
When she created her own realm, Shar abandoned the Tower of Loss and created a new realm in the Astral Sea with influence from the Negative Energy Plane, larger than any of the others there. This was the Shadowfell. Among the dark scenery, with its black sand and shadowy natural features, lay the Towers of Night. Her new abode, a more palatial one than her old home, was built atop the tallest mountain of this realm. Access to the Shar’s domain was easy from here and she shared the realm with Talona, Sseth, and Zehir. Co-rulership was also conferred unto the Raven Queen upon the goddess’s entry into the realm, an act that at first irked the other divines loyal to Shar. However, the Mistress of Night, knowing the Goddess of Fate to a powerful ally, placated their concerns by striking a bargain with the Raven Queen. This pact, known as “The Eternal Shadow,” solidified the Raven Queen’s presence within the Shadowfell as well as her position as the Weaver of Fate and Keeper of Balance among the divines. In exchange, all gods and mortals were permitted to petition the Raven Queen for knowledge of destiny, though some suspect Shar’s petitions to yield greater insight than any other’s.
Relationships
The creation of the Shadow Weave made Shar the eternal enemy of the goddess of magic, Mystra. This resulted in the brewing of a terrible war between these two powerful deities. By her very nature, however, Shar was opposed to powers of light, the unsecretive Shaundakul, and her own sister, Selûne. Her only frequent ally was Talona.
Those who believed in the Dark Moon heresy believed that Shar and Selûne were two faces of the same goddess.
Worshipers
The clergy of Shar were a secretive organization that pursued subversive tactics rather than direct confrontation with its rivals. In addition to her clerics, Shar maintained an elite order of sorcerer monks who could tap Shar’s Shadow Weave. Among her worshipers were the Shadovar of Thultanthar, who fled into the Plane of Shadow before Karsus’s Folly. Shar also held power over all who used the Shadow Weave.