Church of Shar

The Church of Shar, also referred to as the Night Church, was the organization dedicated to spreading the dogma and carrying out the wishes of the deity Shar. It existed throughout much of its history as independent cells that often acted in opposition of one other, and were forced by intolerance to practice their faith underground. After years of rapid growth, the Sharran religion eventually emerged as one of the preeminent faiths of the Heartlands in the 15 century, and even the state religion of the returned empire of Netheril.

"In the darkness of night, we hear the whisper of the void."

- Rivalen Tanthul, Shar's Nightseer.

Etymology
Members of the church knew each other as Dark Followers, or Martyrs, but were often referred to by others as Sharrans, or Darshars, a bastardization of Dark Sharran.

Dogma
"Pain. Hope. The promise of better days. All of these are heavy cloaks that bend our backs and burden our hearts. We shed those cloaks. Before Shar we stand gloriously naked, beyond the vanities of mortals."

- The priestess Shadowheart, espousing the tenets of Shar.

Shar's followers were directed to "quench the light of the moon" by stealing gifts meant for Selûne and defeating her faithful at every opportunity. They were to never hide from the light and always take action while under the protection of darkness. According to some sects of the faith, she desired that they destroy all the deities of the multiverse, and undo existence itself.

The doctrine of the Sharran church placed no restrictions on crimes committed for personal gain, including but not limited to: theft, smuggling, kidnapping, murder, or underhanded business practices. Quote often though, most of Shar's followers served not for personal enrichment, but promise of her "Dark Reward": immortality by means of transition into undeath.

Tenets
Shar's faithful were taught to transcend fear and loss suffered by members of the weaker faiths. Their most valuable commodity was their secrecy. Information was closely guarded and only revealed when it was absolutely essential, or traded for similarly confidential information. Each member of the church maintained their "Own Secret" with Shar, pertaining to their proof of devotion to her service.

Attitude
The atmosphere of the organization was one of unwavering faith to its leader, Shar herself. Disobeying an order usually resulted in death. Although devotees were perfectly willing to give their life for Shar, she did not want to deplete the number of her dedicated followers. An element of fear was associated with the worship of Shar since many of her followers were willing to give their lives in her service.

Chronology
The church of Shar maintained an alternate Roll of Years that corresponded to that written by Auguthra the Mad, known as the Black Chronology.

Organization
"Work in secret when necessary, obey your superiors in the Night Church without question or defiance, and give your life when Shar deems it needful, for you will reap her Dark Reward."

- Creed of the Sharran church.

The church of Shar was entirely decentralized, split into individual cells that operated independently from one another, led by a single priest with a temple or shrine as their focal point. Cells were linked under the leadership of an overpriest, a single individual that coordinated the activities of numerous cells, and controlled the information held by the priests within.

Nearby cells often worked either in concert with or opposed against one another, ultimately fulfilling Shar's will in either circumstance. Two cells of competing ideologies that formed within a given region could each view the other as heretical while still both playing a crucial role in Shar's plans. Whenever one cell completed or failed in their goal, were discovered and driven from a city, or otherwise fall from Shar's grace, another would be poised to take its place.

Titles
The church of Shar utilized a number of different titles for its clergy.

Hundreds of years before Dale Reckoning, titles the church included:
 * Mother/Father Night, used to address superior priests.
 * Sister/Brother Night, used among most of Shar's clergy.

By the mid–14 century they had changed to:
 * Flame of Darkness, an archpriest or direct servant of the Lady of Night.
 * Nightseer, the overpriest for the faithful within a given realm.
 * Darklady/lord, a senior priest that led a single cell.
 * Hand of Shar, an experienced priest that led Sharrans in battle or on quests for the church.
 * Watcher, the lowest-ranking order of the priesthood.
 * Adept of the Night, the title given to novice priests and priestesses.

Around a century later, the titles were simplified to include:
 * Dark mother/father, leaders within the faith, with the suffix abbot or abbess
 * Dark sister/brother, fully-trained clergy members.
 * Initiate, novice members of the church.

Classes
The church of Shar comprised clerics, crusaders, mystics, and the order of specialty priests known as the nightcloaks. These priests were known as "nightbringers", and previously served a different role outside the clergy, but were brought within the church's embrace circa 1364 DR.

Sharran priests that offered exemplary service to the Lady were resurrected after their death and augmented in ways pleasant to the faith. They became known as the Shadowed. These devotees were granted new powers, such as that to become insubstantial, and were greatly feared by their fellow clergy.

Admittance
Due to the perception of Shar's church among most folk of the Realm, open recruiting for new members was not an option. Novitiates of the faith—whether they served as spies, agents, or clergy within the temples—were brought aboard individually, a process that sometimes took an inordinate amount of time. Sharran clergy often sought out secrets held by prospective members, and manipulated them to secure desired converts.

In order to become clergy within the church's organization, a supplicant had to undergo a test of faith and commitment to the faith. They were required to commit an act of horrific violence, often murder, against one of their loved ones. This vile act—combined with the priest's unique name bestowed upon them by Shar—formed their Own Secret.

To become a worshiper of Shar, the tests were less strenuous, but nonetheless involve performing acts that would be considered deplorable by kindhearted individuals. Any betrayal of the faith resulted in the swift death of the formerly-faithful.

Potential recruits incapable of murder were not admitted, and would likely be killed. After a few months of displaying their willingness to join, new recruits have likely committed many murders.

Factions
Because the church was fractured into smaller cells, it was very common for different sects of the Sharran faith to emerge, each often associated around strong and charismatic priest that led a given cell. In some cases these became 'heretical' in the eyes of rival cells, creating conflict and strife between clergy members.

One faction of the Church of Shar was dedicated to eliminating any knowledge of the shadow weave that did not originate from the church itself. They believed that anyone outside the church with such knowledge was a threat to their security. They have been known to recruit adventurers for the purposes of eliminating the individuals in possession of such knowledge.

Fissures erupted within the church, especially in Amn, surrounding the Dark Moon heresy, the belief that Shar and Selûne were two aspects of the same goddess.

Activities
"We tear down the lies the world is drunk on: the institutions they trusty, the so-called gods they worship. The lives they cling to. We destroy false idols, topple corrupt organizations, fight heretics wherever they're found."

- Shadowheart, on the tenets of Shar.

With the intent of spreading the faith of Shar across the breadth of Toril, her clergy utilized corruption and subversion to undermine powerful individuals, governments and even other religions to the point of collapse. Shar's priests often revealed their closely held secrets, inciting bitterness, jealously, and desperation within others, emotions that were strongly embrace by the Lady of Secrets. In doing so they realigned the lives of the faithless so they were best prepared to embrace the comfort of the Lady of Loss, all but ensuring a successful conversion.

The Sharran faithful often embarked on missions of espionage or outright murder in order to fulfill the Lady's will. These often involved aiding political rebellions, murdering those that attempted to maintain order, and otherwise sowing lawlessness across the Realms, with the exception of cities and lands where open worship of Shar was the norm. On some occasions Shar's priests were directed to murder spellcasters that she deemed were guilty of misusing the her own source of magic. Other times they were directly forbidden from dispensing this form of punishment, seemingly without reason or pattern.

Anyone slain by the Dark Followers were always to be informed their death was in Shar's name.

Rituals
"Blessed Nightsinger, witness our adoration. See how we serve you, only you. We have emptied our hearts of falsehoods. We have vanquished your goes. In the darkness, we see your truth. Embrace us, your loyal warriors. Cloak us in your shadow. Guide is to your victory. Shar's will shall be done. As sure as night will fall."

- The priestess Shadowheart, offering prayer to Shar.

Every night priests of Shar performed the Nightfall, a ritual in which they received instructions from the goddess and one that held special meaning on nights of a new moon. All the faithful were required to perform this ritual once per tenday.

The Kiss of the Lady was considered the most important rite of the faith, one in which her priests reveled in ritualistic murder and other horrific deeds. It was not held regularly, only when decreed by the leaders of certain influential sects of the church. Other Sharran rites included the Ritual of the Shadowmantle, performed to imbue a clergy member with the power to surround themself with a cloak of darkness, and the Ritual of Shadow Walking, that bestowed upon the recipient the ability to walk through the shadowstuff substance, that originated from the Shadowfell.

Celebrations
To maintain secrecy, the Sharran church only held one holy day on the Calendar of Harptos, the Rising of the Dark held on the night of Uktar 30 and early morning of Nightal 1. While others were distracted themselves by paying tribute to the dead, clergy members used the time to perform their darkest rituals and receive instructions of the faith for the upcoming winter. Recognition of Shar's holy day extended even beyond the world of Toril, as ceremonies of the Rising of the Dark were also held on the Plane of Shadow.

Temples of Shar were closed during the daytime hours during Moondown, in the tenday that preceded Midsummer.

Tactics
Because the Sharran faith was banned in many cities throughout the Realms, clergy were forced to practice their faith in secret, under the cloak of darkness and anonymity. To maintain their secrecy, they often traveled in small groups or individually throughout Faerûn, disguised as merchants, vagabonds, or pilgrims to avoid detection. On some occasion, Sharran agents had their memories suppressed by magical means, to keep the church's deepest secrets from being compromised.

Priests of Shar formed an intricate network of agents to maintain communication with one another, but often withheld crucial information and rarely revealed truthful information to their inferiors. Each member of the clergy had their own role to play in Shar's all-embracing plans for existence, and they were only given the minimum necessary information to fulfill their role.

Some followers were called upon to perform suicide missions for the faith, sacrificing their lives to enact Shar's will.

Church members often employed unwitting agents, adventurers, or other hirelings—referred to as "talons"—to carry out the Lady's will. Scapegoating the innocent for the actions of Shar's Dark Followers was not frowned upon, but rather encouraged.

Magic
It was not uncommon for priests of Shar to utilize the power of her Shadow Weave for spellcasting. Despite this, Shar held onto the deepest and most powerful secrets of the magical force as her own.

Learning from their Shadovar allies of Thultanthar, clergy of Shar employed simulacra made from the shadows of victims they slew. These shadowy constructs were then used in infiltration missions to replace the slain target, and serve as spies or act in their stead on behalf of the church.

Regions
As the ancient faith of Shar dated as back back as the empire of Netheril, it spread across Faerûn and Sharran cells appeared in cities far and wide. Calimshan emerged the preeminent place for Sharran worship throughout the Lands of Intrigue. The presence of the powerful Old Night sect allowed the faithful to gather, share information, and coordinate with one another with relative ease and security.

Shar's worship took root in the region of the Underdark known as Great Bhaerynden, in the depths beneath the Great Rift. A Sharran cell was formed by an unlikely group of disaffected gold dwarves that were exiled from the dwarven kingdom.

Secretive but influential cells appeared throughout the cities and realms of the Western and Eastern Heartlands, such as Baldur's Gate, Iriaebor, Daggerford, Wheloon in Cormyr, Shadowdale in the Dalelands. Other cells sprang up in Heliogabalus in the Cold Lands,

The Sharran faith was openly practiced in Scornubel, Westgate, Calaunt, and Mulmaster. It became the de facto state religion of Sembia, flourishing in the cities of Selgaunt, Urmlaspyr, and Saerloon throughout much of the 15 century DR. The true heart of Shar's church during the Era of Upheaval however was the enclave of Thultanthar, the first city of returned Netheril that survived for centuries in the Shadowfell only by the grace of Shar's faithful.

Places of Worship
In the early years of the faith, Sharran temples depicted the Lady as a large, feminine purple eye with a black pupil, or black-haired woman with purple or black skin. Centuries later, the Lady of Loss was often represented as a black sphere haloed in purple flames or a beautiful, black-haired woman with an unnerving smile. Some depictions showed her wearing an elaborate metal mask and wielding dual blades, held in a cross over her chest.

Notable Shrines & Temples

 * Dark Embrace, a powerful Amnian temple founded by dissatisfied Calishite priests during the early 14 century.
 * The Darkhouse, a secret temple built off the coast of Saerloon by the shade Kesson Rel, that held a portal leading to the Adumbral Calyx in the Shadowfell.
 * Dome of Night, the Lady's temple in the returned enclave of Thultanthar, the center for Sharran worship throughout the 15 century DR.
 * House of Night, a secluded temple found deep beneath the Grinding Gulf cavern in Shadowdale.
 * Temple of Old Night, the oldest and most influential of Shar's temples—found in Calimport— was a destination for Sharran pilgrims from all across the Realms.
 * Vale of Whispers, while not a temple per se this ancient cave was a holy site to Shar, and the placed where all the secrets ever spoken in the Realms were stored.
 * Vanrakdoom, one of the sublevels of the dungeon complex of Undermountain, founded by the death knight Vanrak Moonstar.
 * Well of Darkness, an underground temple built in the depths of the Ironhand Mines, home to the Black Beast of Shar.

Other holy site no longer in used included:
 * Reign of Night, the most important holy site and center of faith for the church of Shar during the time of ancient Netheril, found in the town of Sepulcher.

Dress
Priests and priestesses of Shar preferred garments of black highlighted with purple. Ceremonial dress included long-sleeved, deep purple robes worn over black clothing, with a black skullcap worn atop the head. Priestesses with black hair abstained from wearing the cap, as their natural tresses were seen as a natural blessing by the Lady of the Night. In olden times, all clergy either dyed their hair or used magic to make it black in hue, while wearing enchanted wigs made of the hair of others was a more recent practice. Clergy often adorned themselves with jewelry made of obsidian, onyx, purple jade, or amethysts.

Sharran clergy made use of nightcloaks, magical garments that offered the wearer soundless movement and the power of flight. Some Dark Followers Dark Followers chose to walk during the hours of the night, covered only in these magical cloaks.

A specific type of enchanted flower known as a camellia of the Black Lady was sometimes worn in the hair of Sharran devotees, used to inflict the Lady's vengeance upon a victim of their choosing.

Weapons & Armor
Priests and servants of Shar favored the use of chakrams, which they utilized when performing holy rituals of sacrifice. Disks of Night were a type of magical chakrams used exclusively by Sharran agents.

Some Dark Followers wore shrouds known as Shar's Embrace, enchanted cloaks that granted them darkvision and allowed the wearer to bathe themselves in darkness several times per day.

Night Walkers boots were uniquely tailored for Sharran priests to move silently, without leaving the trace of a dweomer.

Spells
Spells unique to the Sharran faith included armor of darkness, creature of darknes, darkbolt, and whip of Shar.

Relics
Relics of the Sharran faith included:
 * The Leaves of One Night, the tome that shared with the reader the moment of Shar's greatest glory along with her most damning vulnerability.
 * The Night's Gift, a suit of studded leather armor blessed by Shar herself.

Other books sacred to or otherwise pertaining to the Sharran faith included The Unclaimed, the Book of the Black, the Stadowstruck Passages, and Gorothir's Girdle, the tome inscribed upon a black leather corset.

Clerical Orders

 * Beguilers of Shar, an order tasked with keeping the existence of the Shadow Weave secret. When Shar publicly revealed the existence of the Shadow Weave, the order was dissolved and its members were ejected from the church.
 * Darkcloaks, a compassionate group of oracles and care-givers that tended to those troubled souls that suffered immense emotional pain. Unusual among other Sharran orders, the Darkcloaks included the few non-evil, and even morally good, clerics of the Church.
 * Nightcloak, Formerly known as Nightbringers, this group of particularly debased followers of Shar who were separated from the church, until the Time of Troubles when they were absorbed into the clergy as specialty priests.
 * Sisterhood of the Black Veil, is a small Sharran cell that operated under the guidance of the priestess Sennifyr in Hulburg.

Monastic Orders

 * Order of the Dark Moon, Shar's secretive monastic order tapped into the shadow weave through their powers of sorcery.

Military Orders

 * Dark Justiciars, an secret order of Sharran champions that gained admittance with the slaying Selûnite priest or priestess.

Allegiances
Sharran cells occasionally worked together with the Monks of the Dark Moon but Shar preferred that they work independently. The church employed the services of undead, evil humanoids and young evil dragons if they could be bribed or coerced into service.

The faithful of Talona allied themselves with Shar's Dark Followers, though for a time only while focused on harming Loviatar, as did followers of Sseth,

Shar and Cyric remained on cooperative terms.

While the church always acted in secret, its members managed to infiltrate or otherwise corrupt powerful institutions across the Realms, including the noble Moonstar family of Waterdeep,

Enemies
The Sharran church was generally opposed to any good-aligned religious orders, such as the Mystran Guardians of the Weave, but particularly despised members of the Selûnite clergy, like her Silverstar priests or the Order of the Blue Moon. The Sharran and Selûnite faiths fought an ongoing war with one another in both ideological and literal terms. Sharran clergy always took opportunities to inflict pain upon the Selûnites, even in lieu of their other duties to the church.

Across Faerûn the Sharran church was opposed by myriad groups and organizations sought to defend their realm from its influence. Notable among these were the Fellowship of the Purple Staff in Turmish,

History
"Shar is, was, and shall always be."

- A common saying among the Sharran faithful.

Age of Humanity
The worship of Shar dated back to when mortals first appeared on Toril. During the days of ancient Netheril, Shar worship had developed across a network of interconnected cells, bound together by a complex hierarchy that closely resembled that which bound the church in the millennium that followed.

Some time after the, thieves working for the church stole a copy of the Book of Black and the original Leaves of One Night from the Dark Diviners of Windsong Tower, the latter of which reportedly included a great weakness of the Lady of Loss.

In the, the Waterdhavian cell of Shar's church led by Vanrak Moonstar enjoyed a significant victory when hey slaughtered nearly all the inhabitants of the Selûnite High House of Stars in the city.

Finally in the, all out war broke out in Waterdeep between the churches of Shar, and those of Lathander, Selûne, and Tempus.

Early Era of Upheaval
After Shar killed Ibrandul during the Time of Troubles in the, the Dark Lady assumed his divine portfolio and gained the power to take on the form of his avatars. Ibrandul's followers—including goblins, kobolds and troglodytes—unknowingly offered their worship to Shar in his place, in effect growing the number of her "faithful".

Around this time, as of, the highest ranking mortal member of the Church was high priestess Irtemara el Eradsari of the Temple of One Night in Calimport.

During the early 1370s DR, nearly every Sharran cell across the Western Heartlands came under the influence of the Lady's divine disciple, Damian Krale. The imposing cleric was hand-picked by Shar to carry out her secret plan for the region, known only to him and a handful of local head priests.

As of the, the Sharran faith was believed to have around 3,500 clergy members, with an estimated one hundred thousand worshipers overall.

That same year the former chosen of Mask Kesson Rel—an otherworldly, quasi-divine being interred within the Shadowfell—emerged as an emblematic savior of the Sharran faith in Sembia within the Eastern Heartlands. It was believed by the increasingly-influential sect in Saerloon that Kesson Rel alone could bring upon Shar's Cycle of Night over Toril.

To further the Lady's goal of replacing the Weave of Mystra with Shar's own Shadow Weave, her clergy attempted to create dead-magic zones all across Faerûn.

Shadows Over Sembia
"When the moon's light is stricken form the Night sky, Lord Volumvax will stand trimumphant with the blood of Selûne on his hands. His is the foresight needed to plunge Toril into the Eternal Dark..."

- Temple credo of the Darkhouse of Saerloon.

In Marpenoth of the, a mere few of Shar's servants operating independently of one another orchestrated the Sembian Civil War and laid the path for the church to take hold of the entire realm. In service to Lord Volumvax (an alias of the shade Kesson Rel) Shar's erratic priestess Elyril Hraven assassinated Overmaster Miklos Selkirk, and with the guidance of Shar's Nightseer Rivalen Tanthul, and installed her aunt Mirabeta as Overmistress in Ordulin. Rivalen meanwhile ingratiated himself with Thamalon Uskevren II of Selgaunt, and forged an alliance with the reborn nation of Netheril in north Faerûn. The Nightseer drew Mirabeta and Ordulin's army into battle at Selgaunt and defeated them with the aid of the returned enclave of Sakkors.

Unbeknownst to Rivalen, Shar's will directed Elyril to recover and read from the Leaves of One Night in Volumvax's name. Using the holy Sharran artifact, Elyril opened the Shadowstorm over Ordulin during the Rising of the Dark and rew the pocket plane known as the Adumbryl Calyx from the Shadowfell, granting Kesson Rel and his army of shadows admittance to Faerûn.

After their shared victory at Selgaunt, Rivalen manipulated Thamalon II into seizing the position of Sembia's Overmaster for himself, and over time, transformed the nation into vassal-state of the returned Netheril.

War and the Weave
Just as war and the Shadowstorm wreaked havoc across Sembia, Sharran clergy working from a false temple of Mystra in Wheloon carried out Shar's will in neighboring Cormyr. Shar's faithful took over the Lost Refuge in the Vast Swamp and reopened the Dusk Lord's Passage, another portal that linked Faerûn to the Shadowfell. Operating from within the Black Rift of the Shadowfell, Esvele Greycastle and the black dragon Despayr, led a group of Sharrans in a ritual that would tear the Weave apart, using practitioners of the Art afflicted by the shadow shard. They were ultimately unsuccessful. Shar's dragon was defeated, but Greycastle continued on the Lady's work.

In Uktar, Esvele Greycastle of Sembia forged an alliance with the drow of House Dhuurniv along with Fzoul Chembryl and the Army of Darkhope. She supported the Zhentarim during their army clashed with the forces of Myth Drannor during the Cormanthor War, and aided the church's new allies during their attempted takeover of Shadowdale. On Nightal 1, during the Rising of the Dark, the drow of House Dhuurniv launched raids against Shadowdale and the Zhentilar began their occupation of the dale, under the guise of military aid.

Months later in the, which the Dalesfolk were distracted with their Zhent occupiers, Esvele Greycastle worked with the lich Alokkair and the Shadovar emissary Irphiina of Thultanthar to complete the Rite of Unwinding with in her underground temple. They attempted to nullify the Weave over an ever-expanding area, without actually destroying it, thus allowing the Shadow Weave to become the dominant source of arcane power in the Realms. Just as in the Vast Swamp however, Shar's servants were thwarted by a band of meddling adventurers.

The church's attempts to control, manipulate, or even destroy the Weave would not be thwarted. Later that year clerics of Shar and their Thulanthan allies broke into the Windsong Tower and stole the Quess'Ar'Teranthvar, an elven artifact that was in fact one copy of the fabled Nether Scrolls, and stashed it in close proximity to a Shadow Weave node in Anauroch for safekeeping. Unfortunately for the clergy, the Heroes of Shadowdale dissolved the Quess'Ar'Teranthvar and Shar's faithful were dealt another defeat.

By that time however the Sharran church had shared their secret of dampening the Weave with their allies in Thultanthar. The Shadovar arcanists utilized Thultanthar's mythallar to nullify the Weave over much of the Anauroch desert. This granted the Sharran arcanists a tremendous edge over other powers in the region, including dragons, djinn, and otherwise powerful beings native to the desert.

Second Sundering
By the, the Sharran faith was the de facto state religion of the Empire of Netheril and many cities in state of Sembia. Prince Rivalen emerged as Shar's greatest champion in the Realms and wielded power equivalent to that of an exarch.

Members
The veneration of Shar appealed to people of many different occupation across the spectrum of classes in society, all linked by one or more of a few shared characteristics: jealousy, desperation, scorn, a thirst for power, and secrecy. It often attracted individuals compelled in life to conduct business under the blanket of darkness, people required to perform grim deeds in their line of work, as well as those that yearned to hold a place power and influence in the world.

Individuals suffering from intense feelings of grief, resentment, or loss were often targeted for recruitment by Sharran clergy, and brought into the Sharran faith for succor and comfort. While they were not always true believes, petitioners that had their minds altered or memories taken from them also appealed to Shar in the hopes of mental recovery.

Shar was also worshipped by subterranean humanoid species or more monstrous creatures that hated the light, such as goblins, kir-lanan, along with others native to the Shadowfell, like the shadar-kai and the krinth.

Notable Sharrans

 * Alorgoth, the Bringer of Doom that spread Shar's faith throughout East Faerûn.
 * Avroana, head priestess of the 8 century temple, the House of the Holy Night.
 * Ketheric Thorn, a commander of the Dark Justiciars of Moonrise Towers.
 * Dahlia Vhammos, the Duchess of Venom of the Night Masters of Westgate.
 * Velisha, high priestess of The Dark Lady's Promise in Westgate.
 * Zesstra Aleanrahel, a drow priestess that lead a cell of 70 Sharrans in Ched Nasad within the Northdark.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * The Temptation of Elminster • Mistress of the Night • The Twilight War (Shadowbred, Shadowstorm, Shadowrealm) • The Godborn
 * Video Games
 * Baldur's Gate series (Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition) • Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate