Stasis clone

Stasis clone was an arcane necromancy/alteration spell that created an exact duplicate of any human, demihuman or humanoid creature. Its casting was not limited to the subject, and a number of stasis clones of the same subject could simultaneously exist on the same plane.

The spell was developed and heavily used by the dark and powerful founder of the Zhentarim, Manshoon.

Effects
The cloned being was identical to the original in every physical aspect, and retained all their memories, experience, skills and exact appearance at the time when the material component for the spell was extracted. The only difference between a clone and the original, was that the former was slightly less vital. This ensured an eventual stopping point to the number of stasis clones that could be created from subsequent copies, i.e. if someone created a clone of an existing stasis clone, and repeated that process, the end result would eventually be too weak to exist.

Description
Upon creation, clones remained in magical stasis and did not age, decay or require any of the necessities of living beings. Stasis clones could be affected by up to two contingencies while they existed within this state. They could be stored as if they were inanimate objects, posed or dressed as if they were lifeless mannequins and were susceptible to destruction by mundane or magical means.

The clone's stasis was normally only lifted upon the death of the original being. However, if multiple stasis clones of the same person existed at the same time, the soul of the original being traveled into the most-recently created copy, and would move onto the next upon its death.

Casting
This spell required a piece of bone, lock hair, scrap of tissue or six drops of blood from the being that was to be cloned. In order for the stasis to eventually lift, it was required that the original physically touch the clone some time between its creation and awakening.

History
Manshoon famously used stasis clones to maintain his appearance throughout his life and continue his existence on Toril, following his death on Ches 6 1370 DR. After the archmage was slain, his clones awoke from their stasis at once and most of them teleported to the Citadel of the Raven to claim Manshoon's spellbook and murder his killers. Upon discovering other clones in existence, the copies of Manshoon were compelled to slay their own kind, an event which was regularly occurred throughout the year in a series of events that came to be known as the Manshoon Wars.

Those that survived continued their lives in Faerûn for centuries, often serving secluded lives under the protection of the Realms' most powerful wizards such as Halaster Blackcloak of the Undermountain, the netherese Lich-King Larloch and even Simbul, the Queen of Aglarond. One returned to the Zhentarim, determined to continue Manshoon's research while leaving the leadership of the Black Network to others.

Notable stasis clones
Orbakh, the leader of the Night Masks of Westgate was a clone of Manshoon that had been infected with vampirism while in stasis.