Shar

Shar (pronounced SHAHR ), the Mistress of the Night, is the goddess of darkness, and the caverns of Faerun, as well as a neutral evil greater deity. Counterpart to her twin Selûne, she presides over caverns, darkness, dungeons, forgetfulness, loss, night, secrets, and the Underdark. Among her array of twisted powers is the ability to see everything that lies or happens in the dark. Shar's symbol is a black disk with a deep purple border. Her divine realm is the Towers of Night and her domains are Cavern, Darkness, Evil, and Knowledge. She is also the creator of the Shadow Weave, which was meant as a counterpart and to foil the Weave, controlled by Mystra, the goddess of magic, before both of the Weaves fell into rujin during the Spellplague.

Worshipers
The clergy of Shar is a secretive organization that pursues subversive tactics rather than direct confrontation with its rivals. In addition to her clerics, Shar maintains an elite order of sorcerer monks who can tap Shar's Shadow Weave. Among her worshipers are the Shadovar (the citizens of Thultanthar, a floating city which is home to the survivors of ancient Netheril who fled into the shadow plane before Karsus's Folly). Shar holds power over all who use the Shadow Weave.

Orders

 * Dark Justicars : In order to gain admittance to the order of the Dark Justicars, a priest of Shar has to have killed a priest of Selûne.
 * Order of the Dark Moon : Shar's secretive monastic order is referred to as the Order of the Dark Moon. They tap into the Shadow Weave through their powers of sorcery.
 * Nightbringers : The Nightbringers, or the Avatars of Shar, are an elite Sharran force. They are spirits that infest hosting bodies, possessing them and using the bodies as puppets. Once one is infected with a Nightbringer that person fuses to being as one with the Nightbringer gaining the strength and beauty of Shar. Only females are selected as hosts for the Nightbringers. Though Nightbringer numbers were large within the Avatar Wars, their numbers fell to the hundreds in the modern day.

Relationships
The creation of the Shadow Weave has made Shar the eternal enemy of the goddess of magic, Mystra. This has resulted in the brewing of a terrible war between these two powerful deities. By her very nature, however, she is opposed to powers of light, the unsecretive Shaundakul, and her own sister. Her only frequent ally is Talona, who may eventually serve Shar to stave off the predations of Loviatar.

Those who believe in the Dark Moon heresy believe that Shar and Selûne are two faces of the same goddess.

History


Shar is the dark twin of Selûne. She has battled her sister since shortly after their creation. Their primordial feud has resulted in the creation of many other deities. Rather than overtly confronting other deities, Shar seeks to gain power by subverting mortal worshipers to her faith. After the death of Mystra at the hands of Cyric, Shar sought to gain control of the Weave but lost control of both the Weave and the Shadow Weave as both collapsed. Shortly thereafter, Shar also removed herself from the Palace of Loss in the Plane of Shadow, now located on the Shadowfell, to her new astral dominion of Towers of Night.

Dogma
''Reveal secrets only to fellow members of the faithful. Never follow hope or turn to promises of success. Quench the light of the moon (agents and items of Selûne) whenever you find it, and hide from it when you cannot prevail. The dark is a time to act, not wait. It is forbidden to strive to better your lot in life or to plan ahead save when directly overseen by the faithful of the Dark Deity. Consorting with the faithful of good deities is a sin except in business dealings or to corrupt them from their beliefs. Obey and never speak out against ranking clergy unless it would result in your own death.''

"Love is a lie. Only hate endures."

Novels

 * Mistress of the Night (2004), by Don Bassingthwaite and Dave Gross. It is the second book in The Priests series.
 * Shadowrealm (2008), by Paul S. Kemp