Shar

Shar is a deity in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. She is the evil counterpart to her twin Selûne, and 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 is a Neutral Evil Greater Power whose symbol is a black disk with a deep purple border. Her divine realm is the Palace of Loss in the Plane of Shadow, and her Third Edition D&D domains are Cavern, Darkness, Evil, and Knowledge.

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 sorceror monks who can tap Shar's Shadow Weave. Among her worshipers are the Shadovar (the citizens of Shade Enclave—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, a creation of that has made her the eternal enemy of the Goddess of Magic, Mystra. A terrible war brews between the two powerful deities.

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 except 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 ranking clergy unless it would result in your own death.''

Orders

 * Shar has a secret order called the "Dark Justicars". In order to gain admittance to the order, a priest of Shar has to have killed a priest of Selune.


 * 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.


 * The Avatars of Shar, or the "Nightbringers" are an elite Sharran forces. They are spirits that infest hosting bodies, possessing them and using the bodies as puppets. Once one is infected with a Nightbring 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 their (Nightbringers) numbers were large within the Avatar Wars, their numbers fell to the hundreds in modern day settings of Forgotten Realms campaigns.


 * The only currently known Chosen of Shar is the Netherese lich Xandos Anskul (NE Male Netherese Human Evolved Undead [lich] Necromancer 14/Archmage 5/Shadow Adept 10/Netherese Arcanist 4) who coordinates two Sharran cells based in the Evereska region as of 1376 DR. The more active of the two cells is led by the shadow dragon Awnyisk 'Blackwing' (CE Male ancient shadow dragon) who employs the use of a single fanatical dragonkith named Nindrina (CE Female Rogue 8/Dragonkith 4). Both of them were indoctrinated into the Sharran faith by Xandos himself in early 1372 DR. The other is led by the alhoon Oinchack'olp (NE illithilich Sorcerer 14/Shadow Adept 6) who was also converted to the Sharran faith by Xandos in 1373 DR.

Literature

 * Mistress of the Night (2004), by Don Bassingthwaite and Dave Gross is the second book in the Forgotten Realms series, The Priests. It is about the worshippers of Shar.