Shadar-kai (fey)

Shadar-kai, also called shadow fey, were a species of bitter, malicious fey whose souls were cursed by shadow, even as they were masters of shadowy magics. The shadow curse, as they called it, dominated their society as they sought to evade it, for it slowly drew their very souls into the Plane of Shadows.

"There are no shadows in this world save those that serve the will of the shadar-kai."

- Sallan Kath-Moran, shadar-kai adept

Description
Shadar-kai were graceful, slender humanoids slightly taller on average than humans, but weighing some less than a human of equivalent size. They were typically covered in tattoos, decorative scars, and piercings. The shadows cast in the folds of their clothes seemed darker than normal, and they could seemingly fade from sight just by stepping into a shadow.

Personality
The shadow fey were bitter and desperate to escape the shadow curse that would fill their hearts with cold emptiness. The pain caused by even temporary solutions left them vicious, and each generation was more and more willing to commit cruel and violent acts. The emptiness that filled their hearts nonetheless meant that most eventually gave in and retreated to the Plane of Shadows.

Despite their hatred of other peoples, shadar-kai were savagely loyal to each other, like traumatized children clinging to their brethren, but instead of the tenderness that other peoples might show, they developed masochistic relationships with each other.

Shadow fey who had been driven by the curse to the Plane of Shadows found their situation an unending torment, feeling like devoted guards forced away from their posts and always waiting for news of some new catastrophe that they failed to prevent. Most fell into a near species-wide despair, becoming more subdued than those still on the Material plane, for they had no hope, passion, nor happiness in their lives.

Abilities
Shadar-kai were naturally very sneaky, capable of hiding in seemingly plain sight so long as there were shadows. Though they lacked darkvision, they possessed a superior form of low-light vision.

Shadar-kai had a natural affinity for shadow and illusion magic. Many shadar-kai trained as rogues, assassins, and shadowdancers. More cunning individual became shadow mages: wizards who focused on illusion and shadow magics; some went on to train as shadow adepts, daggerspell mages, or shadowmind mages.

Shadow curse
The shadow curse dominated shadar-kai society. They lived in debilitating fear of it and the Plane of Shadows. Each time they failed to fully hold it off, a piece of their soul was lost to the Plane of Shadows, leaving the shadar-kai weakened; such losses could build up over time and eventually force the shadar-kai to go to the Plane of Shadows, which alleviated the symptoms but did not restore the pieces of soul. On the Plane of Shadows, greater restoration could restore a shadar-kai's soul; on the Material plane, only wish or miracle could do so.

As the shadow cursed caused their bodies and minds to numb, the shadow fey found that vivid sensations could help them cling to the Material plane. Moments of joy and ecstasy worked, but came rarely because of their bitter hearts; frequently, shadow fey found extreme pain more useful, leading them to mutilate and cut themselves with cold iron blades.

Combat
Shadar-kai preferred to use light weapons suited to their grace and agility. In particular, the spiked chain was adopted as their weapon of choice, acting as both a tool and a symbol of their "crusade" against the mortal races; they delighted in its versatility in meting out a variety of painful deaths.

They were subtle and deceptive, preferring to steal without being seen and to attack when necessary from ambushes. Combining cunning and stealth, they would repeatedly appear to launch surprise attacks and then quickly vanish into shadows, slowly dropping their enemies one by one over a series of such ambushes. However, if they ran into an enemy that managed to leverage the weakness of the shadow curse against them- for being dazed, stunned, staggered, or knocked unconscious weakened them to it- they would flee in a heartbeat.

Society
The shadar-kai were never numerous, with only a few small and hidden cities at the height of their power, and after the shadow curse took hold those cities soon became elegant half-ruins. Cut into the sides of cliffs or rising as slender towers in deep forests, these cities were inhabited only by older and more crazed shadow fey, mageocracies ruled by powerful illusionists and protected by illusion and shadow magic, as well as band of shadar-kai scouts with trained shadow mastiffs. Other shadar-kai lived in a more predatory society as scavengers, living in small groups of not more than fifty individuals, on the edges of cities established by other peoples. No city could keep out a band of determined shadar-kai, for such places were always full of shadows. These small groups of spies, assassins, and spellcasters, typically led by skilled shadow mages, searched for any way to break the shadow curse.

That all said, only a small population of shadow fey remained on the Material plane; the vast majority had retreated to the Plane of Shadows. While this alleviated the curse's symptoms, it was a torture of a different kind, for they were still fey, bound to nature. They lived as brigands or vagabonds in shadowy duplicates of their cities. Though these shadow fey did not torture themselves, their hatred for material people was greater, and they mercilessly hunted and punished intruders. While some still sought to find a way to break the shadow curse, many had succumbed to despair; however, even a hint that one knew a way garnered their immediate attention, even subservience- though those who made then failed to follow through with such a claim would meet a lengthy, excruciating end.

Shadar-kai hunted and ate much the same food as many humanoids, but with their bodies numbed by the shadow curse, they preferred the strongest flavors they could acquire. Even the strongest spices were bland and distant to them, though, and few enjoyed eating, finding it just another reminder of their curse.

Shadar-kai were extremely long-lived, possibly even immortal. While only a very few, if any, remained that remembered the ritual that caused their curse, there were many that had heard the story first hand from their ancestors.

Leaders among them were titled "kithlord" while lesser commanders were titled "kithguard".

While they were loyal and caring amongst themselves, this manifested as masochistic relationships; sometimes between just two individuals but just as likely involving the entire group. These affairs culminated at times in painful orgies of piercing, tattooing, scarification, and mutilation. Yet, despite the pain, or perhaps because of it, these trysts were as intimate and cherished amongst them, as romances were among other peoples.

Items
Shadar-kai made several different magical items to strengthen themselves or help stave off the shadow curse. For instance, the shadow curse could be better resisted with a gal-ralan, a cold iron armband with needles piercing the skin. It kept the shadar-kai's soul and body connected but also caused constant pain. Despite this, many shadar-kai wore them.

Shadar-kai often carried blackstone runes, which allowed the bearer to plane shift to and from the Plane of Shadow and the Prime Material Plane a limited number of time. Shadar-kai weakened by the shadow curse used these to take respite in the Plane of Shadow.

A vial of the liquid night extract would, when smashed open, reduce ambient lighting to that of a starry night, letting shadar-kai conceal themselves with ease.

To help fight off the shadow curse, shadar-kai were known to use magic items such as cloaks of resistance, periapts of wisdom, various ioun stones, and similar items that bolstered their wisdom. They also used shadowlight oil, which provided only dim light and thus did not interfere with their natural stealth.

Relationships
Shadow fey only allied with humanoids when it served some greater purpose, or so they could eventually betray and kill them. They were known to train shadow mastiffs and shadow asps, as well as other beasts of shadow. Darkweavers, shadow demons, and shadow dragons were known to enslave shadar-kai, at least for some time.

While shadar-kai still honored their people and their courts, most other fey treated them as pariahs for what they had done, trying to alter the world as much as they had sought. Only redcaps willingly worked with the vengeful shadar-kai. They sometimes made alliances with other evil fey, usually for the purposes of tricking or infiltrating populations of good humanoids.

Despite their shared environments and reliance on shadows, shadow fey and dark ones had a violent hatred for each other. While in dark ones it seemed to stem from jealousy and their isolationism, in shadar-kai the grudge was much deeper. Scholars theorized that the shadar-kai's hatred was caused by some new knowledge of the future, the dark ones' own strange connection to the Plane of Shadows, or, perhaps, that the dark ones' unknown origin might be the mortal champions who once thwarted the shadow mages' ritual so long ago.

Shadar-kai prized the shadow nuggets made by skiurids, and were known to drive creatures into groves inhabited by skiurid colonies to feed them.

History
In the early days of the world, shadow fey lived like any other fey, bound to peace and to nature, with joy and light in their hearts; though even then, they were of shadows, for they had always wielded strange influence and held secrets of the Plane of Shadow. Yet as mortal people rose to civilization, some of the greatest shadow fey mages saw in the swirling tides of that plane a prophetic vision, foretelling the pillaging of nature by those mortals.

Some amongst the shadow fey called for a strike against the mortals in order to prevent this from coming to pass, but the shadow fey were not particularly numerous, and could not through guile or force change the course of things. Thus, a new solution was found.

Using their innate power of shadow and potent magical skills, they sought- and, perhaps, found- a way to darken the world. They made a pact with some dark power of the Plane of Shadows, and a hundred of their spellcasters, each a master of ancient and mighty magicks, joined together to perform a ritual that would irrevocably bind the Material plane and the Plane of Shadows together. And with this new eternal twilight, the shadow fey's bond with shadow and long-practiced rituals would grant them mastery over their environment, allowing them to forever ensure the sanctity of nature.

However, the ritual did not go as planned, for not even the shadow fey could the dangers lurking in the shadows. When the ritual was cast, the masters of spells looked into the shadows and found that their species would be the shadow-plane's conduit into the material world. The ritual would bind the Plane of Shadows to the souls of the shadow fey, the ritual creating a nexus of power on the Planes as the very essence of the shadow fey became an anchor to pull first the nexus, and then the whole dark plane into the material world.

Yet, there were those who opposed the shadow fey: heroes of that primitive age, servants of long-forgotten orders, and outsiders who sought to protect what their masters had created. They fought their way past countless shadow fey guardians, they found the nexus on the Plane of Shadow and at the height of the ritual, made a great sacrifice of their own, interrupting the ritual. The resultant backlash was titanic, killing countless shadow fey and scattering the rest, and scouring both planes of any sign of the mortal champions and the shadow fey mages.

But, while the planes remained separate, the tie between the Plane of Shadows and the shadow fey was not undone, rather, the pull was reversed, becoming shadowy chains that forever tried to pull their souls into the realm they had sought to enslave.

In the century before the, many shadow fey migrated to Chaulssin, an Underdark drow city lying half in the Plane of Shadow. They willingly gave up their freedom and served the Jaezred Chaulssin, in exchange for magical aid in fending off the curse and to seek respite in the city's Shadow Fringe.

By 1373 DR, shadow fey made up 39% of the slaves in Chaulssin. The majority served the velves of the Jaezred Chaulssin, carrying out their missions in teams of three or more. A high-ranking few were spies who monitored the works of Lolth-worshiping drow in the Northdark. Otherwise, small bands of shadow fey claimed the abandoned parts of the city and the Galleries of Shadow.

In the early 1370s DR, the shadow fey kithlord Thieraven came into contact with the Sharran priestess Esvele Greycastle, seeking aid in breaking the shadow curse. She claimed that Shar, goddess of the dark, could not break the bargain that led to the curse. However, she promised that if he and his shadow fey aided in her scheme, then they would have a secret realm where they would be immune to the curse, with other sites planned in the future. She urged him to recruit other shadow fey to the effort. Thus, by the, Thieraven and a band of shadow fey had been sent by Esvele to the Lost Refuge in the Vast Swamp to help the black dragon Despayr in his plot to tear apart the Weave of magic. Thieraven reopened the Dusk Lord's Passage to the Shadow Swamp in the Plane of Shadow, where the scheme was enacted. Commanded by Kithlord Thieraven, Kithguard Maurran and other shadow fey guarded the swamp fort, while the ferrymaster Sithierel led the cultists to the Monastery of the Ebon Dome and ferried the victims of the cult to their dooms. Eventually, the plot was uncovered and the shadow fey were likely defeated in early Eleint when an adventuring party in service to Mystra assaulted the fort.

Notable Shadow Fey

 * Thieraven, Maurran, and Sithierel, a group of shadar-kai working with Sharran cultists at the Lost Refuge.

Appearances

 * Adventures
 * Cormyr: The Tearing of the Weave • Dungeon #132: "Wingclipper's Revenge"