I was hoping that you would be able to tell me whether or not Shar - as in the Goddess Shar, creator of the Shadow Weave - is still alive.
I am writing a story for a future campaign, and I want to make the main villain into a vestige of the Goddess Shar. The idea is that Shar, having made her way back onto the Material Plane and finding her divine power depleted, sets about reclaiming it by inventing a whole new religion, whose pantheon of Gods is made up of Shar; at the head, and the Thirteen Lords of Shadow.
She intends to use the worshipers of this religion to regain all of her divine power and then free the Lords of Shadow from their prison. With their help, she plans on wiping away everybody who has ever stood against her and then remaking the world according to her design, and eventually to rule over the entire material plane.
The story will start with the party members coming from an aggressive theocracy, ruled over by the Golden Queen and the shadow council.
The Golden Queen, is the vestige of the Goddess Shar, masquerading as a mortal Queen, and claiming to be a Paladin of Shar. She has an enormous amount of power, which she claims has been invested in her by Shar. In reality, however, it is the worshipers of the Goddess Shar, who are empowering her, so the more worshipers the Goddess acquire, the more influential and powerful, the Golden Queen (the vestige of Shar) becomes.
The Shadow Council is made up of thirteen High Priests, each chosen by the Golden Queen to rule over one of the thirteen Prefectures of her Kingdom. The High Priests believe that they have been selected by Golden Queen, with the blessing of the Goddess Shar, and so they think that they have a divine right to rule. However, they are little more than puppets, used by the Queen, to guide the people towards the worship of Shar (herself) and one of the Thirteen Lords of Shadow.
Once she has regained all of her lost power and transformed from a vestige, back into a full Goddess, The Golden Queen will reveal herself to have been Shar all along, and begin the final phase of her plan - freeing the Lords of Shadow. To do this, she will use her puppets, the High Priests, to convince the people that their sacrifice is needed to secure the future of the Kingdom. The power obtained through the sacrifice of each Prefecture will be used to free the specific Shadavari that the people of that Prefecture worshipped and each High Priest will become the doorway, through which their particular Lord of Shadow enters the Material Plane.
Thirteen Prefectures, thirteen High Priests, thirteen Lords of Shadow. Each of the thirteen Shadevari will then take over the rule of their respective Prefectures, and Shar will rule the capital as the Lady of Night and from there, the Lady of Night and the Shadevari, will seek to conquer all of Faerun, then the world of Toril, and then the entire Prime Material Plane itself, with the ultimate goal of creating a new Empire of Shadow, ruled over by the Shadavari, with Shar at their head.
I haven't yet written the specifics, but this is an overview of the campaign, and I am hoping that it will take the players from level 1, all the way to level 20 and possibly into epic play, if we get that far and they still want to continue with the campaign beyond that.
None of this will work out though, if Shar is so dead that she can never come back, or if she is still alive and bopping around doing her own thing. So, three questions really.
Is Shar dead or alive?
If she is, in fact, dead, would she be able to return as a vestige?
Is my whole idea for my campaign, something that Shar would do, or could realistically be believed to be something she would do or is this just entirely out of character for her?
Thanks for spending the time to read all of this and ask my stupid questions, and as usual, any other thoughts, ideas or constructive criticisms you might have will be most welcome.
Cheers
XD
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
You only have to stick to current lore as far as it suits your needs.
Is Shar dead or alive? - Your campaign, you decide
If she is, in fact, dead, would she be able to return as a vestige? - Your campaign, you decide
Is my whole idea for my campaign, something that Shar would do, or could realistically be believed to be something she would do or is this just entirely out of character for her? - Again, you guessed, your campaign, you decide
While Davedamon is technically correct* that as DM its your call.
However per current lore, Shar is active per SCAG and per the advenrure Dungeon of the Mad Mage. This is based that her cultists are recieving spells. So if you look at those as the state of things, Shar is alive.
But, that was then. She may not be in your story. Offscreen things may have happened. Or they happen at level 1 to 3 with the players on the periphery. That is really Davedamon's point. It's your story, you can set the stage as you want or need. So if you need Shar to be dead...she's dead. It helps to have the event of Shars' death be a part of the adventure IMHO, so they have some attachment to it. But there are any number of ways this could be done; that is simply what I would do.
But a more revelant item of lore is that in the realms dead gods do return. See the stories of Bane and Bhaal. Both were dead, and now they not. So your vestige story is very valid. The how is a McGuffin.
GLHF
* - the best kind of correct. - Professor Farnsworth, Futurerama I kid davedamon :)
I'm not fond is sticking to lore when it comes to my campaign. In mine baulderan is still alive and well as the players are in his timeline. So it's well before baulders gate was called that name. It's a pirate sanctuary at this time and events may lead to players meeting him or not. Hehe.
It's your world. Do what you find fun and interesting. That's what in my eyes the game is all about.
Actually, it might be interesting to let Shar be dead and have an imposter trying to acquire her portfolio. A quick search and Talona might make sense.
And when the characters "discover" the Golden Queen is Shar, it sets you up for one more surprise!
Hi, guys
I was hoping that you would be able to tell me whether or not Shar - as in the Goddess Shar, creator of the Shadow Weave - is still alive.
I am writing a story for a future campaign, and I want to make the main villain into a vestige of the Goddess Shar. The idea is that Shar, having made her way back onto the Material Plane and finding her divine power depleted, sets about reclaiming it by inventing a whole new religion, whose pantheon of Gods is made up of Shar; at the head, and the Thirteen Lords of Shadow.
She intends to use the worshipers of this religion to regain all of her divine power and then free the Lords of Shadow from their prison. With their help, she plans on wiping away everybody who has ever stood against her and then remaking the world according to her design, and eventually to rule over the entire material plane.
The story will start with the party members coming from an aggressive theocracy, ruled over by the Golden Queen and the shadow council.
The Golden Queen, is the vestige of the Goddess Shar, masquerading as a mortal Queen, and claiming to be a Paladin of Shar. She has an enormous amount of power, which she claims has been invested in her by Shar. In reality, however, it is the worshipers of the Goddess Shar, who are empowering her, so the more worshipers the Goddess acquire, the more influential and powerful, the Golden Queen (the vestige of Shar) becomes.
The Shadow Council is made up of thirteen High Priests, each chosen by the Golden Queen to rule over one of the thirteen Prefectures of her Kingdom. The High Priests believe that they have been selected by Golden Queen, with the blessing of the Goddess Shar, and so they think that they have a divine right to rule. However, they are little more than puppets, used by the Queen, to guide the people towards the worship of Shar (herself) and one of the Thirteen Lords of Shadow.
Once she has regained all of her lost power and transformed from a vestige, back into a full Goddess, The Golden Queen will reveal herself to have been Shar all along, and begin the final phase of her plan - freeing the Lords of Shadow. To do this, she will use her puppets, the High Priests, to convince the people that their sacrifice is needed to secure the future of the Kingdom. The power obtained through the sacrifice of each Prefecture will be used to free the specific Shadavari that the people of that Prefecture worshipped and each High Priest will become the doorway, through which their particular Lord of Shadow enters the Material Plane.
Thirteen Prefectures, thirteen High Priests, thirteen Lords of Shadow. Each of the thirteen Shadevari will then take over the rule of their respective Prefectures, and Shar will rule the capital as the Lady of Night and from there, the Lady of Night and the Shadevari, will seek to conquer all of Faerun, then the world of Toril, and then the entire Prime Material Plane itself, with the ultimate goal of creating a new Empire of Shadow, ruled over by the Shadavari, with Shar at their head.
I haven't yet written the specifics, but this is an overview of the campaign, and I am hoping that it will take the players from level 1, all the way to level 20 and possibly into epic play, if we get that far and they still want to continue with the campaign beyond that.
None of this will work out though, if Shar is so dead that she can never come back, or if she is still alive and bopping around doing her own thing. So, three questions really.
Thanks for spending the time to read all of this and ask my stupid questions, and as usual, any other thoughts, ideas or constructive criticisms you might have will be most welcome.
Cheers
XD
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
You only have to stick to current lore as far as it suits your needs.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
While Davedamon is technically correct* that as DM its your call.
However per current lore, Shar is active per SCAG and per the advenrure Dungeon of the Mad Mage. This is based that her cultists are recieving spells. So if you look at those as the state of things, Shar is alive.
But, that was then. She may not be in your story. Offscreen things may have happened. Or they happen at level 1 to 3 with the players on the periphery. That is really Davedamon's point. It's your story, you can set the stage as you want or need. So if you need Shar to be dead...she's dead. It helps to have the event of Shars' death be a part of the adventure IMHO, so they have some attachment to it. But there are any number of ways this could be done; that is simply what I would do.
But a more revelant item of lore is that in the realms dead gods do return. See the stories of Bane and Bhaal. Both were dead, and now they not. So your vestige story is very valid. The how is a McGuffin.
GLHF
* - the best kind of correct. - Professor Farnsworth, Futurerama I kid davedamon :)
I'm not fond is sticking to lore when it comes to my campaign. In mine baulderan is still alive and well as the players are in his timeline. So it's well before baulders gate was called that name. It's a pirate sanctuary at this time and events may lead to players meeting him or not. Hehe.
It's your world. Do what you find fun and interesting. That's what in my eyes the game is all about.
Actually, it might be interesting to let Shar be dead and have an imposter trying to acquire her portfolio. A quick search and Talona might make sense.
And when the characters "discover" the Golden Queen is Shar, it sets you up for one more surprise!