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[Libertad]

The Plane of Shadow

The Plane of Shadow is the Transitive Plane with the most sinister reputation. The terrain is forlorn and foreboding, full of dangerous creatures and hazards, and is home to all matter of evil entities from Shar to the Unseelie Fey. But it would be a mistake to assume that the Plane of Shadow’s tainted with malic or intrinsically evil like the Lower Planes; the land is no more evil than a swamp full of undead creatures or a town run by a crooked government. There are more evil-aligned creatures than good ones on the Plane, but the vast majority of terrain is uninhabited and claimed by no one.

Faerie Expeditions

Unlike the other Transitive Planes, the Plane of Shadow has precious few colonists and non-indigenous inhabitants. The Plane has an effect on long-term visitors, who gradually change in body and mind to become something different; most of the times, inhabitants gain darkness-related abilities and an aversion of sunlight. Many fey creatures tried to colonize the Plane, hoping that their mutable natures would stave off the worst transformative effects of the land. Some expeditions were successful, such as the Gloaming (see Underdark), and enhanced their own abilities with planar power. More unfortunate folk, like the Shadar-Kai, ended up bound to the Plane’s energies, unable to survive elsewhere long-term without the use of powerful magic.

Faerie towns are few and far between on the Plane, and they vary in appearance and temperament as the individual personalities of the fey. Shadow-shaping spells allow for a startling variety of dwellings and terrain; due to the lightless environment, faeries opted for forms of visual beauty independent of colors, from flowing calligraphy adorning structures to castles in the shape of beasts of legend and famous historical figures.

Travelers should be wary when entering an unknown faerie town. Even the neutral and good-aligned fey have abstract legal and social norms, and most rulers do not see ignorance of the laws as a legitimate excuse. Unseelie Fey are particularly vicious, and often make up laws and rulings on the spot in hopes that most people will be unable to call them out on it. Despite these risks, faerie towns are full of rare magical items and trade goods; a common story tells of a team of adventurers sampling some fey ale in the city of Noresbal. They were shocked to find the bartender using a scroll of haste as a dishwashing rag; when asked why he treated the precious artifact with such disrespect, he responded “we fey are timeless in every way. There’s no need for us to hurry.”

Shar’s Academy of the Dark Arts

Shar is an evil goddess of darkness, the night, secrets, and loss. She’s one of Faerun’s oldest deities, and like any divine entity worth her salt, she has big ambitions. Shar also holds the title of being the sole deity with a permanent headquarters of the Plane of Shadow, and that makes her the closest thing to a major power on the Plane.

Shar’s greatest project is the Shadow Weave. It’s intended to be an alternative power source for magic; by forsaking traditional forms of arcane and divine aid, a Shadow Weave Adept can operate in an anti-magic field, ignore common restrictions on magical limits, and avoid more common means of detection and divination magic. By devastating the traditional Weave in Faerun through the creation of “dead magic zones,” Shar hopes to become the sole magical power on that Material world. And when she conquers Faerun, she will expand to other Material worlds and cosmologies through portals in the Plane of Shadow.

But none of this will matter if people can access the Shadow Weave without giving her allegiance. Her most devoted and powerful cultists kidnapped children of all races across the Planes who show promising magical potential. Raised in the Plane of Shadow by the faithful, they will know of no other life than service to Shar. Her Academy of the Dark Arts is the first and greatest step of this plan.

The school is designed like a traditional boarding school, except much larger and with enough facilities and resources to sustain a large town. Teachers serve as instructors, parents, and law enforcement to keep students and underlings in line. Religious devotion is just as important a quality as academic instruction, and just as many classes are thinly-disguised propaganda courses as typical educational programs.

Adventurers are most likely to come across the Academy by seeking out missing and lost children. The faithful are well aware of this possibility, and the school’s security and defenses are as sophisticated as the best magical prisons (excepting perhaps Carceri). Students too young to fight are kept safely away from combat and teleported to a vault-like building; the best way to free these children is to obtain the keys from the Headmaster and the Head of Security, both powerful spellcasters in their own right.

The Shining Citadel

The Plane of Shadow has a lot of links to alternate Material Planes in its deepest regions, more so than other Planes. Like the Ethereal Plane, it matches the terrain of many Prime Material worlds in its own way. Most planar scholars identify the Plane of Shadow as Transitive, although a popular theory insists that the Plane of Shadow’s actually an Alternate Material Plane. Their prime supporting evidence is the large amount of portals to other Material Planes in Shadow, and the existence of ancient and forlorn structures and cities known as Dark Mirages in mirroring Material areas. Who’s to say that the Plane of Shadow is nothing more than an alternate Oerth or Toril which befell some dark disaster?

The strongest, and most elusive, piece of evidence supporting this theory lies in the Shining Citadel. A remote bastion of light secluded by the most powerful illusions, few facts are known about this place. The actual Citadel is inhabited by humans, dwarves, elves, and other humanoids prominent on Material Plane worlds. The community’s controlled and maintained by a conclave of spellcasters who power the magical structures and items with light and portals to the Positive Energy Plane. The people of the Citadel pay homage to the Lord of Light, who they credit with the continued safety and survival of what remains of the world. They view the outside as a post-apocalyptic wasteland containing fell beasts hostile to all life. The Citadel’s mages are tasked with holding off the extraplanar traits of Shadow; spells with the light descriptor are enhanced and maximized within, while spells with the shadow descriptor are impeded.

It’s possible that the Citadel’s properties are responsible for the Plane of Shadow’s current state of affairs, and that shutting down the power source may cause the Plane to recover to its previous state. But such a task will be met with resistance from many sides: the people of the Citadel are unwilling to give up their homeland and security for a plan which might not work, while the beings accustomed to the Plane’s current environment will be threatened by this change.

Adventure Hooks for the Plane of Shadow:
• A rare object or vital piece of classified information is being held in the mansion of an Unseelie fey on the Plane of Shadow. The owner is paranoid and rarely accepts visitors, and the building’s defenses are based off of the unique land-shaping powers of shadow; actual guards and inhabitants aside from the owner are nowhere to be seen in this forlorn manor, giving the place an eerie aura of dread.
• An enemy on the run from the PCs takes up refuge in the genie city of Onyx, a region of Shadow known for its inhabitants’ duplicitous dealings and non-Euclidean architecture. Simply maneuvering through the city is a feat in and of itself, and every local seems to want something from the PCs and refuses to even part with basic information freely. Can the adventurers cut through the double-speak and maze-like environment and find their quarry, or is he permanently lost to the City of Onyx?
• In a cross between Harry Potter and Prison Break, the adventurers disguise themselves as magically-gifted teenagers in order to break into Shar’s Academy of the Dark Arts; if the entire party fits this profile, their job’s that much easier. They could be staging a rescue operation, or maybe they’re scouting out the complex for a coordinated tactical assault. Regardless of their reasons, blending into the Academy will be a feat in and of itself. Between outsmarting Shar’s best-picked teachers, sneaking into restricted areas, and posing as normal students, the adventurers will have to deal with all the hang-ups and drama of living in confined quarters and the monumental task of fooling everyone long enough to get their mission done.