Hello Everybody Jordan here the PH is silent and today we’re talking about the Shadowfell.
The Shadowfell is the dark reflection the material world.
If the Feywild is the light side, then the Shadowfell is the dark side.
Not necessarily an evil place, but it’s abundance of necrotic energies and lack of
sunlight has become an ideal place for the foul creatures of the world.
Originally known as the Plane of Shadow, when the elemental chaos was reunited with Toril
during the spellplague the goddess Shar combined the Plane of Shadow with the Negative energy
plane to create the Shadowfell.
Originally the plane of shadow came from the primordials who separated sections of Abeir-Toril
that were considered too light and too dark.
The Shadowfell is kind of canonically confusing to me, because it sort of existed when the
primordials made it, but really it was created by Shar as part of her Shadow Weave experiments.
Not to mention in 4th edition the Shadowfell is home to the Raven Queen that doesn’t
exist in Forgotten Realms but who was prominently in the 4th edition core books.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
What you need to know is Primordials created the Plane of Shadow, and during the spellplague
Shar combined that with the Negative Energy Plane to create what we know as the Shadowfell.
The Shadowfell is a plane of existence where necrotic energies and shadow magic stem.
It’s a counterpart to the Feywild, often called the world's dark echo.
It’s a place full of decay and death.
It’s a dimension of black, and gray, where most other colors have been leached away.
The Shadowfell has become a transitory place for dead mortals, making their way towards
judgement on the Fugue Plane.
Now the Fugue Plane is part of the astral sea, mortals are drawn there when they die.
There lies the city of Judgement awaiting souls for well… judgement.
Just like the Feywild the Shadowfell reflects the material plane in some way.
Where a forest exists in the world on the Shadowfell it might be a rotting dead forest
full of giant spiders.
Where a castle exists on the prime material plane in the Shadowfell it’s a ruined kingdom
full of ghosts.
It’s almost a necrotic reflection of the prime material plane.
The Shadowfell is largely populated with undead, because of those who ended their stay in the
Shadowfell instead of moving on to the Fugue Plane.
Each day new displaced souls come in from the natural world.
They come searching for answers, meaning, or just a safe place to bide their time.
The Shadowfell is not an inherently evil place but evil creatures are strong and plentiful
there.
Most evil creatures avoid their final judgement in the afterlife, clinging to whatever form
of existence they can manage and thus stay in the Shadowfell.
There are areas of the world where the boundary between the Shadowfell and the Material Plane
are weaker.
These are known as shadow crossings, where creatures are able to walk from one plane
to another.
A shadow in the corner of a dusty crypt could be a shadow crossing, or an open grave could
be a shadow crossing.
Good news though most of these “doorways” can be closed with sunlight, as they’ll
seal themselves up rather than let the light shine into the Shadowfell.
Often these crossings, as with the feywild, are only open during specific events.
It might be once a year, during the harvest festival, at midnight when the shadow crossings
become thin enough for creatures to pass from one plane to another.
Those that live in the Shadowfell seem to have embraced their dismal existence.
The Shadowfell affects everyone different, each visitor finds something that appears
grotestic and disturbing yet similar in some way.
The shadowfell also affects the memory and imagination of creatures, it can make it a
rather confusing place to traverse.
Much like the greater fey and their demesne the Shadowfell has Domains of
Dread.
Isolated pockets within the shadowfell where a dark lord rules.
These areas are a reflection of the dark lord's mind and mood, and the realm bends to their
will.
Escaping a domain of dread is tricky and usually requires one to slay the dark lord, or break
a curse.
The DnD adventure “Ravenloft” is considered part of the Shadowfell, and is one of these
Dark Domains.
A remote corner of the shadowfell, more or less considered it’s own demiplane but still
within the Shadowfell.
The Ravenloft demiplane is Barovia, overlooked by Castle Ravenloft and ruled by Count Strahd,
the first vampire.
Who rules the Shadowfell?
I originally thought Shar since it was more or less her creation, but it seem to be divided
out a bit like the Nine Hells, the Abyss, or like the Feywild.
Various greater powers carving out some section of the Shadowfell for their own particular
benefit.
The power of the Shadowfell specifically drew the attention of the Raven Queen who took
residence there.
Now the Raven Queen is not part of the forgotten realms, but she plays heavily into the Shadowfell.
She was in the 4th edition player's handbook and since 5th edition was so Forgotten Realms
heavy she wasn’t included.
Other than an unearthed arcana article I can’t find any information about her in 5th edition
Dungeons and Dragons.
Still we know from 4th edition she was a mortal who ascended to deity status and has a home
on the Shadowfell.
When researching the Shadowfell she came up a lot so I thought I would at least acknowledge
her existence.
She has the domain of death and seeks to aid those into the afterlife, on their journey
in the Shadowfell to the Fuge Plane.
The city Neverwinter has a dark reflection in the Shadowfell known as Evernight.
Evernight is a city of cracked stone and homes of rotten wood.
Its roads are made mostly of trampled grave dust.
The sky is a corpse gray with a cold breeze that goes to the bone.
The living residents of Evernight include mad necromancer's and worshipers of evil deities,
but the living are in minority at Evernight.
The Bulk of the population consists of the undead.
The most well known city in the Shadowfell is Gloomwrought, City of Midnight.
Nestled on the shore Gloomwrought is a city of steep menacing walls.
A vast peat bog, named the Skins, spreads out to all sides extending inland for miles.
Most visitors to the city come by sea, as the bogs, “The Skins” are perilous.
A massive black wall encircles the city and it’s foundation sinks deep into the moor
on land, and to the bottom of the shallow waters in the city harbor.
Lanterns hang from posts extended out from the walls to keep bog monsters at bay and
ward ships from slimy rocks.
It is one of the brightest lights in the shadowfell, and is a common destination for merchants
and travelers of the planes.
Most disturbing are the city gates, carved to resemble skulls with open mouths.
Inside Gloomwrought the city is dark and crowded.
It’s a jumble of buildings piled on top of one another.
Buildings seem to crane inward as if trying to listen to your whispers, creating a strong
sense of claustrophobia.
The city’s features change and shift, as if it were alive.
New building sprout from seemingly nothing, twisting up forming new towers.
Months later that same spire collapses.
Nobody who lives in Gloomwrought is sure who or what is behind the changes.
The city’s population range from humans, dragonborn, elves, and other common races.
Also the Shadar-kai which are humans changed by the negative energy of the shadowfell.
The churches set up in Gloomwrought are mainly for evil deities.
There is also an institution here known as the Tenebrous Cabal which instructs novices
in the art of Shadow Magic.
Shadow magic is strong in the shadowfell, casting spells using the Shadow Weave under
the control of Shar.
The Dungeon Master’s guide has some interesting despair rules when traversing the Shadowfell.
If your characters ever find themselves in the Shadowfell it might be a fun chart to
roll on.
It gives new flaws to a characters or more mechanical things like having a daily disadvantage
on skill checks.
Your PCs can get a real sense of dread, they do not want to be in the Shadowfell any longer
than they have to.
Unless of course you’re running an all vampire campaign in the Shadowfell, which let’s
be honest would be badass.
Thanks for watching everyone!
Did I miss something important, let me know in the comments.
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