Shadowfell

Cosmologies

The Shadowfell was considered a parallel plane, or an "echo" of the Material Plane, coexisting with it along with the Feywild. The Plane of Shadow was seen as an infinite plane that coexisted with the Prime Material Plane—touching it at all points and having the same basic geography—but only accessible at night or from shady areas using the shadow walk spell. Naturally occurring intermittent portals called vortices appeared between this plane and the Material Plane in seemingly random areas of heavy shade or darkness. The entry and exit point of a vortex were unpredictable as was their duration, lasting a few days at most. The Plane of Shadow was not connected to the Ethereal Plane, even though it was coexistent with it. Rapid movement between points of the Prime were possible by stepping into the Shadowfell and skirting the edge—referred to as the Shadow Fringe—before stepping back into the Prime, but arriving at a particular destination was imprecise. Intrepid travelers could reach other universes by traversing the Shadowfell and locating the border with an alien world such as Oerth for example.

Description

The most striking and immediate impression a visitor to the Plane of Shadow experienced was the lack of color and light; no sun, moon, or stars adorned the vault of the inky black sky, and all things looked as if the color had leeched out, leaving nothing but black and white, which in the dimness were more like "dark black" and "light black". A light source only illuminated half the distance it normally would, flames and fires put out less heat, and spells that dealt with light or fire were less predictable and prone to failure, whereas shadow spells were enhanced. On the other hand, although it would not illuminate as far, any light source on the plane could be spotted at a distance of up to ten times its normal range of illumination, such was the contrast to the constant gloom, similar to a star in the night sky. Even a light source that only put out shadowy illumination, like a darkness spell or a lantern burning shadowlight oil, could be seen up to five times its range of illumination.

Gravity and time were the same on the Shadowfell as on the Prime, but because the Shadowfell was magically morphic the landscape was a dark, twisted echo of what existed on the Prime. Upon entering the Plane of Shadow, the local features were usually quite similar: casting shadow walk in a forest put you in a shadow forest; casting it under water dropped you in a similar body of water, etc. But from that starting point, the landscape diverged rapidly away from the familiar, and on subsequent visits from the same starting point it diverged in different ways, making mapping the Shadowfell a useless endeavor. Landmarks were usually recognizable but altered in some bizarre way: buildings might be constructed in a different style, built with different materials, at a different location, and/or in any condition from dilapidated ruins to its normal appearance, for example, or otherwise strange and distorted. Similar sites were sometimes called "shadow-analogues".

Due to the ever-changing landscape, the Plane of Shadow was subject to relatively frequent but very small earthquakes (called shadow quakes) that resembled an earthquake spell in an area about two hundred feet in diameter. For those on the ground, damage was equivalent to a Prime earthquake, but shadow quakes could also disrupt the shadow walk spell and dump unfortunate travelers onto the Shadowfell in the middle of the disturbance at a place very likely unknown and far from their destination.

Some areas on the Plane of Shadow seemed to have an affinity with the Negative Energy Plane and life-draining undead such as shadows, ghosts, and vampires. These "darklands" had a minor negative-dominant trait and unprotected visitors immediately felt the life force being sucked from their bodies—unless they exited the darkland quickly, all that was left of them was a pile of ash. Someone with protection from negative energy could stop and admire the utter desolation in an otherwise forlorn landscape, and perhaps make the acquaintance of the truly inimical undead. Thankfully, no natural vortices opened into darklands regions, preventing the unwary from stepping through into almost certain death, and keeping the creatures that thrived there from having easy access to other planes. Material Plane locations such as desecrated burial mounds, haunted battlefields, and necromantic foci frequently had a darkland echo on the Shadowfell.

Other less dangerous but quite unsettling echoes occurred in areas analogous to towns and cities in the Prime Material Plane. They were nothing more than mirages, but familiar faces and places seen through the macabre mirror of the Shadowfell could be very demoralizing. Structures might appear altered, dislocated, destroyed, or replaced entirely by something else. Mirages of the living had visages of distorted nightmares, but were still recognizable enough to give travelers a jolt of fear and revulsion.

Air, water, and food existed on this plane, supporting plants, animals, and some humanoids adapted to the shadow environment. Visitors could survive indefinitely if they were willing to endure thick, foul-smelling water, food that oozed dark blood, and a pervasive nip of cold in the air. A visitor could never feel warm, would often hear or sense the presence of things that weren't there, and could never shake the feeling of being watched. It was a constantly unsettling place. Over time, exposure to the Plane of Shadow altered living things, increasing various traits and abilities but also some vulnerabilities. Emotions and the ability to experience them seemed to fade over time for those imbued with shadowstuff.

The morphic nature of the Shadowfell could produce strange effects, mainly in areas like the Black Rift that were especially morphic, and with events that had a particular affinity with the plane, like death. For example, in the Black Rift alone, a pile of bodies caused more skeletons to appear, until there were thousands. More bizarre were the strange biers upon which dead bodies spontaneously appeared, apparently drawn from wherever they rested, anywhere in existence, only to disappear after a few seconds, presumably to wherever they'd come from. Stalactites in a cave dripped ephemeral shadowstuff, which was reabsorbed into the plane rather than form a puddle. Even common mushrooms bore realistic humanoid faces, capable of twitching or blinking. More significantly, forests of grasping tendrils sprouted from some surfaces and reached for passersby, similar to the black tentacles spell.

Phenomena

Known as "shadowstuff", the material of the Shadowfell could be manipulated by illusionists to form semi-real monsters and quasi-real evocations that were still effective (to a lesser degree) even if the target successfully disbelieved the illusion.

Another tool of illusionists was the shadow well spell, which could turn a creature's shadow into a temporary gateway into the Shadowfell. If successful, the victim was sucked into the Shadowfell through his or her shadow and spent a few moments in a pocket realm (a very tiny demiplane attached to the Shadowfell) being terrorized by dark phantasms. No physical harm resulted from this spell, but mental and emotional trauma resulting in a fear response was possible.

An unsuccessful attempt to build a gate to the Shadowfell could result in what was termed a failed Shadow Gate. A being that stepped through one was taken only momentarily to the Plane of Shadow, but in that moment a "seed of shadow" was implanted in their flesh. This could cause their flesh to be subsumed by shadow, and they would see it mist away into darkness. Many died, reduced to bare skeletons, but those who survived acquired the powers of a dark creature.

Rumors and Legends

The special and unique nature of this plane caused not only cosmologists to speculate about its origins, but visitors and planar travelers as well. Some believed the Plane of Shadow had spontaneously formed as a demiplane out of the Ethereal Plane.

However, most cosmologists and planewalkers with a sense of adventure liked to talk about the legend of the Shining Citadel. Briefly, the legend postulated that the Plane of Shadow was once bright and colorful like the Material Plane, but at some point in the distant past a mysterious group who worshiped the plane's creator took all of the light, color, and most of the life-force from the rest of the plane and concentrated it into a mighty citadel. One would think that a structure containing most of the energy from an entire plane of existence would be hard to miss, but no one has ever found the Shining Citadel, except perhaps, as the legend states, those who venture into the deepest parts of the Plane of Shadows and never return.

A theory bandied about among sages stated that the Underdark was bottomless because it eventually became the Plane of Shadow. The only evidence supporting this hypothesis was that permanent portals to the Shadowfell were increasingly common the deeper one delved.

Domains of Dread

In remote corners of the Shadowfell there were demiplanes created by the Dark Powers which served as prisons to trap creatures of extreme evil to serve as sustenance.

One such demiplane was the valley of Barovia, ruled by the vampire Strahd von Zarovich, himself a prisoner of the Dark Powers. Passages to Barovia were rumored to exist somewhere in the dark corners of the Prime.

Inhabitants

The Shadowfell was home to a mysterious form of undead called shadows, other "shadow" creatures such as the shadow mastiff and shadow dragon, and a race of humanoids known as shades. In addition to those, there were numerous other inhabitants, such as communities of shadar-kai, Shadovar, and dark ones.

Probably the most dominant race of beings on the Plane of Shadow were the shades—ancestors of ancient Netherese humans who resided on the plane in their floating city for centuries and acquired many abilities from immersion in shadow essence. Malaugryms may have been superior to shades, having the advantage of being shapeshifters and practically immortal unless killed in some fashion; but their small numbers, fierce independence, and difficulty in mastering interplanar travel made them much less organized and effective.

Other creatures that were either native to the plane or attracted to it included bodaks, cloakers, darkweavers, ephemera of all kinds, veserabs, liches, nightshades, shadar-kai, shadurakul, spectres, and wraiths. Occasionally, animals and monsters would wander or fall into a vortex to the Shadowfell and become trapped there. Those that survived eventually took on shadow-given abilities, carved out a niche in the ecosystem, and preyed on whatever attracted their attention. Examples included apes, basilisks, bears, owlbears, rats, umber hulks, and wolves. Such creatures could give rise to dark creatures, shadowy counterparts of natural creatures.