Is Shar Based on a Real Deity [Archive] - Wizards Community

Is Shar Based on a Real Deity [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
DoveArrow
12-31-07, 11:39 AM I know that a lot of the Forgotten Realms gods are based off of real, mythological deities (Selune, Sylvanus, the Mulhorrandi Pantheon, etc.), but what about Shar? If anyone knows, please drop me a line. Thanks.
Stigger
12-31-07, 01:27 PM Not specifically that I'm aware... though there have been a few nihlist sort of deities out there she could have sprung from, I have no idea if she was inspired by one of them or not. Personally, I'm tending towards no, but I couldn't say for sure.
MerrikCale
12-31-07, 03:00 PM she was basically made up and nicely too, despite her recent "overexposure"
GreenKnight
12-31-07, 03:02 PM she was basically made up and nicely too, despite her recent "overexposure"

With Shar, there's no such thing as overexposure.

...Oh, wait, you're not talking about what I thought you were talking about. Nevermind...
18DELTA
12-31-07, 03:47 PM she was basically made up and nicely too, despite her recent "overexposure"

Well that put me in a "Peter Pan Happy Place"!!!:smirk:
Old Sage
12-31-07, 07:33 PM DoveArrow, in case you missed the Lady Hooded One's reply over Candlekeep, here it is:-

"Hi. No, Ed Greenwood didn't base Shar on any mythological deity. Many real-world faiths and fictional worlds have "dark female goddesses of evil or the night," and Shar takes her place among them, but Ed deliberately did not want to model Shar on any existing figure. He told me once that (direct Ed Greenwood quote follows):

Whereas Bane is the "evil dominance through tyranny and open brutality" (the Hitlerian figure, if you will), Shar is the slow, subtle, mysterious lurking evil in the night; inexorable, thousand-eyed, and of many, many plots. She is often spiteful and even foolish (as in: capable of being taken by surprise), but she is always there.

So saith Ed. If you'd like to pose any questions to Ed directly, about Shar or anything else, post them in the 2008 iteration of his Questions thread in the Chamber of Sages, and I'll relay them to him for a reply.
love,
THO"
GothicDan
12-31-07, 10:19 PM She is often spiteful and even foolish (as in: capable of being taken by surprise), but she is always there.

Which makes me laugh a little more over the recent debacle in which she made Mystra look like the surprised/foolish one.

Way to go, team.
Arbourean
12-31-07, 11:00 PM Interesting. Though I always believed at least some inspiration was taken from Nox/Nyx.
GothicDan
12-31-07, 11:06 PM We have little to no actual information on Nox, though. Hard to take inspiration from her.
Arbourean
12-31-07, 11:11 PM Both supposedly born from Chaos/Nothingness.

Both embody the night.

Er...that's all I have.
GothicDan
12-31-07, 11:16 PM And we have no idea as to Shar's origins. There's no entity that embodies Chaos in the Realms, either. :) AO certainly isn't.
Todesherr
12-31-07, 11:44 PM And we have no idea as to Shar's origins. There's no entity that embodies Chaos in the Realms, either. :) AO certainly isn't.

That is not true. Loth is known as Lady Chaos for a reason and she embodies it quite well.
GothicDan
12-31-07, 11:46 PM She's also an Interloper, was up until recently only an Intermediate Deity, a member of the Drow Pantheon, and has had no relation to Shar or Selune.
Todesherr
01-01-08, 01:19 AM She's also an Interloper, was up until recently only an Intermediate Deity, a member of the Drow Pantheon, and has had no relation to Shar or Selune.

There's no entity that embodies Chaos in the Realms, either.

You made an all encompassing, categorical statement, young one. You could have said native to the realms. Kezef is also the Chaos Hound....
MarkusTay63
01-01-08, 06:15 PM I kind of thought of her as a darker version of Ratri, the Vedic Goddess.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/MarkusTay/Ratri.jpg
Lord Karsus
01-01-08, 10:12 PM I kind of thought of her as a darker version of Ratri, the Vedic Goddess.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/MarkusTay/Ratri.jpg

-I was thinking Kali, myself.
GothicDan
01-01-08, 10:32 PM She seems like pieces of everything - or her own being, from a very broad archetype. Same diff., really.

You made an all encompassing, categorical statement, young one. You could have said native to the realms. Kezef is also the Chaos Hound....

When I wrote "Chaos" with a capital C, I meant it - I was referring to the proper noun, the Greek primal divine being that preceded actual gods. I didn't mean a more abstract concept of chaos (which wouldn't be capitalized, in my opinion). So there, old one. ;)
MarkusTay63
01-01-08, 11:11 PM -I was thinking Kali, myself.Believe it or not, Kali is more like Hoar, with a tiny bit of Chauntee thrown in (Black Earth Mother). She's about Vengeance, not Darkness.

So Shar's like Ratri and Entropy combined, with a smidge of Xiombarg.

I can definately see Lolth and Kali being the same god, in a 4e Universe.
Lord Karsus
01-01-08, 11:30 PM Believe it or not, Kali is more like Hoar, with a tiny bit of Chauntee thrown in (Black Earth Mother). She's about Vengeance, not Darkness.

-Kali is a dark, brooding figure concerned about total annihilation. That Shiva often subdues/counters/calm Kali further enforces the "Shar connection". There is more to Kali than just that- her nurturing side, for example.

-I don't know about Lolth, by Kali is certainly a CN deity.
XHereticX
01-01-08, 11:34 PM I was thinking either Hecate or Nix from the Greek Pantheon, with some influence from Tiamat (the Babylonian deity mind you, not the 5-headed LE D&D dragon goddess)
MarkusTay63
01-02-08, 12:41 AM -I don't know about Lolth, by Kali is certainly a CN deity.But they both have eight apendages, and consider themselves a 'mother figure' to a certain ethnic group, wanting to destroy the other group that oppresses them.

There are some striking similarities, when you look hard enough.

Ritual sacrifice, priests (priestesses) as murderers, etc...
Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
01-02-08, 03:10 PM Which makes me laugh a little more over the recent debacle in which she made Mystra look like the surprised/foolish one.

Way to go, team.

Thinkin' the same thing.
Kenzuki
01-02-08, 04:04 PM I don't think it was so hard to believe that two Greater Gods could have conspired and carried out an assassination of another Greater God. Midnight as Mystra was still learning the ropes so to speak anyway wasn't she?
GothicDan
01-02-08, 04:25 PM She had pretty much fully subsumed the experience and knowledge of the former Mystras by this point. On the other hand, Cyric was the newbie - he didn't pick up any experience of former deities, directly.
Kenzuki
01-02-08, 04:37 PM She had pretty much fully subsumed the experience and knowledge of the former Mystras by this point. On the other hand, Cyric was the newbie - he didn't pick up any experience of former deities, directly.

Apparantly he didn't need to to kill Mystra. I still say that two greater gods could pretty much kill another greater god if they ganged up on it. Just makes sense to me.
XHereticX
01-02-08, 04:38 PM She had pretty much fully subsumed the experience and knowledge of the former Mystras by this point. On the other hand, Cyric was the newbie - he didn't pick up any experience of former deities, directly.

As was Kelemvor (well, he had Jergal). Gee, I don't get why out of all the gods they decide to whack, that lamebrain Kelemvor wasn't one of them. Seriously, I want Myrkul or Orcus back, or maybe even make Jergal a greater deity again.
Kenzuki
01-02-08, 04:39 PM As was Kelemvor (well, he had Jergal). Gee, I don't get why out of all the gods they decide to whack, that lamebrain Kelemvor wasn't one of them. Seriously, I want Myrkul or Orcus back, or maybe even make Jergal a greater deity again.

I could get behind Jergal as the Greater God of Death and the Dead.
GothicDan
01-02-08, 05:20 PM Apparantly he didn't need to to kill Mystra. I still say that two greater gods could pretty much kill another greater god if they ganged up on it. Just makes sense to me.

It's possible, but not probable, given that it wasn't just 2 against 1. It was Cyric and Shar versus Mystra and all of her allies and their portfolio senses.
MarkusTay63
01-02-08, 05:41 PM That made me laugh :rofl:

I just pictured Savras saying: "Mistress, my portfolio senses are tingling". :D
Kenzuki
01-02-08, 05:42 PM It's possible, but not probable, given that it wasn't just 2 against 1. It was Cyric and Shar versus Mystra and all of her allies and their portfolio senses.

If you're talking about the three stooges of magic (Azuth, Velsharoon, and Savras) they aren't to par with a Greater God much less the mechinations of two. The gods of secrets and illusions must have had a great scheme. Also why did Savras die but the other two lived?
XHereticX
01-02-08, 05:43 PM What did happen to Cyric anyway? I will find out when I get aGHoTR but I woudn't mind knowing now.
GothicDan
01-02-08, 05:43 PM Who said I was?

The destruction of the Weave would affect the followers of just about every deity negatively, according to Ed Greenwood's words - Wild Magic storms, widespread destruction resulting from them, inability to properly cast magic. It'd be like the Time of Troubles, only worse, and not ending until a new 'system of magic' was established.

Chauntea herself would have foreseen this and and should have had a say.
Kenzuki
01-02-08, 05:47 PM The gods aren't all knowing. I think this was shown when they all got a lession in humility during the Time of Troubles.
Stigger
01-02-08, 06:36 PM Yes, and of course I'm sure they didn't learn their lesson and continued on blithely ignoring the world in favor of going on with the soap opera that is their existance...
Kenzuki
01-02-08, 06:54 PM Yes, and of course I'm sure they didn't learn their lesson and continued on blithely ignoring the world in favor of going on with the soap opera that is their existance...

so they became incapable of mistakes right?
XHereticX
01-02-08, 07:32 PM Yes, and of course I'm sure they didn't learn their lesson and continued on blithely ignoring the world in favor of going on with the soap opera that is their existance...

Hey, that was how the Olympians lived too. Zeus with his 265 flings :rolleyes: ,
Kenzuki
01-02-08, 07:35 PM The Olympian gods and Asgardian gods were capable of mistakes of this nature, what makes the Faerunian gods better? Unless you want to make them like the Judaeo-Christian God or Allah and make them all powerful, all knowing, and perfect in every way possible. If not than yeah they are basically people with divine powers.
Stigger
01-02-08, 07:46 PM No, hardly incapable of mistakes, but making them out to be humans with more power cheapens the idea of deities to me. One of the many reasons I'd have ditched the Olympian deities myself had I lived then... with deities like that who needs enemies?

As to what makes them better... nothing per se, I just think its an idiotic concept for defining deities. Why bother worshipping them if they act like spoiled children and morons afterall... I'd prefer them presented in a comprehendable and intelligent manner, rather than as a bunch of people on the Jerry Springer show. You don't need to be perfect to not act like a fool.
Kenzuki
01-02-08, 07:52 PM No, hardly incapable of mistakes, but making them out to be humans with more power cheapens the idea of deities to me. One of the many reasons I'd have ditched the Olympian deities myself had I lived then... with deities like that who needs enemies?

As to what makes them better... nothing per se, I just think its an idiotic concept for defining deities. Why bother worshipping them if they act like spoiled children and morons afterall... I'd prefer them presented in a comprehendable and intelligent manner, rather than as a bunch of people on the Jerry Springer show. You don't need to be perfect to not act like a fool.

So one mistake and suddenly it's the end of the world? What about all the other mistakes the other gods have done?
Stigger
01-02-08, 08:02 PM One mistake? Not following you there. To be honest, I don't like much of anything that has been presented thus far involving direct interaction with the deities, and for the most part have resolved to ignore it for the most part, and just handle things the way I think they should have been in the first place. Not that I haven't always done that, but I've decided that I'm going to start a pre-ToT campaign just to get the bad taste out of my mouth from all of this garbage. What WotC and the authors do with the deities no longer concerns or interests me to be frank about it.
Kenzuki
01-02-08, 08:27 PM One mistake? Not following you there. To be honest, I don't like much of anything that has been presented thus far involving direct interaction with the deities, and for the most part have resolved to ignore it for the most part, and just handle things the way I think they should have been in the first place. Not that I haven't always done that, but I've decided that I'm going to start a pre-ToT campaign just to get the bad taste out of my mouth from all of this garbage. What WotC and the authors do with the deities no longer concerns or interests me to be frank about it.

I suppose that would be the easy way out of course.
Uzzy
01-02-08, 09:26 PM As others have said, the closest real life deity to Shar would have to be Nyx/Night from the Greek Pantheon, though only in the sense that she's primordial and really, really powerful. Which is the way I've always liked to use Shar.

There was a reference to Nyx in the Dan Simmons novel Olympos, which I often use in my head as picture/description of Shar.
Khaelieth
01-07-08, 05:46 PM And emos gathered around the world to create their own god after God had banished them from Heaven. Their god was Shar.
MarkusTay63
01-07-08, 09:19 PM Maybe she is the multi-spheric entity known as Entropy, and her followers are the Doomgaurd. (http://www.deathstar.org/~krlipka/ps/people/npc/organization/dgindex.html)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DoveArrow 12-31-07, 11:39 AM	I know that a lot of the Forgotten Realms gods are based off of real, mythological deities (Selune, Sylvanus, the Mulhorrandi Pantheon, etc.), but what about Shar? If anyone knows, please drop me a line. Thanks.
Stigger 12-31-07, 01:27 PM	Not specifically that I'm aware... though there have been a few nihlist sort of deities out there she could have sprung from, I have no idea if she was inspired by one of them or not. Personally, I'm tending towards no, but I couldn't say for sure.
MerrikCale 12-31-07, 03:00 PM	she was basically made up and nicely too, despite her recent "overexposure"
GreenKnight 12-31-07, 03:02 PM	she was basically made up and nicely too, despite her recent "overexposure" With Shar, there's no such thing as overexposure. ...Oh, wait, you're not talking about what I thought you were talking about. Nevermind...
18DELTA 12-31-07, 03:47 PM	she was basically made up and nicely too, despite her recent "overexposure" Well that put me in a "Peter Pan Happy Place"!!!:smirk:
Old Sage 12-31-07, 07:33 PM	DoveArrow, in case you missed the Lady Hooded One's reply over Candlekeep, here it is:- "Hi. No, Ed Greenwood didn't base Shar on any mythological deity. Many real-world faiths and fictional worlds have "dark female goddesses of evil or the night," and Shar takes her place among them, but Ed deliberately did not want to model Shar on any existing figure. He told me once that (direct Ed Greenwood quote follows): Whereas Bane is the "evil dominance through tyranny and open brutality" (the Hitlerian figure, if you will), Shar is the slow, subtle, mysterious lurking evil in the night; inexorable, thousand-eyed, and of many, many plots. She is often spiteful and even foolish (as in: capable of being taken by surprise), but she is always there. So saith Ed. If you'd like to pose any questions to Ed directly, about Shar or anything else, post them in the 2008 iteration of his Questions thread in the Chamber of Sages, and I'll relay them to him for a reply. love, THO"
GothicDan 12-31-07, 10:19 PM	She is often spiteful and even foolish (as in: capable of being taken by surprise), but she is always there. Which makes me laugh a little more over the recent debacle in which she made Mystra look like the surprised/foolish one. Way to go, team.
Arbourean 12-31-07, 11:00 PM	Interesting. Though I always believed at least some inspiration was taken from Nox/Nyx.
GothicDan 12-31-07, 11:06 PM	We have little to no actual information on Nox, though. Hard to take inspiration from her.
Arbourean 12-31-07, 11:11 PM	Both supposedly born from Chaos/Nothingness. Both embody the night. Er...that's all I have.
GothicDan 12-31-07, 11:16 PM	And we have no idea as to Shar's origins. There's no entity that embodies Chaos in the Realms, either. :) AO certainly isn't.
Todesherr 12-31-07, 11:44 PM	And we have no idea as to Shar's origins. There's no entity that embodies Chaos in the Realms, either. :) AO certainly isn't. That is not true. Loth is known as Lady Chaos for a reason and she embodies it quite well.
GothicDan 12-31-07, 11:46 PM	She's also an Interloper, was up until recently only an Intermediate Deity, a member of the Drow Pantheon, and has had no relation to Shar or Selune.
Todesherr 01-01-08, 01:19 AM	She's also an Interloper, was up until recently only an Intermediate Deity, a member of the Drow Pantheon, and has had no relation to Shar or Selune. There's no entity that embodies Chaos in the Realms, either. You made an all encompassing, categorical statement, young one. You could have said native to the realms. Kezef is also the Chaos Hound....
MarkusTay63 01-01-08, 06:15 PM	I kind of thought of her as a darker version of Ratri, the Vedic Goddess. http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/MarkusTay/Ratri.jpg
Lord Karsus 01-01-08, 10:12 PM	I kind of thought of her as a darker version of Ratri, the Vedic Goddess. http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y178/MarkusTay/Ratri.jpg -I was thinking Kali, myself.
GothicDan 01-01-08, 10:32 PM	She seems like pieces of everything - or her own being, from a very broad archetype. Same diff., really. You made an all encompassing, categorical statement, young one. You could have said native to the realms. Kezef is also the Chaos Hound.... When I wrote "Chaos" with a capital C, I meant it - I was referring to the proper noun, the Greek primal divine being that preceded actual gods. I didn't mean a more abstract concept of chaos (which wouldn't be capitalized, in my opinion). So there, old one. ;)
MarkusTay63 01-01-08, 11:11 PM	-I was thinking Kali, myself.Believe it or not, Kali is more like Hoar, with a tiny bit of Chauntee thrown in (Black Earth Mother). She's about Vengeance, not Darkness. So Shar's like Ratri and Entropy combined, with a smidge of Xiombarg. I can definately see Lolth and Kali being the same god, in a 4e Universe.
Lord Karsus 01-01-08, 11:30 PM	Believe it or not, Kali is more like Hoar, with a tiny bit of Chauntee thrown in (Black Earth Mother). She's about Vengeance, not Darkness. -Kali is a dark, brooding figure concerned about total annihilation. That Shiva often subdues/counters/calm Kali further enforces the "Shar connection". There is more to Kali than just that- her nurturing side, for example. -I don't know about Lolth, by Kali is certainly a CN deity.
XHereticX 01-01-08, 11:34 PM	I was thinking either Hecate or Nix from the Greek Pantheon, with some influence from Tiamat (the Babylonian deity mind you, not the 5-headed LE D&D dragon goddess)
MarkusTay63 01-02-08, 12:41 AM	-I don't know about Lolth, by Kali is certainly a CN deity.But they both have eight apendages, and consider themselves a 'mother figure' to a certain ethnic group, wanting to destroy the other group that oppresses them. There are some striking similarities, when you look hard enough. Ritual sacrifice, priests (priestesses) as murderers, etc...
Rinonalyrna Fathomlin 01-02-08, 03:10 PM	Which makes me laugh a little more over the recent debacle in which she made Mystra look like the surprised/foolish one. Way to go, team. Thinkin' the same thing.
Kenzuki 01-02-08, 04:04 PM	I don't think it was so hard to believe that two Greater Gods could have conspired and carried out an assassination of another Greater God. Midnight as Mystra was still learning the ropes so to speak anyway wasn't she?
GothicDan 01-02-08, 04:25 PM	She had pretty much fully subsumed the experience and knowledge of the former Mystras by this point. On the other hand, Cyric was the newbie - he didn't pick up any experience of former deities, directly.
Kenzuki 01-02-08, 04:37 PM	She had pretty much fully subsumed the experience and knowledge of the former Mystras by this point. On the other hand, Cyric was the newbie - he didn't pick up any experience of former deities, directly. Apparantly he didn't need to to kill Mystra. I still say that two greater gods could pretty much kill another greater god if they ganged up on it. Just makes sense to me.
XHereticX 01-02-08, 04:38 PM	She had pretty much fully subsumed the experience and knowledge of the former Mystras by this point. On the other hand, Cyric was the newbie - he didn't pick up any experience of former deities, directly. As was Kelemvor (well, he had Jergal). Gee, I don't get why out of all the gods they decide to whack, that lamebrain Kelemvor wasn't one of them. Seriously, I want Myrkul or Orcus back, or maybe even make Jergal a greater deity again.
Kenzuki 01-02-08, 04:39 PM	As was Kelemvor (well, he had Jergal). Gee, I don't get why out of all the gods they decide to whack, that lamebrain Kelemvor wasn't one of them. Seriously, I want Myrkul or Orcus back, or maybe even make Jergal a greater deity again. I could get behind Jergal as the Greater God of Death and the Dead.
GothicDan 01-02-08, 05:20 PM	Apparantly he didn't need to to kill Mystra. I still say that two greater gods could pretty much kill another greater god if they ganged up on it. Just makes sense to me. It's possible, but not probable, given that it wasn't just 2 against 1. It was Cyric and Shar versus Mystra and all of her allies and their portfolio senses.
MarkusTay63 01-02-08, 05:41 PM	That made me laugh :rofl: I just pictured Savras saying: "Mistress, my portfolio senses are tingling". :D
Kenzuki 01-02-08, 05:42 PM	It's possible, but not probable, given that it wasn't just 2 against 1. It was Cyric and Shar versus Mystra and all of her allies and their portfolio senses. If you're talking about the three stooges of magic (Azuth, Velsharoon, and Savras) they aren't to par with a Greater God much less the mechinations of two. The gods of secrets and illusions must have had a great scheme. Also why did Savras die but the other two lived?
XHereticX 01-02-08, 05:43 PM	What did happen to Cyric anyway? I will find out when I get aGHoTR but I woudn't mind knowing now.
GothicDan 01-02-08, 05:43 PM	Who said I was? The destruction of the Weave would affect the followers of just about every deity negatively, according to Ed Greenwood's words - Wild Magic storms, widespread destruction resulting from them, inability to properly cast magic. It'd be like the Time of Troubles, only worse, and not ending until a new 'system of magic' was established. Chauntea herself would have foreseen this and and should have had a say.
Kenzuki 01-02-08, 05:47 PM	The gods aren't all knowing. I think this was shown when they all got a lession in humility during the Time of Troubles.
Stigger 01-02-08, 06:36 PM	Yes, and of course I'm sure they didn't learn their lesson and continued on blithely ignoring the world in favor of going on with the soap opera that is their existance...
Kenzuki 01-02-08, 06:54 PM	Yes, and of course I'm sure they didn't learn their lesson and continued on blithely ignoring the world in favor of going on with the soap opera that is their existance... so they became incapable of mistakes right?
XHereticX 01-02-08, 07:32 PM	Yes, and of course I'm sure they didn't learn their lesson and continued on blithely ignoring the world in favor of going on with the soap opera that is their existance... Hey, that was how the Olympians lived too. Zeus with his 265 flings :rolleyes: ,
Kenzuki 01-02-08, 07:35 PM	The Olympian gods and Asgardian gods were capable of mistakes of this nature, what makes the Faerunian gods better? Unless you want to make them like the Judaeo-Christian God or Allah and make them all powerful, all knowing, and perfect in every way possible. If not than yeah they are basically people with divine powers.
Stigger 01-02-08, 07:46 PM	No, hardly incapable of mistakes, but making them out to be humans with more power cheapens the idea of deities to me. One of the many reasons I'd have ditched the Olympian deities myself had I lived then... with deities like that who needs enemies? As to what makes them better... nothing per se, I just think its an idiotic concept for defining deities. Why bother worshipping them if they act like spoiled children and morons afterall... I'd prefer them presented in a comprehendable and intelligent manner, rather than as a bunch of people on the Jerry Springer show. You don't need to be perfect to not act like a fool.
Kenzuki 01-02-08, 07:52 PM	No, hardly incapable of mistakes, but making them out to be humans with more power cheapens the idea of deities to me. One of the many reasons I'd have ditched the Olympian deities myself had I lived then... with deities like that who needs enemies? As to what makes them better... nothing per se, I just think its an idiotic concept for defining deities. Why bother worshipping them if they act like spoiled children and morons afterall... I'd prefer them presented in a comprehendable and intelligent manner, rather than as a bunch of people on the Jerry Springer show. You don't need to be perfect to not act like a fool. So one mistake and suddenly it's the end of the world? What about all the other mistakes the other gods have done?
Stigger 01-02-08, 08:02 PM	One mistake? Not following you there. To be honest, I don't like much of anything that has been presented thus far involving direct interaction with the deities, and for the most part have resolved to ignore it for the most part, and just handle things the way I think they should have been in the first place. Not that I haven't always done that, but I've decided that I'm going to start a pre-ToT campaign just to get the bad taste out of my mouth from all of this garbage. What WotC and the authors do with the deities no longer concerns or interests me to be frank about it.
Kenzuki 01-02-08, 08:27 PM	One mistake? Not following you there. To be honest, I don't like much of anything that has been presented thus far involving direct interaction with the deities, and for the most part have resolved to ignore it for the most part, and just handle things the way I think they should have been in the first place. Not that I haven't always done that, but I've decided that I'm going to start a pre-ToT campaign just to get the bad taste out of my mouth from all of this garbage. What WotC and the authors do with the deities no longer concerns or interests me to be frank about it. I suppose that would be the easy way out of course.
Uzzy 01-02-08, 09:26 PM	As others have said, the closest real life deity to Shar would have to be Nyx/Night from the Greek Pantheon, though only in the sense that she's primordial and really, really powerful. Which is the way I've always liked to use Shar. There was a reference to Nyx in the Dan Simmons novel Olympos, which I often use in my head as picture/description of Shar.
Khaelieth 01-07-08, 05:46 PM	And emos gathered around the world to create their own god after God had banished them from Heaven. Their god was Shar.
MarkusTay63 01-07-08, 09:19 PM	Maybe she is the multi-spheric entity known as Entropy, and her followers are the Doomgaurd. (http://www.deathstar.org/~krlipka/ps/people/npc/organization/dgindex.html)