Dark Powers

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In the deepest corners of the Shadowfell there dwell restless and uneasy powers aligned to the darkness of that terrible plane. Even the wisest sages of the natural world know little of these Dark Powers, and the denizens of the Shadowfell do not speak of them, lest they draw their attention (and wrath). What little is known is that these entities often command the obedience of undead horrors of all stripes, and that they have little power or influence in the natural world save through those undead, or the few dark-pact warlocks who call on their profane names.

Known Powers

  • The Raven Queen: The queen over Gauntpeak, imbricate with Liminal. Her followers all seem to be greatly loyal to her, loving her sovereignty and person fiercely. Her domain is filled with ravens, who are said to act as her eyes and ears throughout her domain, the Ravenmarches.
  • The Barrow-King: A dwarven king of shadows and dust, the Barrow-King rules over his fallen mountain dominion, a master of crawling pale things and the ghosts of dwarves long past. He is greatly rich in gold and gems, for his people toil tirelessly, driven even past the point of death by the dwarven lust for such things.
  • The Dreaming Monarch: In the Spires of the Bonewood, there sleeps the ancient elven power called only the Dreaming Monarch. His forest remembers the ancient days of elf-kind, and those woods are haunted by recollections and the souls of elves who gave in to despair.
  • The Master of the Shire: No one truly knows who the Master of the Shire is, save that he is likely a halfling. As a result, the folk of this place are unfailingly polite to strangers, offering hearth and supper to those that need it. There is a fearful wariness in their hospitality, however.
  • The Corsair: An undead pirate king, the Corsair's ghost-ships are often seen along the coasts of Rinhony's Shadowfell, and his dominion's waters are terribly dangerous. It is said that being landbound is no protection from his spectral fleet, for he can summon mists that creep across the land, and allow his ships to sail out of it once those fogs settle over any large body of water, no matter how far from the sea.
  • The Final Breath: Exactly who or what it is that rules this freezing dominion is unknown, save that its inhabitants - fur-clad shadar-kai, for the most part - claim that its touch freezes the blood and steals the last breath from the lungs of the living.
  • The Witch-Queen of Fellwind Citadel: Said to be terrifyingly beautiful and filled with sorcerous wroth, the witch-queen's dominion is quite large and often wracked by storms that reflect her emotions. She is said to be a shapeshifter without compare, assuming the forms not of people, but of the darkest of beasts.
  • The Lurker 'neath the Mountain: In the burning depths of Mount Xarigost dwells this Dark Power. His lands are peopled by those that dwell in the valleys, a xenophobic people who feed law-breakers and interlopers to the fires of their lord's mountain.
  • The Pale Wyrm: A great and ghastly undead dragon, its scales leached of all hue by the passage of centuries, the Pale Wyrm rules a great dominion of land and sea alike. For the most part, he leaves those he rules alone, slumbering for decades at a time, but when he wakes, his terrible hunger must be assuaged.