"It is the toxic plane of darkness and power. It is the hidden place that hates the light. It is the frontier of worlds unknown." The Plane of Shadow was one of the planes of existence in various cosmological models. Its purpose and characteristics evolved as new cosmologies were formulated. Other names for this plane included Shadowland , the Demiplane of Shadow , the Shadowfell , and simply Shadow . In 1385 DR, the Year of Blue Fire, Shar succeeded in engineering the murder of Mystra by Cyric, plunging the multiverse into years of upheaval and chaos called the Spellplague. The Elemental and Energy Planes collapsed into the Elemental Chaos but not before Shar managed to manipulate some of the necrotic energies from the Negative Energy Plane and inject it into the Plane of Shadow. Such was the power of this combination that the souls of the dead began to be drawn to this altered plane and had to pass through it before reaching their final judgment on the Fugue Plane. Shar called her new creation the Shadowfell. 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. The landscape is a dark, twisted echo of what existed on the Prime (Material Plane). 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 (sixty meters) 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 Shadow Plane 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. 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 Shadow Plane 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. 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 Shadow Plane could produce strange effects; significantly, forests of grasping tendrils sprouted from some surfaces and reached for passersby, similar to the black tentacles spell. The Shadow Plane was home to a mysterious form of undead called shadows; the most dominant race of beings on the Plane of Shadow were the shades—ancestors of ancient Netherese humans. 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 Shadow Plane and become trapped there. Shadow demons also inhabited this plane. Shadow sea serpents were not native to the Plane of Shadow but were bred there by the Shadovar (Nether), crossing warm-blooded carnivorous orcas with vile shadow creatures. Only two deities were known to have claimed the Plane of Shadow as their home - Mask and Shar (deities of Thieves and Darkness respectively). The shadow well spell, which could turn a creature's shadow into a temporary gateway into the Shadow Plane. If successful, the victim was sucked into the Shadow Plane through his or her shadow and spent a few moments in a pocket realm (a very tiny demiplane attached to the Shadow Plane) being terrorized by dark phantasms. No physical harm resulted from this spell, but mental and emotional trauma resulting in a fear response was possible.