As I promised more info about my faction, to be aproved by Edena, of course.
Actually Edena Torillian Church of Shadow is very closely aligned with Shade nation in the Plane of Shadow, called Shadow Empire. It is an alliance of a number of Shade enclaves and few powerful inviduals living there. Most of them were exiled from various Material Worlds, than corrupted by the Shadowstuff( see Shadow template in Manual of the Planes) some have undergone even more powerful transformations, ala Shade template in FRCS. they united for the purpose of getting revenge on "primers", they will return but as a conquerors, to forge a mighty extraplanar empire!
From the beginning they wanted Netherese Shade to join, for their magical might, yet High Prince Telamont was too proud to take a seat in the Shadow Council( more on it later) but during Industrial Revolution on Toril, Netherese tried to conquer the world, but failed and City of The Shade was besieged by overwhelwing forces. Then Prince Telamont requested for other Shade`s help and their came forward, having power level of over 200! , But even it was not enough, for the entire might of Toril stood against it ( actually many were busy fighting Mind-Flayers, but shade are not likely to mention it) with celestials on their side., who countered the plan to destroy Toril with Shadow Weave. After this war remmants of Netherese Shade, now led by Prince Rivalen, decided to join The Shadow Empire.
Meanwhile on Toril , churches of many evil Gods united, and so The Church of Shadow was created, called so because former clergy of Shar and Mask became dominant, for they aquired details of Shade transformation and many other dark secrets from Shade, in exchange for Torillian technology. Church soon became a dominant force of evil on Toril, working underground, using shadow magic, network of criminals and assasins, corrupted politians and doppelangers to further its dark goals. Now it is trying to divert Toril`s attention from Oerth and is planning to sabotage Torillian Network at the time IR begins( note to Edena).
Shadow Empire leaders researched how to best combine technology with magic and started to recreate their mighty army, greater than ever.
Most numeorous race in the Empire are humans, next to them Drow, while humanoids are mostly slaves. But there is also an entire Mind-Flayer enclave, a force of Dragons and a number of renegade fiends from Lower Planes who because of long dwelling on The Plane Of Shadow have many shadow qualities and mostly NE alignment, and of course there is a large number of undead, while intelligent undead, especially liches, are among the rulers of the Shade. Most of these beings have some variation of Shadow/Shade template, while fiends became something similar to Shadow Demons from 2nd edition, converted on this site.
Shadow Empire is ruled by the Shadow Council, whose members are called Shadowlords, there are seven members currently:
-Prince Rivalen, very powerful Wizard/Cleric(Shar)/Shadow Adept, who currently rules over Netherese Shade for his father was killed by Larloch during Torillian War.
-two Shade human liches( levels 30+)
- Mind Flayer Elder Brain
-a mighty Shadow Dragon
- very powerful renegade fiend of unknown origin, for shadowstuff has changed him too much.
- a Shade Drow, Wizard/Rogue, who currently leads Shade mission to Oerth.
There is soem backstabbing but Shadowlords know well they will gain more profit from cooperation.
As I said before Shade`s plan ISN`T to sent its armies to Oerth, for it would cause outside forces to interfere, especially celestials. Instead they sent few hundred capable agents, mostly Shade humans and Drow, led by Drow Shadowlord. They were allowed to take only technology from few first years of Torillian War from the fear that anything more advanced might cause outside intervention. They offered this technology, magically enchanted, to Scarlet Brotherhood, Solistarim and Pomajr Empire, if they would would align with them. They are trying to make peasants in the feudal kingdoms rebel by giving them advanced weapons. They are trying to ally with church of Nerull and invite those who seek power to join their ranks, ambitious mages are lured with the secrets of Shadow Magic. They are also trying to make some strongholds in Underdark.
Edena it seems there is a problem for I said, before Keralyn claimed The Drow, that current priority of Shade agents is to cause a rebellion among The Oerthian Drow against the Priestess of Lloth, so either Keralyn is my ally and has access to technology or I demand Drow to be split!
By the way could you post power levels for Torillian factions and seperate power levels for Church of The Shade on Toril, Shade armies in Plane of Shadow, and Shade mission on Oerth.
By the way what is the power level of Yogoloths from Gehenna in case I will have to implement Plan B( evil laugh)?