Evernight is Neverwinter’s reflection on the Shadowfell, but it’s also a city in its own right, inhabited by a large number of undead and undead-adjacent people (cultists, necromancers, and the like). This book doesn’t go too deep into its history, but it does give me the impression Evernight has existed for a long time. It was probably described in a previous edition when the Shadowfell was called “the plane of Shadow”.

Evernight is ruled by a Tribunal composed by its most influent citizens, all of whom are ghouls and ghasts who worship Orcus and his exarch Dorensain. The Tribunal makes the laws and settles disputes. It does the latter by deciding who is right and eating the loser.

The city is very dangerous for living mortals who aren’t citizens, though it’s a bit less dangerous than you’d think. Only its vampire and ghoul inhabitants feel the need to feed on the living, and since the ambient energies of the Shadowfell help sustain them this happens much less often than it would in the world. Mortals and undead alike can apply for citizenship. Mortal citizens gain legal protection from random attacks on the street, though they should probably keep their token of citizenship within easy reach at all times. Living merchants who pass through the city on the way to other locations can also acquire tokens of safe passage.

The legal status of a mortal who doesn’t have any of that can best be summed up as “fresh meat”, but even that isn’t an automatic death sentence. Undead who see the living brazenly walking down the streets of Evernight tend to assume they belong there, and will only challenge that assumption if given reason to be suspicious. Such as when the “tourists” make horrified faces at the deeply fucked up stuff that happens in the city’s routine unlife.

There are no official portals between Evernight and Neverwinter, but the planar membrane separating the two is awfully thin and becomes fully permeable in certain places known as “dusk crevices”. These crossings link a place in Evernight to its corresponding worldly location, which is always in dim light or darkness. Some are fixed, some temporary or mobile. They’re the true cause of most spooky stories about disappearances in Neverwinter since before the Spellplague. Mortals who fall through these crevices into Evernight make up a significant portion of the diet of its ghoul and vampire population.

Despite its (literally!) ghoulish culture and society, Evernight is a major Shadowfell trade hub, so it often sees passing caravans that link it to other settlements in the plane. One of the trade routes passing through here is the Shadowfell Road, a mystical path that has a ritual component. It only exists if approached and traversed in a very specific way. The Thayans use it to supply the Dread Ring, and the Tribunal allows them to use it for that purpose because the Thayans pay them in people. A similar arrangement allows the Netherese to maintain an embassy in the city and use their own share of trade and supply routes.

Part of the reason the Tribunal accepts these deals is that both factions represent powerful nations who are very adept at necromancy, but the ghouls still draw the line at permitting hostilities within city limits. Evernight is neutral territory, and violating this edict is one of the things that would cause the Tribunal to take drastic action against the rule-breaker. In practice that means conflict within the city takes the form of sordid spy stories of intrigue and assassination.

The city did suffer some changes during the cataclysm. A reflection of the Chasm, known locally as the Demon Pit, opened up in the corresponding Shadowfell coordinates. And while the eruption of mount Hotenow was a quick affair in the world, its shadowy counterpart continues to expel a slow and steady stream of lava that flows through the equivalent of the Neverwinter River’s bed. Sometimes you can see crew-less ghost ships sailing the lava, docking in abandoned piers, and leaving after a few days. All of the other horrific stuff we’ll see in the following posts was already there before that.

Impressions

Evernight comes as a bit of a surprise to me, since I think it was only mentioned in one place in the book before this section and that mention didn’t hint at the full scope of the thing. I’m guessing old FR hands already know all about it, though.