Explain Shar's philosophy to me
I'm currently playing an Origin Shadowheart run and trying very hard to roleplay based only on what she knows, not what I know as a player.
I've respecced her into a Death Cleric and I'm not playing her as a stereotypical evil necromancer.
My interpretation of her so far is:
- The artifact is my highest priority.
- Shar entrusted me with a mission.
- Most people are useful, dangerous, or irrelevant.
- Life itself is not sacred.
- My own survival matters because I need to complete the mission.
- Torture, murder, deception, etc. are acceptable if they help achieve my objectives.
- Trust must be earned.
- Companions are allies of convenience, not friends.
The more I learn about Shar, however, the more confused I become.
At first I thought Shar was about:
- discipline
- secrecy
- emotional control
- hierarchy
- self-sacrifice
- duty
Which honestly sounds pretty cool from a roleplay perspective. Dark Justiciars especially interest me because they seem like elite agents who place duty above personal desires.
But then I started thinking about Shar's philosophy more deeply.
Shar teaches that:
- love leads to loss
- hope leads to disappointment
- attachment leads to suffering
- everything is ultimately lost
If I follow that logic to its extreme conclusion:
- Why build a house? You'll lose it.
- Why have children? They'll die.
- Why love someone? You'll suffer.
- Why build a civilization? It won't last.
- Why seek power? You'll lose that too.
At that point Shar almost starts sounding less like a goddess of darkness and more like a goddess of cosmic nihilism.
And that's where I get stuck.
My question:
What is Shar's actual endgame?
Is her ideal world:
- A disciplined, secretive, hierarchical society ruled by devoted followers?
- A world where people simply stop attaching meaning to things?
- Complete darkness, loss and oblivion?
- Something else entirely?
And if Shar ultimately wants people to let go of attachments, isn't devotion to Shar itself an attachment?
Why do Dark Justiciars exist if the final philosophical destination is essentially "everything passes and nothing matters"?
Am I misunderstanding Shar completely, or is there a genuine contradiction between Shar's teachings and the actions of her followers?
I'd love to hear how other people roleplay a truly Shar-faithful Shadowheart. Especially those who chose to stay on the darker path rather than reject Shar.