Monks of the Dark Moon are members of a sect of sorcerer-monks who have dedicated themselves wholly (mind, body and soul) to Shar, the Lady of Loss. Through diverse training, skills, and absolute devotion to their Lady, they serve as her assassins, enforcers, and shadowy agents. The organization's leaders have direct contact with Shar, and are not subject to the authority or will of her clergy. The Order of the Dark Moon is a completely independent organization, which gives Shar an incredible range of talents to call upon in times of need. This status gives them the freedom they need to train in their particular skills, to focus on their devotion to Shar, and to ready themselves for the instant she calls them into action.

Monks of the Dark Moon serve the Mistress of the Night by carrying out tasks she prefers not to assign to her ordinary clergy. They strike at Shar's enemies with lightning swiftness and terrifying lethality . The Lady of Loss can be sure that her monastic disciples undertake any order she may give them with extraordinary zeal, whether her whim be sabotage, espionage, or murder. Her monks have proven time and again to be Shar's "ace in the hole," most particularly against her hated sister, Slune, and her rival, Loviatar.

Throughout the past 10 years, Loviatar has been making inroads into part of Shar's traditional territory (that being the domain of Suffering). Due to Shar's normal clergy's apparent lack of success in stopping these incursions, she decided she required a different type of fighting force for special missions. Shar conceived a disciplined and loyal monastic order which would serve as her elite task force when her needs included subtlety, infiltration, or assassination.

The Monks of the Dark moon began their existence in the city of Parskul, in an imposing, grim monolith of stone, built by commission from Shar's most trusted mortal servant, Alorgoth, the Bringer of Doom. Alorgoth searched the lands far and wide to find individuals perfectly suited for Shar's purposes in the forming of this new monastic order, picking from among young adults who had manifested sorcerous power or potential, who had not yet been ordained as part of Shar's clergy. As for the shrine itself, its existence is known to all, but what goes on within its walls is one of the most guarded secrets of the order. There are only two options for those who enter the shrine to train: become a faithful servant of the Lady of Loss, or end up serving as a living training dummy for those within. The shrine's deadly reputation is well-known particularly within the ranks of Shar's clergy, most of whom refuse to enter it at all.

Since the founding of the original monastery, the Monks of the Dark Moon have spread across Faerun, establishing shrines and safe havens wherever they go. A shrine beneath the northwestern foothills of the Sword Mountains serves as a base of operations for order members operating in the northern Sword Coast. Dark Moon monks in Cormanthor and the Moonsea operate out of a desecrated shrine to Selune on the southern edge of Cormanthor. A mountain base at the summit of one of the Thunder Peaks, which is guarded by a clan of manticores who have been converted to the Sharran faith, serves as a recruiting post for Sembian and Cormyrian aspirants to the order. The most stoic and doughty of the monks of the Dark Moon hail from a monastery hidden deep in the Calim Desert in a buried series of tunnels scoured out of a hill by the blasting sands of this tormented land; only individuals of extraordinary constitution and willpower are even able to reach it.

Like the church of Shar, the monks of the Dark Moon follow and obey a strict heirarchy. Failure to follow the orders of a superior is grounds for execution. Most of the monks of the Dark Moon are human, but others include a few half-orcs, drow, tieflings, and a shade or two.

The "common" monks refer to each other as Dark Brother or Dark Sister. Senior monks are called Dark Father or Dark Mother, and are primarily responsible for the rigorous physical and mental training of the lower-ranked monks, as well as their preliminary religious indoctrination. The senior-most monk in any monastery is referred to as Dark Father Abbot, or Dark Mother Abbess. They lead the monasteries, and are the hearts and souls of the order, receiving their orders directly from Shar, though never undertaking missions personally unless Shar commands it. The Abbots and Abbesses convene once each year at the Temple of Old Night in Calimport to meet with the ranking clerics of the deity.

Perhaps the greatest strength of the order is its unity of purpose. The sole purpose of the existence of the monks of the Dark Moon is to serve Shar. They are more fanatical than members of her clergy, and strive to emulate the important tenets of Shar's dogma in all things. Being hopeless and remorse as individuals, they find spiritual fulfillment in acting as a weapon in the hand of the Lady of Loss. Striving for perfection according to their religious beliefs is their only interest, aside from following out the Mistress of the Night's orders as passed down through their superiors. Betrayal of the order is unthinkable to the men and women who have taken the order's dark vows.

Though the Order of the Dark Moon and the church of Shar share the same goal, the monks' methods are less obvious and more selective. If the church is engaged in a long-term plan to overthrow a city government, the monks might slip into that city's chief government building, kidnapping or killing a designated target. The clergy might hire a thieves' guild to undermine a city's social order and turn followers of good deities toward Shar, while a squad of Dark Moon monks ambush a cleric of Selune in the same city, murder him, and leave his body for scavenging animals to dispose of.

For recruiting, the monasteries are highly selective, placing more value on quality than quantity. Recruits must meet a certain set of criteria in order to be considered. First, they must be a young adult. Second, they must be among the strongest in their faith, but cannot have taken an oath of priesthood. Third, and most importantly, recruits must have shown the potential to develop sorcerous abilities.

Monks of the Dark Moon do not accept any members who do not undergo their year-long training. Hopefuls are drawn from among those who are already indoctrinated into Shar's mysteries, but only those who show incredible devotion the Shar's ideals are ever admitted. The rigourous training and vile acts one must perform when recruited weed out most of the orders enemies, along with the weak and faint of heart. This training does not always produce powerful members, with some graduates not having yet mastered their martial or arcane abilities ebough to harness them on any given level. A member of Shar's faithful who was already a monk or sorcerer could be invited to join as long as they fulfill the three principals, and their training would focus on the type of skills they lacked.

Shar's allies are the monks' allies, and the decrees of the Lady of Loss motivate and drive the monks of the Dark Moon. They don't make alliances or enemies except as directed by Shar herself, and then only for her evil to be able to flourish. Even so, the leaders of local monasteries to not allow purposeful alienation of the common folk who live near their monasteries. The work of the Dark Moon is best carried out under the cloak of secrecy, and blatant or obvious maltreatment of commoners merely attracts the attention of self-righteous do-gooders, who must be eliminated before they endanger the security of the order. Some Dark Moon strongholds work to convince nearby settlements and communities that their members are just a group of peaceful ascetics. Cultivating friendly relations with the local populace often provides a level of camouflage otherwise unattainable, even through magical means.

Shar's enemies are the monks' enemies, and the Dark Brothers and Sisters strike when and where commanded, not dwelling on ethics or morals outside Shar's dogma. The Dark Moon monks harbor special hatred for followers and servants of Selune, Shar's sister. Their discipline permits them to resist the temptation to seek out personal vendettas or any other type of activity not expressly ordered by their superiors. When sent out on a mission, as long as a monk of the Dark Moon is still alive, they will contiue to attempt to carry out their orders, and will not stop until the task is complete, or the monk has died in the attempt.

(compiled information from Lords of Darkness and Champions of Ruin)