The Plane of Death

Where life arises and is driven forward by the Feywild, it ends up in the grim darkness of the Shadowfell. Without the Shadowfell to empty the Prime Material, ghosts and spirits would quickly overwhelm it. The Shadowfell is divided into nine precincts, divided by eight gates through which all ghosts must pass before passing into the Upper or Lower Planes. The ninth gate is the bridge to the Upper or Lower Planes.

However, numerous undead and baleful creatures make their homes in the other eight precincts, powerful liches commanding hordes of skeleton armies, great vampires hiding in their keeps, and reticent ghoules desperately wading against the current of the River of Death to escape their fate. One such entity is the Raven Queen, either an old Arch Fey exiled from the Feywild, or the Ancestor Goddess of a renegade clan of Elves called the Shadar-Kai. None are certain, for it has been endless cycles of reincarnation since the Shadar-Kai entered the Shadowfell, and the Raven Queen communes but sparingly with her people.