Shade

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Please note: The following information is scarcely known. As such, you cannot assume to be aware of this information unless taught about it in-character.

Artwork by Chriscold The Mother; Arun'Asna

Background

The Birth of Desolation

A great devilry brought forth in the time of Aegis - its very essence a corrupting twisting destroyer of all normalcy in the souls of those befallen - came, as all great evil does, from the principal chaos of our world, the Archdaemon Iblees.

During this age of darkness and strife many fought against the Archdaemon and his forces, spewing a deep hatred and zealous denial towards him and the chaos he sowed. A fair few, however, were deemed worthy of passing by his ire and were therefore brought forth to serve among his undead legions. One select soul, however, was chosen above all others, that of the Elf, Rilath Ilwindor, who became the first malign, the first Shade. What became of his soul was a unrecognizable ulterior to that which is norm. What was once a platform of untainted emotion became a dreadful hellscape of desolation and darkness. And yet Rilath, unlike all who would follow in his footsteps, never fell to the clutches of insanity of the Parasite for his mind was unable to resist its control.His consciousness was forever suppressed by the will of the creature within him, and so was born a powerful agent, a once-faithful servant of Iblees.

Rilath went forth into the world a being elevated beyond that of his former self. The creature which now walked among men hid a great stiring evil within him that desired to spread its being among those worthy of its curse. To achieve this end an artifact of indiscernible power was brought into existence, birthed of the Archdaemon and known as the Shade Gem. This stygian stone was an amalgamation manifesting chaos and anger, bringing along the knowledge of creation of creatures infused with such destructive emotions. Using this artifact Rilath was taught to birth new Shades, bringing together the first Coven and all the while loosening Iblees’ influence over the Shades. Their autonomy in growth and direction was indubitable with the power to spread independent of Iblees. Too was born among the churning evil of the gem, the trapped Mother, Arun’Asna, a gathering of the warring emotions within, a whole greater than its parts.

Darkness in the Light

As time went on Arun’Asna lay within the first shade gem, and every gem created thereafter, her essence split between each gem acting as the conduit through which all new Shades are born and ushered beyond the limitations of their initial birth. The stagnancy of this life became an unbearable force perpetually eating away at Arun’Asna, her desire to ascend to something greater was a great impetus, known and demanding action. The offspring of chaos, a child indirect of the Lord Daemon, her ambition knew few bounds and her yearning for anarchic repute rejected permiancy to her state. The ample power of the Forebearers was beyond understanding for most, and yet was understood perfectly to her. The Daevas knew few blockades in their work, mundane or magical. Knowing one great sacrifice was all required to elevate her state of being; She recalled the gifted power and snapped the connection between her and her forbearing children, thus ushering the Shades into a new era. With this restored power, Arun’Asna stepped forth and ameliorated herself from the prison of the gems, bringing her being into one omnipresent before all Shades, now freed fully from the cage of stagnancy she had been born into.

As consequence for her actions those who once knew themselves as her chosen, the Forebearers, were returned to the nightmarish existence they had once freed themselves from, knowing not if they would one day return to their thrones. The rush of voices, the return of the call for evil and never ending chaos came upon them like a great tidal wave, quite suddenly returning them to the true insanity of Shadedom. All were made equal beneath the watchful eye of the ascended Arun’Asna, unchained Mother of all Shades. She heralded her children to unity. Her voice echoed across the cords that formed the web intertwining the gems and Shades. Her children and their Fathers were gifted a clear path forward. So were set in stone the tenants serving to weed out all poor fools who believed themselves free of directive. Arun’Asna sought obedience, for with the newfound nonexistence of Daeva she desired to keep the order they had once enforced, bringing such responsibility unto herself for the Fathers of the shades to carry out, stripping any reprobate children of their curse for their Parasites to be called back into the gem from which they came ensuing their annihilation.

Power Sources

Arun'Asna, Mother of Shades

The Harbinger of Tenebrous, the disembodied source of power and desolation of the Shade parasite. All Shade Gems link to Arun’Asna who purloined such responsibility and power into herself from what was previously uncontrolled churning chaos birthed by Iblees. The Shade Gems act as the conduit through which Arun’Asna beckons and acts. However, if a Shade Gem were to be destroyed, it would not mean the end of those connected to Arun’Asna, nor would it mean a debilitation of a Shade’s ability to utilize the boon. Any created Shade Gem allows for the full fledged connection of a new Shade to Arun’Asna regardless of through which gem this connection was formed, as well as the removal of a Shade parasite from the soul. The Shade Gems are not ultimately vital to the existence of the Shade curse as they serve but to allow Shades to ascend to the post of Shade Father and to broadcast to those afflicted with the Shade curse, an ability reserved for the Shade Fathers that effectively lets a message resonate within the minds of the Shades.

Mechanics
*Any formed Shade Gem acts as a conduit through which Shades ascend to the post of Shade Father, requiring a Shade to be connected to the Gem and through the Gem to Arun’Asna to ascend beyond tier three at which they are locked if they are not connected.

Redlines

*Arun’Asna is a sentient entity who communicates through her gems to all connected on extraordinarily rare cases. Her existence is something that must be explained ICly to new Shades as it does not come innately. While Shades may feel her presence they do not immediately understand it. Even Shade Fathers do not completely know who she is. If a player is removed or temporarily stripped of Shade magic OOCly, such as due to a blacklist, ban, or inactivity, Arun’Asna acts as the lore reason for their temporary or permanent disconnection or Amber connection removal. Arun’Asna is not housed within the current, nor within any Shade Gem that exists. Instead they are like air. You can’t see it, but it’s there.

The Shade Gems

A Shade Gem is vital to the long-term well being of a Shade Coven. While the destruction of one will not surely spell out doom for those connected through it, it will hamper some of its benefits. The main purpose of a Shade Gem is connecting newly formed or Half-Formed Shades to Arun’Asna entirely, with the Half-Formed Shade parasite acting as a “trial” of the sorts with a neutered growth and skillset of a regular Shade. Furthermore, a Shade Gem can be used to send a message to all Shades, but only if the one doing so is a Shade Father. A Shade Gem can be moved by any Shade Father The Shade Gem automatically corrupts mana en masse around itself in a spherical radius into Amber, and rends control of this to protect itself if need be. If a Shade, Shade Father, is close to a Gem, the effects can be either beneficial or counterproductive. Any distance less than five meters in any direction results in the Shade’s Amber slowly seeping to the Gem, weakening the Shade’s control and ability to manipulate Amber. Additionally, within this range Amber cannot be claimed to be controlled. However, past this distance up to twenty-five meters away the Shade and Shade Father experiences slightly more ease in controlling and converting Amber, with the closest and furthest expanses of this distance having a twenty percent increase in efficiency, while right in the middle of this “sweet spot” the Shade will experience up to double the usual ability and ease when casting Shade magic. However this is not an excuse to carry a Shade Gem around constantly to buff magic, but rather to make protecting one of these rare objects significantly easier given the heavy implications it holds in the magic. Finally, Shade Gems are formed when an imploded void node forms a substance known as ‘Ore’, which then must be corrupted with Amber by four Shade Fathers. Given the rarity of the substance, this process may be difficult to complete if not near impossible.

Mechanics
*To connect a half-formed Shade to a Gem a Shade Father (a shade with an accepted TA) must pull some of the amber infused into the Gem and unite it with the shade’s Parasite. This process takes three detailed emotes, one to pull the amber free, one to force the amber into the Shade and one for the Parasite to unite with the amber from the Gem.
*Shade Gems can be formed by four Shade Fathers, It can be lower if it’s a problem such as blacklists, bans, inactivity, etc, which the LT will have to give a verdict on.
*Shade Gems are used to fully connect a Shade that is “Half-Formed” to Arun’Asna, letting the parasite grow to its full potential.
*Shade Gems corrupt mana around them into Amber passively.
*Shade Gems can be used as mass messaging systems, although this is not to be abused.

Redlines
*A Shade Gem needs an MArt made to prove proof of knowledge on them, proof of creation, and documentation purposes. The current item for the Shade Gem is to be removed and remade in the passing of this lore. Any previous iterations of the Shade Gem are to be handled similarly.
*The Gem cannot be consistently carried, and must be stowed away in a secure location due to its mind-affecting properties. **If a Shade comes into contact with or within five meters of a Shade Gem, that is not a Shade Father doing so with the intent of moving it, the gem will start to drain their Amber, stripping the Shade entirely in 15 emotes. If fully drained it will require one IRL week of time to pass for the Shade to regenerate their lost amber. During this period their casting will be severely hindered, brought down to that like a Tier 1 Shade. **If a non-Shade comes into contact with or within five meters of a Shade Gem it will start to corrupt their mana at an accelerated rate, corrupting the entirety of their mana in only three emotes. The effects of the curse brought on by this quickened and severe corruption of mana is extremely tormenting for the non-Shade affected. They will be plagued with nightmares, voices and dark or evil thoughts on a constant basis leaving them often exhausted and lethargic. If a non-shade remains within five meters of a Shade Gem in excess of five emotes the mental and physical trauma brought on by the boosted amber growth and effects will cause them to go into cardiac arrest, almost assuredly leading to death.
*Movement of the shade gem requires one Shade Father to move/hold and cannot be maintained for more than one ooc hour without a substantial break.
*The Shade Gem CANNOT be kept in an enderchest or any non-accessible area. Doors, secret, locked, or otherwise, are an exception to this rule.
*Two or more Shade Gems can be kept in a close vicinity to one another so long as they are not within the amber-seeping range. Their amber-boosting effects do not increase with multiple Gems nearby a casting Shade.
*A Shade Gem’s destruction, while troublesome, is not to be immediately met with the disconnection of all connected Shades. Instead, only new fully fledged Shades can not be produced, nor can the messaging aspect of the magic occur.
*If a Shade Gem is destroyed, the connected Shades and Shade Fathers will be automatically bound to the Shade Gem made most recent to the destroyed one. **If no Gem exists, then a new one must be forged by the remaining Shade Fathers.
*Only three (3) Shade Gems can exist at once that function. However, spare gems can be prepared in case one of the preceding three are destroyed.
*The Gem is as durable and dense as diamond and is as big as an average human fist.

The Parasite of Rancour

The Parasite of Rancour is a being of raw Amber essence which comes to life within the soul and body of one afflicted with the Shade curse when one is bound to Arun’asna. In almost all respects the same as the affliction upon the soul, the key difference lies in an innate physical presence within the host, not one that can be quantified, but one that can be qualified. Blood courses through a man’s veins, yet the drops cannot be counted; such is the existence of the Parasite of Rancour. Comparing where this existence of Amber within a host begins and ends is akin to marking where the oceans meet the shores. It has end, yet to determine such is foolishness. Rather it is understood and agreed upon that while marking this spot is nigh impossible, it exists all the same. Such is the Parasite of Rancour, the physical embodiment of a Shade within the form of its host. It is this being that allows for Amber to be materialized from a mere concept of mana into a physical tenebrific substance, and it is this substance that gives birth to almost all of the abilities that one afflicted with a Shade may come to bear, but all things have its beginnings, and all things must first be raised…

Due to the parasite being attached to the host, the creature was able to feast upon the man or woman’s mana pool, letting its Amber convert the natural substance into more of the black potent ichor-like material. This allowed the host to use the Amber to their benefit and for the Shade to remain healthy. Yet, at the same time the Parasite latches its being to the soul of the host, corrupting the inherent nature of the man or woman and uses the host’s soul to influence the being in different ways.

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Hatchling Throughout a Shade’s life, it grows through multiple stages of power. In the beginning of its life, the Shade is referred to as a hatchling. The hatchling is but a small parasite which has begun to grow on the soul itself of the Host, and the body begins to physically manifest small quantities of mana into Amber latent within the body, but none of this can be manipulated or used yet. The hatchling stage is considered the most painful stage of the process of shadedom. Due to the discomfort and pain the hatchling causes to the host, the person affected by the hatchling could experience multiple different issues with their body. Seizures, vomiting, mood swings, fainting, and minor hallucinations are not uncommon when a hatchling begins its growth process within a user. The hatchling has begun to grow and harness the users mana to create more amber, yet this amber is unuseable, only able to be drawn forth but not shaped into objects or used for the abilities of a common Shade.

Shade Child The Shade has begun to vastly expand and grow within the host, yet it’s still a novice at learning how to cooperate with the body it resides within. The host will become more tolerant of the parasite within, yet every so often the side effects of a growing parasite will occur. However, the continual growth will expand until the child has reached its full growth. The user is able to manipulate Amber with the proper training and practice until they’ve mastered the usage of Amber and all of its uses. It is also at this stage that the host becomes mentally unstable and all the negative effects come into full force once the Shade has grown to its maximum size upon the soul.

Shade Father The Shade Fathers are the ones whom have studied and learned about their parasite to the fullest extent. They’re able to instruct and transfuse new, growing Hosts and Shades. Their influence over those Shades beneath them holds great power. While the presence upon the soul is no stronger than a fully grown Shade, the ability for the host to utilize the parasite itself is greatly improved for those that have achieved this stage. As a result, this is not a stage naturally achieved over time, but also one achieved with great practice. Finally, one that has reached this stage can make a bastardized version of a Shade parasite on another’s soul.

Interaction with Souls

Inferior Souls

Due to the intricate nature of the mind and spirit, the Shade curse does not affect all creatures equally or similarly. When the question of inferior souls - the souls of wolves, cats, parrots, or even snails - comes into play, the Shade curse affects such creatures and their souls differently.

First, creatures with inferior souls are able to be afflicted with the Shade curse. Despite this, this does not make the animal a hyper intelligent killing machine, but rather causes various behavioral and mental issues for the animal. Due to the chaotic nature of the Shade parasite most if not all animals will begin to suffer from the most horrendous effects of the curse, experiencing seizures, hallucinations, and other maladies. After the gestation period however, the parasite would be able to easily purloin command from the beast, effectively replacing the beast’s animalistic instincts with its own. This will make once loyal pet dogs quick to disobey their masters or tamed horses to buck and kick at their riders. However one ought to not misinterpret this significantly more violent nature to be newfound intelligence or understanding, as the Shade infected animal would still be limited to its significantly instinctual mental capacity. Because of the relatively weak willed spirit of the animal, it is very unlikely that once the Shade parasite domineers the being’s mind that the original soul will ever muster the strength to rise against and reclaim control of its form, not that the animal would know any better of what has transpired anyhow. The effects would be similar for animals that have their mana pools corrupted into Amber but not their souls. Unlike fully cursed animals though, the animal will not remain in such a state as the impure corrupted mana flakes away and is replenished quickly over time. As a result, a dog for instance may suffer a seizure and whimper in fear for an hour but then just as quickly return to normal.

As simple as it sounds, the challenge itself arrives when infesting an animal with a Shade parasite. While small animals are incredibly easy to contaminate with the curse, it gets significantly harder with larger animals. Horses and deer may struggle and try to flee, their instincts kicking in and sensing something is wrong with the corruption entering them. Even larger beasts, such as drakes and whales, would most likely flee or fight back resiliently against either being infected with a Shade parasite or even having their mana pools corrupted. This makes any effort to wreak havoc with larger animals hardly worth the effort, especially given that the animal would soon act sporadically and may just as easily seek to kill the one that cursed them even more than before they were tainted. So this renders it pointless to purposely curse larger animals for the sake of havoc and destruction - unless the source of this in question quickly flees - as it’d be a challenging task with little reward.

In terms of abilities, an animal bearing the Shade curse does not exhibit anything remarkable as one with a superior soul may exhibit, such as forming tendrils with edged tips. However the animal does benefit minorly, as they will gain a minor form of remedial healing from any sickness or wounds they suffer. An example would be if a cat were to cut itself while fighting with another cat, the one burdened with the venerable demon would have faint traces of Amber close its wounds and begin to heal to a greater effect than if it were to heal naturally. However this ability is only so limited, as it is automatic and intrinsic to the creature when it is injured and can not be shut off for any purpose, giving away its true nature if the beast were to be injured. Furthermore, it will not stave off death, for most lethal wounds will be far too much for the parasite to remedy on its own.

For simplicity’s sake, plants are unable to bear a Shade parasite. Furthermore, corrupting the latent mana in a plant will not produce any ill effects for the plant aside from any Druii attempting to commune with it. If a Druid attempted to commune with an animal with a corrupted mana pool, they’d be able to notice the animal was in a great deal of distress and suffering, the effect only increasing depending on how much of the beast’s mana is corrupted. If it were the case where the animal was infected with the Shade parasite entirely, then the Druid would be unable to commune effectively with the beast given the disruptive nature of the parasite upon the soul. Instead, akin to a mind mage entering the mind of a Shade, the Druid would almost if not always be met with horrid visions and screams the animal was enduring. Deeper levels of communion would cause nightmarish inflections upon the Druid, the chance for reprieve slim if at all possible for the animal and attuned Druid during the Communion.

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Souls Housed Outside of the Body

For Wights, there are some minor differentiations for how a Shade parasite affects the creature. Given that the parasite is a blemish upon the soul, and the soul is not encased within the actual form of the being, but rather externally in phylacteries. As a result, any attempts to purge the Shade parasite from the soul can not be done on the moving form, but rather only on the phylactery. Additionally due to the already corrupt nature of these objects and the souls they hold, holy magics would first destroy and damage them rather than purge the Shade parasite. Thus, purging the parasite of a Wight is nigh impossible, as the creature would first be killed, then be “saved” from the curse. When the phylactery of one of these creatures is destroyed or otherwise ceases to exist, so does the Shade parasite appended to the soul of the victim due to the severely limited state of the Soul following the destruction of its home.

Wights will not gain any benefit from remedial healing due to the non-mortal nature of a wight’s physical form. When husked however, they can choose to replicate this ability if they actively will it, but it is more exerting as it is less innate in the Shade parasite’s nature since it will not default to this behavior. Finally, as for the residual physical Amber in these beings bodies it is ingrained within their form, be it draughted, husked, or their regular selves.

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Spells, Powers, and Abilities

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