Shade

INTRODUCTION

The first 'true' Shade Rilath Illwindior was an already enlightened mage of Aegis who received a boon directly from Iblees as an error, akin of that of the Undead, which grained their power directly from Iblees while losing their souls; they become hollowed perceptions of their old selves with the mentality and personality of their old selves, but acted under Iblees' will; proxies of Iblees. Brainwashed.

The creation of later Shades was a faulty attempt to reproduce the so-to-called blessing Rilath received through utilizing his Aura as a parasite to corrupt other’s Auras and later with the creation of the first Shade Gem which contained a vast amount of his tainted Aura. Yet Rilath was the only true Shade, the rest false imitations of the original. Thus the main drawback of a split personality that seaks only destruction and mayhem. And hence the reason Rilath was the only one who didn't endure it as Iblees continuously attempted to seduce Rilath with the belief he can grant more power to the greedy Magi.

The magic itself works from ones mana and aura, drawing upon it and the things around it and corrupting it. This corruption comes in the form of a thick black shadowy smog that the wielder then forms into a shape(IE:Tendril). The Shade also has the ability to corrupt its other magics, such as Cognitism and Air evocation.

The way a Shade is made is through the corruption of the prospective shades aura. This is different then the shade corrupting someone's aura to create shadow. The way this is done is by a powerful Shade almost completely corrupting the perspectives aura and inserting a small piece of their Shade into them. From there the “Shade baby” will continue to grow and corrupt the rest of the persons aura.

DEFINITIONS

Aura

To begin understanding Shades and their magic we must first grasp an understanding of Aura. Aura is a by-product of mana. It is invisible and exists in all living things where mana is present. A tree obviously has an aura, but also dirt that brings forth grass, flowers or crops also has an aura, though only very little because the amount of mana in dirt is exceedingly low. Whereas an iron sword does not have an aura because it has been reshaped at the hands of mortals from its natural state into something without mana.

Aura can be thought of as steam where mana is heat. Mana is naturally produced over time and the presence of a soul means that the available pool of mana is enough for use in magic. Magic burns up mana which will create more aura in a short space of time. In the case of Void based magics, the magical thing that is formed will produce an aura for the time that it exists in this realm. Mana being similar to physical energy for mages, it will restore with rest.

The specifics of an Aura are determined by the alignment of the soul from which it comes. In soul-less living things (nature) the amount of aura is not quantifiable for alignment to hold any purpose, however it could be assumed that nature’s alignment would be Neutral. A good way to think about an aura’s alignment is by colour (as in Arcane Evocation). An individual’s soul is drawn to carry out deeds according to its alignment. It is possible for this alignment (and thus aura) to change permanently over time from opposing actions. However this would require a transformation of the soul, as the natural recouping of mana will revert to the soul’s default aura.

Shadows

The magic of the Shade is taking aura and transforming it into a malleable material known as ‘shadows’. A Shade’s aura is thickly tainted and hangs upon them heavily. It takes very little effort for this to be transformed into a dark mist or a hard sphere, and when it takes on a physical form they are able to manipulate it around as though it were their own limb.

Shadows exist initially as a thin smoke and can be made thicker and firmer as more of it is compressed together. Many Shades choose to shape their shadows into tendrils because the size and weight makes them a good combination of firmness while still retaining accurate control over movement. As long as a shadow is attached to a Shade they will maintain control, however once that connection has been severed (ie a sliced tendril or a thrown orb) the shadow will slowly revert to an invisible mist.

A Shade’s tainted aura is passively infectious, and when focussed upon it, a Shade can take someone else’s aura and corrupt it so that it becomes material for their shadows. In this way, a Shade can continue using their magic without the exertion of their own energy. All shadows are formed by the Shade’s own taint, so any shadows crafted from another’s aura will be done so by the Shade on their physical person. This means that a victim who is the source of aura for shadows will need to be fairly close to the Shade; and that all shadows will come from the Shade themselves and not from the victim (except perhaps for exhibition purposes).

The corruption of another’s mana is temporal. It takes the ‘steam’ (from earlier example) and transforms that into shadows. Because the Shade takes someone’s aura from them, there would be no repercussions of an aura becoming tainted.

Taint/Corruption/Infection

While a Shade doesn’t borrow the aura but taints it, they impression upon someone’s soul a gravity towards strongly chaotic neutral

When a Shade forces such an extreme quantity of corruption upon someone as to purposefully alter their aura permanently, the Shade temporarily sacrifices not only their own power, but a part of their Shade personality (more information in next section). By this process a Shade is able to corrupt someone’s aura so that, with some guidance, that person may too become a Shade. A tainted soul is a difficult thing to fix, though it is definitely possible. Deity magics that heal mortals also heal the soul and attempt to revert it to its natural state.

Not just any healer is capable of removing a Shade’s taint though. It is a very time-taking and tiresome effort that will require someone more experienced in their healing magic than the Shade is at theirs. If the Shade taint is not completely eradicated it will return again, just as aura reverts to its alignment.

If the taint is left alone to flourish within the now corrupted individual it will develop into a Shade Personality. The sign that one is truly on the road to becoming a Shade.

Shade Personality

A tainted aura is initially not too much to worry about. However if it is not seen to, the corruption upon your soul will seep into your mind. Once there the corruption will build itself around your personality, discovering every weak point and pulling away as an independent personality. The Shade Personality is specific to you and will only ever be experienced by you. It exists as a devil on one’s shoulder, whispering negativity, self deprivation and madness. Shade Personalities are not evil, nor are they in any way organised. Their only goal is to create chaos in all things, starting with the host, but also using the host as a device of chaos. They are completely individualistic and likely don’t even realise the existence of other Shade Personalities as their understanding of the universe is within one person. This, however, does not mean that they cannot plan, just that the plan would be haphazardly put together.

Once the Shade Personality has fully matured and taken its place on a Shade’s soul, it will begin feeding on mana. The infestation overclocks a soul’s production of mana so that the Personality can create its own supply of ‘food’. The by-product of mana being spent is of course aura, which means that as a Shade Personality grows stronger, it produces for its host a more expansive supply of corrupted aura. As the Shade Personality eats practically all additional mana that it produces from the soul, a Shade is no better at ordinary magic because of it, as the remaining mana would be virtually the same as before being corrupted.

For a Shade to impress their tainted aura upon another with the intent of corrupting their victim’s soul, some of the Shade Personality is broken away. For the victim, their own life will be influenced for a few days by an occasional self destructive whispering until the taint has time to settle in and create its own Shade Personality. For the Shade, their strength would temporarily dwindle requiring rest to restore tainted mana, but their Shade Personality would be mentally unstable for that rest period. Often this would go unnoticed but depends upon the amount of Personality fractured in the process of corruption. A more experienced Shade may not need to sacrifice as much of themselves when corrupting a victim. As the Shade Personality is established from tainted aura, it will restore itself with time. Perhaps it will never be the same again, but because it grows from the Shade’s personality the restored version would have no reason to differ from the original.

Shade Gem

The Shade Gem is a sinister object akin to a pool of unrelenting blight; it cannot be fractured, only destroyed with enough relentless force. A Gem forged from the chaotic forefathers of Shades, the Shade Father, can only be made possible with two, and pertains enough corruption to stain the minds of others in frightful terrors, and should they wield the Gem long enough they will come to fear it, and their soul will be rooted upon by a Shade born from the Gem itself. Forging a Gem is no easy feat, with the two Fathers taking three days of consistent preparation before the process may begin. The catalyst to creating the Gem would be an object produced from the implosion of a Void Node, the ‘Ore’ which is a clean crystal with an aura; how this aura is produced, is uncertain. Then, the Shade Father would draw forth their aura and imbue the Ore with their corruption, encompassing it in a frightful display of shade blight. The ritual from hereon could go either way, resulting in a dreadful explosion with the possibility of maiming, if not slaughtering the two Fathers, or they successfully forge the Shade Gem which pertains an immense power akin to Rilath’s Shade Gem. Should they fail, it is entirely possible that a breach tears open into the fabric of reality, a gateway between the void and mortal realm which permits voidal horrors and their ill-minded ilk to roam freely without the hinderance of the eternal abyss.

Should they succeed, the Gem has been forged and is even portable albeit cannot be carried like one could a phylactery; the Gem emanates a transparent aura that is capable of lulling those nearby into a temporary state of madness akin to an ancient Shade that has succumbed to the terrors of its shadow. Wise would be the man to keep the Gem safely locked, and hidden away. The Gem’s power is equivalent to that of Rilath’s original Shade Gem albeit is weak at first, the Gem continuously produces the aura which the empowered blight feasts upon.

Red lines:

-The Gem cannot be consistently carried, and must be stowed away in a secure location.

-Any creation of a Gem must be approved via the LT, or they must be notified of a Gem’s creation.

-This revision will mean that any pre-existing Gems will simply fade away due to the lack of a surplus power fueling it.

-The Gem, is not a pet, and cannot be treated as such; it can be mounted upon a stave and temporarily used to boon one's power albeit significantly increases the curse temporarily, if not permanently. (for conquered Shades it has a chance of fracturing the soul to the extent that the pre-existing Shade can sluggishly seep out, igniting the curse once more. This, however, is an extremely low chance, and is only permittable if the Gem is power gamed, and abused.)

THE MAGIC

What a does a Shade actually do? Aura is tainted by their own corrupted aura and becomes a tangible black mist. This mist is able to be manipulated by the Shade and compressed into different forms. The more compressed the aura mist is, the harder the shadow will be. So a Shade will gather together some aura and then form before them the desired shape. Shadows that come from the Shade themselves do not need to be created from mist, instead the desired form can be moulded out of shadow as it is formed, i.e. a tendril will appear to grow out from the Shade, appearing from thin air.

So long as a shadow remains attached to the Shade’s tainted aura it can be controlled as though it were an additional limb. While close to the Shade, the shadows form and viscosity can also be altered as more or less aura is compressed into the thing. Thereby mist can be formed into a sludge or hardened like a rock, and is alterable at any time that the shadow is close to the Shade. As a formed shadow moves further away from a Shade the finite control is lost and the “limb’s” end will be flung about as the base attempts to move it, as well as its form being unable to continue altering. Once a shadow is no longer connected to the Shade the thing will drop to the ground and slowly return to its natural state of aura mist. However this may take some minutes.

For a Shade to produce shadows out of their own aura requires much more aura than an ordinary pool of mana is capable of producing. Thus, while the Shade Personality seems to be merely a defect, it is, in fact, the source of great power. The infection upon the soul overclocks mana production so that there is a constant supply of corrupted aura available. Without this additional supply a Shade would very quickly exhaust themselves by burning through mana, while the experienced Shade has a pool of corrupted aura available from their hungry Shade Personality.

If you are borrowing aura then magic emotes will start with a black mist, but if you are using your own supply of aura and forego the emote of creating mist then be sure to include a ‘tell’. A commonly used tell for Shade magic is the whites of eyes turning dark so that eye sockets contain nothing but black.