Shade Guide!

[Moot 1719]

Credit goes to: Slic3man, and Kalamoot.

Thank you to Benji for the several beginning paragraphs, as it set a nice tone for Shades!

Thank you to Heerozero for looking over the clarification, and working with us to get this completed!

“Through twisting halls of cracked stone and seething shadows wanders a man swathed in garbs of black. Beneath the hood of the dreary figure, sickly yellow eyes twist and spin with a glazed expression of fear and a distinct, tortured alertness. Every shadow veils death, every corner hides a malicious entity. Figures too horrific to describe stalk his every move, but are unseen if the man dares to observe them. They lurk in the corners of his vision, the recesses of his mind, and haunt his every moment.

No solace is found in this man’s waking life, nor his unconscious one. Sleep is haunted by dreams of devilish torment and pain so real that it leaves scars not upon his body, but upon his mind and twisted soul. Death will not free him of his curse, and no holy magic may ever cure his tainted being. His only chance is to overcome his curse, of which is a nearly impossible task… Everlasting anguish and misery is this being’s cost for power, and he regrets it for every moment of his miserable, dreadful existence.”

As fire may burn those who manipulate it, so too may shadows haunt those who wield them. Though this being may will taint and darkness to flow from his fingertips, command them to twist and contort at his order, or even have them taint his other magics with the corruption that fills his soul… He will never forget that while he may utilize this as his greatest power; it is also his greatest torment.

This man wields the power of darkness itself, but as he controls it, so too does it control him. He and his ilk are known as Shades.

What is a Shade?

In simple terms, a Shade is a curse, a semi-sentient being of chaotic origin. Those whom utilize it are often called Shades, but this is in reference to what dwells within them; not what they are. Those who are infected with Shades are called Casters, but we shall move on to that in the next section.

Shades are beings of darkness, taint, and chaos; imperfect echoes of a gift which their creator- Rilath- was given by the Daemon Iblees himself. They may be viewed as a parasite that burrows its way into a mortal’s being; expanding and growing until it consumes the Caster in body, mind, and soul.

The Shade is both a blessing and a curse; granting control of shadows and taint, but also forcing the wielder into a relentless torment. In return for power, the Caster sacrifices their sanity and their happiness. In most cases, at least. The Shade feeds off of the aura and mana of it’s wielder, and of those around it; nurturing itself so that it may grow stronger, more capable of manipulating it’s wielder into carrying out its sole desire: Chaos. Not death, nor suffering… Simply chaos.

The Shade itself is not evil, nor is it good. The only innate trait of the Shade is a wish for chaos, and a malice towards the one whom it resides within. Shades take on aspects of the personality of the person they were created within. We will cover the creation of a Shade later in this post.

What is a Caster?

              A Caster is a mortal whom has been chosen to be the vessel of a Shade; granted power by it, but also cursed to suffer it’s wrath. Their existence is that of unending dread and torture at the wrath of the malicious being that infects their very soul. They may, in very rare cases, conquer their curse. However, the vast majority of these poor souls will fall victim to their Shade; lose all that made them who they once were, and become little more than a mindless creature of chaos. A puppet of the parasite that now controls them.
 

How Did Shades Come to Exist?

The original Shade boon gifted to Rilath by Iblees grants him control of taint, and even moreso, control of physically manifested darkness. Control of shadows that have become a physical force; visceral and dangerous. These powers allow him to corrupt the souls, minds, and auras of others; along with molding darkness and taint into all of his own abilities.

Upon being blessed by the Daemon Iblees, Rilath sought to recreate this gift so that he may bestow it upon others. Alas, the mortal, despite his power, was only able to create an imperfect reflection of the boon he himself has wrought. Where his grants only power, this false echo grants both power of a lesser extent, and incredible suffering for those whom it resides in.

How does the Shade affect the Host?

    Being imbued with such a force bares no good will for said person. This being said, the host is often lead astray by the separate entity that dwells within their soul. Those that take in or are afflicted with the Shade are often caught in the midst of many problems, many simulating the acts of insanity or horror. Recurring and horrid nightmares may seep into them as they attempt to sleep, terror-filled whispers, and mangled memories resurfacing to cause pain to the host.

    The Shade seeks control of that which it dwells, causing friction between both the host and the parasite rather often. When the host becomes weak, either mentally, physically, or both; the Shade may attempt to take control over their physical form as well as their consciousness. Even when unconscious through forceful means, the Shade may continue to protect the body it haunts as it fears its decimation as much as the assumed user would.

    This being said, the Shade has capabilities of combatting on its own accord, but is only as powerful as the aura it manipulates. The same bounds are held in comparison to the entity as it is to the caster, and when the body is killed (e.g., decapitation, brain shutting down, heart stopping, death in general,) the Shade dies down with it. Then assuming the position within the host’s soul as it had when living. Bouts of insanity as well as a chaotic nature is mostly representative as a Shade, as that which carries it is oft filled with more horror than self-consciousness.

How Does the Aura Work?

To explain Shade magic and it’s workings, we must first explain Aura.

         Aura:

Aura is the output to which mana gives off with most casters, often times encircling them The more mana that is output through the user will cause it to flare farther, which proves to be generally harmless in most situations. Although it is different in perspective to a Shade, its use is not very known to many others whom have noticed its tendencies.

When the Shade is introduced to the user at first, the parasite latches onto the host’s soul, beginning the effects of what is relatively known to Shade. The host’s aura in turn is corrupted by the being, causing it to become an unholy remnant of what is sent out. The Shade’s aura is used toward manipulation and other means, endorsing this remnant of mana into its wretched use.

Aura is a byproduct of Mana, like smoke from fire or steam from hot water. It is not the same, but it retains some similar properties and is therefor useful. Shades harness this byproduct, corrupt it with their own smog-like aura, and manipulate it. It's a state of mana, but is not directly related to it. It is the pollution that Mana gives off, in simpler terms.

How Does Shade Magic Work?

Now that we’ve got our definition and explanation of Aura out of the way, we can talk properly about how a Shade’s magic functions.

The Shade functions to that of a parasite, feeding from both the aura of its host, as well as that which surrounds it. Aura around the Shade itself are used toward the entity’s perversion, having an effect that one would consider draining.

Every Caster’s aura is a far darker shade than it once was. This aura is infectious, in a way. The Caster uses his own tained aura that surrounds himself to mingle with others’ regular aura, slowly transmuting the regular aura into tainted aura. The Caster may now manipulate as if it was his own aura. Vampiric in nature, almost.

A Shade’s aura is the source of their power; it acts as a mist around them, so fine as to be invisible. This source is very malleable in the sense that a variety of forms can be morphed from the aura itself, an example may be shapes of varying sizes to flexible tendrils. This aura could be manipulated to condense into a formulation of varying densities, such as flesh or steel. The harder the substance gets however, the more difficult it is to become both flexible and enlarged.

Through the control of aura the user poses to be a possible threat; abilities such as condensing it to the point of a thick fog is possible, cloaking the user and their movements. The more condensed the more it takes of the aura, thus rendering them a smaller area of effect. Separate aura that is caught within this area of effect are taken in and corrupted to feed the source of the Shade and enhance abilities.

              To put it more simply, Shade works by consuming the aura that comes in contact with the user’s aura. The more they absorb, the more spread the Shade’s aura becomes, as well as its capabilities and range. The more darkness there is within an aura, the more use they may get from it and, likewise, the more light there is in an aura the less useful it will be.
 

What can it do?

             Though we’ve covered it mostly already, I’ll use this section to create a simple list of the most common uses of Shade magic.

Aura Manipulation

The Shade, as said above, boasts the ability to condense and morph their aura in order to work in a defensive or offensive way. This has the ability to take effect in many forms, whether it be small or large. However, the size is dependant upon the density of what is being made. (i.e., an accumulated smog of Shade encompassing a host’s entire aura; aura being condensed into one’s hand to form an axe with the density of steel.)

 

The Generations of Shade

Due to the way Shade functions, there have developed multiple generations of the Shade curse. These generations are prone to developing a worse interior than their ‘father’ per say. When the Shade is passed down, it becomes worsened than that of their previous generation. Whispers will become more horrific, as well as the general cons that come along with the parasitic being. More elusive and destructive each passing, the Shade can take a toll on even the strongest minds. As a general consensus, Rilath would be considered Gen 0.

Diagram Representation

These diagrams serve as a representation for how the Shade grows, and its rough outline of how it affects your character. The green figure represents the host, the grey circle represents the Shade, and its growth. The more the grey envelope the white, and the darker the shade of grey it becomes represents how the Shade becomes stronger, and more bothersome to your character.

Tier 1
The Shade is nearly unnoticeable. All that can be felt is a strange presence, as if you’re not alone.
http://i.imgur.com/vtVrJHY.png

Tier 2
The Shade is becoming more prevalent within your character. You would begin to have recurring nightmares, along with a sense of unease at all times.
http://i.imgur.com/lCzCeuy.png

Tier 3
The Shade has grown, and so too its grasp on your soul. The Shade is very prevalent now, if you manage to sleep, they would be filled with horrifying nightmares. At this time, many hosts of the Shade begin to lose the will to sleep, becoming insomniacs.

http://i.imgur.com/07WGw5f.png

Tier 4
At this stage of the Shades growth, it’s nearly fully developed and would be considered an adult. The Shade would constantly torture the host with its dark whispers. The Shade would have by now developed its own personality, which mirrors all of your traits, but also inherits and strengthens the more negative and immoral ones.
http://i.imgur.com/l9SBbkw.png

Tier 5
This stage is when the Shade actually takes control of its host’s body. When this happens, the Shade and host switch places. The stages before this, the Shade was locked away in a cage, metaphorically. When stage 5 is reached, the Shade has taken up the hosts body, now in control, while the hosts conscious is put in the back seat, or cage, like the Shade was once in. The host is capable of taking hold of his body once more, however once achieve the host would go back down to tier/stage 4, until the Shade is capable of retaking the host.

http://i.imgur.com/o7Vyvco.png

Tier Notes

• Tier 2 and up is when the Shade actually begins to torment the host.

• The Shade is a chaotic force, and thus seeks to cause chaos in your life, along with others.

• Once Tier 4 is reached, the Shade is permanently stuck on your soul, a blemish which cannot be removed. During Tier 2, it’s decently clear you’re cursed, which gives you enough time to remove it if you so desire.

• Shade is very specific in the case of learning, you could be a tier 4 and still incapable of using the spells. You must be taught by your Shade Father or Mother to be capable of using the magical boons.

• The host is said to be capable of conquering the Shade, able to reach tier 5 but still keep control of ones body. This is however rumored, and wouldn’t be able to be done unless very specific circumstances were met. It’s very unlikely anyone will be able to “conquer” the Shade.
   

Mixing of Shade and Void Magic

As the Shade lingers within the soul of its host, the Shade is capable of tapping directly into ones mana pool, the Shade can alter the appearance, and inherent effect of Voidal magics because of this. The result of mixing the Shades taint and Void based magics can affect it and have tainted apparel to their usual workings. When Shade magic is combined with that of regular magic, there is an unholy affect which binds to that usual happenings of the spell in use. (E.g. Fire evocation becoming an unholy tainted flame, burning as it usually would, but also tainting at the person’s being.) This taint could carry over the negative effects to which the host possesses, given the user is attempting to mix the magics in the first place.

This taint is not able to be used on holy beings such as Itharel due to their counter-acting nature, the taint and usual spell’s effect not taking effect due to the mixing and dispelling of it upon reaching its target. However the host has the ability to either work in tandem with the taint or not work in tandem with the taint, making it an option in their daily combatative lives. When the taint takes effect, the spell is aesthetically changed, flourishing with a color of ebony rather than their usual hue.

The spells themselves would carry over a sense of dread or whispers from the Shade, lapping at the aura of whomever is afflicted. This in turn carries over further effects such as lack of control, albeit at a high take, the victim would most likely be more effected by the tainted flames overtaking their bodies before the tainted attributes took to their target. Mental mages and illusionary mages more so use this to cast over the same feelings that linger over them and push them onto others as a spell may go.

Red Lines

• Shades cannot be controlled so avidly, in rare circumstances one may conquer the Shade, but unless confirmed as such it is a separate entity that at constant attempts to gain control and torment the host.

• Aura manipulation cannot go into so much detail that one would find it absurd, manage this with your own common sense. More detail = More effort.

• The Shade cannot suddenly happen, there are tells such as blackening eyes or manifesting auras that show the use is occurring.

• No host is ever keen to express that they bare a Shade lest it be to cleanse it, being paranoid by nature and being manipulated by the entity in the first place.

• Characters afflicted with the Shade are expected to RP the downsides as well as the upsides, thusly tormented and horrified, but justly so.

•   The end

[Cyndikate 2303]

Why is there another Shade magic clarification?

What happened to Heero's?

[Mephistophelian 977]

That was an expansion, I believe. This is...a rewrite.

Anyway, good job on the clarification, Slic3, Benji, and Moot :)

[E__V__O 2000]

I am confused with the aura manipulation, or how you worded it. I understand that you can morph it into a dense axe and everything. Though what is the limit really, as in. If you make a tendril, how far can the tendril go before it cannot go further? How much aura does one individual have if they were to manipulate, can they use all of their aura?

[Slic3man 484]

I am confused with the aura manipulation, or how you worded it. I understand that you can morph it into a dense axe and everything. Though what is the limit really, as in. If you make a tendril, how far can the tendril go before it cannot go further? How much aura does one individual have if they were to manipulate, can they use all of their aura?

 

The larger the object the more difficult it is to keep up its continuation. The bigger things are they are less likely to be as dense/hardened. The smaller they are they are more prone to be harder or more dense. So on so forth, a sword made in a hand would be hard, but a tendril may only have a hardened tip akin to a spear. When aura is manipulated it will be used in the process, but it is also taken from the world around it, or from whatever has aura. It'll leech from other aura as its own is manipulated.

 

Of course it all depends on their advancement in the magic itself, and how versed they are in the subject.

[Stag 3231]

Can I get a list of differences between this lore and the previous lore? Just to see the exact changes?

[Xerxes_XIII 2 200]

Extensive internal discussion is under way about this lore. It may be subject to change.

[501warhead 1796]

 

 

Extensive internal discussion is under way about this lore. It may be subject to change.

 

 

Understood. I suggest getting this topic locked until these issues are sorted.

[IrishPerson 693]

Locked as per request.

[Moot 1719]

The clarification is finished, and ran by Heero. I suspect he'll post shortly, unless he has another lavender bath e _e

[Heero 4092]

The clarification is finished, and ran by Heero. I suspect he'll post shortly, unless he has another lavender bath e _e

 

I’ll have you know Moot, weeaboo or not my lavender bubble baths are very important to me. I need to smell my best to entice Mth.

But in all seriousness, everything checks out. Nothing odd or abusable is present in my eyes. Pleasant on the eyes and has my seal of approval.

 

[Mephistophelian 977]

This guide is outdated. A new one will be written in the near future.

[Mephistophelian 977]

Moved to the Archive. It shall be sorted into the appropriate category shortly.