Shades

Enduring memory given form. Some are somber guardians of the underworld, and some seek to speed your way there.

Shades are the essence of departed mortals, the accreted conglomeration of ancestor memories, or even the past tragedies of Seln itself.

Nature

Common folk refer to the Shades as “undead”, though this is a shallow understanding. Though ghosts and vampires are forms of Shade, not all Shades result from mortal death.

The core of each Shade is Memory. This might be a singular memory of a momentous occasion or the slow accumulation of a thousand experiences into a single seed. The core memory defines the Shade at its birth and sets its outlook for the duration of its existence.

Unlike spirits or Fae, Shades are immutable creatures. Anchored to their Memory, they cannot stray far from its nature. Though capable of rational thought, Shades are forever biased towards their Memory.

The only mechanism for true change available to a Shade is to consume the Memory of other Shades.

• If the consumed Memory is close enough to their own, they merge Memories and grow stronger.
• If the consumed Memory is distant, it is lost and the other Shade destroyed for nothing
• If the consumed Memory is opposing their own, the consuming Shade risks destruction

Shades require no form of sustenance and do not age. As ages pass, they may fall into torpor, but a Shade endures while their Memory does.

Memory and Fetter

Memories – and thus Shades – only persist as long as a link remains to Seln. This link, whatever its form, is the Fetter that binds the Shade to its Realm and the world.

All known Fetters are physical objects. Many Shades have sought to create Fetters to metaphysical concepts and thus grant themselves invulnerability, but none have succeeded (so far).

Common forms of Fetter:

• A location, generally no larger than a room except for very powerful Shades
• Talismans of their past life such as weapons or creations
• A living descendant such as the firstborn child of a clan line

The Fetter must remain intact and in accordance with the Memory. For example, if a Shade’s fetter is its own graveyard, the Fetter would be destroyed if someone built over the graveyard with a garden. If a Fetter is a living descendant, then the Fetter might be destroyed if the descendant forsakes the family name.

While the Fetter endures, Shades refuse to die. When defeated they are instead Banished to reform in a few days.

Honor

Good or evil, Shades belong to the element of Dark and thus exemplify Honor. To a Shade, one’s word is an iron-clad bond that can persist beyond death. Many Shades see themselves as the stewards of “correct conduct”. Others, especially Shades of vengeance or hatred, seek to embody revenge for ancient wrongs.

Oaths sworn in the presence of a Shade gain terrible, lingering power. A fool that swears an Oath in a Shade Realm might break it years later and drop dead on the spot!

Secrets

All that has ever been lost lingers in memory. Somewhere.

Shades smell secrets as easily as mortals smell a barbeque. Their dark eyes pierce deception, and their vaults hold every Art that has ever been known.

New secrets are a novelty to the staid Shades, allowing reprieve from the slow march of centuries, and operate as a de facto currency.

Bring a fascinating new secret to a Shade and they will savor it like a fine banquet!

Stewardship

As immortals bound to Memory, Shades naturally become the guardians to their homelands and their clans. Benevolent Shades are like an old grandparent, shaping the clan through the years. Possessive Shades cling to the world they remember from centuries past.

Certain extremely powerful Shades claim to exert their stewardship over entire Lineages!

Realms

Shade Realms are known as the Underworld for good reason. Shade Realms exist in perpetual twilight or night. The sky has no stars, and the moon looms to impossible size overhead.

Nature freezes in Shade realms. The trees might be petrified; the hills bare of flowers or grass. Rivers slow to a turgid crawl, and the air never grows warm.

Even mortals feel this. A mortal requires no food and much less water while within the Realm. However, mortals often experience lethargy and loss of focus to match.

Thankfully, Shade Realms do not share the transformative nature of other Realms. These Realms have no natural necrotic effects. (The inhabitants, on the other hand…) Perhaps this is because all mortals are destined for a Shade Realm and beyond eventually…

Meditations on the past

Shade realms tend towards reflection and repose. This can be a reprieve to the weary and boon to meditation. Cultivators often seek out friendly Shade Realms as places to cultivate in peace.

Even better, many Shade Realms are home to the Shades of cultivators, potentially granting one a wise mentor!

There is a danger to this. The living bring Memories of their own into the Shade Realm. This can disturb the placid waters of the Realm, creating ghosts of past deeds. In rare cases, the Memories are strong enough to create new Shades!

Many Shade Realms operate on a loop. The same events play out again and again with slight variations like the ruminations of an old man for his youth. For weak Shades, this loop might be obvious and quick (like one day). Stronger Shades may instead express Memory themes over and over like a leitmotif across centuries.

Echoes of time

Shade Realms deviate by pulling echoes of the past from the land itself. This might be as simple as a road that was lost or as complex as an entire city lost to a crystal eruption. These features may come abandoned or home to echoes of the men and beasts who once dwelled there. For weaker Shades, these are non-interactive, with shadowy figures repeating shadowy motions. For powerful Shades, these echoes might hold Memories of their own!

Anything destroyed or lost can reappear in these Realms; sometimes the same item or place appears in multiple Realms at once. These items and places truly exist. A lucky treasure hunter can steal from a Realm with an ancient blade or scroll of secret Arts.

However, there is a deadly catch. Any lost item that reappears in a Shade Realm is tied to the Ruler, and the Ruler is instantly aware if those items are manipulated or stolen. Stealing such items is an excellent way to fall victim to terrible curses!

Psychopomps to the departed

Shades cannot answer the question of the soul or an afterlife. Is the Shade of a murdered man the same as the man? The Shade probably claims so, but how can scholars be sure?

Similarly, Shades have no more knowledge of any afterlife than normal folk. However, some Shades are capable of acting as psychopomps, guiding the departed to their next journey.

On rare occasions, recently deceased folk can be spotted in Shade Realms. These folk have no Memory attaching them to the world, and they seem to be the same as the folk before down to memories of recent events. Are these the true spirits of the dead or merely echoes?

While that mystery persists, travelers in Shade Realms occasionally hear the Full Moon Toll. When this happens, bells ring out from the heavens, seemingly from the moon itself, and all such memories are called to walk into the sky.

Shade Rulers consider this ritual of highest Honor and will exert every power at their possible to see this ritual completed. Whether the deceased was just or evil is of no importance; all must be allowed to pass. Any attempt to interfere with the echo’s journey is met with furious force.

A few foolhardy travelers have attempted to follow these departed souls into the sky through Arts. Those that do so are never seen again.

The Shadow of the Moon

Why is the moon so large and prominent in the sky of Shade Realms? Why do the Rulers guide lost spirits to the sky and the moon?

Astronomically inclined travelers might notice the moon of Shade Realms does not match that of the other dimensions. It is much larger (or nearer), and the cycles of its passage are exaggerated. At full moon, it sheds enough light to read by. At dark moon, the Shade Realms plunge into inky darkness which torches and Arts struggle to light.

Alorans that visit shade realms during full moons sometimes report hearing a voice whispering from above.

Grow strong, my children

Grow strong for what will one day come

No other Lineage has ever reported hearing this, and the Shade Rulers refuse to speak on this matter. Indeed, one or two tried and were instantly consumed by silver fire!

What waits in the Aloran moon, seen only by the deathless?