Shadowmancy - WIP

[Kaladis Anar]

From the Records of the first Shadowmancers.
Shadowmancy. Also Known as Shadow Casting, Shadow Speak, or Vos Moreth in the ancient tongue.

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hadowmancy doesn’t just require devotion to Audrae and being an expert at Necromancy, but importantly a pure shadow pattern to be bestowed by the immortal herself, by imprinting this pattern on part of the practitioner’s soul. Thus it isn’t so much that it’s just a hard talent to Master, as very difficult to obtain Audrae’s interest. It takes long work in the craft and is usually final, because once your soul is branded by the immortal in this way, you’ll be hard pressed to unlink yourself. Audrae will in effect take a part of you that you’ll never be able to get back. The few known Shadowmancers are generally hated even more than Necromancers in many cities if it were possible, though possibly not as much as aberration mages but that’s debateable.

Why does Audrae create Shadowmancers in this way at different parts of Idalos? That’s simple, it brings her domain into the real world with little work on her part. She gains spies, highly committed mages and further shapes the world to her liking. While it’s true someone could try to use her own domain against her, given the nature of her brand on them it would likely prove disastrous for the mage involved.

The main thing to note for those who just want to understand the discipline. Is by using ether you focus a shadow into being, which consumes that which originally cast the shadow.

While it is rumored every single shadow can whisper to Audrae if she wills it, only the very strongest and rare Shadowkin have a direct link.

Avex, Shadowform

Avex, Shadowform
Requirements: 100 Devotion to Audrae | Expert Level Necromancy | A Difficult Mod Approved Quest to Unlock, with Audrae bestowing a shadow pattern on the individual’s soul at the end.
Costing: Shadowforms cost the same as the thrall size or type used.

Details:

The core of this vile practice. Shadowforms are the shadow that all things cast, given life by a necromancer. It requires the desecration of a corpse the same as most necromantic thrall types, breaking down the essence of what was and giving life to the shadow. Through the lens of his pattern, the shadowmancer focuses ether on the body until it is willed into a state the pattern allows. Once the process has been completed the shadowform is partially physical, partially shadow, and so has the characteristics of both. Shadowforms generally appear either fully black with subtly imprinted features, grey, or a midnight blue color depending on what the necromancer wills into being.

Shadowforms cost a regular amount of thrall points to maintain, for example a shadow formed marrow would still be two points. Though they cannot be sentient or the most complex creations, shadowforms can be any size from insect through to behemoth, with the appropriate cost in thrall points depending on what you are controlling. Refer to the full necromancy domain guide for this here.

Being only partially physical, Shadowforms have half the strength of a regular thrall but they are twice as hard to kill. Being weak they make for a poor choice as an offensive thrall, what they make for is excellent spies, something that suits Audrae’s motives. Being able to blend into the night or hide in a dark place, is second nature to them when they are unarmoured, and they become incredibly hard to detect while still. Try spotting the shadow of a rat in a black room! They cannot move through walls like a ghost or spirit might, still limited by the physical plane, but they can rapidly climb or descend walls, ladders, or rock faces, for example to escape or enter a city undetected. Yes that rat did just leave through your chimney!

When armored they do make for a fair choice as a bodyguard, as they can be irritating to get through if a necromancer wishes to escape and leave you fighting them instead. They can certainly wear armor but heavy armor tends to be too much for them, light plate or half plate would be the most they could handle well. Bladed attacks from these thralls will still hurt, as it doesn’t take much strength to cut someone, but you will find you can throw them about quite easily. In fact they are often swirling or moving about, so you’ll find the man sized shadow forms leaping in and out of combat as their preferred style, only adding to the annoyance of actually landing a killing blow. When your sword actually connects it will likely pass through the shadow as if going through water, it will do damage only you might not even be aware you have hurt it, at least until the thing falls over after several good strikes.

Fire and Light: The Bane of most shadowforms.
Fire will thicken but not harm the basic thrall type, denying its main advantage of toughness while leaving it just as weak, but also making it harder to move aside as easily. Light imbued weapons will cause increased harm to the shadow, and when combined with fire will kill it outright in a couple of good hits. Blessed light weapons will usually end a shadowform in one solid strike, glancing hits taking a couple of tries. For hulk or larger thralls this guide should scale up with size.

Daylight: Shadowforms will instinctively retreat if they come into contact with daylight, they are not harmed by it but they do need to withdraw all the same, as staying out in the sun for more than a few bits will put them into a slumber.

Thrall Types Allowed: All except Stonehearts, RotKnights, and Revenants. No lich may ever become a shadowform because souls cannot survive the process.

Palis, Shadow Simulacrum

Palix Sas, Shadow Simulacrum
Requirements: 150 Devotion to Audrae to use | Master Level Necromancy | A Simulacrum must be welled in at least Imedyte or even better if the thrall type requires it. | At least 10 Knowledges dedicated to Shadowmancy exclusively.
Costing: X1.5 Thrall pts of the appropriate thrall type to control.
Restrictions: You may only have two of these.

Details:

As you come to understand the pattern in your soul more fully, you have will have finer control over the shadow cast. A shadow simulacrum follows the same process as a regular shadow to be created, only the fine detail to which the Shadowmancer creates the thrall type allows for a small warding against harmful effects. The finesse you display at this level of shadowmancy also allows for an increased range of thrall types at a higher cost than usual. Again the shadow cast will have subtle features being black, grey, or midnight blue at the Shadowmancer’s will, and again it will require a body as before. To raise these shadows takes time and concentrated effort, at least half a trials’s preparation when you know what you are doing. It essentially can grant you warded shadows, again allowing any non sentient thrall type off the list to be created in its shadow form. The well used to make these thralls becomes as shadow like the thrall itself, allowing it to function as usual. A shadow simulacrum is still half as strong as the thrall type and twice as tough, making certain thralls a good choice but others a poor one. Armor limits still apply, meaning full or heavy plate would slow them down too much to be effective.

Although Rotknights can be created this way making them harder to kill, they cost more and apart from raising other thralls, lose their ability to cast any other spells as the trade off. A necromancer may thus consider if he wants a regular Rotknight general at the back of his forces casting spells, or a shadow form at the front as a shield for him. A Shadow Simulacrum Rotknight can raise regular thralls or Shadow formed thralls.

Fire and Light: The Simulacrum is a more refined, warded shadow against fire and light.
Fire will thicken the simulacrum slightly, allowing for more damage but also making it heavier to move out of the way. Using fire in this way on a still warded shadow comes with a severe downside, the thickness gives the thrall type its full strength back unless the ward is broken first. If you wish to weaken them, regular light enchanted weapons and light blessings need to break the ward on these creatures with a good strike, once that's done they will effect them just as much as shadowforms, being a great bane of this necromantic thrall type. You'll visibly see when a ward is broken, as the there'll be a small pulse of light. People who have seen this pulse believe it is the light that was hindered from leaving the shadow's aura, a clever trick to not allow room for more to touch the creature.

Daylight: A still warded Simulacrum can survive twenty bits in daylight before needing to retreat to darkness or fall into a slumber. It will not instinctively retreat unless told to, until it is close to falling unconscious. A ward broken Simulacrum can only last five bits in daylight as usual.

Thrall Types Allowed: All except Stonehearts, the process of shadow casting deprives a stoneheart of its most critical component its soul, and so leaves it no better off than a husk. Liches too cannot completely become as shadow for the same reason.

Vilad, Shadowkin

Vilad eri, Shadowkin
Requirements: 250 Devotion to Audrae | Master Level Necromancy | Extremely Hard Mod Approved Quest Chain (A few Threads) To find enough prima spirit essence. | At least 25 Knowledges dedicated to Shadowmancy exclusively.
Costing: 10 Thrall Pts for a Shadowkin.
Restrictions: You may only ever have one shadowkin, and it will be a full three trials before the pattern for one is ready again if it is destroyed or returned to its essence.

Details:

A Shadowkin is a direct servant of Audrae, and is created by the same essence which shaped the first spirits to walk Idalos, also known as the Prima Spiritus. This makes acquiring the ingredients needed for creation of a shadowkin very difficult to come across! If you survive, the pattern will translate for you how to reduce the spirit to prima essence, which might be different for each type of subdued spirit, but it is up to you yourself to find a way to subdue your chosen spirit as each are different! The prima spirit you face will almost certainly not just give itself up freely to be sacrificed, so be prepared for the fight of your life.

A Shadowkin is a re-creation of the necromancer himself, just as strong as he is with twice the toughness, making for the perfect bodyguard. It is sentient and able to converse in shadow speak, following him in form and function. As with all shadow thralls this creation is black, grey or midnight blue by color, translated and drawn from the pattern on the practioner's soul. This pattern is imprinted on the prima spirit essence at the Necromancer’s whim; once the Shadowkin is created Audrae may see through it directly or command it at any time and place she chooses, thus is it often the pinnacle creation that the most devoted Shadowmancers strive for, if only for this honor alone.

The Shadowkin cannot cast any spells or mimic its creators mark, but it will retain the caster’s full martial ability, mimicking his fighting style and form. The main benefit this thrall has over other types is that it can be made very quickly, once the prima essence has been collected it can be made without the need for a body at a moment’s notice, and after a rest recalled several times from the strength of the essence you hold. By drawing upon the prima spirit essence it can create its own weapon and shield made of living shadow as needed, solid as cobalt and useful when pressed. Welling a Shadowkin in a permanent shadow form will mean it stays in place indefinitely, and then you can equip it as you like, but you lose the advantage of being able to summon the essence in emergencies which is a sizeable benefit.

How many times you can use the prima spirit essence should be decided by the moderator, as a guide it is recommended it be no less than 6 or no more than 12 depending on the strength of the spirit used. This thrall is very much an end game goal for a Shadowmancer, provided to give them an extremely tough challenge to face.

Fire and Light: The Shadowkin has a direct link to Audrae and so gains additional warding.
Being directly linked to Audrae a ward upon a shadowkin is not easily broken, taking three good strikes with a light enchanted or light blessed blade to break. As with a Simulacrum you'll see a pulse, after which the shadowkin is directly thickened by fire as before for regular weapons, and both types of light blessed or light enchanted weapons will cause it great additional harm.

Daylight: A warded shadowkin can survive twenty bits in daylight before needing to retreat to darkness or fall into a slumber. It will not instinctively retreat unless told to, until it is close to falling unconscious. A ward broken shadowkin can only last five bits in daylight as usual.

Slaying any Shadow Thrall:

As distinct from spirits and other shadow beasts, shadow thralls do not disappear into nothingness when slain or stopped, for they are actual shadow given form. As a result the few cities that have come across them have hushed their discovery up, and buried them in a remote location so as to stop curious mages poking into their nature. It is said a vile form of forbidden plant can grow in places with these graves, but this is quickly uprooted or culled at these rare distant locations.

Synergies

Synergies

Throexan, Wraith Flame

Throexan, Wraith Flame
Requirements: 150 Devotion to Audrae | Master Level Necromancy | Expert Level Defiance | At least 15 Knowledges dedicated to Shadowmancy exclusively.
Costing: Wraith Flame Requires 2 Thrall Points to Maintain.

Details:

By drawing upon the element of fire and your soul pattern, you can ignite and desecrate corpses, burning them with a vile black flame. The corpse will burn slowly but steadily, the shadow of fire creating a hollow memory of where the corpse was. This is incredibly useful for removing evidence anything was there, leaving just a black shadow on the ground eventually. Anyone touching the fire will still burn, the effect will be like a cold burn but not be treatable with warmth, it will require resting the effected body part for several trials instead. The damage is equivalent to a burn, and immersing someone in it will be like setting them on torturous bone chilling fire. Wraith fire cannot be encouraged to the same degree as regular defiance fire, as you can only work with the physical material the corpse has to give, once that’s gone so is your fire.

Onarex Kan Vus, Shadow Defiled Weapon

Onarex Kan Vus, Shadow Defiled Weapon
Requirements: 200 Devotion to Audrae | Master Level Necromancy | Expert Level Dustforge | Competent at Poisons | At least 20 Knowledges dedicated to Shadowmancy exclusively.
Costing: Each defiled weapon requires 1 thrall pt to maintain.

Details:

A shadow defiled weapon requires an actual weapon and a corpse, taking at least a day to prepare. Much like a corpse is turned into living shadow, a shadow tainted weapon is crafted in the same way, with one notable difference: To keep it an effective physical weapon only the edge is affected. It requires a Dustforge mage’s innate understanding of enchantment, and a competent understanding of poisons. Once the weapon’s edge is imprinted and turned into its shadowself, it will inflict additional damage upon any target it hits, leaving its taint behind in the wound for lingering pain and debilitation. If untreated these wounds don’t spread but they do become increasingly acute, the pain increasing over trials and debilitating the affected area until it can no longer function. The preparation of this weapon requires focusing the ether not only on the metal but also a corpse being pool along the edge of the weapon; all in all it takes a great deal of concentrated attention even by a Master of both necromancy and weapon making, it will be draining, and it does require your time invested solely on this task.

Maral Irn, Illusionary Shadow

Maral Irn, Illusionary Shadow
Requirements: 200 Devotion to Audrae | Master Level Necromancy | Expert Level Mirage | At least 20 Knowledges dedicated to Shadowmancy exclusively.
Costing: 3 Pts Per Thrall, with Up to 3 Thralls.

Details

As with shadowkin you can make copies of yourself. These copies are however not sentient to speak or converse with, but they are intelligent enough to try to mimic your regular actions and confuse your opponents. They will not strike with any strength at all, and they can be easily dispatched with even a light hit. Where they are useful is in darker places when you want to create confusion or escape unhindered. Three of them require a single corpse so they are only of use till you run out of bodies, but they can be cast quite quickly, taking just five trills to raise them. A clever necromancer keeping a preserved skeleton or body around can create these silently without another knowing, working from the inside out on the body till up to three Illusionary Shadows burst forth. Being quite fast the confusion these shadows create can buy a necromancer time to escape, but cannot cause much harm to anyone; unable to wield armor or weapons, Illusionary Shadows also cannot pass through solid objects so will present an easily dispatchable, but annoying physical barrier for anyone trying to pass them.

Aalus Von, Wraith Guard

Aalus Von, Wraith Guard
Requirements: 200 Devotion to Audrae | Master Level Necromancy | Expert Level Aboration | At least 20 Knowledges dedicated to Shadowmancy exclusively.
Costing: 3 Thrall Pts to Maintain

Details

Closest in nature to Wraith Flame, Wraith Guard forms a black void ahead of the shadow caster at the expense of a body and focused ether. The void is able to repel all forms of light, even blessed light from entering, all light sources will extinguish and take a bit or two to relight even if magic is used. Thus it is used to form a complete block to any and all sight from entering in one direction, a shield of secrecy, or to force others into darkness. About 3 feet thick and anything up to ten feet in diameter, it requires a corpse every ten bits to maintain. What it is exceptionally useful for is warding against wisps, seeming to repel wisps and other spirits from entering this uncertain void. The nature of the void leaves the surrounding ether in a mild state of dampening, so it is one of the more dangerous magics to practice, and only usually used as a last resort against wisps rather than concealment, which a servant of Audrae may have other alternatives for. The ether dampened area can be used to slow other mages from immediately casting, but being its only three feet thick, won't matter to them for long as they can merely step forward or back. What it does do is very very slightly imbalance the delicate balance of ether in Idalos, which to anyone with a mind who thinks on these things is not a good thing over a long period. Wraith Guard therefor wild seemingly benign, is looked upon as foolish to many, almost as foolish as what follows next.

Talas Von, The Inverse Portal

Talas Von, The Inverse Portal
Requirements: 250 Devotion to Audrae | Master Level Necromancy | Master Level Rupture | At least 30 Knowledges dedicated to Shadowmancy exclusively. | Mod Designed Quest to Unlock this Gift? Curse?
Costing: 5 Thrall Pts to Maintain, it will take you 3 full cycles before you are able to do this again, and your necromancy skill will be halved for thirty trials. You may only ever have one inverse portal.
Restrictions: Any use of the inverse portal can only be done with a city moderator's approval.

Details:

Rumors exist of a power over portals that only a Rupturer would understand. Why anyone would want to study or invoke Talas Von is beyond this humble chronicler. It is rumoured however that when you create a nail or a rendering, rather than select a destination, you may do so with the inverse of its location, and this will turn the portal in on itself. The inverse portal will require corpses plural to maintain not just one. A corpse for every five bits you maintain a regular inverse portal, or a corpse for every bit you maintain a rending sized portal. What will come out of such a creation? I for one cannot say, any shadow beings or beast which lurks in the forgotten places of the world. They might be of Audrae’s domain, they might be as yet undiscovered by her, or your entire perverse experiment may bring something nobody is ready for into reality, least of all you – You have been warned!

For a regular sized portal this would allow regular sized entities to pass, for a rending your imagination or nightmares can fill in the blanks.

Shadow Speak Language:

It is said the ancient language has an opposite, and that is seen in its shadow or reflection. A derivative of ancient that some feel mocks the beings or immortals that created it. In truth it leads to the secrets of Shadowmancy, the patterns derived from the language form the patterns branded into the practitioner’s soul, and as he understands this language, he better understands the Shadowmancy discipline. Fluency in Ancient Shadow Speak might lead you to better communicate with Audrae if you should meet her, on a deeper level than most mortals might understand her domain. Though such things are between you and Audrae, and beyond the scope of this humble text. It is thought that shadow speak speaks directly through the pattern on your soul, and so anything which would prey on your soul, may well harm your ability to shadow speak.

*Note any immortal interaction would always have to be a moderator run thread as with any immortal.

Notes about the effects of Shadowmancy.

Why then is Shadowmancy even more reviled than necromancy, but only marginally less hated than Aberration? Well it’s true that traditional necromancy defiles the dead and often seeks to break the natural order of Idalos, even so the domain doesn’t fundamentally change the makeup of what it animates. A body is still a body, iron is still iron, and bone is still bone. Shadowmancy on the other hand, is in effect robbing the physical plane of substance to increase Audrae’s domain a tiny fraction each time it is practiced. Of course the amount is very minute in the grand scheme of things, but that doesn’t make it any less of a concern for mages who are gifted enough to understand the process, as well as being seen as a frightening by academics or scholars generally. The obvious people who can see it as beneficial are those devoted to Audrae herself, but even then they may caution against its overuse.

Rumors and Lies (or perhaps truth for the foolish)
Should a Shadowmancer die it is likely that Famula would not come for a soul marred in this way, and may choose to ignore them completely, leaving them to drift aimless for eternity. Given her wroth at necromancers generally, practicing shadowmancy perhaps takes the insult to her one step further.

A warning about Shadowkin and the powerful spirits needed. You should also be aware that if you go about bothering such powerful beings as the first spirits to walk Idalos, you can almost certainly expect others to bother you in return at some point. Some might warn you that duplicating your shadow enough times can have disconcerting effects on your sense of reality.

*If you really had to undo the workings of Audrae upon your soul, Famula might be your only choice, but good luck convincing her you are worth saving if you’ve followed this path! It should not be an easy task gaining her trust, nor afterwards healing the damage you’ve done to your eternal soul. A heavy penance may be extracted, at a prophet’s discretion as to what exactly that is.

Personal Notes

Anything can be added, tweaked, or removed as always but here are some notes for Plague or any developers reviewing: The Pattern could be imposed on the spark if the soul is troublesome. (or both) I thought placing it on the soul would cost the character more and help tie in Famula, as the spark can be removed at present.

I am hoping these look difficult to obtain, that's the plan, to give people something else to work towards at advanced stages of their character's development. I am also hoping they compare on even enough ground with other thrall types. Finally the goal is to create great spies, which in my honest opinion we can use on the thrall list.

Synergies: All Synergies can be wiped or alternatively boxed if we are not ready for those yet. I heard you speaking of building them into domains and took a stab at it. We can then unbox them when they are ready to go if they are acceptable. Though there seems a lot, a player is only realistically going to get access to one or at most two, if you like the idea I can keep developing one for each domain that could interact.

Language can obviously be dropped, or subbed in world dev as you like. It would be a fun thread trying to decipher it or create it for the first time. I also thought it tied in nicely to the pattern on the character's soul.

The forbidden plant referred to can also be world deved if it's liked as a finishing touch.

Thoughts, Suggestions, Comments Welcome. - The base idea was given the okay by Plague, but obviously this is vastly expanded and now to be tweaked.

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[Plague]

Hey buddy!

Interesting writeup! It'll take me a bit to go through it fully.

I'll have to weigh in on the synergies but it may be that we should focus more on Necromancy rather than bleeding in new magic for now.

Quick few notes:

I think natural light or divine light should absolutely mess these dudes up at any level. In addition I'm not sure about having this thrall type apply for liches or Stonehearts. True sentience is only in Stonehearts and Liches, the rest have limited sentience but are mostly thralls...even the Revenants (I don't have a problem with making one of these a Revenant). I think normal fire shouldn't be more than an annoyance...possibly thickening the shadows enough to make some real blows. But these dudes should not be fighting in the day time or against any Immortal of Light or brilliance. Baking in that restriction feels a bit more fair given the strange unique edge of this.

As for the Prima Spiritus stuff...Gonna have to check into that a little more fully before weighing in. I think you have a good grasp of balancing for the most part, but the ability to summon a 5 point thrall with possibly full martial prowess is a bit much, I would think. True mastery level skills are denied thralls for this reason. Although I do fully agree that they should not be able to cast magic or mimic a user's mark.

Just double checking, all these creations DO use bodies first, right? I just want to make sure that apart from Vilad, ever other creation required a body to work off of.

[Kaladis Anar]

Thanks Plague for having a look, its always fun writing stuff up.

1) Yeah Prima Spiritus was plucked out of thin air, we can use anything. A couple of world deved beasts of suitable ferocity, spirits, dragons, a blessed beast, whatever you like that gives a really experienced character (think multiple mastery levels) a fair chance of dying.

2) Shadowkin made 10 thrall points and reduced to a limit of one.

3) Synergies put in a spoiler and boxed. If we want them in the future they are there but consider them not there for the sake of review.

4) On bodies yes. I've clarified that the Palis needs a corpse just like the regular shadowform

5) Fire, Light and Wards. - I've written in thickening for fire (nice idea), and further damage for light, putting in a concept of warding. Please check them as there were alterations, i've made a separate heading under each thrall to highlight it.

Warding for the 2 Palis allows them to essentially take a hit, and some fancy rp text that the character saw a pulse of light that was released when striking. Shadowkin given they are special I gave them a three hit ward. Which in rp terms will probably be a couple of posts. They've decent martial ability, but with this vulnerability to light hopefully it is a fair trade off. The nice unexpected thing about all this is, it might give people a use for light enchantments on weapons that otherwise might not get much play.

5) Daylight causes regular shadowforms to flee. The two simulacrum and the shadowkin can survive 20 bits while warded, else they fall to a slumber in five.

6) Clarifying Plaguemen - Yes or No? Do you want the disease to still be present in its regular form or a shadowform. Do you want it toned down (or up). Or do you want the thrall type excluded.

7) Noted Rotknights also lose their spells as a trade off, (and cost 50% more still) but they can raise or handle thralls of either shadow or a regular type. Not sure if you want them spelless, so I'm putting this here for you to check.

[Plague]

6. Lets leave the plague variants outside this for now.

7. Let's leave the rot knights out as well. Best if they aren't included in this general workup.

I think it should be said that the thrall may still require a powerful well to be able to repair themselves or exist outside the necromancer's purview...that or the direct intervention and blessing of Audrae (in which case they BELONG to her but take orders from you unless she says otherwise)

I do think we need to clarify similar limitations on them as the Revenants. No Legendary skills and mastery is limited. After all, they only MIMIC life, they do not truly master it.

I'll need to check a bit more on Shadow Language, but otherwise I'm liking the direction of the writeup. I would disclude the synergies for now though.