IAS Shadow

Shadows of the World in Azure's Shadow

See here for the broader class of entities called Soul Shadows

Origin

The very first shadows were not created in the world In Azure's Shadow. Aissia, goddess of a small world that was flung from the safety of its star and into the void, is the original and inadvertent creator of the shadows. The tiny planet and what souls it bore were exposed to the power of the greater darkness and the hungry things that lived within it. In trying to hold onto her planet's populace, she became an anchor that could only hold onto taters of the souls as the bodies and lives were stripped from her world, turning the planet into a ball of silvery gray dust. She hadn't lost her children though, but they had changed. These were the first green eyed shadows, victims of fate just as much as their goddess that were able to survive in the endless night that was before they fell into Azure's shadow.

The Four Eye Colors

Green

Green eyed shadows are either the extremely rare and ancient shadows of Aissia or the unfortunate souls that were caught in the battles of shadows, scourge, and phoenix. Greems have no allegiance to any goddess by default, but most tend to fall in with either shadow cities or into the service of a goddess for safety and purpose.

Red

Red eye shadows are the product of the Blood Shadow, the shadow of the Blood Goddess, and the Silver Shadow. As only the Silver Shadow can animate new shadows, she is required, but the true power of these red eyed shadows comes from the Blood Shadow. Ruled by fire in their hearts, often flames of hatred and vengeance, they are passionate and cannot be deterred by fear. They are often berserkers, barbarians, and soldiers. The public knowledge of the Reds is that to sight one is time to fear for your life.

Blue

Shadows made by the Blue Shadow through the power of the Silver Shadow, Blues have incredibly keen minds and often possess psionic skills. What they lack, however, is a heart. Plotting, merciless, and cruel, they like to torture their victims in an endless and insane effort to remember and understand what emotions are. Most people would rather fall victim to a Red eye shadow as death would at least be swift. Blues have been known to torture victims for years before growing bored and moving on. If you find a Blue, fear for your soul. They'll be trying to use it for their own ends.

Silver

Silver shadows are unique in that they have only one maker, Aissia herself. Because Aissia is a palindrome, some creatures realized that the Silver Goddess and the Silver Shadow are literally the same person in light and darkness, unlike the other two goddesses. While in the light, Aissia can create Silverlings from creatures near death. In daknress, she does the same to creatures but makes shadows out of them. The major difference in Aissia's sides is truth. In the light is absolute truth, and in the shadows is subjective truth. It is not to say a subjective truth is untrue, but it is relative and often confusing, and this dreadful confusion lives within silver shadows.

Silver shadows routinely get themselves so confused that they can't tell what is truth or lie after a time. Their ability to lie is so great that they can deceive themselves without doubt to the point of changing their eye color and behavior. The most skilled deceivers in IAS, they are also the most feared even by Green and some Blue shadows because of their tendency to bring absolute chaos to anything they touch.

Because they are of the Silver Goddess directly, and often created with a subtle purpose, Silver shadows are the most likely shadows to successfully uncover truths and become inklings. Green eye shadows are their closest second because they are unbiased while the destructive passions of the Blue and Red have all but ensured the would never ascend, and in fact only silver and green shadows survived the recreation of the world In Azure's Memory when Talon found the edge of space and time.

Shadows and Inklings of the World in Azure's Memory

When Talon remade the worlds in Azure's Memory, Eyanna Blackheart, the one Silver Mystery, was left in charge of the outer reaches of the star system, and she opted only to give life to the green shadows and a few select silver shadows scattered among them. As such, there are no Red or Blue shadows as they were left to their destruction when Syndlil destroyed all things and ejected Andlil into the endless emptiness.

Properties of Shadows

• The Hollow All shadows are tattered souls without a body and held together by shadow magic. All shadows have a craving to be filled or completed once again. Those born as shadows are better able to handle this while those converted to shadows by rituals or events less so. Sometimes this leads a shadow to be violent and try devouring things as if possessed with a hunger, but most shadows can maintain control. They will always need help from other shadows or friends to bear this burden while they seek the 'truths' that will complete them.
• Silhouettes Shadows only appears and silhouettes of their species. They do not reflect any light at all which can make their shapes hard to determine at times. These shapes are fluid and can vary in size and shape by up to twice their smallest size, but they will alwways be the silhouette of their species and no other.
• Eye Color Extant shadows come in two eye colors: green and silver. Silver are extremely rare and generally come directly form the world IAM, and they are shadows of subjective truth. Green eyes are dominant and do not carry a special meaning or issues.
• Shadow Walking A shadow can enter into shadow on the ground and appear from any other shadow within line of sight. However, they cannot carry any gear or people with them. IF they are clothed and shadow walk, all physical objects are left behind at the point of departure.
• Light Balance Shadows are rapidly damaged and destroyed by direct sunlight which carries a purifying essence much as it does against vampires. However, shadows generally do not like pure darkness. IN pure darkness, a shadow loses track of its boundaries and can suffer psychological issues that can eventually result in madness. Shadows fare best in indirect light. Moonlight and starlight are idea and provide a comfortable amount of contrast for a shadow to maintain identity as well as proving shadows for shadow walking.
• Trainable Skills
  • Shadow Strike Trained shadows can target a person's shadow with an attack and do physical harm to them. This is a combat tactic that must be learned as it is not innate.
  • Possession This rare and difficult trait is an extension of a shadow strike that extends into the spirit of the shadow's owner. This is a dangerous gamble for the shadow if the host is able to reject the shadow, but it can let a shadow hide in an unwilling shell.
  • Shadow Stowaway All shadows can easily learn this variant of possession. It uses a willing host which results in an open or unoccupied mundane shadow for the shadow being to inhabit. Unless the host is a shade, only one shadow can hide in the shadow of a living person. The shadow takes the shape of the stowaway regardless of the species of the host. While in the shadow, the host and stowaway can communicate as if they had telepathy. While in the host shadow, the shadow being is protected from sunlight so long as it remains wholly merged with the host shadow.

Properties of Inklings

Inklings are shadows that have discovered both sufficient truths and an infusion of the sole element that can mend them. The odds of this are so poor that inklings tend to be close to a one in a million chance. Inklings are a significant change to the being of a shadow, but they are still incomplete.

Truths

These are absolute truths that shadows discover. The best known case is in Eyanna's daughter Verada. She discovered for herself that Aissia felt when she lost most of her friend's essence to the hungry darkness. She came to understand more about the real meaning of being a shadow and why it persist in the state it does as well as why therre is light in her eyes. She was rescued by Talon at and gained exposure to the Silvery Flame that only Talon and Celeste possess. These are the kind of truths that can be found, and they often come with great pain and a crisis of faith before they settle out.

Inkling Traits

• Light Tolerance Inklings can stand in direct sunlight without harm. They also cease to exist in silhouette and instead have very faint light reflections that give them depths. However, they remain very fluid in form.
• Lost abilities
  • Possession Inklings can no longer take possession of hosts as shadows can because they are too substantial as an Inkling. They can still ride in a willing shadow, and they can still shadow walk.

Properties of Mysteries

Mysteries will likely find a new name one day, but right now there are not enough of them to even understand how they are made. The only extant mystery is Eyanna Blackheart a silver eye from the world of IAS that survived the transition to IAM. If Eyanna knows how the process works, she is not telling anyone. What is known about Mysteries is that they are true shadow gods with matching power. Most significant among their skills is the ability to make new shadows from both the dying and, less often, de novo. If Eyanna is any indication, at least a female mystery can produce offspring with other shadows in the traditional sense with Verada being the one known example.