Shadowmancy
Shadowmancy was a powerful but rarer type of magic, focusing on creating shadowy constructs that could fight on behalf of the caster.
The shadowmancer Koa smugly dares his opponent to face his shadowy summons.
Nature #
The kahgu archon was an uncommon one to see dedicated mages for. Its powers concerned conjuring living shadows to perform actions for its casters. Kahgu archons existed everywhere, but were repelled by photons. Resultantly, they clustered around the lower-light areas of any environment.
In order to first awaken into the kahgu arcane path, one had to visit a place referred to as the Shadowkeep. The Shadowkeep could only be visited from within a lucid dream. Once one entered, they were given a sort of challenge by one or more shadowy figures. The challenge varied widely, with examples including surviving an onslaught of shadow warriors, or trying to push a rock up a difficult slope. If the dreamer was not able to complete the challenge, they were thrown out of the Castle, waking them up. However, if they succeeded, they would awaken their power as a shadowmancer. Shadows would begin to bend to their will. From then on, the caster would find themselves in the Shadowkeep whenever they went to sleep for the rest of their life.
The more a kahgun caster utilized their magic over an extended period of time, the less the shadows would respond to their wills. This was usually prevalent at the end of a long day, where they could barely hold their summons up. Even less experienced ones could lose control of summoning altogether. In order to regain control, a shadowmancer needed only to revisit the Shadowkeep for a long period of time.
While during a dreamer’s initial challenge in the castle one wouldn't see any other people. Once they had passed their test, they would be able to find and interact with others who had also been granted access inside. This way, shadowmancers could always have a way of contacting each other no matter where their physical bodies were, provided they were sleeping at the same time. Shadowmancers' bodies took the form of red-tinted shadows while the native denizens held more of a bluish tint in their incorporeal bodies.
![[Shadowkeep#^af1555]]
Cultivation #
Sometimes kahgun dreamers could find challenges by just wandering around the Shadowkeep. If they completed these challenges, they gained better control over their shadows. Though this was not the only way to gain power as a shadowmancer, it was definitely a worthwhile venture. Practical training with shadow manipulation in the waking world was the main way to progress.
Cimmerian Loom #
Sufficiently powerful shadowmancers could engage in "trades" with Ohm, the Umnral Loom Master. Ohn possessed the ability to operate a machine known as the Cimmerian Loom, a massive weaver's device that spun shadowy threads from pools of black plasm. This device was stored within a special, secret chamber on the second floor of the Shadowkeep.
Ohn and its sanctum appeared only once shadowmancers became powerful enough. This level of power was seemingly arbitrary though, leading several shadowmancers to believe Ohn granted exclusive access to those he favoured.
Ohn's services were to "weave" shade trinkets for shadowmancers, granting them an expanded list of magical abilities that could set them aside from other shadowmancers. The process was not entirely clear, but it seemed as though Ohn could quite literally weave the knowledge required to wield a new ability into the mind of a Kahgun dreamer. In exchange, Ohn requested trinkets from the material world of Legere. Currency itself had little monetary value to the Umbral Loom Master, but its interest in coins was still present purely due to its material nature. Some shadowmancers speculated that the metal Ohn was covered in was given to him by past deals with shadowmancers, and he wore it because of his fascination with the material world. The shadows of all the items Ohn acquired from his business could be found along the outer edge of the Loom Masters' Sanctum. ^7a8a5a
Items traded to the Umbral Loom Master seemed to just disappear overnight. ^7e3a6d
Powers #
Dark Favour #
Each shadowmancer held an invisible and intangible capacity to command living shadows with their will. This was colloquially known as their dark favour. This abstract 'tank of gas' increased the more notoriety the caster built within the Shadowkeep. This was not a measure of their mental capacity or focus, but rather a quantification of how much power the shadows themselves would grant a caster.
Many shadowmancers misunderstand that it is they themselves clutching power from the depths of the Shadowkeep. No, in reality it is the Shadowkeep and its master that grants power on its own whim.
--Mabosa Yao Thumying
Over the course of using their powers, a shadowmancer exhausted their dark favour. The only way to regain it was to sleep and return to the Shadowkeep in their dreams. Six hours of presence in the Shadowkeep was enough for the typical shadowmancer.
Shadows #
A shadowmancer's power revolved around materializing the dream-like imagery of the Shadowkeep into the real world. They accomplished this by summoning living shadows from the Shadowkeep, and using ordinary shadows in the material plane as a sort of gateway to do so. Any shadow would work for these purposes, but the darker the shadow the better. Summoning living shadows required focus and concentration as the caster imagined their subject rising from the shadow. This process was easier to complete when a shadow is darker.
A natural shadow had to be large enough to fit living shadow being summoned from it. Shadowmancers used the analogy of a shape fitting through a hole, where the summoned shadow was the shape and the shadow was the hole. Naturally, nighttime marked a remarkable surge in the power of a shadowmancer because of the incredible freedom in summoning things from out of the shadow of the very sun.
Living Shadow Minions #
The staple power of a shadowmancer was the reason why they were so feared. They could summon creatures made of living shadow to rise up and fight for them. They accomplished this in one of two ways:
- They used the shadow of a living creature to create a shadow minion that copied its features and characteristics. This looked like a shadowy replica original creature. This shadow minion offered temporary cooperation with its summoner as long as their Dark Favour wasn't depleted. After the summoner dismissed it, this shadow minion was loosed into the Shadowkeep as a new resident.
- They used any shadow to summon one of their sworn shadow minions. These were permanent servants that a shadowmancer acquired by venturing into the Shadowkeep and finding creatures there offering trials. Upon completion of a trial, a creature might offer its services to the shadowmancer and become a permanent addition to their forces. These creatures could either be copies from the material world, unique entities, or even a creature a shadowmancer had previously summoned. It was not uncommon for shadowmancers to be offered an opportunity to make permanent a temporary minion they themselves used once and released.
Shadowmancers commanded their shadows though issuing verbal orders to them, but could learn to issue commands mentally with enough training. Shadows that pledged themselves to an individual could also be trained to obey alternate, subtle commands, such as hand signs or other symbols.
Shadowmancers could also disconnect from their own senses to instead sense the world through one of their minions.
Living Shadow Internals & Weapons
Shadow creatures summoned into the material world interact with it as if they were physical creatures. They were tangible and definite, comprised of a substance called living shadow. Such creatures lacked internal organs; they didn't bleed and their musculature did not move their bodies. There was no use in stabbing their heart or brain when neither served a purpose, so cutting off their limbs was the only way to deal with them.
When a shadow creature's body was split, it could decide which section of its body its presence would abide in. The portion it abandoned quickly disapparated and the portion kept became the active body. They would feel pain at the moment of separation, but it didn't linger. The creature could keep moving the active body part in a logical manner.
Dismembered living shadows couldn't typically be regenerated unless the creature they copied carried an innate ability to do so. A shadowmancer's damaged minions would regenerate over time if sent back to the Shadowkeep. A smaller entity might return to full strength from any physical state in 3 hours, while a more sizable one could take longer.
Creatures that possessed armaments did exist, but their weapons could only be used by them. Effectively, a shadow's weapons behaved as though they were limbs.
A sometimes controversial practice for shadowmancers was to summon a minion with a weapon, cut off its armament, then instruct their minion to use said armament as its active body. The shadowmancer could then wield the weapon. Armaments that were part of a shadow creature's body were typically just as effective (if not less so) than real world armaments. Ammunition also behaved as parts of a shadow's body.
Shadow creatures could make a variety of guttural noises depending on what creature they are, though they usually stayed silent. Irrespective of form, they couldn't speak.
Shadow Hands #
Shadowmancers could manifest hands and arms made of living shadow from any shadow. These shadow hands mimicked the movements of one of the caster's limbs. With ample training, a shadowmancer could command this with more subtle movements or even by thought alone.
The arm of the shadow hand trailed back to its point of origin. The size of the hand could be changed if the caster spent more dark favour to do so.
Materialize Structure #
A powerful art some shadowmancers developed was the ability to materialize sections of the Shadowkeep itself in the material world. This could be a volatile art as the shadowmancer could only roughly control what would appear. Often these were structures or rooms from deep within the Shadowkeep which haven't been seen by the caster before, but it was possible to summon rooms they were familiar with.
If the shadowmancer laboured hard enough, the structure's form could stabilize and persist in the material world without the conjurer's dark favour influencing it.
If a manifested segments of the Shadowkeep were, like true structure, capable of collapsing if enough damage was dealt to its integrity.
Shadow Fog #
True umbrakinetic power displayed by a shadowmancer was limited to pulling living shadows through the air in amorphous shapes. These raw shadows did nothing more than block light, behaved like a thick fog when touched. Some found it useful to obscure themselves, but it required a great deal of focus relative to the impact it could have.
History #
In 331 DHT, shadowmancy would experience a major downturn in presence across Legere after the rise of the Dark Mage Zak. Shadowmancer numbers would struggle to rise following his defeat at the hands of the Archangel's Heroes, but would eventually restabilize.
Shadowmancer Vocations #
Shadowmancers often served in roles where multiple bodies were needed. They made excellent merchant lancers, as they could summon an entire caravan's worth of horses or Varakira to pull goods.
Shadowmancers' few numbers allowed them to fetch consistently high prices when serving as lancers of any kind.
Social Stigma #
The unnatural and fearsome appearance of shadow minions garnered much fear against shadowmancers. The Arcane Hand has done its due diligence to assuage negative views on this arcane path, but the primal instincts of Legere's sapients make shadowmancy a perpetually frightening magical practice.
Umbramancy #
Certain shadowmancers with high aspirations may have considered going down the path of Umbramancy.