Shadowkeep
The Shadowkeep was an enormous extraplanar castle with complex floor plans and architecture that spiraled into near infinity. Shadowmancers were never able to discover the full extent of its grounds.
When a shadowmancer woke up inside the Shadowkeep, they would take on a body of living shadow intertwined with fleeting sparks of a ghostly pale blue light. This body mirrored the height and build of their physical forms, but lost small details.
A shadowmancer could collect shade trinkets by completing further trials and exploring the Shadowkeep, increasing their dark favour. Alternatively, they could fast-track knowledge or acquire exclusive power over certain manifestations of shadows by obtaining a special trinkets woven by the Umbral Loom Master... for a price.
Architecture & Layout #
Architecturally speaking, the structure looked similar to a Corgathian castle. Its walls, floors, and ceilings were mostly made out of metal and stone coloured various shades of black and gray. Red and gold carpets and drapes of both wool and silk covered the floor and hung off the walls. Windows found in some rooms offered a view of the castle's endless sprawl lit by the starlight of a dark blue cosmos overhead. The types of rooms that could be found within were vastly different, though the purposes of most of them were difficult to ascertain.
Some rooms led to areas exposed to the outside. Glowing, blue vegetation typically grew in these areas.
Scholars were not sure what conditions had to come true for the Shadowkeep to breach the walls of a prospective shadowmancer's dream, but they have observed that the more relative time one spent in a state of lucid dreaming, the more likely it was to appear.
Floors & Known Areas #
The Black Spire #
The first and smallest floor was known as the Black Spire. This is where The Shadeking's throne resided along with a large concentration of his knights.
Second Floor #
The second floor was cleared out and populated mostly by patrolling Shade Knights and shadowmancer gatherings. This layer also housed the Loom Masters' Sanctum, home of the Cimmerian Loom.
Loom Masters' Sactum #
The door to the sanctum was a massive, nearly 20-foot tall slab carved from a blood-red marble rock. Black wrought iron handles were present on the massive stone faces.
Koa recalling his first encounter in the Loom Masters' Sanctum
Upon opening it, I found myself in a large, octagonal room with a high ceiling. Each vertex of the room held a small well filled with a pulsing, seething black liquid. A strand of darkness like that of a thread extended upwards out of each pool, looping through several hooks on the ceiling until they all converged upon a single massive device in the center of the great hall. It looked like a loom, made of a shiny, polished red metal. The strands of shadow coalesced into more numerous, fine threads that appeared to be woven together by a strange creature sitting behind it. The creature was humming to itself a strange, otherworldly tune as it worked on the bizarre, dark tapestry framed within the loom.
Third Floor #
The third floor was a common crossroads for Wandering Shades, and many of them could be found gathering around a small courtyard with a large fountain in the center of the floor.
Native Denizens #
The Shadowkeep was home to many twisted creatures that could take the form of billowing masses of shadow. These entities were called shades and mostly kept to themselves.
The Shadeking #
Referred to as "His Royal Darkness," the Shadekng was the supposed king of the civilized shadow people and possible owner of the Shadowkeep itself. He appeared as a billowing mass of shadow in the vague form of a 7 foot tall man with pointed, angular armour adorned with spikes. A crown of gold light hovered over his head. Sparks of gold whirled throughout his form.
The Shadeking was the most imposing and powerful being in the Shadowkeep, and his will dominated all. When a shadowmancer succeeded their first trial, they would be found by a Shade Knight and brought before the Shadeking to receive their power over kahgu archons (shadows). ^af1555
The Elite Shades #
The Elite Shades were powerful knights formed of the same whirling darkness that the Shadeking was sculpted from. They were clad in similar armour to their liege and carried menacing greatswords made of a strange black and gold pattern-wielded alloy.
The Shade Knights #
Shade Knights were the common soldiers of the Shadeking. They were found patrolling the deeper parts of the Shadowkeep, keeping order and relaying messages. They were smaller than the Elite Shades and had motes of red light darting throughout their shadowy forms.
The Wanderers #
Tall, lanky, and sometimes abstractly-shaped shades that took on towering forms speckled with faint green light. They were often sighted carrying backpacks laden with knick-knacks.
They typically congregated in meeting areas near the top of the Shadowkeep. It was unclear where they were traveling to or from. They were usually silent around shadowmancers, communicating with each other exclusively.
Ohn, the Umbral Loom Master #
The mysterious creature called Ohn dwelled in a secret chamber within the heart of the Shadowkeep known as the Loom Masters' Sanctum. This four-armed wandering shade worked a massive, loom-like machine known as the Cimmerian Loom, often humming a haunting, otherworldly tune while it worked.
Ohn's head appeared to be a mass of metal plates fused together in an abstract shape. There were no eyes or mouth holes that could be seen. When standing at full height, Ohn's head would nearly touch the ceiling. The creature had no legs, instead seeming to balance on a single large metal spike protruding from the bottom of its torso. Its body seemed to be made of the same metal plates as its head, but with ribbons of black silk falling gracefully from its frame.
Shadowmancers that met Ohn described a thick black fog emanating from the cracks in its head whenever it spoke. Despite the Umbral Loom Master's threatening aura and nightmarish appearance, it was a peaceful being that worked closely with the most skilled of shadowmancers.
Ohn often referred to its place of residence as the "Loom Masters' Sanctum," implying that there are--or perhaps were--more of his kind at one point. However, every shadowmancer that had gained access to the Loom Masters' Sanctum had only ever known Ohn. This mysterious nature of the Loom Master led to wild speculation amongst shadowmancers--some believed that the plurality of the chamber's name referred to the multiple "spirits" of Ohn that operated it[^1]. Others believed that the Ohn they met was not the original: perhaps every Loom Master took the name of Ohn as their own.
Ohn did not seem to answer to The Shadeking directly, but appeared to respect his rule regardless. Ohn did not like to talk about the dealings of the Shadeking or anything else relevant to the Shadowkeep--the dark weaver's interests lay only with the material world and the Cimmerian Loom.
![[Shadowmancy#^7a8a5a]]
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Living Shadows #
Living shadows were entities created by shadowmancers. After serving their conjurer's will in the material world, they would retreat to the Shadowkeep to roam freely.
[^1]: Only one shadowmancer was ever present in the room at once, despite multiple being able to enter at the same time.