| Species | Shade |
| Order | Phantasm |
| Classification | Undead |
| Dominion | Raesian |
| Sphere | Undeath |
| Origin | Early mortals with unfinished business remained after they died. |
| Lifespan | Until they fulfill their unfinished business. |
| Habitat | Near where they lived in life or near where they died. |
| Food | None |
| Description | A faded version of the once living being, often not even visible except to those sensitive to esoterica. |
| Corruption | A shade is formed when someone dies with minor corruption by msawhat on their souls or through a minor traumatic event that leaves them with unfinished business. |
| Esoterica | All undead are beings of msawhat. Shades have vastly reduced versions (1-4) of the energies they could control in life, but they cannot use any qi, gates energy, or heavenly essence. The only exception is loneliness resonance, which they can build up over centuries; they can wield it after a millennium. |
| Special Powers | Shades cause unease in those who become aware of them. After a long time of being unseen, they can cause others near them to feel their loneliness or need. |
| Necromancy | Users of msawhat can cause someone to become a shade with a small dose of msawhat corrupting their souls (4). Control of shades or summoning them is similarly simple, but does not yield much useful power. Drawing power from shades is also similarly simple and weak. A medium may let a shade take over them easily without much fear of permanent possession. |
| Sending | Shades can be sent by helping them finish their business in the living realm or through small doses (1) of the gates, qi, or any heavenly essence. |
| Weaknesses | Qi, gates, or heavenly essence. |
| Behavior | Shades exist outside of the perception of most mortals. They attempt to influence the world as best they can in order to finish what they left unfinished. If they are a shade because of msawhat, they sometimes simply linger unseen, only felt. |
| Dominion Culture | As part of the Raesian Dominion, shades become spies for the Empress. Agents of the Empress of Kael'Ras will corrupt someone's soul, kill them, and then enslave their shade as a spy, often choosing low-ranking servants of their enemies. They are used disposably by the Dominion. Sometimes they are granted a little extra power as a shade of the Raesian Dominion, such as the power to move objects or speak where mortals can hear them. |
| Other Dominions | In other dominions, shades serve much the same purpose: to act as spies. They are not used as often by the Qhanuum Dominion, but all others use them fairly often. In the Srisian Dominion, they are sometimes given powers over shadow energy, allowing them to shadowwalk back to their masters quicker. In the Kaanian Dominion, shades are often parents whose children were left unattended, and they are forced to watch as their children are killed, eaten, or turned into undead themselves. This trauma often leaves them with potent emotional resonance that can be exploited. In the Durosian Dominion, their loneliness resonance gets stronger faster, and in the Agikaani Dominion, their tormented states sometimes allow them to cause pain in those they stand close to for an extended time. In the Fellwood Dominion, they take on the power to scare mortals if they stand too near them for too long, and in the Godless Dominion, they are granted the power to snatch prayers out of the air, though this usually destroys them. In the Dun Dominion, they are sometimes able to cause weak fever in those who perceive them, and in Wapek, a slight chill. In the Sangarian and Pandemonian Dominions, they are rarer, and their loneliness presences are sharper, causing more pain. In the Campionese Dominion, they are able to be more intentionally steahtly. Dun Campionese Wapek Sangarian Pandemonian |
| Mortal Interactions | Shades usually are not perceived by mortals, but when they are, the mortals are often made uneasy. |
| Afterlife | Shades who are sent to the afterlife usually spend some time in what is known as tsalmaveth, the shadow of death, between the Gates of Mortality and Divinity and the other realms, until all remnants of msahwat are gone from them. This could take a few millennia. Finishing their unfinished business is usually not enough to purify them; qi or gates energy of 5 or higher can send them purely. |
| Notables | Noem ad Bavi, Unseen Guide |
| Special Classes | Spy |
| Sample Stats | PRO 1 ATH 1 STR 1 AWA 1 WIL 1 ROG Active 1 Passive 22 Unease Presence 4 Loneliness Presence 1 pt/century after 1 millennium |
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