Shadow Worship
Servitude to the Shadow
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Profile
Shadow worship is the religion that is centered around the worship of the powerful and malicious extraplanar being known as the Shadow that represents the hunger, greed, and entropy of the multiverse. It is one of the newest religions in the multiverse, started around the time of the Second Primordial War following the summoning of the Shadow onto Arda. During its millennia-long span on Arda, the Shadow took on the form of a shining golden dragon which came to be known as the Gilded Dragon to its worshipers, the people who would eventually become the extraplanar fetchlings. The Shadow, while an immensely powerful being, is not an actual god by traditional standards. While it can be empowered by the prayers and souls of its followers, and in turn empower its clerics and followers with its strengths, it is nether omnipresent or posses the omniscience which the Heavens and the Four Primordial Lords had obtained by their apotheosis. The Shadow, as a powerful being which embodies the greed and hunger of the multiverse, covets the powers of "true" godhood. The Shadow seeks this power with the ultimate goal of devouring the multiverse until there is nothing left except itself. To fulfill this goal, the followers of the Shadow seek mutual self-destruction of all life on Arda and on the planes beyond. To its followers it project its image of purity and majesty as the Gilded Dragon, but outside this façade lies the multifarious and shifting forms which the Shadow can take. The holy symbol of the Shadow is a golden dragon against a black or violet background.
Holy Text
Shadow worship does have a holy book, which is known as the Liber Ocard, which is translated as the "Edict of the Dragon". Written by the early fetchlings, who know the Shadow as the Gilded Dragon, and refer to his splendourous golden form. The Liber Ocard is a lengthy text which begins by maintaining that the essence of the multiverse is chaos and hate. The only way to find stability and peace is through death. The text continues to describe the history of the Gilded Dragon's glories and victories, the germination of the extraplanar deities to the fall of the giants of the Forge of Haddoth. It continues into its time on Arda, and how it "saved" the souls of the fetchling's ancestors, who were steeped in the sin of that land and their "pretender" deities. It then describes how the Shadow saved its new people by welcoming them to the "promised land", the Holy City of Amumbra, where they can bring the "deserved" end of all life in the multiverse.History
No one knows how the Shadow came to be. It has existed since the dawn of time, when the first powerful extraplanar beings came into existence. These powerful extraplanar beings had no knowledge of their creator, but would take the inky and black void and craft it into worlds and wonders of their own. Thus did these beings create stars and planes to populate the void, and soon did the void gain meaning. Notable such beings include the Four Primordial Lords, the Heavens, and the Shadow. It is known that other such beings have previously existed, and it is likely that others still do, but likely are far away from the struggles of the Heavens, Primordials, and the Shadow. With worship, the Heavens and the Primordials ascended to greater heights of power, attaining godhood. These forces maintain and cultivate life, and in return the prayers and souls of their worshipers nourish them. The Shadow cares little for life beyond the power he perceives it grants him, and craves the power granted by ascending to godhood. The Shadow sees the multiverse as the birthright of its creation, and intends to devour it in its entirety until there is nothing left but itself. To that end, the Shadow has brought ruin to many burgeoning planes and realms, and empowers the wicked to achieve its goals. Thus, with the destruction and enslavement of many realms, has much of the multiverse fallen under its sway. Thus, to most, the multiverse is known as the Dragon's Domain, known after the Shadow's favored form, the Gilded Dragon. Others refer to the multiverse's destruction and stagnation, calling it the Dragon's Mire. The Shadow had spent much of the early years of its creation destroying and devouring the worlds created by other extraplanar beings, and devoured them to gain power. At some point during this endless cycle of destruction did it receive an offer from the Primordial Lords to bring ruin to its one-time allies and now enemies, the Heavens. The Shadow, more than pleased to cause havoc, gather followers, and gain power, answered the summons of the Primordials to come to Arda. Upon its arrival on the plane, the Shadow assumed its favorite form, that of a great golden dragon. Known as the Gilded Dragon, it wrought destruction across Arda as it spread its precepts of mutual self-destruction as payment for their sins, among the scattered and desperate peoples of Arda. From them, it found many willing followers who spread the word of their new lord and "god". This warfare continued until the Last of the Primordial Wars, where the Gilded Dragon brought forth its followers along with the Children of the Primordials to bring doom and ruin upon the ragged Children of the Heavens in their stronghold of Khazad-Vala. The slaughter upon both sides was terrible, and the Shadow reveled in the death and destruction of the battle. In hope and desperation, the elven maiden Isolde climbed to the top of Khazad-Vala to beg the Heavens for aid. Summoned by her call, the Heavens manifested physical form and joined the battle, tearing the land and armies asunder. The Primordial Lords did the same, and the battle once more ratcheted in intensity. The Shadow, not yet a deity itself, cleverly pulled back its forces to avoid the worse effects of the terrible conflict. Amidst the destructive war, the deity Mendos split from the Heavens to shield the assembled peoples of Khazad-Vala from harm using its own divine essence. As the battle raged on around it, Mendos succumbed to its wounds. The last act of a dying god, Mendos created two newborn humans children. So moved by Mendos' sacrifice and the birth of new life, both the Children of the Heavens and the Children of the Primordials wept tears of joy so great in number that it created the mighty river known as the Tearflood. The Primordial Lords and Heavens called for truce, and both would strive to create a balance between Arda and life. The Shadow had seen the tide of war had changed before its eyes. Determined to get the blood and suffering it came for, it took its followers south to get the violence it craved. In Harad, the Shadow and its worshipers set to slaughter any who would not worship it. Thus, great scores of the orcs and duergar of Harad were slain, and the Shadow-worshipers began to build a new land for themselves and their "god". From there, they would spread pain and chaos, and kill or kidnap any who refused to worship the Shadow. As time passed, the Shadow worshipers mixed together, creating a people akin to early fetchlings, which the people of Arda called "ashmen" for their gray-black skin and propensity for destruction. Unsurprisingly, the Children of the Heavens and the Children of the Primordials would not stand for these murderers at their doorstep, and the Romanoran Empire organized numerous efforts to recover the land from the Shadow worshipers. While it took centuries, the Shadow worshipers were driven from Harad, and eventually forced into the fatal and inhospitable lands of the Shifting Wastes. There, the Shadow took its followers into extraplanar exile, taking them onto the Shadow's personal plane, which would later become the Holy City of Amumbra. From here, the Shadow and its worshipers would plot their triumphant return to Arda, and to seek a method to turn their master into a true deity of destruction.Domains
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| Chaos, Death, Destruction, Evil, Madness, Scalykind, Void, War |
Adherents
Shadow worship is one of the furthest reaching religions in the multiverse. From the desolate and arid sands of the Theopolis of Leng to the cold and rugged Blood Fortress of Thuban, worship of the Shadow is wide-spread throughout the multiverse. The subjects of the Shadow are diverse in both ancestry and way of life. The best known of the Shadow's subjects (rarely described as the "Children of the Shadow") are the fetchlings, an ancestry founded by the mixing of the peoples of Arda who were corrupted by proximity to their dark master. To the fetchlings, the Shadow is worshiped as the mighty golden dragon, known as the "Gilded Dragon". Following the Last of the Primordial Wars and their subsequent rout in Harad, the Shadow bade its followers to live on his personal plane, which was built up over the centuries as the "Holy City of Amumbra". The fetchlings are among the Shadow's greatest supporters, forming a regal hierarchy of clerics, paladins, and other mages who support the Shadow and fulfill its aims throughout the multiverse. The high priest of Shadow worship is known as the "Tyrant", who appears as a fetchling bound in golden chains, and acts as the mouthpiece of the Shadow. Beneath the Tyrant are the religious order known as the Apostles of the Tyrant, who lead the fetchling people and execute the will of the Tyrant, and by extension, the Shadow. In order to execute their will across the multiverse, the Apostles founded a knightly order of fetchlings known as the Order of the Gilded Dragon. Almost all fetchlings are not tolerant of any other faiths, and those discovered to worship other faiths or lack faith in the Shadow are severely punished; often banished or executed. The next most significant group of Shadow worshipers are the denizens of the Theopolis of Leng. They are strange near-humanoid creatures who prowl the multiverse in search of slaves to build cities and monuments in the desolate deserts of their homeland. Shadow clerics seem to hold significant sway in these lands. The denizens of Leng also have their own religious hierarchy, with their hierophant being some sort of eldritch creature known as the "High Priest Beyond Description". How they came to be Shadow worshipers in uncertain, but it is known that they believe their current arrangement with the fetchlings and the Shadow to be one to their liking and their purpose. There are other peoples and creatures which are said to to be the Shadow's followers and exist in the Dragon's Domain, such as the dragonkin and giants, but little is known about these peoples. Unlike the deities of Arda, the Shadow rarely acts as a benefactor to its people; it rarely answers prayers or grants wishes, and cares little about its followers beyond what power their souls and worship can grant it. While the exact ideology seems to differ between the Children of the Shadow, most seem to point to intrinsic drive to mutual self-destruction. This is often viewed as "necessary" by Shadow followers for reasons such as repentance from sins, maintaining cosmic balance, or that their lives exist without intrinsic purpose without the Shadow, and so on. As a result, the Shadow's subjects often have little regard for life, whether it is the lives of another or even their own. On Arda, more than a few misguided souls have sought the knowledge and power offered by the Shadow. They are often known as Shadow worshipers or Shadow cultists. They are known to collude with the fetchlings in their goals to disrupt and invade Arda. In the best cases, they are isolated cells which seek eldritch knowledge, but others are more brazen; from kidnapping offerings to their dark god, or assassinating political figures to incite chaos. While few would argue with the power that Shadow cultists hold, most know that such power comes with great and terrible costs. As such, Shadow worship is often banned or persecuted in most nations of Arda. Once every few years, a total solar eclipse occurs on Arda. In the early civilizations of Arda, it was seen as a conflict between the Shadow who tried to consume the sun, and is beat back each time by the Heavens or Primordial Fire (depending on the cultural tradition). Children born during the total solar eclipse are believed to be marked by the Shadow. People of highly religious or superstitious societies (such as Al-Andalus or Harad, respectively), frequently persecute, abandon, or worse, these children as they're perceived to be cursed. Families pray their children aren't born under these bad omens, and those infants who are may be brought to churches or orphanages in the hopes to distance themselves or their children from this curse. As a result of this, many live a life of ostracism, or worse yet, are pushed into joining the Shadow cult's their families so fervently revile.
Afterlife
Upon their death, the souls of those who worshiped the Shadow offer their souls as tribute to their dark god. Each life, particularly the souls, of these individuals are the power source and ultimate goal for the Gilded Dragon. Most often, these souls are consumed by the Shadow which they had served in life, transferring their soul and divine essence to the it and bringing the Shadow closer to its goal of "true divinity" and the destruction of the multiverse. In rarer cases, souls are returned and shaped into new Shadow creatures (such as ink creatures, among others) some of which retain the memories of their past life. These creatures will continue to serve the Shadow in its new and changed form. The rare few souls contacted are rarely sane or comprehensible, so most surmise their consumption by the Shadow is distorting or painful. Souls may reject this repatriation, and like any souls who are atheist or rejected or unclaimed by their deities, are almost certainly bound to an afterlife as a lost soul. Lost souls are often unable to interact with the world around them, and become stuck between the plane which they died and the Transitive Plane. Such souls will often live long lives of loneliness or frustration, unless they become called upon, such as the cases of Ancestor Worship, by which they may find meaningful afterlives. While these souls *can* reject a willful joining with the Shadow, most such souls that become "lost" in the Shadow's presence are taken and consumed against their will. Similarly, the greedy Shadow sends a number of creatures to hunt the Transitive Plane for any lost souls. Upon locating and subduing a lost soul, a Shadow creature brings it to their dark master to be eaten and take the divine essence of their souls. As a result, the Shadow is indeed comprised of a number of lost and unwilling souls which swells its power, but similarly bars the way to its "true divinity".See Also
A part of:Quick Reference
Domains: Chaos, Death, Destruction, Evil, Madness, Scalykind, Void, War
Created: Fetchlings, Enlightened Men, likely more
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