Shade
'Shade' is the name given to the various shadow-like creatures which can be found in various places in The Continent of Greland. They are most commonly encountered in The Black Cities such as The Deephaunt in the lands of The Foxworth Duchy. There appears to be some connection between the Shades and The Order of Black Knights. Some Individual Black Knights have demonstrated the ability to summon or control the Shades.
Basic Information
Anatomy
The anatomy of the Shade is not fixed. They appear to be made up entirely of a viscous black fluid which is formed into a functional human-like body by unknown means. Individuals appear to have some degree of control over their form, able to shape limbs into weapons at need, or even to form additional limbs. It appears that an individual shade's form becomes more malleable and less identifiably human over time - those encountered during The Disaster at Cainfield created within a span of days before the battle appeared human enough to be almost indentifiable as individuals, while those encountered in The Deephaunt a year or more after their assumed creation have been seen to sport additional limbs or even incorporate beast-like lower bodies.
All shades so far encountered sport a human-like head, though again the features appear to degenerate over time. In almost all cases the facial area glows with a harsh blue-white light.
The viscous fluid that makes up a shade continually runs down and drips from their bodies. It is unclear how they seem to continually generate more of this fluid. When a shade is destroyed the cohesion of its form breaks and the fluid bursts apart, to soak into the ground.
Light
Shades interact strangely with light. They seem to react fearfully to light, avoiding being exposed to daylight and shrinking away from those carrying torches or the white light emitted by White Knights. While in darkness a shade's form is extremely malleable, often to the point of seeming like a mere shadow, allowing objects including weapons which attempt to strike out against it to pass through. When exposed to light the shade's body becomes gradually more solid the more well-lit it becomes, with a shade within five feet of a torch being of a similar toughness to human flesh, albeit without any bones to hold it together. When a shade's form becomes broken and its fluid breaks apart, any which falls in a well-illuminated area will hiss and evaporate on contact with a surface instead of soaking into the ground.Growth Rate & Stages
The initial presentation of the Shade is very huamn-like, potentially even bearing a resemblance to individuals. It is not yet clear how this presentation comes about, whether it has a connection to the creation of the Shade, or perhaps comes from the mind of the person identifying it.
As a Shade's lifespan continues, it seems to degenerate, becoming progressively less human-like.
Indeed, some Shades are barely recognisable as human at all.
Additional Information
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
It is not known how or even if the Shades sense the world around them. They seem to be drawn to living bodies somehow, though they do not possess anything that would be recognisable as eyes, ears or even a nose. They appear to react to both sound and motion, though it is unclear how.
They also seem to be able to sense the auras given off by White Knights, causing them to converge on such auras to attack their source.
Geographic Distribution
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