Shades
"The Shadowmen are a strange people. Maybe one day I'll study them in-depth."
Archmage Dulacar, of The Brass Tower
Naming Traditions
Unisex names
Favoring the Old Tongue as they do, the Shades typically name their children simply. This sometimes is a note of something significant about their birth, such as Promise or Burden, but just as often it is simply a number denoting the order in which the child is born; Up, Baz, Tek, Huva, Dam, Zek, Zak, Gen, Yut, Yatta.
Family names
Shades typically have pragmatic names garnered from their profession. They rarely pass on their surnames, but when they do it lasts for a generation or two until their offspring choose a different profession. Examples: Farmer, Hunter, Stalker, Slayer, Warrior, Swordman, Spearman, Spellman, Smith, Fish.
Other names
Shades by tradition develop a 'Tonanym', a musical sting that acts as a sort of shorthand biography. These bursts of sound are never more than a second or two long, but Shades can pick out the notes of those familiar to them or especially their own immediately.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
Shades teach their children the Old Tongue alongside common. In addition to HYAGAF, HYAGASH, HYAGAHY, they also teach their children HYAGAKAPF, a musical language known only to Shades that acts as a condensed and easily transmittable form of the language.
Culture and cultural heritage
Shades are descendants of humans sent by the Grimhii Empire to scour the Shadowfell for a long forgotten purpose.
The Shades' ancestors were sent into the Shadowfell to eliminate the last vestiges of refugee bands from the Batrachy Empire.
Shared customary codes and values
Shades know that their home is killing them. They are made aware of this fact very early in their childhoods. The effect of a human subspecies facing its own mortality brings out the race's sharpest focus. They are a Phlegmatic group, considering the angles and always working inexorably towards their goals. There is little that a Shade hates more than a layabout or a shirker.
Common Etiquette rules
Shades do not express emotion in public. Emotions are for the most intimate settings, and any outburst is often cause for disgust.
Common Dress code
Shadowmen dress practically in stout tunics and faded grays.
Art & Architecture
Shades generally disdain public displays of art, but favor stone carving and clay sculpting trinkets for private collections. Their art tends to be extremely abstract.
Common Customs, traditions and rituals
Shades believe that each of them has a HEG BAL, a True Purpose. This is often the creation of something that lasts, the destruction of something important, or some social or environmental change. It is considered reasonable to commit any sacrifice or atrocity in the pursuit of this goal, and it's considered the act of a mortal enemy to interfere in it.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
Shades regard the birth of a newborn as a casual event. The mortality rate of the species is so high that even parents rarely get too attached.
Coming of Age Rites
A Shade is considered an adult when they have chosen a True Purpose.
Funerary and Memorial customs
Shades who die before achieving their HEG BAL are discarded as one might discard trash. The rare few who achieve their goals are given a sepulchral burial on the surface of the Shadowfell.
Common Taboos
A Shadowman will only interfere in another's HEG BAL if their own requires it. Otherwise they will take pains to avoid it.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
Shades favor one of two extremes on skin tone: Dark, obsidian black or porcelain white. Most will shave part or all of their hair, and many will dye it.
Courtship Ideals
Courtship among shadowmen constitutes a protracted negotiation of the future. When both parties believe that they are in alignment with their goals, they will consummate their relationship with a binding contract.
Relationship Ideals
Shades typically look for a lifetime partner. Unlike the Shadar-Kai, Shades prefer to mate for life and rarely have a wild youth spent sewing oats.
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