Shade and the Tar

Shade ebbs and flows like a tide. Where it grows, it forms "bubbles" - a seemingly arbitrary border from which it will not pass. They are colloquially known as gloaming groves, or simply Gloams. These bubbles can vary wildly in size. Within, Shade grows, condensing and filling up its bubble. When the area is so ensconced with Shade that it is a black void when viewed from the outside, it is fit to bursting. And when a Shade's Gloam bursts, it spills out in a devastating Flood of Shade. These floods roll out rapidly, decimating the world in its path. But, after a few short days or weeks, the floods will recede, with the Shade either sinking into the earth as tar or dissipating into the Firmament. Though the flood may recede, it will always leave a lingering mist of Shade, which continues to be hazardous to living things. In most cases, it also leaves behind a "seed" of Shade. When a civilization is wiped out in this manner, they are called Echoes.

Adventurers may come across crystalline statues in their adventures - these are the lost of the Echoes, stagnant souls of those unfortunate enough to be trapped in a flood of shade. If one of these crystal corpses are shattered, the Lustre within escapes as a corrupted Afterglow. Like Embers, Afterglows are semi-corporeal, and only partly of their own mind. They are entities haunted both by their former life, and the Shade they fell to. They tend to seek out living bodies in an attempt to possess them, though successful attempts are rare. Instead, most attempts usually lead to the corruption and crystallization of the host. Quick dealings with the parasitic afterglow may leave the assaulted only minorly injured, though their Lustre will have been tainted and they may require magical healing. To be felled by an Afterglow is to be damned.

This is why the work of reclaiming flooded lands is both so dangerous, and important. The individuals who have turned it into a career are known as Gloam Wardens. They enter tainted areas, seeking to purge the root of the Shade. These "roots" are a specialized kind of Shadow, a kind of parasitic worm that takes on traits of the tainted land. Though they are stuck to only one area, they may appear as plants, animals, or even humanoids, moving around their "lairs". Their tether to their rooted half may be entirely invisible and incorporeal, but one need only eliminate the visible portion. Killing the roots is often a deadly, nearly insurmountable task. The fact that every root is unique means each comes with its own problems. Yet, Gloam Wardens have persevered time and time again. And once the root has been purged, the area is no longer capable of growing shade. Lingering shadows may be slain, but they will eventually either flee to another gloam or wither and die. For added measure, Gloam Wardens will often erect Rime-fueled braziers and torches in the area, which will help to dissipate any lingering shade, allowing it to be freely settled again.

Shadows are fleshless formed entirely of Shade. They are profane mockeries of life. Though they come in a vast multitude of shapes, with different behaviors and abilities, they have been categorized based on similar attributes.

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Stalkers tends towards inhuman shapes. They are patient killers that use stealth to spread chaos and fear while remaining unseen. Stalkers are not usually speaking, but may leave hints of their presence. They may leave behind murder weapons, gore, or allow themselves to be spotted. Stalkers set the stage for Shade to fester. Often, but not always, they will select a single target to torment specifically, ultimately corrupting them. This is usually accomplished by ritualistic suicide of the stalker, releasing the condensed Shade that made its form, which then consumes its target. They are one of the most common shadows known to man, but this may be an overestimation simply due to their "dramatic" nature.

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Reapers, in contrast, are the rarest Shadow. However, they are the most feared due to their intelligence. Reapers may behave similarly to stalkers, following victims. But their methods vastly differ. Reapers are capable of speech, and use this trait to manipulate man. They are even capable of disguising themselves, or mimicking voices. The victims of the Reaper is to be kidnapped, dragged off into the wilderness, usually towards a gloam. Though the true fate of their victims is unknown. Only that encounters with a reaper are rarely survived.

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Pillagers are by far the most distinctive of the Shadows. They are large, walking siege machines, intent only on destruction. Luckily they lack any greater intelligence. While Stalkers come with truthful warnings, and Reapers used as a reminder to beware strangers, Pillagers are spoken of like legions of an army, or great beasts. They almost exclusively appear before a Flood of Shade arrives. In some ways, they are a blessing in disguise, serving as an early omen of things to come.

As Rime is to Light, Tar is to Shade. While Shade has no manipulable component like Lustre, it is capable of changing states from the incorporeal draining of the Shade, into a physical, usable component called Tar. Shade left stagnant will become physical, seeping into the earth.

While Shade can manifest simply out of the darkness, it will always follow the appearance of tar. When Shade sinks into the earth, it will usually remain trapped there, but it can be drawn to the surface in a number of ways, some understood - and most not. Tar has healing and mending properties, for both organic and inorganic things. It can also be used as a combustible, though most prefer Rime as a source of power. However, Tar is commonly used by those who live beyond the reach of the Aeries or the Lustre flows, and must rely on other sources of power. 

Certain areas of the Boreal specialize in the production of tar. Notably, the people of Umbragard have designed an entire industry around such an activity. Within the inky southern sea, massive Shadows thrive in the waters. These leviathans are hunted on tarships, then dragged back to shore where their tar is extracted. From hunting to processing, this activity is extremely dangerous, but can also be extremely lucrative. In places, such as Umbragard, where Rime is never a certainty, large quantities of tar make life possible.

There are those who are blessed by the light of the Firmament, and there are those who become corrupted beyond repair by the Shade. But for those who survive their encounters with the darkness, or who are born in or spend long enough within a tainted place, they may become Tarred. Unlike the Starlings, who can choose to use their gifts, the Shade mars you in a way that can not be ignored. Tarred generally possess some physical characteristic of their corruption, such as long, black claws, or horns, or oily scales. A Tarred's Lustre is usually dull, and while they cannot use magic like Starlings, they often possess gifts - or curses - related to their malformity. That individual with claws can make them freezing cold to the touch, burning flesh as it rends. Those horns act as vibrational detectors, allowing that person to roughly echolocate. And those scales make that person unusually durable, even to things like fire.

The Tarred earn their name from their blood, which flows thick, oily and black as the deepest Shade.