Shadow Ascendant

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Who Are They?

Transcending flesh. Transcending death. Transcending need. Already on the road to casting away all that makes them human, it is no wonder that the Forsaken often turn towards the ultimate dehumanization –Shadow Ascendancy- as their final goal.

Shadow Ascendants are Forsaken who, through training their minds and bodies, have strengthened their ‘Inner Shadow' and become personifications of the dark essence. Power, agile, magical, the Shadow Ascendant is revered both as a scout, an assassin and a religious figure.

Who Likes Them?

Forsaken, mostly. The Horde respects them for their skill but reviles them for their unnatural powers. The trolls as well revere them for their Shadow power and similarity to loa deities.

The Alliance and all Light-worshippers hate them for what they represent and how they regard themselves.

Training

Requirements

Priests, Magi, Warlocks, Rogues, Warriors and Death Knights can become Shadow Ascendants.

Alliance Alliance »


  • None

Horde Horde »


Strengths

  • New Flesh

The Shadow Ascendant casts aside their flesh and attains a shadowy body. Physical attacks are harder to land upon them, but it is more difficult for them to inflict physical attacks upon enemies as well.

  • Spidery Walk

Shadow Ascendants can crawl and climb over any surface at any angle easily as if they were a spider.

  • Beyond Human

Shadow Ascendants cannot grow tired. They do not need to breath, eat or drink. They cannot be poisoned or fatigued. They do not require sleep.

  • Shadow Mastery

All Shadow Spells they previously knew in life are amplified in strength and power.

  • Unearthly Speed

Unconstrained with muscle and fat, they can move quickly and have doubled the speed and dexterity of a normal Forsaken.

Weaknesses

  • Shadowy

Contact with direct sunlight or any other bright light causes them to become dizzy, irritable, half-blind and pained.

  • Shadow Being

Light spells deal double damage to them.

  • Forsaken Body

They are physically weaker than their previous selves, lacking the musculature to do what they used to be able to do.

Skills and Abilities

  • Hidden Shadow

The Shadow Ascendant can compress and melt their bodies into a shadow, hiding themselves from sight and rendering themselves invisible. Compressed in the Shadow, however, they remain within it until they exit.

  • Shadow Step

The Shadow Ascendant can hold a ritual to teleport between shadows , melding between points that they have previously visited so long as those points have a man-sized quantity of shadow in them. This ability cannot be used in combat.

  • Dark Drain

A Shadow Ascendant can drain an incapacitated target or an object's shadow to replenish their health. The health gained is related to the size of the shadow. After the shadow has been drained the object no longer casts a shadow.

  • Dissipate

The Ascendant can dissipate into a cloud of shadow and escape through walls, cracks and out of impairing snares. They gain flight. The effect only lasts until a short distance (60 feet) from where they first dissipated.

Training Outline

The Forsaken must first have an earnest desire to become a Shadow Ascendant. As such they must join with a sect of the Cult of the Forgotten Shadow. They can be either driven their by depression after their conversion, find enlightenment in their ego-centric teachings or simply perceive the Shadow and inner-self the way towards power and earthly pleasure.

Once within the cult, the Shadow Aspirant must prove their worth towards a Shadow Ascendant within the cult's ranks. This usually embodies a test or trial of either the mind, body or faith. These vary for each Ascendant.

After the Ascendant has been wooed he will offer three lessons in the virtues of Shadow: Respect, Tenacity and Power. Each will try the Aspirant and further them along their path towards shedding their bonds.

The first lesson, Respect, is a lesson in respecting the bonds between life and death. The lessons vary between each teacher, but a common theme is learning how to kill judiciously and without excess. Assassinations of random people, saving the lives of enemies, resurrection a friend or a hated foe…Anything to instill a sense of Respect for both Life and Death will be followed.

The second lesson, Tenacity, is a lesson in the power of the singular man. The teacher will instruct the person to change the world in some minor way. This can be accomplished by destroying a powerful family, murder a political figure or help change the tide of a skirmish and save lives.

The third lesson, Power, is a lesson in self-betterment. The Forsaken will seek to strengthen their mind, body or spirit through a trial or lesson. They will go off to find a tome, or lock themselves a way and meditate through the use of chemicals and hallucinogens. Anything that will drive the Forsaken to self betterment will be done in this lesson.

At each step the Forsaken becomes more gaunt. Their form becomes willowy and hard to define. They start to lose definition in their face and figure. Their skin becomes more and more pale. They start to change, physically and mentally. Pain begins to fade away. Muscles begin to move faster and the mind more quickly.

At the end of their lessons the Aspirant is brought to a secret place by their Shadow Ascendant teacher. There the teacher rips their soul free from their body and, in a ritual, creates a new body of pure shadow for the new Ascendant.

Newly created, the Ascendant returns to civilization a new beast of pure dark power.

Active Shadow Ascendants


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