Coppermind:Welcome/Featured Article/Shade
Featured Article: Shade[edit]
“People on Threnody are afflicted with a particular ailment that—upon death—sometimes turns them into what we call a Cognitive Shadow. I will leave aside the nature of whether or not a Cognitive Shadow is actually the soul of the person—this is a question for a theologian or a philosopher. ”
—Khriss on the subject of shades
A shade is a type of Cognitive Shadow that is native to the Forests of Hell on Threnody, and to the floating cities of Canticle. Spirits of dead Threnodites, the shades haunt the Forests preying on travelers and can only be defeated with silver. The shades are dangerous and feared by all inhabitants of the Forests, as their touch can cripple and disfigure and may even kill a person and turn them into a shade.
History[edit]
The origin of the shades is unknown, but they were likely created or at least altered in some way by the fight between Odium and Ambition. It is implied that once shades may have been made intentionally rather than as a product of being killed by a shade. Originating on the smaller of Threnody's two continents, the shades rendered all predators on the continent extinct due to the violation of the Simple Rules. The shades were first discovered by the Forescouts, adventurers who called these lands the Forests of Hell due to the shades. Following the destruction of the Homeland, mankind fled to the Forests, abandoning their old lands to the Evil. They developed the Simple Rules in order to survive life among the shades in the Forests and Forescouts trained their children to fight shades.
The presence of the shades has shaped their society and culture greatly. The Simple Rules forbid the lighting any kind of fire, which has strongly stifled innovation, preventing inventions such as gunpowder and steam engines from taking root. It has also led to a unique service, fire merchants, which sell fire to those without so they do not have to kindle their own. The prohibition on drawing blood has removed the ability for traditional war to be fought and led to the development of methods for killing both humans and animals that do not require the shedding of blood. The presence of the shades in the Forests has led to the establishment of Fortress Towns in the mountains. Waystops guard against shades with concentric rings of silver inset into the ground, providing spaces secure from the shades, but most Homesteaders cannot afford such protection and allow shades to move around inside their homes.
At some point after the creation of the shades, the Ire has deployed forces around the border of Threnody's subastral to prevent their escape and has developed devices capable of detecting the shades.
A group of Threnodites fled to Canticle, and the first to die became shades that would later be known as the Chorus. They hold the history of those who fled to the planet, and build ships for those still alive. Shades will turn into sunhearts when exposed to the sun on Canticle, which helps keep them from overwhelming the planet. No more shades have been made on Canticle since the Chorus.