Eona

Shadowfolk

The Shadowfolk are a species of sentient black sludge. Also known as Shadows, Shades, the Shadowed, or Children of Tar, they can be found throughout the southern end of the continent of Tetra, though their populations are highest in the far south of the continent.

A series of Shadowfolk with various body types. Some are bipedal. Others have goo puddles for a lower body. Some have extra arms, ears, legs, or eyes. No two look exactly the same.

Physiology

Basics

Shadowfolk bodies range from deep gray to black, and they tend to be humanoid in shape. Beyond that, details vary substantially. The body composition of Shadows allows them to change their shape with conscious effort, and their shapeshifting has only lent weight to theories that they are in fact living shadows.

While they do appear shadowlike and can pass through remarkably small spaces, Shadowfolk bodies are composed of solid material. This material is composed of billions of microorganisms working in tandem. While a single consciousness typically emerges from these organisms, some Shadows do have multiple consciousnesses or selves that work together in their shared form. Shadowed minds that are unable to work together can attempt to split apart if their form is large enough, though these attempts often fail. It's hard to isolate a mind in a body made of goo.

The microorganisms in Shadowed bodies are usually not fully clonal, as they often exchange genes through contact with other Shadows and lateral gene transfer is not an instant process over a large body. It takes time to propogate through them. In some cases, it doesn't fully propogate, which is how more specialized groups of cells came about. The biggest differences tend to be between the outer layer of cells and the inner cells, as the outer ones need to be able to handle the environment and collect sensory information. That layer's usually thick enough to support shape changes by spreading thinner if needed. The inner layer is more focused on processing information, digesting food, and moving the entire body around. They're not stratified like human cell types, though, so no muscle tissue.

Shadowfolk range from the size of a large dog to slightly bigger than the average human, though most are slightly smaller than humans. Their lack of a bone structure gives them fluid forms, though it does limit their size and stability. That fluidity also tends to make them a bit saggy or droopy in appearance. Some family lines tend to be a bit drippy, while others cohere relatively well.

All Shadows can cast off defective or injured parts of themselves, and these parts will regrow with time as long as the Shadow in question gets enough to eat. It's difficult to kill them with conventional weapons. Heat and bright light, however, can do the job given time, as can starvation and drowning. Fire is particularly dangerous and kills in minutes. Chemical weaponry is also very effective.

Casting off parts also tends to cast off memories or knowledge. What exactly is lost is unpredictable, and Shadows don't tend to know what parts of their goo contain which memories and information until well after losing those parts.

Reproduction and Lifespan

Reproduction can be asexual or sexual. Asexual reproduction involves casting off a large amount of biomass and nuturing it while it coheres into sentience. Sexual reproduction is similar, but biomass from multiple Shadows is mixed into a single mass. There is no upper limit on how many Shades can parent the same offspring, though there is a practical limit on size. Shadowfolk with too much biomass tend to collapse or lose pieces without meaning to.

All Shadowfolk can reproduce whenever they have enough biomass to shuck off a large enough piece of themselves, which largely depends on how much they have to eat. It's frowned upon for kids to reproduce, though, as it's believed that their immaturity gets passed down to the resulting kid. Children do inherit some memories from their parent(s), but they might lack the context to make sense of them until later in life.

Lifespan varies depending on the lineage (anywhere from 60-80 years, though lifespans of over 70 years are uncommon outside of certain regions), but they usually die of something other than old age.

Sensory

Shadowfolk don't have a sense of smell, but they do have touch, taste, sight, and "hearing". Hearing is weaker than in humans, as it's technically an application of their sense of touch to feel vibrations that are then interpreted as sound.

All Shadows can sense light across their bodies, but it's extremely low-resolution vision that's more useful for detecting things up close and sensing if the ambient light is too bright. Most have one to six clusters of microorganisms that specialize in more detailed light detection. They're most sensitive to UV light, but they do see the visible light spectrum as well. It's just not in color. They're very good at detecting motion to make up for the lack of color vision, though. The handy thing is that these clusters can be moved around on their bodies to give them a more complete picture of their surroundings provided that they can process the visual input well enough.

A few Shadows lack specialized vision perception, which is considered a disability because the full-body vision is pretty bad. It is possible to try to "donate" the necessary microorganisms, but they don't always settle in while keeping their specialization. That works best for direct family.

Habitat

Geographical Regions

While Shadows can survive in a range of conditions, they have two core requirements that limit the regions they can survive in. Exposure to bright light or high temperatures for long periods of time can cause their bodies to decohere as the outer layers die and the inner layers bake, and exposure on the order of days to weeks can kill them. This has largely limited them to Dua and southern Tetra, with the largest population occupying a city in the center of southern Tetra. Tetra and Dua have temperate or cold climates, and both have high amounts of tree cover. While northern Una could theoretically support a population of Shadowfolk, the travel through inhospitable regions required to get there has prevented colonization of Una.

Shadowfolk originally evolved in Tetra, spreading across the southern half of the continent. During humanity's industrial expansion into southern Tetra (and the subsequent push for Shadowfolk to leave), a small population migrated to Dua, while others survived as best they could in pockets of central and western Tetra. Humanity's apocalypse opened the Shadowed homeland back up to the Shadowfolk, and they've reclaimed some of the cities built over their homes.

While the population of Shadows in Dua is smaller, the Shadows currently have dominant claim over the continent, as it's too cold for most other sapient species to colonize.

Housing

Dwellings cover a wide range of housing styles. A good chunk of the Shadowed population lives in abandoned human cities that they've been maintaining and carefully reducing the size of, as no one wants the unmaintained skyscraper to collapse on their visitors. A lot of the remodeling involves getting rid of windows and finding ways to keep buildings comfortably dark.

Outside of reclaimed cities, Shadowfolk homes range from simple portable dwellings like lean-tos and tents for the more nomadic groups (fairly common- hunting is easier if you can move as needed) to proper houses for settled groups (less common), though Shadow-built houses tend to be a bit strange to other races. They lack windows, have very small doors that assume you can cram yourself through a small opening (unless non-Shadow company is welcomed, in which case there are normal doors added on), are constructed to encourage colder temperatures and darkness rather than preserving warmth and light, and have beds that are more like tubs or pits.

Shadows also tend to live communally, so you're more likely to see a house shared by groups of 5-10 Shadows than one with a house or tent of their own. Usually family groups co-habit, but friends and partners are just as welcomed.

Diet

Shadowfolk are obligate carnivores. Small animals and vermin are their preferred prey, but most will eat anything that's not sapient. Insects are popular snacks when large meals are unavailable. Opportunistic meals are also common, and it's not unheard of to find Shadows picking at carrion.

While some Shadow communities hunt in groups, it's more common for Shadows to hunt alone or with immediate family. Being seen eating by non-family is seen as disgusting and is a strong taboo in most Shadowed groups. In regions where small prey are hard to come by, Shadows do hunt in larger groups to bring down prey bigger than them, though food is still consumed in private.

The consumption of sapient creatures is a major taboo in most areas, though there are one or two exceptions in the southern regions of Tetra where the hunting of sapients has been taken up as common practice.

Shadows do not require much water to live, and excessive consumption can poison them.

Culture

Summary

Shadowed culture is highly ritualized. There's a set of rules or agreed-upon approach to nearly everything, and those rules often involve subtle symbolism. For example, the way one styles their form has meaning, and that styling can be as subtle as parting one's "hair" to the opposite side. Physical appearance usually codifies one's mental state and life priorities. Word choice has enormous significance when asking questions or making requests, and the line between a polite request and aggression can be as narrow as the difference between "I'd appreciate" and "I'd like". Even gift choice has meaning. There's an endless chain of tiny distinctions in all aspects of how one presents themself, and Shadows will notice if something doesn't match up with their social expectations.

Shadowed culture is infamous among other species for being contradictory, confusing, and hard to pick up on. There seems to be a rule for everything, but the rules seem inconsistent from the outside. The fact that most Shadows prefer to communicate with image-based telepathy amongst each other doesn't help outsiders figure out what's going on, nor does the tendency for Shadows to integrate elements of other sapient species' behavior. It's very easy to stumble into a faux pas.

The difficulty of learning Shadowed culture is intentional. The Shadowfolk have a long oral history, and they've never forgotten how humanity tried to stamp them out post-industrialization, nor have they forgotten how much knowledge they lost when the majority of their people died. Many cultural norms developed as a way to tell who was safe and who might be dangerous. Even in an era where extinction is no longer on the horizon, Shadowed culture is only opened to those who show they truly want to learn and integrate themselves into a Shadowfolk community. To those that put in the effort to become part of a Shadowed group, Shadows are as welcoming as any other.

Priorities

Shadowfolk prioritize the community as a whole, and putting oneself before the goodwill of the group is frowned upon. On the other hand, group loyalty and mutual aid are highly valued. If a single Shadow needs help, then the entire community will work together to meet their needs. The process of asking for that help is often convoluted and indirect to avoid suggesting that one's personal needs are more important than others' time, but Shadows care deeply for their own.

Subtlety, attention to detail, and depth of thought are also valued in Shadow culture. Those who speak less often but more insightfully are favored, and idle chatter is seen as distasteful at best. Idle telepathy, on the other hand, is encouraged.

Violence against sapients is seen as extremely distasteful, and it takes exceptional circumstances to bring most Shadowfolk to behave violently. They will fight back in self defense if needed, but initiating violence is avoided if at all possible. Negotiating a mutual solution is preferred. Unfortunately, the same intricacies that have protected Shadowfolk from the extinction of their culture complicate diplomatic meetings, and they're often misunderstood. This has historically led to violence against them that could have been avoided. Modern Shadowfolk have realized that their culture's nuances are opaque to other species and do their best not to assume malice when someone accidentally insinuates that they hate someone by staring at them for a little too long. While Shadowfolk don't tolerate breaches of ritual amongst themselves, they do prioritize tolerance of other species' blunders in the present. They also tend to have a healthy curiosity about other species' customs.

Interactions

Many casual social interactions take the form of games. One particularly common game involves one-upmanship where all participants try to impress the others with minute observations about the world around them without seeming like they're trying to outdo each other. Participants gradually drop out once they're unable to make a more interesting claim without it being obvious that they're trying to win. Games like these provide a safe structure for conversations that dodges most of the convoluted social rules of Shadowed culture.

Other interactions are more spontaneous, though word choice and communication mode are still crucial to avoid insulting the other parties in the conversation.

Failing to adhere to the many rituals and rules of Shadowed culture often results in shunning until the error is publicly corrected, though there is more tolerance for those not yet familiar with those cultural rules. For example, children are never shunned, nor are those outside of Shadowed communities. Other species are politely tolerated through their constant social blunders (though a great deal of Shadowfolk humor revolves around mocking these missteps without making the mockery obvious).

Child Rearing

Children are raised communally, often by their parents and their housemates, though other Shadows do have a hand in child rearing. It really does take a village.

Children are taught life skills and cultural norms by the adults they live with, but the common cultural rules are not usually explained explicitly. It's a process of observing, messing up and getting gentle corrections, and observing some more. Some of the more obscure or complex rules do get explained when they're relevant, usually telepathically since it's easier to show than tell. Kids are expected to make mistakes, and most Shadows politely ignore those mistakes unless the kid already knows better about them. If you've never run into "hey, the spines on your back have this meaning and you publicly insulted your neighbor by pointing them in their direction and flicking them up like that", then you're just corrected and expected to stop doing that. If you did it before and clearly understood the rule, then it's not getting ignored.

Shadowfolk children go through a coming-of-age ritual that the group agrees to initiate when a kid is ready to take on adult responsibilities and understands what that means for them and the group. They're given a relatively difficult but possible small-group task to complete, such as participating in hunting a large prey target to feed the group, and they attain adult status once they can manage it and prove their success to the group's satisfaction. The quizzing after the fact is often harder than the task itself. Every major action has to be justified and explained.

Religion

Shadows don't believe in an afterlife or singular souls, but instead believe that they have multiple souls in their bodies. These souls live on through their children and have existed since the beginning of time.

The Shadowfolk also worship a god that other species refer to as Tar. The Shadows refer to him as Void, Night, or the Shaded One, but his real name is only ever referred to in telepathic communication out of respect. Tar is seen as a benevolent deity who built the world for them, guided their culture, and delivered them from the brink of extinction. Many Shadows believe that when the world ends, Tar will guide the Shadowfolk out of this world and into another that's built for them- not an afterlife, but a true second world where Shadowfolk can live mortal lives in peace.

At around 50 years of age, Shadows are expected to participate in a death ceremony that splits their body into 3-5 even parcels. These parcels are used in sexual reproduction to create children. It's believed that this ritual keeps the Shadow's souls in the cycle of reincarnation. If a Shadow dies of old age or unnatural causes outside of this ritual, then it's believed that their souls will fade away into nothingness. Death by non-ritual causes is a phobia for many communities.

Some Shadows speculate that in the next world, souls won't fade into emptiness anymore and will reform into their own shadows, but that belief is controversial. A very small sect believes that Shadows are stuck in a cycle of closed reincarnation that's only broken by true death, but that's regarded as an outright dangerous belief by most Shadows.

Regional Variations

Even between Shadowfolk, there are cultural differences between regions. This sometimes results in one group insulting another without realizing it. Groups don't forget these insults, but they're not going to kill anyone over them. They'll just politely leave if they can. In cases where groups with differing cultural norms want to work with each other, eventually someone insinuates that upsetting differences could be rude, in theory, for some Shadowfolk, and the Shadows involved will get the idea and adapt. This adjustment of norms happens on both sides. Eventually, the two groups filter out the mutually unpleasant signals and get along better. This does take a significant amount of time. If it's a temporary arrangement, there's not enough time for that to happen, so there's just mutual discomfort and distaste until the groups are done working with each other and part ways.

Language

The Shadowfolk's native "language" is a multisensory nightmare for other species to parse, which is why they tend to lean on other methods with other races. It's easier for them to learn a verbal language than it is for a human to try to learn theirs, especially given whole modalities of it would be undetectable. Among their own, however, this language communicates a great deal of information in very little time.

Shadowfolk can vibrate to make sound, which is how they speak to other sapient species, but vibrations signal mood in their own language. The slower the vibration, the happier a Shadow is. Sometimes it sounds like purring to other species. Anxious vibration is too fast for most other species to audibly detect, but Shadows notice it quickly. It's an emergency signal to those in the immediate vicinity that something is wrong.

Touch is also taste, which makes things awkward when other species learn that about them. Taste serves similar functions to smell in other species. It's also used for some *very* pointed communication between two specific Shadows- the equivalent of whispering in their ear. They can produce small amounts of bitter compounds and secrete them onto their outer surface to deliver a message. It's not quite taste, but there is sometimes a degree of microorganism-to-microorganism communication that's perceived as intuitive knowledge, identity blending, or intrusive thoughts if two Shadowfolk are in heavy physical contact with each other. Some like it, some don't. That's reserved for life partners.

Sight is largely used for form signalling, which is the blunt form of communication that's meant to reach an entire group. With other races, sight also supplements touch to emulate hearing- Shadows that communicate with other species frequently tend to be good at lip reading and their regional sign language. They can see ultraviolet light frequencies, and their own bodies tend to be patterned in ultraviolet. That's a huge communication tool when combined with a little form changing, and it's one of the more intricate signalling methods because most other sapient species can't see it.

Appearance says a lot about what someone finds important, their personal history and family, and their general mood. Shadowfolk use their appearance to signal their long-term state and personal preferences. Think of it like aesthetic flagging taken up to 11. Form tends to be very fluid to reflect one's current state, though it goes out the window briefly if something needs to be done that a form change would make easier.

Language Modality Reference

Other Notes

Knowledge of Shadowfolk physiology has been passed down through their oral history, and a decent portion of Shadows are aware that their bodies are made of many smaller beings. Some Shadows refer to themselves in the plural, recognizing the many within, while others present as a unified whole. Both extremes are culturally acceptable.

Shadows do tend to dislike casting off parts of themselves, particularly because it does affect their memory and personality if large chunks are removed from their bodies. They'll do it if they have to, but there's usually an attempt to save an injured or weakened area before giving up on it.

Shadowfolk strongly favor Bios tech. Most Mechos tech requires metal, and Shadows aren't known for using fire. Biological tech is much more their style, as is creative use of shapeshifting. It's rumored that a few Shadowfolk have managed to learn to use their own bodies as biological computers.

Shadowfolk are one of the few species not heavily altered by the virus. While it did affect some of them when first released, vulnerable cells were cast off, leaving only Shadows with enough immune or resistant biomass to manage the loss. Rumor has it that some of the cast-off biomass from those early days is still alive somewhere, growing and warping into something new.

Touch is a near-constant in Shadow communities because it's very much a bonding activity. The group can benefit from it, too- it helps spread healthier strains of microorganisms around (lateral gene transfer!).

It's rare, but kids do fail their coming-of-age ritual sometimes, and that's a serious matter. The group interprets it as having misjudged the kid. It's not seen as the kid's fault unless the kid went out of their way to mess it up, and even then, the group blames themselves for not noticing the kid's desire to do that before initiating the task.

There are occasional conflicts between individual needs and group needs. If there's no room to negotiate or figure it out (say: one Shadow wants to move up north and everyone else agrees it's a bad idea, but there's absolutely no persuading them and they refuse to even be in the room to talk it out), then the group's needs win, though if the needs/wants were reasonable, then they do try to make it up to the individual after the fact without making it obvious that they're doing so.

"Unreasonable" demands don't tend to be made up for, particularly because those often prioritize the individual over the group in a way that's seen as extremely rude. "We need to go to war with this other group because their leader insulted me and I won't feel okay until they suffer for it" when the other group did nothing else wrong would be unreasonable. That's shun-worthy until the individual realizes that they messed up and remediates the mistake in public. Sometimes, this leads to individuals peeling off to start their own group with their own ideals if they're not willing to back down, but that's rare.

In most cases, something can be worked out that meets group needs without neglecting individual needs. It just takes a lot of conversation to find out how to make that happen, and it's a particularly thorny conversation when no one can openly admit to personal needs without looking like a jerk. Lots of implying things without saying them outright and choosing words tactically. It's a nightmare for anyone who struggles with subtext.

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