Shadow Lord

The Shadow Lords were accidentally brought to the mortal plane when Aesir opened a gateway to the Land of Clouds to bring forth the spirits of sun and wind who became the Jundari. These spirits were not give mortal bodies so that they may live upon this world, instead they were forced to flee into the earth for protection. The clouds are not dark enough to shield them from the light of the sun, even the full moon is too bright for them to venture forth from the earth.

As spirits of the wind they have despised what became of them. Only on the nights of the new moon can they venture forth and once again feel the wind. They were once the strongest hunters, devouring individual jundari that ventured away from their sun. Now they hide in the earth and away from others. Isolation has driven many of them insane - never forgiving the jundari that live on this world.

A Shadow Lord hunts the sapient races of the world - living on the mortal spirit they possess. The smaller the Shadow Lord the less they require. The smallest may hunt only hunt a single mortal each month. The largest often requires scores of mortals to sate it requiring it to hibernate longer.

A Shadow Lord is a spirit an so it has no fixed form, instead fashioned to suit its needs and shaped by the strong wills around them. In their home plane they were black drops of rain with long wispy tails. On this world they have been fashioned after the night terrors. Even the elder races still prefer the sun over the night. Even the dwarves who can survive deep underground prefer to live on the surface. Many of the Shadow Lords that live near mortals appear terrors come to kill and kidnap in the night.

The more powerful Shadow Lords have created themselves bodies from the things of the earth. Their spirit changes the physical form of the night hunters, but for a time they may wander the earth and once again hunt. Great Cats, Coyotes, Hyenas, Scorpions, and Bears are the most common animals they choose. A very ancient Shadow Lord may use an owl or wasp for a brief time, but the sensation of flying is too much for many.

A Shadow Lord does not have a mortal body, thus it cannot “die” in the classical sense. Unlike a spirit it cannot return to the Shadow Realms or the Land of Clouds, it is trapped in this world. There is no birth or death cycle, instead the number of Shadow Lords on this realm is and has always been fixed.

Shadow Lords do grow by consuming other Shadow Lords. They take the spirit that was not them and merge it into the spirit of them. This gives them strength and power as the spirits become one. Holding so many spirits together is difficult and tiring. In time a new spirit of a Shadow Lord will become simply by detaching itself from the whole.

The more powerful the Shadow Lord the more it must hibernate. The largest and strongest are active only one (1) year in a thousand (1000 years). When a Shadow Lord hibernates it will find a cavern deep within the earth where neither sun or wind are found. They will enter a prolonged period of inactivity. They are aware of their surroundings, but exist in a state of tupor.

A Shadow Lord is independent in all things. Although several have been known to congregate in a small area they do not work like a pack, flock, or village. Instead, they are solitary opportunistic hunters that will find upon each other if necessary.