The Shadow

The Demonastery is the only place in the world where the study and practice of Shadow talent is not only permitted, but encouraged.

Because of the otherworldly nature of Shadow, a scholar will often be required to deal with a powerful intermediary to further their study. Such entities, which remain unknown to the general population of Rathe, linger just beyond the edge of the physical realm. In less enlightened parts of Rathe, making contracts with these beings is deemed an unforgivable crime, and those scholars who pursue the Shadow often face severe consequences for practicing their craft. Yet, for those scholars bold enough to seek them out, and resolute enough to endure the cost, these entities can be most generous in bestowing the gifts of Shadow aether.

The Shadow Crypts

A vast necropolis where there is no rest for the dead. Here, lost souls are studied, unmade, and remade. The air is thick with smoke, charred bone and aether-burned flesh. Sarcophagi line the crypt walls, their surfaces etched with runes that pulse with a sickly violet glow, or hum with slow, deliberate movement.

Few dare to linger in the Shadow Crypts, but not all who walk these halls come for study. The nocturnal residents - those who find solace in the quiet - watch in rapt silence, meditating upon the essence of Shadow that exudes at the heart of the deepest crypt, where stands the Ebon Maw.

A vast rift of violet light framed in Barthimont black steel. The maw is not a portal. It does not lead elsewhere. It devours. Aether howls as supplicants and sacrifices perish in its depths. It does not distinguish between experiment and experimenter: flesh, bone, and soul alike, it reduces all to dust.

The Shadow Pens

This hybrid prison-zoo keeps subjects and prisoners in constant agitation for rituals or experiments. Many of the pens are mock habitats, familiar enough to tempt comfort and relaxation yet uncanny enough to sustain unease and dread, enabling the Demonastery's Dark Practitioners to induce instant fear in the subjects for their sacrificial rituals.

A revenant jailor walks among cages made of bone and terrorizes the captives. For the subjects, the jailor becomes a projection of their deepest fear: a person, an animal, or the unholy incarnate.

Practitioners choose their subjects based on their current goals, but the common thread is that the subject must die in a state of terror to better enliven the ritual to which it must give up its blood, and often its soul.