The Shadowsworn

When the Shadow God rose from the abyss, he drew close to him, his most trusted and most powerful lieutenants. With them alone did he truly share the power of the Black Flame, giving them full authority to act as his agents and his harbingers. Even then, even the mightiest among them were mere specks of dust before the sheer magnitude of what he had become.

There was no question to their commitment, however. The Shadowsworn had given up everything: their souls and individual destinies, just so they could serve the Shadow God, and help him exercise his endless power. They had turned into twisted shadows of their former selves, and at the same time, powerful aspects of the Shadow God.

Ulhaeron chose six above all his other followers, and shared with each of them a powerful aspect of his own, creating his six vice-regents, equal in all things, and empowered in such a way that none could ever rise above any of the others.

These six, god-like beings became known as the Tenebrous Lords and all of the Fallen and the Shadowsworn feared and respected them greatly.

With each Tenebrous Lord a vast host of Shadowsworn followed them in war, and countless other agents and shadowspawn acted on their behalf. Even without support from the rest of the forces that had aligned with the Shadow, each of these hosts was formidable enough to conquer all who would stand in their path.

The Shadowsworn were all hateful beings, filled with hatred and envy of all existence. They took delight only by inflicting misery on others, especially by spreading corruption and breaking the spirits of those who would resist the Shadow.

They had no real individual personality, but a shadow of one - the spiteful recollection that they once were wholesome beings, before the Shadow had devoured them. This nudging memory suffused them with hatred and malice which was all that sustained them.

This is why all creatures of the Shadow are ultimately parasitic, and can, in theory, be rendered harmless if isolated. In practice this is impossible to achieve, especially as long as Ulhaeron remains alive.

In addition to this, the Shadowsworn took after the character of their ruling lord, sometimes like a caricature, and other times through honest emulation. This is why, their particular racial name was after their Lord, because, among other things, this was how the Shadowsworn identified themselves. Thus, the Tenebrous Lords alone among all the Shadowsworn maintained something closer to an individuality. Even they, however, had been bent and twisted to conform with Ulhaeron's particular vision to their authority.

The six Lords were the following:

- Akhar the Slayer, was the Lord of War and was called the Slayer of Light. A former mighty general of Ulhaeron, Akhar was the first to return to the service of the Shadow God, and his singular, most loyal and dedicated follower. For his trust, Ulhaeron gave Akhar full command of the armies of the Shadow, and the mightiest host of Shadowsworn which were named after him as the Akhari. Silent, calculating, and brooding, Akhar was a merciless and brutally effective tactician, although a little too fanatic and single-minded, at times. He was truly relentless in his pursuit of victory and had no qualms or reservations. Akhar had command of the finest and most efficient warriors of the Shadowsworn, including an elite force that was the Shadow God's own bodyguard. In single combat, he was without rival, which made him somewhat arrogant.

- Nerevos the Corruptor, was the Master of Espionage, and was sometimes called the Defiler. Nerevos was a cunning mastermind without peer. He loved to set complex politics and intrigues in motion, corrupting with his whispers and spies, those whom Akhar could not destroy with his armies. Never truly loyal to anyone but himself, Nerevos ultimately fell victim to his own hubris. He believed he could outwit the Shadow God, but he finally tripped into his own plots. He became Ulhaeron's favorite pawn for a time, before he earned his place as a Tenebrous Lord. His followers were called the Nerevossi, and he deployed them masterfully as spies and assassins, or even in ambushes and unexpected assaults.

- Malkoth the Dominator, was another favored general of Ulhaeron, due to his efficiency. While Akhar was a general who won great wars and colossal battles, Malkoth used a mix of deception, psychological warfare and rapidly brutal skirmishes to disorient and break a well-organized enemy, or conquer an entire world with sheer terror. Swift and efficient shadowsworn, masterful in sowing fear in the hearts of their foes followed him, and they were known as the Malkothi.

- Thryssa the Shadow Witch was a schemer and plotter, weaving webs of lies and manipulation that led to the slow but inexorable corruption of countless souls. Thryssa used enchantment and magic, together with deceit and manipulation to enchant and bedazzle her victims before committing them to her Shadowsworn, who used their victims to further the dark arts of Shadow Sorcery. The Thryssai used deception and dark magic in equal measure, and were terrible foes in all capacities.

- Aul-Sotha, was known as the Dark Seeress, and she was Ulhaeron's personal advisor and prophet. Gifted with foresight, Aul'sotha used her gift to divine the future and make sure that the Shadow God made the best use of all the possibilities in his disposal. Cold, and calculating, having foreseen most eventualities, she also possessed mastery of teleportation in both space and time, and so did her agents. The Sothai were among the most dangerous Shadowsworn. Luckily their numbers were much smaller than others. It was in the nature of the Shadow to deprive the gift of clairvoyance from those it corrupted - they would have never been so thoroughly corrupt, if they were truly clairvoyant. But the Sothai had this compelling gift that trode on the border between prophecy and manipulation.

- Tel-Riva the Life-Tearer, was Ulhaeron's angel of Death. She led the host of the Rivai like a cloud of insects, tearing life away from their targets with unmatched ease and grace. Merely by studying their targets, the Rivai would learn all of their weaknesses, and exploit them to maximum effect. It is said there are none who could escape after being targeted for assassination by Tel-Riva, or one of the Rivai.