"Kill, destroy." "Move, dodge." "Absorb, heal." "Strike now!"
These were the voices he heard all the time. They guided his actions and helped him survive. Sometimes they threatened to drive him mad. These were spirits, and Jaszt was a Shade.
From the day he decided to venture into the lands of shadow, Jaszt was fascinated by the way that the dead walked as spirits. They defied what he had been taught in Jobe about the "magic" of insurance, that the soul could not survive long without its body. Even more surprising was that he found they would listen to him if he could exert his will over them. This was usually accomplished by "killing" their representative forms and commanding them to stay, then allowing them to join with him. He often wondered though if he possessed the spirits, or if they possessed him.
The ones that made him stronger or faster never seemed to be a problem. They were almost happy to be made of use, and calmly did their job. The ones that made him more efficient in combat, whether by increasing his skill with his weapons or allowing him to avoid attacks easily, always seemed to want to fight and kept him constantly killing creatures in the Shadowlands. After some time though, he found he could even control these and let them run free when he needed them.
Still, he always wondered if he was being controlled more than he was controlling them. He thought often about his own soul being lost to these spirits he used to enhance his abilities. Would they someday take him and turn him into one of the walking dead among the lands? Had they already taken control of other Shades, and made them into mindless killing machines? Judging by what he had seen, this may have been the case.
For sme reason, Jaszt just could not get this out of his mind. Were there others thinking the same thing? Did they already accept their fate to be lost to the spirits? Could he help those that could not control their own spirits? And above all else, why was he thinking about this now after so long, and why hadn't anyone else?
Was this something that was covered up by JAME? Was it something that no one was supposed to wonder about?
"Kill, destroy."
Maybe the first place to look would be other Shades, to see if any of them had similar experiences...
(OOC: This is an idea I've tossed around a bit lately, and I'm not surprised there isn't anything similar to it yet. Given that there are very few actively RPing Shades and most RP situations reflect Shades in a very negative light, I felt that I wanted to give some sort of explanation for why Shades may do what they do, and why they may not be trustworthy.
I plan to expand further on this, and would like to get some other input on it. If I'm contradicting anything directly related to the storyline of AO (which seems to have bypassed Shades in general), nerf me.In the meantime, I think it's a nice idea to develop the profession in a way more than "OMFG! LOOK AT TEH DMG!".
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or input, or if you're a Shade interested in developing this idea further.)
