Shade Bond/Shadowmancy

Not much is truly known about what the bond with Scath will do to a magister of the Onyx Order, mostly because the Onyx Order are a very secretive bunch, but they assure me the changes are barely noticeable compared to most of the other orders, and I am inclined to believe them, considering how difficult it is to pick them out of a crowd.

First Arcanist Theresa Lindlewood, giving the introductory lecture to the a hall of several dozen newly marked magister hopefuls in the Academia of Octi, the largest campus of the Magisterium, in the city of Valenwood.

Magisters of the Onyx Order are trained in the ways of secret keepers, spies and diplomats. A great deal of their training is actually spent quite socially, learning to navigate the various sorts of social events and gatherings they may ever find themselves in. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

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A great deal of their training also consists of studying and observing, oft without explicit permission, the formulae and grimoire of magisters from other orders, due to a unique capability of one of the keystone spell-forms that a magister of the Onyx Order will likely learn very early on in their education.

They often will learn their way around combat enough to hold their own, learning to shoot perhaps with crossbow and firearm, learning their way around lighter, simpler weapons like knives, knuckledusters and smaller blades, perhaps even fencing, but not much else. They focus far more on the magick and on social ettiquete and social skills. This is of course a reflection of the manna that they wield, that of Scath, the manna of shadows, of deception and silver tongues.

Manifestation

Like any of the elemental magick bonds, the Shade Bond manifests in a wide ranging variety of ways, effecting the body physically and physiologically, as well as effecting the mental and emotional state of the magister. It will again effect everything from dietary choices to training methods, and discipline/behavior to simple matters of taste in literature and artwork.

Physical Changes

Those whom wield the manna of Scath regularly exhibit shockingly little physical change compared to their brethren of other orders. Their hair will likely darken to some dark grey or black tone, though the change will be subtle, not shocking, more like a darkening of their natural hair color. Their eyes will do much the same, shifting to a less vibrant and more greyed version of their normal eye color, but again that shift will be a subtle one. Even the dietary changes, if there are any truly at all, are described as 'a subtle shift towards lighter meals, less food at once.' There does not seem to be much evidence for large physical change.

Emotional Changes

Once again, there does not seem to be a large change here, more a subtle one, a more controlled one. Onyx Magisters, by the nature of their training and their duties, have excellent 'poker' faces as the saying goes. However how much of that is actually a level of emotional change brought on by regular interaction with Scath is not well known.

Physiological Changes

Once again, not a whole lot can be said for sure and with ironclad certainty in this regard, as those of the Onyx are hard to get straight answers or solid information from. It does seem, however, that they are less inclined to gain weight, as if their bodies are simply against it, refusing to store excess energy in such a fashion. Besides this, they do not seem to be altered in any other notable way. They seem quite normal, just capable of wielding powerful magickal forces.

by Keon Croucher (discord name, drizzt103) was the input operator, Midjourney AI took those inputs and put the image together.

Magicks of Shadowmancy

The arts of Shadowmancy, beyond any of the other practices and schools of magick of our brethren are based upon negotiation and diplomacy in a fashion and matter of speaking. More than any of them, our bond and our capabilities are based not just upon understanding, but true partnership, a proper alliance between ourselves and Scath, the essence of shadows. Above all else Scath values intelligence and force of personality in its partners and allies, traits we must regularly hone and present to keep our alliance with this power strong.

The source of a shadowmancer's magickal power is the Onyx current of Manna, that of Shadows and darkness. Scath is insidious, subtle, nuanced and swift flowing. It flits all around, hiding in plain sight in the Aether, hugging other more brilliant and volatile streams and currents of manna, hiding within the aura of their brilliance and robust energy. Coaxing forth Scath is oft referred to as an exercise in high stakes diplomacy and negotiating with a hostile entity.

A shadowmancer's mastery of their connection can be manifest through a variety of spell-forms as noted below;