The Shadow Sovereign
Immortal Spirit Group Patron
The Shadow Sovereign
The powerful immortal patron of the group. The Shadow Sovereigns' desires are unknown and your role in his machinations is a mystery to everyone but it. One thing is true about The Sovereign and that is that it demands, it does not ask.
Appearances. The Shadow Sovereign appears in its servant's dreams and as a random person controlled by the sovereign's will. The Sovereign appears in different forms but always as a monstrous shadow wearing a crown. The crown itself materializes adorned with the eyes of various monsters that inhabit the Undercity of Araxion.
Allies. The sovereigns' collaborators include the player character that adopts the agent role and other people and unknown factions.
Benefits
The patronage of the Shadow Sovereign is a boon and a curse based on the blind following of The Sovereign's will, not on employment or a contract. Your group performs tasks for the Shadow Sovereign, and you gain boons in return. Should you not comprehend the cryptic orders or fail to complete the task given, you will incur your immortal patrons' wrath and be cursed or suffer some other ill misfortune. The boons, however, are the benefits you gain for having performed a task for The Sovereign, and they might include any of the following:
Magical Equipment. Your patron has access to secret caches of powerful magic items. On completing a task for The Sovereign, you may receive a piece of magical equipment as a reward. These items can take the form of a symbiote shadow that attaches itself to your body, granting you monstrous attacks and capabilities. The prize could also take the form of a flesh graft made by fusing body parts from a deceased creature to your own body. You may also be granted a heinous magical item for your service to The Shadow Sovereign.
Information. Sometimes most precious reward The Sovereign can bestow is a tidbit of their ages-spanning knowledge. The Shadow Sovereign knows secrets hidden from most mortals-including glimpses of possible futures. He won't usually share secrets freely but might reward you for the completion of a mission with a hint, a puzzle, or a morsel of information that could grant you an essential advantage over your enemies.
Arcane Favors. The Shadow Sovereign has vast magical capabilities and may answer with tremendous supernatural aid if implored in times of dire need. The power and prescience of the favor vary but will always be helpful, if not lifesaving. He is mindful of the value of his magic and only answers if it suits his agenda.
Vestigial Power. Your patron grants you a measure of supernatural power for completing essential tasks. Each of these Vestiges is but a shadow in the Shadow Sovereigns' stable, and each grants greater power. The cost of this power is The Sovereign gaining more significant influence over you.
The agent begins with one Vestige.
Party Roles
No common thread unites the servants of an immortal patron, except perhaps an unknown quality or destiny and the unfortunate circumstance of being chosen by such a dark force. The Shadow Sovereign might not have chosen you because of your capabilities. The Sovereign might've chosen you to fulfill the words of a prophecy because they were born at auspicious times and places or because they happened to be in a particular place at a specific time. Individual characters might have different relationships with your patron, though; consider some or all of these roles for your characters:
The Exile. Exiled and cast down from high above, the exile hails from the surface but is an outcast from caste society. Branded as Fallen Caste and driven into the darkness of the Lowercity or the Undercity, you are an outsider amongst the monstrous and savage. You may, however, serve a vital role in The Shadow Sovereigns' plans as you may exist for a specific fate that others cannot achieve, or you may even serve as a sacrifice when the time comes.
The Haunted. Even before your journey to Ter'garak, you had maddening nightmares that wracked your body with pain and threatened to shatter your mind. Those visions drove you from your life and into the Lower City or Undercity, seeking relief from the terrors that push you towards some unknown purpose. Now, as you head to Ter'garak, the nightmares are more vivid but much less taxing the closer you get to the city; perhaps relief is in sight. What would you do anything to gain freedom from this pain?
The Anti-Hero. There is great evil afoot in the lower and Undercity, and you have taken it upon yourself to stand as an avenger for those lost in the darkness. You may have had a purpose once, and you may still follow oaths, but outside forces hijacked your path, and in this underworld of evil and greater evil, your enemies are all around you. What use is a hero to a world of villains?
The Innocent. Some characters have no intention of becoming adventurers and desire no connection to the machinations of the immortals, but they get caught up in schemes and prophecies anyway. The Innocent might have been identified as a vital part of a prophecy, made what seemed like an innocent bargain with a harmless old hermit, or found an artifact with mysterious powers.
The Native. Growing up in the Undercity is only possible for those of considerable strength and will, and you are a born and bred native of the Undercity. You know the evil forces lurking underground, the evils, the monsters, and the warlords, but most of all, you know the darkness. You might have grown up with knowledge of your role in events to come, or you could've just been another casualty of war, either way, you are now a part of something bigger, whether you like it or not.
The Agent. The agent receives direct communications from their immortal patron. This connection allows the agent to follow the will of their patron more closely. The agent stands positioned so that The Sovereigns' other servants' dreams, actions, and goals drive the agents' service to their patron. This character is under no illusions of having a particular role to play in The Sovereigns' grand plans but is ready to make sure those with other roles play them as well.
The Criminal. Living a life of crime is difficult in a city of heroes but even more difficult in a city of monsters that can tear you limb from limb. Even if you still have all your limbs, your freedom is forfeit in more than one way. Your body travels to an unknown fate in Ter'garak while The Shadow Sovereign has claimed your mind. You do not know what the immortal spirit wants from you, but a criminal is never one to disregard an opportunity when it comes their way.
The Villain. You are truly evil, a villain in the truest sense, and maybe that is why The Shadow Sovereign has chosen you. You may see yourself as either the prized jewel in its crown or the leader of its unworthy servants. The promise of power and the call to be part of a greater evil may have you relishing this new way of life.
Serving The Shadow Sovereign
The tasks you perform for The Shadow Sovereign can be mysterious, even trivial seeming, but they always have implications within the immortal's more extensive plans. Often it's hard to tell what those implications might be-and stumbling upon hints of The Sovereigns' broader agenda might prove frightening. Your tasks could involve fulfilling prophecies in deliberate ways, preventing prophesied events from coming to pass, or even engaging in seemingly random actions that advance designs invisible to mortal eyes. Immortal beings might send you on all manner of adventures; while his visions are cryptic and his true will unknowable, you must do your best to decipher your tasks lest you fail through ignorance.
Communication with The Shadow Sovereign
The Shadow Sovereign sometimes uses mortal intermediaries to contact its agents but primarily communicates with its servants through dreams, nightmares, and visions. The mortals used to contact agents are being driven unknowingly by the Shadow Sovereign itself. While those who The Sovereign haunts receive their instructions through cryptic dreams, horrid nightmares, and hallucinating waking visions that sometimes cause significant pain or the loss of sense.
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