Shay - the last musician of the Valley of Shadow steppers

Shay

The history of the music in the Valley of Shadow steppers

Music has not always been forbidden in the Valley of Shadow steppers. There was a time when the valley had its own vivid culture filled with music, but now those days are long since gone and it has been generations with no a single note has been sung or played in the valley.

There was a time in a history when shadow stepper were a brink of extinction, because of the intensive inbreeding caused by centuries old rule that forbade shadow steppers from reproducing with anyone else than other shadow steppers. The extinction was evaded as the rule was abolished, but the problem was that the shadow steppers were not willing to use their freedom to reproduce with regular people. To encourage shadow steppers to fraternize with regular people, the strict rules of proper behaviour in the valley and especially in the tower of shadow steppers were placed. These rules forbade among other things the parties and dancing, and restricted music severely. That started the degeneration of the culture and the music in the Valley of Shadow steppers. Music was however completely banned from the valley only generations later after the actions of Shay, the musician of the tower.

The history of music in the valley has been erased from the records just like all the instruments were destroyed, so there is no recorded history of the musicians of the valley. The reason behind the ban of music in the valley is well stated in the rules: music is thought to be an instrument of debauchery and thus to be banned. That reason however does not tell the whole truth behind the ban and the story of Shay is forgotten. Only some of her songs that are still played around in other parts of the world remind from the person who caused the ban of the music.

Shay the last musician

Shay was born as the daughter of the High rector of the shadow steppers. That guaranteed that Shay had more possibilities than most of the other shadow stepper children. It was clear from the young age that Shay loved music. When the older musician of the tower died and the need to have a replacement arise, the High rector made sure that Shay was the one who was selected to be trained to be a musician.

Shay did not have a natural talent in music, but she worked hard to excel in it. She also saw great effort to search from the records for the lost songs to revive them. She also started to write her own music and that was where her talents lie. The music she wrote was beautiful and emotive. For the first time after the degeneration of the culture and music began, the songs were exported from the Valley of the Shadow steppers.

Shay loved her life and work as a musician. As a part of the privileged people in the valley she did not face the injustice and suffering the less fortunate people so often faced. The first real setback in her life happened when the unrest among the shadow steppers arose and the shadow steppers were in the brink of civil war. As Shay was the daughter of High rector and had not been trained for fighting like most of the shadow steppers were, that placed her in high risk in this inflammatory situation and her freedom was severely limited for her own safety.

The unrest was put down eventually as the instigators had been found and exterminated, but Shay’s life was not the same after that as now she was conscious of the fact that not everybody had such a good life than she had. The more she paid attention to the life of the less fortunate the more injustice and suffering she saw. To her horror she realized that her father, the High rector, was the one behind most of the injustices and suffering there were.

Shay could not stand by when the people were suffering. She was not a fighter and her status in the valley came from her father, and the only thing she could do was the music and that’s what she did. She wrote and performed music to change the world and her music spoke to people. It made them feel the emotions they had hide. It made them unite with others feeling the same. It made them turn against the powerful and eventually the civil war that was evaded only few years earlier broke bringing death and destruction among the shadow steppers.

Shay’s plan to end the suffering and to bring down her father failed however and the powerful had victory over the rebels. When the captured rebels were interrogated, the pattern was clear. They all told how Shay’s music had spoken to them, but the High rector could not believe that his beloved daughter would willingly cause people to turn against him. He was completely sure that the captives had just lied to cause him to turn against Shay.

Shay was not willing to give up as she rather saw the shadow steppers to be destroyed than to continue to suffer and live in unjust system, so she continued her work to make world better. She kept writing new music and performing the songs and the demoralized people started to feel like the rebellion had been worth it and that the powerful needed to be brought down. This time however the rebels now recognized Shay’s important influence and took her to be a major part of their operation. Shay’s job was to assassinate her own father the High rector as she was the only one who got close to him.

The plan was clear. Shay would kill the High rector with poisoned dagger and that would be a sign for the others to attack. The plan failed however as the High rector knew Shay too well and saw that she was up to something when approaching him. Instead of managing to stab her father with the poisoned dagger Shay cut deep wound to herself and the poison from the dagger got to her veins making her to die slowly and horribly. The new rebellion was revealed with that and quickly and brutally crushed. This time the High rector had to admit that Shay had had part of it and after that the influence of music was recognized and the music was banned to prevent anything similar from happening ever again.

Poor Shay, you should have just kept on playing instruments and leave the weapons to others.

-The High rector, when seeing his daughter to die

Gender

Female

Eyes

Red, big and round

Hair

Greenish white, long and curly

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Ash grey with visible black veins

Like father like daughter

Even though Shay would never admit it she reminded her father a lot. They were both determined, stubborn and even ruthless when it came to achieving something. Just like her father who was ready to do anything to have power and keep the power he had, so was Shay ready to do anything to stop the injustice and suffering she saw. The irony of it was that Shay’s actions caused more suffering than her father’s actions ever did.