Night Shade
Night shades are the oldest kind of shade, sprung directly from the first imprinting of fear upon the Ether and the touch of the goddess Fulla. Wherever darkness brings terror and the common folk huddle around lights for safety, night shades will roam.
The fear of the dark is what sustains them and they thus seek to keep their prey fearful of the shadows. Benevolent night shades act as bogeymen, pulling startling but ultimately harmless pranks. Less kindly inclined shades will arrange for accidents or even deaths, to saturate communities with a terror of the dark. Passive shades usually seek out places where the fear of the dark comes naturally, acting as quiet observers as life plays out before them. Some even find benign ways to harvest fear, working in fairground haunted houses or the occasional cult where people willing subject themselves to fear.
Most night shades prefer to be discrete, but should they be confronted, they are capable of fighting, using their powers of darkness to hamper their foes. Should their opponent be immune to the grasp of darkness or, even worse, bring al ight capable of piercing it, most night shades will choose to retreat rather than risk their existence.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Night shades seem composed of shadows, a solid black mass without much in the way of identifying features. When not seeping through the air, they usually manifest numerous legs to crawl around with, giving them a spidery appearance. Being born of the dark, their ties to it are even greater than most shades. Light physically burns them, but any time spend in shade causes them to heal at an astounding rate.
If needed, they can also manifest a pair of fangs, through which they can inject a supernatural paralysing venom.
Genetics and Reproduction
Night shades are born fully formed from the fear of the dark.
Growth Rate & Stages
Night shades are born with a hyper focus on the dark and the fear thereof. Through experience, they gradually develop more complex personalities.
Ecology and Habitats
Night shades can usually find food wherever they are, though demonstrate a preference for stalking the edges of civilization, where there's just enough light to make the dark even more terrifying, but not so much as to make feeding too risky.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Night shades are phobiavores, specifically feeding of fear of the dark
Additional Information
Social Structure
Night shades work either alone or in small groups. Some live together with creatures that either can see in the dark or who do not feel fear, as neither make for a good sources of food. Cruller night shades work with other nightime predators, reasoning that a few lost sources of food is worth the extra fear it will inspire.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Night shades are a common species of shade and found in many spheres
Average Intelligence
Night shades are sapient. They are very observant and have strong personalities, the better to craft terrifying scenarios to induce fear in others. They are knowledgeable of most common information, but rarely bother with more than that.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Being born of the dark, not even the most lightless of depths would prove a hinderance to a night shade. Beyond that, their senses are average.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Night shades tend to go for name that invokes images of darkness.
Scientific Name
Metus Obscuritatis
Origin/Ancestry
Lifespan
Does not age
Average Weight
195-200 kilo
Average Length
2.5 to 2.7 meters
Average Physique
Being made of shadows, night shades are not physically strong. Their amorpheous nature makes them dexterous and flexible and the lack of internal organs does allow them to endure quite well.
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