The Shadow Over Truth

Darkness, by its very nature, is an element of concealment and secrets. It is subtle and unseen, and this unknown aspect alone is enough to strike fear in the hearts of many. This power gives it a stronger stigma than any other element, though it also gives it a unique appeal. At the same time, this secrecy also means that little is actually known about the Elemental Lord of Darkness in the first place. As one can guess, The Shadow Over Truth has never been known to make any sort of appearance, directly or indirectly. Unlike The Bearer, if its followers are granted power, it is likely either the nature of that power or the tenets they follow mean that few if any have seen them in action. Still, what is known is that most of its followers are secretive cultists and recluses, many with a tenuous grip on sanity or reason. It can be assumed that the greatest secrets are tautologically hard to find, kept painstakingly out of the public eye. Scholars have made numerous guesses as to the identity of The Shadow over the centuries. Some say that it focuses on secrets and hidden agendas, a schemer and mastermind. Others say almost the opposite, that The Shadow is a stalking beast driven by wild emotion and instinct, lacking all reason or sense of purpose. Still others claim that it must be devoid of interest in The Eye entirely, as The Bearer once was, leaving the denizens of its plane to do as they please.

Divine Domains

Darkness, Secrets, Instinct, Fear, Anger, Despair

Tenets of Faith

Abandon reason and be driven by instinct
Lead others to follow emotions over truth
Keep impactful knowledge a secret
Master fear in oneself and others
Destroy that which is despised
Manipulate others through their emotions
Mourn the world's tragedies
Hoard secrets for oneself
Cause suffering and pain for their own sake

List of Gifts

Inured: Enduring pain and negative emotion quickly become second nature to the gifted character. This gift grants them a special bonus to the Composure and Withstand Pain Secondary Abilities equivalent to their Elan level.
Cost: 5, Requirements: Elan 10 Fight or Flight: With this gift, instinct and fear serve as guides, giving the character a vague idea of when they are outmatched. By the nature of the ability, it can potentially be fooled by those adept at projecting false strength, but it is honed to greater clarity as the character's Elan level increases.
Cost: 5, Requirements: Elan 20 Inner Darkness: The character is attuned to the negative emotions of others, and have an instinct for these emotions and the reasons behind them. The higher the character's Elan level, the more accurate this instinct becomes.
Cost: 10, Requirements: Elan 30 Burdens of Empathy: This gift allows the character to reduce the negative emotions of others by taking them on themselves. This ability only works on genuine emotions, and not supernaturally induced states.
Cost: 5, Requirements: Elan 30 Call in the Night: Touching the unconsciousness of others, the gifted character may send messages into the dreams and nightmares of others. It can be targetted to individuals the character is familiar with, or sent out as an unspecific call in an attempt to find someone who will answer. The nature of this ability is also capable of disturbing the minds of others, turning them into nightmares - and may do this despite the intentions of the character if used carelessly.
Cost: 10, Requirements: Elan 40 Flood of Emotion: When the character has committed to unleashing their own negative emotions, they are difficult to stop. When openly expressing these emotions, they gain a bonus equivalent to their Elan level to any Resistance Check that would pacify them or force positive emotions upon them. This flood extends to others around them, decreasing their reservations about showing these emotions by extention, and granting them half of this bonus in a radius of half the character's Elan level in meters. For instance, a character with 80 Elan would confer a +40 bonus in a 40 meter radius.
Cost: 10, Requirements: Elan 50 Blend with Shadows: The gifted character has become linked to darkness in such an intrinsic way that they can meld with it. This ability not only makes them difficult to find, conferring a bonus to Hide equal to their Elan level in darkness, but also allows them to take on an intangible quality that lets them ignore damage from sources that cannot damage energy. Effects based on light both remove this ability and double their damage against the character while in this state, however.
Cost: 15, Requirements: Elan 60 Infuse with Negativity: The character is capable of passing their emotions on to others with great strength. The target must pass an MR or PsR with a Difficulty of 140 or be subject to the state of Terror or Rage against a target of the gifted character's choosing, or an overwhelming sorrow that prevents them from taking Active Actions (acting as Fascination). Any target who passes the check will not need to take the check again for at least a day.
Cost: 20, Requirements: Elan 60, Flood of Emotion Umbral: At this level of attunement, the gifted character can be recognized as a being of Darkness by elementals and supernatural detection. They gain an extra point of Constitution and Willpower.
Cost: 10, Requirements: Elan 70 The Keeper: Characters with this gift gain power over secrets themselves, allowing them to act as warden and master over any secrets they keep. Any who approach the truth of such a secret or risk spreading it to another will experience an unnatural sense of dread, and the gifted character will know when either of these occur, as well as a general idea of the identity of the offender.
Cost: 10, Requirements: Elan 80 Consumption of Darkness: A character this close to The Shadow Over Truth is able to incite the darkness in others to destroy them from within. Targets need to pass an MR or PsR check with a difficulty of 140. Failure by less than 40 results in a state of Pain as they are overcome by their own negative emotions, while failure by more than 40 will cause them to be permanently consumed, becoming violently insane. Depending on the extent of the negative emotions of the target, the difficulty may be 20 points higher or lower. After a successful save, the target is considered to be in control of their negative emotions, and cannot be targeted again for at least a month barring some dramatic change in their emotional state.
Cost: 10, Requirements: Elan 90 The Unknowable: The Chosen of The Shadow Over Truth is so entrenched in shadow that they can only be perceived and remembered by those they allow to do so. In mechanical terms, this acts as a penalty of -200 to Memorize, Notice, and Search checks directly related to the chosen one. These penalties are halved when directly and intentionally interacting with another being, however. Finally, The Unknowable knows not only the identity of anyone who learns one of the secrets they keep, but also has an instinctual notion of their location.
Cost: 10, Requirements: Elan 100, The Keeper

Divine Classification

Elemental Lord

Children

Ruled Locations