cabrine oflord

- to begin— SKs have a different look to them than most. they tend to have duller hair and skin; paler than their natural tones but in a grey/dead way. this is amplified when in their SK form. additionally, their hair kinda floats while transformed.

- to add on, the actual armor is not really armor. i’ve seen multiple people talk about this— i think it’s like a hardened second skin in a formation similar to armor plating. it flows from them and hardens instantly, almost like blood. when caught of guard, say somebody strikes from behind or something, the armor may activate/materialize in that specific area first, before the response of the entire body’s transformation is triggered.

- the eyes. many people have mentioned this and i even tried to include it in a drawing, but the whites of their eyes turn black in their forms, and their red irises glow. depending on the intensity of power of the shadow knight, the irises will emit a sort of red smoke/aura. additionally, when the form is taken, the scars below the eyes literally rip open. it’s pretty violent and quite painful, although the entire process of taking the form is, so this part goes largely unnoticed by the SK. to bystanders, the blood that spills from them at first gives the illusion of tears of blood.

- back to the armor thing— i also thing the flowing of the armor originates from their death scar and coats the entire body. if that makes sense.

- i think that SKs body temperature is quite the interesting feat. they can typically regulate it, but as the calling onsets it begins harder to tolerate anything cold, as their body begins to prepare itself cruelly for its return to the hellishly hot temperatures of the shadow realm. cruel.

more calling stuff

- the calling is painful. extremely so. it starts as a dull headache. as time passes, the entire body of the shadow knight begins to experience a dull, burning ache. it intensifies and can even become unbearable in the presence of whoever the calling has latched onto. also, if an opportunity arises, such as a knife on a table near them while their back is turned, their hands and head with alight with a unique burning that cannot be cured unless they manage to remove themselves or follow through. each scar will throb as a reminder of their mortality without answering the calling.

- once, when the calling was particularly bad for laurance, this sensation hit him very suddenly. he was with aphmau, discussing important matters, when suddenly his speech was cut short, only a gasping cry managed to creep from his mouth; his eyes simultaneously glowing red. his jaw dropped, and silently, nearly sick with the shock of such pain, he braced one hand on the table and almost fell. he couldn’t speak. he could hardly think, over the ringing in his head and the insistence of the shadow lords mantra in his head to ‘kill her’. his other hand uncontrollably jerked to the hilt of his blade, and he managed one small word to aphmau. “go”. somewhere inside her she knew not to argue, and she exited, despite her fear for his well-being, and promptly informed the nearest (likely vylad) of the current situation. laurance spent the next few hours, alone, huddled on the floor of that study; shaking, sweating, grappling with reality. after that too-close incident, he truly started to distance from the group, becoming entirely terrified of losing himself.

- the SKs also have a sort of hive sense—only activated when something is happening with a portal in the overworld. if one is opened, a panging pain will be felt by the SKs, the intensity of it reflecting the closeness of the portal. usually, this continues as a headache until the portal is shut, or they move far enough from it. this is naturally much worse during the calling, and they will feel an additional pull to the portal.

- adding on, i think it would be interesting if SKs could physically see a certain purple, snaking aura leading to a portal if it is nearby, that no regular, non-SKs can see. this comes in handy if they are searching for the portal, and allows them to direct people precisely if needed.

my take on @adepressedgaydragon ’s doll hc

first off i think this hc is so interesting

- the sort of dissociation that occurs is quite frightening for the SK themselves

- i like to think that this paralyzed state is a way of the shadow lord reasserting his fear into the SKs. as a way of reminding them of his power over them. perhaps when they are paralyzed like a puppet with cut strings, they are living out some brief hallucination in their head.

- sometimes are worse than others, and these spells can sort of be used to determine the current strength of the shadow lord based on frequency and intensity. sometimes the SK will snap out of it and come to as if nothing happened, other times they snap back and suddenly they collapse into a heap of panic because they are so extremely terrified.

- these hallucinations that occur are similar to those that gene inflicted on laurance during his initial transformation. furthermore, it would be interesting if gene (due to his mind control abilities) had some sort of minor power involving these doll-like episodes. his manipulated version would be fightable tho, something others could resist, unlike the organic ones that are largely unavoidable.

- another scenario because i’m fueled by angst: once, during one of these episodes, garroth was keeping an eye on laurance. this was not much long after his transformation, and was one of the first doll-like happening he had. garroth was sitting nearby, having moved laurance to a sitting position near him. all was usual until instead of blinking back to reality, laurance went from being motionless to launching from the chair he was in, stumbling, gasping in bone chilling fear as he tried to wipe the hallucination from his mind. garroth, although unable to understand his struggle, tried his damndest to comfort laurance, practically catching him when he sprung from his chair, holding him steady as he struggled to breathe out of fear. ‘i’ve got you; it wasn’t real’ repeated frantically into his ear.