Prominence of Shade
Introduction
Prominence of Shade is a sorcerous path of the Shadowcasting school of hedge magic. The key to "Prominence of Shade" lies in realizing that shade isn't just the comparative darkness caused by the interception or screening of rays of light from an object, place, or area. Rather objects, places and areas are projections of the Abyss in our world. Therefore, shade is the liminal zone between our world and the world of the Abyss. The dark magician simply calls upon various mystical qualities already inherent in these liminal zones to produce visible or tangible effects in our earthly plane. Thus the allegory of Plato's Cave would have us believe that if we are sitting in a cave looking at a blank wall and upon that wall appear shadows, that those shadows are just illusions of things passing in from of the light. But in reality, the opposite is true, the shadows are more real that the objects to which they are attached and their influence upon the material world and the beings who live there is absolute. Plato's theory acts to protect the mortal mind from a higher truth, that occurrences of shade are simply humanity's imperfect perceptions of encounters with another "realm", a place incomprehensible because, theoretically, it is the source of a higher reality than the one we have always known; it is a realm of pure form, pure fact, pure darkness - the Abyss.
In most languages the difference between shade and shadow are vague as all things cast a shadow. But in certain languages shade is usually the shadow of a place or thing. The distinction for the purposes of this path and power are irrelevant.
Shade of Mine
Shade of Mine is the keystone power of the path of Prominence of Shade, granting the shadow-magician the ability to control and manipulate his own shadow.
This feat is largely accomplished through the lesser Principle of Identity which suggests that even as the man is a material projection of a potential shadow-self, his identity remains the primary abyssinian prominence which binds the man to the shadow and shadow to the man.
Through rigorous practice of Shadow-play and meditation, the caster can conciously influence his shadow as he was once influenced by his abyssinian prominence.
Once the Shadowcaster has learned to control his shadow, he may manipulate the appearance of his shadow with out altering it's underlying substance. This means that to the untrained and undiscerning eye, the caster's shadow contorts to his every gesture taking on whatever form he might wish. The appearance of the caster's shadow can seem to move against the light, completely change length, volume or speed.
Remember this is all an illusion and the caster's shadow may not separate from him or affect the material world in anyway. But the contorting and capering shadow can, if utilized correctly with timing and an appropriate performance evince desired emotions in nearby onlookers.
System: The Shadowcaster expends a point of Will power and makes a roll of Charisma + Occult at a difficulty of (5) five. A botch results in the caster's shadow mocking him for a number of scenes equal to the botches rolled. Failure results in a wasted expenditure of will power and a lackluster performance. A successful roll grants the caster complete control over his shadow for one scene per success. The scenes may be spread out over the course of a day or used back to back at the caster's discretion.
Shade of Another
Shade of Another grants the shadow-magician the ability to touch and manipulate the shadow of other person, either mundane or awakened.
The shadow-magician attunes himself to other person's abyssinian promenence through the lesser Principle of Contagion as the caster's shadow and the target's shadow overlap, the caster's shadow communicates the shadowcaster's influence upon the target's abyssinian prominence and brings the target's shadow fully under the shadowcaster's control.
There are two distinct functions of this power. The first is that the Shadowcaster can now detach his shade from his person and allowing his shadow to move about within line-of-sight, but still under his influence. While the caster still has a shadow, it doesn't appear in the expected location regardless of local lighting or time of day. When used as part of an act, it should elicit surprise and amusement, but if used in a one-on-one situation or an unexpected location it could become the object of superstitious fear and quite intimidating.
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Shades of Plunder
This power utilizes the lesser Principle of Heredity and allow the caster to separate the shades of things carried by a Target or target's from their personal shadow. This not only gives the caster possession of the shades of individual items, it also reveals details about the items to the caster.
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