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Although the Shadowchild is able to perceive and interpret the world around it in most of the same ways as a more physical person, it is fundamentally a creature of darkness and knowledge, and as such is able to recognize several kinds of metaphorical "shadows," especially on living things. Generally speaking, a shadow represents a problem that interfere's with a person's ability to function in a healthy manner. (These shadows are also its primary food source, and removing the shadows from a living thing causes the target to fall into an irreversible coma. It abides by a strict code of "not eating things that can talk" and will not eat the shadows out of the soul of anything it perceives as sapient.)
This is an inherent part of how the Shadowchild is aware of the world around it, and cannot be turned off. If you would prefer to avoid addressing this, I can have the Shadowchild refrain from commenting on your character's particular shadows, or avoid threading with your character.
Shadows on the Heart
Shadows on a person's heart represent guilt, internal conflict, regrets, and similar emotional states. The Shadowchild is able to make a rough estimate of how deeply established these shadows are. Most people carry superficial shadows on their hearts which fade as the emotion passes and are replaced with the shadows of new conflicts; if something is actively bothering a character, the Shadowchild will likely be able to tell that there's a problem but not have any insight into what the problem is. Deeply seated conflicts that persist over months or years cast darker shadows. The Shadowchild may be able to tell the nature of such emotions - a guilt complex, long-standing resentment, old regrets, etc. - but not the cause or target of them.
Shadows on the Mind
Shadows on a person's mind represent trauma or mental illness. Different illnesses may appear differently to the Shadowchild, but it has much less practice interpreting major mental illness than it does interpreting emotional conflict and is unlikely to be able to identify what the problem is unless the illness is explained to it. Mind control or possession may also manifest as shadows on the mind; the Shadowchild is able to tell that these shadows do not belong to the person themself, but cannot directly tell where these shadows are coming from.
Other Shadows
Other contaminants, injuries, or problems may manifest as appropriately located shadows - the main canonical example I can think of is when the Shadowchild describes a case of acute food poisoning as a shadow on the person's stomach.
The Shadowchild has difficulty interpreting shadows of purely physical problems, as it does not have the same kind of physicality as most people.
Divine Light
Some powerful immortal characters may be too metaphysically bright for the Shadowchild to comfortably interact with. This largely applies to characters that are associated with light or holy energies and are unusually powerful and/or much older than a single human lifespan. Short of major deities, this is unlikely to be actually dangerous to the Shadowchild, but it experiences some powerful auras as something between a firm pressure and sensory overload.
"Bright" characters can still carry metaphysical shadows - the intensity of their light just makes the shadows stand out in sharper contrast.
Permissions
If you'd prefer that the Shadowchild not comment on your character's shadows, or would prefer not to thread with the Shadowchild at all, please comment below to say so. Otherwise, please fill out the following:
This is an inherent part of how the Shadowchild is aware of the world around it, and cannot be turned off. If you would prefer to avoid addressing this, I can have the Shadowchild refrain from commenting on your character's particular shadows, or avoid threading with your character.
Shadows on a person's heart represent guilt, internal conflict, regrets, and similar emotional states. The Shadowchild is able to make a rough estimate of how deeply established these shadows are. Most people carry superficial shadows on their hearts which fade as the emotion passes and are replaced with the shadows of new conflicts; if something is actively bothering a character, the Shadowchild will likely be able to tell that there's a problem but not have any insight into what the problem is. Deeply seated conflicts that persist over months or years cast darker shadows. The Shadowchild may be able to tell the nature of such emotions - a guilt complex, long-standing resentment, old regrets, etc. - but not the cause or target of them.
Shadows on a person's mind represent trauma or mental illness. Different illnesses may appear differently to the Shadowchild, but it has much less practice interpreting major mental illness than it does interpreting emotional conflict and is unlikely to be able to identify what the problem is unless the illness is explained to it. Mind control or possession may also manifest as shadows on the mind; the Shadowchild is able to tell that these shadows do not belong to the person themself, but cannot directly tell where these shadows are coming from.
Other contaminants, injuries, or problems may manifest as appropriately located shadows - the main canonical example I can think of is when the Shadowchild describes a case of acute food poisoning as a shadow on the person's stomach.
The Shadowchild has difficulty interpreting shadows of purely physical problems, as it does not have the same kind of physicality as most people.
Some powerful immortal characters may be too metaphysically bright for the Shadowchild to comfortably interact with. This largely applies to characters that are associated with light or holy energies and are unusually powerful and/or much older than a single human lifespan. Short of major deities, this is unlikely to be actually dangerous to the Shadowchild, but it experiences some powerful auras as something between a firm pressure and sensory overload.
"Bright" characters can still carry metaphysical shadows - the intensity of their light just makes the shadows stand out in sharper contrast.
If you'd prefer that the Shadowchild not comment on your character's shadows, or would prefer not to thread with the Shadowchild at all, please comment below to say so. Otherwise, please fill out the following:
whoops, thought I responded as him!
Date: 2019-01-24 08:34 am (UTC)From:Heart: Considerably So, yes. Aiden recently underwent a Persona-5-style Change of Heart, but it was a Soft Edition. Basically, some things didn't get touched, at all; he still carries intense guilt over the ways his parents died and he still holds doubt that he's a remotely decent person. On a scale of 1-10, I'd say his guilt and unhappiness is resting at an almost constant 6, sometimes an 8, as opposed to a screaming 10.
Head: Intense PTSD, mild Bipolar Disorder, and the lingering effects of brainwashing. He comes with TW of sexual assault and lots of murder.
Other: He's only got half of a soul.
Light: He can use one (1) light-based ability, but he's heavily darkness-based.