Urban Fantasy: Shadow People

Neither fully ghost, demon or bogeymen are entities born of mankind's literal shadows. These...are the shadow people. The Shadow People (or Shadow Person, as Wikipedia name them) aren't quite spirits but they aren't quite physical either.

Nature and Creation

Spooky.

There is no true-breeding race of Shadow People, much like how Bogeymen aren't a true-breeding race of supernatural beings. The two type of creatures share much in common as they are born of the thoughts and emotions of humanity and they slowly coalesce into a self-aware being. However where Bogeymen are more born of collective fear, Shadow People are more specific. They have common root (or perhaps even are!) beings which folklore call 'Evil Twins' or 'Doppelganger', evil supernatural creatures which bring about an omen of death.

Generally the birth of a Shadow Person requires a specific individual and some specific traits which can vary. Generally these people have a latent or obvious connection to supernatural and spiritual forces or have been exposed to such forces without realizing it. Those who can read the aura of such individuals will find it either unusually potent or seemingly separating slowly but surely into two, as if undergoing a form of mitosis. In other, stranger cases this Shadow Person is born as an individual undergoes great changes in its personality and mannerism, often rejecting a former lifestyle or even identity. Other times there is seemingly no particular reason why the individual is undergoing such a change. As with many supernatural phenomena sometimes there is no clear answer and it just is. In any case, as the process continue the individual will slowly 'shed' more and more psychic energy, seemingly to no ill effect to itself as its thoughts, individuality, fear and more seemingly double and split until it create a self-containing, but unformed Spirit. In many ways its like a person's ghost but they never died.

Shadow People do not share the memory, identity or even appearance of their (accidental) creator, at least not by default. Most will appear as loose, vaguely human-shaped forms. Much like Bogeymen they slowly take shape and become some haunting monster, albeit one much more focused on its creator, like some sort of obsessive stalker ghost. Some are driven by a desire to connect or even re-connect with their creator while others, the more dangerous ones, actively seek to harm them. Very often a Shadow Person will be akin to some sort of anti-person. Their personality are reversed, twisted and inhuman. Human empathy. Understanding. Love. These do not exist in the shadow person, which now exist as some sort of literal 'evil twin'. This is where they overlap with Demons and, indeed, perhaps some Demons could have begun their existence as Shadow People. Or, then again maybe not: we just don't know.

SHADOW PERSON

HD: 1 AC: 17 (9 if exposed to light)

Atk: +1 (can stretch limbs and fingers up to 10 feet!) Dmg: None, Special: Drain INT, WIS or CHA by 1d4 (2d6 on creator)

Effort: 2 Manifestation: Between E and C

Shadow People aren't particularly powerful creatures and would go down easily if directly confronted. However they are not fully physical and destroying them, let alone spotting them isn't always an easy task. They have some unusual abilities:

• Shadow People are always aware of where their Creator is.
• Shadow People are able to hide inside the 'psychic shadow' of their Creator. As long as the creature is within 30ft of its Creator it cannot be automatically detected by whatever effects detect the presence of Spirits and it always get a chance to avoid detecting with a Saving Throw with a +4 bonus.
• Anytime the Creator spots the creature, it must make an immediate Mental save or suffer the creature's drain effect. It can only be affected by this vision once per 24 hours, but if the creature attack it can simply drain it.
• If the Creator is reduced to 2 or less in any Mental stat the creature drain, it must make a Mental Saving Throw or die, at which point the Shadow Person take its place, becoming a seemingly normal (if very creepy or weird) human.
• Some may have abilities other Spirits have.

Rumors persist of entire secret societies or odd 'court' of independent and 'advanced' Shadow People serving some master or sinister purpose, which may explain stories such as the Men in Black. Time will tell.