Shadowism

Introduction

We are allowed this one life to play a part on the world's stage. Most of us will exit the scene silently, and most importantly, without having been able to ask the right questions. For what is Light, what is Dakness and how do they interact to form Shadows? What is the essence of this Stage we tread upon? What is the meaning of The Play? Will there be a Curtain Call?

These are the questions central to Shadowism, a collection of superstitions and mystical beliefs prevalent in the Bakker Peninsula area of the Colonies.

The Shadows

Shadowism is a form of animism. People, places and even objects are the Shadows of a rich spiritual world. Nothing of this world is truly real, and yet everyone and everything participates of spritual power. What is characteristic of Shadowism is the peculiar, fatalistic attitude that this belief engenders. Shadowists live their life as a game, or rather a play of sorts. They often see themselves discounted as childlike, and yet their committed attitude in the face of a disconcerting indifference or playfulness has seen the demise of more than one opponent.

The Stage

What most people call the real world is The Stage to Shadowists. This metaphor is a common theme amongst believers, and is often used by believers as a way to recognise each other without speaking overtly

Afterlife

The spirit which inhabits the Shadow of a person is immortal.

High Council

Main article: Decision making

Temples

Main article: Temples

Remarked Days

Main article: Holidays

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, You cannot say, or guess, for you know only A heap of broken images, where the sun beats, And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, And the dry stone no sound of water. Only There is shadow under this red rock, (Come in under the shadow of this red rock), And I will show you something different from either Your shadow at morning striding behind you Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; I will show you fear in a handful of dust. ... Who is the third who walks always beside you? When I count, there are only you and I together But when I look ahead up the white road There is always another one walking beside you Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded I do not know whether a man or a woman - But who is that on the other side of you?

We are allowed this one life to play a part on the world's stage. Most of us will exit the scene silently, and most importantly, without having been able to ask the right questions. For what is Light, what is Dakness and how do they interact to form Shadows? What is the essence of this Stage we tread upon? What is the meaning of The Play? Will there be a Curtain Call?

History

Shadowism has been the prevalent religion of the People living in the northern Woodlands of the Colonies since the Dawn of Times. There are many legends surrounding the ancient origins of the creed. Some say an ancient mystic saw a pattern in the shadow of the foliage projected on the eneven forest ground. Other, more scholarly, suggest that the religion reflects and popularises many of the tenets of the Guild of Assassins, and represents therefore an attempt by the populace to incorporate the beliefs of their Masters.

The wood folk

Coincidence or causality, it is a fact that the in the year 1007 the Eyes of the Guild found that the fight for the southern woodlands had moved from a mere contest of military power to a struggle for the heart and minds of the people of South Bakker.

It was quickly decided that the Plays and the Songs, as shadowists respectively call their their lenghty rites and short prayers, and the Wisdom of the Shadows, a collection of woodland folk lore, had to be supported against the aggressive agents from strange cultures, who were starting to make inroads amongst the people.

At a time of great political turmoil Thyra Strongfoot, stepped on the scene and decided to consacrate her life to the collection