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The Cult of Forgotten Shadow (Horde Community/Guild) - #20 by Abbri-bloodsail-buccaneers
“We have been forsaken. Forsaken by our friends, our family, our people and even the Light itself. All of these seek to destroy us, but we will not succumb. With every ounce of our willpower, we will grow and they will quake before our terrible might.”
The Cult of Forgotten Shadow is a loose-knit organization of Forsaken born from the twisting of the virtues of the Church of the Holy Light. Rather than place great value on selflessness and compassion towards others, followers of the Forgotten Shadow’s virtues seek self-empowerment, placing their virtue of Power above all others as both the ultimate and most dangerous goal.
Further virtues of the Cult include Respect, specifically the respect of the power that others hold, as one’s own path to power may be cut short by stepping on the toes of others; and Tenacity, a reminder to never cease trudging down one’s path as stagnancy will lead directly to the death of a Forsaken’s mind and their slipping back into the thrall of the Lich King as a mindless zombie.
“What does the cult actually do?”
The daily life of cultists and clerics tends to vary wildly. While one might follow the virtues of the cult, they integrate them into their daily life more often than heading out to organized events.
When they do organize together it is usually to seek new Forsaken among the fresh graves, cull the mindless scourge, or combat their numerous enemies, including the Light-worshiping alliance, the Scarlet Crusade and the Scourge itself.
For example, a Forsaken deathstalker in the cult would seek to hone her craft, spending her personal time practicing, studying and trying to discover old, lost assassination techniques. She would set herself firmly on that personal path to power and self-improvement, only involving others to her benefit, when they might find some mutual gain(or gain just for her alone).
A Dark Cleric on the other hand has several roles. The cults clerics delve deep into the study of the shadow, the magics inherit to the death that consumes their body. Through this study they glean the power to manipulate the shadows themselves to haunt and torment the minds of others as well as repair the flesh of their undead kin, one of the few ways to safely, effectively, and painlessly heal fellow Forsaken. Meanwhile the cult’s practitioners also take it onto themselves to aid(and recruit) the freshly freed or dug up forsaken and cull any mindless undead they find, one of the few times they invoke the lost virtue of compassion.
A dark cleric may seem charitable and selfless, but, more so than anyone else, their every action presses them further and further towards their goal of power whether they directly benefit or they use others to eliminate their mutual enemies. Uniquely, the priests of the cult seek to entirely ascend from the trappings of their rotting corpse and become one with death itself, transformed into a being of living shadow. Many of the clerics you meet will be part of the way through this transformation, or able to maintain the state in part for a small amount of time. Few will truly reach shadow ascension.
“What about the void?”
In older lore, the void and shadow have few similarities. The void is nothingness, a mysterious realm where myriad shapeless creatures reside. Like the voidwalkers reside. It is more specifically a place and little is known about it.
Shadow is the magic of death. It affects the mind and body, sapping life and causing terror and madness, but also capable of relieving one of their worries or even their free will entirely. This is the domain of the cult and any other shadow priest. The void is largely irrelevant.
“What about other races?”
The Forgotten Shadow is a philosophical creation of the Forsaken born from the old ways of the Light. That having been said, the lessons and virtues of the Cult can apply to anyone who wishes to listen.
Given an open-minded member of the Horde asks, it is rare that a cleric would fail to see the possible strength they could gain in having allies outside of the Forsaken.
Trolls in particular are likely to join the Cult. A shadow ascendant fits their definitions of a Loa, though they may see such a creature as a dark or dangerous Loa, they will likely show respect and might heed the ascendant’s words.
“Is this a guild?”
Yes and no.
I’ve made a guild, Cult of Forgotten Shadow. The guild will be a reasonably casual group of friendly people who want either want to hang out with mostly people in this community or want to help come up with stories, plot hooks and RP to move things forward. This won’t be the focus of what I hope to do here.
In the lore, the cult is meant to be disorganized with many branching sects and groupless individuals with minor disagreements on the best ways to accomplish their goals and I have no intention of claiming that my guild is the whole cult or discrediting anyone who doesn’t join.
The main goal I’m hoping to accomplish is to create a community spanning a large number of individual people in many different guilds who attend events and incorporate the themes of the Cult into their character’s RP.
I encourage anyone who is interested to drop in here and say hello, send me a whisper in-game (my character name is Abbri on BB as well), or join the Discord at the link below where we can have lore discussion, character building, plot development, and event planning.
Discord: vNvqGhK
