Descended from humans trapped on the Shadow Plane, shadowlings are an ancestry of darkness and light intertwined. Generations of contact with that strange plane and its denizens have made shadowlings an ancestry apart from humanity. While shadowlings acknowledge their origins, they exhibit little physical or cultural resemblance to their ancestors on the Material Plane and are often insulted when compared to humans. Some members of the ancestry also take offense at the name fetchling, as it was given to them by humans who saw them as little more than fetchers of rare materials from the Shadow Plane. Many shadowlings instead prefer to be called kayal, a word borrowed from Aklo that roughly translates to “shadow people” or “dusk dwellers.”
Infused with the essence of the Shadow Plane and possessing human blood commingled with that of the Shadow Plane’s natives, shadowlings have developed traits and abilities that complement their native plane’s bleak and colorless terrain. Though most shadowlings treat the Shadow Plane as home, they often trade and deal with creatures of the Material Plane. Some shadowlings go so far as to create enclaves on the Material Plane in order to establish alliances and trade routes in areas where the boundary between the two planes is less distinct. These shadowlings often serve as merchants, middlemen, and guides for ancestries on both sides of the planar boundary.
Physical Description: Superficially, shadowlings resemble unnaturally lithe – bordering on fragile – humans. The Shadow Plane has drained their skin and hair of bright colors. Their complexion ranges from stark white to deep black, and includes all the various shades of gray between those two extremes. Their eyes are pupilless and pronounced, and they typically glow a luminescent shade of yellow or greenish yellow, though rare individuals possess blue-green eyes. While their hair tends to be stark white or pale gray, many shadowlings dye their hair black. Some members of higher station or those who dwell on the Material Plane dye their hair with more striking colors, often favoring deep shades of violet, blue, and crimson.
Shadowlings generally reach adulthood around 40, with middle age at 100 and old age in their mid-hundreds. The most venerable of this ancestry live into their two hundreds.
Shadowlings are very slightly are sexually dimorphic, with the average height of males just over six feet and females aroudn six feet. Their body mass is similar, making most females weigh slightly less than males.
Society: Shadowlings are adaptable creatures, and as such display no singular preference for moral philosophy or the rule of law. Most mimic the cultural norms and governmental structures of those they live near or the creatures they serve. While shadowlings are arguably the most populous ancestry on the Shadow Plane, they rarely rule over their own kind; most serve as vassals or subjects to the great umbral dragons of their homeland, or the bizarre nihiloi who dwell in the deeper darkness. Above all, shadowlings are survivors. Their tenacity, versatility, and devious pragmatism have helped them survive the harsh environs of the Shadow Plane and plots of the powerful creatures dwelling within it. On the Material Plane, especially if unable to return to their home plane at will, shadowlings tend to cluster in small, insular communities of their own kind, mimicking the cultural norms and political structures of those they trade with.
Relations: Because of their shared ancestry, shadowlings interact most easily with humans, though they also find kinship with gnomes and other ancestries that were cut off from their home planes or are not native to the Material Plane. Their pragmatism and adaptable nature put them at odds with warlike or destructive ancestries, and when they do have to deal with such cultures, shadowlings will often play the part of the fawning sycophant, a tactic learned from serving umbral dragons and one they see as key to their ancestor’s survival. Strangely, their relationship with dwarves and elves are rather strained. Dwarves find shadowlings duplicitous and creepy, while the tension with elves is so subtle and inexplicable that both ancestries find it difficult to explain.
Alignment and Religion: Shadowlings – especially those living outside the Shadow Plane – worship a wide variety of gods. On the Shadow Plane, shadowlings primarily worship deities of freedom, dreams, and the night, though while the former is venerated, the latter is more placated than worshiped. A smaller number of less pleasant shadowlings worship demon lords of darkness and lust.
Adventurers: The Shadow Plane’s ever-present hazards pose great danger to shadowling adventurers, but also great opportunity. Because of their servile status on their home plane, however, most shadowlings prefer to adventure on the Material Plane, which often offers more freedom and trading opportunities between the two planes. Shadowlings are drawn to many lifestyles but warriors are rare among this ancestry.
Names: Acera, Amelisce, Arim, Drosil, Inva, Jegan, Renza, Somar, Yetar, Zaitherin, Zoka