Shades: Their Origins

Shades: Their Origins

Original: Sorry for the silly title but...

In the lore and stories about the Shades it says there is no absolutely know reason for the Shade race, but it offers the death of the parent during pregnancy. Is this the ONLY way a Shade has been born, or are there other things that cause a human to be born a Shade?

Also it says Shades are sterile, is this the case for all shades (a property of being a shade) or will this be fixed over time as more and more Shades are born?

One more question. After one Shade is born of the mother, does she continue birthing Shades, or can she go back to having normal human babies?

By- Nafai

Answer: No, nobody knows where Shades come from. Bear in mind that people have only had a few decades to move between fragments and compare notes. The theory about the father or mother's death while a child is unborn is the most accepted theory currently. There are some others, which will get touched upon in the upcoming Shade Lore.

All Shades are sterile. If that changes, we'll let you know. Don't expect it to, however.

Finally, giving birth to a Shade is no guarantee that future children will also be Shades. Like Half-Giantism, the frequency of Shade births is perplexing. One family might bear one Shade child out of seven, while another might bear only Shades. It also doesn't seem to run in families. If your sister births a Shade, it seems to have no impact on whether or not you will. Of course, few people actually look at the problem in these terms. Superstition abounds, and paranoia is the norm.

Where do Shades come from? That would be telling. Rest assured, however, once SB goes gold, an answer will emerge.

I don't see any reason why a pair of twins might be "spilt," one Shade one not. Cool idea!

And no- the numbers of Shades is actually on the rise. Nobody knows why.

Finally, about that widow thing- whenever the father dies (and then respawns), the odds of a Shade birth increase dramatically. If the mother dies (and respawns, still pregnant) a Shade birth is almost assured.

Heck, the steady increase in the amount of dying in the World is probably the best explanation for why the number of Shades is growing.