Shadow Version 27

Shadow Version 27 "Eyes that change the world."
Aliases None Age Biologically 16 (in Cult of Ustream) Gender Male Species Diclonius Homeworld Phantasia
Domain Boundlessness Soul Phantasms Vectors
Affiliations Cult of Ustream (Alter Timeline) Relatives None

"I know I am not nearly powerful... or strong enough to do anything significant right now... but when I am, I will stop you."

— Shadow Version 27 to Lord X-Giga-X during the latter's defection from the Cult of Ustream

Shadow Version 27 (simply known as Shadow) is the last Diclonius finalized by GARNET's DEICLONOS Project. He is an attempted replication of the highly successful Diclonius Vortex Version 26, but as his capabilities while in containment proved to be inadequately low, he was considered a failure and thus given the derogatory name of "Shadow". Throughout both the Prime Timeline and the Alter Timeline, he assumes an increasingly important role in his primary story routes, eventually becoming an Outside Observer.

In the Prime Timeline, he plays a critical role to the Malice Continuity in the Oblivion Phantasy canon. He is the protagonist of Forsaken Malign, being a key piece in unraveling the true nature and purpose of the GARNET Research Facility, though he is chronologically first featured as one of the main characters in the Strain of Tomorrow prequel storyline. He also becomes involved in the events of Quirenyun's Imprinted upon learning of the existence of another Diclonius in the planet Mantua, and furthermore, of the disruptive actions of another Outside Observer.

In the Alter Timeline (Cult of Ustream Canon), Shadow is introduced at the start of Season One with Espira Xirro in Ustream, Euthora as the result of an extremely improbable anomaly with a Worldgate in Phantasia. He was initially treated as weak by some members of the Cult of Ustream, most notably Ziolang Hirasu who believed that he would be able to better hone the Diclonius's combat skills on his homeworld of Deveron. Eventually, Shadow gained the respect of some of the other Cultists, integrating himself into the Cult of Ustream as a full-time member. Shadow also has some prior connection to the late Cultist Alexander "CrazE" Knight.

Appearance

Shadow stands at average height for his age, though his build marginally leans towards the scrawny side of the spectrum. He is relatively pale from having being born and raised in an underground facility for almost his whole life, and his hair, a jet-black color, is rather messy, longer than normal (if only slightly), and perhaps even unkempt to a degree. His eyes, in general, are focused and overlayed with conviction of sorts, though there is still a certain glint of innocence behind the blue irises. As an experiment of the God's Clone Project, he was branded at birth with a serial number just below his left shoulder, in uniform, somewhat subdued, desaturated blue lettering that simply displays "027".

He is not one to wear anything specifically notorious or distinctive, preferring mostly monochromatic clothing: he usually dons a black t-shirt with two simple, contrasting gray lines running along the length of the sleeves, along with nondescript black pants; although recently he is also seen wearing an open jacket of similar design with a white shirt underneath.

Personality

Shadow is a rather reserved individual who tends to keep his thoughts to himself. He is quite observant and insightful, and also displays a strong moral character. He is honest as a person--perhaps to a fault, as this translates into an almost comical and foolish naïveté, wherein he trusted everyone during his early days at the Cult of Ustream. He sees value in doing the right thing. Later on, this honesty translates into a burning dedication to fight for that which he wants to fight for as he progresses as a person, breaking out of his cowardly shell. Another defining trait would be his kindness. He is the kind of person who would worry about others (particularly those close to him) more than himself; a trait best distinguished during his early days at the Cult, once again. This does not necessarily mean he's self-sacrificial; rather, it is just in his nature to try to help those around him. Shadow feels that he needs to become stronger in order to be useful to others--something that was perhaps instilled into him in his early days at the GARNET Research Facility.

In the beginning, Shadow was known as being quiet and timid. He seemed rather reserved, even reluctant when he engaged with others, especially if he felt uncomfortable around them for whatever reason. He displayed some hesitation to act from time to time. He appeared to be visibly stricken when people betray his trust, such as when Ziolang Hirasu returns in Season Two of Cult of Ustream canon. Despite his overall timid, uncertain nature, Shadow could also occasionally be expected to show flashes of bravery and courage that allowed him to overcome his trepidations.

As time has gone on, Shadow has become much more direct. He is not nearly as reserved as he was before, especially since his mentality and surroundings have forced him to drop his cowardly attitude. At its broadest, Shadow's mentality has changed from seeing a way to avoid a problem to instead directly address it with the hopes of changing the problem.

Skills and Abilities

Magic

Shadow has displayed a basic understanding of how to manipulate Mana, but he does not have any distinguished "spelltype" as of yet.

Inherent Abilities

As a Diclonius, Shadow exhibits plenty of Diclonius-augmented mental faculties. He experiences a degree of precognitive intuition, which is a result of his augmented Mind Component. This extends to, but is not limited to noticing danger or hostile actions against him. At the present time, this precognition is comparable to a very unrefined "sixth eye" of sorts that allows him from time to time to subconsciously use his vectors to defend himself against attacks. Shadow also is prone to heightened sensitivity to the emotional "atmosphere" of a general area. This is somewhat connected to the "sixth eye" explained previously--he can also vaguely perceive emotions such as tension, fear, or danger in the air.

His intuition or instinct is most notably used in the form of his vectors. Subconsciously, they can and will be used to respond to immediate danger in a variety of ways, most commonly by defending Shadow against attacks if possible. Shadow himself only has a degree of control over this--most of the time it will seem as if his vectors will act on their own accord to protect Shadow, but in reality it is all a subconscious defensive response. If the threat in question is too immediate or great to address, this mechanism can also be used to attack viciously.

His Mind Component is highly resistant if not immune to psionic effects. Telepathy and similar means of passive communication are not affected, but potentially-disruptive effects like memetic agents, infohazards or psionic manipulation are either highly resisted or completely nullified, depending on the effect in question. Paradoxically, this extends to his physical body and immune system as a sort of "Mind Over Matter" effect. He is notably unable to contract illnesses due to this shielding, and is even immune to magically-engineered viruses (as shown in Forsaken Malign and Cult of Ustream). Similarly, poisons and the like have a drastically reduced effect on him; their onset of symptoms are minimized to be essentially harmless before vanishing altogether.

Special Powers

Soul Phantasms

• Vectors: Vectors are the phantasmal limbs of psychokinetic nature that the Diclonius in question can wield and manipulate. It is their signature ability, or rather, Soul Phantasm. Shadow's vectors have a maximum effective range of 7 meters, and he can also manifest a maximum of 10 of them. At the current point in Cult of Ustream canon, Shadow's control over his vectors is fairly basic. He has the ability to reshape the vectors into the shape of a blade, but has to concentrate in order to form a more "defined" shape with them. Shadow can only control 5 vectors at a time, although he could potentially release a maximum of 7. Shadow can also turn his vectors into a pseudo-intangible state at most, but full intangibility is something he has yet to master.

Domains

• Boundlessness

Possessions

• Voidcore: (Cult of Ustream-only) Shadow was given a blue-hued, dipyramidal jewel known as a Voidcore by the Voidwalker, Careodry. Originally, the jewel was given to Shadow for the purposes of communication between himself and Careodry during the events of the Voidwalker's "game" involving an alternate reality. He was allowed to keep it even after the occurrence of a glitch that caused the timeline in which the game was set to collapse, and the subsequent intervention by the Soul Harvesters. Shadow has used it approximately twice in order to contact Careodry following the alternate reality incident. Despite its infrequent usage, Shadow keeps it on his person at all times, as it is the only way he can contact Careodry. It has already been stolen from his possession once in a minor incident when the Cult visited Nienarcl.

Combat

Presently, Shadow is a fairly defensive-minded combatant, and is very reactionary in nature. He is still largely inexperienced, so attacking preemptively or otherwise engaging an opponent to open the battle is out of the question, unless there is a critical situation. Shadow can use his vectors to defend himself to the best of his abilities, simultaneously gauging the strength of his opponent's attacks to see if he can retaliate in some form. Due to this, his maneuvers are also largely evasive--he will use vectors for mobility as means to gain distance from the opponent or evade attacks, but rarely to approach said opponent and perform an attack of his own.

Relationships

Cult of Ustream

Cult of Ustream

Shadow's relationship with the Cult of Ustream as a collective is pretty friendly. He feels no enmity whatsoever towards the current Cultists (Lord X-Giga-X not considered because of his defection), and although there are still a handful of members whom he can only consider as "acquaintances", he is overall on friendly--or at least neutral--terms with everyone.

• Alexander "CrazE" Knight:
• Espira Xirro:
• Fricai:
• Jason Shaver:
• Pricilla "Starr" Starkey:
• Valerie Knight:

Organization G-X

• Lord X-Giga-X:

Others

• Careodry:
• Ziolang Hirasu:

Trivia

• Shadow's personality at the beginning of the "reboot" of the Cult of Ustream canon was decided on a complete whim. This shift in personality ultimately led to a complete change in the character respective to the corresponding "oldcanon" version.
• In the Alter Timeline, Shadow never finds out the reason behind his creation nor the purpose of the GARNET Research Facility.