Shadows House Lore

1. #1Shadow

   Keys: Shadow, Masters, Family Members

   Shadows are the nobles living in the Shadows House and masters of the living dolls. A shadow is completely black and is covered in soot. Their body is exactly the same shape as that of their living doll, though their voice is different. Shadows do have internal organs and bone structure similar to humans and have all the same systems as them, seen as they can cry, bleed, etc.

   Each shadow wears fancy clothing fitting for nobles as well as to differentiate their appearances. At night, the shadows change into nightwear which have the same appearance specific to gender, as they don't have to be differentiated at night. Female shadows wear a frilly, light pink nightgown, slippers, and a nightcap with flower decorations on the sides of the head. Male shadows have a light green nightgown, slippers, and a floppy nightcap.

   Shadows emit soot from their heads when they experience negative emotions. The stronger the emotion, the more soot is emitted. Individuals with higher soot capacities can create soot stalactites on ceilings with their soot when they lose control of their emotions.

   Another characteristic among shadows is that they all refer to themselves in the third person.

   Each shadow pocesses a unique Soot Power, allowing them to use and control their soot to perform certain special abilities, such as materialising wings or changing their voice on command.

   The shadows are to remain in their personal rooms until the Debut. During this time, they are supposed to come in contact with their human - now referred to as a living doll, to acquire a personality and a personal bond, which will lead to a successful Fusion once the shadow becomes an adult. The shadows will only interact with their living doll, being influenced by their beliefs and knowledge they bring from outside the room to form their own. One of the most important parts of this stage is the "contact", also known as the goodnight kiss, which is performed by a living doll to solidify the bond between them and their master.

2. #2Living Doll

   Keys: Servant, Doll

   Living Dolls are personal servants that are assigned to an individual member of the Shadows House. They are "built" in the image of a human because they have faces that resemble the members of the Shadows House, as their faces can’t be seen, making them hard to distinguish, Living Dolls are their faces' replacement.

   Living Dolls are expected to maintain their master's room at all times as it's constantly dirtied by soot emission. After a period of time they'll be called to participate in a grand cleaning, this being their first time outside their rooms. From this point forward their expectations broaden and they will be assigned to a team to work with. If their bodies are too dirtied with soot to clean themselves properly, they use the desooting rooms which uses high powered air to blast away the soot.

   Their lifestyles are also very different from their master's, with small rooms that have coffin-like beds. They only have few clothes, a small desk, and papers that are full of instructions and information stuck on the walls. They always eat dry and hard bread that is delivered by Dolls whose faces can't be seen, also known as Faceless Dolls.

3. #3Shadows Family's Teachings

   Keys: Shadow, Guidelines, Book, Teachings

   The Shadows Family's Teachings is a book created for the shadows for them to learn about the rules of the Shadows House. Here are some of the texts located in the book.

   • The Shadows House is a wonderful family of noblemen who are loved by the people. Let us be prideful as an aristocrat of the Shadows Family.
   • “Living Dolls” are your tools, who will take care of you and act as your “face.” Let us master using our “living dolls.” This is also connected to raising your personal value as well.
   • Shadows who haven’t passed the “Debut” can’t leave their rooms of their own volition.
   • Shadows name the “living dolls.” A “living doll’s” name does not matter. Therefore, let us give them a name that is easy to remember. For example… your nickname, something close to your name, or something simple.
   • “Scorches”: Malicious lumps that come from soot. They occur when cleaning is neglected.
4. #4Soot

   Keys: Soot · Secondary: Shadow

   Soot is a substance created by Shadows when they feel negative emotions or use their soot power. It can have many properties.

   When left alone for too long (roughly 2 days), soot will eventually clump together and form into Scorches, malicious living soot, who will seek out and attack Dolls, leading to soot sickness.

   In order to prevent Scorches from forming, soot can be treated with heat, hardening it. This creates the Manor's key product, the Soot Coal. It is very light, noted by a immigrant when he lifted a whole bucket full of it. It works similarily to normal charcoal where it is burnt for fuel to cook or work with, releasing soot into the air. It is clean enough for people to regularly inhale day to day with no ill effects but will slowly dull the minds of them, making them docile and easy to manipulate.

5. #5Soot Sickness

   Keys: Soot Sickness

   When under soot sickness, Dolls will become unresponsive, move strangely, and are incapable of proper speech. Their eyes also turn black as a result. The actions of Dolls under the illness appears to be random as Rosemary only bumped into walls harmlessly, yet during the second major Phantom Incident, affected Dolls turned violent, attacking fellow Dolls. Affected Dolls will have a vague memory of events when ill.

6. #6Debut

   Keys: Test, Debut

   After a shadow and a living doll get closer, they will take a test to see how well the shadow and face match. These tests normally happen in a group, presumably five pairs, where it is expected that at least one pair fails. After they debut, shadows can leave their room and interact with others. They must follow a schedule of activities and also take part in some hobby (gardening, dancing, etc.). A debuted shadow gains more privileges, as they can apply for new furniture, wallpapers, perfumes, or clothing.

7. #7Morph

   Keys: Shadow, juvenile

   The shadows start their life as a morph. The morphs are brought into the mansion along with the selected human children and are led into the "morph room". Here, they're expected to select a human to mimic, or morph into the form of, shifting its appearance to resemble a fully shadowed copy of the human.

   When a pair is formed, they are led out of the room and are given to a teacher shadow, who oversees the next step of mimicry - copying behavior and abilities of a human - like reading and writing, clothing oneself, etc. Once the mimicking process is complete and the Shadow is ready to be a functioning individual, they are let out of the classroom and transported into their personal room.

   In order for Shadows to retain their humanlike intelligence after the initial contact as Morphs, they must be in regular contact with their Doll. It's also necessary to keep their physical form from decaying and to keep it consistent with the human they've copied.

8. #8Rules

   Keys: Doll's Rules, Guidelines

   • Living Dolls are not allowed to dress in a Shadow's clothing.
   • Living Dolls cannot speak freely when they perform as a Shadow's face.
   • Living Dolls should not think about unnecessary things.
9. #9Doll School and Selection

   Keys: , selection, Doll

   In reality, Living Dolls are humans that were brought by the Shadow Family from the villages nearby. Serving the nobles is a high honor, for that purpose, children are to attend schools which will teach them the basics like reading, writing, cleaning, and exercising, as well as general noble activities such as dancing and etiquette.

   Top students in the school are chosen by the principal and are gathered into the Selection in front of renowned nobles to choose the best looking ones to serve the Shadows House. The chosen ones drink a cup of coffee as a signal of approval which is where the brainwashing process starts. Arriving in the manor, they pass some days isolated with Morphs who mimic their habits and continue to be served with coffee to reinforce the brainwashing and remove their memories of their past life as being a human. When a Morph shapeshifts into one of the humans in the room, they form a pair and goes to the next stage.

10. #10Phantom

    Keys: Phantom

    Phantoms are powerful scorches that can be considered a big threat due to their size and durability. They happen when a large amount of Scorches fuse together.

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