Monastery of the Shadow

Deep within the Upper Umbric Plains stands the House Monastery of the Shadow.

Underlight Current History

Opened

House Facts

Plane: Umbric Plains

Beliefs: Knowledge, Balance and Amelioration.

Knowledge...we want to know all that we can. It's power. And with that power we can achieve the other two beliefs.

Balance...We strive for balance in everything. Ourselves, the family, the dreamers, the City. The Shadow is balance itself.

Amelioration... is the act of making something better. How you do that is with Knowledge and Balance.

Last is the Shadow itself. To some it's a guiding force. It's the embodiment of what we want to become.

Role: Mystical

Prime Artifact: Heart of the Shadow

House Art: Shadow Step & Corrupt Essence

House Roster

Advisors:

Rulers: Tamarisk, Mengyao

Guardians: Seveiron

Initiates: Purple Lace, Ludakris, Stormsy, Koriania, Thunderman

House History

Beliefs & Teachings of The Monastery of the Shadow

by Cianne as penned by ~ Synteny - Guardian

The Monastery of the Shadow is a place for those who wish to improve themselves, feel wanted regardless of desires or reputation, find friends and family, and to make the city a better place for all. The Shadowkin follow the teachings of the Shadow: Balance, Knowledge, and Amelioration.

~ The Shadow Explained ~

The Shadow is a force that exists in the city. It was created when Light and Darkness touched. It keeps both from destroying the other, and maintains life and balance in the dreamstate. Just as the shadow exists because of, and works with the forces that created it and all the teachings of the Shadow; Balance, Knowledge and Amelioration work together to support each other. You cannot fully realize one of the beliefs without the others.

~The Shadow Teaches of Knowledge~

The gathering of knowledge from all and any source. The preservation of knowledge, both that which you have gathered, and that others have gathered. Destruction of knowledge is abhorrent. Also the use of knowledge is in support of Balance and Amelioration.

~The Shadow Teaches of Balance~

Balance and peace within yourself, Balance in your actions, and Balance and safety in the city. There are many ways to break down balance. The Shadow itself is a being of pure balance; Existing between Light and Dark, being of both but of neither, and yet cannot be without both.

~The Shadow Teaches of Amelioration~

The act of improvement. Always improving ourselves according to our personal goals. Supporting the improvement of friends and family according to their personal and group goals. Also, always striving to improve the state of the city around us.

Past House Roster

Ruler: Synteny

Guardians: Dreiko, Noshkapana, Tamarisk

Initiates: Apothos, Braelynn, Cianne, Maddisyn, Wishbringer, Xyn Rhade

Prayer for a return

by Coraal

~ deep within the Monastery of the Shadow, in the center of a room hidden within the maze, Coraal sits with legs akimbo. The lighting of the room has been adjusted so that arcing beams of illumination crisscross the room at interesting angles and never fully illuminate the chamber, but create a pocket of shadow in the center where he sits. The shadows work to wash out color and leave him cast in a unique array of monochromatic grays and blacks; a very startling contrast. In his hands he holds a small, wrapped bundle as he meditates. His mouth mutters soft prayers to the Shadow as his voice rises into a soft and gentle tone that echoes out through the room ~

My dear, dear friend...where have you gone? Many dreams have passed since the last time I heard your laugh, saw your smile, and felt the comfort of your company. I miss those dreams. We miss you in our dreams. The home you once knew has been reborn, made through sacrifice and struggle, and now calls out to you once again. Come home to us, dear friend...

~ as he speaks, he unwraps the bundle that contains a single nail file. A strange object, yes, but an important one. He holds the file in his hands and speaks into the shadows above him ~

I know in my Val'He that you can hear my voice, reaching out across the vastness of infinity. And in my fondest and most cherished memories I can see you smiling back at me. I can hear your voice and I still believe that you can call out my name, as I now call out yours as well...

~ he takes a breath and speaks once more, his voice echoing through the room and then far, far out beyond it ~

Sorsha...

~ as the echoes of the name ripple throughout space and time, the image of the room ripples and fades away ~

Harmonious Entry

by Belom

The Prophet appears at the gateway into the City of Underlight. His long coat as white as the hair on the top of his head. One sleeve had been purposely taken away from the long coat or perhaps the tailor had meticulously made it that way. A Plum colored sash rests on the inside of his coat, likely a token he quite normally adorned himself with.

The Prophet does not seem to make any move at all. Everything in the Courtyard of Awakening is silent so it seems. In his statuesque from, if you were not paying attention you might think he never made a move at all in the many moments he stood in that very spot. If however you had an aptitude for Insight as the Dreamseer Prophet did, perhaps you might know too just what he might be doing, just standing there.

A number of moments pass and everything would seem to be exactly the same as you might see upon your own arrival to the gateway to the City but not so for this Prophet. A slow, somewhat shrieking whisper catching his attention and he moves his focus directly to the last portal on the right hand side of the semicircle of planar and household portals which stand to greet each of us when we too arrive at the Courtyard of Awakening.

He makes his way to the Arch which holds the blanked moon above its threshold and the Prophet makes a slow move towards the portal to the chambers of the Sable Moon. The once silent portal begins to spin. The whispers he had heard were now heard as a booming voice inside his head. The Prophet had been waiting in the Courtyard of Awakening for this very message. A tear slowly made its way down his face. Then, he looked down where the crest of the Umbric Monastery once rested upon his chest time and time again. His unsleeved arm began to rise and found its way to the Prophet's cheek where it caught his tear, lest it fall.

Still standing in front of the Sable Moon's spinning portal he stared into it, tear still in hand. Was he scrying? Perhaps he was, but who could really know? He would of course! Just then, ... he made the motions that one would discern to be motions of agreement with another, this one however is unknown to every one of us. Perhaps it could have been an Elder, or perhaps some past experience that the Prophet had regaled. Nevertheless, why under The Trinities Threshold?

His focus turned outward toward the courtyard as he made his way out of the entryways into the Sable Moon's Threshold and inner chambers. He made his way past the Basin of Stars entryway, stopping briefly as an old memory of a nearly forgotten City and the Academy where the Prophet took his very first crest. A smile came across his face and yet another tear began to well up in his eyes. Unsleeved arm still holding onto one tear did rise once more to catch another.

His eyes looked over the remaining entryways to the various thresholds and chambers of the City of Underlight. He approached the Monastery's portal. With a slow stride, the Prophet made his way through the gateway to the Monastery of the Shadow. What was to happen now? For what purpose has all of this that has been written here before you come to be?

Gallery

References

• https://forums.underlight.com/viewtopic.php?p=24973#p24973