Shadows
"Unfortunately, there is no doubt about the fact that man is, as a whole, less good than he imagines himself or wants to be. Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is."
- --Carl Jung
What words embody the archetype of the Shadow to you, if you were to think about it? As Nurse Edogawa puts it within his lecture series on Jungian Psychology, the Shadow conjures the image of a 'creepy, unfamiliar person.'
The Jungian archetype of the Shadow thus represents an undesirable element within someone's psyche and the Collective Unconscious as a whole. Shadows are an extremely important element of the setting here on Velvet Room MUSH. A certain understanding of this facet is required if one is to play here at all.
What Is Your Shadow?
A Shadow is an intrinsic part of every human's personal psyche on Velvet Room MUSH. Children by and large don't develop a Shadow until their early adolescence, though some do sooner depending on their life's circumstances.
Your Shadow is your psyche's front line for interfacing with the supernatural of the Collective Unconsciousness. We're all a part of it, but we can't necessarily feel that we are. The Shadow weathers the storm for you as your filter for 'who you don't desire to be' in your subconscious mind to keep your ego intact against negative elements from the Collective Unconscious.
Without that Shadow, our conscious mind would undergo a slow cascade collapse as it's exposed to more and more undesirable negatives from the vast sea that is the Collective Unconscious. It's too dangerous a place to not have that filter protecting us. What's more, once your Shadow is gone, it's gone for good.
Your Shadow as that filter for the Collective Unconscious holds a vast suppressed power that each person has in themselves: a concept of the 'evil' that we deny about ourselves. What is that 'evil'? Far from what we might consider 'objective' moral good or evil, it is the opposite of what we consider a good quality about ourselves. We might consider ourselves a loyal friend to others; our Shadow might then have the quality of being a manipulator, using the people we care about for self-gratification alone. If in our day-to-day lives we think that we show fairness and integrity in our judgment, our Shadow might show a hypocritical bias in how it regards others.
However, the truth is often much more complicated, and contradictory. The Creepy Other or the 'antithesis' is still in fact to some degree 'us' unfiltered by our conscious bias. Everyone desires to be the hero of the story. But, the reality is a little different. It's not of course that we're in fact villains, it is that our consciousness to some degree suppresses our nature in favor of something we consider as more presentable to those around us.
Most people fortunately do not ever have to look this side of ourselves in the eye, but what is clear is that the more incongruity between ourselves in real life and our Shadow, the more difficult it is for our Shadow to be controlled by our conscious self. It is only by being closer to our 'true mind' that the suppressed power of the Shadow can become ours.
What Happens When Your Shadow Comes Out?
Mostly bad things. If your Shadow is coming out, it is because one of the Guides has taken a special interest in your narrative or because you're in a supernatural realm that's causing it to externalize.
Either way, when your Shadow is externalized, it does not solely reflect the 'you' that you do not wish to be, but the Guide that's bringing forth your Shadow or the realm that you're a part of.
Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos, may for example offer forth the 'Worst Possible Version' of yourself--the 'Most Evil,' the 'Least Charitable'--for you to face. Yes! Sometimes even if your Shadow remains your Persona. The power of Rumors can allow some twisted things to happen.
In a realm that reflects the perception of the public, you may instead face a version of yourself that's only mostly the 'you' that you don't wish to be, and the rest is a version of yourself that's how other people see you.
The details are so context dependent from each person's Ordeal to the next, but the game is rigged against you. You will reject that side of yourself, and you will have to fight it--or those who are with you will have to fight it for you.
The catharsis of that fight is what allows you to have the chance to understand more of yourself and gives you a chance at acceptance of your Shadow after, but it is hardly guaranteed.
If one of the Guides is behind this externalization of your Shadow, your Shadow may be wielding a Persona, especially if you have already awakened your powers as a Persona User. Typically this Persona is the 'Worst Possible Version' of your Persona, but sometimes it can possess a different form entirely.
What about Other Shadows?
The Collective Unconscious is full of Shadows that are not attached to people, but are created by people. The fears and anxieties of people resonate with a mechanism deep within the Collective Unconscious and create Shadows that are associated with the Arcana.
The why and how is beyond the scope of this discussion, but Shadows are not only created by human fears and anxieties but are also drawn to them. Shadows inevitably end up on the shallowest layers of the Collective Unconscious.
It cannot be stressed enough, that people create these Shadows does not mean they are attached to people. Enemy shadows that are not tied to specific people as their shadow will not harm humans when they are killed.
Mindless Shadows
Mindless Shadows are masked horrors that are found primarily during the Dark Hour worldwide. When the Dark Hour ends, the Shadows vanish. When it starts anew, they pick up again right where they left off. There are nests of these Shadows all over the world, but Tartarus is the largest, and has the greatest pull on Shadows all over.
You cannot bargain, reason, or communicate with mindless Shadows. They only have one desire: to devour your Shadow. They're a bit like zombies in that way. If this occurs, then you will inevitably be afflicted with Apathy Syndrome.
People afflicted with Apathy Syndrome do not perish from it because their Shadow was not killed. (They may instead perish from starvation or the elements due to not eating or finding shelter, but that's a side effect rather than the cause.) Instead, it has become a part of another Shadow. Defeating that Shadow may cause the person to recover, but not always. If you do come back from Apathy Syndrome, you are certainly one of the lucky ones.
Instances where people hear voices or are influenced by Mindless Shadows may appear to undermine the idea that they are truly mindless, or cannot be communicated with. However, these are the Shadows acting upon parts of your psyche with their special abilities, and your psyche 'reacting' with completely crafting the appropriate words that would ensnare you on it's own. It should be thought of more as a predator adaptation rather than a truly sapient mind. Nearly all characters on the grid are unlikely to understand this.
The Kirijo Group has subdivided Mindless Shadows, categorizing them by the Arcana Number they're associated with, but taxonomy is for the most part, only necessary to speculate upon the abilities a Mindless Shadow might have.
Mindless Shadows, when defeated, have a chance for Shuffle Time to occur, and nearly always drop currency or other items. The Collective Unconscious accepts that defeating monsters should carry rewards.
Metaverse Shadows
Within the Metaverse, another type of Shadow will be found. Within Mementos, they're twisted shambling behemoths, and within a Palace, they take a shape appropriate to the theme of the Palace's Ruler so as to represent a minion under their control.
Antagonize them--and sometimes "antagonize" means "get too close"--and they will act with greater purpose than mindless Shadows by pursuing you and, in the case of a Palace, alerting more Shadows to your presence. However, if you are able to ambush them and tear off their mask, it will temporarily stun them.
Upon entering battle, Metaverse Shadows will transform into the archetypes of Demons throughout the Collective Unconscious. Because they are taking the form of Demons, they can be negotiated with or intimidated at this point. However, it is important to note that these Shadows are not individuals and aren't truly sentient. Why Metaverse Shadows act like this as opposed to mindless Shadows is unknown at this time.
Mind you, despite taking on Demonic forms, Metaverse Shadows cannot form pacts under any circumstances. They're incapable of doing so.
It might then be easy to mistake these Shadows as Demons, save that Wild Cards are entirely able to take them on as their Personas if negotiation is successful. They can't do that with true Demons, and so reveal for a certainty that they are indeed just Shadows.
Shuffle Time is able to occur from Metaverse Shadows. You can attempt to spread Rumors through Metaverse Shadows, and they'll even agree, but once they leave, they just won't.
Legionnaires
A third, mysterious subset of Shadows that are only found within Kingdoms. Legionnaires appear in set, rigid forms according to an individual Kingdom, and are unified to the narrative of its Sovereign. Legionnaires as a result do not change their forms, and often only use simple attacks.
As they're often unified as rank-and-file soldiers, magic is far more rare, but one should not underestimate their strength, as some of them are quite strong, or their numbers. While negotiation or interrogation is possible, Legionnaires' identities almost wholly surround the Sovereign they serve and are unlikely to cooperate without incentive or outright deceit.
Unlike other Shadows, Shuffle Time does not occur, but as they dissolve they often leave behind cognitive objects of value.
Homunculus
Have you ever had the feeling that something in fact, is out to get you? Or perhaps something has changed in a person you thought you knew, and suddenly they're not the same person anymore. Not simply another reflection of your Shadow, the Homunculus is an active invasion by a cognitive predator, attempting to subvert your psyche to it's own purposes.
The Homunculus is found only within certain Ateliers and the presence of one will inevitably result in the person being forever replaced, unless it is dealt with. For a far more detailed discussion, see: Homunculus
Negotiation is not possible with a Homunculus in the traditional sense. It is the predator, and you are the prey. You can't exactly get it to depart from what it's doing so simply.
Humors
A strange form of Shadows that dwell within the Ateliers and defend them against intrusion, serving as the 'immune system' of sorts for a part the psyche and one's sense of self. Unfortunately, despite their presence, it is possible for a Homunculus to still form and take over in certain circumstances. Negotiation is possible with Humors. For more on the specifics and the nature of the Humors, see: The Humors