Shadowlack



Shadowlack, founded in 2002, is a Science Fantasy Play By Post Game and World Building project. Game-play focuses around a fictional planet called Ramath-lehi, which is home to a variety of alien races. The game itself borrows from many fantasy and science fiction elements. As a result, it is home to many, many tropes.

The site may be found here.

Not to be confused with Shadowjack.


 * Aborted Arc: The byproduct of a person dropping out of a thread and leaving their co-writers hanging, resulting in an unresolved plot.
 * Adventure-Friendly World: If you want something to happen, you can usually make it so.
 * Alien Sky: Ramath-lehi has three moons (Xabu, Cussla and Lelres).
 * Alternative Calendar: The planet Ramath-lehi has its own names for days and seasons (Mia, Dyo, Tria, & Tessera).
 * Artificial Gravity: Present on space-faring ships and space stations.
 * Artificial Limbs: We have them.
 * A Wizard Did It: Used whenever something doesn't seem to make sense. It's all magic.
 * Big Bad: The Rapine.
 * Bioluminescence Is Cool: Many lifeforms are bioluminescent on Ramath-lehi.
 * Whis, tiny pull-ball insects that glow at night
 * Grazieliak, creepy-ass large frog things that lure in victims by glowing
 * Punzkin, vegetables that are often used for temporary carvings because their innards glow
 * Call a Rabbit a Smeerp: Some Ramathian wildlife are essentially Earth wildlife with different names. (But not all of them.)
 * Call Back: It is not uncommon for characters to relive, or refer to past events in present day.
 * Common Tongue: All characters can speak Common. Only some can speak the upper class Ramathian language.
 * Crapsack World: It's generally not a good idea to trust everyone that you meet, specially if you're venturing alone in Bhim.
 * Dark Is Not Evil/Light Is Not Good: Two of the Feydragon subtypes are the demonic-looking Myshemd and the angelic-looking Azetsum. True to these tropes, there are Myshemd who are nice and Azetsum who are utter bastards.
 * Deface of the Moon: The planet's smallest moon, Lelres, was partially destroyed and defaced by early Ramathian experiments.
 * Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Kytlekh, The Nothing, has an insulting nickname: "Kyttle". (It's in the lexicon.)
 * Dying Race: The Anubi.
 * Elemental Embodiment: Possible with a little help from Fromina.
 * Gritskull; water/earth dragons that wander the desert.
 * Totobenki; ice elementals that live for all of a week.
 * Emotion Control: Characters with skills in empathy can highly influence how others around them are feeling.
 * Fantastic Racism: Anubi halfling? Filth! The Lukuo race, which is a race that has been mutated by magic, is also often picked upon.
 * Faster-Than-Light Travel: Somehow this just works.
 * Fish People: The Aquabats.
 * Floating Continent: It's a bird, it's a plane... no, it's just Ajita.
 * Gender Bender: Individuals belonging to the Aquabat race are able to change genders at will.
 * Global Currency: Khasi, which is used by all of Ramath-lehi's colonies.
 * Healing Hands: Experienced healers can use magic in order to heal your gaping wounds.
 * Immortality: All characters possess the potential to be immortal, however the vast majority do not live long past 120 years.
 * The Undead: If your character can resist the pull of Fronima indefinitely.
 * Body Surf: In regards to those afflicted with vampirism.
 * Life Drinker: If your character makes it into the spirit world, Fronima.
 * Insignificant Little Blue Planet: It is so insignificant that it doesn't exist.
 * Lizard Folk: The Takula.
 * Magical Database: PRIMUS.
 * Mecha Game: Menlo is an in-universe example.
 * Mega Corp: The Uajeul Suksekul Russuley (USR) own and maintains a lot of the technology on Ramath-lehi, including the largest information database (PRIMUS).
 * Multicultural Alien Planet: Ramath-lehi, natch.
 * Mysterious Employer: No one seems to know who exactly is running the Council of Thirteen anymore.
 * Never Found the Body: Although assumed deceased, the body of Karryasa Grader (a former planetary ruler) was never found. It's assumed that her body was destroyed in a magic collision, however there are many rumours and alleged sightings.
 * Oh My Gods: Well, Ramath-lehi does have its own deities; this trope's practically inevitable. A particularly popular example is "Fronna" (short version of "Fromina").
 * Older Than They Look: Ramathians do not age in the same manner than humans do; as a result, many are a lot older than they look.
 * One Steve Limit: Enforced due to how the character profile URLs are handled. Essentially, the character's first name is at the end of the URL, so each one needs to be unique. (In theory it'd be possible to get around this through creative use of nicknames.)
 * Only One Name: Surnames are not required for player characters. Guess what happens as a result.
 * Our Vampires Are Different: Vampirism's a magical disease that puts the victim's soul in a sort of limbo; it's possible to become a vampire through the bite or through being born one. Ramathian vampires have reflections, can control their shadows, and have a Healing Factor that renders healing magic useless (if not outright harmful). They aren't too badly affected by the sunlight... unless they weak or they're born as vampires. And they can develop - and pass on - unique allergies to plants or food. Makes one wonder what would happen if a vampire was allergic to grass...
 * Psychic Powers: Pyrokinesis, Electrokinesis, Illusion, Dream Weaving, Precognition, etc.
 * Shout-Out:
 * The mythos surrounding legendary hero Nuji Kaztohaat was inspired by Arthurian and Norse Mythology. The latter is especially obvious with Kaztohaat's hammer of thunder.
 * Now, who could the Anubi have possibly been named after? (Hint: It was Anubis.)
 * Squishy Wizard: The Feydragons are an entire race of these, though it's possible to... not play this straight, to put it briefly.
 * Stealth Pun: There's a franchise of cafés called Emshadjyomp. That name translates to "in the ground".
 * Stronger with Age: All Ramathians, if they can manage to survive.
 * Swamps Are Evil: You're unlikely to find anything good in the swamplands on Ramath-lehi.
 * Telepathy: All characters can speak to each other via telepathy.
 * The Government: For some strange reason, no one seems to like the government on Ramath-lehi. Was it something that they did?
 * Theme Naming: Each of Ajita's cities has a name taken from an Estonian-English dictionary. Similarly, all of the proposed city names for Trilok have a vaguely Germanic/Nordic sound (thus far).
 * Underwater City: Aurius is a small country that exists entirely underwater.
 * Wretched Hive: Bhim, all the way. It even has a swamp.

Individual character tropes:

 * Alliterative Name: Vythe Vidallyn.
 * Forgets to Eat: Jaceen Lapices routinely forgets to eat while she's reading.
 * Loners Are Freaks: Generally not the people who you want to run into, but when you do, you know why they travel alone.
 * Teolun Heulm, would rather weave your dreams into nightmare than share a cup of coffee.
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Kalum Phalanx (a likely serial killer).
 * Only Known by Their Nickname:
 * Kjoz, a popular NPC who is known for writing erotica.
 * Sakenal, the stage name of the frontman and lead vocalist of the Feydragon rock band, Chaos Theory.
 * Swampland Shriker, a monster that lurks in the swamplands in Bhim.
 * Pungeon Master: Marei Kynigos. (Her player isn't shy about using puns, either.)
 * Poisonous Person: While not entirely common knowledge, the character possesses some deadly poison that is capable of stopping hearts.
 * Double Standard Rape (Male on Male): Except that it really, really isn't. Strongly averted with Attrius Infernus, a rape survivor.