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From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

Shade Nefarious - ah, where to begin! Shade began as a simple antagonist to my main City of Heroes character, Runo, based vaguely off of a Dungeons and Dragons villain I had worked with for a long while named Zolar. As with many a villain, Shade began as nothing more than a petty thug-like character trying to gain power. Eventually, he developed into something more that I finally felt satisfied with - he may not be the most well-known, powerful or amazing character in existance, but what I think matters is he's darn fun to roleplay, and hopefully just as fun for others to roleplay with!

Raloz, the Nefarious Shade
Raloz
Player: @The Red
Origin:	Magic
Archetype:	Corruptor/Brute
Threat Level:	50 Corruptor/50 Brute
Personal Data
Real Name:	Raloz
Known Aliases:	Shade Nefarious, The Nefarious Shade
Species:	Void Demon
Age:	Estimated Thousands
Height:	7'0"
Weight:	465 lbs. (dense bone structure)
Eye Color:	Any Color
Hair Color:	Ash Grey
Biographical Data
Nationality:	Demonic
Occupation:	Co-Leader of the Delphian Circle
Place of Birth:	The Deep Abyss
Base of Operations:	None
Marital Status:	Confidential
Known Relatives:	Zolar (Brother - Unknown Status)
Known Powers
Dark Magic Mastery
Known Abilities
Demonic Super Strength, Demonic Constitution, Demonic Will
Equipment
Demon-flesh Robes, The Ruiner's Armor

[edit] Affiliations

((Feel free to add in a blank name under the appropriate section for me to edit in your character's relevance to Shade.)) The Delphian Circle: The Circle is a group that Shade works with and for, as their co-leader.

[edit] Close Relations

• Kassandrian De Luca: Possibly Shade's first friend, and one of his few true friends, Kass is a person that, when Shade accompanies her, manages to make Shade much unlike himself. Shade holds utmost respect and loyalty for Kass, and sees himself as a guardian of hers. He does what he can to protect her; those that get too close are pushed away, and those that might try to hurt her are swiftly maimed, or worse. The most simplistic fate of threats to Kass often end in missing limbs, organs or lives. Needless to say, Shade's devotion to Kass is, without question, limitless. Now that she has returned, the two run the the 'Delphian Circle' together as co-leaders. With Kass' recent pregnancy, it appears Shade has calmed his villainous and evil activities somewhat.

[edit] Known Acquaintances

• Addramalech Plaguewind: If evil had a face, it would have two halves to the same visage. Shade and Addra are often seen together in Pocket D, ridiculing those that deserve it and making rights of certain kinds of wrongs, despite their social labels as being villains and monsters. It is unknown if the two have any plots outside of that, but who knows when it comes to villains like these two?

• Skye Valentine: One of the few that Shade will openly admit to respecting, Skye has earned Shade's respect many times over. Shade will even call Skye a friend, something unusual for the demonic creature. The two have assisted eachother in many precarious situations, from helping their acquaintance, Ani Reaves, escape an evil necromancer, to defeating and fighting back the Rikti menace.

• Tarot Star: The wife of Skye Valentine and one of Shade's friends, Kassi "Tarot Star" Valentine is a fellow magic user, like Shade. Her prowess with magic impresses Shade greatly. She also helped heal Shade's wounds when he was gravely injured by an attack from the so-called "Emissary of the Outer Gods".

• Darkhail: Shade's student of whom he teaches dark magic to, Luna is a bright young girl who has quickly equaled or perhaps even surpassed Shade in power when it comes to dark magic.

[edit] Enemies and Victims

• Nathan Tilla: An old nemesis of Shade's that ended in equally-shared, evenly-distributed blows struck from either individual, it finally ended in their supposed truce. How long this may last before one gets back to plotting against the other, no one knows.

- It may be noted that Shade did eventually have a battle with Nathaniel Tilla. It seemed to be a dead tie- but thanks to Shade's demonic strengths and stamina, Shade outlasted Nathaniel in the battle by a marginal timespan, and managed to rake out Tilla's eye, ending the battle with his nemesis in pain.

• Cerebremancer: Kayliss, a long-time, powerful enemy of Shade's, it was finally ended in a dramatic battle involving Nathaniel Tilla and a few other members of the Delphian Circle. Kayliss held an amulet containing an extremely powerful lich, which also served as its phylactery, and granted Kayliss incrediblep ower.

Tricking Kayliss into coming to meet him in Port Oakes, he attempted to backstab her. The attempt failed, and Kayliss, with the upper hand, nearly defeated Shade. Shade acted as though he were gravely injured, faking an appearance of being near-death, as he called of the members of the Circle; including Nathaniel Tilla, Ghost Scream and Greymace. When Nathan arrived, he pulled out a gun and aimed at Shade, but Shade feigned weakness and desperation, crying out for Nathan to shoot Kayliss' amulet. His reasoning behind this was a false claim that the amulet possessed her into attacking and nearly killing Shade. Shade continued to shout for Nathan to shoot the amulet; he did. Once Nathan blew away the amulet, Shade revealed his less-than-weak state of being, and destroyed Kayliss with a powerful spell. Shade, to the surprise of Ghost and Grey, turned on Nathan- gripping him by the throat and tossing him down a flight of stairs. The badly-beaten Nate was then caught in the explosion of a spell from Shade. Shade escaped the scene. Later on, Shade managed to recover the broken body of Kayliss, and used a magic spell to turn her into a demonic serveling, a "Wretched": Scarsaint, Shade's personal servant. Shade eventually put his 'experimental prototype' away, sealing her back to where she had gone when the body died. No one currently knows what has happened to Kayliss' spirit.

• Lucid Tyr: An old-time enemy of Shade's, Tyr is one of the few to ever make long-sustained, lasting damage on Shade in a battle. Shade could be seen for a couple of weeks at one point in time, looking rather pathetic due to the damage sustained from Tyr's attacks.

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[edit] Abilities

Shade's abilities, whilst limited compared to some others, are often considered horrifying to behold. Soulless creatures afflicted by the Dark Mastery spells are often taken down instead by its more physical aspects. Many foes are blinded by the darkness, at least partially.

[edit] Dark Magic Mastery

• Midnight Wrath (Dark Blast): A beam of dark energy launches from Shade's palm, attacking the victim's soul directly with a feeling of emotional pain.
• Soul Flayer (Gloom): This eats away at the victim's soul, causing immense physical pain.
• Shadow Shot (Moonbeam): A huge wave of dark energy blasts the victim, possibly blowing a 'hole' in their soul that can be difficult to repair.
• Dead Souls (Dark Pit) A field of dead souls appears beneath the feet of all foes within the targeted enemies. These horrors manipulate the psyche of all Shade's enemies, disorienting them.
• Twilight Tendrils (Tenebrous Tentacles): A swarm of tendrils extend and launch from Shade's hands and arms, detaching themselves to wrap around the enemy.
• Shadow Obliteration (Nightfall): A volley of dark magic orbs create an impact against the victim, pelting them with emotional pain.
• Soul Swarm (Torrent): A wave of souls attacks the enemy, blowing them back.
• Soul Grasp (Life Drain): Shade rips out a portion of an enemy's magic or soul, or even blood, healing himself while damaging them.
• Shadow Nova (Blackstar): All of the pent-up souls and dark or evil magic within Shade are unleashed in a brilliant explosion of negative energy.

[edit] Dark Miasma Mastery

• Soul Extraction (Twilight Grasp): Similar to Soul Grasp, Shade rips a portion of the enemy's energy out of them, be it blood, magic or life. He then transforms this into healing energies for he and his allies.
• Soul Field (Tar Patch): A field of dead souls appears beneath the feet of Shade's foes, willing away the enemy's resistances.
• Twilight Midnight (Darkest Night): A cover of dark magic wraps around an enemy. They and all nearby alies of this victim are sunken into a horrible depression.
• Spirit Manipulation (Howling Twilight): Shade manipulates any soul energy remaining in the dead, dying or incapacitated, restoring them.
• Cover of Twilight (Shadow Fall): Shade forces the souls of the dead to protect him.
• The Eye of the Void (Fearsome Stare): A glimpse into the Void of the Deep Abyss is a terrifying thing, indeed. From Shade's eyes to the eyes of his victims, this mere glance will terrify most.
• Soul Lockdown (Petrifying Gaze): A single target is victimized by a Soul Lockdown, forcing them to be unable to do anything.
• Into the Void (Black Hole): Momentarily, the victims of this spell is launched Into the Void.
• Wretched Servant (Dark Servant): Shade creates a servant from a fallen foe or collected soul.

[edit] Black Lightning Mastery

"Black Lightning" is a spell art Shade created himself. Sort of. Shade studied Scirocco and the Mu for several years, until he decided to serve the Mu with Scirocco as his patron. Waiting years more for the precise moment to make his move- in a surprising turn of events- Shade slew a revered master of Mu power and stole his abilities for himself. For the next few months, Shade devised a way to corrupt the power he stole, using demonic influence to warp and mutate it into an entirely new art. Shade can now use two abilities: the Black Lightning Blast, and the Charged Orb.

• Black Lightning Blast (Mu Lightning): Shade's bio-electric energy coils in magic form down his arm and to his hand, fired simply by pointing his palm at the target. He can choose to charge this coil or fire it immediately. Without too much charging, the power is like getting hit by a bolt of lightning- fully charged, disintegration has been witnessed.
• Charged Orb (Ball Lightning): Shade's bio-electric energy forms into a ball in his hand, growing in size over time. He can toss the ball into an enemy. They and any nearby targets will be struck with this orb of Black Lightning.

[edit] Innate and Natural Abilities

• Demonic Super Strength: Shade's super strength is above that of even some superhuman strength. Getting hit by Shade is similar to getting hit by a blunt tank shell without it exploding. His claws only add to the damage that he can do with every strike.
• Demonic Constitution: Shade is able to shrug off almost any form of damage. Although it will still injure him (in example, a bullet can tear into or through him), his resistances prevent him from feeling too much pain. For that matter, Shade is masochistic as well as sadistic, and can even derive a sick pleasure from intense pain.
• Consumption: Anything Shade can consume for sustenance, he can use to fuel his magic, or his regeneration. The more 'fuel' he has within, the more he can do.
• Regeneration: Shade has high-scale regenerative abilities. He is able to regenerate quickly. The larger or more severe the wound, though, the longer and more pre-consumed sustenance it takes for him to regenerate it.
• Supernatural Will: Shade's mental resistances are very high, and he has also warded himself with spells to help aid against mental intrusion and control.
• Polymorphic Form: Shade can change a lot of properties of his body, from the barbs on his tail, to the claws on his hands (Demonic Rending ability), to the shape of his horns, as well as the color of his eyes. There are many mutable properties on Shade's body.
• Swordplay: Shade is also an excellent swordsman. From daggers, short swords and long swords to broadswords to claymores, zweihanden and other great swords, he has a very elegant and graceful fighting style compared to his violent claw and hand-to-hand combat.

[edit] History, Personality, Physiology and Appearance

[edit] History and Origin

Originally not of this world, Shade Nefarious, or as per his real name, "Raloz", was born like most any other creature... and like most any other monster, he became what he is today. In his world, ours is an alternate reality to the inhabitants, and known only as 'Material Earth'. His own world is known as Felterran, a world overrun by magical creatures.

[edit] Personality

Although not overly talkative, most would consider Shade to excel in social conversations, situations and confrontations. He is a fearmongerer, and will use threats as a last-resort to try to ensure submission or retreat of his foes. Lastly, he is not afraid to resort to extreme and sometimes unnecessary violence to solve any problems and issues. Shade is also a natural-born leader; alhough one wouldn't expect much out of him as a tactician, strategist or commander, Shade is known for all of the above. He is capable of employing these aspects of leadership into one unified ability, in the form of a calm battlefield presence. Still, he holds a motto: "Take no prisoners, unless it benefits you." Anyone he defeats in the battlefield, he does his best to ensure that they never return, often resulting in attempts to kill or otherwise permanently maim and cripple his opponent. He is a cruel, malevolent creature with only darkness surrounding evey intent.

[edit] Physiology

Shade seems to be built for war, as almost every aspect of his body is like weaponry, or made for combat.

• Shade can create tentacles and tendrils on and from his body; they can become almost any length and any number on him.
• Shade has claws on his hands as well as three per feet, instead of toes, not unlike an animal's.
• His eyes glow supernaturally. It is assumed this allows him subsequent supernatural sights. It is apparent that he can see into the Astral and other such planes of existance besides our own; other than that, his sight is like a human's, if not slightly enhanced.
• When seen with his wings, it can be noted that the alar phalanges end in claws, whilst the wing tips both end in blade-like attachments.
• Shade does not get ill from eating raw meat like a human (or even some animals) might. It is rumored that, where his appendix would or should be, there is a different kind of organ that specifically processes the things he eats and drains (flesh, blood, and magic), and even transforms souls into a sustenance.
• Shade's immunity system is incredibly resistant to things like poison, disease, infection or other natural illnesses. Still, he is not immune, but they tend to affect him less severely, for a lessened length of time. Magic-based illnesses tend to affect him more severely.
• Shade's tail is over three feet long, and is capable of growing barbs along the length. It thins down the length, and ends in a spade. The barbs cannot be launched as projectile weapons. As well, the toxicity, if any, of Shade's tail-barbs is unknown.
• Shade's saliva tends to be intoxicating in large amounts. In other words, when he bites someone, a large amount of concentrated toxin will transfer from his fangs and mouth. This can have various effects, depending on the individual. Some witnessed reactions include cellular necrosis, a state of sleep, paralyzation or even death. Shade can control how much, if any toxin/venom is transferred to the victim.
• Shade does not sleep; however, he can enter a sleep-like state known as Reverie, in which he can relax enough to heal wounds and gather his focus. It is like a form of supernatural meditation.
• Shade, being polymorphic, can mutate his hands into giant, demonic claws.

[edit] Powers, Diet and Consumption

Shade's magic power and innate demonic abilities (strength, constitution, agility and will) heavily rely on how much he has consumed that day, be it blood, flesh, magic or souls. Shade requires at least two whole humans to sustain himself throughout an entire day, if he resorts to consuming his favored sustenance: flesh and blood. He can consume up to five whole 'average'-proportioned humans per twelve hours. Shade is capable of consuming nearly anything, through either natural or magical means. He has an innate ability to transform magic and souls into palatable, digestible 'food' sources, using them to sustain himself.

[edit] Appearance

Tall and appearing as physically powerful, Shade is often seen in his typical attire of almost gothic demonflesh robes. The robes themselves seem all too big for Shade, making him seem all that much larger than he really is. That isn't too say the demon is not rather large, as he stands at a precise seven feet tall and is closing on five hundred pounds. Two magnificent horns jut from his skull, curved slightly - as if perfect for running through something, or someone. Wicked claws extend from his fingertips, and a thick, trunklike tail wavers behind him at any time it is not coiled behind his waist. His eyes glow coolly, neutrally considering any and all within the vicinity. His posture is always subtly, smoothly precarious, as if he were to be ready for anything at any moment. Yet, he comes off as calm and collected at almost all times, even when actually on edge or tense. His physical features are often finely chiseled, as if crafted by a careful hand trying to perfect a statue. As thus, Shade is perfectly symmetrical and appears as flawless, bearing no scars nor blemishes of any sort. He is what many would consider stunningly handsome, despite his potentially intimidating glowing eyes, fangs, and curved, pointed ears.

[edit] Voice

Shade has a heavy "noble" accent, and his voice itself sounds ghastly, with a hollow tinge to it; however, he manages to stay loud and clear when speaking, and when he wishes to be heard, he is oftentimes heard. He is capable of making hellish sounds, from roars to growls. They are quite animal-like.

[edit] Powers

Shade is a natural adept at dark magic and dark-based supernatural abilities, thanks to his being a Void Demon.

[edit] Dark Magic

Shade's ability to wield powerful Dark Magic can render many foes weak. Although it is not particularly destructive, Shade's Dark Magic is still capable of killing foes through weakening or stealing their soul or spirit, and soulless creatures can be defeated with enough force from the magic attacks.

[edit] Dark Miasma

Further rendering foes into a weakened state, Shade's Dark Miasma mastery comes into use against foes that are particularly more powerful than Shade.

[edit] Auxillary Spells

Shade's powers are not limited to Dark Mastery alone. Although not as well-versed in most other forms of magic, it is noteable that Shade can cast lightning magic proficiently enough, which puzzles some, as even Void Demon mages tend to stick to more chaotic forms of magic such as fire magic.

[edit] Demonic Strength

Shade is naturally much, much stronger than any non-superpowered human, and even some humans with superpowers. If his claws are not enough, it has been witnessed that Shade can lift several-ton vehicles, crush objects made of titanium and grind diamonds to dust, and even mutilate or dismember most foes with relative ease.

[edit] Weaknesses and Limitations

Shade keeps his weaknesses as closely-guarded secrets, although some foes know them well. Some that may be focused on include Shade's sensitivity to loud noises. He must concentrate to block out any overly-loud sounds, as for some reason they cause him severe pain, at times. This results in a limitation of not always understanding what people are saying.

[edit] Equipment

• Demonflesh Robes: Complex, leathery demonflesh-sewn robes that protect Shade, these are specially designed to mitigate damage that is holy in origin, and some bladed weaponry or even arrows. They are especially thick and tough, and can even resist heat effects.

• The Ruiner's Armor: Shade has somehow come into possession of enchanted armor from his own world, that he did not come into this world with. The armor crackles with strange, unplaceable energy, and almost reads as if it had its own soul.

• The Shard of Hell: This wicked weapon is rumored to be the choice weapon of the previous Ruiner's, also known as the Godscar, in which the previous Ruiner literally scarred the heart of a god. Shade hopes to put the blade to similar use against his own foes, although the blade only dimly reads with energy now, as evil as it is. It is rumored the blade also has a soul sealed within, and this soul brings out the worst of the wielder, in physical and spiritual form.

It has become known that Shade recently has given this blade to the Advent Ace, after the end of a duel where Shade lost.

[edit] Prized Possessions

The following is a list of items that Shade has won or otherwise stolen from others, usually his enemies.

• The Blackhearted Duelist's Silver Rapier: After a short fight with the Chaos Necromancer's (Grumdek) minion, the Blackhearted Duelist, Shade managed to grind the Duelist into dust and take his silver rapier.

[edit] Truncated List of Possessions

• Weapons: Ritual dagger, staff-blade (goes from small bladeless stave to broad sword), Darkwand, silver rapier
• Armor & clothing: Demonflesh robes, the Ruiner's armor, Coldforge Helm, Hellfrost Yeti-fur/flesh boots and gloves, Frost Naga-skin robes, demonflesh pants
• Miscellaneous: Communications device, bag of spell components, Bottomless Bag, chilled and warmed plasma transfusion packs

[edit] Opinions and Secrets

[edit] Opinions on Shade

((Idea shamelessly ripped from other's pages. This is a section where people can interact and input what they really think about Shade. Go on, good or bad - a copper for your thoughts!))

"While he may come across as gruff and frightening, under all the demonic trappings, Shade is a lovely individual. Sure, he may eat a few souls from time to time, but he's a true friend with a heart of gold." -Lydia Chapman

"Oh, don't get me wrong; I despise all demons on general principle. But 'e did do my childe a good turn from what I understand, so I tend to tone it down around 'im, as the saying goes. And 'e's not entirely unpleasant to kiss." -Paola Flusso

"Shade has earned my trust, respect, and friendship simply by being who he is. He is evil, of course, sadistic, cannibalistic... But he's the only person I would trust to truly be able to care for the ones I love, if I ever cease to exist." -Unit v4.0

"Shade...He's cunning, ruthless, dangerous and persistant...Quite frightening to the common Hero or Villain as well... Its a pity we always find a way to be at each other's throat; He'd make a good ally." -Rekhyt

"He's awesome. ...and, ah... terrifying. But polite. When he isn't ripping something living to shreds. He's pretty fun to ambush hug... but I really wish he'd leave poor Robin alone." - Ani Reaves

"I could kick this chump's ass any day. He just got lucky the past three or four times he BARELY defeated me. He comes near me again... bang. He's dead." - Sky-Scar

"My life for his. Mr. Shade is the sole bearer of my loyalty." - Ryna Chyld

"Meh? That demon guy right? He's not annoying or outright a asshole. He's alright. I'd kill him though, probably. We met at this tournament thing, Meh." - Rafael de la Larken

[edit] Trivia Tidbits and Miscellaneous Facts

[edit] IC Trivia

• Shade's dark powers are able to inflict negative psychological effects, including but not limited to emotional torment, as well as physical pain.
• Shade particularly enjoys blood and human flesh as sustenance.
• Void demons, such as Shade, are notorious cannibals. As is aforementioned, however, their primary sustenance is human, preferably alive at the time of consumption.
• Shade is, at times, able to "drink" magic and souls through special spells, however some of these two forms of sustenance can make him physically sick.
• Shade collects many things as trophies, even the skulls and bones of other demons or people.
• Shade is immortal; it is rumored he is ancient by human standards, but by his kind's life expectancy, he is still relatively young. He cannot die of natural causes.
• Incredibly violent, rarely is there ever a conflictual scenario left without others, or even himself, undertaking extreme measures ending in a generally unnecessarily violent outcome.
• Shade can play piano and sing extremely well. Hundreds of years of practice will do that for you.

[edit] OOC Trivia

• Originally, Shade began as a simple protagonist to Runo, the firey devil from the Nine Hells. He was intended to be nothing more than a plot device to further some of Runo's then-current roleplay.
• Shade had to be rehashed several times for the player (me!) to find him enjoyable. He went from a simple demon-y, thug-like enforcer, to several other incarnations, to what he is now. I had stopped playing him for nearly two months because I had grown bored with the concept, and now I've logged him in almost every day since CoV beta (excluding that month-long or so timespan)!