Shadowling: Difference between revisions

'''IMPORTANT NOTE: THRALLS ARE NO LONGER DETECTED THROUGH HEALTH ANALYZERS [[Shadowling#Get those shades on.|THEY ARE DETECTED THROUGH AN EXAMINE MESSAGE REGARDING THEIR EYES.]]'''

|A shadowling can grow a cute little tumor on a victim's brain, rearranging their memories and motivations and turning him into an obedient thrall. This takes 21 seconds, and does not itself disable the victim, so shadowlings should use mundane means to do so, such as handcuffs and removal of headsets. Loyalty Implants interfere with this ability; however, the protection is not perfect. It is well within a shadowling's power to disable such implants, though doing so will slow the enthralling process by 65 seconds.

 

The benefit of thralls to changelings extends beyond the utility of an obedient crewmember. Shadowlings gain power directly from their thralls, unlocking new abilities with greater numbers, including their ultimate goal of ascension. Thralls also have their own lesser powers that they can use to help you.

|To access their other abilities, a shadowling must first hatch. A hatching shadowling will first drop its items. After a short delay, it will grow a chrysalis around itself, forming a 3x3 grid of impenetrable but obviously abnormal walls. When the shadowling's evolution is complete, the walls will burst, and the hatched shadowling will emerge. Although headsets, belts, and backpacks must be dropped to evolve, shadowlings are capable of wearing them, and often pick up such items they had previously owned after hatching.

 

While a hatched shadowling is powerful, and much better equipped to hunt for thralls than an assistant, shadowlings are also obvious after hatching. For this reason, young shadowlings who are not yet sure of their abilities often delay hatching to avoid alerting the crew.

|Glare is the shadowling's basic single-target stun. By forcing one target's gaze into its own, the shadowling can mesmerize a target from a range to stun and mute him for 10 seconds, '''but only if they are within 2 tiles.''' If they are more than 2 tiles away, they simply receive a temporary slowdown coupled with annoying messages (not worth it). While the duration is shorter than the cooldown, and is not long enough for a complete conversion, it does leave plenty of time to restrain the victim ''and dear god remove the headset''.

|A weakened version of Ethereal Jaunt that costs stamina while jaunting. They can move through well-lit areas like this, but at a extremely steep stamina cost. It should be noted that if you jaunt until stamcrit, the cooldown will not activate at the price of being in stamcrit.

|To access some abilities, a shadowling must draw on its thralls for power. Using this ability, shadowlings can send out mental "hooks" that latch onto the minds of their thralls, granting the shadowling a count of his thralls, and unlocking any abilities which the number of thralls now allows.

|By regurgitating a cloud of black smoke, shadowlings can disorient pursuers. This smoke will induce blindness in and stun non-shadowlings, but heal shadowlings and thralls.

|The shadowling can let out a piercing screech. This will confuse and deafen nearby humans, damage windows, and stun silicons.

 

Alternatively, a shadowling can 'empower' a living thrall. After a short time, the thrall's abilities will become stronger and they will resemble a shadowperson with three eyes. They will then have the same light sensitivity of normal shadowlings, ableit at a lesser rate. In addition, thralls cannot be dethralled while conscious if in this position.

|If the shadowlings should gain this ability, all hope is lost to the crew. The shadowlings have enough collective power from their thralls to assume their ultimate form, becoming impossible to destroy by conventional means, and gaining terrifying abilities.

You're disguised. You don't take any damage from lights and you are undetectable to any means short of godly intervention. You possess two abilities: Hatch, and Hivemind Commune. First off, send a message or two over the hivemind to see if you have any buddies - chances are high that you do. Assess your job's capabilities. Are you the captain? Feel free to change the AI's laws to help all shadowlings. An officer? You can steal some gear for later thralls. Are you an engineer? Build a stunprod or cut power to different areas so they won't be lit up. Just don't spend too long planning: the longer the paranoid among the crew get, the more prepared they are for the unknown.

There are multiple things to do from the start. If you're confident you can avoid detection, hatching immediately can work since you can easily enthrall people who rush into maintenance early with Glare. Or, you can play it differently and try to covertly sabotage the station first. It's up to you - you're the alien monster, after all.

It should be noted that sabotaging the station to the point of which many crewmembers will attempt to call the shuttle will ultimately backfire against you. Before you hatch you should take this time to prepare for your next amble attack, collecting tools, cuffs, and other accessories that might help you deal with threats that come your way as a hatched shadowling.

So you've hatched. You have the rest of your abilities now - use them! Alert your fellow shadowlings (and thralls) that you're hatched over the hivemind, and make more thralls your first priority. You can't wear normal clothes, but you can still put on backpacks and headsets, which is an extremely good idea. If you're discovered by a group of people, use your defensive abilities to escape in addition to your thralls. If a single guy sees you, just glare at him, slap some cablecuffs on if you have them, take away his headset, and enthrall him. People whom you enthrall '''cannot easily be turned back to normal, although surgery is capable of doing so''' and their new loyalty to you overrides all else. If you enthrall a nuclear operative somehow, they will serve you over their Syndicate friends. If you enthrall the captain, he will do much the same.

==What To Do: If You're A Thrall [[File:Shadowling_huds.png]]==

So a shadowling mesmerized you by staring into your eyes (lewd) and now you're a thrall! What this means is that your primary goal and objective is to obey the shadowlings and help them at all costs. If you look in your tabs, you have a new one, Shadowling Abilities. In this tab is the Hivemind Commune ability, which lets you communicate on a silent channel with all other thralls and shadowlings. You're basically an [[Adamantine Golem]] in terms of where your loyalties lie -- utterly with the shadowlings. Loyalty implanted? Not anymore, the nanobots are dead. Wizard? Use your spells to help the shadowling. Traitor? Tough titty, if the shadowling wants your uplink you give it to him with zero questions asked. You have no free will.

Keep in mind that many of the shadowling's abilities rely on damaging or manipulating you. Even by helping the shadowlings accomplish their one objective, you are sentencing yourself completely and utterly to death - there is no way around it. You may find yourself drained of half your life, used as bait, used as a bodyguard, or suddenly surrounded in the middle of a maintenance tunnel by Security officers who are trying to cave your chest in. Assume you're going to die because you are and there's no way around it.

Thralls can see in the dark with night vision, so make sure you don't accidentally make a Kentucky Fried Shadowling with your PDA light.  You do have one advantage, however: stealth. You look much more human, so use this to your advantage to do things for your masters. Keep in touch often.

Fortunately for you, there are a few benefits from becoming a slave for the rest of your life. Mainly, you have a few abilities, which are listed below.

 

|Lesser Glare is an ineffectual yet powerful ability. Inheriting only a fraction of the shadowling's original power, thralls are able to mesmerize people in much the same way a shadowling can - however, it only lasts for around four to five seconds, give or take. If you're fast or robust, this can be combined with cablecuffs and a quick removal of a headset to secure a new thralling target. It's also a good way to escape an arrest.

So the shouts over the radio weren't wizard, ops, or blob, but shadowlings? Your work is gonna be cut out for you, soldier. Shadowlings are terrifying foes and can do much in their power to avoid you. They can even extinguish lights, save for fire-based sources and yellow slime extracts, and even then they can extinguish those fires. Don't get caught alone or you'll live out the rest of your considerably shortened lifespan in mindless servitude.

 

* Scan individuals to see if their body temperature is abnormally cold. Be aware that ANYONES body temperature can be cold, however, thralls are not affect by this physcially while normal persons are!

* Bolt down floodlights in different maintenance areas where shadowlings are most active.

* Try implanting people that you suspect of being a thrall. Unhatched shadowlings and thralls alike will resist the implant.

* Get burn-based weapons and lots of light sources (flares are good, so are slime extracts if xenobio is doing their job, and if all else fails botany can make torches)

* Scan suspicious characters with a health analyzer.

* Avoid areas that seem unnaturally dark

* Place a bunch of floodlights in the same spot.

* Run up to the shadowling and ask to be enthralled. Seriously, it's a dick move to everyone and the admins will ban your ass for it.

* Ask to be enthralled by an ascendant. They'll seriously just make you explode.