#this doesn't go into too much detail about Stoica's experiments but a lot of them have to do with shadow beasts

[ladyzerodark]

So, Shadow Beasts. How do they work? Are they independent creatures a la Digimon with partners? Manifestations of a person's psyche conjured with a special type of magic? Or is there some greater force behind them?

Honestly? They're a bit of mix of all three.

I had to hunt around for a document I had written up about them (which is why it took so long to answer) but despite me not touching it since 2013, the information is still pretty much the same!

Apologies for this wall of text and if it sounds a little dramatic. I think I was trying to make it seem like a legit scientific study when I wrote it. I am taking out some parts that were just fluff though.

"Shadow Beasts are creatures formed of a human’s will to change itself.

In psychology, particularly Jungian Psychology, the Shadow is a part of the inner workings of the mind, along with the Anima/Animus, Self and other Jungian Archetypes. The Shadow contains suppressed and/or repressed aspects of the person’s personality. Depending on how you look at it, this Shadow could have good and/or bad traits. The bad traits are those that the person refuses to accept as a part of himself or herself. The good traits are those that the person has yet to find in themselves.

Shadows Beasts are similar to the Shadow of the mind, and some consider them to be the physical manifestation. However this is not 100% correct. Shadows Beasts represent two aspects of their wielder’s personality: Something they desire and something they need to learn."

Let's use Dark and her main Shadow Beast, Marciano, as an example. One of Dark’s desires is to have a strong presence in her life, someone she can look up to and help her grow and one thing she needed to learn is how to teach others. Marciano, while not originally her Beast, was first summoned to a home where his wielder was the father of a new child, but was unprepared for it. The presence of Marciano allowed him to grow both as a father and a person. When he was given to Dark, Marciano was almost forced into a world where he needed to interact with more humans than he’s used to. This gave Dark the opportunity to teach him about humanity and how to interact with them. These ended up being exactly what she needed: a strong presence and someone to teach.

The creation of the Shadow Beasts varies on the type. The two types are Shadow Borne and Shadow Forged.

Borne are the Shadow Beasts that were born of other beasts. Marciano is an example of this, as his mother is the Shadow Beast called Moira. So in that sense they are beings separate from the mind of their wielder but a higher power does still connect them to where they need to go, again, like Marciano finding Dark.

Forged are Shadows Beasts created by the wielder themselves. Sometimes it’s accidental, other times they do so on purpose. There is a being called the Master Shadow, the first Shadow Beast, that was made a very long time ago by a demi-goddess with high darkness affinity but is still around today, going from wielder to wielder.

Most Beasts, regardless of how they were created, are very long lived, the Master Shadow being the oldest, and can have multiple wielders within their lifetime, regardless of the type they are (though Forged tend to stick closer to the soul of the wielder than Borne). It should also be noted that depending on how powerful the wielder's affinity for shadow magic is, they can have multiple Beasts partnered up with them. Dark, due to her powerful affinity, has multiple partner Beasts, though Marciano is considered her main partner. There is a third way to create one, one very recently discovered, but that will be explored in the story more. I have hinted at it in the memes, but only once or twice. Now, I assume these questions also have to do with Orion and how his shadow beast became the way it was. In his case, his Beast was a Forged, therefore VERY, VERY close to his psyche. Because of how badly his personality warped due to his obsessions, it caused the Beast to lose many of it unique aspects, turning it more into a tool than a living being. It became another obsession of his to make every wielder have a Beast like him, so all of the younger wielders he manipulated had Forged Beasts rather than Borne. Unlike Orion's, because their wielders are being manipulated, most of these beasts were able to keep a core part of their personality, "Protect their wielder". And like with all living beings, it is possible for a Shadow Beast to die, though it is very difficult to kill them. In Kaiya's, the little girl found by Dark in that one comic I did, case, her beast used up all his energy to keep her alive, after the experiments that Stoica and Orion put her through. I would say the closest feeling to losing a Beast would be feeling as though you've lost the closest person to you and you feel as though there is a massive hole in your heart where they were. It is traumatizing, and there are a few that have gone through it: Kaiya, Priti and Rezar being a few named examples. Should they wish, they can try to form a bond with a Borne Beast, but they would be unable to form another Forged. Priti is, so far, the only one who decided to find another beast; Rezar decided it was too much for him. Ah! I should also note that most wielders know each other, as there are only a few teachers of shadow magic; Orion and Dark studied under the wielders Sakina and Qinlia, for example.

Oh and aside from maybe, like, four or five, most Beasts, Forged or Borne, have a name starting with M. I honestly do not remember, nor can I find, a reason for it but eh, it's been years since I first made them so it's on me for not keeping track.

I'm still toying around with some ideas as to how they work in the Shadow Robot Wars AU canon, but that's pretty much the sum of it.

Sorry again for the wall of text!