SHADOWBINDER - Broken servant of the Cinder King
When Cinder King managed to Break the Chosen of Mattiar goddess Nyx decided to Choose.
...
- the idea is that you can supplement Binder for Breaker as they are more mystic and arcane than other Broken and Cinder King would want Breaker and Binder to be as far away from each other as possible
Horror Themes - incomprehensible and erratic enemies. Unpredictable tactics and strategies. Radiation as poison and as fiery burns. Toxic creatures alien to natural order.
Abilities
0 Shadows
1 Stags
2 Lunatics
3 Inedible Crops - when Advancing spend additional use of Food.
4 Moon Dust - environmental hazard.
5 Bright Nights - Liberty restores 1 stress less.
6 Broken Land - poison spreads, Supply missions -1d.
7 The Will of Dusk - Shadows don't go feral without supervision and remain loyal to Binder.
Line Troops
Halfblinds: Living whose one eye was burned by prolonged exposure to moonlight become undead capable of weaving such moonlight. They bring order into ranks of other undead, may use their light to tame even Shadows. Burning enemies with corrupting silver flames burns them too, which slowly turns their skin into brittle silvery crust.
- there were troops that weaved magic and controlled shadows in later Black Company books
- I wonder whether the description gives clear enough information about their capabilities
Scorched: Targeted exposure to strong moonlight can cause specific effects yet if used chaotically or due to a mistake it makes Them. They walk slowly and erratic with burns covering their bodies, surprisingly agile and fast when close to the living which they hate with burning will in them. Maddened by the experience they speak phrases and sentences of their old lives, unable to parse their meaning but confusing to the victims.
- are they sufficiently different than original line troops? Or sufficiently thematic?
Elites
Shadows: vaguely humanoid dark shapes, moving in shadows and darkness, hurt and dispersed by strong light. They come from Dar, souls of those burned during the event that broke the whole region with divine fire from the sky. They are only slightly hurt by physical weapons and are stronger and faster than humans. Without supervision they are feral and seek fresh blood to burn with their touch.
- I thought of them a little as souls of people burned with power of Fire God of Dar during Zora breaking it. And kinda like corrupted creatures from special missions like the Lunar Crown in Talgon.
Silver Stags: holy creatures of The Horned One, fed over weeks and months with plants grown on the soil spoiled with moon dust. They grow tall and heavy, white antlers and silver fur, full of dust and ash. Powerful, tall and massive, these beasts are crazed for living flesh, constantly driving their malformed antlers through the ground and plants and trees, spreading corruptive particles.
- parodying Horned One is fun, makes sense here. Also kind of like chorts and fiends from The Witcher series.
- not sure about the name.
Lunatics: unknown is their origin, they themselves claim to used to walk on the moon. Their elongated limbs, disheveled gray hair and twisted stares frighten unprepared but their abilities to weave the moonlight, to blind and burn are impressive. Their cackling can be heard from far away as they wield silver corrupt flames, turning life and stone into dust.
- thematically weakest creature, there is something I have in mind but I cannot get to the point of it.
Infamous
Grey Weaver - with her arms and legs in order to create additional joints, this Lunatic climbs high places and weaves the moonlight into webs and lassos to catch prey and slowly devour them, slowly cooked by a hot silvery force.
Dustbowl - singular Scorched who survived more moonlight than any other, barely humanoid in posture, constantly shedding flakes of ash and cinder that burn the skin and lungs of all who came in contact.
Megaceros - the giant Silver Stag, let into wild forests to hurt and destroy in a twisted message to The Horned One. Its antlers move as another set of limbs, grabbing and crushing in parody of gargantuan hands.
Lieutenants
Black Raging Grove, the High Priestess - she used to be one of the regular priestesses in one of the temples of Nyx in Panya but after breaking she joined her goddess first, to serve her and scorch her opponents.
The Gibbous One (Halfblind Lieutenant) - when regular Halfblinds have the truth of the moon burned into their one eye he decided to burn the other one too, losing touch with reality but getting better touch with the moonlight powers.
Kyryloi, the Cinder Guard - Clad in red armor, decayed body of this creature is here to ensure chaotic logistics of Binder army never slows down and never speeds up too much to be a threat to Cinder King.
Relationships
The Chosen
Shreya - not being allowed mercy of their own, Binder hates the idea represented by Asrika's Chosen. Understanding her military prowess and experience Binder would very much like to burn her into submission to become independent of Cinder King.
The Horned One - the one who used to be her partner, now strange and alien. Binder wants him to catch him, make him understand her new enlightened form, to be together again. In order to do so she corrupts nature and mocks his symbols, luring him out and turning from predator into prey.
Zora - aware of how close Zora's history is to the Cinder King's makes her an obvious target. Whoever would get to her first would get ahead of the race for power, so for Binder the best outcome would be to get rid of her altogether and destroy her artifacts.
The Broken
Blighter - the one thing that Plaguebringer and Shadowbinder have in common is their hate of natural world. Aside of that Binder is aware that Blighter's forces would very much like to get their hands on her and her moonstone in order to fuel their alchemy and potentially become able to bind Shadows of Dar. This is why Cinder King tries to keep them separate and why Binder plays into his plans, seeking the way of using Blighter's inventions for her own fight.
Render - while Render admires pure destructive force of her troops they are very different when it comes to use of it. Binder is aware her lackluster tactics and seeming lack of organization makes her look weak in his eyes, while she holds the secret of familiarity with Cinder King's land and it's creatures.
Breaker - if Cinder King wants to keep distance between Binder and Blighter, he staunchly refuses Binder and Breaker to come even a step closer to each other outside of his view, afraid the power of either would surpass him if they knew each others secrets. Binder would very much like to get familiar with Breakers hexes and sigils while Breaker awaits the first occasion to understand how to control Shadows of Dar.
The Cinder King
He is aware that Binder's attention is short but abilities powerful, which is why he put helpful oversight on her after she immediately bound Shadows to her will. Making sure she is powerful enough to threaten his enemies but still too weak to threaten him has became a big project and she is aware of that situation and bites her time, aware she'd never have enough patience to do this herself, seeking knowledge and power to grow herself directly.
I feel Binder's connection to other Broken and Cinder King is kind of weak and underwhelming, on the other hand I tried to portray her less like scheming person and more like destructive force of nature, more like sapient sun or lovecraftian Cthuga. Also I'm not sure she is mystic enough to my liking, and feel the Shadows have diminished role in her armies (at least they are the starting Elite). When writing it I also added inspiration by The Color Out of Space.