From a dream
Mar. 5th, 2026 07:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feotakahariBroadly speaking, sapients are divided into two categories. Those like elves may use magic, but they function perfectly well without it. Those like fire elementals have magic integrated into their natures.
Shadow elementals belong to neither of these categories. They bear their name because they’re recognizably “of shadow” in the same way that light elementals are “of light,” and they can do things with shadows that parallel light magic. But shadow is the absence of the light element, not an element in itself, and the things shadow elementals do are fundamentally not magic. No one has an explanation for this, save perhaps the shadow elementals themselves, and they aren't telling.
Shadow elementals belong to neither of these categories. They bear their name because they’re recognizably “of shadow” in the same way that light elementals are “of light,” and they can do things with shadows that parallel light magic. But shadow is the absence of the light element, not an element in itself, and the things shadow elementals do are fundamentally not magic. No one has an explanation for this, save perhaps the shadow elementals themselves, and they aren't telling.
