I'm sorry for the horrible ms paint doodles but I needed something to explain my Shadow Knights
anyways ramble under cut as always
cw mention of cannibalism and light gore (?)
SHADOW KNIGHTS!!
Undead fellas /silly
In all seriousness shadow knights are well, yeah undead, a subcategory of undead in my rewrite, specifically knights of our dear shadow lord
humans affected by sk magic
there's humans like brian and alexis that have been exposed to large amounts of shadow knight magicks, which made them have the same 'veins' sk's have under their eyes, but still be human (ie. alexis' curse)
usually there's no side effects to large amounts of exposure to shadow knight magic other than mood swings (irritability or rage)
incomplete (premature) sk's
a 'premature' shadow knights eyes are their original eye color with very small hints of red in them, as if alluding to the side of themselves they pick to repress
typically only magicks users can see the red of their eyes, and the 'veins' they have around them. to the untrained human eye their eyes look their original color but don't have any life in them
they have a hard time controlling their temper, still attempting to retain a sense of humanity that they have long lost
immortal sk's
to become immortal a shadow knight must kill either their lord or the person closest to them, and ingest their heart (as mentioned in gene's story), or alternatively, they must take countless lives of the innocent
once immortal they may gain different abilities, or a boost to the ones they already own. ie. Gene's mind manipulation working without having to touch the person (unlike his mortal counterpart)
another example is Zenix' flame manipulation (despite not being a magicks user)
general shadow knight facts
they're smelly, especially when having recently emerged from the nether
shadow knights have an incontrollable appetite, similar to a
zombie, they can eat human food but it doesn't sit very well with them (the only thing that'll control their appetite is human flesh)
there's certain shadow knights who's bodies cease to exist (or are reclaimed by the earth in the mortal realm). in cases like those they are made new vessels of materials of the nether
shadow knights stop aging once they gain their immortality
Shadow Knights hibernate in order to heal their bodies in the overworld, their healing can be sped if left in a place that'll connect it to it's undead roots (morgue, graveyard, etc), due to the fact they feed off of the dead spirits lingering, using what little energy is left of them to heal.
in terms of the shadow knight 'rebels' we have (in strength)
vincent > zenix (mostly due to his instability) > vylad > laurence > amethyst (this is before the rebellion is properly set in place, still during season 1)
anyways thank you for attending my ted talk /silly
I am halfway tempted to make a crackship between Liochant x Vincent.IDK, I feel like DILF Shadow Knight Guard could fix that anxiety ridden mess.
And the idea about the man who is immortal via a literal betrayal, that while being the right thing to do forever marked him with with a symbol of evil, providing comfort to a man who has done nothing wrong but escape from his country only to be met with even worse distrust. Outcast x Outcast.
Vincent-Xavier meeting Garroth, dear god. Esmunc would have definitely been his loyalty kill, and at the sight of Garroth who is Esmund's spitting image, the Calling acts up for the first time in decades.
Laurance can feel something is happening with Vincent and goes on high alert thinking he’s gonna do something to Cadenza, only to find him looking at Garroth with this twisted expression of terror and heartbreak, clutching his chest where the armor unfurls from as though trying to physically hold it in from coming out.
Oh, it’s been so very long, but Xavier could never forget Esmund’s diplomatic smiles and perfected mannerisms, and Garroth has the same hitch in his laugh as he did, and when he looks at Irene Xavier can see he’s in love, and oh god it’s Esmund returned to life. And he cannot stop the thought of "What did Shad do to him?"
And to make matters worse, Garroth has Esmund's relic at this point! So Xavier-Vincent can sense Esmund's relic, sense Esmund's soul inside this guy who looks exactly like him except for the scars on his face. He even fights like Esmund - protecting his people above all else at all costs even if the cost is himself, and after the fight is done Irene scolds him and he demures and yields to her as he always has, and Xavier - Vincent - Xavier can't breathe. And he looks around, and he can see Enki and Kul'zak gathered around Esmund alongside Irene, and Cadenza lays a hand on his shoulder to ask if he's okay and for a moment when he looks at her he sees Menphia, and oh goddess, oh lord what the fuck has he done? How could he have done what he did to them, to his friends? Why did it take so long for Esmund to return to haunt him?
And Dante was supposed to be Xavier's successor before the soul that was supposed to be Xavier's was knocked out of alignment, so when he looks at Dante he sees the phantom of the man he once was. And Dante has this, this feeling in his chest of something missing, because he was supposed to have parts of Xavier's soul, and when their eyes meet he knows there is something here connecting them even if he can't figure it out for the life of him, and that pushes Xavier-Vincent over the edge into having to disengage and flee before he does something he regrets. He usually has such good control over his emotions, he has to when the emergence of the Shadow Knight form is directly connected to his emotions, but seeing all his friends and his own self from an age long past, a part of himself that he had tucked away and thought he'd lost to Shad, makes it so hard to keep enough control to hold on to his humanity.
Oh, and Shad possessing Aaron! Shad knows who he is, after all how could he not recognize his old friend and first knight, and he calls him Xavier. In front of everyone, he calls him Xavier and basically outs the whole story that Xavier-Vincent had managed to keep under wraps for so long. It knocks something loose in Aph/Ana's head about her time as Irene, and suddenly she never looks at him the same, and neither does Garroth.
Garroth knows about Xavier and Esmund, since this is a big part of his family's history. And he now sees himself as having becoming another's scar to remind of lessons hard learned and moments of grief and regret like his own scars, and he has become the cross carved into Xavier just as he bears his own cross from his own brother. He tries to avoid Vincent - avoid Xavier outside diplomatic meetings after that, thinking that maybe if he's out of sight Xavier can put the reminder of Esmund out of his mind, but that makes it worse because all Xavier can think of now is not being there when Esmund dies a second time, and it certainly doesn't help that Shad calls Garroth Esmund, which leaves Xavier wondering if Shad brought him back the way he did Xavier centuries ago.
And to make matters worse, Shadow Knights can sense each other. He can sense that Laurance, who reminds him so much of Kul'zak, is a Shadow Knight, presumably meaning that he was brought back to life by Shad exactly as Xavier had been? He has to wonder, how many others? How many of their friends, of their families, has Shad torn from the peaceful rest they earned with blood and sweat and tears? Are they even his friends anymore? Kul'zak has been changed, hasn't he? Twisted into new shapes that make what doesn't match up between Laurance and Kul'zak that much more jarring.
Their laugh is the same, but Laurance has perfected the same array of masks that Xavier and Esmund once had. They wear their hair the same, but Laurance often doesn’t wear the flowers and twigs Kul’zak wove into crowns at every opportunity unless they’re woven into his hair by someone else. They both have this mottled birthmark over the hip shaped like a leaf, but the rest of the marks, the rest of the scars are all wrong. Laurance’s eyes are dull, and if you watch closely they follow movement too fast or too slow like they’re not quite connected to the body the way they should be, and Laurance avoids solid eye contact so adamantly. Kul’zak was always warm, always so free with affection, and Laurance is rarely as affectionate with touch as he is reliant on it. Kul’zak used to hang off Esmund’s arm, giggling and whispering with their heads bowed together like children sharing secrets, but not like this. Not like Laurance, who folds his hand into the crook of Esmund - Garroth’s arm and allows Garroth to subtly guide him as though afraid of where he might step without the help, often pressing close and leaning against his shoulder like he’s too tired to refuse the help anymore. And the way he looks at Esmund, at Irene - Kul’zak had only ever had eyes for Enki as long as Xavier had known him, but the way he looks at Enki now, it . . . Kul’zak has been twisted into something else entirely by Shad’s hand, just as Xavier - as the man Vincent was before he slipped away once was.
And the Garrance relationship also makes it very clear just how different Esmund and Garroth are. Esmund was not the kind to yield to anyone but Irene, he was used to being in charge and he was a natural leader, but Garroth is very emphatically . . . not that. He hates being in charge, dreads it, but he is the one best suited to the job so he does it. He’s relieved to have someone he can defer to, and treats his second as though he has just as much power as he does, because in their situation he does. Laurance actually has more power than him just by virtue of being seen by Garroth on the same level as Irene. Garroth takes orders so easily, listens so well, just a touch and he yields and defers and goes exactly where he needs to be with only the barest pressure at his back to guide him. In the middle of a fight, he goes exactly where the charge he protects wants him to, and all it takes is a look across a crowded field for Garroth to understand and move, and it’s so so easy for him to yield to Laurance. To be drawn in by him. To linger with their sides pressed together from shoulder to hip to ankle, temple to temple, quiet words shared in the scant space between them when no one is looking. The way he looks at Irene, and the way he looks at Laurance, and the way he looks at the divine in prayer, it’s all the same. And there is something between them, this guard and his second. Esmund was not - could not be that way. Esmund could never bring himself to admit he had any feelings at all beneath the shell of heir, guard, protector, Divine Warrior. Confessions trip off Garroth’s tongue in the night, and though they never see the light of day, at least sometimes they are heard.
Maybe Vincent also smokes, and he and Laurance end up in the same out of the way place for a quiet cigarette and for a while they sit in silence until Laurance asks what’s up with the looks he keeps sending everyone. Vincent sighs, says, “Kul’zak, you - “
“What did you just call me?”
He looks back as Laurance’s face is in the middle of flickering between masks, and for the first time he sees the scars like nail marks around his eyes, and the angle of the corners of his mouth and the curl of his shoulders and the way his body faces away from Vincent is all wrong and this isn’t Kul’zak at all. Not anymore.
Laurance is disturbed by this, being called by the name of the divinity he worships as though he were an old friend when he has never met Vincent before. and Vincent can’t come up with an explanation. It’s tense until Laurance leaves, and he goes to Cadenza to tell her what happened because of course he tells his big sister, and that’s when he learns just how long Vincent has been alive, and he starts wondering how many of his loved one’s he’ll outlive.
It's also been decided that Vincent is one of the few people in the MCD age that observes and worships the old gods, which means that in a day when you can read who someone worships in how they wear their hair and accessories, Vincent reads as an apostate to everyone who meets him.
God I have got to come up with a better name shadow knights is so freaking edgy
SKs are really confusing in the series when it comes to design. It’s suggested that full SKs have permanently red eyes, but the only ones that’s actually true for are Zenix and Vincent. Gene, Sasha, and Zane never change eye color, and Vylad and Laurance seem to transform the same way, even though Laurance is a halfing (my own name for an incomplete SK) and Vylad seems to be a full SK (pretty cold and logical throughout the series, compared to mystreet)
So here’s my take on them!
In my version Shadow Knights prey on those who fear death. While they’re technically dead during the ritual, those being transformed have a “light at the end of the tunnel” moment where they can choose to pass on or accept the transformation. This fear can obviously have a variety of motivations behind it. It could be a “hey wait I wasn’t done being evil yet”, or an “I still have so much of the world to see”, or even a “there are still people that need me”, but either way, that unwillingness to accept fate, that denial, is a key motif in my shadow knights.
You don’t need to kill to become a full SK, just return to the nether and declare loyalty to their cause. The issue is that being a shadow knight is the ultimate self fulfilling prophecy. Even if they manage to escape the nether Halfings eventually become unstable and lash out at those around them, which either causes them to be rejected by their communities or isolate themselves to keep others safe. This isolation of course only makes things worse, they’re still effectively human, they need human connection for healthy functioning. The depression and self-loathing eventually reaches a point where they’ll do anything to feel like they have a purpose. And guess who’s waiting in the nether to give them that purpose?
SKs don’t lose their emotions like it’s suggested in the series (honestly they didn’t follow that rule anyways) but they gain conscious control of their SK form. Also the fact that they’ve rejected all their past relationships and are choosing to follow a shadow army kind of makes them act differently on its own.
I think I’ll do some differences between full SKs and halfings (duller red eyes for full SKs and maybe a darker armor design) but I want to keep things simple. Halflings have their natural eye color until they enter their shadow knight form, where they turn red. Full SKs have permanently red eyes, though they brighten when they enter their SK form. There are items similar to concealment stones in my story, so full SKs can hide their eye color relatively easily. All SKs, full or halfing, are forced into their SK form in the nether, though halflings are able to keep control while in the nether.
Also I just kind of got bored with the veiny eye look of the series’s shadow knight forms, especially with Laurance. It always looked weird with his freckles, they just layered on top of each other really weird. So I thought it’d be fun to give each SK their own unique eye markings.
Zane
*note Zane is very different in my story and gets a redemption, so if anything goes severely against canon that’s on purpose.
Our newest shadow knight, and second youngest physically. After being put in limbo in Irene’s dimension, he is found when the SKs come to retrieve Aaron. Sensing the weakness in Zane, they transform and imprison him. During one of Laurance and Zenix’s raids on the SK fortress Laurance frees the imprisoned halfings, though he doesn’t know Zane is in that group. Zane manages to avoid recapture and escape the nether.
He doesn’t have the best emotional control, thanks to the years spent with Garte, so he snaps and at least partially enters his form frequently, though it usually doesn’t last long.
His facial markings don’t extend to his scar, the tissue damage effectively blocks the magic flow to that area. His other eye gets a marking that mirrors his scar.
Laurance
Aw yeah, my boy.
Laurance sacrifices himself in the nether to make sure Aphra and Candenza could escape. He’s rescued by Ungurth, wyverns can naturally dimension hop, but he uses up his life force making sure Laurance survives the jump. The corruption from the jump destroys Ungurth and blinds Laurance, but otherwise Laurance seems unchanged until season 2, where all the stress first causes him to start slipping, eventually culminating in a big fight with Aphra and Garroth where he nearly snaps at them, and after talking with Vincent, realizes he needs to leave to keep them safe.
In season 3 he is in a tenuous alliance with Zenix in taking down the SKs, though this eventually fails and Laurance is forced to escape back to Phoenix Drop.
Along with Aaron, Laurance’s potential as a host for Shad was recognized, so both of them are targeted throughout season 2. This makes Laurance’s symptoms much worse than the typical halfing.
His markings incorporate his three freckles, as well as two stripes that frame his eyes
Vincent
Oldest character physically, and after Zenix has spent the longest time as a shadow knight. Vincent was turned a long time ago, and was a high ranking knight loyal to Shad. One day he was sent out of the nether on a mission. I don’t have it super well thought out but at some point Vincent fell in love while out of the nether and defected against Shad, living with his lover until their death. After that, Vincent swore to protect humanity from Shad in any way he could.
Not a ton of story behind his markings, but damn he looks cool
Sasha
Honestly her whole backstory needs some reworking, but overall I think she begins the series loyal to Shad but questioning his methods. She’s very active in helping her fellow SKs but often uses her own methods and frequently goes against orders. When she guides Laurance to the nether in season 2 she refuses to go in, both fearing repercussions and knowing she’d be more useful on the outside. But she is grateful to Laurance for freeing her, and says she owes him a favor, setting up a possible defection.
I don’t have her death planned out, but I imagine it was something very tragic, hence her tear-shaped markings. She was also described as doll-like in the series, so I tried to make her look sweet in an unnerving way
Gene
His backstory largely follows canon, make contact with the shadow knight, gets executed, goes through the SK ritual, all that jazz. Honestly Gene’s just not that deep of a character, he’s a power hungry guy and his loyalty to Shad never wavers.
I wanted his stripes simple but sharp, and I like that they look the most like the og series, kind of highlights the fact that gene is your standard Shadow Knight
Zenix
Youngest physically, only about 16, but a very old shadow knight, one of the earliest. Zenix was a tragic character at the beginning, he was only a kid when he was forcibly transformed. But it’s been so long it almost doesn’t matter anymore. All Zenix wants now is power. While originally loyal to Shad, he defected a long time ago, seeing Shad as weak. Now he only serves himself.
Design-wise, I wanted to contrast his monstrous actions with a soft, boyish face. His markings were softly inspired by jester stripes, again keeping a childish influence
This is not my normal fancast for Liochant but I wanted to change things up! Really drive in the home sickness and mystical feeling of MCD. Vincent's fancast is Luke Evans as Vlad Dracula Tepes in Dracula Untold......... I thought it was funny and I am sticking to it. Gotta help push the Shadow Knights are vampire adjacent agenda somehow.
Lemme know if you have any questions/ideas/thoughts about this crack ship, my ask box has anon on. I enjoy discourse and ideas!!!
Vincent is canonically a suave character who serves under Cadenza, I feel like the man has a wide variety of clothes and knows how to serve cunt. Also, Vincent's art is Cain and Abel with Liochant is the Snake of Eden.... I did not mean to get biblical but I felt like it anyway.
