#shadow traps

[sepublic]

Night Wraiths

           Comprised of a tenuous balance between Light and Shadow, these glowing, light-blue energy orbs are the latest, quickly-growing addition to the Brotherhood of Makuta. As beings of Twilight, they can readily access the Light and Dark Worlds at will, and with additional experimentation, Night Wraiths are also capable of accessing the dreams of their victims to torment and even kill them in their sleep.

           Having heard legends of the split between Light and Dark, and the presence of the Para-Realm, Makuta desired to create a being that could access both realms with ease. Knowing that a fusion between the seemingly-contradictory forces of Light and Shadow were possible, Makuta set to work; Gathering Light was simply a matter of extracting the energy from whatever was around, as Makuta was operating within the World of Light. Shadow as a far more elusive substance; Regular shadows could not be interacted with and would be far too weak in essence.

           Makuta eventually found a definitive supply of Darkness through Shadow Traps, the creations of Umarak the Hunter utilized to pin down the Elemental Deities. Ordering Fenrakk to capture a few, Makuta experimented on the Shadow Traps in his possession and succeeded in isolating the power of Darkness within them. Initial attempts to combine Light and Shadow were disastrous failures, resulting in powerful explosions; Makuta learned from his mistakes and made sure to disaster-proof the next few rooms for such experiments.

           Through trial and error, Makuta succeeded in creating a tenuous balance between Light and Shadow amidst a few of his prototypes, although it was not perfect; The Proto-Night Wraiths were incorporeal, made of energy and lacking physical substance. Exposure to more Light or Shadow could threaten to jeopardize the careful ratio that Makuta had created, resulting in the destruction of his prototypes.

           Nevertheless, it was good progress; Makuta rejoiced in his own brilliance and continued. He succeeded in transporting a few of his prototypes to the Para-Realm, although they lacked the will and intelligence to return to him. Additionally, Makuta researched into the subject and matter of dreams, noting from his studies that they could apparently be accessed from both the Light and Dark Worlds… His initial prototypes, while successful, were impractical; They could kill victims by entering their dreams while they were asleep, but at that point, why bother entering the nightmare when a creation could just kill their target physically? Especially since accessing the dream would leave a creation’s physical form similarly vulnerable…

           But if dreams COULD be accessed from the Para-Realm, then the ability of nightmare-assassination might prove useful just yet; Makuta’s minions could enter dreams from the Dark World, their normally-vulnerable bodies unable to be accessed by enemies from the Light World. As a result, entering the dreams of those with awake guards nearby was now viable thanks to the Para-Realm… And if Makuta was going to rely on the Para-Realm for his planned dream assassins, then he may as well merge two projects into one, and combine his prototypes with those designed for accessing the Dark World at will.

           By sacrificing a portion of a Mask of Fear’s energy, Makuta combined it with his current prototypes, merging two experiments in one. He finally succeeded with the first, ‘finalized model’ of these Twilight Will-O-the-wisps; The original Night Wraith, Yagavo. Testing Yagavo’s abilities, Makuta granted the Night Wraith a mind, personality, and will by fusing a portion of his soul into it. Yagavo immediately proved loyal, obedient, and desperate for approval.

          Tests were a success, as Yagavo was able to readily, easily warp between the Light and Dark Worlds at will. Subjecting a few victims to his experiments, Makuta was pleased to see Yagavo not only infiltrate their dreams, but even harm the subjects by transforming into nightmares and attacking them from there. Further test runs yielded the same results from the Dark World as well; And with the Dark World more practical for ambushing unsuspecting opponents, Makuta celebrated his success.

           Makuta sent Yagavo out on his first missions, using the Night Wraith to spy on the Okotans as they tried to defend themselves from the Skull Spiders. Yagavo’s intel proved vital in curbing Okotan efforts to fight back, and enabled Fenrakk to capture and harvest many more souls. Yagavo himself was disgruntled at playing second-fiddle to Fenrakk, and desired to prove himself in combat, but Makuta forbade him. The Lord of Skull Spiders was already doing a brilliant job at his task; Yagavo would remain content with his current assignments.

           Like with his other Rahkshi, Makuta eventually granted Yagavo a larger, exo-skeleton body that granted him additional abilities. Yagavo continued to function as a spy, liason, and occasional assassin for his father, even operating on Xia. Since the Para-Realm lacked the Light World’s hurricanes, this meant that it was easy to travel between Xia and Okoto’s shadows, before emerging onto the Light counterparts of either island.

           Despite being a brilliant success, Makuta only succeeded in creating a few more Night Wraiths before production stopped. The reason for this was a lack of Shadow; Umarak was noticing the Skull Spiders’ capture of his Shadow Traps, and incensed, made maneuvers to better avoid the Brotherhood, even destroying several Skull Spiders. Although Makuta was insulted by the challenge, he could not risk making an enemy out of the Deity of Shadow; And with his plans already going smoothly, he saw little reason to mass-produce the Night Wraiths if doing so would make a powerful enemy.

           Centuries passed, with Yagavo and his small team of Night Wraiths continuing to operate. However, Makuta would eventually be contacted by his ties within the Nynrah Ghosts, and learn of the Kraahl; Mysterious, Twilight beings from the Para-Realm. Fascinated, Makuta succeeded in bartering a Kraahl into his possession, and after analysis, realized that his captive was the perfect, corporeal balance between Light and Shadow!

           Recognizing the Kraahl as the perfect package of Light and Darkness, Makuta converted his captive, harvesting their body to create a few Night Wraiths. The Mask Hoarder immediately offered to buy more of the Kraahl that the Nynrah Ghosts had captured, but the organization refused, valuing their unusual prisoners.

           A frustrated Makuta would later learn of the presence of Kraahl on Okoto through Fenrakk’s observations, who had witnessed the beings briefly warping into existence on the island. Makuta sent Yagavo to hunt down these Kraahl, but thanks to Umarak’s warnings, they chose to head back to Dark Xia before the Rahkshi could capture any of them.

           Even as Makuta made plans to one day harvest the Kraahl and make an army of Night Wraiths from their bodies, he also busied himself with other matters, projects, and experiments. His broods of Energy Leeches ended up taking priority, and eventually he almost forgot about the Kraahl…

           But when the island of Xia was transported next to Okoto, Makuta was elated. The Kraahl were now easily accessible, and with his alliance with the Barraki, the Brotherhood could use Kahgarak to open portals to the Para-Realm! Likewise, the emergence of Kralta as the Toa of Shadow led to a more aggressive campaign by the Kraahl, who began to appear in the Light World more frequently, thus making it easier for the Brotherhood to capture more of them.

           With each captured Kraahl, Makuta has converted their bodies into more Night Wraiths. With a rapidly-growing army of these energy-orbs, Makuta is now sending them into the Para-Realm en masse to attack the Kraahl, capturing their bodies and sending them back to his lair of Mangaia. Yagavo is fervently leading such efforts, seeing parallels between his campaign and Fenrakk’s harvesting of the Okotans; He hopes to prove himself better than the Lord of Skull Spiders.

           Now being mass-produced thanks to easy access to the Kraahl, Night Wraiths are being used to not only harvest the Twilight beings, but also assist Makuta in his war against the Okotan Alliance. Night Wraiths’ appearance on the battlefield of the Xian-Okotan War is turning the tide, with their ability to warp between worlds and access dreams turning them into efficient assassins.

          Although Kraltarak is now targeting the Brotherhood in retaliation for these harvests, Makuta has calculated that the costs of mass-producing Night Wraiths no longer outweigh the benefits. He now hopes to expand his conquest not just across the World of Light, but the Para-Realm as well, and use the Dark World in his plans to take his rightful place among the gods.

          Night Wraiths can slightly vary between the size of a watermelon, or a bowling ball; They have beady eyes, jagged mouths, and jutting fins to attack with. In combat, their mouths open to shoot forth bolts of energy, and they can spin around as their fins stretch out to slash enemies. When moving, Night Wraiths constantly emit a gas-like aura of Twilight energy from their forms.

          Night Wraiths are incorporeal; They are mostly comprised of energy, and thus largely resistant to physical damage. Sufficient amounts of physical force can still disrupt the form of a Night Wraith enough to unravel and destroy it, however. Although they are beings of Light and Shadow, their balance between such forces is tenuous, compared to the Kraahl they are usually born from; Adequate amounts of Light, or Shadow, can disrupt the precious ratio that Night Wraiths consist of, leading to an imbalance, conflict, and destruction.

          As a result of this weakness, the Okotan Alliance has taken to using Lightvines provided by Morbuzakh, with the sacred plants emitting powerful Light that is able to access the Para-Realm as well. These Lightvines and their radiance serves as a deterrant for Night Wraiths, keeping them from accessing locations in neither the Light nor Dark Worlds.

           Like their progenitor, Night Wraiths can warp between the Light World and Para-Realm at will, and access the dreams of victims, transforming into lethal nightmares. As they lack an exo-skeleton like Yagavo does, the typical Night Wraith doesn’t have access to his abilities of elasticity, or slowed-down perception of time; Similarly, their powers of Twilight and Dream Assassination are weaker and less efficient than the Rahkshi’s, and their sight into the Dark World and vice-versa is more limited. When utilized en masse however, the Night Wraiths more than make up for their individual deficiencies.

           Night Wraiths are ideal assassins, able to approach targets from the Para-Realm. From there, they can either warp into the World of Light and ambush enemies, or wait for them to fall asleep and then access their dreams from the Dark World. Their Dream Assassination relies on the connection between the mind and soul, with the former as a manifestation of the latter. As Fear affects the mind, it can affect the soul by consequence, and through trial and error Makuta has created beings who can damage the soul by infiltrating nightmares and attacking the mind within.  

           As a result of their ambushing abilities and stealthy tactics, Night Wraiths are the ultimate agents in paranoia. Enemies have a difficult time sleeping, for fear of a Night Wraith infiltrating their dreams and killing them; At least one guard has to be kept awake and watching not just the area but their allies as well, in case they need to be woken up.

          Similarly, Night Wraiths can’t be detected from across the veil between worlds, being totally obscured to those in the opposite realm. They can infiltrate nearly any fortress, and have the ability to levitate, making height a total non-issue for them. Night Wraiths are most often utilized in missions of reconnaissance, sabotage, disruption, assassination, etc. Even outside the realm of dreams, they manage to instill a fear into their enemies that other Brotherhood creations don’t. To both their Okotan enemies and Xian allies, Night Wraiths are ghosts and specters that have come to life from myth.

          Their intelligence is similar to that of the Kraata; They are sentient, able to understand and carry out orders, and strategize to an extent. They can adapt to sudden changes in situations, but otherwise the Night Wraiths seem to lack individual self-awareness. They are entirely obedient to Makuta, and lack emotions; They have no fear and cannot be persuaded into betraying their cause, nor do they prioritize their own self-preservation. It seems that amidst their abilities, the Night Wraiths have also inherited their progenitor’s unyielding obedience for Makuta.

          Fun fact- If an Energy Leech were to drain a Night Wraith, it would begin to glow with a light-blue coloration, to reflect the Twilight energy inside! Similarly, an Energy Leech can then use the absorbed Night Wraith’s power to warp between the Light and Dark Worlds, but this can only work once; After that, the energy is used up. Energy Leeches weren’t designed to utilize Twilight energy, and are thus far more inefficient with it.

          Night Wraiths can also be used as a means of torture, as well as interrogation; Captured prisoners can be forced to fall asleep by a Kraata of Sleep. From there, Night Wraiths will access their dreams, exploring the labyrinthine psyche of a subject in the hopes of accessing elusive information. Alternatively, they can simply be used to repeatedly terrify and torment a subject with nightmares, either to force them to divulge information and/or as a form of sadistic torture.

          [To put it bluntly, Night Wraiths are based off of the Shadow Leeches from G1, particularly in appearance.]

[sepublic]

Umarak the Hunter

Legend tells of a dark figure who prowls the wilds of Okoto alone. This dreaded figure of myth and legend has been seen chasing the very elements themselves, combatting them, only to just as quickly flee after snatching a fragment of the elements. And each time he returns to fight, to hunt, he always stays longer, and leaves with more in tow.

Umarak the Hunter is a feared deity of Okotan legend and myth, and like many of these supposed fables his existence is very real and very tangible. For centuries he’s hunted and pursued the six primordial Elemental Deities, slowly draining portions of their energy bit by bit through countless guerilla attacks and ambushes, all with the purpose of spreading his darkness throughout Okoto and beyond.

In the time before time, there existed shadow, a state that all six elements when combined could default into. It was a pure essence, relevant and existing as far back as the void, with connections and strength towards it. And from this mass of encompassing darkness, was birthed a thought and instinct to spread, and from that desire came a mind and name; Umarak.

Umarak, Deity of Shadow, sought to spread his darkness across Okoto and consume all with it. He besieged the island in its earliest youth as a mostly rocky, barren land with a few cities or ruins here or there. In opposition, the six Elemental Deities rose up to fight him; Ikir, Ketar, Akida, Uxar, Terak, and Melum. The battle was fierce and raged across Okoto, ravaging the island, but still Umarak could not be defeated.

With no other choice, and the island already ravaged, the Elemental Deities combined their strengths. With their pooled power, they created new land, a new island, and hurled it over Umarak, burying his entire essence beneath a newly-forged Okoto that laid atop the old one. Trapped beneath the weight of this new world, the darkness struggled and heaved, occasionally causing earthquakes, but in response the Elemental Deities merely added to this new island, stacking more foundations upon it until Umarak’s thrashing ceased, or at the very least escaped notice. Every now and then he’d summon forth a huge burst of energy to rattle the lands, and the people of Okoto would know these earthquakes as the struggles of The Darkness Below.

As a new generation of Okotans colonized the new surface, Umarak wasted away in the ruins of the old island below. Still, he refused to give up, and he was clever- So he changed tactics. Instead of trying to burst through the entire island at once, he decided to instead carefully, precisely, pinpoint and concentrate his darkness into one area. This threaded shadow would needle its way carefully, painstakingly, through the foundations and crust above, drilling through the earth and stone until it finally pierced the surface, allowing an opening for Umarak to unleash his shadows through.

It was a gradual, painstaking process. The results were imperfect- The farther his shadow strayed from his main essence, the weaker it got, until only a tiny pinprick of his power seeped into the deeply-grown roots of an ancient tree, infecting it with darkness. This tree continued to feed on Umarak’s shadow, becoming a physical, yet separate, vessel for his mind and power to operate through.

One day, a relentless, merciless hunter shot his quarry, a deer, through with an enchanted arrow. This arrow pierced through the deer and pinned itself into the cursed tree that Umarak had infected, pooling its energies into the vessel. Using the power of the arrow’s enchantment, Umarak forged his wooden vessel into a humanoid form, capable of independent movement, and became Umarak the Hunter.

Umarak broke his feet free from its roots, severing himself from his shadow. While he still maintained an inherent connection to The Darkness Below, he could only reliably maintain and function with his power from within this vessel, which sustained him with its magic. Otherwise, any darkness that attempted to breach the surface from below would become too negligible to make a difference.

Umarak slayed the hunter who had given him form, critical of their mindless killing, and as a gesture of kindness gave life back to that deer before it could die. Donning the hunter’s tools and absorbing his knowledge and skills, Umarak formulated a new, clever plan to free himself and defeat the Elemental Deities, his enemies, once and for all.

His current form, while powerful, was still no match for even one of the Elemental Deities. But Umarak realized that by utilizing clever ambushes, escapes, and guerilla tactics, he could slowly yet surely wittle down the Elemental Deities’ power by stealing it. Creating constructs of metal and shadow with the power of void named Shadow Traps, Umarak used his pack of fanged, mawed hounds to relentlessly chase the Elemental Deities. He would strike quickly, suddenly, and with his Shadow Traps drain permanently just the tiniest portion of the Elemental Deities’ life force. That life force in turn would be contained within a Shadow Trap, which amongst others containing elemental energy would be stored in a hidden cache from any deity’s eyes.

Umarak would repeat this process, over and over, again and again, gradually chipping off pieces of the Elemental Deities’ power. At first the six merely regarded him as an annoyance, but Umarak’s perseverance began to pay off. The change and loss was gradual enough that by the time the Deities realized they were getting weaker, Umarak in turn was getting stronger. He became more accustomed to his form, learned how to better strategize and use tools, and figured out how the Elemental Deities thought and operated. He predicted their every move, hunting and chasing them at every opportunity, never once relenting unless to hide for the timebeing.

When the Great Cataclysm occurred, the Elemental Deities were left dazed enough for Umarak to seize large portions of their power. Even more weakened, the Elemental Deities attempted to fight back, but found Umarak’s trickery, swiftness, and shadow-travel to make him an impossible opponent to strike. Inevitably, despite any pride, they began to fear every encounter with Umarak, knowing they’d lose another part of themselves to him, and began to run.

And so the chase, the hunt, began. Over the centuries, Umarak continued whittling away at the Elemental Deities’ souls, and with the Great Cataclysm having placed all other Deities in a coma, the Elemental Entities had no allies to turn to for protection. All the while, Umarak’s cache of Shadow Traps continued to gestate with the elemental energy they’d absorbed, digesting and formulating it into crystalline bodies of pure elemental energy.

Umarak’s plan from there was simple- He’d drain the Elemental Deities until they were either eradicated or too weak to fight back. With their stolen power, he’d reforge the energy he’d seized into a horde of Elemental Beasts, who in turn would use the same energy that built his island prison to destroy it. The Elemental Beasts would lay waste to Okoto, razing it, tearing away at the foundations until nothing was left but barren rock, and then even less. And with his earthen prison shaved away, The Darkness Below could finally burst free and Umarak could reunite his full power, freed, with no one to stop him from spreading his shadows.

Umarak’s hunt continued successfully in the passing centuries, until the Elemental Deities became the most minor echoes of their former power, barely shadows of their old selves. However, they too managed to learn from Umarak’s tactics, and though they gre weaker over time, they also became harder for him to track down and pin down. All the while, the Elemental Deities searched for Umarak’s hidden cache of their lost power, hoping to one day reclaim it, even as they devised ways to destroy Umarak’s vessel on Okoto.

When Skull Spiders besieged Okoto’s inhabitants, neither Umarak nor the Elemental Deities paid any mind to the incident. They knew full and well the nature of the swarm from a glance and considered it inconsequential. Makuta, in turn, attempted to make an ally of either Umarak or the Elemental Deities, but both saw him as providing no help or not being trustworthy, and ignored him.

This would change following the Arrival of the Toa, and the commencement of the Okotan-Brotherhood wars. As Ekimu the Mask Maker returned and began changing Okoto back to its old ways of its Creation Era, the Brotherhood in turn began experimenting in new venues of Life energy. And as the conflict increased, inevitably, Umarak and the Elemental Deities were noticed and caught in the crossfire.

Both sides desperately needed an ally, an advantage over the other, and while the Okotans were certainly wary of Umarak, no side could afford to be choosers. With the introduction of his Energy Leeches, organic creatures that could drain and store Life energy, Makuta finally won over Umarak’s alliance. In exchange for supplying him with armies and Energy Leeches to better track down and drain the Elemental Deities, Umarak would, from time to time, provide assistance in various Brotherhood operations. With his experience and ancient power of shadow, Umarak proved to be a terrifying challenge to even all six Toa united.

As the war unraveled, it soon came to light that Makuta had another reason for desiring Umarak’s alliance- He himself was after the Elemental Deities as well, in this case for their knowledge of the Mask of Control. Makuta knew that after the Great Cataclysm had caused the Mask of Control to disappear, the Elemental Deities stumbled across the ancient, powerful artifact, and had hidden it away themselves. Makuta needed the Mask of Control to unite the scattered fragments of his soul, and with his alliance with Umarak, the Hunter would not only absorb the Elemental Deities entirely but also their knowledge.

Eventually, Umarak managed to decipher the location of the Mask of Control by hijacking Ketar’s mind, tracking it down the Labyrinth of Deception, also known in ancient names as the Skrall. With a team of Brotherhood forces, Umarak descended into the Labyrinth of Deception and succeeded in acquiring the Mask of Control. However, upon reporting back to Makuta, the Mask Hoarder made his intentions to turn Umarak into a pawn quite clear.

Betrayed, Umarak in turn rejected Makuta’s claims and donned the Mask of Control, only to be possessed by the mask’s power and a portion of Makuta’s soul that had been trapped inside since the Great Cataclysm. The Mask of Control’s ancient powers rendered Umarak a slave to Makuta’s mind, who in turn inhabited Umarak’s body and mutated its vessel into a hulking, beastial caricature of itself. Now armed with both the powers of shadow, as well as those of Makuta and the Mask of Control, Umarak the Destroyer departed to raze Okoto. He awakened the Elemental Beasts, unleashing them upon the island to tear apart the foundations with help from the Brotherhood of Makuta’s forces. As the island’s surface was torn apart, The Darkness Below began to thrash and awaken, even bursting through portions of the surface, tendrils of itself emerging and lashing about.

At the same time, Umarak gathered at the summit of the Elemental Beast cache and began using the Mask of Control to draw and gather the scattered fragments of Makuta’s soul, eventually uniting them into his body and granting the Mask Hoarder a proper, physical form for the first time in centuries.

With his sudden increase in strength, Umarak the Destroyer easily fought off the Toa, who had combined with Elemental Deities into Kaita fusions. However, the tides would be turned when Ekimu the Mask Maker would arrive, having fused the energies of the damaged Mask of Creation with his own soul to become a Toa of Creation. More powerful than ever, Ekimu’s support melded with the Toa Kaitas’, and Ekimu was able to use his Hammer of Power to tear the Mask of Control from Umarak’s face. Freed of Makuta’s possession, Umarak painfully reverted his vessel back to its original form, even as Ekimu donned the Mask of Control, using the power it had spread through the Elemental Beasts to shatter them.

All at once, the lost energy of the Elemental Deities returned to them, gathering into a single spot as they reformed back to their true power. The weakened Umarak, in turn, could only help but gaze upwards in despair as the fully-empowered Elemental Deities visited centuries of retribution upon him, crashing down and burning his form with pure energy. Umarak’s vessel dissipated, his essence severed from The Darkness Below as it retreated and crystallized into a drained Mask of Shadows. The Darkness Below ceased its thrashing as it sank back beneath Okoto, which was in turn repaired of its damages by the Elemental Deities.

Following the attempted Razing of Okoto, Umarak’s dormant spirit, trapped in the Mask of Shadows, was transported to a maximum-security Okotan prison vault and contained. It has since been carefully monitored and guarded by Ekimu’s most advanced technology and automatons, ensuring Umarak cannot recover and begin his hunt anew against the Elemental Deities. And with his mind trapped in his vessel on the surface of Okoto, The Darkness Below has reverted back to a mindless, festering state beneath the island’s foundations.

[sepublic]

Shadow Traps

           In order to assist himself on his hunt for the Elemental Deities, Umarak the Hunter realized that he needed allies and minions to aid him. Likewise, he needed vessels with which to contain and control the stolen Life force of the Elemental Deities. To work around these joint issues, Umarak created the Shadow Traps, beings he could completely trust and who were loyal to him alone.

           Automatons crafted from a portion of Umarak’s shadow, as well as metal and various other materials, Shadow Traps take the form of a giant, mawed mouth, not unlike a beartrap, with two large eyes on either side of their heads and four limbs. When a Shadow Trap bites onto a victim, its fangs concentrate the prey’s life energy into the single spot that has been bitten, disabling the rest of their body and rendering them incapacitated. From there, the Shadow Trap broadcasts a signal across the island to wherever Umarak is, notifying him of subdued quarry and summoning him to the Shadow Trap’s location.

           Although the Shadow Trap’s bite is potent in disabling and incapacitating prey, it does have one drawback; Due to the prey’s life energy being concentrated in one spot, that singular area is given a boost of power as a result. Thus, if a Shadow Trap were to bite one’s hand, the rest of the victim’s body would be rendered inert, yet the concentrated soul in the bitten hand would grant it the strength to crush solid stone with ease. To mitigate this drawback, Shadow Traps will usually bite prey in areas of the body that lack joints or limbs to fight back with, such as the thigh or shin. Likewise, multiple Shadow Traps biting at once will equally distribute energy across the various bitten points, allowing the automatons to carefully spread out a prey’s life force into concentrated, separate points across weaker areas of the body.

           Shadow Traps typically roam in packs of around five, although the numbers can vary substantially depending on the current tactics, environment, and objective. Upon their creation, Umarak scattered his packs of Shadow Traps across Okoto, having them regularly patrol the wilderness and other frequent hideouts and passageways of the Elemental Deities. Upon tracking down an Elemental Deity, a pack of Shadow Traps would signal their location to Umarak, who would in turn summon other packs to travel with him to the area.

From there, Umarak and his Shadow Traps would pursue their quarry, hidden, before striking all at once, with Umarak directing his Shadow Traps to bite in formations that would spread the Elemental Deity’s life force thin, allowing him to capture and drain energy in the seconds before his prey quickly adapted to the attack and broke free, shattering most of the Shadow Traps pinning them down. As Umarak gradually began wearing down the Elemental Deities’ life force, his Shadow Trap packs were able to pin down his victims for longer periods of time, leading to more energy being drained with each and every attack, at least usually.

After draining a portion of an Elemental Deity’s energy, Umarak would quickly escape the scene with any remaining Shadow Traps. Regrouping, Umarak would contain the stolen portion of energy into one (or more, depending on how much he’d recovered) Shadow Trap, sending it into a crystalline hibernation and storing the Shadow Trap within his hidden cache. From there, the Shadow Trap would begin to gestate and form, assimilating and digesting the elemental power and metamorphosizing into a larger, crystalline creature known as an Elemental Beast.

As Umarak hunted after the Elemental Deities, he also made the decision to preserve a large variety of Okoto’s flora and fauna. Going on another hunt at the same time as his onslaught against the Elemental Deities, Umarak had his Shadow Traps track down and subdue various specimens for him to find and contain within The Darkness Below. While most of these lesser hunts went on easily, attempts to track down and capture the mythical Rahi also frustrated the Shadow Traps and destroyed many of them in the process. Nevertheless, Umarak succeeded in capturing several of the Rahi, earning him the ire of the remaining beasts in the process, in particular Krahka’s.

Due to their singular focus on the Elemental Deities and Rahi (with most of their lesser specimen captured and contained within weeks since the beginning of their assignment), Shadow Traps rarely came into contact with Okotans, mostly stationed in the wilderness where their quarry usually kept to. During the Great Cataclysm, many Shadow Traps were destroyed, but then just as quickly replenished by Umarak, and with Okotan society shattered and scattered, the wilderness spread and so did the Shadow Traps’ hunting grounds. Likewise, the drastic change in environment from the Elemental Regions necessitated modifications and adaptations built by Umarak to better traverse the new, hazardous terrain.

When the Skull Spider besieged the Okotans, they generally ignored the Shadow Traps and vice-versa, save for periods of time in which Makuta tried to gain Umarak’s alliance. When the Brotherhood-Okotan War engulfed Umarak and the Elemental Deities, the packs quickly allied with the Brotherhood of Makuta alongside their master. In exchange for his help, Umarak gained the assistance of multiple Brotherhood forces in his hunts, and his Shadow Traps would proceed to collaborate and coordinate with Makuta’s armies in ambushes and battles, either for Umarak’s prey or Makuta’s enemies (The two categories would soon blend anyway). Vamprah the Skull Beast in particular delighted in leading Shadow Trap packs on various hunts, many of which on his downtime were directed towards useless quarry.

They were present in the campaign to seize the Mask of Control, and when Makuta possessed Umarak, the Shadow Traps fell under his command as a result. The Shadow Traps proceeded to assist the Elemental Beasts in razing Okoto upon their awakening, although many were caught in the destruction of their newly-grown brethren. After Umarak was defeated and contained within his Mask of Shadows, all Shadow Traps were consequently rendered inert without their master’s commands and presence, eventually falling apart and becoming consumed by the wilderness they were stationed in. A few were preserved by the Okotans for studying and scientific research.

Aside from their ability to concentrate life energy, most Shadow Traps after the Great Cataclysm were modified with new limbs adapted to the six Elemental Regions. Shadow Traps stationed in the Region of Earth possessed longer, spindly limbs with drills at the end to tunnel with, and the base from which the limbs sprouted from could spin, allowing the Shadow Traps to combine their drills into a larger, burrowing formation.

Shadow Traps in the Region of Fire possess minor levitating abilities, granted to them by translucent fins that produce small, cooling fields around the Shadow Traps. These fins allow Shadow Traps to skim over the surface of molten lava with minimal heat damage.

In the depths of the Region of Water, Shadow Traps possess long, spindly legs to pull themselves along the sand, as well as a propeller that lets them freely swim. The Region of Jungle’s Shadow Traps have thorned vines for limbs that can grow, stretch, lash out, and assimilate with the local flora, even controlling it to a minor extent. These flexible vines let Shadow Traps smoothly climb around various branches and flora.

The Region of Stone’s Shadow Traps have metallic limbs with magnets at the end, allowing them to cling to the various ore deposits and structures scattered throughout the area. The polarities of these magnets can also reverse, repelling the Shadow Traps and allowing them to launch forward at high speeds. They also possess a metallic tail with which they can slither across the sands with. On the tip of these tails is a larger, magnetic pincer that can latch onto prey.

For traversing the Region of Ice, Shadow Traps have a pair of translucent ski-blades to surf across the snow sheets. Their other pair of legs are equipped with ice-picks, allowing them to dig into the show and push forward like ski poles, sledding after quarry. Additionally, these ice-picks can be used to dig into ice structures, allowing Shadow Traps to hang onto steeper, slicker surfaces.

All Shadow Traps have short, generally useless chain-tails (with the Region of Stone variant’s being longer and equipped with a magnetic pincer). These chain-tails can connect with longer, chains of shadow extended from Umarak’s hand, allowing him to control an entire pack on a leash, not unlike hunting hounds. Additionally, Shadow Traps possess acute senses and are able to detect and track down souls, although their capabilities aren’t as great as that of a Mask of Tracking. Their eyes operate similarly to a Mask of Vision’s, albeit weaker and without the ability to see through objects.

Due to possessing an innate portion of Umarak’s darkness, Shadow Traps can hide within shadows and even possess minor, short-ranged shadow travel abilities. They can also draw darkness towards themselves and darken an area, making it harder to notice them at night or other low-light conditions.

Their thinking abilities are incredibly primitive, operating like drones that mindlessly patrol an area before detecting prey; At which point, they’ll begin a relentless pursuit and signal Umarak. At that point, Shadow Traps will heighten their thinking to analyze a prey’s form and figure out how to best subdue them with their bites. Likewise, Shadow Traps will enter a hunting frenzy upon chasing after quarry, constantly snapping their maws in anticipation.

Being born of Umarak’s darkness, Shadow Traps serve only him alone and can not be swayed from their allegiances whatsoever. Such loyalty would quickly be worked around by Makuta, however, by directly controlling Umarak himself. Attempts to tame and control them are otherwise about as effective as controlling a machine that can’t be hacked.

[scobgoblin]

Something I can’t help but find hilarious in this G2 world where good and evil are clearly defined by eye colour is that a single shadow trap has a blue eye instead of red. Is the poor thing having second thoughts about its place in the world?

Like, “I am made to trap, but is it really my purpose to trap?”

[bioniscribbles]

the resemblance is uncanny

[scobgoblin]

Is it bad that I think I’ve come to want the shadow traps more than the elemental creatures? Damn adorable li’l portal turret anklebiters

[themmefatalekiva]

High res official pics of all the 2016 creatures & their Shadow Traps. Well, excluding the ice dude. XP