The Deck of Worlds
The Shadowshaper Cypher is now complete! ✨If you’re anything like us, when you finish any book you want to spend more time in that world - and the world of shadowshapers and magic in Brooklyn is no different.
Luckily, author Daniel José Older has shared these incredible character art illustrations by artist Raven White for The Deck of Worlds from the books.
THE DECK OF WORLDS
A mystical deck of cards that both bestows power on various participants and reflects that powery in its imagery. At any given time, there are three official Houses of the Deck: A Dominant, a Subdominant, and an Ascending. The fourth house is made up of Hierophants—über powerful entities who function like jokers, chaos agents, and enforcers of the Deck’s rules. The Dominant house is granted the most power, the subdominant second most, etc…
Each House has five suites, which vary from house to house but follow certain archetypal patterns:
The Master –– has all the powers of the House at their disposal
The Warrior –– physical combat
The Spy –– can initiate to another house while disguising their true allegiance
The Sorcerer –– performs initiation
The Hound –– seeker
All of this is reflected in the Almanac of the Deck of Worlds.
The Hierophants –– Fortress, La Contessa Araña, The Empty Man, The River, The Reaper.
Sierra Santiago Badass muralist and also the head of the shadowshapers.
Bennie Jackson Techie extraordinaire and Sierra’s best friend.
Izzy, aka King Impervious Hot fire on the mic and undefeated at ’shaping now that she’s learned to use her rhymes to fight.
Tee Dapper to death and one of the best shadowshapers out there. Also runs the local paper.
Juan Santiago Sierra’s brother. Co-founder of the salsa/thrasher band Culebra. Unstoppable on electric guitar. Somewhat stoppable as a shadowshaper, but he’s learning.
Anthony “Pulpo” King Extremely crushable bassist, lead singer, and co-founder of Culebra. Juan’s BFF.
