Shadowfolk

The **Baknut**, or **Shadowfolk** to other races, are a race of Hunterborn from the eastern Asaran deserts. Known for their mystical and secretive culture often associated with the occult, the Shadowfolk have a storied history of dealing with other races from across Asara and providing unique and powerful services.

## History

The Lykoth tribes were a fiercely social and adaptable people, which allowed them to spread far across Galimma's surface in the ancient age. Most of those who traveled to the arid sands of Asara would evolve into the Hyenni, a much more rugged people adapted for the scarcity and harshness of the desert.

The reality of life in the desert is one of cruelty and struggle, and one the Hyenni took very seriously. Those who were unfit for life in the wastes would be left behind so as not to hold the tribe back. A tradition that emerged among them was to leave their sick or crippled at the shadowy canyons of Bakarai, a seemingly cursed place that inflicted pestilence and death on those that trespassed within. Most left within the gloomy corridors of Bakarai would pass away soon, seemingly eaten away by the fabled curse.

#### Ankanu's Bargain

The refugees left within Bakarai mostly died off soon after arriving, often by seemingly magical means. This would not be the case however for the one-legged Hyenni merchant named Ankanu. Circa 6000 1E, Ankanu made it his mission to find the source of the decaying miasma that slowly killed the inhabitants of Bakarai, and entered the cursed canyon of his own choice. Among the crowds of lepers, impaired, and others, Ankanu shared his wealth and wares, as well as his knowledge and skill in healing. The outcasts grew to trust Ankanu, and shared with him their knowledge of Bakarai's curse: the decaying effect seemed most powerful at the entrance to a deep cavern none dared to explore, one of Galimma's many entrances to Subterra.

Ankanu traveled to the center of Bakarai's winding canyons and was met with the yawning mouth of a deep and chilling cave. The curse's effects hung so heavy in the air Ankanu could feel his body beginning to weaken just by standing outside the cave. Ankanu traveled within the mouth of the cave and was met with the booming voice of the demon Baku. Baku stood over the twisting energies of an exposed leyline, warping and twisting the walls of the cave; hundreds of souls from the dead outcasts of Bakarai hung in the air, Baku lapping at them occasionally. The demon barked at Ankanu, threatening to eat his soul for trespassing within his domain. Ankanu did not fear the demon, having noticed that it was fat and lazy from gorging itself on the leyline's energy and on the souls of the dead, and could not rise to strike him down. Ankanu in turn was also weak from the demon's perverse aura, and could not fight the demon either.

"Let us strike a deal," were Ankanu's next words. Baku tentatively listened to the merchant's proposal: Ankanu would be free to leave, fetch 100 souls from the desert for Baku, and return them to the demon's lair. The demon did not trust Ankanu's word, and needed insurance on the merchant's end. Ankanu then offered one half of his own soul to the demon as leverage. Baku greedily accepted, and plucked one half of the merchant's soul, hanging it upon the walls of its lair. The demon ordered Ankanu leave at once to fetch the 100 souls, and return swiftly. Ankanu objected, requesting a vase with which to transport the immense amount of souls he was to collect. Baku tore a handful of glass from the walls of the cave and molded it into the shape of a bottle, gifting it to Ankanu as the vessel for his 100 souls. Ankanu happily obliged and left the demon's lair.

Ankanu emerged from the cursed halls of inner Bakarai and was met with amaze and wonder from the remaining refugees. Ankanu shared his story of meeting with the demon and the bargain he had struck with it. The people wondered how Ankanu had planned to obtain 100 souls and return them to Baku. The merchant said through guile and trickery, he would gain his soul and slay the demon that cursed them all, and that the people of Bakarai would need to help him.

Ankanu then left the canyons of Bakarai and ventured into the desert with his old caravan supplies. He visited many oases and cities, peddling his newest ware: a glass phylactery, within which one could store a soul and preserve it for millennia. The oasis-kings of the Kubundo banished him and his unnatural magics from their cities, and the Simbala prides rejected his promises of immortality outright. Ankanu finally had luck with the warlord of the Blood-Hunter Hyenni pack, Jakanni the Cruel. Intrigued at the prospect of preserving her soul for eternity, Jakanni heard what Ankanu had to offer: in the far off depths of Bakarai, there was a cave of the same magical glass used to craft this phylactery, and enough to make her whole pack immortal; however, it was lorded over by a powerful but lazy demon that hungered for souls. Jakanni and 99 of her greatest warriors followed Ankanu back to the canyons of Bakarai with the intent of slaying the demon and claiming his soul-sealing glass for themselves.

## In Outer Cosmos Role-playing System

**Shadowfolk** are one of the playable races available to players in the Outer Cosmos Role-playing System, featured in Frontiers of Galimma. They are a medium sized race.