Rank Physiology

Summary

The Awakened in Shadow Slave are all the people who have been infected by the Nightmare Spell and have passed their first trial. Each of them possesses special powers called Aspects.

Awakened are separated into 7 ranks, each being based on the quality of their soul, each one is also a step towards divinity and grants them new powers and abilities. The ones inherent to every person of the rank will be listed here.

Nightmare creatures of corresponding ranks on the Path of Corruption also get some of these abilities.

Dreamer

The word Dreamer refers to Aspirants successfully passed their First Nightmare. When they do that, something will awaken inside them. It was as though their soul was being shaken awake, infused with strange new energy. The source, however, was coming from within, as though it had always been there, sleeping. The energy will fill every fiber of their being. They will be reborn, becoming stronger, faster, and healthier.

• Magic [Artifacts] & Summoning (All dreamers share a connection to the nightmare spell, allowing them to receive Memories and Echoes.)
• Limited Information Analysis (Carriers of the nightmare spell can look at their own runes.)
• Accelerated Development & Absorption (All awakened humans possess the ability to absorb Soul Shards, and consume the Essence of other awakened humans they kill; each absorption increases their soul core's capacity by a little bit and thus makes them stronger.)
• Superhuman Physical Characteristics & Enhanced Senses (When close to full saturation of his core, Sunny's made Sunny go well beyond the physical limitations of normal humans. When he first became a Dreamer the same energy that made him stronger, faster and healthier also reached his eyes, meaning his eyesight must have also gotten better.)

Awakened

One becomes Awakened after they return from their first visit to the Dream Realm. During awakening, the energy once stored within the soul starts circulating through their entire body, changing it, making it stronger. Beneath the physical changes that the body was undergoing to become better, stronger, and more perfect, was a subtle, but equally incredible transformation of the soul. It's an incomplete step towards divinity.

• Energy Manipulation & Statistic Amplification (They gain the ability to manipulate and boost their strength with soul essence, which is a mystical spirit energy.)
• Regeneration (Low; Their wounds heal faster.)
• Longevity (Awakened live longer than normal humans.)
• Limited Dimensional Travel (When an awakened falls asleep, their spirit body is transported to the Dream Realm.)
• Extrasensory Perception (All awakened can feel things like power, presence, soul essence, or Corruption.)
• Resistance to Corruption (Awakened are immune to weaker forms of Corruption.)

Ascended

Ascended are people who have passed the second trial. The Ascension itself was a miraculous process. It merged the physical and the spirit bodies together, taking the best parts and perfecting both.

• Dimensional Travel (Ascended can go to the Dream Realm at will.)
• Invulnerability & Invulnerability Negation (The only reason sleepers on the forgotten shore were able to harm fallen ones is because of the intangible qualities that mystical materials posses being buffed by the [Dawn Shard]. There's also satements about character having Will - the thing making higher ranks invulnerable - at the fallen rank. It's also said that an awakened is needed to kill an awakened.)
• Likely Weapon Mastery (Ascended are the best of the best of humanity, meaning they are likely to be skilled in wielding their weapons of choice.)
• Resistance to Aura (Overwhelming & fear-inducing; Was able to resist being killed by an echo of the Daemon of Destiny's terrifying & harrowing killing intent that would've otherwise killed another person.)
• Resistance to Death Manipulation (As a supreme Sunny's death will, before creating his shadowbound charm, was able to kill people of lower ranks close to mundanes, meaning people of slightly higher rank can survive it.)
• Resistance to Soul Manipulation (3 layers; Morgan could shrug off Sunny's soul attack.)
• Resistance to Mind Manipulation (Ascended are capable of resisting Kai's calls.)
• Resistance to Poison (Masters find it harder to get drunk.)

Trancendent

Transcendence is a profound transformation where a mortal assumes the first qualities of the divine. It involves transforming the soul essence to become much more potent and the soul core has to become much more voluminous.

• Dimensional Travel (Transcendents can freely travel between the Dream Realm and Reality, as well as bring other people with them.)
• Statistics Amplification & Energy Manipulation (Saints have the ability to control their soul essence with incredible finesse, selectively enhancing each muscle fiber, nerve cluster, or tendon in their body. Their range and manner of enhancements were broader than those of a Master, and could be consciously altered. This allows them to explosively increase their strength, speed, agility, and resilience if they were smart about using their essence and trained themselves instinctively.)
• Analytical Prediction & Martial Arts (Transcendent warriors have a great understanding of the fundamental laws of combat, something that could allow Dreamer Nephis to predict the moves of opponents.)
• Extrasensory Perception & Enhanced Senses (Saints can feel changes in the fabric of reality. Their senses are greatly enhanced too.)
• Possibly Limited Reality Warping (Saints can learn how to wield the will.)
• Aura (Overwhelming; Cormac's killing intent is said to be suffocating. The mystical presence of saints could threaten sending awakened Jet to the ground.)
• Resistance to Death Manipulation (1 layer; Should have equivalent resistance to the black millipedes.)
• Resistance to Law and Physics Manipulation (As a transcendent being Sunny's existence pushes back on the mystical laws of the world and the laws of physics.)
• Resistance to Heat, Radiation & Sound Manipulation (Saints are capable of shrugging off nuclear weapons, which can produce radiation, heat above 100 million degrees Celsius and sound higher than 240 decibels)
• Resistance to Existence Erasure (4 layers; The potency of one's soul is directly equated to their resistance to both, having their soul destroyed, and being erased. So, logically, the potency of the two should scale to eachother. )
• Resistance to Corruption (1 layer; Saints can learn of the forgotten god without getting corrupted.)
• Resistance to Soul Manipulation (4 layers; Saints can survive Wolfbane's growl.)
• Resistance to Mind Manipulation (1 layer; A saint's resistance should be far greater than that of masters and since we know that small quantitative increases count as a layer this should have at least one.)

Supreme

A Supreme is someone who claims rulership over the world, or at least a part of it. Their distinct trait is the authority they wield, which is born from an act of supreme defiance. Supremacy is not just about power; it is the ability to impose one's Will upon reality, defying existing authorities, natural laws, or even the will of gods.

Supreme beings had to possess a consciousness vast enough to encompass an entire realm, leading them to abandon parts of their former selves in pursuit of divinity.

• The Nature of Will
• Domains
• Abilities

Will in Shadow Slave is an abstract type of power manifested of the "spirit" which is the very essence of one's existence,. It manifests through an influence over reality-or in other words, the world itself-allowing the users to bend it to their desire. The will has even shown the ability to interact with Laws and Concepts depending on who wields it.

A Domain is a personal sphere of influence tied to one's authority, crucial in the transition to supremacy. It is a physical manifestation of a sovereign's aspect and can manifest in several different ways. They can be tied to the territory a Supreme rules over, be based on an idea, or be something else entirely. Supremes are said to be nearly invincible inside their domain, and they also receive an endless stream of spirit essence which is a type of energy.

• Reality Warping (Reality bends to the Will of a supreme.)

• Law Manipulation (The word of a supreme is law, in the most literal sense.)

• Space-Time Manipulation (Sunny could use his will to make time resume its flow after the Puppeteer Moth stopped it and also reinforced the space in his domain, making it harder to interfere with and manipulate, in a fight against a cursed demon.)

• Non-Physical Interaction (The borders between the tangible and intangible become blurred at higher ranks.)

• Statistics Reduction, Damage Reduction, Limited Spatial Manipulation & Probability Manipulation (When fighting even a great nightmare creature the wounds dealt to it would be more shallow than they were meant to be. A sharp blade would turn dull; a sturdy armor would succumb to blows easier than it had ever succumbed before. Similarly, one's own body and mind would betray them; this is in the sense that their limbs take longer to respond than usual. Anvil's Will also helps him strike true while making his enemy miss every time, making Sunny feel as though the world is agaist him and Aletes' Will could also slightly bend space.)

• Statistics Amplification & Damage Boost (Will can be used both as a shield for defense and a sword for offence.)

• Self-Sustenance (Types 1 & 2; Supremes don't require food or air, instead being able to feed purely off of their own essence.)

• Immortality (Type 2; Greater beings won't die even to the worst of wounds unless their will to exist has been overpowered.)

• Regeneration (Low-Mid; Supremes can regrow their limbs after an unknown time period.)

• Passive Power Nullification (Willless abilities, such as the mind control of the Puppeteer's shade, don't work on will users.)

• Longevity (The process of becoming a sacred takes up to thousands of years, necessitating supremes to be able to live at least that long.)

• Portal Creation (Supremes can create permanent connections between the dream realm and waking world known as Dream Gates)

• Resistance to Soul Manipulation (5 layers; Great Ones can resist Saint Jet's soul attacks.)

• Resistance to Corruption (2 layers; Anvil could survive Condemnation's gaze.)

• Resistance to Mind Manipulation (5 layers; Anvil could survive Condemnation's gaze)

• Resistance to Absorption & Conceptual Manipulation (Type 4; Sunny could resist the shadow of Condemnation absorbing his body, mind, soul, and spirit — fundamental essence of his existence — into its body.)