[SantaBJ]

Order of the Shadow

Mythical creatures, ancient conspiracies, incredible abilities, epic battles, amazing discoveries, unlikely love and an even more unlikely heritage. This is all part of the extraordinary adventures of a young scientist, Isaac, who discovers a fantastic reality hidden right in front of our very eyes.

Our story follows Franklin Isaac Verne, a young phycisist who discovers the existence of a fifth force of nature - the Dark Force. His theories make him an outcast in scientific circles, but they catch the attention of a highly secretive organization called the Order of the Shadow. Isaac is introduced to this organization, and discovers that the reality he thought he lived in is a lie. The Dark Force has been known to humanity for centuries, and people exist who can manipulate it to grant them fantastic abilities. The Order has suppressed the knowledge from reaching the general populace. But that is not all they have hidden; humans are not the only intelligent creatures on Earth. In fact, many of the strange creatures known from ancient human mythology appear to be real - and Isaac himself appears to be half elf.

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The most basic part of the Order of the Shadow universe is the existence of a fifth force of nature called the dark force, that appears to be the "mother" of the normal four forces - that is, the forces of electromagnetism, gravity, and the weak and strong atomic forces seem to be mere "side effects" of this fifth force. The reasons why this has not yet been detected by known human science are 1) it is not directly perceivable, but can be detected indirectly through certain astronomic phenomena and 2) the Order of the Shadow has been working to hide the knowledge of this force from the public for centuries.

"The Knowledge" is a term used by members of the Order in referring to the science of the dark force and all knowledge that comes with it. It is regarded by those who study it to be the key to understanding our very existence. The properties that are most important to this show, however, are much less abstract.

This dark force seems to be connected to sentience somehow; all lifeforms are connected to each other through a kind of dark force interaction known as the shadow plane, or shadow link. Old texts describe it as a place where the soul, or essence, of all living beings exist and interact in "zero-space" - essentially an extra, presumably spatial, dimension outside of our perceptional reach. Everything any creature does "leaks" into the Shadow Link, and will inevitably change something there. This change can then leak from the Shadow Link into other creatures through their own "essence", and so - in some way - change the relationship between the creatures involved. This effect seems very similar to the term known from some human cultures as "karma".

Although all sentient creatures are linked through the shadow link, some are more sensitive to its effects - and, indirectly, to the dark force - than others. It is quite rare for these creatures to have any conscious awareness of this sensitivity; however, they will usually be in posession of some seemingly unusual powers known as dark force abilities. These creatures are called dark force wielders; by unknown means, they are able to manipulate the dark force in very specific ways - some have telepathic abilities, some telekinetic, some can fly and so on.

Through the thousands of years that the Knowledge has been researched, no one is known to have figured out exactly how this link works. This leads many to believe that unlocking that secret may be one of the final steps towards understanding the Knowledge. Franklin Isaac Verne, our protagonist, will eventually reveal at least some of the mechanics behind the shadow link.

[SantaBJ]

Our story follows a young scientist, Isaac, who discovers the dark force and is shunned by the scientific community and his father for his theories. He is taken in by the Order, who sees great potential in him - the first human to have independently come on the track of the Knowledge in over a hundred years. When there, it is discovered that he is a wielder, and a powerful one at that. Isaac is what is called a "memcon"; a very rare wielder. Memcons are *always* human/elf hybrids, but Isaac never knew of this heritage. Upon further investigation it is discovered that he is indeed the son of an elven woman who died giving birth to him.

The memcon ability is considered a very advanced, high level ability. In fact, on the ability level scale that Isaac himself will later introduce, memcon is the highest ranked ability there is because it is passive with active taps into the conscious mind. The memcon default ability is that of instant learning; because of the altered brain structure of the hybrid brain, the subcon (the subconscious ability to pick up "leaks" from the shadow link) ability is always active and tied in with two centers of the brain - memory and focus. There seems to be some cross-checking going on, because information will only go to the memory centers if it matches the area in focus - for example, if a teacher is talking to a memcon about electronics and the memcon is focusing on the same thing as the teacher, the memcon will automatically "record" the knowledge the teacher possess on the subject he is currently teaching. But if the memcon is absent-minded and thinking about, say, comic books - nothing will be stored.

This always-on characteristic of the memcon ability gives the wielder the theoretical ability of adapting to use other dark force abilities in addition to his default one; this is not possible with any other ability, and Isaac will during the course of the series learn why this is and how to accomplish it. He will also find his lost elven family, uncover dangerous secrets about the origins of the Order and its High Council, reveal the existence of erased histories and civilizations, and eventually participate in battles for the very survival of humanity.