politicians Master manipulators this tribe is the absolute best when it comes to the Guru
at the political game the Shadow Lords work the hierarchies they work this system they will stab
you in the back to get anything they want and they don't care who they work with if it achieves their
end goals Shadow Lords they value brains over Brawn they are one of the few tribes within the
guru nation that values your wits and intelligence versus sheer physical strength they place a very
high value on manipulation cunning and although they are not known for being the best warriors in
the guru nation that does not mean that they are not very capable when it comes to fisticuffs power
is the only thing that speaks to a Shadow Lord and however they achieve it isn't really important to
the rest of the tribe the guru Nation might have something to say about this but when it comes to
the shadow lords power is everything when it comes to the Shadow Lords there is zero tolerance for
mercy compassion or weakness it could be in a battle of wits it could be in a physical battle
it doesn't matter weakness is death the shadow lords also have a very Rocky history when it comes
to one of the other tribes in the guru Nation we'll get into that in a little bit the Shadow
Lords will never miss an opportunity to make this tribe look as moronic as possible so let's discuss
the Shadow Lords now if you'll want to get more world of Darkness videos lore content then please
hit the Subscribe button with the like button to let me know how you feel about these shadow
lords today's video isn't actually going to have a sponsor in it but I thought I would take this
opportunity to quickly mention the Patreon that I have if you want to support the channel if you
want to support the work that I do please feel free to join me in the snack pack as we discuss
world of Darkness Star Finder Pathfinder your favorite role-playing games if you sign up at one
of the maple levels you will get to participate in monthly video votes which helps determine the
videos that I make the link to my Patreon can be found found in the description below many many
things could be said about the Shadow Lords saying that they are willing to sacrifice themselves for
the betterment of Gaia is not one of them which is a real problem because this is generally expected
of you as a guru but if you can get someone else to make the sacrifice for you then you don't have
to make it yourself and sacrifice does play an important role it is a reoccurring theme when it
comes to the Shadow Lords this does not mean that a shadow Lord will never sacrifice themselves for
cause unfortunately if they have become more Zealot more firmly entrenched in their belief
they will sacrifice not only themselves but they will sacrifice anyone around them if it achieves
the end result that they are looking for to their cause in keeping with this theme Shadow Lords they
have extreme reverence for lightning storms they view them as an expression of their totem Shadow
Lords also have a very different approach to gifts when it comes to basically the rest of
the guru Shadow Lords view gifts as a Birthright something that they are entitled to however in
order to achieve your gift you still must prove yourself worthy the leaders of the Shadow Lords
are known as alphas and this is again fitting with the wolf themes throughout the guru Nation most
Alphas well they lowered their status over all of their minions and they're quite controlling many
Alphas will actually build trust by endearing their tribe endearing those closest to them
to the alpha they will do this through positive reinforcement through bribery manipulation it's
easier to control willing zealots than it is to control an unwilling slave but if you're trying
to get in the good graces of an alpha and you question their authority too much you could
find yourself at the end of a very sharp and pointy stick just a quick side note on these
shadow lords since we're discussing them in the East there is a group of effectively Shadow Lords
called the Hakken they are not the same tribe unlike their Western counterpart the Hakken have
managed to balance their manipulation with the practice of Bushido Bushido Bushido the Hakken
are one of the only groups even though they are considered to be Guru that have any relation with
the Beast courts in Asia let's go back to the early days to the beginning times of The Shadow
Lords they originated in the steps of Eurasia it's here that the Shadow Lords learned to control the
human tribes in the area how did they do this they worked themselves into the social tribes there was
werewolves among the people and while they didn't necessarily go out and attain positions of power
they ingratiated themselves to the people and they were respected enough that even though they didn't
hold authoritative power appointed position power they were still respected enough that
if they said something they were listened to now during this time the Shadow Lords they were second
in command of the guru Nation they were behind the silver fangs in the early days of humanity
the earlier days of werewolves they did support the silver fangs and they got along fairly well
this unfortunately was not to last during these days the Shadow Lords ingratiated themselves to
the silver fangs to the point where they they were still consulted with things and whatever
they said had weight they also were an asset to the silver fangs because the Shadow Lords were
willing to do the Dirty Work the wet work the non-glorious work the Shadow Lords did things
horrible things terrible things at the behest of the silver fangs because the silver fangs didn't
want to get their reputation dirty stained or muddied with the dishonor Associated to these acts
even though they were doing the work of the silver fangs the Shadow Lords were still used
as scapegoats when the silver fangs got caught doing something that they shouldn't the Shadow
Lords they accept this they knew that this was the price to pay for being the second in command and
because they believed that they were actively working to the betterment of the guru Nation
it wouldn't be until the Concord which ended the Impergium that the Shadow Lords would really start
to feel their discontent with the silver fangs the Shadow Lords felt that many of the issues
which brought on the Impergium in the first place were not addressed properly with the Concord if
you need a quick refresher the Impergium was the culling of humanity in the prehistoric times it is
the reason that we fear the dark the Red Talons they are still calling for an Impergium 2.0 and
they have been ever since the Concord during this time the Shadow Lords would follow their herd and
they progressed through Eastern Europe it's here that the Shadow Lords became locked in an intense
battle a giant war with a Vampire brood the werewolves they call them leeches the Tzimisce the
Shadow Lords they didn't have good relations with the local populations so instead the Shadow Lords
they ingratiated themselves to The Barbarians which would eventually go on to sack Rome there
were some ambassadors to the silver fangs in their ranks as well and they found a suitable
Place among the senate in Rome the Shadow Lords also began to teach their people teach their
Brethren the ways of the Romans they did actually have some good combat prowess moving into the Dark
Ages the Shadow Lords found an extreme distaste for a religion which was growing at the time
Christianity the institutional-ism of the church alienated to the people from their tribal roots
and this did not work very well for the Shadow Lords the Shadow Lords they now had a problem
they were used to manipulating people they were not used to manipulating institutions this was
never something that they had come across before as the church grew their tactics became outdated
it's easy to manipulate a single person it's not easy to manipulate an entire organization at least
not on your own the Shadow Lords found themselves stretched thin not only were they battling the
church but they were also battling vampires who were springing up in the area but learned
they did and adjust their tactics they did you still have the problem of fighting vampires which
you know but they were able to adjust and they were able to adapt and the Dark Ages
honestly were not a bad time to be a Shadow Lord during this time some of the Shadow Lords were
very intrigued with Islam another religion which Christians were fighting against while the Shadow
Lords themselves never actually adopted the Islamic religion the Islamic faith they did
enjoy some of its inner workings and so did the Mongols with this the shadow lords and the Mongols
were mixed together and this is how we get some of the original Hakken it wouldn't be until 1456
when the Shadow Lords had a new enemy one that was very prolific and very difficult to deal with the
Impaler Prince Vlad Tepes otherwise known as Vlad the Impaler or in the world of Darkness setting
Dracula originally Vlad did work with the shadow lords in his campaign against the Turks later
however he would consort with the Tzimisce and the Shadow Lords they didn't take very kindly to this
in the the end however the Shadow Lords they are responsible for the imprisonment coming up with
the plan for the imprisonment of Dracula by the hands of Matthias Corvinus the king of Hungary
just a quick side note here on Vlad Dracula he was a very powerful Tzimisce Elder by the end
of his days he was extremely resourceful and unmatched in his cruelty he would eventually
gain his undead status his undead life at the hands of Lambach Ruthven Vlad convinced Lambach
to embrace him the Shadow Lords would then go on to take credit for killing Dracula in 1475 but
they lied it wouldn't be until the start of the Renaissance Era when the Shadow Lord's illusion
of control over Humanity would shatter they would eventually realize that the guru mission
to control Humanity had failed the Renaissance was also known for something else and that was the
discovery of the new world this would also be one of the darkest chapters in the Shadow Lord history
to say that a Shadow Lord experiences remorse is just well nobody says that but talking about this
particular time in the Shadow Lord history this is probably one of the few things that a Shadow Lord
any of the Shadow Lords are genuinely remorseful for this would be the extinction of the Camazots
in the tribe's original dealings with Vlad the Impaler with Dracula they were a bit on edge
with shape-shifting man bats especially ones who practiced blood sacrifice when the Shadow Lords
discovered there was a type of Fera that was using blood sacrifice blood magic blood rituals
and coming off of the back of their failure to properly manage Dracula they made a bit of a
hasty decision the Shadow Lords went on a bit of a killing spree they slaughtered the Camazots to
the last there were other groups of pharaoh within the Mesoamerican civilizations which
were not spared the Wrath of the shadow lords the Balam the Mokole to name a few the name of
the shadow lord who killed the last camazot was dark claw of vengeance upon the death of
the last camazot a scream resounded it resonated through the entire tribe it forced every tribe to
their knees with racking grief this happened to everyone even if they had no idea why it
was happening the scream of the last camazot this also created a problem for the guru and
the shadow lords in the area because this sound this scream awakened a sleeping Behemoth a worm
monstrosity known as storm eater a rose this creature this minion of the worm wreaked havoc
across the American West but the shadow lords would have a small consolation prize in the
sense that the problem they had created would also be solved by a shadow Lord they were able
to gather their forces to Rally the tribes and defeat the Bane in the Victorian age the shadow
lords had some more meddling and this gained them even more ire from the silver fangs back
in Europe the silver fangs messed with the balance of the Balkans which the silver fangs were trying
to maintain there was some significant infighting between house austere and House Crescent Moon part
of the war they were fighting they were trying to free accept from control of vampire hands
this would be sept of the night sky this event as the werewolves would succeed gained the ire
of the Tzimisce and the vampires they started a campaign against the werewolves they wanted their
Vengeance it wouldn't be until the Great War when the shadow lords would claim that the silver fangs
had lost their influence they had lost their power and they had no more right to rule this is when
the shadow lord aspirations of being the alpha of the guru Nation really began to take hold for the
most part modern nights is not a good time to be a shadowlord either they had a very difficult time
with the second world war and controlling all the Banes that came out of this this upheaval during
the Cold War it got a tiny bit easier for the shadow lords they adopted the mass paranoia that
was going around in society here is where they started working a little bit more as information
Brokers they were actively trying to protect their Kinfolk from the purges of Stalin the shadow lords
they kind of liked Russia they liked the secrecy that they were able to achieve in this area when
the Iron Curtain fell the shadow lords were none too pleased in the final night setting this is
kind of a gray area with the upcoming release being that probably none of this is going to have
happened in W5 this was basically the apocalypse setting in the previous versions w20 and revised
going back to that there is a story of redemption here the shadow lords finding themselves in the
Amazon War they were trying to help but they were very distrusted by The Local Natives for
their hand in the destruction of the camazots a descendant of dark claw of Vengeance Miguel
Gutierrez he ended up making some inroads with the local native population and began a very dangerous
Journey Miguel he went on a trip to the malfeas this is hell not only did he go to hell but he
went to the black spiral Labyrinth and within the Labyrinth he was able to retake to capture back a
piece of the soul of bat he was able to free this portion of bat psyche from the worms hold from its
grasp this showed the local tribes that the shadow lords were willing to learn from their mistakes
this would also give them the trust they needed to participate in the Amazon war in the final nights
Dracula who the shadow lord said they had killed also came back and posed a significant problem
for the guru Nation tell me what you think about the shadow lords in the comments below also if you
want to learn more about my personal favorite tribe within werewolf the apocalypse you need
to click this video here thank you to all of my patrons for supporting me and the Channel all of
your ongoing support is greatly appreciated my name's Nathaniel thanks for stopping by everyone