Role

Chapter 3

Evolution continues endlessly, with or without the help of any Outlander
or Scion. Evolution itself is the harshest taskmaster, as she has no
feelings or care for your survival, only that you survive, and to survive
long enough to procreate, and that is it. If you live longer, it doesn't
matter to evolution. Your purpose is done and are simply aging food
to feed the next generation.

Thus brings me to my studies. I am a self proclaimed Evolutionist and
have a broad mindset on the Planes and Thera and how they interact.
Evolution works on a planar scale, involves all planes, and the good
of one Plane does not hold higher than another. The Planes must
survive to maintain and reproduce, or in this case, continue to
recreate themselves to stay in existence. Failure to do so leaves
a Plane vulnerable to invasion, take over, and destruction. Just
as an ant must build a strong nest, so does a Plane to guarantee
its domain is not breached by others looking to feed or invade.

I have taken up the study of the insects of this Plane solely because
they evolve the quickest, and are therefore best for study in my
unfortunately short lifespan compared to other creatures (damned elves).
So exposure to the Shadow Plane grants quick mutation and results. I can
then extrapolate what will happen to larger creatures, even humanoids
here if the creatures of the Shadow Plane come here like red ants into
a black ant hill.

One such study involves Phase Spiders of the Spiderhaunt woods and
exposure to the Shadow Plane. What I have found is most interesting.
There is a very high incidence of survival, partially due, I believe,
to their ability to both manipulate phase and thus plane, but also
their incedious nature as a Spider. Of all creatures I study, the spider
seems to adopt the best to the Shadows. Those Phase Spiders that survive
exposure are able to step freely between Shadow Plane and Thera without
need of a portal. Their phasing does not take them now to the Astral or Etheral,
but to the Shadow Plane itself. There is already a cross over, perhaps
through Phase Spidesr a secret can be found to walk between the both and
this is where the final portal will open.

All deems more study, but I move closer and closer with more experiments.
I find it interesting that most Scions completely reject the Natural world while
there is so much to learn and the secrets in Nature are sometimes darker than
any magic can produce.