From what I've read in the Palace about shadows, the Empire does not expect the Shadows to be fighters *at all*, that should be left for the blades. This leads me to believe that Shadows might not even be expected to retreive or fight unnecessarily at any time. Do the imms expect (or even care) if shadows are incredibly tough fighters? They seem like they would care more about the ability to gather information and perform assassinations instead, without getting into the mix all too often (if at all).


In the perfectness of the Empire, the Blades will be the ones marching into their enemies homes and achieving conquest, not the shadows.