The island of Caligo was, and remains to this day, inhabited by a powerful, ancient, technologically advanced civilization. Their advancement in technology was supported and fueled by 'the gods,' as they called them. It consisted of flying vehicles, hover bikes, submersibles, hi-tech homes, advanced robotics, communicators implanted into them (by the 'gods') that allowed them understand and to be understood in any language not their own (turning them into omni-linguists), futuristic weapons, and other such amenities far beyond their time. The 'gods' considered the island of Caligo their main focus for a global experiement, providing Caligoans with unlimited technology, while only granting bits of technology of numerous degrees to the rest of the world. The Caligoan civilization dwindled for a time however when the people of Caligo became too drunk with their own superiority.

They had attempted to construct a machine which they hoped would grant them power over all other countries in the world and would also allow them to venture out to the other parts of the world. This machine of mass destruction angered and disappointed 'the gods.' In an attempt to satisfy the peoples of Caligo with their own land and to prevent them from invading the rest of the world, 'the gods' offered them a gift for their island alone that only the Caligoans could possess and that would only be able to exist on the island itself, never capable of leaving (thus hoping to entice the people of Caligo to remain on their own land).

The gift was that of what every human being longed for - companionship. They offered them this in the form of a true soul mate, 'cloning' the souls of all those who inhabited the island and placing them in their comparable spirit animal counterparts. These spirit animals, or Shades, as they had come to be known, took the form of one of three unique creatures. Each of these Shades was equally intelligent and able to speak. They could also shift between being corporeal and incorporeal, or rather, solid and ghostly. Despite being a spirit, Shades did require food and water to live. All Shades were pure black in color, though with various glowing, pupil-less eye colors. Each Shade had two physiques -- their Monster form and their Critter form. In other words, they could choose to be either miniature, or massive enough to be ridden as a mount and could shift between forms whenever they chose.

To further increase the bond between the human and Shade soul mates, the spirits of each of themselves were intertwined forever. Where the Shade lives, the human partner can never die. While a Caligoan could be stabbed through the heart, set aflame, or thrown off a cliff, so long as their Shade was alive and well, so, too, would they be. The Shade was their second lifeline. If the Shade or the human was to feel pain, so would their other half. If the Shade was to be killed, disappearing into a puff of black smoke, their human partner would no longer be immortal. Caligoans can never die unless their Shade perishes. Caligoans age until around thirty, then they stop. If their Shade is killed, they will age normally until their natural (or unnatural) death.

Because Shades can only exist on the island, their human partners are not capable of being separated from their Shade by any great distance. The Caligoans have determined that at around five miles away from their Shade, they begin to feel weak, tired, and sick, as if a part of their own soul has been detached from them. If the Shade and their human counterpart continue to move apart from one another, their bond will be lost forever, and the Shade will cease to exist, thus leaving their human mortal and doomed to age like the rest of humanity.

First-generation drifters, or those people that originally were born off-island elsewhere in the world and now live on Caligo, normally after having crashed their plane there or floated in from their sunken ship, are not blessed with their own Shades. However, descendants of drifters, usually third-generation and on, typically are born with Shades, as they are considered by the island to be true Caligoans.

Because Shades share the same soul as their human, their personalities are incredibly similar. They also have the ability to communicate telepathically between each other. Each Shade is unique to their Caligoan in that they all possess one ability that reflects their human, be it their personality, a deep desire of theirs, or an aspect. This ability may seem like magic to an ordinary person. For example, if their Caligoan partner is shy and doesn't want to be noticed all the time, or if they have a desire to be sneaky, their Shade's ability may be to turn invisible. Another example is that a Caligoan may be hotheaded and short-tempered, therefore their Shade may have the ability to breathe fire. The Shades take an ability that most deeply reflects the inner nature of their human partner. Abilities vastly range from elemental powers, to speed and strength, to mental abilities, to healing, and so forth. The possibilities are endless. When a Caligoan is born, their Shade's spirit too is born into existence, and they are born with a standard ability, such as the power to control one of the elements. However, as their human partner grows and changes, so too does their Shade's ability. It could take many years for their ability to settle on something permanent. Some Caligoans claim their Shade's ability didn't become permanent until they were well into their twenties. Others have had their Shades settle on an ability as early as five-years-old.

The first species of Shades were the Grimalkins, an indigenous species of large felines that had an excessively long, thin tail. They boast a pair of saber-teeth, or rather, maxillary canines, which can be up to twenty inches long. These saber-teeth are the only part of the Grimalkin (besides their eyes) that are not black, but instead silver. These big cats are incredible hunters, usually stalking prey from high up in the trees, then swooping down at alarming speeds to take them down. In their Monster form, they are remarkably large, in relation to other big cats, but are quick on their feet. In their Critter form, the Grimalkins are roughly the size of a pet house cat. They are also, thanks to their tails, terribly nimble and able to balance themselves on the thinnest ledges. These long tails don't only serve a purpose for balance, but also are quite muscular and useful for wrapping around tree branches to secure themselves. These cats are extremely muscular and can even lift twice their body weight straight up into trees, many times having to claim their prey this way. Their diet consists mainly of rabbits, deer, and wild hogs. The Grimalkin are fearsome predators and equally feared among their own kind. Grimalkins are essentially solitary and territorial creatures, preferring not to encounter other Grimalkin Shades. They are endurance runners, able to keep at a steady thirty miles per hour running speed for a long time.


The traits of a Caligoan with a Grimalkin might include:
ambitious, arrogant, assertive, bold, candid, competitive, complex, complicated, contradictory, courageous, cunning, daring, deep, demanding, duel-natured, emotional, extrovert, foolhardy, high achiever, hungry for power, impatient, impulsive, intellectual, a loner, mischievous, moody, neglecting, neurotic, objective, orderly, passionate, philosophical, promiscuous, quick-witted, secretive, self-confident, self-destructive, self-improving, self-pitying, serious, smart, sophisticated, straightforward, unrestrained


The second type of Shades were the Inklaws. The Inklaws resemble ravens, and, in their Monster form, are massive birds, as large as the extinct teratorns. They possess a sharp and lethal silver beak, the only part of them not black. Their wingspan is twenty to twenty-seven feet long, and they stand at six and a half to seven and a half feet tall. These birds need surprisingly little height for take-off in Monster form. Even a gentle down-slope of 10° and a light headwind would have given it enough extra power to avoid an embarrassing crash. Once in the air, the flapping flight that small birds use is out of the question for the giant predator. Instead, Inklaws are master gliders. It is capable of soaring for great distances at a shallow angle of 3°, continually re-shaping its wings to control its glide. Like modern soarers, the Inklaws stay aloft using upwards air currents produced by wind deflected up the cliffs. Because of its efficient gliding, it can stay aloft using relatively slow drafts of wind. Its top speed is seventy miles per hour, allowing it to scan vast tracts of land for prey. It's a very energy-efficient style, and they can even cover hundreds of miles without a single wing flap. When the bird switches from the mountains to the wide, open spaces, it switches to a different method – thermal soaring, where rising columns of hot air provide it with lift. Its diet mainly consists of carrion. In their Critter forms, they are around the size of a raven and no longer glide in the air, but flap their wings to fly.


The traits of a Caligoan with an Inklaw might include:
arrogant, astute, calm, clever, competent, conservative, cunning, curious, detail-oriented, devoted, dogmatic in their opinions, easygoing, eccentric, elusive, exuberant, gentle, helpful, hungry for knowledge, idealistic, imaginative, inquisitive, instinctive, intellectual, intelligent, intuitive, logical, a negotiator, open-minded, patient, perfectionist, pompous, problem-solving, reclusive, relaxed, resourceful, rule-abiding, self-righteous, sensitive, shy, simple, stable, systematic, thorough, thoughtful, wise


The final type of Shades were the Bownytes. Bownytes, in their Monster form, are very large canines, towering over the modern-day wolf. In their Critter form, however, they are around the size of a laborador. They have two long, straight horns on the top of their heads that point behind them, almost like that of a goat, but are less rounded. These horns are silver, rather than black like the rest of their body. Like wolves, Bownytes have two layers of fur, the top layer being the guard hairs that repel water and dirt, and the bottom one being a dense undercoat that slightly insulates them. Their pelages are much less thick than a wolf's, however, and they will often rub against objects like trees or rocks to encourage the shedding of their fur when they become too hot. Their diet consists of raccoons, rabbits, and wild pigs. The Bownytes have large, long ears and slender bodies, similar to that of the Ancient Egyptian Anubis god of the maned wolf. Bownytes are extremely social animals, thriving in the company of others of their kind along with humans. They are fast runners, able to reach short sprinting speeds up to forty miles per hour. They say any time a Bownyte is heard echoing its long, drawn-out, sad howl, it is crying for one of its kin that has died. They are very caring creatures, known to mourn the deaths of other Bownyte Shades.


The traits of a Caligoan with a Bownyte might include:
adventurous, affectionate, ambitious, boastful, brave, charismatic, compassionate, conscientious, conventional, cooperative, courteous, creative, dependable, empathetic, fair, faithful, fickle, flirtatious, fretful, friendly, generous, honorable, humorous, just, loyal, naïve, nurturing, obedient, optimistic, pleasant, positive, positive view of humanity, quarrelsome, reliable, resilient, respectful, responsible, righteous, self-controlled, shallow, social, stand up for what they believe, strong-willed, temperamental, trusting, trustworthy, virtuous

Though it was never proven, some Caligoans assumed the Grimalkin Shades represented darker, more misunderstood and sometimes immoral people, while the Inklaw was more on the neutral or open-minded side, and the Bownyte epitomized the moral, social, and good-natured people.