When a shadowling feeds on a distressed mammal, is it actually harmful to the mammal?
I suppose a hungry shadowling would be a danger to a mammal, because the shadowling would likely torment it in order to be able to eat, but is the act of eating itself harmful?
At first, I assumed that it would be uncomfortable/painful, and eventually cause death, but Duvalier did not seem to feel any discomfort (aside from being angry) in TSoG when the shadowling in Somnus snacked on him.
Thank you!
(I hope I'm putting this question in the right place. I've looked around the forums, but haven't been able to find an answer to this particular question.)
It's an interesting question!
I'll have to think a bit about it...
By the way, welcome to the forums Sage.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! ^_^
Thanks. :) I'm rather shy, so I'll probably mostly lurk, but I love the TRPG series. Probably a little more than is healthy. >.>
I'd imagine you'd feel most of the effects of being fed upon after multiple sessions. As for immediate effects, I'd wager a mild form of bipolar disorder is to be expected. Also, I'd guess you'd be more receptive to emotions juxtaposed from the ones being fed upon. Both of these effects would probably only last a few minutes though until your mind compensates. Long term effects would probably be a more permanent form of both of these effects in addition to a feeling of loss, regardless of what emotion is being fed off of. I'd also imagine your mind would start to unravel for obvious reasons.
Like Sage said earlier, Duvalier didn't even notice the shadowling was feeding off his negative emotions. This makes me believe that shadowlings' feeding habits are harmless to humans under normal circumstances.
The real issue is that shadowlings might be motivated to cause suffering to humans just in order to feed a ravenous appetite for negative emotions. I wouldn't be surprised if the Shadowling Queen was partly motivated to be at constant state of war by her insatiable appetite for misery.
I like the idea of there being no negative effects at first, but eventual mental instability if you were fed on regularly.
Snarl at one point told the chapter 1 and 2 hero to not tempt him, because the hero was edible despite being Tastidian's slave. I took that to mean that eating a human has some sort of negative effect on them, but perhaps it's just rude to eat another shadowling's slave?
Edit: Or maybe he was implying that he would first cause the Hero to have negative emotions, which would obviously be bad?
SmartyPants - that makes sense! I didn't think of that, but it would explain why she would fight wars that seemingly had no point.
(Am I reading way to far into all this? >.>)
My assumption about Snarl's threat is that he planned to leave the Hero to slowly die in agony in order feed off him/her.
[spoiler=Cheerlis' quest](Much like Cheerlis (http://telepath.wikia.com/wiki/Cheerlis) did to humans in her basement)[/spoiler]