In their arrogance, the ancient beings that have terrorized Known Space for millennia have no name for themselves. They are content for others to call them The Shadows, for, without a true name, they have proven a difficult foe to effect with magic. Every dozen or so millennia, The Shadows emerge from their homeworld to spread across the Universe. Those that proved worthy would survive; the rest would be eradicated. Only the most powerful of groups, like the Green Lantern Corps, were able to stop their relentless advance.
Every time the Shadows were defeated, the survivors scurried back to their homeworld, the infamous planet known as
Z'Ha'Dum. There they would heal, rebuild, and foment new plans to scour Known Space of all weakness and raise up the strongest species to thrive in their place. Underneath the desolate surface were seemingly endless corridors and caverns, where their automatons were located. Hundreds of birthing chambers, fabrication centers, and spacedocks prepared the mighty Shadow fleet for its next interstellar crusade.
No species could ever get close to Z'Ha'Dum to strike a final blow. Every empire and entity, no matter how powerful they perceived themselves, could never reach past the threshold of the system. The greatest of Elves, the largest alien fleets, and the mightiest of Vorlon vessels sought to reach orbit around the Shadow homeworld, only to be pushed back gravely injured or outright destroyed. No one knows what devices were responsible, only that the Vorlon saying is true:
If you go to
Z'Ha'Dum, you will die.
The Shadow War was one of the greatest conflicts the species had ever seen and the closest it had ever been to complete victory. They had sworn oaths of allegiance, thinking him a kindred spirit. By the time they realized the Lord of Apocalypse had ulterior motives, the Army of Darkness had already started to fragment. Torn apart by the Army of the Light, the last remaining Shadows limped home and slept, determined to let the younger races decline into their own ruin without their intervention.
But they didn't consider their Oath and the power it contained. Ensnared by the pact, Darkseid has forced the Shadows to awaken and activate the fleet of vessels which automatic facilities had built in their slumber. Now effectively slaves to Apokolips, the Shadows are being sent to attack the empires of Known Space, attempting to cause division that will weaken their resolve and allow the new Army of Darkness.
The Second Shadow War is coming and instead of being its architects, it's become its cannon fodder.
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