The Umbra

[Alta]

I have recently been reading the book 'Xenology' and I love the concept of the Umbra. For people who don't know what they are, here is the Lexicanium article: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Umbra

I am making a character similiar to Ralei (for those who don't know, he is an Inquisitor who studies xenos). But he will probably focus more on Tyranid study, worship the Emperor more and provide the Ordo Xenos with lots of information on defence and attack strategies against various xenos, mainly Tyranids. I thought about equiping him with a familiar, specifically a servo-skull. I designed him a medskull equipped with scalpels to make quick disection on scene and take samples. Yet I was also thinking about incorporating an Umbra into Inquisitor. Then one day I thought, why not tame a small Umbra and keep it locked inside a servoskull?

Obviously, it would be only used in the direst of circumstances and many precautions would have to be taken to ensure that it was not found. The servoskull would keep the Umbra in darkness and in stasis but, upon command, its two halves will seperate, releasing the Umbra. Once released, it cannot move and will follow the direct orders of the Inquisitor only.

Yet I have no idea how I would represent it's rules. Could the Conclave please help?
Even if he does not have a tamed Umbra, I could think of a few scenarios where the Umbra could be utilised...

[Morcus]

I like this train of thought. Having a Xenos bent from the start I've thought on and off about this subject many times but I personally don't like the idea of a tame Umbra. I think they'd make a creat alien to encounter just because they're so weird and difficult to destroy. My thoughts on using them in games as far as rules are concerned would be something simillar to a demon but less phycic if that makes any sense.

[MarcoSkoll]

I have to agree with Morcus - I have no idea how you might tame an Umbra. There is nothing you can offer them, and their only known vulnerability is light.

However, I could see it being used in the same way you might use an Eversor - point it in the right direction and hope it does more damage to the enemy than you.
So it's kept in the skull... somehow. Semi-stasis, carefully calibrated suspensor fields, whatever. And then, when released, it just generally goes bonkers on whoever is in the area - stand back.

As far as rules... obviously, I'd say it should have Daemonic: Cloak of Darkness or at least something based on it. First thoughts are its powers should probably not be psychic, but I'll get back to you on that one.

[Alta]

Thinking it over, I think it would be incredibly hard to tame an Umbra, so I don't think I could have a captive one. But they could be very interesting to use in scenarios.

Ok, here's a list of various aspects of the Umbra:

Movement - I'm not entirely sure about how they move. At first, since it said there appeared to be no obvious form of locomotion I thought it couldn't move, but reading over it again, Ralei reported that the captors cornered it into a cage, so it must be able to move somehow...

Fear of light - I think use Marco's suggestion of Daemonic: Cloak of Darkness

ShadowLimbs - This is probably the hardest to make a rule for. Anyone got suggestions?

[Morcus]

I don't think rules for shadow limbs need be to complex, just have one location for damage and just have rules for how it attacks with shadow limbs. If it was GM controlled you could just have it summon various limbs which count as various CC weapons, If player controled you'd need to think of a way to add some element of chance i suppose.

[Alta]

It will be GM controlled.

So, for shadowlimbs:
Psychic power (wyrd?). Choose ?D? places within ? yards of the Umbra that are in shadow/darkness (GM discretion). From each point: range:(?), mode:flame, dam:?D?. Damage decreased by ?D? for every ? yards out of darkness.

Still don't know what to do for movement though..

Also, one of my friends suggested the idea of an Umbra-shard Gauntlet...