[Longshot23]

There's been a couple of posts in other threads about shedim possibly deserving as much consideration as Infected. While I don't buy into that opinion, I would like to see an expansion of what is known (or "known") about the corpse stealers. Possibly an in-character posting of a claim to have communicated with one or more shedim.

If nothing else, whether they have opinions relating to their activities vis a vis metahumanity:

1) predator-prey, or
2) the existence of metahumanity is anathema to shedim; or
3) they're nihilistic anima spirits, i.e. it's nothing personal; or
4) something else . . .

Thoughts?

[Reaver]

In a nut shell?

The lesser Shedim attack and kill living sapients. As to why? There have been a few suggestions, most variations of "they hate all life"

Master Shedim have displayed amazing talents as passing themselves off as their host, but display the same level of malice towards life.... they are just more creative in how they do it and the scale in which they do it. (The jihad led by Ibn Iza is a good example)

Some books to read about Shedim:

Year of the comet (introduced, 3rd edition)
Street magic 4th edition

[Longshot23]

In a nut shell?

The lesser Shedim attack and kill living sapients. As to why? There have been a few suggestions, most variations of "they hate all life"

Master Shedim have displayed amazing talents as passing themselves off as their host, but display the same level of malice towards life.... they are just more creative in how they do it and the scale in which they do it. (The jihad led by Ibn Iza is a good example)

Some books to read about Shedim:

Year of the comet (introduced, 3rd edition)
Street magic 4th edition

Which is why I'd like to see some sort of expansion . . .

[Herr Brackhaus]

"Would you like to know more?"

Unfortunately, I think the Shedim plotline is mostly wrapped up at this point, what with the closing of the Watergate astral rift essentially severing the gateway to their home plane. This doesn't mean there are no more Shedim left in the world (there are), but it means their numbers are dwindling.

There was a great novel that dealt with a character encountering a Master Shedim; it was pretty gruesome stuff, but I can't remember the name of it right now. I got the feeling they are a cross between mindless zombies (much so on the part of the lesser Shedim) and Horrors, actually, in that in the novel the antagonist seemed to... enjoy, for lack of a better term... the suffering of his victims.

Street Grimoire elaborates a little bit on the fact that they a big mystery in-setting:

Prior to the arrival of shedim, all other spirits have viewed the physical plane as a place to escape, or as a breeding/feeding ground. Shedim have shown a desire to travel to the physical plane, though it is extremely difficult for them to stay there, but have also shown nothing but utter hatred for mortals. They come to where life exists so that they may extinguish it.

Master Shedim are described as having "a deep and malicious intelligence", while lesser Shedim are described as "intellectually primitive entities filled with hate and violence", so I'd say this leads credence to the "some people just want to watch the world burn" categorization. They've been deliberately left vague in terms of motivation, I think, because they are picture-perfect bad guys; unlike the corp suit who is hellbent on profits at any cost or the researcher who pushed ethical boundaries in the name of science, Shedim can't be reasoned with, they can't be talked down, heck, they can't even be fully understood. That makes them that much easier to present as a purely "evil" enemy.

Something later editions gloss over is that Shedim can inhabit any and all corpses; Year of the Comet from SR3 gives actual target numbers for a Shedim inhabiting a 1,000 year old or more corpse; this makes them perfect nightmare fuel enemies, as they could inhabit the preserved corpse of ancient Egyptian kings and the like, for example. They can also take over a projecting magicians body...

[Sendaz]

Well Year of the Comet back in 3rd touched on a lot of this.

They are alien astral jellyfish which takes dead or otherwise unoccupied bodies ( #hijackingastralprojectors ) to play puppeteer with so they can come across into the physical realm.  Once there they do not seem able to return to the astral or other metaplanes voluntarily.

Do they hate all life?  It does seem so given their actions.

Once they have a body they are fairly stable energywise, whereas while in pure astral form they lose force rapidly and would 'die' if taken down to 0.

But they actively do drain energy from others using their Karma Drain and the Deathly Aura tends to play havoc with life around them, making them less than the best company to hang out with.

You can try to anthropomorphize them a bit, but these really are alien intellects coming from what was probably a very energy/resource poor metaplane given their harvesting skills and they have now landed in what to them must seem like the land of milk and honey.

It is not so unlike our own historys with explorers coming into rich resource lands and basically raping the land and its occupants with little regard for either, though in this case we fill both categories, body and spirit.

The Master Shedim do seem more intelligent and could possibly be negotiated with, but then again would we listen to a committee of cows wanting to discuss holding off on opening another McDonalds?

I do kind of wish rather than alien entities they had gone with spirits of the dead like in Peter Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy, but that would have probably kicked up all sorts of shitstorms by it's implecations and would have required a bit of rewriting of the metaplanes a bit.

[Zweiblumen]

I do kind of wish rather than alien entities they had gone with spirits of the dead like in Peter Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy, but that would have probably kicked up all sorts of shitstorms by it's implecations and would have required a bit of rewriting of the metaplanes a bit.

Gah, LOVED that trilogy!  And that's also more of what I was thinking of when I first read about Shedim.  I agree about the implications and problems that type of situation would create.  Especially with killed characters coming back etc etc.  PITA from a platform standpoint IMHO.  But great story

[MijRai]

I do love how Shedim represent one of the few actual evil things in the Shadowrun 'verse.  Other things may be horrific or ambiguous or nasty, and there's a couple dens of evil amongst the sapient beings.  A dragon flat-out thinks differently (you're crunchy and taste good with ketchup is probably a frequent thought), you're food and at least somewhat valuable even to the worst Infected and shadow spirits, hosts to insect spirits, etc.  None of them really compare to the Shedim-wide hatred of all things living that drives them as a whole. 

Always remember; "If it'll make a Shedim smile, rethink your decision."

[Reaver]

Remember, the Watergate Rift may be closed, but master Shedim still have the Astral Gateway power, so they can summon more lesser Shedim whenever they want!

(Don't know if the Gateway power can be used to bring in more Master Shedim however...)

[Sendaz]

Always remember; "If it'll make a Shedim smile, rethink your decision."

If you are close enough to see a Shedim smile, somebody's done something wrong.

[Crimsondude]

Remember, the Watergate Rift may be closed, but master Shedim still have the Astral Gateway power, so they can summon more lesser Shedim whenever they want!

(Don't know if the Gateway power can be used to bring in more Master Shedim however...)

Nope

[Reaver]

Good to know...

[Crimsondude]

Not for lack of trying.

Do not assume the shedim are done for.

[Reaver]

Not for lack of trying.

Do not assume the shedim are done for.

Bah! If only!!
<GRUMBLES> Stoopid body snatching undead spectral jelly-fish! Always stealing my body when I go for an extended Astral jaunt....

[Herr Brackhaus]

Always stealing my body when I go for an extended Astral jaunt....

Astral Projection 101: Summon a friendly spirit and have it possess your body until you return. Beware of spirit pact shenanignas and spirits that are known to be... wily.

Astral Projection 102: Learn how to summon possession spirits, or befriend someone else who can!

[Sendaz]

Don't mind Reaver's grumbling.

He is still sore about the last time his body got hijacked by one.

His buddies mounted a hasty rescue effort to reacquire his body before he faded.

When they tracked it down, it turns out the shedim was shacking up with his ex.

Which probably goes a long way in explaining a thing or two about the ex.

Before that I had always thought when he referred to her with terms like 'soul sucking' I thought he was just talking figuratively.

My bad, man.   My bad.