SHADOW KINGDOM

The Shadow Kingdom is on a faraway island that’s held together by pitch black bridges —three are 1mi and the entrance is about 3mi— and inhabited by both Shadowlings and Riftlings. It has a Victorian Style in terms of buildings and clothing, but still has modern features such as upscale furniture and jewelry!In this kingdom, the moon shines brighter than the sun, the symbolism of it seen in the flag of the Kingdom with the moon overshadowing the sun. Naturally, the grass, flowers, trees and fruits would suffer from lack of sunlight, but the flora here are able to live with little light due to adaptation! There’s very much available food and beautiful flowers, which makes this shadowy landscape very colorful. Underneath the kingdom lies a huge Geode Cave that’s only accessible by the dungeon under Umbra’s Castle.

The Rift Barrier can cause harm if touched, causing something called “Rift Sickness”. It’s hard to tell on the surface exactly what it is as it presents itself as flu-like, but will cause rift patches on the body after two days. Only the hospital within the kingdom has a cure and it acts quickly without any lingering effects.The Rift Barrier is also darker at the base and gradually gets more and more transparent until it reaches the peak.

The creatures pictured above are Shadowlings. As seen in their name, they were created by the darkness casted by all items! They’re very friendly, humble, and love well-meaning visitors, the diversity is also a beautiful sight to behold. They live in neighborhoods in the village and in the tundra, don’t get too cold or too hot, and get around by walking.They can reach heights not often achieved by humans and are able to eat, drink, and talk despite not having a mouth. The Shadowlings pictured above are civilians! There are special Shadowlings that own stores, guards of Plum’s Castle, and maids. There’s also an Advisor!

The Riftlings are creations made by the Rifts or in this case, fragments that broke off and became sentient. Their colorization resembles that of Rift Mario, except that they have no ill intentions. Instead, they’re to themselves and live in small villages hidden in the heavy foliage of both the Shadow Forest and Shadow Swamp. Both the Riftlings and the Shadowlings live in harmony and help each other out when the time comes!Because they can’t be destroyed, are dangerous to touch to those not immune, and never age, they’re immortal! They speak only through telepathy and their voices echo throughout the listener’s head. Even though diversity through appearance is not present, the diversity through voices and personalities cloud it!

AGE: Same as Peach
SPECIES: Human
HEIGHT: Slightly taller than Peach
OCCUPATION: Queen & HarpistPlum Chanterelle Toadstool is this kindhearted monarch’s full name and is the twin sister to Peach Toadstool. Though, her last name is Umbra to represent her kingdom! She’s fully embraced the shadowy side of herself despite those who she trusted fearing it. Plum is a very brave, yet gentle woman who is willing to protect and help others, very kind towards her royal subjects and treating them equally, despite their role. Because of her lack of sunlight over the years, she’s paler than Peach and needs to wear sunscreen and carry around a parasol in sunnier areas. Plum IS NOT your damsel in distress! Her heels double as blades and she dual wields Sabers.Not only is she a Queen, she also has powers to control darkness and rifts, which is why she’s able to open the rift barrier temporarily for well-meaning visitors! Her eyes glow golden yellow for Darkness Manipulation, red for Rift Manipulation, and orange when both are in effect. However, there are moments where she struggles to keep her dark powers under control when stressed and overwhelmed, requiring extra assistance from her advisor or friends.And while she is a genuinely kindhearted and powerful queen, she’s very touch-starved due to her love life. Plum’s suitors always seem to look at Peach first before her, some never returning once her parents spoke of her powers without her knowledge, it was a form of sabotage and she never realized until she thought deeply on it as a full grown woman and deeply loved queen.

Plum Chanterelle Toadstool was born alongside Peach as her twin. She’s younger by only a few minutes and has beautiful Platinum Blonde hair. However right from the get go, her parents saw something extremely unsettling whenever they meet her gaze for a prolonged period; a swirling dark void that makes you feel like you’re being dragged in. Because of these dark powers, they chose Peach to take over because of her purity.Even though she was never intended to be the one to take over the kingdom, she was loved by many despite her parents being afraid of her dark powers and preventing her from getting taught certain lessons. Funnily enough, Peach taught her in secret about what she learned so in the end, she was well-informed.As Plum grew older, her powers came to light and she began to love the darkness more than most would. She could even see shadowy people at night ( confirmed to be Shadowlings ) and often wanders out to speak with them. Peach almost always joins her and finds it fascinating, but her parents wanted to keep them separated to preserve her “purity.” Plum is very attached to Peach so this didn’t sit well with her.Eventually she asked why and they told her the shocking truth; they were scared of her, they didn’t want her to take over the kingdom in the near future because of her powers and this left Plum feeling betrayed. In tears, she boldly told them she’d make her own kingdom and left without taking any of her belongings, leaving Peach all alone and saddened by this sudden decision.

After leaving the Mushroom Kingdom in the dead of night, she’d come across the shadow people once again, who then introduce themselves as Shadowlings. They come from an isolated island that’s slowly drifting apart and came to the Kingdom every night to check the place out in hopes of evacuating, but Plum had a different idea and asked them to take her there.Through a shadow portal, they took her there and what she saw broke her heart; everyone was in distress about their broken island. But she knew the strength of her powers and asked to hold the pieces together by using Shadow Bridges. They agreed despite being worried about this feat weakening her and astonishingly, she managed to be able to hold the pieces together! Mind you, these pieces are half the size of Australia.They were eternally grateful to Plum and asked her to rule over them as Princess until she was old enough to rule as Queen. During these years of rule, she helped develop the Kingdom into what it is today. However, during these years, she comes across another different species…

Her people were reporting the arrival of indestructible, space-like entities that moved slowly every now and then in Shadow Swamp, Shadow Forest, and Shadow Tundra, one of the inhabitants even fell ill upon touching it. Worried, Queen Umbra rushed over to Shadow Forest, where it was first sighted and saw creatures related to these Rifts named Riftlings.They were attracted to the nature of this island and wanted to live here in hopes of being accepted for who they were. Expectedly, Plum agreed to let them live here and make villages in the previously mentioned areas, allied with the Shadowlings and now being a part of the Shadow Kingdom! And as their bond grew stronger, more Rifts came by and surrounded the entire Kingdom, forming an indestructible barrier to keep everyone within safe. Only Plum can open the barrier.Queen Umbra not only became a Princess, but also a Queen after years of ruling! She proved her parents wrong and grew up to be a down-to-earth, caring ruler of a kingdom.