Shadowspawn
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Trollocs
The Dark One's greatest need was for soldiers. Before the war, his scientists set about combining living human and animal genetic material to create the ultimate warrior, something that was powerful and fierce in battle, fast, hard to kill, and intelligent enough to fight well and take orders. They used naturally aggressive animals such as boars ,bears ,wolves, goats, wildcats, rams and eagles in combination with human stock to produce this soldier. The resulting man beasts, each with face and characteristics of the particular animal from which he was crafted, were called Trollocs.

The Trolloc was and is certainly large and powerful. Standing eight to ten feet in height, with the body of an overlarge, extremely muscular man, they were stronger than either the human or animal part of their heritage and almost as fast as a horse. Vicious by nature, they manifested plenty of ferocity, killing for no other reason than the pure pleasure of it. And their size and strength made them extremely difficult to kill.

However, as an ultimate fighting machine the creature was initially a failure. Trollocs simply did not have the crucial discipline, or the ability to take orders, that characterizes an efficient soldier. Instead, they had the instincts and drives of animals combined with the worst human characteristics and a very limited (by human standards) level of intelligence. They could perform only comparatively simple tasks and they were usually unable or unwilling to follow orders unless driven by fear. Even then, if the Trollocs were more afraid of the foe than of the commanders that drove them, they often turned and ran, sometimes trampling or killing those commanders in the process.

The men and women who first faced these creatures were terrified. Their towering coarse haired bulky forms loomed over any human, while intelligent human eyes glared out from faces that often bore horns or tusks, and bestial muzzles full of gnashing teeth, or snapping sharp beaks. Some even had the hind legs of the animal they resembled, with hooves or claws in place of feet, though almost all had human like hands with thick, heavy nails - the better to carry their deadly weapons. And if they lacked a soldier's true discipline, sheer numbers made up for a great deal.

Their lust for killing made it very difficult for their commanders to take live prisoners, or to use the Trollocs in situations that required them to distinguish between friend and foe. It was easier to let the beast-men run free, killing - and often eating - whomever they found, than to use them where any restraint or discrimination was required. Trollocs were omnivorous, but preferred meat: animal, human, or even Trolloc - it did not matter.

Shadowspawn researchers struggled to find a way to make use of the Trollocs' few assets. There had to be a way to motivate and control these killing machines for the benefit of the Great Lord. Ironically, it was the Trollocs themselves that provided the solution, by way of their throwback offspring: the Myrddraal.

Myrddraal
Trollocs do not always breed true; instead they sometimes produce throwbacks to either the animal or the human side of their genetics. The throwbacks to the animal half die, but the throwbacks to the human side usually survive, though corrupted by the evil of their original makers, and care called Myrddraal.

Also known as Shadowmen, Halfmen, Lurks, Fetches, Fades and Neverborn, the Myrddraal resemble men much more closely than do their Trolloc parents in size, appearance and level of intelligence. Though their names are always in the Trolloc tongue, they are nonetheless vastly different from either human or Trolloc, for the darkness twists them. With tall, muscular, coldly handsome bodies, each of the Myrddraal is as like the others as if poured from the same mould. They move with sinuous grace beyond the capability of any human, and strike with the speed of a serpent. Their skin, instead of being pink, brown, black, or even golden, is the dead fish belly white of a slug found under a rock, while the blood that runs beneath it is corrosive, and black as the Lord they serve. Black hair, lacking al hint of human gloss or texture, covers only their heads, leaving their pale faces bare.

The most chilling difference between humans and Myrddraal is in their faces, so like a human face but for the complete lack of eyes. Not even a slight indentation mars the cruel smooth planes of Myrddraal faces to mark where eyes should be, yet these creatures can see like eagles in brightest sunlight or darkest shadow. Thus they are also called the "Eyeless".

Sight without eyes is not their only inhuman ability - they can also vanish wherever there are shadows, and travel far distances by stepping into any area of shadow, only to reappear elsewhere, in a shadow far away. Even Aginor, who made the Trollocs and thus, indirectly, the Myrddraal, was not able to discover how they could use shadow to transport themselves.

Possibly the manner of their creation causes them to exist only partly in this world, for mirrors reflect nothing but a misty form where a Myrddraal stands, and their cloaks always hang motionless from their shoulders, no matter how fierce the gale around them, as if the wind of this world dares not touch them. Their only weakness is a fear of running water. Whenever possible they avoid crossing or travelling on any kind of stream, river or channel. Only the greatest need can force them to overcome this reluctance. Their fear will not save one who is a direct target for the Shadowman, but often stops any more casual pursuit.

Perhaps their most potent weapon is their eyeless gaze. The stare from one of those cold, merciless faces causes paralysing fear. Even the most courageous warrior has been known to cower beneath a Shadowman's glare.

It was the Myrddraal's ability to cause fear that helped solve the Trolloc problem. Even Trollocs were (and are) terrified of Myrddraal, and the Halfmen were quite capable of taking orders. So it was that the Trollocs were salvaged as soldiers, with the Myrddraal as their commanders. The Halfmen drove them into battle and controlled them there with fear.

In time it was discovered that a Myrddraal could link with a number of Trollocs, completely overriding their bestial nature and taking control of their minds and wills, to create a deadly, well disciplined fighting force almost as effective as was originally intended. Unfortunately, the Myrddraal was then the weak link. If it was killed, the Trollocs sharing the link died with it.

Together Trollocs and Myrddraal made a fearsome foe. Organized in fighting units, called fists, of between one and two hundred Trollocs, usually under the command of a Myrddraal, they swept down on many unsuspecting regions, wreaking destruction on anything that stood before them. To a population new to war, the Trolloc armies seemed the personification of the Dark One himself.

While it is certain they wielded more deadly weapons in the Age of Legends, in the present day, Trollocs make their own weapons and armour, crude and unfinished compared to the products of human armourers, but quite deadly. They wear no helmets because of the difficulty in crafting adequate protection for the wide variety of the misshapen bestial faces. Some Trollocs demonstrate individual preferences through tattoos, carved bone adornments, and the way they wear their hair.

Outside of the military unit of the Fist, Trollocs are divided into tribe like bands. The known tribes include the Ahf'frait, Al'ghol, Bhansheen, Dhjin'nen, Ghar'ghael, Ghob'hlin, Gho'hlem, Graem'lan, Ko'bal, Kno'mon, Dha'vol and the Dhai'mon. They are the only constructs from the War of the Shadows known to have developed a social structure and tribal system.

As in the Age of Legends, only male Trollocs fight or hunt. Females are cloistered, serving as little more than breeding machines. Fortunately, female Trollocs enjoy being pregnant. Trollocs can interbreed with humans, but apparently prefer humans as food. In any case, even if the human mother survives to give birth, the resulting offspring are usually stillborn, and the few born live do not survive long.

Although Myrddraal are the offspring of Trollocs, they bear little similarity to them, other than having Trolloc names .So far as is known, all Myrddraal are male, probably sterile due to their hybrid nature, and completely lacking in individualistic expression, such as ornamentation or variations in armour or clothing. Where Trollocs have a vile and violent sense of humour, Myrddraal have none. The Shadowmen prefer a comparatively solitary existence and are seldom seen in large groups, avoiding all purely social interaction. They usually hold themselves somewhat apart from the Trollocs they command. Unlike Trollocs, they are capable of working alone with great strength and cunning to achieve an ordered objective. They are also harder to kill than Trollocs. Even when mortally wounded they do not die completely until the setting of the sun.

Their weapons, armour and fighting style are much more sophisticated than that of their parents. Instead of crude chain mail and leather, they wear black articulated plate designed in multiple overlapping strips over black gambeson and breeches, which gives maximum protection and freedom of movement while enhancing their serpentlike demeanour. A black cloak with deep cowl is worn over the armour and often covers the sword - their primary weapon - as well.

Myrddraal swords are very specialized weapons. Unlike crude Trolloc blades, hammered out from any type of usable metal, these blades are only made at one place in all the world, a grey roofed forge on the slopes of Shayol Ghul at Thakan'dar, mere yards away from the entrance to the Pit of Doom itself. No mortal smith crafts such foul blades. Only shadow-forgers, animated man shaped beings apparently hacked from the mountain stone, can work the deadly steel. Though not truly alive, they perform their only task with great skill. Each black shadow-blade is carefully fashioned, quenched in the ink dark, tainted streams of Shayol Ghul, and seasoned with a human soul.

The smallest wound from any of these corrupted blades brings death to the victim; the wounds fester and will not heal without the aid of the One Power. With such a weapon, little skill is needed, yet the Halfmen are agile fighters and would be formidable foes armed with even plain steel. The black blades make (and made) them almost invincible to the common soldier. But their weapons do wear out, after a time, and must be replaced, and the demand for Myrddraal swords is (and was) not always matched by the availability of materials or live prisoners.

Draghkar
The Myrddraal were an accident offshoot of Trollocs, but other constructs, equally dangerous, were deliberate corruptions of human stock. The most fearsome of these is the Draghkar, dangerous not because of any skill in battle - the creature does not fight well, having very thin, frail hands and arms unsuited for weapons - but because it has the ability to summon its prey into its lethal embrace. The Draghkar's main weapon is its song, a soft, irresistible crooning that compels its victim to approach. Its touch is not instantly fatal, but survivors are usually far worse then dead.

At rest the Draghkar is easily taken for an overly tall, pale-skinned man, wrapped in a large black cloak. Dark shoulders-length hair that is often pulled back in an elegant queue adds to this illusion. In actuality the cloak is a pair of large, batlike wings, capable of supporting the creature's weight in flight. The slender body beneath the wings appears human, except for the too pale, almost white skin and the sharp talons that tip human looking hands. The face, however, has little of humanity in it. Gaunt cheeks emphasize large dark eyes - much too large for any born man - and a wound of a mouth with brilliant blood-red puckered lips that cover sharp pointed teeth.

Despite the sharp teeth, it is not the Draghkar's bite that is so dangerous. It is its kiss. Once it has drawn the intended prey into its embrace, the Draghkar fastens its misshapen lips to its victim in a "kiss" that slowly drains away the soul. Only when the soul and personality are completely gone does the creature devour the life as well. Those it kills have no marks on their bodies, yet are as cold the moment they fall as if they were several days dead. Victims unlucky enough to be kissed, but saved before the moment of death, are left as empty, soulless shells - mere parodies of life. Many consider it better not to be rescued at all from a Draghkar rather than to be rescued too late. Even those who only suffered a momentary brush of those lips are forever changed, part of their soul drained away.

During the War of the Shadow, as today, Draghkar were used primarily as outdoor assassins, often in conjunction with a distracting raid by Myrddraal and Trollocs. They use their wings to come upon their prey unseen, preferably at night and when the target is isolated, then drop to the ground and use their song to summon the victim to his or her death. They are less effective as indoor or daylight assassins, as they have difficulty gaining access to sealed areas or dealing with groups of people or sunlight.

Darkhounds
Not all Shadowspawn were designed to look vaguely human. The Darkhounds were constructed from canine stock corrupted by the Shadow. Resembling hounds only in their basic shape, they are darker than night and as large as ponies. Their voice in full cry sounds much like that of a wolf, but with an eerie wailing tone echoing of blood and death that could never have come from a born creature's throat.

Created as guard-beasts around the time of the War of Power, they were used in later years to hunt down the enemies of the Dark One. They weigh two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds each, and usually run in packs of ten or twelve. Only single packs are used, as they are more likely to turn on each other than on the intended prey.

It has been speculated that they were slightly shifted out of reality in their creation. This would explain the fact that they make no mark, depite their large size, on even the softest ground, but leave prints in even the hardest stone. Often the smell of burned sulphur accompanies them.

The Darkhounds may have given rise to the legends of Grim or Old Grim - the Dark One - and his "Wild Hunt". According to the legend, on clear moonlit nights Old Grim would ride out with his "black dogs" hunting for souls, the smell of burning sulphur and brimstone marking their trail. With eyes that shone like silver and gnashing teeth gleaming like burning metal, the black dogs would run their quarry to ground. Rain would keep the Wild Hunt out of the night, but once they were on the trail of a soul, they had to be confronted and defeated or the victim's death was inevitable. Some believed that merely seeing the Wild Hunt pass meant imminent death, either for the viewer or for someone dear to them. It was thought particularly dangerous to meet them at a crossroads, just after sunset or just before sunrise.

It is true that Darkhounds do not give up the chase easily. They do not like rain or thunderstorms, and will not usually venture into them, but if they are already on a trail, the rain often fails to stop them. They have more speed than a galloping horse and can maintain it longer than any horse. It is sometimes possible, however, to end the pursuit by placing running water between the prey and the hounds, since they will not cross flowing water. The only other choice is to kill them or be killed, and they have never died easily. Since the Breaking, and the loss of the Age of Legends' technology, only the surest hand with bow or sword has had any chance, yet this may no longer be enough.

If Darkhounds die hard, they kill with ease. The smallest bite frmo their terrible jaws is death, just as certainly as if the victim had taken a dagger in the heart. Their blood and saliva are poison. One drop on the skin can kill, usually very slowly and with great pain.

In recent times a new breed of Darkhound has been reported abroad in the world, one that apparently can be slain only with the One Power. Stories tell of the beasts being cut to pieces with power-wrought weapons, only to have their hacked parts melt and reform into whole, living hounds and renew the attack. Should these tales be true, they are ominous.

Grey Men
Not all Shadowspawn were constructs. There were some creatures, like those called Grey Men, who were in truth ordinary living men and women. They did not merely pledge their souls to the Shadow, as Darkfriends did, but actually gave them away. To all intents and purposes, although they continued to move and think, they are already dead. These "Soulless" are extremely effective assassins, for their lack in some way makes them so ordinary looking that even the most searching gaze can slide right over them. They are literally beneath any notice. This allows them to infiltrate even busy public areas with ease. In many cases the intended victim does not even see them after the strike, and there have been occasions where passersby who watched the victim fall failed to see the killer.

Grey Men are primarily men, though there are occasionally women in their number, and even in the War of the Shadow they had no real use beyond assassination, so far as is known today. It is unknown what promises these people have been given by the Dark Lord to indue them to give up their souls, though the number discovered suggest that the motivation must have been very powerful.

And The Rest
The Dark One was not limited to animal-like constructs for his servants. He also made use of natural animals that had an affinity for decay, carrion and death. As today, ravens and crows often were spies and killers for the Dark, carrying what they had seen to Myrddraal, who could pull the information from their minds to take to their Lord. In the cities rats and similar vermin performes the same function. As soon as people realised, many area put a large bounty on these creatures. Then as now it was true that not every rat or raven served the Shadow, but there was no easy way to be certain which was which. Best to destroy them all.

There have also been rumours of other strange creatures about which there is no knowledge. Whether these are new creations since the Forsaken escaped or old one that have also escaped the Bore is unknown, but they should all be considered dangerous.