The Shadow is a powerful religion that sweeps through the Forsaken. A devotee may throw off the shackles of her zombie-like body, becoming one with the Shadow. Those who succeed become shadow ascendants. Outsiders do not understand the process that fuels the ascendant's evolution from a physically powerful but slow corpse to a quick and deadly shadow. The Cult of Forgotten Shadow, however preaches that all Forsaken are born from the Shadow, and that they carry a portion of the Shadow within them. By strengthening her ties to death and undeath, the ascendant manifests her inner Shadow, bonding with it until she becomes a living shadow, the ultimate manifestation of the Shadow from which she was born.