Shadowmen Options

I wanted to put this in one of the entity forums but there didn't really seem to be any appropriate headings. I'm trying to find information on shadowmen, or shadow people. I've heard a plethora of different information from different sources and I'm not exactly sure what fits together and what doesn't. Some say that they feed off of fear, some say any kind of negative energy, and some say any energy at all, good or bad. No one seems to have a very clear idea where they came from; there are beliefs that they are kind of crossover spirits from another plane that show up as shadows, there are beliefs that they are somewhat egregorical and have been constructed from leftover fear and dark energy, and some sources say they were human in origin who's spirits have been altered into freaky life-sucky things. There also don't seem to be any references on how to banish them or protect from them apart from typical long ceremonial banishings, which you can't really do if you're walking down the street. Anyways, any information there might be floating around on shadowmen would be much appreciated. Thanks:)

Perhaps they're not shadow people at all. Sounds to me like the race of dreams that is ruled by Hypnos, the greek god of sleep. His sons Phobetor, Icelus, Phantasos, and Morpheus all appear as shadow-like human shapes that can change form and visit people in their dreams. These princes are most likely very similar to those they rule over (albeit stronger, due to their divine blood). It makes sense that the race of dreams would visit our world near dusk, when the plane of human life intersects theirs. The "observation" they seem to conduct is probably just them curiously poking their heads out of their world and into ours. If you had the power to visit the world of dreams, wouldn't you want to? They're probably bound to a clause stating that they must not interfere with life in our plane. Doing so would send them back to their world or something. Olympian magic works that way, via promises and and decrees.


Just my two cents.