Need a spiffy namesake for a character

[ILM]

So I've got this gnome Shadowcraft Mage/ Nightmare Spinner who's really all about shadows and illusions. Even got herself a shadow cohort now. Considering she's a fair high level, she's going to be pretty famous and I need a proper namesake, like an unofficial title people whisper in fear when they talk about her.

... Except all I can think of is generic cliché stuff. Any ideas?

[Otacon17]

What's wrong with cliche?

The Creeping Darkness?
Shadowspinner?
Mistress of Shadow?
That Creepy Shadow Lady?

[BluesEclipse]

The Waking Nightmare?

[nedz]

The little shadow

If you want something less cliche, then more background information might be helpful.

[WildPyre]

If the character has any quirks, that might help.

[ILM]

The little shadow

If you want something less cliche, then more background information might be helpful.

I can do that.

In the city of Ravine, rumors are a dime a dozen. It doesn’t really matter who or what they’re actually about, for Ravine is a large city, and all a traveler asks of a story is for it to be entertaining and easy to remember.

And who would be a more suitable subject of discussion than the enigmatic Zenoa? A pale, wide-eyed gnome, she stands about four feet tall, wearing an elegant black dress with threads of adamantine woven in it. Elaborately manufactured, its hem trails a foot or two behind her, never seeming to pick up any dirt. A silver circlet adorns her black, shoulder-length hair, the small inlaid sapphire subtly complementing her dark blue eyes, themselves set, gem-like, in a finely chiseled face which appears almost elven. Many people have compared her to a doll, but of course no doll has ever had that particular spark of insight in its eyes, nor has one ever spoken in such a soft, heartwarming contralto.

Yet in spite of these qualities, most people find themselves frightened of her, though few would admit it. Perhaps it is the way shadows wrap around her figure and shelter her from one’s inquiring gaze, blending the edges of her silhouette into nearby darkness in such a way that one can never be sure where the shadows end and where her dress begins. Or it could be the way she peers silently at people with her steady, piercing eyes. Certainly her reputation as a world-class illusionist adds to the discomfort she causes people, but more than anything else, it is the rumors – and the possibility that some of them are true – that cause people to unconsciously shy away from her when they encounter her.

Enigmatic as she may be, Zenoa is not a secretive person. She can often be found in her dimly lit shop, which opens at seemingly random hours, where she sells all sorts of strange drawings to those few artistically-minded willing and able to pay the price. Some say the drawings shift under the gaze of an observer and that sometimes, the ink takes on a life of its own.
Furthermore, her affiliation with the the thieves’ guild which controls the undercity of Ravine is no secret, as she has been its second in command since its creation. Within the guild, aside from her responsibilities as deputy guildmaster, she is in charge of general magical assistance, and more specifically security. Complementing the Guild Hall’s already impressive array of mechanical traps, she creates and maintains arcane defenses to thwart any would-be intruders, and heads a detatchment of two dozen or so phantom guards with eyeless faces, summoned from the shadows to do her bidding.

She is, however, better known for her magic. Once a month, every time in a different place, she gives an illusion show – and not one of those cheap displays of trickery and misdirection made of smoke and mirrors, either. Zenoa’s shows are fit enough for kings. Altering the appearance of the whole surrounding landscape to match her story, she conjures images of heroes and villains and monsters, each with their own voice, with herself narrating the tale from the darkness. And the audience, taken by her storytelling, never really suspect just how real the illusions are.

For Zenoa has spent years upon years refining her mastery of her preferred school, and has long since ventured beyond merely summoning unreal shapes in the dark. By tapping into the Shadow Weave, she has given substance to her illusions, to the point that the most powerful of them are actually indistinguishable from that which they mimic. She knows the secrets of shaping the shadows into whatever effect she wishes for; she can form them in ensnaring tentacles or vaporous clouds, send them rushing forward in a blast of frozen air, command them to assemble in huge blocks of black ice above her opponents, or even mold them in the guise of frightening monsters as dangerous, if not moreso, than their models. They say (again, the rumors) that she even holds dominion over an entire plane of existence, and that it is there that she retires to when in need of privacy, alone in a manor surrounded by wisps of floating dreams and darkness.

For all these reasons, there is none foolish enough in Ravine to cross Zenoa. And when she walks the streets of the city, with shadows dancing lazily about her like so many loving wisps of night, people just turn away, pretend they never saw her, and pray that she never give their nightmares any substance.

[gbprime]

The Dusk Maiden
Lady Gloom
The Seeming
The Shadowshow [Woman]

[JonRG]

Phantasmagoria?

It's mega-fun to say.

[Mastikator]

The Veil!

It's cliche, but I think it sounds cool.

[randomhero00]

Figured I'd rhyme it with spiffy for a challenge.


Riffy
Miffy
Chrissy
Lissy
Ohmissy

[WildPyre]

The Painted Shade
The Quill of Night
The Shadow's Artist

Just a few off the top of my head since she enjoys darkness and sneaky along with artistry.

[nedz]

OK - standard character background type description - so this is a high level character you have just created? No problem.
Key words
Ravine, Zenoa - might get things to rhyme with these ?
Gnome, Illusionist, Rogue, Thief, Mistress
Illusions, Shadow, Trickster, Nightmares, Performer
Roget's
Trickster: Depredator, Chicane, Intrigeur, Intrigant, Sly, Tartufe
Illusion: Cozenage, Masquerade, Mirage, Inveigle
Performer: Dramaturge/Dramathurge, Dramatis, Artiste

Might get something out of these
Mistress Mirage Masquerade [Alliteration]
The Chicane of Ravine
Shadow Tartufe
Dramatis Mirage

well I'm sure more will come to me, ..., though perhaps you want a stage name ?

[Lord Vampyre]

The Shade of Tenebrous
Midnight's Shadow

Getting away from the shadow theme....

The Porcelain Child

[Mutazoia]

Mad Margo the Marvelous Midget Mistress of Mirage and Mayhem?

[ILM]

well I'm sure more will come to me, ..., though perhaps you want a stage name ?

Kinda. If you have the Tome of Magic, I'm looking for something along the lines of the Vestiges' epithets: Acererak, the Devourer; Halphax, the Angel in the Angle; Orthos, Sovereign of the Howling Dark; Tenebrous, the Shadow that Was. Stuff like that.

Thanks for the ideas so far. I know the character itself is kind of cliché (I was actually going for the archetype) but seriously, there must be about a million Ladies of Shadows out there .

[SamL]

...Morpheus?