Editing Big Spring Patch Preview (section)

=== New Races ===
''Details at: [[Announcements - 2009/10 - Gears of Change#Letter From the Producer|2009 Letter From the Producer]], [[Shedding Skin]], and [[Announcements - Asheron's Call Big Spring Patch#New Races|Dev Comments - New Races]]''

New playable races are planned on being added. Currently, the plan is to add four new races total, with one being added in April and another being added every two months. These races will all be non-human races - they are not planning on introducing [[Silveran]]s, [[Roulean]]s, [[Milantean]]s, or the [[Souia-Vey]] as playable human heritages.
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The first new race will be '''[[Shadow]]s'''. They will be introduced in the April event. Shadows will come in two types: '''Umbraens''', who will have no legs and resemble [[Umbris Shadow|Umbris]] and [[Panumbris Shadow|Panumbris]] Shadows (among others), and '''Panumbraens''', which will have legs. These two Shadow types are still counted as one new additional race, and there are still three other races which will be introduced.
<br><br>Story-wise, the new playable shadows will be followers of [[Isin Dule]], a close friend of [[Ilservian Palacost]] in life and the traitorous Shadow General of [[Bael'Zharon]] during the [[Fourth Sending of Darkness]]. Using the work of the Virindi [[Aerbax]], Isin Dule has discovered a way to subdue the chaos within them. Isin has struck a deal with [[Asheron Realaidain|Asheron]] and these newly 'freed' Shadows have been allowed the full protection of the Light that Asheron grants to Isparians.
<br><br>Gameplay/Balance-wise, the Shadows (and all the new races) will be identical to humans in most aspects. They will have the same innate protections and armor and [[Weeping Weapons]] will work the same on all the playable races. The only difference in the new races will be their starting skills and their free starting augmentations - augmentations which other races will have access to via the regular [[Augmentations]] Quests.