The Shadow Line are the main villain faction in Power Rangers: Spirit Tracks. An army of humanoid demon-like creatures known as Shadows, their primary goal is to completely subjugate the human world and purge it of any light or creativity - forever. Their sworn enemies are the Victorans, and, by extension, their successors, the newly-recruited Spirit Track Power Rangers.
History[]
The Shadow Line are the armed forces of the Shadow race. As legend goes, it was originally formed by Malfigura, the Lord of Darkness, who supposedly reigned over the Earth and terrorized humans, Victorans, and Shadows alike. According to this legend, the Shadows eventually tired of Malfigura's reign of terror, and the Shadow Line managed to oust their supreme commander in a bloody coup. They sealed the Dark Lord in a magic coffin and buried it deep underground, where legend claims he remains dormant to this day, lying in wait for the day he can enact his revenge...
For a time, the Shadows coexisted peacefully with the peoples of Earth - including the Victorans, a fellow indigenous people whose vast empire stretched across what would eventually become the United States. However, relations between their people soured over time as the Victorans' relentless expansion drew the ire of the Shadows. The Shadows began strictly enforcing their borders, refusing to trade with the Victorans and denying them access to previously-established trade routes. When the Victorans attempted to dispute these new rules, the Shadows doubled down, and after decades of brewing resentment, tensions boiled over and aggressive actions were taken by both sides, resulting in the deaths of countless innocents. This resulted in the Victoran-Shadow War, a bloody conflict that lasted for the next fifty years.
The Shadow Line were relentless, using their mastery of the dark arts to conquer Victoran territory and plunge the land into chaos. Humanity were caught in the middle, innocent bystanders who found themselves caught in the crossfire through no fault of their own. The Victorans fought valiantly, even recruiting five of their bravest warriors and infusing them with spiritual powers to create the Spirit Track Power Rangers. However, their efforts were in vain, and in the final days of the war, the Shadows' victory was all but guaranteed. The Victorans faced extinction.
In a last ditch effort to save not only themselves but humanity as well, the Victorans hatched a daring plan to end the war once and for all. The Spirit Track Rangers led a surprise attack on Nocturne, the Shadows' capitol, with their ultimate target being Castle Ragnarok, the Shadow Line's headquarters. There, they performed a ritual that sealed the entirety of the Shadow race inside the castle and rendered them dormant - technically alive but in a dreamless sleep they were unable to awake from. This effectively ended the war, but at a grave cost - the Victorans were all but wiped out, and the Power Rangers' life force was drained, resulting in their deaths. Humanity was finally free of the Shadows' tyranny, and as time went on, memory of the conflict faded until it came to be regarded as nothing but a legend - a fairy tale. However, the Shadows remained, locked within Castle Ragnarok, where they waited for hundreds of years for the ritual to wear off.
One day, it finally did, and Gasciogne, a veteran of the Victoran-Shadow War, declared himself acting Commander-in-Chief and resumed the Shadow Line's brutal campaign, with humanity its new target. The Shadow Line's initial attack was swift and unexpected, with most if not all of the United States falling under its control. The Shadows performed a similar ritual to the sealing ritual that the original Spirit Track Rangers used to trap them in their own castle, freezing time for the citizens living in the territories newly-occupied by the Shadow Line and rendering those living outside these Stations completely oblivious to their conquest.
Trevithick, California was among many of the cities captured in their intial assault - however, five of its citizens were whisked away to safety after being chosen by the spirits of the original Victoran Power Rangers and spared the occupation in the process. These five teenagers were subsequently recruited by Halupiens - the last surviving Victoran - and became the newest team of Spirit Track Power Rangers. And so began the Shadow Line's war against humanity, with the new Spirit Track Power Rangers becoming their greatest - and only - adversary...
Members[]
