Shadowfell

Very little is known about the Shadowfell. Many religious and scholastic texts consider it a hell-adjacent plane, but that is as far as they agree. Scholars believe the plane is parallel to the prime plane and thus simply askew from our expectations akin to the Fey Wild. This skewed affect could be do to any number of things, but they do believe its relation to the hells is the largest cause. Religious studies believe that the Shadowfell either functions as a way point for damned souls that are being drug into the hells, or as a purgatory of sorts for souls that were not completely tainted.
The Shadowfell is a dark land as its name implies. There is no moon nor stars that shine at night, and during the day (if one could call it that) a dull source-less light causes the landscape to dimly show. This bleak world leaves most with a sense of hopelessness.

Geography

The Shadowfell's physical layout is very similar to the prime plane's. The little bits of the Shadowfell that people have investigated (and managed to survive) are like an eerie mirror of our own world with continents and oceans in roughly the same places. Not everything matches, and some landmasses are heavily altered.

Lands

Generally the land is a barren waste of rocky plains, jagged hills, and mountains that stab into the sky looming ominously over the land. Cautious explorers recall seeing forests at a distance, usually describing them as corrupted or made of fungi. Less fearful explorers have set expeditions to explore these forests, but none have returned.

Waters

The oceans of our own world have proven terrifying in their own right, so it should go without saying that none have truly explored into the waters of the Shadowfell. Those that have laid eyes on seas or lakes there have simply described them as a black abyss.

"I tell you, when we stood on the shore and looked out into the lake the hairs of my neck stood on end and vertigo swallowed my mind. It looked like a shifting obsidian stone, completely opaque yet no reflection was on its surface." - Christoph De'Marcus (sole survivor of the 8^th Azure Expedition)

Settlements

Like most of the Shadowfell there is still much unknown about this subject. There are ruins that are spotted from common landing sites in the realm that imply some form of habitation in the plane. Most of these show intense signs of either disuse or battle.

Scars

Outside of the above mentioned features there are obvious signs of great conflict throughout the land. These scars are left from what would appear to be numerous battles are beyond the capabilities of mortals. They rival the scale and devastation of Kordac's Scar.

Fauna & Flora

The lack of sunlight and the otherworldly taint that has warped this world leaves the land mostly barren. This coupled with the fact that exploring the Shadowfell has proven deadly at best and foolhardy for most means we know little of its terrain.

Flora

The most tread areas of the Shadowfell are completely bereft of greenery. Where forests or woods exist they look heavily corrupted, with bark that is ashy gray to black in color and leaves that appear wilted. There is an odd strike of beauty in this darkness though with at least one "forest" recorded that was made of bio-luminescent fungi.

Fauna

Life (or unlife as claimed by others) exists in this plane. It is probably more accurate to say "there are things there that move, eat, and commune of the own accord". Those who have ventured to the Shadowfell report some creatures that are akin to the fauna of our prime plane. Most of these creatures have features that fit their twisted domain. Other creatures reported are completely unique to this realm. Most that fall into this category seem like the outlandish nightmares of a mad man. In fact most scholars find their existence hard to believe considering that most who travel to and from the plane suffer from an intense psychosis related to the trauma of their experiences.

Unlife

The plane has a high population of creatures that are classified as undead. Humanoids bereft of a soul yet wondering the lands while rotting and decaying imply that there were civilizations here at one point. There are a great deal of other creatures besides humanoids that seem to befall the same end. Many believe the Shadowfell's proximity inter-planar to the Hells has warped its natural flow and that death is not the end for most things that inhabit it.

Alternative Name(s)

Deadlands

Type

Dimensional plane