The Ascendant Realm of Verathrox, the Sepulcher Agape. The source of all of Edras' undead, the Fell exists as sort of counterpart to Clitch Sceach, the Faewyld, in the sense that it is a reflection of Edras due to the closeness of its orbit. Unlike the Faewyld, however, it is a bleak, desolate place full of decay and death and the unending hordes of the undead. Mourn orbits Edras once every year.
To wander through the realm of shadow and death is to risk losing yourself in misery and apathy - why put a stop to the lich when everything you do is meaningless and fleeting? The Fell of Shadows is not a place for mortals to visit on a whim, and many who do visit are forever changed by its dismal appearance.
The most striking and immediate impression a visitor to the Fell experiences is the lack of color and light; no sun, moon, or stars adorn the vault of the inky black sky, and all things look as if the hue has been leeched out, leaving nothing but black and white, which in the dimness are more like "dark black" and "light black". In Mourn, a light source only illuminates half the distance it normally would, flames and fires put out less heat, and magics that deal with light or fire are less predictable and prone to failure, whereas necromantic or shadow magics are enhanced.
Due to the closeness of Mourn's orbit to Edras, the landscape is a dark, twisted echo of what exists in the world of the Soulborn. Upon entering the realm, the local features are usually quite similar - though twisted and darkened. But from that starting point, the landscape diverges rapidly away from the familiar, and on subsequent visits from the same starting point it can diverge in different ways, making mapping the Fell of Shadows a useless endeavor. Where on the face of Edras a city might exist, in Mourn there may be ruins or some twisted and horrific representation of that city in its place. Similar sites are sometimes called "shadow-analogues". Distances do not correlate between the two realms, however, so that a person who takes a short walk in Mourn might find herself transported leagues away after returning to Edras.
Despite its origin and intimate connection to death, air, water, and food exist in this realm, supporting plants, animals, and some creatures that have adapted to the shadowy environment. Visitors can survive indefinitely if they are willing to endure thick, foul-smelling water, food that oozes dark blood, and a pervasive nip of cold in the air. A visitor to the Fell can never quite get warm, will often hear or sense the presence of things that aren't there, and can never shake the feeling of being watched. It is a constantly unsettling place.
The morphic nature of Mourn can produce strange effects, mainly in areas like the Black Rift that are especially morphic. For example, in the Black Rift alone, a pile of bodies could cause more skeletons to appear, until there were thousands. More bizarre are the strange biers upon which dead bodies spontaneously appear, apparently drawn from wherever they rest, anywhere in existence, only to disappear after a few seconds, presumably to wherever they came from. Stalactites in caves drip ephemeral shadowstuff, which is then reabsorbed into the realm rather than forming into a puddle. Common mushrooms bear realistic humanoid faces, capable of twitching or blinking. Forests of grasping tendrils sprout from some surfaces and reach for passersby like black tentacles.
In the few cities that have managed to take root in such inhospitable terrain - shadar kai and others eke out an existence. Many of these inhabitants were born to this place and have no ability, or desire, to leave. Their ancestors committed great sins and entire civilizations were cast into Mourn as punishment. Their descendants now reside in the old ruins, barely holding out against the dark creatures.
These communities of civilization appear to be like any that can be found in Edras. They have farmers and traders and explorers, and they all have the mundane desires and wants that those on Edras have. Unfortunately, most communities have dark problems at their core. Some cities must deal with cultists trying to destroy the settlement, others deal with undead that keep rising and attacking, or perhaps no one dies from age but their bodies keep growing older and older until they collapses in on themselves.
Other settlements have fared better and have even prospered, like Gloomwrought, where trade is their biggest commodity. In these larger cities, you can find liches, necromancers, and other dark creatures looking for dark artifacts, powerful secrets, and hidden knowledge. It’s all too common a sight to see a lich disembarking from their bone-ship to walk the market streets in search of rare spell components.
Places of Interest
- The Darklands: The darklands are the name for the areas throughout the Fell of Shadows where the power of darkness is stronger. In these spots, the power of dread is opressive; it sucks away at all life and color until everything resembles shades of grey. If one finds their way into such a location, they should leave as quickly as possible before they reduced to a husk, drained of all life. Most darklands are thankfully temporary, though there are a few that are permanent and are far more dangerous because of it. Here nightwalkers, sorrowsworn and other evil creatures roam and are quick to destroy all life.
- Gloomwrought: One of the major cities of Mourn, this port city is slowly sinking into the Skins, a vast peat bog that extends for miles all around it on land. Dark walls keep out the worst of the Fell, and it even has dark walls that wrap around its port with openings large enough for trade galleys to travel through. This port city is one of the brightest lights in this realm and is a common destination for traders and travelers from Edras. The walls of this city are decorated with macabre skeletons writhing across them, and the entry gates are skulls screaming, their jaws agape as if in agony; they constantly move around the walls so one can never predict where an entrance or exit might appear. These walls give off a sickly green light that illuminates the surrounding peat bog and no one knows if the gargoyles that stand watch along the top of the walls are just carved stone or guardians of the city.
- Letherna: The realm of the Queen of Ravens, the Emanation of Verathrox that now bears a shard of divinity and enacts her own will on the world. Crossing through the thick forests that surround these mountains, you can see souls falling across the skies like comets streaking high above. The closer you venture to Letherna, the greater the number of souls that can be witnessed as these silvery ghosts crowd their way in. No living mortal is allowed to enter Letherna itself, but there is a nearby temple known as Zvomarana. Here, only the most powerful and loyal of the Queen of Ravens' servants may enter, though it is an ordeal of faith to even find the temple and enter it.
- The Plain of Sighing Stones: Stretching for hundreds of miles, the Plain of Sighing Stones is the largest of the Fell's few deserts. Although the sun is not intense, the dead land punishes travelers with its desolation, its lack of water, and its fierce dust storms. Vast expanses of shifting dunes alternate with stony wastelands. The ever-present wind alters the sandy terrain at its whim, making navigation treacherous. The rushing air more slowly sculpts the mesas and boulders, but has created incredible shapes. Its passage sounds an eerie, desolate moaning that carries for miles and gives the desert its name. Dry oases stand like bleached skeletons, heartbreaking in their lost promise. Elsewhere, sentient mirages lure travelers into the waiting teeth of the Plain’s most dangerous denizens. For all the perils of the Sighing Stones, people do live in these lands. A nomadic tribe of shadar kai called the Zamar-Sha are the undisputed masters of the region. Violent and unpredictable, they are as likely to torment and kill those who enter their lands as they are to ignore them. They wield strange curses like weapons, and their knowledge of desert fauna equip them with astonishing medicines and poisons. When stirred to war, the Zamar-Sha are terrifying enemies. They paint their bodies in white chalk, madden themselves with strange potions, and descend on their foes in an orgy of violence. The fields of bones sprinkled across the Plain of Sighing Stones testify to the wrath of the Zamar-Sha.
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