The Umbral Realms

Where Darkness Wakes

A dark reflection of our world, a realm where the worst aspects of humanity - and others - becomes the reality. I would not go there, and I believe anything from there has no value and should be thrown back whence it came.

— Brother Haralan

As the Faeweald is a reflection of reality, so too are the Umbral Realms. Rather than being inspired by wild and powerful emotions, these realms are steeped in darkness and death. Unlike the Faeweald, scholars have claimed these lands are almost a perfect recreation of Erisdaire as though civilization had never happened. Where such places exist on Erisdaire, there are twisted structures of unknown origin and impossible construction which have claimed countless adventurers who try to explore.

Despite many adventurers craving the prestige of mapping these unknown places for the first time, maps which have been made of the Umbral Realms are useless for entirely different reasons than those of the Faeweald - the native creatures are much less inclined to allow exploration. All native beings are hostile towards living beings, though it is not entirely known why this is the case. What is known is there are no native plants which are useful as food, despite all appearances, and attempts to grow food inside the Umbral Realms hasn't yet succeeded as a long-term solution.

For the longest time it was believed this realm was the source of magic which generated undead, but there are no walking corpses natively found within these realms. Incorporeal undead seem to exist, but these are distinct from the same sort of entities on Erisdaire in an important sense: they do not have a soul or mind from someone alive. Native creatures are similar to those of the Faeweald in being similar to existing creatures, yet existing as though they began from the world of the Umbral Realms. Where they differ is this strange innate hostility to beings traveling from other realms of reality.

Most unnerving are reports from travelers and explorers who manage to make it to where the western coastline should be on Erisdaire. Reports indicate there is far more land there, and they did not receive even an inkling of nearby ocean. This suggests the "almost a perfect recreation" aspect is flawed the further travelers get from their point of entry, lending credence to the bardic description of the Umbral Reams as "a cracked and warped mirror" of Erisdaire. The scholarly claim of being a near-perfect recreation thus have been called into question, and the conclusion among explorers has been confusing and grim. Either there might never have been "borders" to reach or use as frames of reference, or everything is subtly shifting outwards from a single point of origin. Scholars scoff at this theory, as there is no suggestion of what this point of origin would be, or where to begin suspecting it exists.

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Alternative Name(s)

The Lands of Night
Kingdom of Shadows

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Included Locations

• House of Arrivals

Related Materials

• Blessed Aurium