A shadowland is an area where constant or massive amounts of death, possibly augmented by negative geomancy, have brought the lands of the living and the dead into close proximity. Such places are invariably dismal, haunted places plagued by hungry ghosts and the evil spirits of Creation, both of which are drawn to such places by the areas’ negative energy.[1]
Overview[]
The geography of the Underworld closely mirrors that of Creation, and in a shadowland, the two are fused. Shadowlands do not occur on the Blessed Isle.
Upon entering a shadowland, the living will exit into Creation during the day, but into the Underworld at night. The dead always return to the Underworld when leaving a shadowland. Those with an Essence pool can spend a mote to avoid exiting into the Underworld, though the dead can only do so at night.
The borders of a shadowland are typically marked with white stone plinths. Animals will not enter a shadowland, and most mortals understand instinctively that they are somewhere unsafe. Plant and animal life looks sickly, discolored and strange, and the sun is dimmed even on a clear day. At night, the moon is huge and red-tinted, and the strange flora of the Underworld becomes apparent. Mortals who reside in a shadowland are similarly sickly, with a low birth rate, and many become accustomed to living side by side with ghosts.
Large shadowlands are typically ruled by a Deathlord or an Abyssal knight, and most impose a death cult on the mortals they rule. The living are treated as an underclass, and only the dead are given any real status. The exception is the Ghost-Blooded, those born to a living mother and a ghostly father, which is only possible in a shadowland.
The living only regain Essence at half the usual rate in a Shadowland. Ghosts, who cannot regain essence at all in Creation, regain it in a shadowland at half the usual rate during the day and at the full rate at night. [2]
A shadowland can be destroyed by salting the earth, as salt repels ghosts. For this reason, the import and possession of salt is heavily regulated in the larger shadowlands.[3]
Major Shadowlands[]
- Thorns, recently conquered by the Mask of Winters
- The Pyrron Ossuary, ruled by the Walker in Darkness
- The Skullstone Archipelago, ruled by the Silver Prince
- Marama's Fell
- The Silent Meadow of Dust, ruled by the Bishop of the Chalcedony Thurible
- The Black Chase outside Sijan
References[]
- ↑ Exalted: Exalted Second Edition, p. 16
- ↑ Exalted: Exalted Second Edition, p. 312-314
- ↑ Exalted: Exalted Second Edition, p. 316