Penumbra (World of Darkness)

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Penumbra is a domain that makes up part of the World of Darkness multiverse, a role-playing game developed by White Wolf Game Studio.

Introduction

Immediately across the Gauntlet from reality is a domain that mirrors reality closely, called the Penumbra. Though it is not possible to "see" reality from the Penumbra, major landmarks such as large buildings, old trees, or topographic features have visible variants in the Penumbra. Each videre has its own version of the Penumbra, but these versions have some passing interaction due to their proximity to one another. Kuei-jin call it the Mirror Lands. These Penumbrae are the starting points of the Four Worlds, the four aspects of the terrestrial Umbra. NOTE: Wraiths do not reside within the Near Penumbra. Wraiths exist in the Dark Penumbra (the Penumbra of the Low Umbra) called the Shadowlands.

Astral Penumbra

The Astral Penumbra is a mirror image of the Periphery, but is cloaked by auras and littered with symbols and riddles. These symbols relate to their counterparts in the Periphery, and are not usually organized or structures, leading the Astral Penumbra to be confusing as a whole, but highly relevant to reality in specific cases.

Spiritual Penumbra

The Spiritual Penumbra in the West depicts the world as it is seen with respect to the powers of the Triat. Areas of Stasis are wrapped with the Weaver's webs, Dynamic areas of untouched wilds pulse with the lifeforce of the Wyld, and regions of Entropic corruption appear decayed and filthy from the touch of the Wyrm. Because it depicts the Periphery through the lens of this interplay, the Spiritual Penumbra visually resembles the Periphery the least of the Penumbrae.

In the East, the Penumbra is instead informed by the conflict between Yin and Yang, as the two energies interact. There does not appear to be the agency seen in the West in this region of the Spiritual Penumbra (Yin and Yang do not have personifications) - it is simply accepted that this is how the spirit world functions.