Overview

The Age of Umbra is a dark and broken age within the realm known as the Halcyon Domain, which rots in the wake of its Pantheon's abandonment. Grandiose cities and awe-inspiring cathedrals to the Veiled Gods now crumble slowly into ruin, fallen bastions of the prosperous epoch ruled by the guiding hand of God-King Othedias. Othedias, chosen by the Veiled Gods as the bridge to divinity, conspired with his Grand Ordinants and Aetherlords to enact clandestine machinations that could shift the balance in celestial power, enraging the pantheon.

His blasphemy was met with cataclysmic retribution. The gods rained destruction upon the land, ending the Old World and forsaking the surviving peoples of the Halcyon Domain to an existence of growing desolation. The Veiled Gods then abandoned this world in what is referred to as The Apostasy, leaving what remains to wither under ever-growing shadow, the clouded skies growing darker with each passing generation as they herald the world's slow death march into entropy and oblivion.

The Soul Blight

The cycle of the soul has been sundered, cursing all who live or ever will live with the "soul blight," a mark upon every mortal ensuring that, upon their death, they will rise again as a corrupted revenant bent on destroying everything they loved in their former life. If their risen body is destroyed, the marked soul withdraws into the dark, ethereal mass known as The Umbra, seeking others to haunt and corrupt.

The Enduring

It's now been nearly a century within the Age of Umbra, and those who remain rebuild what they can among the ruins of the Old World. Referring to themselves as The Age of Umbra/01 Setting/Key Concepts/The Enduring, these scattered communities of survivors huddle within reinforced battlements where Sacred Pyres burn as a beacon of hope and safety. All Enduring are trained to survive and defend themselves in this bleak land from a young age, many honed into fierce warriors and Aetherweavers through hardship and necessity by the time they reach adulthood. Bands of hunters brave the cracked and twisted landscape beyond their walls each day to gather sustenance, recover materials, and connect or trade with other surviving settlements.

Umbra-Touched Monstrosities

However, many of the outside world's wandering beasts have mutated from the corruption of the Umbra; this transient storm of twisted souls merges with and contorts the creatures into nightmarish monsters that stalk, rage, and evolve with each newly fused specter. When these monstrosities slay those who confront the wilds, their victims' blighted souls join the horrors that claimed them. In the absence of the gods, dreams turn ominous and empty, and oracles imagine great alien minds glimpsing into this world, reaching beyond the cosmic veil left unguarded.

Hope in Darkness

The diaspora of surviving communities hold against the doom through grit, ingenuity, and faith. As despondent as existence may seem in the Halcyon Domain, within these communities of the Enduring, hope continuously sparks aflame:

• Whispers speak of remnants of divine power lingering within lost shrines and holy sites that can rebuke the Soul Blight
• Rumors spread between settlements of heroic figures felling greater evils and reclaiming ancient relics for the might of the Enduring
• Spirited leaders and champions rouse their fellow Enduring with promises of expanding their walls and avenging their fallen
• Zealot factions fervently seek means to commune with the absent gods, forever searching for ways to repent for Othedias's crimes
• Those who can access the Aetherweave see visions of distant sanctums and uncorrupted fanes that cast aside the clouded skies to preserve light and life—or even redeem those touched by the soul blight
• Hermetic societies claim to carry tomes and truths of God-King Othedias and his great tragedy, along with prophecies that speak of a chance at salvation for the realm

The lands may be dark, but the points of light burn ever so bright.