The Enduring

The Enduring is the name given to all the surviving peoples of the Halcyon Domain who continue to resist The Umbra and maintain their humanity in the Age of Umbra. It is both a descriptor and an identity—a declaration that despite the gods' abandonment, despite the Soul Blight, despite the ever-growing darkness, life continues.

A People Forged by Hardship

It has been nearly a century since The Apostasy, and those who remain have rebuilt what they can among the ruins of the Old World. The Enduring are not a single community or nation—they are scattered settlements of survivors who share a common determination to hold against the doom through grit, ingenuity, and faith.

All Enduring are trained to survive and defend themselves in this bleak land from a young age. By the time they reach adulthood, many have been honed into fierce warriors and Aetherweavers through hardship and necessity. Childhood in the Age of Umbra is short; there is no room for softness when the darkness hungers for souls.

Life Among the Enduring

The communities of the Enduring huddle within reinforced battlements where Sacred Pyres burn as beacons of hope and safety. Life is structured around the protection and maintenance of these pyres, with Pyrekeepers holding positions of great importance.

Bands of hunters brave the cracked and twisted landscape beyond their walls each day to:

• Gather sustenance from the corrupted wilds
• Recover materials from Old World ruins
• Connect or trade with other surviving settlements
• Scout for threats approaching their community

These hunting bands are the lifeline of every settlement, risking their souls to keep their people fed and supplied.

The Shadow of Society

The Old World was one of grandiose castle fortresses, sprawling cityscapes, and imposing temples. The wrath of the Veiled Gods toppled much of that extravagance to ruin, shattering the kingdoms and cabals that once basked in opulence.

What remains is a ghost of what once was. Surviving remnants of the old ways struggle to reclaim a forgotten glory while most survivors lead grueling lives across the splintered communities of this broken realm. Yet the Enduring forge new culture through hardship, determination, and ambition, picking through the debris of what was in hopes of building what will be.

Hope Against Oblivion

Despite the overwhelming darkness, the Enduring refuse to surrender to despair. Within their communities, hope continuously sparks aflame:

• Spirited leaders and champions rouse their fellow Enduring with promises of expanding their walls and avenging their fallen
• Rumors spread between settlements of heroic figures felling greater evils and reclaiming ancient relics
• Zealot factions seek means to commune with the absent gods, searching for ways to repent for God-King Othedias's crimes
• Hermetic societies preserve prophecies that speak of a chance at salvation for the realm

The Rarity of Respite

Everywhere the gloom touches, danger lurks. Ancient evils thrive in this age of shadow, while warped spirits marked by the Soul Blight mingle and corrupt whatever they can subsume. The Enduring must seek the rare, scattered places of safety—where a Sacred Pyre burns—for even a moment of true rest.

This constant pressure has shaped the Enduring into a resilient people. They do not take safety for granted, they do not waste resources, and they do not abandon their own. For in the Age of Umbra, humanity's greatest weapon against the darkness is each other.