The Umbra

The Umbra is the dark, ethereal mass that has consumed the Halcyon Domain since The Apostasy. It is not merely darkness or shadow—it is a transient storm of twisted souls, an ever-present corruption that seeps into all living things and warps them into nightmarish monstrosities.

Nature of the Umbra

When a mortal dies bearing the Soul Blight, their soul does not pass on to any afterlife. Instead, it rises as a corrupted revenant bent on destroying everything they loved in life. If that risen body is destroyed, the blighted soul does not find rest—it withdraws into the Umbra itself, joining the swirling mass of corrupted spirits that haunt the land.

These lost souls within the Umbra seek out living creatures to haunt and corrupt. They merge with and contort beasts into Umbra-Touched monsters—nightmarish creatures 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, making them ever more powerful.

The Growing Darkness

The clouded skies have grown darker with each passing generation since the Apostasy. Where once the sun still broke through, now the heavens are an oppressive grey that seems to deepen year by year. Some believe this is the Umbra itself expanding, slowly swallowing what remains of light and hope.

In the absence of the gods, dreams have become ominous and empty. Oracles and those sensitive to the Aetherweave report visions of great alien minds glimpsing into this world, reaching beyond the cosmic veil that the Veiled Gods once guarded.

Umbra-Touched Creatures

Adversaries and environments corrupted by the Umbra gain the Umbra-Touched type. These beings are warped mockeries of their former selves, instilled with preternatural strength born of hate and suffering.

Game Mechanic: All Umbra-Touched adversaries critically succeed on attacks against a PC on a die roll of 19–20.

The Corruption of the Enduring

The Soul Blight marks all mortals, and as The Age of Umbra/01 Setting/Key Concepts/The Enduring gain scars from their battles against the darkness, they too become slowly corrupted by the Umbra.

Game Mechanic: When a PC deals damage, they deal extra damage equal to their number of scars. This represents the Umbra's corruption strengthening them even as it claims their soul. When a PC marks their last Hope slot with a scar, they don't retire—they succumb to the Umbra's influence and charge forever into the dark to join the terrors that stalk lightless spaces.