[Chronicles of Darkness] The Shadow Realm: Part I - Basic Ecology

(( In Character (IC) Document:

Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen

Venue: Chronicles of Darkness - Mage: The Awakening (Fallen World Chronicle)

Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler

Cannibalized from multiple sources such as the Werewolf: The Forsaken 2nd Ed and the Chronicles of Darkness Corebook))

THE SHADOW REALM

A Pentacle Academy lecture series by Anton (MD), Dean of The Adamant College.

Part One: Basic Ecology

Behind the skin of the material world lies another realm, pulsing with its own rhythms and cycles. The Hisil, or Shadow, is not simply a twisted copy of the World of Darkness, nor is material reality built on it. The two are in harmony, influencing one another since the first days following the betrayal of Father Wolf by the Uratha – Werewolves.

RESONANCE

The first sign of the Shadow is in the material world, which feels its influence as undercurrents of emotion, unexplainable vibes, or odd feelings that subconsciously influence people and animals in the vicinity. Sensitives and psychics have a stronger sense for resonance, as do many supernaturally touched people and creatures.

The result of spiritual activity on the physical plane, resonance, creates the conditions in the material world to generate Essence in the Shadow. It also sustains spirits who escape through the Gauntlet, so wise Edgetenders note well-established pockets of resonance and watch them for signs that they are becoming loci or have been compromised.  Areas with an especially weak Gauntlet becomes a target for spirits using the ability to reinforce the resonance they feed from, compounding the effect.

For example, everyone “knows” that alley’s haunted. Enough teens have felt the hairs on the back of their necks stand up, had nightmares about it after passing through, or shivered in a sudden drop in temperature. The pack of Werewolves that claims it in its territory knows better — once, years ago, three homeless men froze to death there. The alley isn’t literally haunted, but the pain and the terrible cold birthed a spirit that lairs in the Hisil reflection of the alley. The resonance in turn creates Essence that the spirit feeds on in the Shadow.

THE GAUNTLET

The membrane between worlds isn’t a simple barrier, but a medium of its own that those crossing between the material world and the Hisil have to push through. It is almost an interference, like static in a broadcast signal.  Beings have to become attuned to one side of the other to cross. The Gauntlet’s strength or thickness depends on a wide range of factors in both worlds, not all of which are known. In general, the Gauntlet is thickened by human activity. While great shifts in human emotion lead to new Essence or new spirits, those shifts also prevent the Shadow and human world from meeting. It’s in quiet, still places where resonance settles undisturbed that the Gauntlet begins to thin.

Thyrsus describe the effort of crossing the Gauntlet — either spiritually to use a power affecting the other world or literally to physically journey across — as “Reaching.” Reaching takes effort when merely using a power across worlds, while bodily crossing over from world to world takes both effort and time.

To cross, most beings and spirits require a locus; a focal point of spiritual energy in the physical world. The seconds of travel in-between are spent hanging in a gray, mist-like void, feeling a claustrophobic pressure all around. Travelers are safe from attack while crossing, and can’t move until they emerge on the other side.

Some tell tales about encountering bizarre entities inside the Gauntlet — ghostly “spirits,” unnatural corpses of no known creature, splashes of blood, and other signs that the barrier is somehow inhabited, always just on the edge of the paralyzed traveler’s senses. Some LoreKeepers say that when the Sundering rent the Border Marches apart, anything trapped inside was changed as well. Perhaps this is some aspect of the Fall, some kind of Abyssal interference… the implications are very frightening and not very practical.

Werewolves know that the Gauntlet isn’t only for ghost stories. The two most numerous Hosts — Beshilu and Azlu — (The Rat Host and the Spider Host) both threaten the harmony of worlds by altering the Gauntlet. Beshilu gnaw the Gauntlet thin, tunneling into it in their mad need to join the worlds. Azlu spin their webs on the Shadow side, building on and reinforcing the Gauntlet, and trapping anything that tries to cross over.

Some supernatural beings — including beings who have grown more attuned to spirit than flesh — can Reach to cross between worlds without a locus. These methods vary in speed; Many experience the same delay as experienced when using a locus, while powerful spirits or sorcerers ripping a portal right through the Gauntlet may cross instantly. Without access to these powers or the Spirit Arcanum, you must bargain or ask assistance for the right to cross.

THE HISIL

Once through the Gauntlet, the Hisil awaits. Depending on where the traveler crossed over, the Shadow can seem very similar to the material world or obviously different. The thinner the Gauntlet in a location, the more the worlds resemble one another. In deep wilderness, far from humanity, the Shadow is only shaped by the simple feelings of animals and the environment. In the heart of a city, the crowds stir the Shadow into chaos.

Whether it’s downtown New York or the Arctic tundra, the Shadow makes the inner nature of a place plain to see.

Hidden drug labs that passersby don’t even notice in the material world become festering hives of addiction spirits in the Shadow. A burned-out car wreck abandoned in the woods becomes a site of idyllic joy and imagination — the thief who torched it never thought about it twice, but to the local children it’s a secret fort and playground.

The Shadow remembers even when the material world has forgotten. Demolished buildings stay in the Shadow until something happens on the flesh side to replace them with new and potent Resonance. Ancient forests long since logged sprawl across the Shadow wilderness, and remote regions host ancient spirits that remember the world before the Fall.

To novice travelers, the Shadow seems empty. Despite the thronging spirits spawned by human activity, the Shadow does not contain any spirits of humanity itself. Roads, towns, cities, farms, and every other human creation are all reflected in the Shadow, but not people. Where humans haven’t created enough spirits to push nature spirits back, the Shadow feels overgrown and wild — a busy highway in the material world that hasn’t generated any new spirits might be a cracked, thin road in the Shadow.

The lack of people doesn’t mean the Shadow is unpopulated, but unaided travelers often have difficulty picking spirits out from the landscape until they’re close by, especially when the spirits are dormant. Tree branches sway lazily against the wind in response to their sleeping spirits’ dreams. Animals watch visitors to the Shadow with too-intelligent eyes. Rivers and lakes whisper to one another in the First Tongue. To those with basic knowledge of the Spirit Arcanum, spirits are obvious, given away by their accumulated Essence unless deliberately hiding.

The Shadow has a hierarchy quite apart from the material world. All spirits belong to a broad collection or category that Awakened call Chiors — a group of weather spirits, or animal spirits. Like-natured spirits group together into Descants, close-knit groups that only accept those they trust. The spirits of any given area form a Court, with the more powerful holding sway over the lesser.