Everything

This is where those Vidare I mentioned earlier come into play. Although the Penumbra always feels surreal, the dominant impression you get about it depends a lot on your point of view. The heady traveler sees the shimmering patterns of the Vidare Astral, the elemental one senses the raw nature of the Vidare Spiritus, and the gloomy, grave one perceives the rotting realm of that Vidare Mortem. As a result, not only is it possible for a group of travelers to see a very different world when they hit the Penumbra together, it’s fairly common for them to do so.

Even more than most things in a mage’s world, travel into the Penumbra is subjective as hell, because although this layer of reality reflects the world on the other side of the Gauntlet, it also responds to each individual viewer. There’s an interplay at work here that demonstrates the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle in vivid detail. The witness really does affect the situation.

For the average visitor – if you can call anything about visiting the spirit realm average – the Penumbra reveals a shadowy, mist-shrouded reflection of the Earthly side of the Gauntlet in that area. Sensations are paradoxically muted and yet more vivid… and if you can wrap your head around that, then you’re ready to go exploring.