Everything

A Garou in the Penumbra can peer back into the physical world, but it’s not easy, and it’s not without risk. (This requires a Gnosis roll against a difficulty equal to the local Gauntlet.) If the attempt succeeds, the werewolf sees a shadowy, monochromatic version of the physical world. Seeing fine details is difficult (although it’s possible to read newsprint, a computer monitor, or facial expres­ sions with five successes). Noises from the other side have distortion or echoes. Scent, however is unaffected; in fact, some Garou claim their sense of smell is heightened enough that they can even track prey.

While a Garou in the Penumbra is peeking into the physical world, however, she is oblivious to her surroundings in the spirit world, unless she starts taking damage (and losing Health Levels). Her pack can’t communicate with her, and her enemies can act unopposed. Her intense concentration is obvious, especially since her eyes will be glowing.

Werewolves can also peek from the Earth to the Pen­ umbra, though it’s even more difficult. The Gnosis roll is against a difficulty of the local Gauntlet plus three, up to a difficulty of 9. However, the same dangerous distraction is evident. Fortunately, some supernatural abilities make this easier, such as the Gift: Pulse of the Invisible.

Some spirits in the Penumbra may also be able to dimly perceive events in the physical world. This requires

the Charm: Peeking, although discerning fine details is as difficult for these spirits as it is for Garou (requiring the same Gnosis roll against a difficulty equal to the strength of the Gauntlet). One of the most useful applications of this is when a werewolf gathers information from a spirit tasked to observe a specific physical person or place. One of the most dangerous situations is when a Bane is tasked to perform this same activity or uses this information to stalk and corrupt an innocent victim.

As creatures who deal with life and death on an almost daily basis, werewolves seem quite accustomed to dealing with the concept of dying. The greatest Garou heroes are said to live on in the spirit world as ancestor-spirits after they die. As surprising as it may seem, a few elders volun­ tarily disconnect from the physical world to live on through eternity as spirits. Some werewolves believe that they will rejoin Gaia when they pass on, or be reborn as the next generation of cubs. Others have learned to channel the spirits of their ancestors. In either case, it’s easier for a Garou to accept the thought of dying. Although a sept’s Gathering for the Departed can be a somber affair with epic displays of mourning, Garou do not dread the end of a hero’s life.

Humans have trouble achieving such equanimity. In fact, the vast majority of them have some level of dread or fear of death. Although religion can offer hope of salvation, faith in the World of Darkness is dying. Since humans can never experience the spirit world (at least, not without help from mages, werewolves, or other supernatural allies), they endlessly speculate and argue about the outcome and even the existence of the afterlife. According to some spiritualists, this dread gives shape and substance to the Dark Umbra, the underworld of creation. Just as the Penumbra is a shadow of the living world on the other side of the Gauntlet, the Dark Umbra is said to be “below” our world, forming a shadowy reflection of the world. Places of entropy, decay, suffering, and death cast enduring reflections there.

In the physical world, humans who die in tragic circum­ stances with unresolved passions may become trapped in a life beyond death as ghosts. For a rare few, death is actually a time of transformation: they pass over to the Dark Umbra. No heaven or hell awaits them; instead, they endure an endless purgatory until they resolve their unfinished busi­ ness or are destroyed. Just as the Penumbra is a place where everything is more alive, in the Dark Umbra, shadows form where the forces of entropy and decay predominate.

Silent Striders have a few rites and rituals for entering this realm, which have gradually been shared with other tribes over time. With enough wisdom, these Garou may even lead their packs on journeys into darkness, but the spirits of the Dark Umbra know these outsiders do not belong. Entering this realm is far more difficult than step­

ping sideways into the Penumbra. Nonetheless, when a Garou must face the heartrending truth about a human’s untimely demise, this sinister reflection of the real world holds the hope of revelation and resolution.

The Penumbra reflects life; the Dark Umbra reflects death; the Astral Realm is separate from both of those realms. It’s a realm of the mind, constructed from ideals and pure intellect. If the Dark Umbra is said to be “below” our world, then the Astral Realm is described as being “above” it. (As dimensions that defy conventions of Earthly reality, the words “above and below” don’t fully do them justice, but no other word comes close.) Garou tell tales of this realm, but they rarely have the privilege of entering it. Although there have been sightings of Stargazers in the Astral Realm, such events are exceptional. Occultists are more familiar with stories of mages in the Astral Realm; loremasters know the tales are possible because of the willworkers’ command of Mind magic. Garou who study the mysteries of the occult know more about this, but the chances of them traveling there are remote in the extreme.

Scattered across the Penumbra are smaller pocket dimensions called Domains: zones that correspond to areas in both the physical Realm and the Near Umbra. They borrow energy and definition from their Near Umbral counterparts. From here, alternatives to reality become stranger. They deviate more from the rules of reality humans know, even as they show aspects of reality in ways imaginative, creative, and enlightened supernatural beings can understand. Garou can enter the limited reality of a Domain from the Penumbra.

Blights are isolated cityscapes — mixed realms where the Weaver and the Wyrm are both powerful. Weaver-spirits build and maintain these metropolises in Blights, even as Wyrm-spirits corrupt and destroy them. Some Blights are mockeries or parodies of existing cities, while others are suspiciously generic. All of them have one thing in common: The natural forces of the Wyld are nearly non-existent here. Blights are sterile, empty landscapes where Wyrm and Weaver spirits race to outbreed and overpower each other. The thicker the webs and walls of ephemeral buildings and city systems get, the more enraged the spirits of the Wyrm become. Of course, when either kind of spirit is destroyed, it’s only a matter of time before the spirit reforms to renew the endless struggle. If one side of this conflict “wins” (perhaps with the help of spirit-walking shapechangers), the Blight transforms into a spawning ground for either the Wyrm or Weaver.

Chimares are pocket realities formed by dreams. Some believe that for each dream of every sentient creature on Earth, there’s a reflection of it in a chimare; other spiritual-

ists attest that only the most powerful dreams can become ephemeral in the Umbra. Either way, a traveler who manages to enter another person’s dream may give insights into that sentient’s mind. With enough spiritual might, a visionary may reshape the dream, alter its outcome, or influence the dreamer’s mind. A chimare can be a chilling nightmare or an idealistic paradise. Neither is real, but they’re dangerous enough to maim or kill the unprepared —or drive them mad. Mind mages are especially adept at manipulating chimares, and as such, they may act as rivals to packs of spiritually-sojourning werewolves.

Epiphs are bizarre realms that embody concepts, such as “the color blue,” “the number four,” or “the smell of cinnamon.” Garou tend to find them baffling, although Stargazers (and other werewolves with the Enigmas skill or a high Gnosis trait) may gain insights by meditating within them. A more complicated epiph may have animate spirits acting out philosophical or intellectual concepts, expanding the definition of the phrase “platonic ideal.” A traveler in an epiph could experience every variation of a concept, become a temporary expert in that concept, or even do battle against a particularly pernicious idea. All things are possible in the spirit world; some are just stranger than others. (Some werewolves attempt to regain Gnosis through meditation in an epiph; if they succeed, they not only gain temporary Gnosis, but also unexpected side effects, revelations, or even flashes of intuition.)

Glens are domains inhabited by spirits of the Wyld and suffused with pure manifestations of Gaia. A Glen is an idealized, perfect manifestation of Her natural world, at least for a particular biome. The inhabitants are typically intelligent animal-spirits or talking plant-spirits. Glens can serve as breeding grounds for Wyld-spirits, releasing them into neighboring dimensions or even the so-called “real world.” Sometimes an avatar of a Garou totem might retreat to a Glen to heal or meditate. Werewolves have been known to do the same thing — a werewolf who succumbs to the apathy and depression of Harano might retreat into the perfect surroundings of a Glen until he becomes fully spiritual and forgets his Earthly concerns entirely (see “Disconnection,” below). Red Talons (and Garou with high Primal-Urge) have an almost instinctive ability to understand and interpret events in Glens.

Hellholes are Wyrm-ridden domains that correspond to toxic waste sites, polluted areas, and places of extreme human suffering. They may be found floating in isolation between the Penumbra and Near Umbra, or they may be directly accessible from some of the most horrific toxic waste dumps, radioactive landscapes, or other spawning grounds of the Wyrm on Earth. A pack of shapechangers may be surprised when they step sideways from a hellish place on Earth and walk straight into a virulent Hellhole. Some of the most terrifying and toxic places on Earth persist

as Hellholes long after they’ve been sanitized, cleansed, or fallen prey to radioactive decay on Earth.

Trods have significance to the fae, changelings, the Fianna, and their faerie relations. Many are accessible through places on Earth of significance to these capricious creatures, such as faerie rings and monoliths. Trods have a reputation for serving as hidden paths between the sacred places of the Earth, but only for those who hold the favor of the fae. Faeries and their kin may use a trod as a shortcut when traveling across the planet. However, interlopers may find themselves terribly lost, and some have become trapped in unpredictably winding paths or elaborate hedge mazes. The most distant trods border on the Near Umbra, where they reflect places on Earth that were once vital to the fae, even though they have long since passed from the physical world. If they’re even fully forgotten, they might even fade into the Deep Umbra and disappear. A particularly glib or clever Fianna may be able to gain the temporary favor of the fae while exploring, exploiting their distant ancestry long enough to travel across a trod.

Webs are areas where Weaver-spirits have thoroughly calcified and clarified an area of the Penumbra. They act as focal points for the machinations of the Mad Weaver. While Garou may risk getting caught in these webs, drained of their will (and Willpower), or enslaved by an army of spirits, spiritual heroes have been known to climb these webs to other realms in the Near Umbra dominated by the Weaver. As one would expect, Glass Walkers may find it easier to gain insights into the spirits here, possibly even controlling them long enough to gain information or insights. A Web can also be a simulacra or synecdoche of a similar place in the real world. A vast and uncaring corporation or organization may have an even more elaborate campus or office within a Web. Travelers tell of employees who are so demoralized in the real world that shadows of their office drones continue to labor within a Web, even as they sleep. More cautionary tales warn of Garou who were drained of their will (or Gnosis), processed, brainwashed, and forced to labor as mindless drones in these same Weaver constructs.

Wyldlings are rarer than Hellholes or Webs, even though the Wyld-spirits within them can be exceedingly powerful. As the world dies and the Apocalypse draws nigh, Wyldlings are drifting farther from the physical world toward the Near Umbra. Nothing is stable or permanent in these chaotic realms, and capricious forces of magic unleash unpredictable effects. As one would expect, Wyldling spirits gather there. Fortunately, the natural surroundings of Glens also offer some refuge for Wyld-spirits.

Beyond Earth’s atmosphere in the physical world, man-made satellites orbit the Earth, and much farther, the Moon circles the planet as it cycles through its phases.

In the spirit world, the Near Umbra lies beyond the Penumbra. The most common method of reaching it is by a Moon Bridge, a gateway that originates in a Garou caern in the physical world. Sometimes a pack may find a path to the Near Umbra by crossing a Domain that’s similar to a place in the Near Umbra the Garou are trying to reach. Spirits may also act as guardians and guides, if approached properly. (For more details, see “Umbral Travel” below.)

The Near Umbra is a swirling haze where many realms drift, great and small, beneath Luna’s light. Just as the moon orbits the Earth, these realms orbit the Gaian Realm, though their paths are not as limited by mere physical laws. Some werewolves travel here to petition their totems or speak to powerful spiritual entities; however, these ruling powers are as unpredictable and dangerous as they are wise. Gnosis is vital in the Near Umbra, since these realms are full of mysteries, enigmas, and hidden wisdom. Garou heroes leave the physical world they know to find revelations in strange realms, but the knowledge is never truly valuable unless they can bring it back to their septs and caerns. The physical world is a valuable frame of reference in many ways, especially for distinguishing between useful revelations and delusional bouts of madness.

There are thirteen major Near Realms circling the Earth in the Near Umbra. They’re pockets of immense spiritual power, each contained by a thin membrane. Each one feels as natural and real to spiritual travelers as the physical world feels to physical travelers. Each realm has its own “internal logic,” its own set of rules and laws for its version of “reality.” A Garou’s senses all function here (with some slight modifications), but her instincts and intellect are just as vital. There may be more major realms, but there’s no way to know what has remained undiscovered, of course, until it’s found.

According to legend, the Near Realms where formed when powerful forces of the Triat from the distant Deep Umbra collided with the most powerful spirits of the Gaian Realm. This would explain while some Near Realms are dominated by one of the forces of the Triat, while others have been heavily influenced by spiritual forces on Earth.