The Penumbra

The Penumbra is the ring of shadowed and blighted country surrounding the Umbra in the western Mindens and old Alshari Wilderlands. Named and mapped by Taren and Rustallo during their early reconnaissance, the Penumbra is defined by a permanent band of low cloud and storm, perpetually overcast skies, and a creeping despair that grows heavier the closer one approaches the Dead God's horizon. Crops wilt, invasive (importasta) plants and animals die, only the native Callidoran species (natavia) thrive, and humans and horses who camp within it suffer nightmares and sickness of mind.

Politically the Penumbra functions as Sheruel's (and later Korbal's) outer empire. Captured Gilmoran and Wilderlands territories were reorganized into fiefs held by Soulless human lords, enslaved former Censors, or gurvani chieftains, with garrisons of gurvani warriors to keep the surviving human peasantry productive. The baronies of Sarsguard and the Northwatches, once loyal to Alshar, were absorbed entirely. The main conduit into the Penumbra is the Timber Road, up which tens of thousands of human captives were coffled for "processing" at the Umbra's edge.

The frontier of the Penumbra is patrolled by the Iron Ring order of rangers and warmagi, and later by the Magelaw's constabulary under Mavone. Key sites on or within its borders include Megelin Castle, held by Azar as a forward base, Terrorhall, and the ruined town of Tudry at its southern reach. Long after the fall of the Dead God, the Penumbra remains shadowed and corrupted — a permanent buffer between Korbal's Umbra and the reclaimed human lands to the south.