Umbra

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White Wolf canon uses 'Umbra' to mean different things in different places, depending on context:

  1. The realm that Garou routinely visit.
  2. The set of all realms other than the normal material world.

This page is intended to help sort out which is which, how PCs can get from one to another, what dangers they should expect to encounter along the way, and which canon books/pages provide more detail.

White Wolf wiki's page on the Umbra covers much of this information, though it's a little scattered, and also has some 20th Anniversary stuff mixed in (which may differ from Revised or just add to it).

IMPORTANT: This page is in draft status and may still be partly incorrect. This notice will be removed after other staff have had a chance to review.

Common terms

  • Spirit World, Shadow, Velvet Shadow: Synonyms for 'Umbra'. Again, scope depends on context.
  • Material world, Gaia Realm, Skinlands, normalspace: The normal everyday world (albeit with vampires and such) where most RP takes place. Celestial bodies other than Earth (e.g. the moon, Venus, Mars) are separate material worlds with separate spirit realms linked to them (see Shard Realms below).

First tier: Near Umbra / Gauntlet / Penumbra

  • Penumbra refers to either a spirit realm linked directly to a material world, or the boundary between the two. More info
  • Gauntlet (syn. Wall) refers to either the barrier between a material world and a spirit realm, or the strength of that barrier (0 to 10). For the Shadowlands, this is called the Shroud or Stormwall.
  • Near Umbra is the set of all such realms. All of Earth's Near Umbra realms are bounded by Earth's atmosphere.

Earth's Penumbras include (but may not be limited to):

  • Astral Reaches, High Umbra, Astral Umbra, Astral Space, Ensemble Space: Realms of abstract thought. Its physical state is not directly connected to the material world. Accessed by mages using the Mind sphere, Mokole using their Memory, and (at a low level) vampires using Auspex. More info
  • Spirit Wilds, Middle Umbra, Yang World: The realm that Garou routinely visit. Its physical state is similar to the material world. More info
  • Shadowlands, Wasteland, Yin World: The realm where wraiths routinely spend time. Part of a larger set of realms known as the Underworld / Low Umbra / Dark Umbra, though these terms are sometimes used to refer to the Shadowlands specifically. More info
  • Near Dreaming, Dreamtime: The realm that changelings routinely visit. Part of a larger set of realms known as the Dreaming, though this term is sometimes used to refer to the Near Dreaming specifically. More info
  • Digital Web: A virtual reality realm where many Virtual Adepts operate. Its physical state is not directly connected to the material world. More info

IMPORTANT: The Near Umbra is no longer affected by the Avatar Storm. See Maelstrom house rules for details.

Sets of realms

High Umbra

More info

Vulgate Spires Courts Epiphanies
  • River of Languages
  • Bibliotheca Iskandria
  • Grand Hall
  • Inventium
  • Fortress of Government
  • Elemental Courts
  • Court of Muses
  • Afterworlds
  • Apex of History
  • Continuum Orrery
  • Nihil
  • Well of Souls

Middle Umbra

More info

  • Abyss (aka Chasm)
  • Aetherial Realm/Reaches
  • Atrocity Realm
  • Battleground (aka Realm of Fighting Spirits)
  • CyberRealm (aka Dystopia)
  • Erebus
  • Flux
  • Goblin Jungle
  • Hy-Brasil (aka Arcadia Gateway)
  • Legendary Realm
  • Mountains of Heaven
  • Pangaea (see also Shenti below)
  • Scar
  • Summer Country (aka Gardens of the First Age)
  • Tiger Lands
  • Umi (aka Dragon Kingdom of the Sea)
  • Wasteland (see also Shenti below) - possibly same as Atrocity Realm
  • Wolfhome

Low Umbra

Zones

Dreaming

More info

  • Near Dreaming; 'Dreaming' is sometimes used to refer to this realm specifically
  • Far Dreaming
  • Deep Dreaming
  • Arcadia

Digital Web

More info

  • Virgin Web
  • Formatted Web
  • Corrupted Web
  • Sectors
    • Haunted Web
    • C-Sectors
    • Grid Sectors

Hollow Worlds

Mirror Zone

Null Zone

More info

Vistas

More info

Second tier: Horizon

  • Horizon is similar to Gauntlet, but separates two realms from each other.
  • First Horizon separates Near Umbra realms from others, and corresponds to the edge of Earth's atmosphere.
  • True Horizon (aka Etherspace, Subspace) is the set of realms between Earth's atmosphere and the asteroid belt. Horizon Realms and Shard Realms are located here. More info
  • Far Horizon corresponds to the asteroid belt. 'Horizon' is sometimes used to refer to this specifically.
  • Deep Umbra is the set of realms beyond the asteroid belt. More info

Horizon Realms

More info

  • Accidental College of Mercury
  • Autochthonia (aka Great Machine)
  • Balador Pleasuredome
  • Concordia
  • Darkside Moonbase
  • Doissetep
  • Gernsback Continuum
  • MECHA
  • Midrealm
  • Moreauvia
  • Seasonal Realms
  • Victoria Station
  • Yenosia (aka Null-B)

Shard Realms

  • Sun
  • Mercury
  • Venus
  • Moon
  • Mars

Deep Umbra

  • Cerberus
  • Charybdis
  • Copernicus Research Center (aka Cop)
  • Paradox Realms

Miscellaneous

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