The Umbra

The spirit world; the shadow or reflection of the physical world, seemingly caused by emotional resonance. Can be entered through reflective surfaces like mirrors or water. Allows a werewolf to travel through the spirit world, called the Gaunlet. Similar to the Weave, Phasing or a longer and slow Gate of Dimension or Teleport in D&D or the concept of the Upside Down in Stranger Things.

The Spirit Wilds
Beyond the world of flesh lies its spiritual counterpart — a mirror, a shadow, and something far stranger. The @Garou call it the Umbra: a realm that reflects the material world, yet distorts it through the lens of thought, emotion, and spirit. Here, truth, metaphor, and ideal coexist, twisting familiar landscapes into visions both wondrous and terrifying.

In the @Umbra, a cobalt mine might gape like a festering wound, a city might swell like a diseased blister, and a sunset could blaze as a jewel atop a mountain of living stone. Some places mirror their earthly forms exactly, while others warp into alien shapes — a shack larger inside than out, an oil spill bleeding from a harpoon in Gaia’s side.

Crossing from the material world requires passing the @Gauntlet, a barrier that grows ever thicker in these dark times. Within, spirits feel solid and tangible, yet follow their own laws and customs. An unspoken slight can turn a grove of playful lights into a nightmare of clawed shadows. Even the Garou’s wisest theurges tread here with caution.

The Umbra suffers as the physical world does in the time of Apocalypse. Spiritual scars fester where the land is wounded, nature’s spirits writhe in agony, and once-strong ties to sacred caerns weaken. Some Garou find themselves barred from the Spirit Wilds entirely, as if the realm itself recoils from them.

Whether this estrangement is punishment for the Garou’s failures or a desperate defense of the spirit world, none can say. But in the Umbra, beauty and horror lie side by side, and both may turn against the unwary without warning.