Credits Special Thanks Authors: N. Conte, Danielle Harper, David Hill, Jeremy “Rorqual are cool” Kostiew for jumping Jeremy Kostiew, Chris Shaffer, Leath Sheales, Filamena in to bring the Kami back in style. Young, Eric Zawadzki Ian “Living Archive” Watson for being the world’s Developer: Stew Wilson biggest pack-rat of weird World of Darkness facts. Consulting Developers: Garron Lewis, Ryan Owens Editor: Danny James Walsh Creative Director: Rich Thomas Art Direction and Design: Mike Chaney Cover Art: Borja Puig Linares Interior Art: Borja Puig Linares, Andrew Trabbold, Chris Bivins, Brian Leblanc, John Cobb, Jeff “El Jeffe’” Holt, Richard Kane Ferguson © 2014 CCP hf. All rights reserved. Reproduction without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the purposes of reviews, and for blank character sheets, which may be reproduced for personal use only. White Wolf, Vampire, World of Darkness, Vampire the Masquerade, and Mage the Ascension are registered trademarks of CCP hf. All rights reserved. Vampire the Requiem, Werewolf the Apocalypse, Werewolf the Forsaken, Mage the Awakening, Promethean the Created, Changeling the Lost, Hunter the Vigil, Geist the Sin-Eaters, W20, Storyteller System, and Storytelling System are trademarks of CCP hf. All rights reserved. All characters, names, places and text herein are copyrighted by CCP hf. CCP North America Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of CCP hf. This book uses the supernatural for settings, characters and themes. All mystical and supernatural elements are fiction and intended for entertainment purposes only. This book contains mature content. Reader discre- tion is advised. Check out White Wolf online at http://www.white-wolf.com/ Check out the Onyx Path at http://www. theonyxpath.com 2 Table of Contents Introduction 7 Expressing Concepts 24 Alsart Oasis 33 What Are They Good For? 24 Primrose Orphanage 33 Through the Skin 7 Inhabitants 24 Panacea Pharmaceuticals Exploration 8 Glens 24 Office Building 33 Senses and Places of Learning 25 Lonely Highway 33 the Otherworlds 8 Places of Denial 25 Hashima, The Ghost Island 33 Adaptation 9 Hellholes 25 The Ghost Island 33 Nothing is Real 10 Nuclear Repository Hellholes 25 The Refinery (Blight) 34 How to Use this Book 10 Urban Hellholes 26 Tomorrow Brings Opportunity Trods 27 (Chimare) 34 Chapter One: Penumbra 13 Keys 27 Wild Reclamation (Epiph) 34 The Other Side Living History 27 The Woods (Glen) 35 of the Mirror 13 Party of a Lifetime 28 Chapter Two: Touching the Webs 28 The Near Umbra 37 Spirit World 14 Wage Slaves 28 Second Breath 14 Unexpected Webs 28 Near and Far 37 Domains of the Triat 16 Wyldlings 29 Airts 38 The Wyld Lands 16 Wylding Spirits 29 Between Realms 38 Weaver’s Webs 17 Other Layers 29 Moonlit Airts 39 Wastelands of the Wyrm 18 The Periphery of Thought 29 Moon Bridge 39 Warring Triat 18 The Edge of Darkness 30 Moon Path 39 Traveling the Spirit World 19 Faces in the Mirror 31 Other Methods 40 Meaning Made Manifest 21 St. Jacinta’s Medical Center 31 Spirit Gates 40 Genius Loci 22 Clayton City Park 31 Owl’s Wings 40 Blights 22 Moors Bottling Company Spirit Trains 41 Storytelling Blights 22 Chemical Waste Plant 31 Pattern Web 41 Chimares 22 Festival Market Town 32 Domains and the Dream Zone 42 Storytelling Chimares 23 Tall Pines Cemetery 32 Dream Zone 42 Epiphs 23 Oak Ridge Library 33 Malfeas 43 3 The Abyss 43 The Legendary Realm 66 Bone Gnawers 84 Coming and Going 44 The Kingdoms 66 Children of Gaia 85 Descending the Abyss 44 Wylderness 66 Fianna 85 Climbing 44 The Midnight Land 67 Get of Fenris 85 Flying 44 The Fimbulwinter 67 Glass Walkers 86 The Three Paths 45 The Hungry Dust 67 Red Talons 86 The Iron Path 45 The Great Miasma 68 Shadow Lords 87 The Gold Path 45 Pangaea 68 Silver Fangs 88 The Silver Path 45 Entry and Exit 70 Stargazers 88 Abyssal Denizens 45 The Elder Serpent 70 Uktena 88 Spirits 46 The Graveyard of the Lost 70 Wendigo 89 Nightmaster and The Savage Tribes 70 The Lost Homelands 89 the Hive of the Jagged Maw 46 The Desert Barbarians 71 Black Spiral Dancers 89 Aetherial Realm 46 The Thulan 71 Bunyip 90 Space Travel 47 The Zarak-Ur 71 Croatan 90 The Moon 47 The Mountain People 71 Silent Striders 90 The Sun 47 Scar 72 The Changing Breeds 91 The Reaches 48 Entry and Exit 72 Corax 91 Other Planets 48 The Gnosis Batteries 72 Nuwisha 91 Going Deeper 48 The Last Junction 73 The Membrane 92 Arcadia Gateway 48 The Barons of Industry 73 Anchorheads 92 Seelie and Unseelie 49 Troubled Economy 74 Crossing the Membrane 92 A Winter’s Tale 51 Summer Country 75 Disconnection in Atrocity Realm 52 The Isle of Self 75 Anchorheads 93 Horror Show 53 The Well of Life 75 New Anchorheads 93 Breeding Pits 53 Cloudtop High 75 Rite of Anchoring the Divide 93 The Atrocity Library 54 The Garden of Delight 76 Example Anchorheads 94 Battleground 54 Coming and Going 76 Dimensional Portal 94 The Two Roads 55 Now 76 River Rapids 94 The Plain of the Apocalypse 57 Wolfhome 77 Briar Patch 95 CyberRealm 57 The Countryside 78 Other Passageways 96 Entry and Exit 58 The Town 78 The Astral Umbra 96 Spider City 58 Shelters 78 Denizens 96 Uptown 58 The Sewers 79 Conceptual Spirits 96 Downtown 59 The Zoo 79 Mages 97 Old Town 59 The Camps 79 Nightmares 97 The Pit 60 Entry and Exit 79 Vampires 97 The Computer Web 60 Travel within Chapter Three: Erebus 61 the Astral Umbra 97 Arrival 61 Worlds Beyond 81 Venturing into A Landscape of Atonement 61 the Astral Umbra 98 Purification 62 Minor Realms 81 Before Harano 98 The Unforgivable 62 Designing Minor Realms 81 Lost Theurge 98 The Changing Breeds 63 Example Minor Realms 82 Astral Assault 99 The Flux Realm 64 Search Engine 82 The Dark Umbra 99 Portraying Flux 64 Synesthesia 82 Denizens 99 The Cocoon 65 The Homelands 83 Spectres 100 The Coil 65 Black Furies 83 Werewolves 100 4 Travel within The Memory-Broker, Stood Ground 138 the Dark Umbra 101 a Jaggling of Things Forgotten 120 Superhero 139 Venturing into Things Best Remembered 121 Urban Art 139 the Dark Umbra 102 Denizens of You-Only-Live-Once 139 Stemming the Tide 102 the Velvet Shadow 121 Chapter Five: Ancestral Rescue 102 Banes 121 Spectral Binding 102 Bioweapon 121 The Chosen 141 The Quest 103 Blood Currency 122 The Deep Umbra 103 Consciousness 123 Those Selected By Hand 141 Disconnection 103 Flame Wars 123 Kami and the Wolf 142 Denizens 104 Reroute 123 Created for a Task 143 Celestines 104 Obscenity 124 Mother May I? 144 Triat 104 Trendy Hat 124 A Place of Purity 146 Bunyip 105 Witch Hunt 125 It Grows for Gaia 147 The Fera 105 Gaian Spirits 125 It Creeps or Crawls, Travel within City Mascot 125 Swims or Flies 148 the Deep Umbra 105 City Tree 125 Gaia’s Sanctified 149 Venturing into Crowdfunding 126 the Deep Umbra 106 Gridlock Beetle 126 Do Not Tread 150 Becoming Gaia’s Gifted 150 The Abandoned Post 107 Meme 127 The Geasa 151 The New Celestine 107 Murica 127 Kami Creation 151 Trial and Error 107 Nuntius 128 Human Skin 151 Srador — King of Pets 128 Chapter Four: Animal Hide 152 The Road Warrior 129 Spirits Tree Bark and Topsoil 152 Weaver Spirits 130 Powers 153 109 Bot-Net 130 The Might of the Immobile 156 Brand Loyalty 130 The Basic Nature Sample Kami 158 Consumer Entertainment 131 of Spirits 109 Agatha Prim 158 Cultural Appropriation 131 Awakening 111 Plot Hooks 158 Digital Game 131 Communication 112 Cousin Rabbit 159 Downtown Train 132 Dealing with the Triat 113 Plot Hooks 160 Lenocinor 132 Chiminage 113 Drosera glanduligera 160 Old Is New Again 132 Spiritual Ecology 114 Plot Hooks 160 Pervium 133 Broods 114 The Hive 160 Polyteron 133 Gafflings 115 Plot Hooks 161 Silver Screen 133 Jagglings 115 Misha Bush 161 Skepticism 134 Incarnae 116 Plot Hooks 162 Truck Guardian 134 Celestines 117 The One-Oh-Oh 162 Wyld Spirits 135 Outside the Cycle: Emanations 117 Plot Hooks 163 Anonymous 135 An Animistic World 117 Opinnartokua 163 Beleben 136 Cockroach Gaffling 118 Plot Hooks 164 Chirurgeon 136 A Garou’s Perspective 119 Shallowbranch 164 Creepypasta 137 Dreams-of-the-Horizon, Chi- Plot Hooks 165 Farm-to-Table 137 merling Jaggling 119 Shrewton Village 165 GMO 137 An Hour Ago 120 Plot Hooks 165 Made-Me-Do-It Devil 138 5 Introduction matte painting at the back of a stage play. You feel like, Through the Skin if you could just reach out with your arm and push, you could push right through that skin and go… you You’re falling asleep. Safe in bed or leaning against don’t know where. the window of a subway train, or propped up in a chair Which is when you wake up. in your living room watching for whatever it is you need And that’s the closest most people will ever get to to watch. You’re just about asleep, when your sense of seeing the world beyond our world. We call it an out- gravity changes. The place you’re in has tilted a bit to of-body experience, or a sleep paralysis, or kanashibari the left or right, and your limbs weigh so much that — depending on who you ask and when. In the World you can’t move them. Even your head is too heavy of Darkness, this feeling isn’t a confusion of a sleeping to lift. Meanwhile your body itself, your core, has no mind. In fact, this is a brief glimpse of truth just past weight whatsoever. Your limbs and head drag behind our reality. Our world is not the only world, and that your body as you feel like you’re floating up and out otherworld is attached to ours in a way that is perceiv- of where you were sitting or laying before. You have no able and we can transgress if we are sensitive enough control over this floating feeling, and you’re now sure and have the ability to do so. you’re a foot up in the air looking first at your ceiling, and then as you drift, down at your unconscious body The Garou call it the Umbra. And this world, or where it rests. It is your body, you’re sure of it, but worlds, just beyond our own is the subject of this book. you are no longer in it. The objects around you, your For the werewolf, their childhood is full of sleep night table or the window curtains, glow strangely and paralysis and brief encounters with the world beyond. other things have vanished. Your wife laying next to Helpless glimpses through the skin of reality. From you, or the other passengers on the subway train, all nightmares to daydreams to out of body experiences, gone. It’s just you, floating, surrounded by a luminous the Umbra haunts many young Garou-to-be. Is it any landscape. Then you think, ‘this is a lie.’ All at once, wonder, then, when the First Change comes, the were- you realize that nothing you’re looking at is real and wolf become nearly obsessed with discovering, exploring, there’s a membrane on reality as you knew it, like a bad and pretending to master the Umbra? The first time a IntroductIon 7 Garou crosses over it’s like the fulfillment of a promise come back. The Umbra is a place of fright and potential made to them all through their childhood, and the thrill psychological damage, but at least that is natural to it. of that promise fulfilled never really fades. In this way, it is almost a place of peace compared to the reality our characters are born into. Exploration Senses and Traditionally and in many cases, Werewolf: The the Otherworlds Apocalypse is horror that is invasive. Something else — many alien things — have crept into our world. This horror has infected not just our lives, but the characters’. As the Storyteller, discovery of otherworlds and spirit We play flesh and blood people who have, in some way, beings begins with you. To start off you have to describe been infested with otherness, the wolf and the spirit the Umbra as what it appears to be and how it feels. world, and all of the strange outsider culture that comes Though it doesn’t and shouldn’t end with you, once along with. We, as our characters, dread turning that you’ve set the tone, you must insist on players getting familiar corner to the butcher shop down the street. Not involved in bringing the strange to life. because we know what’s there, but because this time we For now, as the Storyteller, you must concentrate might find something there that isn’t supposed to be on senses. All of them. And perhaps more of them than there. And the characters have to survive the encounter the standard five you’re used to from grade school. The with it, yet remain in the real world as we understand Umbra must be a sensual experience, with stimulation it. As we know the world to be, our Werewolf charac- coming at the characters from all corners and exciting ters must struggle against forces from outside intent on all of their senses at once. The old rule for writing, or coming in and changing everything we care about. They getting started as a writer is that every page of your story infect, and they change everything for the worse. This should have at least one clear sensory detail. This isn’t invasion is unwelcome and unnatural and this is what, bad advice for the Storyteller either, though you must in many ways, the Werewolf character struggles with. adjust the pacing. Where can you, as the Storyteller, add But it doesn’t always have to be like this for a Were- a touch of sense to every interaction on your end. From wolf chronicle. In the Umbra, the opposite is true. The Storyteller characters speaking to answering questions characters are the invaders who only half belong in a the players might ask you, can you include a sensory world of fluid reflections like quicksilver and liquid detail to ground the unreal in the player’s minds and mirrors. These are not exclusively stories of invasive bring the Umbra to throbbing, slick, singing life? You horror. Instead, our characters have ventured outside just have to dive head first into it. the world as they understand it to explore. Maybe they This takes practice, but as with many Storytelling go unwillingly, or without a full understanding of where techniques you can use shortcuts to assist you in being they are going. That doesn’t matter, because they will more sensual at the table. Create yourself a cheat sheet discover the impossible in the Umbra. Possibility is the of colors, smells, textures, and adjectives that describe order of the day and chaos becomes a sort of order. It is these things. If you bring your characters to a vivid the flesh of the character that becomes unnatural, instead place like an Umbral river of blood, to say that the of the wolf, and that flesh is a burden. Perhaps if the wolf blood smells coppery says something very different than could simply shed her skin out here, in the deep, and saying that the river smells acrid or metallic and sweet. embrace the illogical, impossible otherness of the Um- But having some lists at hand with evocative words that bra, she would be free and happy. She would be freed of immediately stimulate your imagination will surely help the shackles of knowledge and simply know. She would you stimulate your players. Once you have these lists, be free of consciousness and personality and simply be. the best place to start is to look at your own language Or better, she would lose all concept of self and simply and habits. The next time you start to say ‘you see…’ to become a part of the universe at large. tell the players what is around their characters, replace And rarely, that may be the end result of a long ‘see’ with another sense. You smell. You hear. You feel. story in the Umbra. The characters seek to explore You swallow. and understand and know, and as they do, they realize You can use these sensory details to link import- the non-sense of the Umbra is the only kind of sense ant story hooks in your players minds as well. If you worth having. It is addictive, being unreal in an unreal have introduced them to a very specific and important place, and maybe this is why humans who go across the river goddess, and talk about the smell of orchids on gauntlet, in whatever manner they manage it, rarely ever fresh water every time she appears, add her scent to an 8 UMBRA: THE VELVET SHADOW otherwise unrelated scene, and implicate her. ‘You see nothing but dead werewolves in the spiritual re- flection of this cistern, dozens, but the rancid smell of curdled blood blends with fresh water and fresher flowers. Familiar flowers.’ Or perhaps clue them into a major problem when the river goddess appears, but they smell nothing. Or something off. The Umbra, for all its chaos, makes its own sort of sense, and vi- olations of these rules may indicate to the characters something is wrong. There’s more than sight and smell to work from as well. Consider how your character would feel as their sense of time is confused by the fluid nature of the unreal. What do they do when one of the characters perceives herself as moving just a few sec- onds faster than the others in the time stream. What about their kinetic sense? Most people experience a pit-of-the-stomach sort of fear that comes along with dizzy unstable movement that you can surely take advantage of from time to time. Just keep a sense of balance in mind. When you have inflicted horrible, stomach churning sensory details to your players for most of a session, break it up the next session with moments of purifying peace. If you want a sweet cake, you add some salt to make the sweet stand out. It’s true in cake, and it’s true in your Storytelling of the Umbra. Adaptation Exploration of the Umbra isn’t for the players alone and discovery is something the Storyteller may experience as well as they take their characters to the realms beyond. Some of the best moments that can come out of a roleplaying game start out with a player suggesting something the Storyteller hadn’t planned for and the excitement of player and Storyteller alike working out ‘what happens next’ as a result. Because so very little is concrete and real in the Umbra, a thing that is true right now may not be true a breath later. In this way the Storyteller has a great deal of leverage when it comes to letting the players play in their sandbox. It starts out simply enough. After you’ve filled your players minds with sights and sounds and smells that are evocative, you ask them a leading question. “What type of spirit do you see?” “Why is the bridge broken?” “Who came here just before you, and how do you know?” Leading questions like these take some of the creative load off you as the Storyteller and help your players get used to the idea of occasionally taking reins over what could be. Since you’re in the