Shadowlands (TCG)

The Shadowlands

Shadowlands was the name given to the area to the south of the Empire of Rokugan. The minions living there - such as goblins, ogres, undead and the legendary demons known as oni - always threatening to extend their reach into Rokugan. It was a dark realm under the sway of Fu Leng and the corrupted armies from the realm of Jigoku. The only safeguard between the Shadowlands and Rokugan was the mighty Kaiu Wall and its constructers and defenders, the Crab Clan. These lands were called Yesterday by the nezumi race.

Landscape

The strip of land within sight of the Wall was simply known "Wall-Sight", the least-Tainted part of the Shadowlands. The wider strip of land known to the Crab as "Three Days' March" extended from the limit of Wall-Sight to a point three days' journey from the Wall. Past the third day of travel, the danger increased dramatically, and the place was known as the "Deep Shadowlands". There, the corruptive power of the Taint increased in a dramatic way. Lakes of blood, massive volcanoes, and strange, unnatural structures resembling blasphemous temples or tombs were all said to be found in this nightmare realm. Two subregions were commonly recognized as existing in the Deep Shadowlands, the Festering Pit of Fu Leng and the Haunted Jungles, the haunted tropical forests which bordered the Ivory Kingdoms. The Shadowlands were a disorienting and frightening mix of barren land, poisoned water, and gnarled thickets that writhed and weeped blood as one watches. Similar to the land itself, animals in the Shadowlands were twisted into foul and often dangerous forms. Tainted creatures abound, from goblins to undead to oni. Perhaps the most dangerous, though, were the Lost.

Thorn Coast

On its eastern and Southern sides, the Shadowlands bordered the Sea of Shadows. The shoreland bordering the Sea of Shadows was known as the Thorn Coast.

Corrupted Elements

The air of the Shadowlands constantly shifted and changed, sometimes it was stale and dry and stinked of burning metal, or it became thick and sultry and reeked of decay, or it suddenly filled with bitter, acrid fumes and smoke. Ground that appeared perfectly solid sometimes proved to be vile, sucking mud, or cracked open in a way that resembled gaping mouths, before slamming shut again on the legs of those unfortunate enough to be caught, or jagged rocks suddenly fell from nowhere. Fires were difficult to start and gutter with strange, jarring colors, giving off little heat or light, or they abruptly raged and flare dout of control, threatening to sear those nearby with sudden, forge-hot flame. Water in the Shadowlands was always contaminated: brackish, oily, and laden with putrid and decaying organic sludge, or apparently clear and clean but, in reality, polluted with deadly toxins or disease. Perhaps the most horrifying aspect of the Shadowlands was its corruptive effect on all things spiritual.

History

Origin

Once, what was known as the Shadowlands, was a lush and fertile land, free of even a hint of corruption. This was how the nezumi recalled it in stories of their ancestors, whose cities flourished in that region before the arrival of Fu Leng.

Fall of the Kami

When Fu Leng fell to Ningen-dō he smashed through its substance, tearing open a hole between the Mortal Realm and Jigoku. He kept falling, finally coming to rest deep in the Realm of Evil. In his wake, corrupting power oozed from the hole he had sundered, relentlessly afflicting the Mortal Realm around it with a malign contamination. Soon, the lands surrounding the vile portal—now known as the Festering Pit of Fu Leng—became corrupted and steeped in evil. All of the things living in them were either destroyed or twisted into foul, unnatural forms, while the water, the air, and even the land itself were stricken by the emanations from the Festering Pit. Worse, monstrous things crawled out of Jigoku and into the Mortal Realm.

Shadowlands Taint

The lands south of the nascent Emerald Empire were infused with the evil influence of Jigoku, a spiritual malady known as the Taint. in a few short years, they became a blighted nightmare realm where humans refused to tread. The Shadowlands were the ultimate antithesis of Rokugan—a profane place of corruption, death, and destruction. It was a land steeped in terrible power that emanates from the Realm of Torment, and its horrifying denizens had a single-minded purpose: to subjugate and destroy the Empire, and then the rest of the Mortal Realm.

References

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