"Cosmology of the WoD"
By Vigilance99 (https://pastebin.com/u/Vigilance99)

URL: https://pastebin.com/6DH3xxby
Created on: Friday 17th of July 2020 10:29:30 PM CDT
Retrieved on: Sunday 25 of October 2020 10:10:09 AM UTC


The High Umbra, or Astral Reaches, is the spirit-shadow of mind and belief. It is divided into two components, the High Penumbra [which mirrors the Earth] and the High Deep Umbra [which doesn't]. The High Penumbra mirrors the Earth precisely. Time passes at the same rate, buildings are in the same places, and one mile traveled here is one mile traveled in the material. The High Penumbra is less a world and more an astral plane where the traveler is invisible and partially intangible [see: Rule of Ouch]. They see people walking around in the real world and cannot interact with things around them. The only other people here are astral-projecting vampires and magicians, long silver cords trailing across the skyline back to their bodies. At certain points in the High Penumbra one can travel further into the High Deep Umbra if one focuses correctly. For instance flying straight up past the atmosphere while trying to reach a certain Heaven would take you there, likewise if traveling downwards in a cave. The High Deep Umbra contains the Realms of nearly every mythology, from the Thousand Hells in the far East to Asgard and Olympus. In most cases, entering a Realm causes the traveler to become solid and visible and their silver-cord [if they have one, some enter this Umbra physically] to disappear.

The Middle Umbra, usually just called the Umbra, is the spirit-shadow of the world. It is divided into two components the Middle Penumbra [usually just called the Penumbra] and the Middle Deep Umbra [usually just called the Deep Umbra]. Unlike the High and Low Penumbra, the Middle Penumbra is not like an astral plane, it is like traveling into another world entirely that happens to mirror ours. The traveler is physical and solid, cannot pass through objects, and the material is not visible. This world is filled with spirits embodying places, objects, and things, from Elementals to Animal Spirits, from poisonous Banes embodying corruption and pollution, to the mechanical Pattern Spiders who help enforce physics. Tall buildings are covered in their webs, citylights fray on and off as Electricity Elementals dash between spirit-buildings, and every river has its little god. The Middle Penumbra mirrors the physical world, buildings and landmarks are in the same places, and time and space are the same as those outside it, but as noted it is another world. A spirit hospital may be inhabited by spirits of hospital equipment, the boats upon the Hudson would be missing in the Spirit World, instead one might see the spirit of the Hudson itself swimming there. There are certain points that lead from the Penumbra to the Deep Umbra, taking you to exotic Realms like the Digital Web which mirrors the internet, the dinosaur-and-Nazi filled Inner Earth, or the Mythic Realms of the Garou. Notably, traveling straight up leads to the Aetherial Realm, which secular science calls 'outer space' [detailed below].

The Low Umbra, or Dark Umbra, is the spirit-shadow of death. It is divided into two components, the Shadowlands [which mirror the Earth, buildings in same places, time and space constant, etc] and the Underworld, the resting place of the restless dead. Like the High Penumbra the Shadowlands are not a 'spirit world', they're an 'astral plane'. The traveler is an invisible, partially intangible 'ghost' who can see people walking around in the physical world. While in the Shadowlands all buildings and objects appear as they do in the physical, but subtly tinged by decay. Buildings seem more run-down, fruit seems rotten, the sky is perpetually overcast, etc. There are certain points [misty bays, ghost trains, subway stations at certain late hours] known as Byways that take the traveler to the Underworld proper, the dark subterranean Realm of the Dead. The primary inhabitants of this Umbra is ghosts.

The Dreaming is the spirit-shadow of dreams. It is divided into three components, the Near Dreaming, Far Dreaming, and Deep Dreaming. The Dreaming can only be entered at certain points called Trods, portals from the material into the Dreaming. The Dreaming is the least coherent of the Umbrae and the most difficult to explain. Like the Middle Umbra the Dreaming is a kind of 'spirit world', a physical setting not an astral plane. The Near Dreaming mirrors the Earth...mostly. The physical terrain is copied [a mountain here is a mountain there, a mile here is a mile there], but everything else is different. Most buildings are absent, only those with strong dreams attached to them appear at all and then as fantastic-versions of themselves [the White House as a towering palace, a mall as an exotic bazaar, etc]. The terrain is shaped by the dreams, hopes, and fears of those in the physical nearby and often changes in 'dreamwaves' called firchlis, and is also shaped by the mood and personality of the fae-ruler of that area [for instance if the 'Duke' of New York was a jolly fat man who loved the tropics, the Dreaming of NYC may find that bleeding in]. The inhabitants of the Dreaming are dreams called chimera. Unlike ghosts or spirits, which obey a kind of internal consistency, chimera are pure imagination. A flight of dragons over a library is just as likely as a plague of OCs outside an anime convention. Most confusingly, the entire Dreaming is blazed with long roads or faerie-paths [the above-mentioned Trods] which worm through the realm. Leaving the Trod runs the risk of getting lost in the shifting Dreaming. Following it leads from the Near Dreaming into increasingly un-earthlike places and finally outside the universe entirely.

Minor Lore Notes:
-Entering any Umbra feels like pushing your way through a veil or film of water.
-While in the Middle Umbra senses are heightened. Colors are sharper, smells more distinct, sounds more crisp. It simply feels more 'real' then the physical world.
-In the Dreaming the above applies, AND emotions are heightened. Sorrow becomes deep sobbing, slight irritation into burning rage, happiness into pure joy.
-In the Low Umbra the reverse is true. Everything seems muted and tinged with death.
-Rule of Ouch: In the High and Low Penumbra a traveler can pass through solid objects. If a solid object in the real world hits the character hard enough that a normal person would say 'ouch' they take one unsoakable level of Bashing Damage and become incorporeal for their Stamina in rounds.
-Peeking: While in the Middle Umbra a character can see into the nearby physical world by fully concentrating on doing so. The world appears slightly blurry, and one cannot notice events in the Umbra while peeking.
-Technology: Mundane technology works normally in the High and Middle Penumbra [and the Near Dreaming] as long as it doesn't require interface with objects in the physical [no cell phone coverage]. Technology-copies in the Middle Penumbra [such as the spirit-copy of a car] usually function, but not always. Technology in the Aetherial Realm works as long as you believe it should. Technology brought into the Low Umbra [anything more complex then a cross-bow] does not function. Spending 1 Essence per object per scene of use can empower the tech to work temporarily. In any Realm, it varies. Firearms likely won't fire in Asgard but should work fine in the Inner Earth.
-In the Middle and Low Penumbra, especially emotional buildings sometimes replace their less spiritually substantiated replacements. For instance if a beloved church is torn down for a restaurant, the church may still stand in both Umbrae for years afterwards. The World Trade Center still shapes the skyline in New York's Umbra and Shadowlands.
-In the Middle Umbra the sun appears small and red, the moon gigantic and vibrant.
-Some spirts in the Middle Umbrae leave 'airts', or spirit-trails as they travel which can assist in navigation.
-To make things even more confusing, each of the four Umbrae have portals in points between them, linking the whole cosmology together.

The Aetherial Realm [Outer Space]: Traveling upwards enough in the Penumbra will lead one into outer space, which appears much as modern science teaches, with a few distinctions. Most notably
-In most places, oxygen and temperature are what the traveler believes them to be. Void Engineers travel in pressurized spacesuits in the same places witches run over barefoot.
-Mundane technology likewise only functions if you believe it should.
-Spirits dwell in many places throughout the solar system. Each of the important heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, the nine planets [yes nine] and so on have embodying spirits known as Celestines ruling them. Each planet has a mundane material version [where modern science reigns, mostly] and the spirit-shadows of the other planets, which are fantastical Realms out of science fiction. 

Chimerical Reality. Certain places, objects, and people [Changelings] have a 'chimerical aspect' in addition to the mundane [autumn] aspect. A cane could be a chimerical sword, or a jacket a chimerical breastplate. Chimerical objects only interact or effect other chimerical objects. Some chimerical beings or objects lack a mundane equivalent, existing only chimerically. This 'chimerical reality' is not identical to the Dreaming, but can be viewed as the point where the two realities [human and fae] meet.