Traveler's Guide to the Umbra
Princes of Darkness has added the Umbra, a special domain beyond the material world. Numerous types of supernatural creatures can enter these strange domains, and between lifestyle experience, special events, and unique choices and benefits, there is much one can gain from exploring these interesting domains. Note: The Umbra is still in development, and thus, this guide can be subject to change. The Umbra is integral to the World of Darkness, so we are regularly working on it. We plan on expanding it more when we add in and expand upon Fae/Changeling, Wraith and Mage.
Umbra Basics
Requirements
A Character needs to have access to the Umbra. This is mainly depending on the supernatural creature type of the character:
Vampire:
- The Astral Plain: "Psychic Projection" Perk (Auspex)
- The Spirit Wilds: "The Spirit Beast" Perk (Spiritus)
- The Dreaming: "Visit Fairyland" Perk (Obfuscate)
- The Underworld: "Ex Nihilo" Perk (Giovanni Necromancy), Tier 3 and 4 Cappadocian Building Rome
- The Deep Umbra: "Psychic Projection" Perk (Auspex)
Kuei-Jin:
- Access to every region in the Umbra
Werewolf/Garou:
- Spirit Wilds: Automatic Access
- The Dreaming: Only Stargazer
- Underworld: "Walk with Hades" Perk (Black Furies)
- The Deep Umbra: Automatic Access
Mummy:
- The Astral Plain: "Separate Ba" Perk (Necromancy), "See the lands of the spirit" Perk (Tan/Wu T'ian)
- Spirit Wilds: "Separate Ba" Perk (Necromancy), "See the lands of the spirit" Perk (Tan/Wu T'ian)
- The Dreaming: "See the lands of the spirit" Perk (Tan/Wu T'ian)
- Underworld: "Separate Ka" Perk (Necromancy)
- The Deep Umbra: "See the lands of the spirit" Perk (Tan/Wu T'ian)
Fae/Changelings*:
- The Dreaming: Automatic Access
Sorcerer
- Spirit Wilds: "Ephemera" Perk
- The Dreaming: "Oneiromancer" Perk
Lament
- The Dreaming: "Sandman" Perk
Demonologist
- Astral Planes: "Journey to the Spirit Realms" Perk
- Spirit Wilds: "Journey to the Spirit Realms" Perk
Entering
Entering the Umbra can be done with the button below the "Royal Court" and "Coterie and Journey" button on the right screen side. To enter the Astral Plain, Spirit Wilds and the dreaming the Gauntlet has to be discerned and for access to the underworlds the Shroud needs to be discerned. This can be done in the Umbra Menu or in the local Umbra menu in the capital. After enterging the Umbra a character is unable to interact with the most things outside the Umbra.
Exploring
To gain the most benefits in the Umbra the character should explore the different regions carefully. This can be done by assigning an Umbra Explorer to the different regions. An explorer can be any member of your court who has access to the umbra you want them to explorer. This is possible directly in the bottom right corner of the Umbra Menu. Exploring fills the local progress bar at the top of the Umbra Menu. There are 6 different tiers to describe the characters knowledge of a umbra location (0: Unlocked, 1: Searched, 2: Investigated, 3: Studied, 4: Learned, 5: Understood). Depending on the location this can lead to all kind of benefits from better event outcomes to illustrious artifacts.
Fast Travel
On the right side of the Umbra menu the fast travel map can be opened. It contains the major regions in each part of the Umbra and can be directly accessed by clicking on them.
To fast travel to a location this location needs to be explored to level 1.*
Traveling*
The Umbra can be navigated through the buttons on the bottom of the Umbra menu and the buttons on the side.
This will tigger a new menu in which the character can find his way from the bottom of the travel map to his destination on the top.
There are several events on this way which get harder the further you are on your way:
- Prowess Challenges
- Stat Challenges
- Duels
- Random Events
- Treasure Chests
If you fail a challenge your stress raises or you lose some resources. The loss of resources or raise of stress are higher if you are further on the way in the umbra. A loss in a duel means death for the character.
Locations in the Umbra
These are the basic regions of the Umbra and their current content. Most actions in the umbra potentially lead to the loss of resources or the increase of stress.
The Astral Plains
- Gain monthly stewardship, intrigue, diplomacy or learning lifestyle experience by training in the different levels of the astral plains
- Gain some gold, or a random positive mod in the Inventium
- Gain cultural innovations in the Inventium
The Underworld
- Gain artifact pieces in the maelstrom
- Gain armies and reweave artifacts in the dark kingdoms
- Train your wraiths
The Spirit Wilds
Werewolf/Garou:
- Gain Stats, Artifacts and Men-at-Arms from your homeland
- Gain Perks and Artifacts from the Celestines
- Dedicate yourself to the Triat?
All:
- Touch the Sun?
- Gain monthly martial lifestyle experience by training on the battlegrounds
- Gain commander traits on the battlegrounds
The Dreaming
Currently empty and in development.
Maps of the Umbra
The following Maps represent the different regions in Umbra. The maps aren't very clear structured but neither is the Umbra.
Red: No Content
Green: Content
Blue: In Development/Modern Nights
Purple: Location in another Umbra Region
The Underworld
The Astral Reaches
The Dreaming
The Spirit Wilds
* Dev build only for now