Penumbra Woodlands

Geography

  When the dry desert dunes give wake to silent rivers and mountains with mist-covered peaks, one likely entered the temperate region of the Penumbra Barony. At a glance, it is a tranquil land that consists of a flat center mass with hills rising in altitude at the eastward slopes.   The entire east of the region is flanked by a mountain range known as the Spines of the Lifegiver. It is from these mountains that the rivers flow through the land, as well as the reason for the many rocky outcroppings one can find here.   To the west, the woodlands border the Peregon Sea -- a large strip of water which separates the mainland from the Isles of Peregon. The waves from the ocean licks the beaches of the region. Leaving the sand coarse and the shores covered in treacherous stone reefs.  

Climate

  The days are pleasantly warm with the odd rains a few times a week, while the nights are cool and windy. Nearly stormy, as compared to the modest breezes that rustle the daylight leaves. Everlasting autumns seem to touch the woodlands, yet the leaves are brown and gray instead of colourful. A permanent gray sky also seems to loom above the region, which betrays the vampiric corruption that lingers within. Where generators of storm feed from the thunder of the mountains. Casting nature here in a disarray, as rays of lightning soar above.   It is a landscape where the creatures of day have fled, where the creatures of night thrive.     While thousands of smaller settlements, hundreds of towns and a dozen cities can be found scattered throughout the Penumbra Barony, the most important locations are the city of Penumbra, from which the region got its name, and the towns of Sastela and Lilivia.   These locations are still considered as a settlement tier lower than their current populace, as the Golden Empire has little current insight on their current developments.   Despite the corruption of the region, and the leadership of traitors, the region has still seen an abundance of growth. Where the average citizen thrives and the whole center to the north of the region is considered safe.   Poverty still runs rampant among the villages, especially to the south. Due to firm protection from the Penumbra X Nightfall Legion, their economy has grown in the last ten years. Criminal activity is also on an all-time low, as to torture, slave labour and forced conscription is reestablished. Against Ysandrine law.    

“I will have this domain thrive again, no matter what must be done to ensure its growth. Take in the criminals for all I care, then clip off their fingers and cut out their tongues. They will serve our will, or they will serve us their vitae.”   -Dominus-Praetorius Luciano Penumbra

  The Penumbra Woodlands has not always been a region infamous for its treason. Nor was Luciano always an enemy of the Holy Imperator. Only a hundred years ago, it was a region which made its name known for its defiance against the Dyskhari onslaught.   It was one of the regions the Dyskhari never managed to fully occupy. With their ships destroyed before they could reach the shores and their supplies dwindling before the battles, Luciano himself led the legion into countless crushing victories. Going so far as to further march into a liberation campaign of Diestria, after his initial wins.   It was after the peace broke out, that the heir of Penumbra lost himself to rage. Wishing not for vengeance over reconciliation.   Ninety years ago, the dark clouds would start forming over the region. Ambassadors disappeared and the lake of Lilivia turned a colour of scarlet. Soon, all out war sparked within the woodlands. Eradicating the Golden Empire’s local forces and loyalists in a matter of weeks.   Now the region is completely blocked out from any Golden Empire loyalists, but trade still flows between Penumbra, Diestria and Peregon.