Palpitatia

The terrain of Palpitatia is jagged and broken, razorstone ridges jut from pitch-black chasms, while ash-choked plains stretch between them like old scars. The ground emits a faint, wet pulse, barely perceptible but constant, like the heartbeat of some dying god. Every structure, every rise of land, and every echo in the wind seems deliberately constructed to evoke dread. Fear itself clings to the air like damp rot, saturating the senses and gnawing at the will of all who pass through.   Illumination is actively resisted by the plane; magical light flickers and dies within minutes unless bolstered by divine or mythic power. Even then, the gloom seeps back in like ink poured into water. This is not simply darkness, it is presence.  

Notable Locations

The Vault of Whispers

A submerged cavern said to house every secret ever spoken in fear. Those who find it rarely leave with their minds intact.  

The Weeping Stair

A winding path etched into the black cliffs where shadows speak in the voices of loved ones, luring the weak to their doom.  

Grankhul’s Eye

A hollow in the abyssal stone where watchers of the god once trained in complete silence for centuries before being unleashed as assassins across planes.  

Inhabitants

Palpitatia is inhabited by the whispering souls of traitors, hunters, and those who fed on terror in life. These petitioners are warped into flickering shades, cowering or prowling through the endless dark. They are not mindless, but their will has been bent by eons of fear. Trust is alien to them.   Other denizens include wraithlike forms that may once have been mortal, now stretched thin by aeons of torment. Many suffer from distorted memories and dreamlike madness. These spirits serve as spies, assassins, and torturers in the shadows, rarely engaging directly but always watching.   Occasionally, slivers of the plane manifest in the Material Plane as cursed temples, nightmare-haunted ruins, or cursed forests, spreading Skiggaret’s terror into the mortal world.