The Penumbra Chronicles

The Penumbra Chronicles is a story of questions. It seeks to raise questions such as "What is a god?" "What is magic?" "What is power?" "What is life?" "What is death?" It does not promise to have the right answer, or any answer at all. This story focuses on the world of Vandarel, a world that is shrouded by eternal clouds and is suffused with magic. A world with a bloody history of countless armageddons and calamaties. A world of gods and mortals, and the eternal interplaying dance the two enjoy to survive and thrive, or wither and die. It is a world with a mystery at the heart of all reality, but there is no promise one will ever hear the conclusion of the mystery. If one even exists.   The name Ethen-van-Rel ("Eth-en-van-rell") encompasses both the planet and the single continent that comprises most of land mass on the planet. Eth-en-van-rell, an ancient Drac-nu word, the translation of which is subject to debate among various scholars and academics. More modern takes on the name have morphed and shifted until many call the world, Vandarel ("Van-da-rell").   The sole continent of Vandarel is a supercontinent (e.g. Pangea) of primarily oval shape. The landmass occupies approximately 15 million square miles and is ringed by hundreds of ocean islands of various size and shape. The continent is primarily divided into western and eastern hemispheres, with a central desert bisecting the continent and frustrating any attempted travel between the two halves of the world. The western hemisphere is an arctic tundra, with boreal forests closer to the center before treacherous peaks separate the western half of the world from the center. The eastern hemisphere is primarily a boreal and alpine climate, with rolling mountains and hills that shield the eastern half of the world from the central desert.   The world of Vandarel is constantly overcast, blanketing clouds dulling any sunlight that the twin suns above offer. Few areas receive substantial sunlight, and those areas that do are often coveted as fertile farmlands except for the central desert. Known as the Suns' Divide, the central desert of Vandarel is a harsh landscape, primarily known for brutal sand and glass storms. That central desert is the ashed and dusted remains of an ancient empire that fell a 1,000 years ago, its remains scattered across the world in stark reminder of a golden age that once was.   The current state of Vandarel is harsh and difficult, the world having suffered multiple cataclysms and apocalypses in the last millennium. Many people struggle to survive outside the walls and protection of civilized lands, and even those who live within the realms that have regained a bit of stability struggle in their own ways. Food can be sparse, with famine and starvation a familiar dread to many. Rare resources and materials are coveted as many ancient magical devices and technological wonders from the age of the First Empire are used to provide a steady supply of food and water to those realms that control them.   Upon Vandarel, magic allows the shaping of primal elements, magic allows to kill with a word, magic allows the leveling of mountains with a wave of a hand, or magic allows creation with a thought. Upon Vandarel, a god or goddess is one who has power and can wield it without fear. Gods walks amongst mortals, their power on display to marvel and call upon, because in truth mortals are the source of most power and as such gods are beholden to mortals as mortals are beholden to gods.