Underworld
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The underworld is the lands of the dead. It can be reached directly by those powerful enough to breach the wall that separates the quick from the dead, or by walking ever downwards through dark holes and caves in the shadow world or the dreamlands. Even so, it is layered like an onion, only the most powerful can journey all the way to the inner core.
The Wall
The worlds of the living and the dead are separated by the Wall, an ancient spiritual barrier impenetrable to mortals, spirits, and most wraiths. On the living side of the Wall lies the state of twilight, on the other lies the Shadowlands.
The strength of the Wall varies, getting significantly weaker some days of the year.
Haunts
The Wall is not of uniform thickness. There are places where it is weak, allowing wraiths free access to twilight. These places are known as haunts, and are much prized by wraiths and necromancers both. This common interest does not engender cooperation, as necromancers invariably destroy or defile the haunts, rendering them inhospitable to wraiths.
Haunts are always dark places where the sun never reaches. While most are placed low, in caves or cellars, haunts can be found anywhere there is darkness. Haunts are usually created by dark emotions and dark deeds - terror, agony, betrayal, and lost love.
The Shadowlands
Like the near umbra of the shadow world, the shadowlands are a kind of reflection or shadow of the real world. It is a reflection of ruin and decay, gloomy and without vitality. Very few things are solid, even to the wraiths that make their home there. Like in twilight, walls still stand, and block line of sight, but can be passed through easily.
The only objects that are truly solid in the shadowlands are those made out of souls, and objects offered to the dead and ritually destroyed. Since wraiths are no more altruistic and no nicer when dead than they were while living, many of the freshly dead end up harvested for the soul-smithies in Stygia.
There are caves in the shadowlands that lead ever upward, eventually leading to dark places in the shadow world or the dreamlands. These unmappable paths are mostly closed to wraiths, who are locked to their fate. If you instead follow the paths downwards, you enter the tempest.
The Tempest
The tempest is vast void between the shadowlands and the far shores. It is a nightmare realm of chaos and shadow, where distance and space are meaningless. To journey through the tempest is to journey through the fears and inner demons of one's inner soul.
There are places of semi-constant reality even within the tempest, the most important of which is the river Styx.
Stygia
Deep within the tempest lies Stygia, the self-proclaimed capital of the underworld. It teems with millions of tortured souls, and is made powerful by their presence. Few have entered Stygia and returned, though many tales of its splendor and squalor are told among the wraiths.
The Void
At the very center of the tempest, and perhaps at the very center of the universe, lies the Void. It is the source and resting place of Oblivion and destruction. For most travelers, the Void is impossible to find. For others, it is impossible to avoid.
The Far Shores
Within, or beyond, the Tempest lie the Far Shores. They are other realms, where other laws hold sway. Some speak of them as heavens or hells, and indeed their emissaries often claim to represent Heaven or Hell, though there are thousands of them. Travelers from the Far Shores are always on the lookout for souls to buy, steal, or entice to follow them back. None have ever returned from such a journey.
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