Penumbras

## Entity 114: Penumbras

Entity Number: 114

Habitat: Level 28, Level 120

### Description:

Instances of **Entity 114**, or "Penumbras" as they refer to themselves, are relatively human in appearance and behaviour. They are capable of communication through language, advanced thought and problem-solving, and know how to make complex tools. These entities are often quite territorial towards humans, although wanderers have often been able to communicate and cooperate peacefully with these creatures.

Penumbras are highly damage-resistant, and can regenerate/recover from wounds that would normally kill a human in a matter of days. This makes them incredibly hard to defend against should they choose to attack any wanderers, but there are a couple ways to defeat these entities. Like humans, Penumbras rely on food and water to properly function, although starvation/dehydration won't outright kill them, instead it causes them to enter a comatose state until they have enough nourishment to resume normal bodily functions. There are also two known ways to outright kill a Penumbra, by either totally destroying or dissolving their body so nothing can regenerate, or by exposing them to light from Black Fire, which will remove their regenerative properties and make them as easy to kill as any human.

### Biology:

While alive, Penumbras appear as humanoid entities around 8 1/2 feet tall on average, with dark gray skin, pale eyes, long black hair, and no mouths (despite their ability to speak). They are often found dressed in ragged, monocromatic clothing, often resembling dated clothing from the Frontrooms (typically lower-class styles of clothing that would've been common in western civilization during the 18-19th centuries.) All Penumbras sport a pair of near-black horns that can vary wildly in shapes and size, resembling anything from deer antlers, to tree branches, to ram horns, and so on. Autopsies of Penumbras that have been stripped of their regenerative properties reveal that the coloration of their skin, eyes, and hair changes upon death, to colors that closely resemble typical human pigmentations.

### Societies:

Penumbras are almost always found in groups that have organized themselves into feudal societies. Smaller groups are usually tribal in nature, with relatively primitive or shoddily-made tools and homes, and a chieftan that controls the entire group. Larger communities are often organized into a monarchy, with the ruling figure referred to as a "Potentate". These larger societies have tools, housing, and transportation on-par with the Medieval Period in the Frontrooms, are often established in "outdoor" levels, and often trade with one another in surplus goods collected or produced by members of a rigid feudal system.

Often, Penumbras are also not the only entities found in these larger "kingdom" societies. Facelings often serve as lower-class workers or supply slave labor, with the Penumbras instead filling more middle-class roles as merchants, farm owners, craftsmen, and soldiers. Male Deathmoths are regularly tamed in order to serve as messengers, and some Penumbras even tame and train Hounds to serve as guard animals. As for any upper-class roles, it seems the system of feudalism Penumbras have adapted to has very little aristocratic roles, if any beyond the Potentate. If these posistions do exist, they are often filled by powerful humanoid entities, many of which have yet to be documented, or sometimes they are filled by humans that have been accepted into the Penumbra society.

### Do's and Don'ts:

#### Do:

* Report any groups of Penumbras not already on-record, for future reference.
* Keep your distance, and avoid violent confrontation unless provoked.
* Should one attack, incapacitate it and completely destroy its body.

#### Don't:

* Don't tresspass into a Penumbra settlement without good reason.
* Don't provoke a large group, as this is basically suicide.
* If you attack one, don't leave it alive. Penumbras are known to hold grudges.