Briar Wall

The Briar Wall is the liminal point between the Penumbrian Circle and the Antumbra, also known as the surface. Although invisible, this artificial fence has been heavily pressurized so that organic matter will break down or be crushed if they try to walk through it. It is general knowledge that the Briar Wall is a protected barrier to keep out Indifferent Shadows, though it is not as widely known that it is almost impossible to cross the Briar Wall from the inside of Penumbria.

How does this landmark look and feel?

• Invisible to natural eyes - though Penumbrians, who often have slit lenses, see refractions of light and distortions where the pressure and exosphere is markedly different.
• There are signs put up before the start of the barrier which warn against traversing it at risk of death or encountering Indifferent Shadows, though the signs are a bit deceptive about why traversing it will almost certainly kill you.
• Despite the active storm systems around Penumbria's craters, creating wild growth, the area close to the Briar Wall feels like the "eye before the storm". The adventurer will immediately feel the increase or decrease in temperature, depending on the season, and there is almost no visible life there. The hum of the generators which keep the barrier up are barely audible but the droning noise can be picked up on with devices. The Briar Wall has its own sound due to the intense pressure and vibrations, sounding much like a black hole.
• Crushed bodies are often found in or around the Briar Wall, oftentimes those of Indifferent Shadows. The lack of transparency on what Indifferent Shadows are, and the lack of whole bodies to autopsy, has left many of the crater population in the dark about them being living beings and not undead or spirits.
• However, the barrier weakens when all of the Watchers are furthest away from the Penumbra and there is a sun wind storm (though this makes the environment far more volatile), which allows beings to technically cross it.

How was this landmark created?

• It was initially part of scientific experiences conducted by LUNED to TKVentureIntoBlackHole, no one knows if it worked or not, and it's been pretty well buried
• There used to be a ring of suburban houses around this area as part of a large, fortified ring town. It was owned by multiple nationalities or factions, but in-fighting caused safety failures and this dense, dark energy exists as its reminder.
• No one is really sure what it is or how it works, some believe it acts as a black hole/time-travel, or a pathway to god, some believe it is a physics nightmare. They suspect the energy or matter has a strong gravitational pull, but reflective composition that can't be measured by current technology. No one knows how to actually pilot it from here, and some of the most influential powers are private companies
• No one knows where the original civilians went. They just vanished in a second and were replaced with this.
• One thing to note about Briar Wall is on maps it is depicted as the barrier between the longitudal polar region and sub-polar regions of the planet, but there is a tunnel that can take you there in Umbra, though surviving the modified temperatures is still considered extreme to tourists.

What special properties does it have?

• It keeps out the world beyond, which is according to the scientists in Penumbra, a world of absolute chaos and "space paganism"
• There are certain outsider species who can cross over and refer to it as an "interdimensional barrier" , but it's noted they cannot return once they have crossed into Penumbra, unless they venture underground. One of those is effectively the foundation for many religious cults in the Penumbran crater states, and their folk practice has bled into the Umbrians below, making them a more agnostic society than once.
• However if they try to return to the Anteumbran world, they will vaporize in the sunlight. These people, those who survive, become known as Egregores, and the core of the planet has a pulse, anthrophomorphised.
• It forces the characters to examine, as they unravel the history of their planet, if the human experience is meant to be anthropocentric and that the evolution of idols is a reflection of that.

What can (and can’t) survive here?

This is an under researched area of the Briar Wall, a few religious in Penumbra claim to have been founded or partially founded by beings from beyond the wall. The Red Hoods, as well as the Sisters of Rot, are two examples of this. The Henbelles originally claimed ascent from an Anteumbran, but this mythology was changed significantly to be more insular and Penumbran-centric.

The people who resided here before the Briar Wall appeared in their place were known as the Inbetweeners as a colloquilal term (with their actual nationality being lost to time), and that has come to refer to both the former living beings who disappeared but also the creatures who can survive the Wall.

Type

Black Hole