The Nature of the Shadowlands
Texto
To understand the nature of the Shadowlands, it is necessary to understand the nature of the corrupting force that underpins and, ultimately, drives all that exist there. This force is known as the Taint of Jigoku or, more commonly, simply the Taint.
The few Rokugani scholars who have dared to study the Taint—mostly the Kuni family of the Crab—have determined what the Taint is not. It is not a substance. It has no physical presence of its own. What the Taint is, however, is much less certain. It seems to emanate from Jigoku, mainly through the Festering Pit, as a spiritual affliction similar to a disease. This is its most egregious effect: it corrupts mortals, rendering their souls evil within and their bodies mutated without. There seems to be no cure; the corruption of the Taint on a mortal can be slowed or even temporarily halted, but there is no means known by which it can be wholly undone. The Taint also has a corrupting influence on the elements and the land itself. It can contaminate the land, the air above it, the water on and within it, and the plants and beasts that live upon it. It can even work its insidious influence on inanimate objects, such as buildings, weapons, and other items and implements, by corrupting the spirits within them.
It is against this background—of the Taint and its pervasive and implacable invasion of the mortal realm—that the following sections describe the nature of the Shadowlands.
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Shadowlands · Chapter 1: Dark Histories › The Shadowlands › The Nature of the Shadowlands · p. 8
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To understand the nature of the Shadowlands, it is necessary to understand the nature of the corrupting force that underpins and, ultimately, drives all that exist there. This force is known as the Taint of Jigoku or, more commonly, simply the Taint.
The few Rokugani scholars who have dared to study the Taint—mostly the Kuni family of the Crab—have determined what the Taint is not. It is not a substance. It has no physical presence of its own. What the Taint is, however, is much less certain. It seems to emanate from Jigoku, mainly through the Festering Pit, as a spiritual affliction similar to a disease. This is its most egregious effect: it corrupts mortals, rendering their souls evil within and their bodies mutated without. There seems to be no cure; the corruption of the Taint on a mortal can be slowed or even temporarily halted, but there is no means known by which it can be wholly undone. The Taint also has a corrupting influence on the elements and the land itself. It can contaminate the land, the air above it, the water on and within it, and the plants and beasts that live upon it. It can even work its insidious influence on inanimate objects, such as buildings, weapons, and other items and implements, by corrupting the spirits within them.
It is against this background—of the Taint and its pervasive and implacable invasion of the mortal realm—that the following sections describe the nature of the Shadowlands.