Dark Kingdoms are pockets of stable reality within the Tempest of the Underworld. Each of these kingdoms claim dominion over the Wraiths of a particular geographical region.
Overview
The underworld of the Classic World of Darkness has never been fully defined, but if the Tempest could be perceived as a "sea" in the Underworld, the Dark Kingdoms would be islands in that sea. Each Dark Kingdom is "the afterlife" for the dead of a particular culture. Those wraiths who die within the confines of a particular region are sent to the appropriate Dark Kingdom.
Major Kingdoms
- The Dark Kingdom of Clay, Karta. Home to the Aborigines of Australia.
- The Dark Kingdom of Iron, Stygia. Stygia began as the underworld for Mediterranean countries, but over the centuries has grown to claim most of the Western world.
- The Dark Kingdom of Ivory, the Bush of Ghosts which claims authority over the dead of Africa.
- The Dark Kingdom of Jade, the Yellow Springs. Home to Asian dead.
- The Dark Kingdom of Obsidian, the original Dark Kingdoms of the Americas - the North American Islands of Flint, the Mesoamerican Flayed Lands, and the South American Lands of Gold.
- The Dark Kingdom of Sand, Amenti. Home of the Gods and Undying of Ancient Egypt.
Minor Kingdoms
There are other realms which (while they are still Dark Kingdoms), do not have a "Dark Kingdom" title.
- The Sea Which Knows No Sun, the Polynesian afterlife.
- Swar, the City of Delights and the domain wherein the Indian Dead while away their existence.
- The Night Markets, nominally a part of Swar, where the Southeast Asian Dead dwell.
- The Mirrorlands, the end of the road for Les Invisibles from the Caribbean.
- Mantaqat Khayal, the Shadowlands of the Middle East. Little is known of this land, except that the Keening had engulfed it in a perpetual sandstorm since at least the dawn of Islam. Only Necropoli provide shelter from this sandstorm, and it is traversed only by merchants, pilgrims, and nomads. Mantaqat Khayal was devastated during the Sixth Maelstrom, after which it is presumed to have fallen under Stygian protection.
Other Places
There are some unusual and mysterious places that fit the category of a Dark Kingdom, such as:
- The Dark Kingdom of Wire, including Auschwitz and other sites, are one of the largest populations of restless dead, thanks to the crimes of Nazi Germany. Not a true Dark Kingdom; just a collection of Necropoli.