Free City of Umbraval
Umbraval is an independent port on Odraka’s northern coast, facing Merria. Sea passage, deep-water pilotage, and contract law made it prosperous; its most disputed export is the right to use shadows forcibly separated from people.
Umbraval has one law, one citizenship, and one harbour tax. The sovereign entity is the city itself. The Shadow Union is a powerful institution born within it, not a separate state: it registers, leases, and guarantees shadow contracts across borders.
Shadow right
In Umbraval law, a person’s name, face, word, and shadow are separately protected. A person whose shadow is taken knows it—their own shadow is no longer visible to them—and has the formal right to inspect the record made in their name.
The shadow does not tire, demand wages, or stop working while its body survives. Harm and exhaustion suffered by the shadow are reflected in that body. The Union calls this regulated use-right; opponents call it slavery with a ledger.
| Record | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Term shadow sentence | A shadow is leased for a defined period as punishment, debt settlement, or political compromise. |
| War shadow | A captured person’s shadow is leased to a victorious state through Union registration and commission. |
| Timeless seizure | The most feared sentence: no end date is set, and the body may be placed under Union custody. |
| Unregistered shadow | A stolen or undocumented shadow. The Union claims authority to recover it; critics call that claim a pretext for monopoly. |
Council, Union, and foreign crowns
The Quay Council governs citizenship, harbour tax, and defence. The Shadow Union controls the registry, lease contracts, and body depots. Foreign states cannot legally lease a shadow without the Union’s seal, which turns Umbraval courts into arbiters of post-war ownership disputes.
The Union’s secret agreement with Velis is darker still. Face records of people under timeless seizure can be transferred into the Mist Isles’ system of multiple legal identities. Velis describes this as continuity; Umbraval’s opponents call it a second theft after the theft of a shadow.
Peoples and present crisis
Humans form a plurality in Umbraval. Water Genasi and Sea Elves are strong in pilotage, lighthouses, and diving; Tiefling families have longstanding weight in contract houses and archives. Tortle sailors, Halfling merchant households, Dragonborn guards, and war diasporas fill the remaining quarters.
In SS 83, two foreign crowns claim the shadows of the same prisoners from the Merria route. The Quay Council must confront the fact that the bodies are kept in the Rotten Apple Depots while Umbraval still claims legal neutrality.
→ Umbraval · Shadow Union · Odraka · Velis