As the Kami created the Empire of Rokugan, the fallen Kami Fu Leng created the Shadowlands. The Shadowlands was the wasteland that laid to the southwest of Rokugan, a twisted, nightmarish place corrupted by the power of Jigoku, the Realm of Evil.
This region was originally a tropical paradise of color and light, which changed when Fu Leng fell from heaven, and left a crater known as the Festering Pit deep within the Shadowlands. It was from here that the Taint spread out, blighted, and corrupted the land. This was also where demons and evil spirits could cross freely from Jigoku into Ningen-do. The Shadowlands was a constantly shifting and uninhabitable nightmare come to life. It was home to oni, ogres, trolls, goblins, the Lost and countless other vile creatures.