There is a vast array of ruins and caverns beneath Tyr known, amusingly, as Under-Tyr, which could serve as a new home for traditional Underdark denizens.
Is there?
Not really. At least not in the sense of what is found in the Forgotten Realms for example. Truthfully , none of the main races of Athas go underground, so there might be a larger Underdark that is unknown to the surface dwellers.
The deep underdark I reckon one can use as is: the PCs are the first to go there (one can imagine that aboleths and illithids don't want to take on the SK but are more than happy to make life hard for the intusive PCs).
In the shallow underdark I intend to have the drow from FR as palette swapped halflings who worship an otherwise unknown Mind Lord. Change all the key words to psychic or flavour them as devolved nature benders (driders?) and one is good to go.
If you go psionic, why not as palette swapped eladrin? That just screams all sorts of awesome. Especially with the whole "psionic magic is the reaction to the influence of aberrants" flavor in default 4e.
That's a novel use of eladrin. I'm thinking yoink! I'm sure my PC will not notice another drow nation palette swapped as deep eladrin (if I reskin the houses as Covenants (a la VtR)).
Yay, two underdark nations for the price of one (and the different levels the PCs will face them will mean different cosmetics etc).
My surface game plan is to make eladrin the upper class of a elven tribe (I can't be doing with the Feywild on Athas).
I was thinking the same thing as you about aberrant beings causing a reaction in people and thought of the as yet unanmed Mind Lord (although evil to the core) is trying to stop the influence of the Far realm entities.
Hopefully that will make some difficult choices fro the PCs.
Thanks, Flash.
As the Champions scoured the land of so many races, I think many would have thought to flee to underground refuge. As they land died and the sun burned the sands, subterranean shelter becomes more attractive. It's closer to aquifers and it's out of the harsh light.
Also, being a previous water world (if we accept the Blue Age to still have occurred), Athas is bound to be abundant in limestone, which naturally forms caves. Also, given the prevalence of obsidian in tools, it's reasonable that Athas was at least once quite volcanically active, creating many lava tubes. We might expect magnificent caves structures to exist below ground. Indeed, with a cool, wet environment below the surface, these caves were probably already colonized when the Cleansing refugees arrived, creating tremendous conflict.
In the Desert Age, I imagine the underdark of Athas to be incredibly brutal, just as is the surface. While water is abundant, food is not, and the intelligent creatures of the underworld battle each other for precious consumables. Mutant creatures of all kinds roam the tunnels, altered by the runoff of defiled natural lands above. Just imagine ash fields or black sand seeping into the ground for thousands of years.
My DARK SUN underdark is populated by huge carnivorous pigs and Scottish guys that froth at the mouth when they attack.
...also Rajatt's real name is "the Walker"
.
.
.
.
and his prison isn't simply "the black" it is called "the black stump"
(edit: What no w00t w00t for a SLA Industries reference?)
In 4e, I'd say yes, athas has an underdark. We don't have anything saying it does or doesn't. But it has a feywild, shadowfell, elemental chaos and the abyss, so it probably has an underdark and a dream plane. Whether or not it has a far realm is up to you, like anything else. But I'd lean towards yes on that question.
We don't have anything saying it does or doesn't.
The DSCS mentions the Athasian Underdark on page 14.
Adventurers will be initially excited to discover elaborate swords composed of some exotic, rarefied metal that proves to be dazzlingly effective against monstrous cave-beasts. Upon returning to surface lands, those that come to rely upon such weapons will be stunned to discover that the blades rot and disintegrate into silt upon an hour's exposure to the rays of the Dark Sun.
DSCS4 does mention that most underdark folk are dead though, leaving Gith the only people who really use Deep Speech anymore.
We don't have anything saying it does or doesn't.
The DSCS mentions the Athasian Underdark on page 14.
Yup, I forgot.
My future Dray character will be coming from there as a spy-templar of Dregoth himself!!
of course, that said, there is a lot of potential for some pretty sweet mutants, freaks, and lost creatures/races in whatever aspect of the Underdark shows up in your campaigns...
The "lost worlds" reference reminds me of the old basic D&D's Hollow World... which of course had a big red sun at the center of it.. =p... and Under-Tyr would certainly be a nice connection to a substantial Underdark if you wanted to take your game there...
Josh
No standard underdark DnD monsters or races have survive.
If no undead are present, underground races like hejkin, anakore, giant ant or insects populate them.
I don't think I'd say it's very big, and certainly not some continental expanse of underground networks. Under-Tyr might be part of the shallows and the shallows are all I would have the PCs explore. Perhaps races hid here during the Cleansing Wars, but that was thousands of years ago (according to, well, me) so most of them have died out. Sunwarped mutants, certain fey creatures, servants of Dregoth, or ssurans (preferring danker and moister conditions) might hide away from the sun and other factions that otherwise might hunt them.
The deep is an even more extreme version of the shallows. It covers even less overall ground and is home to just about nothing. Green Age (or pre-Green Age) illithid civilizations might remain in ruins but that's it...in fact, it's all mostly ruins. The only reason my PCs would go here is because this is where I'd put a portal to Rajaat's prison. The Dragon of Tyr watches over Ur Draxa which is built right atop of a deep chasm leading to the First Magi's planar prison
Otherwise your just putting combat monsters in forgotten realms underdark.
My DARK SUN underdark is populated by huge carnivorous pigs and Scottish guys that froth at the mouth when they attack.
...also Rajatt's real name is "the Walker"
.
.
.
.
and his prison isn't simply "the black" it is called "the black stump"
(edit: What no w00t w00t for a SLA Industries reference?)
Damn, thought you were talking about me!
Actually Athas's Underdark would probably be FLOODED! if you read the old books and think about it...where do you think all of Athas' water went to?
Ah huh...underground....entire SEAS....!
I'm a fan of "pockets" and each pocket is different. One pocket is a normal underdark realm, like an underground lake, where as another pocket acts as a portal into the feydark or the shadowdark, the same way you can enter into the lands within the wind on the surface. Other pockets reflect the standard theme that the underdark is unfinished and has more of a connection to the elemental chaos. So you could end up entering a volcanic region or a frozen region and so on. You could also encounter a the pocket of a long dead civilization that escaped into the underdark to evade the warbringer's armies.
Ultimately, I'd just put an athasian spin on the core underdark. A place where you could encounter almost anything, especially other planar entities like shadar-kai, devils, demons, elementals and fey.
I think if I had a dark sun underdark I would make the environment just as dangerous as Athas is on the surface. Otherwise your defeating the entire purpose of playing on dark sun by avoiding the heat, lack of water, desert, and the slavery imposed by Sorceror kings. I'm not just talking about filling it with dangerous beasties but making the environment deadly and unpredictable, like Lava seas that unpredictably erupt, earthquakes, and undetectable gas pockets and over lords that smack of the sorceror kings themselves. Otherwise your just putting combat monsters in forgotten realms underdark.
I quite like the idea of an Underdark that is even hotter than the surface, despite the lack of sunlight. Like a giant underground oven. Consider the concept yoinked for my campaign.
In hawaii when the lava tubes fill and the volcano is about to erupt there are giant centipedes and other subterannian critters that break out on the surface to escape the heat. That would make a cool story if the characters local environment were suddenly over run by subterranian critters that are trying to escape the underground heat surge.
Thats a great idea. Villages around the Smoking Crown are beset by horrible burrowing insects and monsters. Why? Investigating reveals the Smoking Crown is about to blow.
If you don't have a fire elemental priest in your party you could add in an NPC one to guide the players to a resolution with Volcano nature spirit.
Except the "Volcano nature spirit" is actually an epic-level drake that wants to eat the party, and the NPC is basically just guiding them to a spot to be sacrificed.
... It's Athas.