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Underdark?

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
koesherbacon
Jun 04, 2011 8:23:00 Is there an Underdark in the world of Dark Sun? If not, is there any reason I shouldn't have a major quest take place inside and make it up myself?

Many thanks!
#2
mach4
Jun 04, 2011 10:31:07 There is nothing mentioned in cannon that I recall. There are some caves systems (UnderTyr being one) here and there, several mines that have been in use now for a very long time that are likely quite extensive (Tyr's iron mine that has been nearly mined out long ago is probably quite vast with many abandoned regions, the gold mine near Wallach [I think] as well though it may have been a much more recent find) but no mention of a gigantic sprawl of interconnected caves and tunnels. Either an oversight in design or left out intentionally to keep the majority of the game's focus above ground in the inclement weather of the surface.

I would say that some jaunts down below would be well within reason, but I don't think I would favor much sending PCs underground for any extensive lengths of time. Then again, if the idea is good enough, run with it. There's a slight lack of Underdark denizen in the core books, but you could easily populate an Athasian Underdark with re-fluffed or re-skinned people and things. We had created what I guess would have been a 'smallish' Underdark for our homebrew continent populated by reworked Illithids; very tall, gaunt, dry, two 11' long facial tentacles very little psionic capacity, that had grown the cavern systems using life-shaping to create a single living creature that essentially was the Underdark itself who warred with some aboleth inspired silt horrors; lent a very Geigeresque feel to things.
#3
koesherbacon
Jun 04, 2011 12:03:34 Wow, dude. That was me on a new rx.
#4
siromega
Jun 04, 2011 12:32:07 I think there's an extensive tunnel system under Grak's Pool in the Tablelands near Altaruk/Ledopous. I'm not using it as the Underdark (it's not explicitely mentioned as such) but I'm sure it could be. There are ruins lying underneath Grak's current fortress so you could have a lot of fun exploring those to start with and then getting a party lost within the maze of tunnels and make it a de facto Underdark.
#5
naxel
Jun 07, 2011 6:04:35 There was an Underdark thread on this forum several months ago; you could search for it easily and read some of the ideas there. One in particular that I remember and keep in my campaign notebook is that the Underdark may in fact be hotter than Athas' surface. Closer to the world's core and with the blazing heat of the dying sun, the world underground bakes like an oven.

Inhabitants may be varied. If it's your style, adventurers might find millennia-old refugee towns from the Cleansing Wars. If there's any place to include living remnants of the world's past ages I would say it'd be here. You might find said refuges, Green Age psionic artifacts, long-lost gnomes and goblins, temples and their cults who remember the Old Gods, and all sorts of aberrations that are life-shaped creations gone wrong.

Perhaps the Underdark hasn't been as affected by the rampant defiling magic so there's all sorts of flora still abundant. Of course this is the Underdark in Athas so this plant life is pretty brutal and has more than a slight desire to suck your bones dry
#6
tindalosihound
Jun 07, 2011 12:52:24 There are two references to the Underdark on Athas.

One is in the Spellfire CCG, where Underathas was a location. Although it gives no hints or details about what it's like.

The other is in the computer game "Wake of the Ravager", where the lowest portion of Tyr's iron mines breaks through into the Underdark. The cluebook has this to say about it: "Deep below the surface of Athas is another world, unseen by most, feared by all — the Underdark. It is the place creatures dwell whose descriptions only exist in stories told late at night. One group of these creatures are the illithids, more commonly known as mind flayers. In the darkness of the earth, they move towards their goal of domination, patiently waiting for the time to attack the surface world."

As another option, back in 2e it was said in a few sources, that at the end of the blue age, many of the Rhulisti nature masters fled into cities deep beneath the surface. Dregoth's city of New Guistinal was one of those cities, although it was never occupied by the Halflings. But there were others, and given the strangeness of the nature benders, beneath the surface of athas there may be all manner of life shaped horrors (abberants, in 4e terms. In fact, on Athas, Illithids may once have been servants of the halflings, who thrived in the underathas, after their masters were gone)
#7
koesherbacon
Jun 13, 2011 3:28:33 In the end I opted against this, for now at least. But thanks a ton for the info!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 koesherbacon Jun 04, 2011 8:23:00	Is there an Underdark in the world of Dark Sun? If not, is there any reason I shouldn't have a major quest take place inside and make it up myself? Many thanks!
#2 mach4 Jun 04, 2011 10:31:07	There is nothing mentioned in cannon that I recall. There are some caves systems (UnderTyr being one) here and there, several mines that have been in use now for a very long time that are likely quite extensive (Tyr's iron mine that has been nearly mined out long ago is probably quite vast with many abandoned regions, the gold mine near Wallach [I think] as well though it may have been a much more recent find) but no mention of a gigantic sprawl of interconnected caves and tunnels. Either an oversight in design or left out intentionally to keep the majority of the game's focus above ground in the inclement weather of the surface. I would say that some jaunts down below would be well within reason, but I don't think I would favor much sending PCs underground for any extensive lengths of time. Then again, if the idea is good enough, run with it. There's a slight lack of Underdark denizen in the core books, but you could easily populate an Athasian Underdark with re-fluffed or re-skinned people and things. We had created what I guess would have been a 'smallish' Underdark for our homebrew continent populated by reworked Illithids; very tall, gaunt, dry, two 11' long facial tentacles very little psionic capacity, that had grown the cavern systems using life-shaping to create a single living creature that essentially was the Underdark itself who warred with some aboleth inspired silt horrors; lent a very Geigeresque feel to things.
#3 koesherbacon Jun 04, 2011 12:03:34	Wow, dude. That was me on a new rx.
#4 siromega Jun 04, 2011 12:32:07	I think there's an extensive tunnel system under Grak's Pool in the Tablelands near Altaruk/Ledopous. I'm not using it as the Underdark (it's not explicitely mentioned as such) but I'm sure it could be. There are ruins lying underneath Grak's current fortress so you could have a lot of fun exploring those to start with and then getting a party lost within the maze of tunnels and make it a de facto Underdark.
#5 naxel Jun 07, 2011 6:04:35	There was an Underdark thread on this forum several months ago; you could search for it easily and read some of the ideas there. One in particular that I remember and keep in my campaign notebook is that the Underdark may in fact be hotter than Athas' surface. Closer to the world's core and with the blazing heat of the dying sun, the world underground bakes like an oven. Inhabitants may be varied. If it's your style, adventurers might find millennia-old refugee towns from the Cleansing Wars. If there's any place to include living remnants of the world's past ages I would say it'd be here. You might find said refuges, Green Age psionic artifacts, long-lost gnomes and goblins, temples and their cults who remember the Old Gods, and all sorts of aberrations that are life-shaped creations gone wrong. Perhaps the Underdark hasn't been as affected by the rampant defiling magic so there's all sorts of flora still abundant. Of course this is the Underdark in Athas so this plant life is pretty brutal and has more than a slight desire to suck your bones dry
#6 tindalosihound Jun 07, 2011 12:52:24	There are two references to the Underdark on Athas. One is in the Spellfire CCG, where Underathas was a location. Although it gives no hints or details about what it's like. The other is in the computer game "Wake of the Ravager", where the lowest portion of Tyr's iron mines breaks through into the Underdark. The cluebook has this to say about it: "Deep below the surface of Athas is another world, unseen by most, feared by all — the Underdark. It is the place creatures dwell whose descriptions only exist in stories told late at night. One group of these creatures are the illithids, more commonly known as mind flayers. In the darkness of the earth, they move towards their goal of domination, patiently waiting for the time to attack the surface world." As another option, back in 2e it was said in a few sources, that at the end of the blue age, many of the Rhulisti nature masters fled into cities deep beneath the surface. Dregoth's city of New Guistinal was one of those cities, although it was never occupied by the Halflings. But there were others, and given the strangeness of the nature benders, beneath the surface of athas there may be all manner of life shaped horrors (abberants, in 4e terms. In fact, on Athas, Illithids may once have been servants of the halflings, who thrived in the underathas, after their masters were gone)
#7 koesherbacon Jun 13, 2011 3:28:33	In the end I opted against this, for now at least. But thanks a ton for the info!