 | The topic of this articlemay not meet Wikipedia'sgeneral notability guideline. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citingreliable secondary sources that areindependent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to bemerged,redirected, ordeleted. Find sources: "Underdark" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(December 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
TheUnderdark is a fictional setting which has appeared inDungeons & Dragons role-playing campaigns andDungeons & Dragons-based fiction books, including theLegend of Drizzt series byR. A. Salvatore. It is described as a vastsubterranean network of interconnectedcaverns andtunnels, stretching beneath entire continents and forming anunderworld for surface settings.Polygon called it "one ofD&D's most well-known realms".[1]
The Underdark featured prominently in thecampaign settingsWorld of Greyhawk[2] and theForgotten Realms.[3] The concept of a dungeon that spanned a planet was first introduced byGary Gygax in his D-series of game modules[4] and at the end of theG-series. The Underdark was described in detail in the 1986 manualDungeoneer's Survival Guide, byDoug Niles.[5] It was also part of theEberron campaign setting, in which it was called Khyber and was home to evil beings driven deep into the caverns at the end of the age ofdemons.[6]Wolfgang Baur, who previously wrote the Underdark adventureKingdom of the Ghouls for the Greyhawk setting, also introduced the Underdark inEmpire of the Ghouls to the third-party Midgard setting fromKobold Press.[7]
A review forPyramid refers to the Underdark as "one of the most well known facets of the Forgotten Realms".[8] Much of the literary attention for this deep underworld stemmed from the sourcebooks and accessories for theForgotten Realms setting, including R.A. Salvatore's novels about the fictional characterDrizzt Do'Urden.[3]
The Underdark was also the setting for the expansion pack to the computer gameNeverwinter Nights calledHordes of the Underdark, which featured the port city of Lith My'athar, and the mysterious Seer.[9]
The Underdark is a subterranean realm of enormous size inhabited by many different types of creatures such asdrow,mind flayers, and aboleths.[5] It extends far beyond the dungeons created by surface dwellers, and consists of caverns, tunnels and large complexes.[8]
The fictional Underdark's physical characteristics are based upon conditions in real-world caverns deep underground, except at immense size. Within the context of a game, the Underdark is extremely dangerous, especially to non-native characters and creatures. There are also the usual dangers associated with caverns:claustrophobia, poor air circulation, floor/ceiling collapses and getting lost.
There is no light except for occasional patches of phosphorescentfungus; most Underdark inhabitants either have highly developedsenses other thansight or have developeddarkvision.[note 1] Food can be extremely difficult to find, and much of the naturalvegetation ispoisonous. In addition,potable water is hard to locate.
In the Forgotten Realms setting, the Underdark is permeated with a magical energy thedrow callfaerzress, which is used as a source of energy by the native plant life and which interferes with scrying and teleportation spells.
In theForgotten Realms setting, Araumycos (Dwarvish, literally meaning "Great Fungus") is an enormousfungal growth in the Upper Underdark under the continent ofFaerûn. It is a single organism living beneath theHigh Forest between one and three miles under the surface, immune to magic and resistant to psionic energy. Araumycos will sometimes attack intruders with poison, spores, and manifestations that resemble oozes and slimes.[3]
Araumycos houses many other fungal creatures. Travel within it is difficult since many passages and caves are blocked by it and damage regenerates quickly.[3]
The Underdark is home to manypredators, races and fantasy monsters, most of which are hostile. These include:
There is no unified underground government since each individual city-state has a different form of rule. The Underdark economy deals primarily in armor, exotic goods, magic, slaves, timber and weapons. The ethical code of many indigenous races tends toward evil or neutral.
In the Forgotten Realms campaign setting,R.A. Salvatore created thedrowUnderdark cityMenzoberranzan.[10]
Parts ofBaldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn andBaldur's Gate 3 take place in the Underdark,[11][12] andIcewind Dale II featured journeys through the Underdark. An expansion pack based on theUnderdark setting was released for theNeverwinter Nights game series, titledNeverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark. The tilesets which came with theHordes of the Underdark expansion pack were used in several persistent worlds, most notablyEscape from the Underdark.