Underdark

The Underdark is a fictional setting which has appeared in Dungeons & Dragons role-playing campaigns and Dungeons & Dragons-based fiction books, including the The Dark Elf Trilogy trilogy by R.A. Salvatore. It is described as a vast subterranean network of interconnected caverns and tunnels, stretching beneath entire continents and forming a literal underworld for whichever surface setting it is added to.

The Underdark is a strange alien landscape populated by bizarre creatures and ancient races, nearly all of whom are hostile to surface-dwelling life. The Underdark is featured prominently in the World of Greyhawk (where it was first introduced) and the Forgotten Realms. It is also a part of D&D's newest setting Eberron, in which it is called Khyber and is home to a host of evil beings driven deep into the caverns at the end of the age of demons. However, the majority of gaming material describing the Underdark (in the form of sourcebooks and accessories) has been published for the Forgotten Realms setting. The Underdark is also the setting for the Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark expansion, which features the port city of Lith My'athar, and the mysterious Seer.

Statistics

 * Capital: None
 * Population: Unknown (aboleth, cloaker, drow, duergar, illithid, quaggoth, svirfneblin)
 * Government: City-states, each with different government (autocracy, magocracy, matriarchy, monarchy, theocracy, and so on)
 * Religions: Varies, usually racial pantheon
 * Imports: Armor, food, slaves, timber, weapons
 * Exports: Armor, exotic goods, magic, weapons
 * Alignment: N, LE, CE

Inhabitants
The Underdark is extremely dangerous, especially to those not native to it. There are the usual dangers associated with caverns: claustrophobia, occasional poor air circulation, and getting lost. There is no light except for occasional patches of fluorescent fungus; most Underdark inhabitants either have highly developed senses other than sight or have developed Darkvision (infravision before the 3rd edition of the game rules). Food can be extremely difficult to find, and much of the natural vegetation is poisonous. In the Forgotten Realms setting the Underdark is permeated with a magical energy the Drow call faerzress, which is used as a source of energy by the native plant life but which interferes with scrying and teleportation spells.

In addition to those dangers, the Underdark is also home to many predators and a wide array of races, most of which are hostile to other races. These races include:


 * Aboleths
 * Beholders
 * Derro
 * Drow (dark elves)
 * Duergar (gray dwarves)
 * Dwarves
 * Illithids (Mind Flayers)
 * Kuo-toa
 * Svirfneblin (Deep Gnomes)

Official material

 * Underdark
 * City of the Spider Queen
 * Races of the Northern Underdark
 * The Daemonfey
 * More of the Underdark and the Vast!
 * The Steaming Demon
 * House Baenre
 * Tlincallis
 * Ice Spire Mountains
 * Organizations of the Underdark
 * The Underdark Below the North
 * Underdark Campaigns
 * Underdark Dungeons
 * Descent into the Depths of the Earth
 * Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide to the Underdark, Eric L. Boyd, TSR, 1999.
 * Drow of the Underdark, Ed Greenwood, TSR, 1991, ISBN 1-56076-132-6.
 * Menzoberranzan, Ed Greenwood, Douglas Niles, and R. A. Salvatore, TSR, 1992, ISBN 1-56076-460-0.
 * Queen of the Demonweb Pits
 * Underdark, Bruce R. Cordell, Gwendolyn F. M. Kestrel, and Jeff Quick, Wizards of the Coast, 2003, ISBN 0-7869-3053-5.
 * Vault of the Drow

Portals

 * The Winding Serpent A yuan-ti network of portals
 * The Dark Maiden's Portal
 * The Ched Nasad Portal
 * The Portal of the Demonweb Pits
 * The Portal of the Dead Goddess
 * The Shadow Path: A Portal Network
 * Garbage disposal portal and its ecology
 * The Illithid Gate

Personalities

 * Akordia Pharn, Mother of Eclavdra Pharn.
 * Alak Abaeir, Drow Assassin.
 * Amalriv, male drow, chief tax collector of Erelhei-Cinlu.
 * Belgos, vampire.
 * Eclavdra of House Eilserv, drow priestess of Lolth (formerly of the Elder Elemental God, as well as Graz'zt).
 * Edralve of House Eilserv, drow priestess of Lolth and former Slave Lord.
 * Gorlist.
 * Jalvan, male drow agitator in Erelhei-Cinlu.
 * Juz'la, Tainted One.
 * Liriel Baenre.
 * Ool Eurts, drow sorcerer and artist.
 * Pruuma the She-Bear, powerful female bugbear of Erelhei-Cinlu.
 * Teliene Coloara, the Illithid Slayer.
 * Thordek Stonebreaker, Duergar Cleric of Moradin.
 * Valas Hune.

Specific prestige classes

 * Prime Underdark Guide (image)
 * Drow Judicator

Specific templates

 * Mineral Warrior