Editing Underdark (section)

==Faerun's Underdark==
[[File:4e Underdark.png|300px|thumb|right|There's some surprisingly nice places down there.]]

As mentioned, the original "Underdark" underlaid Greyhawk. Niles' Deepearth didn't belong to any trademarked setting - even as late as the first half of [[Bloodstone Pass|the H series]]. When Forgotten Realms took off as TSR's baby, Da Sootz strongarmed Niles to migrate the ''Mines''' "Deepearth" to H1's Demara and both to Faerun.

The Underdark would become iconic to Faerun, in no small part because of the [[Drizzt]] novels. Indeed it's sometimes considered more of a Forgotten Realms region than a D&D region as a whole - the 3e "Underdark" sourcebook was even released under the FR banner.

When adventures in the Underdark first debuted, a special proviso was laid on most of the items found therein: most magic items found there became normal or disintegrated about a month after leaving the Underdark, which was some of the most insulting cheese that players had ever eaten. This was later justified as only applying to drow items, as they used a special metal that took to enchantment more readily, but which disintegrated upon exposure to sunlight. Still, the idea infuriated players to the point that this idea was ultimately dropped.

In the Realms, whilst most surface-dwellers only think of the Underdark as a single uniform entity (i.e. a massive cave system where nasty monsters come from), it can actually be divided into three general depth zones based on the conditions and inhabitants:

* The '''Upperdark''' or Upper Underdark is the region within approximately three miles of the surface. It's got most of the creature comforts of the surface (as far as the availability of food and shelter go), just a little dark and scary in places. Most traffic with the surface happens here, so most of the creatures living here are, well, nobody's really ''friendly'' down here, but at least not immediately hostile. [[Dwarf]] kingdoms dig down into this layer to expand; [[goblin]]s and [[orc]]s set up camps and settlements here; they may also be brought here by factions that enslave them.
* The '''Middledark''' or Middle Underdark occupies the earth between three and ten miles of the surface. It's too far down to get regular circulation of air and water from the surface, so the ecosystem is poorer for would-be [[adventurer]]s; what oases and natural resources do exist are all claimed and guarded. The [[Drow]] rule here, and the largest [[Duergar]] and [[Mind Flayer]] settlements can be found here as well.
* The '''Lowerdark''' or Lower Underdark is everything below ten or so miles down. This far deep, the Underdark is not nearly as interconnected, so it is much more fragmented into regions that can only be reached from the Middledark, teleportation, or other roundabout means. Most people from the surface have no interest in coming down this deep, and most creatures that live down here have no interest in going to the surface, which is good, because things get really weird this far down. [[Aboleth]]s and [[Beholder]]s are the dominant creatures, and the unwary adventurer may find herself falling through a portal to another [[plane]], especially the [[Plane of Shadow]]. These portals become more frequent as you go down, leading some to suggest that the Lowerdark has no bottom, and simply becomes the Plane of Shadow. This probably isn't true, but nobody's ever mapped the Underdark to the bottom, so we can't say for sure. On the plus side, there are the Desmodus, a.k.a. bat-people (named for the Desmodus genus of bats, more commonly called "vampire bats"), who are actually nice, if isolationist.

There's also another place even further down called the "Utter Dark" which even the Drow dare not to tread. No light mundane nor magical has ever reached this place. [[Meme|This isn't your average everyday darkness. This is...]] '''[[Meme|advanced darkness]]'''. If you manage to last 30 seconds down there without being slain by the madness of complete darkness, then you get perfect darkvision for a year. Good luck clawing through three levels of perfect hell first to reach it though.