Hello everybody Jorphdan here the PH is silent.
Let’s get down.
Like way down.
To the underdark.
The subterranean world that exists below Faerun.
And I mean all over Faerun, it’s easy to stick with the sword coast and the Drizzt
novels but there is underdark everywhere.
The underdark is a vast network of caverns and tunnels.
It must be like swiss cheese underneath Toril.
The underdark is divided up into three sections, the upperdark, the middledark, and the lowerdark.
The Upperdark is just a few miles below the surface, where the middledark is 8-10 miles
below the surface, and the lower dark is further beneath that.
The Upperdark is mainly inhabited by drow, beholders, dwarves, and mind flayers.
Food and water is somewhat abundant here, at least compared to other areas of the Underdark.
Which makes it more livable for these races.
The inhabitants of the Middledark see other races as slaves.
The drow also live here as well as Mind Flayers, but also kuo-toas, and the Duergar.
Here the majority of major cities in the Underdark reside here in the Middledark.
Beyond that the Lowerdark is home to the incredibly strange.
Alien societies of aboleths, as well as the derro live here.
Food and water is rare in the Lowerdark so the races prey on one another for survival.
The underdark has a beginning, a creation story.
This is 4th edition lore so for those of you who hate don't read into it too much.
The Underdark was created, like the rest of Toril by the Primordials.
Before the Dawn War occured the god Torog became imprisoned in the primeval Underdark.
He went searching for a primordial named Gargash who was torturing gods beneath the surface
of Toril.
He found Gargash and the two fought.
Torog won but at great cost, with Gargash’s last breathe he cursed Torog to be trapped
in the Underdark.
His wounds would not heal and he would never be able to leave.
Torog sought a way out of the Underdark but for some reason could not direct himself up
to tunnel out, he was trapped.
He crawled sideways and down, carving out caverns and tunnels, expanding and connecting
the Underdark.
He was powerful enough to crash into the Feywild and the Shadowfell creating the Feydark and
the Shadowdark.
The passages he created are often referred to as the King’s Highway.
I believe this is just another name for the tunnels of the Underdark, but could also refer
to the openings he created into the Feywild and Shadowfell.
Torog never escaped, never ascended to live in the astral sea with the other gods.
He remains underneath Toril deep in the darkest parts of the Underdark, waiting and ruling.
Torog is the god of imprisonment and torture, he is also known as the Lord of the Underdark.
Torog’s blood coated the Underdark during his tunneling and set magic within the rocks.
Torog’s magic and his whole being became tied to the Underdark.
Were he to leave his powers would greatly diminish, so he stays there; beneath Toril
for the rest of eternity.
But that’s 4th edition lore.
Although I find it important in the grand scheme of Forgotten Realms, I know most of
you dislike it.
So take it with a grain of salt.
The Underdark is not as lightless as it may seem.
There are bioluminescent fungi that exists throughout.
As well as glowstone which is a glowing rock that could be as small as a baseball or large
as a cavern wall.
It provides dim light within 30 feet.
On the flip side there is another rock called darkrock which absorbs light making your torches less effective in
the Underdark.
There are numerous races and creatures that live in the Underdark.
The Drow obviously have made their home there.
Lolth directed them to the Underdark.
Nobody thought the elves would survive let alone thrive in this harsh world, but they
did, becoming at home with the caverns and tunnels.
Dwarves live in the Underdark, but mostly their dark cousins the Duergar.
Beholders, Illithids, Kuo-toa, and Svirfneblin all make their home in these underground caverns.
Many of those races mentioned have created large cities there.
The Duergar carving and mining out huge caverns for their populations, the drow using the
magic of Lolth to change their surroundings.
The Illithids gathering slaves to do their bidding and create large cities for their
Elder Brain.
Although carving into stalagmites and stalactites is common there is also a form of Fungus that
is used for construction, it resembles lumber from the world above.
The Underdarks’ landscape varies as much as the surface world.
There are small subterranean fissures almost impossible for an adventurer to crawl through.
Only to open up into huge expansive caverns with underground lakes.
There are underground magma rivers, as well as lush almost tropical areas full of moss,
fungus, and other plant life.
Since there isn’t any sunlight plants have to gather nutrition from other sources.
One of those sources is the Faerzess.
Which is a magical energy that permeates the Underdark.
Plants and Fungi would feed off of this magic and grow to ridiculas sizes.
The Faerzess, which is a Drow word, causes magical problems with scrying and teleportation.
Because of this many Drow cities were built in areas with an abundance of Faerzess to
keep their cities secure from magical intrusion.
They even started building artifacts that harness that magical energy for some beneficial
effects.
Faerzess can affect spellcasting much like wild magic.
Purple worms, umber hulks, xorns and other creatures burrow through solid rock in the
Underdark.
This makes maps go out of date rather quickly, with the ever changing Underdark.
I’m personally surprised that there aren’t more giant sinkholes created on the surface.
You would think with the swiss cheese of the underdark below that cave ins would occur
constantly resulting in sinkholes across Faerun.
Water is scarce in the Underdark, when a source of freshwater is discovered it is hoarded
and protected.
There is no rain in the Underdark, water trickles down from the surface but slowly and rarely.
Locations of note in the Underdark.
Well it’s difficult to decide what is important enough to mention, but Menzoberranzan is the
famous city of the Drow.
Blindingstone is another important site, a svirfneblin city-state founded in -690 DR.
The city was destroyed in 1371 DR but resettled in 1440 DR.
Gracklstugh, also known as the city of blades, is a Duergar nation and resides in the Middledark
bordering an Underdark sea called Darklake.
Also because I find it interesting there is a Drow city called Sshamath that is ruled
by male drow wizards, with female clerics of Lolth taking lesser roles.
They craft numerous magical items here and is considered a strong trading partner by
other cities.
And that’s it for today.
The Underdark has lots more to go into so I think I’ll make this a two part episode.
Next week I’ll talk about the races of the Underdark in more detail and perhaps their
major cities.
Thanks for watching everyone and I’ll see you next week with another episode of Forgotten
Realms Explained.