Editing Underdark (section)

==Nentir Vale's Underdark==
[[File:Shadowfell.jpg|300px|thumb|right|[[4e]] will never live down some of its naming conventions.]]
When [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]] rolled around, of ''course'' they were going to include a version of the Underdark. The basic concept remains untouched - a big cave system full of gribblies - but there were some tweaks.

For starters, 4e decided to ask themselves just ''why'' the Underdark exists in the first place. Their answer? During the [[Dawn War]], a god named [[Torog]] went down there and picked a fight with a Primordial named Gargash, who was experimenting with the concept of "imprisonment". After a brutal fight, in which Torog was hideously maimed, the god triumphed - only to find himself cursed. First, in that his wounds would never heal, and secondly, in that he could never leave. Torog literally carved the Underdark out of the bowels of the earth, forcing some level of divine stability upon a region that had once been like the [[Elemental Chaos]] in miniature, rending what is now called the King's Path in his search for freedom. And then, when he found the surface, he found that the further he got from the depths, the weaker he became; he has no choice but to remain in the deep in order to preserve his godhood.

The Underdark of the [[Nentir Vale]] is almost like a [[demiplane]] (or, rather, [[transitive plane]]) in its own right; its tunnels stretch through the ground of not just the [[Prime Material]], but also the [[Feywild]] and the [[Shadowfell]] as well. In the deep lie places of barely-checked elemental energies, which can open to the [[Elemental Chaos]]. In the very deepest places in the Underdark, the substance of reality frays and degrades, chafed by constant scraping against jagged nothingness. And in those places where the world breaks down, the [[Far Realm]] breaks through.

Needless to say, if you have the guts and the strength, you can get almost anywhere here.

===The Shallows===
[[Image:Hraak Azul.jpg|thumb|right|300px]]
This region lies the closest to the surface, as you can tell from the name. As a general rule of thumb, if it's within 2 miles of the surface, it's considered part of the Shallows. The major sapient races found in this region of the Underdark are [[Duergar]], [[Dwarves]], [[Goblin]]s, [[Human]]s, and [[Troglodyte]]s, with [[Bullywug]]s and [[Quaggoth]]s forming small but notable enclaves as well.
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===The Deeps===
[[Image:Gar Morra and the Spire Sea.jpg|thumb|right|300px]]
This covers every other part of the Underdark as lies beneath the World, without straying into the various other planes. This is the Underdark that everybody ''thinks of'' when the term is used, and thus it has the truly iconic populations; [[Aboleth]]s, [[Beholder]]s, [[Drow]], [[Grimlock]]s, [[Kuo-toa]]s, and [[Mind Flayer]]s. Of course, there are ''plenty'' of other races down here; this is where the [[Duergar]] prefer to maintain their fortress-cities (their mines and slave camps are concentrated in the Shallows), then there are [[dragon]]s - mostly [[Metallic Dragon|Adamantines]] and [[Chromatic Dragon|Purples]] - and [[aberration]]s like the [[swordwing]]s and [[balhannoth]]s, [[Umber Hulk]]s, [[Purple Worm]]s and [[Hook Horror]]s.
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===The Feydark===
The Underdark of the [[Feywild]] is rich in primal energies, making it full of life compared to the Underdark proper. Food and water abounds here - but so do vicious predators. Whilst teeming with all manner of beasts, vermin, plants and even [[fey]], the major powers are the [[Cyclops]]es, [[Fomorian]]s, [[Gnome]]s, [[Myconid]]s and [[Spriggan]]s.

===The Shadowdark===
The Underdark is nasty. The [[Shadowfell]], as the land of the dead, is also nasty. So, when you combine the two, nothing good happens. This is one of the most lethal places in the multiverse that isn't the [[Abyss]] or the [[Far Realm]].

It also has one of the most infamous names in all of the Nentir Vale, a source of so much mockery that the 4e Underdark sourcebook opens its dedicated chapter by listing alternative names, such as The Black, the Deep Chill, the World Tomb and the Soul Cold.

Although not exactly brimming with life, there are creatures and even civilizations hidden down here in the cold, dark depths. The [[Undead]] are the most frequent and powerful, of course, but there's also the [[Dark One]]s and the [[Incunabula]]. Even the [[Shadar-Kai]] have been known to enter the place on exploratory missions (or raids, but they're practically the same thing), though they usually don't seek to establish a long-term presence here.

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