Navigating in the Underland

To the outside observer, navigation in this vast plane of caverns can prove hazardous, if not impossible. This is because the Underland has no magnetic field to align a compass to, and the wind direction can change from day to day, depending on the pressure variables in each cavern. The only constant is the flow of Vril. It always flows in same direction each day along their own riverbeds called Veins.

All Underland Geography is provided by gyroscopically mounted compasses, which are enchanted spheres of glass with a spinning disk encased within them and are filled with Vril. Each Underland Compass (UC) will spin for seventy hours before slowing. It can be recharged simply by dipping it into a Vril stream for a few minutes. As the disk spins, an arrowhead forms, which always points back to the Vril confluence located under the Pyramid of Cykisene. The other notations on the disk tell the reader not only which direction they are travelling, but how many cavern lengths away from the Great Pyramid they are, as well.

Underland maps come in two forms, overview maps and cavern specific maps. The overview maps have two reference figures. The first is a three dimensional reference for the sought after location in relation to the Pyramid of Cykisene (reference 0,0,0). The second is the number of cavern lengths away from the cavern city of Shamballah. These cavern lengths are not a fixed measurement, they are instead just a reference to the number of caverns that are needed to be crossed to reach a given location.

The cavern specific maps only have the three-D reference, as used in the overview maps, for given locations. Once inside a cavern to reach a certain destination one need only follow the UC until the readings from it match the given map reference. To reach a certain point in the Underland you need an overview map to identify the required cavern then a cavern specific map to find the desired location.

Other Realms and Interesting Locations

The Citadel

A legend at the center of the Brotherhood Wars state that deep within a lost cavern stands a citadel made of glowing, living crystal stone. It has had many names over the aeons, but the one that is recognised as the true name is 'Somatrosi'- The Sleeper's Cradle. Within the citadel dwells Omli-Cedal - The Devourer of Forever. The White Brotherhood knows that the Devourer will destroy the Underland if woken, so they fight the Black Brotherhood, thwarting their plans to locate Somatrosi and awaken the Devourer. The Black Brotherhood believes that they are in contact with the Devourer, and that it has promised them great power and dominion over all if only they will awake it from its magical confinement. So they search out the lost cavern fighting the White Brotherhood who will stop at nothing to prevent them from awakening the Devourer.

The Mountain of Madness

A mountain that stands in the center of the second largest cavern in the Underland discovered to date. It is ten kilometres high, and has NEVER been climbed by a surviving party. There have been many attempts, but all have met with fatal results before they reached the summit, branding the mountain cursed, and it's ominous name.

The Glacial Mass

A series of caverns that are filled not with jungle, tree, grass, or other greenery; but with ice, snow, and massive glaciers. It is from here that all cold weather seems to originate for the entire Underland. The Icepack here is between six and eight kilometres deep, and is riddled with caves, smaller caverns, and an entire society of ice-dwelling creatures called Shivas. The Vril still flows here, but runs through the ice in a series of tubes that must have been tapped by the Shivas for their own means. Very little of the Vril actually leaves this network, unlike the majority of caverns which have a steady flow of Vril, the Glacial Mass only lets a trickle out; obviously someone is diverting or using the Vril here in vast quantities.

Aquatic Realms

This region is predominantly caverns filled, or flooded by water. These caverns are totally submerged and in some areas go to a depth of eight kilometres. Some caverns are believed to not have been always flooded, and as such one might find submerged towns, cities, or even some small pockets of civilisation within them.

The Lands Of Fire

Another of the regions that make up the Underland is a network of caverns which are almost entirely desert. But it is unlike any desert found on any spherical world; The heat from these deserts comes from the ground, and during the height of the Kinshala season (Summer) can easily reach two hundred degrees Celsius. These deserts are the home of the Sand Shark, a ravenous xenophobic reptilian race of creatures that kill anything that tries to cross the Lands Of Fire.

Normally, there would be no real reason to even venture into the Lands Of Fire, except for the recently discovered Fire Gems. No one knows how they are formed, but these egg-sized crystals are containers of such concentrated magical and Psionic energy that even a single gem is valued at more than ten million credits on the open market, and can receive up to five times that value on the Black Market.

Fire Gems

Crystalline gemstones the size of small eggs. Each gemstone, depending on its colour and purity, holds a vast amount of PPE and ISP that can be tapped by any practitioner of magic OR Psionics for power use.

The purity and colour of the crystal varies from stone to stone, and within the regions that they are found; The type and purity of any crystal found should be determined by a percentile roll, the results of which are listed below:

	1 - 60		An impure yellow crystal will contain 1d6x10 PPE & 1D4 x 10 ISP
	61 - 80		A pure yellow Crystal will contain 2D6 x 10 PPE & 2D4 x 10 ISP
	81 - 86		An impure orange crystal will contain 2D6 x 20 PPE & 2D4 x 20 ISP
	87 - 93		A pure orange crystal will contain 4D6 x 20 PPE & 4D4 x 20 ISP
	94 - 96		An impure red crystal will contain 1D6 x 100 PPE and 1D4 x 100 ISP
	97 - 00		A pure red crystal will contain 2D6 x 100 PPE and 2D4 x 100 ISP

The gems can be recharged an unlimited number of times by placing them in a flowing Vril river or stream at a rate of 10% of capacity per day of immersion. NOTE: Placing a partially discharged gem in Vril for recharge will reduce its available magic and Psionic energy to 10% of capacity - regardless of its original level, then will begin to recharge at the stated rate.

Realm of Mists

This area of the Underland is mostly filled with swampy, dank water and thick, nearly impenetrable jungles. It covers some sixty caverns and perhaps ten percent of the Underland's explored area.

Many powerful creatures live in the swamps, among them; Fury beetles, Agenor River Serpents, and many other strange and terrible creatures live within the jungle environment, feeding on each other and anything else, adventurers included. Some small human and D-bee settlements can be found in the Realm of Mists.

The Darklands

The Darklands are an area where for some unknown reason, the Vril has stopped flowing, or is just a tiny trickle of its former self.

All the explorers who have entered the Darklands have returned with the following information; 1) The Darkland caverns are almost lightless, with the most powerful illumination coming from mechanical, magical (Through spellcasting) or Bio-luminescent means.

2) The caverns themselves are filled with distorted and dangerous creatures, most of which can sense magical energy and hunt down those who possess it so the creatures can drain the energy for their own uses.

3) The Darkland caverns stretch for at least ten lengths across and into the uncharted realms, and perhaps even deeper. No one knows what is in the uncharted realms beyond the Darklands, for nothing has returned from that deep into the zone.

Haraphus

Haraphus is an area to the gyroscopic south of Agharta. It houses many large cities which are home for all manner of demonic hordes including the Deamans, the Skel-ki and the Vril-ki, while the caverns themselves are filled with dangerous and ravenous beasts.

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