Depths

The Depths is the collective term used to refer to the innumerable systems of caves and caverns that can be found across the world. The boundary between an ordinary cave or tunnel and those of the Depths is vague, unclear, and subjective. The Depths ranges from easily accessible subsurface chambers to highly remote caverns miles underground; the farther underground one ventures, the more unusual and hostile the landscape and its denizens become. Most of the Depths remains poorly mapped and little understood to the surface world.

Inhabitants of the Depths vary greatly. Strange, otherworldly creatures can be found in the depths, many highly unlike anything on the surface. Individuals of many ancestries live in the Depths, including deep elves, duergar, dwarves, xulgaths, deros, and a great deal more. Partially in response to the ever-hostile conditions in which they live, many denizens of the Depths harbor a strong dislike of outsiders. Peaceful communities exist, but they are exceptions to the rule, and travel underground away from safe routes like the Low Road can be very hazardous. Some large cities have grown in the Depths, but most settlements remain small and isolated.

Strange phenomena can occur far underground. The Warps are one of the most notable of these, rifts in otherwise unremarkable passages that can distort space and distance.