The Delves

The Delves: Appendix Epicanum:

The Delves, have existed since the ages of creation. Great underground tunnels below the surface worlds oceans and continents that often form pathways for travel from one end of the world to another just as surely as the above worlds own.

Deep as a body can go, there is the Heart Cavern near the Forge of the World. A birthing ground for gods, and said to be mother to the Dwarven peoples. Water has carved the caverns beyond nearer the surface wider over the ages, as have the races who dwell deep in the darkness.

Great stone eating worms, Lime Trolls, Cave Hulks, and other creatures continue to carve ever longer passages. Mammoth Copepods, are the most prolific of the rock destroying lifeforms, but Dwarves have long made their kingdom there also.

In the Delves, there are riches untold, for many were not carved by organisms or water at all. Some of the great vents led to volcanoes, and minerals like platinum, gold, and even diamonds were deposited in the tunnels long ago.

There are the simple Delves, called the Shallow Delves by the Low Beards. And then there are the Deep Delves, referred to simply as Deep's. These are as far as 6,000 leagues under the crust.

It is the Deep's that are the most feared places for the Thanegeld's. Demons reside in them, undead creatures fleeing the relentlessness of sunlight, and pagan cults of various kinds can be encountered there as well.

It is thought that many dragons call them home, and that portals to places unknown exist.

There are as many cities, kingdoms, and nations below the outer world as there are above the Delves. These are less known and harder to reach, but no doubt just as boundless and filled with history.

Common Races:

Kobalds:

Kobalds are the most plentiful and the smallest sentient race underground. They dig burrows in the stone that are like colonies of termites or ant mounds. Some of these huge complexes extend far beyond any known surface cities. Entire surface empires can be engulfed by them.

A few communities harness huge bats as mounts for travel and these are also fiercely used in battle.

They have no complex mastery of magic but they do have shaman and druidic arts. No clerics exist in their culture. They don't worship any gods, instead praying to the deep cavernous environment itself. They have been known to deify truly mighty Deep denizens, but religion is an impractical application of thought for the animalistic intellects of these creatures.

They gang up on larger creatures in hunting or war. A kobald fight is never fair unless one captures one to dispense with in private later. They are not telepathic, but they often exhibit a very uncanny familiarity in combat that makes the agile little things appear to know what every member of the packs next move will be.

Some colonies employ Lime Trolls as elite infantry and guardians. It is these who are the most fearsome in battle for obvious reasons.

Lime Trolls:

Forest Trolls, Stone Lobbers, Swamp Scrags, and Snow Trolls are bestial surface varieties well known to adventurers. But under mountains or in the Deep Delves, the Great Trolls thrive. Limestone formations are their favorite haunts, so the name has stuck to the breed over time.

On their own they are simple packs or individuals who cause little grief or destruction. A solitary troll or a breeding pair with a wide territory are not savage monsters as many so called naturalists will assert. Its those under kobald control who are warlike, brutal, and merciless.

The kobald trollkin are armed and armored with iron weapons and plate forged by their minuscule masters.

They are driven to war by the savage little monsters and so they behave in a much more sinister way than their natural state.

But to defend young, their mushroom patch, or breeding rights even the solitary trolls can become dangerous if encountered.

Trolls without kobald leadership use bone and/or stone weapons and make only the crudest forms of hide coverings when able to find adequate material.

Dwarves:

Dwarves live in the Delves in great carved halls of solid and undefiled stone. Most clans prefer to live just below the surface in mountain halls dug directly under the peaks. But there are entire Dwarfish kingdoms in the deeper parts of the globe.

The god associated with their creation was said to have been born and raised near the Forge of the World. The god, Gwart the Ax Bitten, became the smithy and crafter of heavenly weapons and armor. It is taught by one dwarf to another from father to son that it was, Gwart, who first showed them the secrets of iron crafting.

Because of this, the Delves have been considered holy ground to the race for the entire span of their history.

They search mainly for ores of iron and tin, and coal to stoke fires with in great foundries used to produce steel. Steel is an original dwarf invention, and was gifted to elves in the Dark Era to help them make their wars on Drall and the Undead.

Dwarves have few relentless enemies on Epica, but the one that plagues them most frequently in the Delves is the kobald race. More than a few hundred halls have been undermined and collapsed over the eons by tunneling mobs of kobald workers.

The two races hate one another with rare passion. Dwarves live hundreds of years and often live happily with no threats to their extended generations, whereas the kobalds rarely live a couple decades. Their lives are brief, violent, and full of toils in very dangerous surroundings. They couldn't be more different, but yet they both strive eternally to become the sole masters of the world below ground.

Dwarves have clerics and wizard's arts. But most Dwarfish spells have to do with the smelting and forging of mighty weapons.Some devote to combat magics to give their brethren an upper-hand when the more deadly enemies emerge, but wizardry such as that is most uncommon.

It is far more glorious to a dwarf to become a warrior and be renowned for his mighty swing in battle and his bravery.

Gnomes:

Gnomes are native to the hills of Elmon in the far western Norwilt's. Herders of elk and caribou, and deer. More recently, they came to dwell in the Malverdin's, where they bred with barbarian humans and gave rise the Halfiling race. They are highly magical, and meant for life under the stars as free roaming tribes.

But like so many on Epica, the life they should be allowed has been encroached upon and prevented to a point that many seek a living in stability with a new way.

They came to the Delves only recently in the greater history of their race. Settling in the huge cavern known as The Great Rise under modern-day Korjin. They populate a trio of islands on a great subterranean sea. This cavern is lit from above by a great magical orb of light that has existed for nearly 14,800 years. The advent of its creation has fostered a whole environment of new and wondrous growth under the surface.

Most live on the central larger isle of Shun, in the Palace of Ruby Panes. This great pyramid structure is cast in gold and is the new house of all gnome nobility. Their queen having taken up residence some 3,527 years ago.

Many a legend is told of the Great Rise, and the Delver War's, that saw the gnome, dwarves, and many human heroes fight and vanquish a mighty kobald horde far below the upper world.

Dwarves now populate the Rim and Western Passage as a result of that conflict, and maintain a fortress as a guard against resurgent attacks in the future.

Darkeen:

See Appendix section on races of humanity.