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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hexmage-EN" data-source="post: 8073517" data-attributes="member: 79428">I've decided to prepare a short Underdark campaign in the world of Exandria. Seeing as Exandria's Underdark is almost completely undescribed as of now and the Exandrian pantheon and origin story are very similar to those of the 4E default setting I'm going to be drawing heavily on the 4E Underdark book for inspiration.[ATTACH=full]125063[/ATTACH]In 4E's Underdark, the god Torog is the ultimate being in charge and is physically present within it (due to a curse set upon him by the primordial Gargash). The Underdark itself is a chaotic place, especially as you go deeper. There are portals to the Elemental Chaos and even the Far Realm. Torog, while an evil god of suffering, imprisonment, and slavery, also keeps the inhabitants of the Underdark in check and makes sure potential threats to his rule do not emerge from these portals.[ATTACH=full]125064[/ATTACH]In Exandrian lore Torog is stated to have once dwelled in the Underdark, as he was stated to have in 4E. However, at some point during the war between gods known as the Calamity the deities Moradin, Pelor, Raei, and Sehanine used a trap called the King's Cage to banish Torog to the Far Realm.[ATTACH=full]125065[/ATTACH]If previously Torog was barring extraplanar invaders (especially ones from the Far Realm) from establishing footholds in the Underdark and is now himself imprisoned in the Far Realm, what state does that leave the Exandrian Underdark in approximately 800 years later?One section of the Tal'Dorei sourcebook states that Lolthite drow civilization is crumbling in the face of threats from aberrations, while the Wildemount sourcebook has the drow of the Kryn Dynasty relocated to the surface under the worship of the Luxon. Lolth clearly isn't fulfilling the role Torog once played.So what's going on in the Exandrian Underdark? Is Torog capable of doing anything while in the Far Realm to keep his former domain from being invaded? Does he care, or is he actively encouraging an invasion as a form of revenge? Are the various aberrations swelling in numbers? Is any organization (religious or secular) doing anything to fill the void left by Torog's absence?My initial idea is that the mindflayers themselves may be trying to keep Far Realm portals closed to prevent anything else from interfering with their plans. I may bring back the disruptive cult of Thoon (a mysterious Far Realm entity) from previous editions as a reason for the development of the mindflayer empire to be delayed.[ATTACH=full]125062[/ATTACH]There might even be heretical mindflayer clerics of Torog desperate to try and restore the relative stability the god had provided with his influence. Despite these obstacles, a large and developed mind flayer empire still seems like a very likely danger to rise from the depths.Considering the sheer number of brains a mind flayer society would need to consume just to survive, I'm also considering throwing these things into the mix:[ATTACH=full]125061[/ATTACH]Deepspawn haven't been seen since 3.5, but they could provide a means for a mind flayer colony to feed itself without constantly acquiring captives. A deepspawn is capable of producing clones of any natural creature they've consumed (at the age the creature was when it was consumed) provided they are kept fed. Though deepspawn themselves are highly intelligent, powerful entities who use these mind-controlled clones as their own personal armies, I could see particularly advanced mind flayer cities capturing and enslaving these things to produce large numbers of adult humanoid clones to feed the populace (although given that these clones are born without memories I'd assume their brains wouldn't be particularly enjoyable to consume). I don't know if the deepspawn have ever been officially tied to the Far Realm, but it seems like a safe assumption.With Torog gone maybe the mind flayers have found ways to summon deepspawn from the Far Realm just for the sake of establishing particularly nightmarish factory farms. Conveniently for gaming purposes, they also represent a monstrous target to take out to cripple a mind flayer city.Going back to 4E lore for inspiration, there's another candidate who could pose a major threat: Gargash, the primordial who bound Torog to the Underdark in the first place.[ATTACH=full]125067[/ATTACH]4E's Underdark sourcebook states that Gargash is still alive, his body thoroughly mangled into a quivering mass known as the Restless Heaps. Torog's devoted constantly strike at the primordial's unrecognizable form to stall its regeneration. Despite this, Gargash continues to try and restore himself.It could be that Torog's faithful, even 800 years after the Crawling King's banishment, are still hard at work making sure the Restless Heaps remain a helpless mass of gore. It could also be that someone or something else recognized the threat and has worked to prevent Gargash's recovery. Otherwise there's been plenty of time for the primordial to regenerate and establish himself as the lord of Exandria's Underdark, one not bound to it like Torog was and free to emerge upon the surface of the world.</blockquote>

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