Sunless Depths

The Sunless Depths is a network of subterranean tunnels and caverns that run underneath the New World. Unexplored until recently, it is home to many strange and unusual creatures uniquely adapted to the underground environment. It is a place of natural wonder, but also vast and unknown and full of unseen dangers.

Geography
As a three-dimensional realm of unmapped length and depth, it wouldn't be accurate to compare the geography of the Sunless Depths with that of the surface world. Nonetheless, there exist useful terms when discussing the nature of the subterranean realm. The Shallows include the areas closest to the surface, and below that you find the Deep, and even further down lie the Trenches. Each region has certain characteristics, but there is no clear border between these layers and the margins may have traits of both. True to its name, great sections of the Sunless Depths are unlit, but it isn't an entirely lightless world. Veins of glowstone, pockets of magma, and bioluminescent fungi provide what little illumination can be found. Though many tunnels and caverns are barren and unremarkable, water flows through the Depths in underground streams, and wherever there's moisture, there is also moss and lichen, which form the basis of the food chain in the Depths. Most of these streams are mere trickles that disappear into a crack too small for a rat to fit through, others flow steadily albeit shallowly, and sometimes one might find a raging river that drains into a massive reservoir or underground lake.

The Shallows
Although it is the closest layer to the surface, common caves and tunnels do not connect to the Shallows. Even the Everstream, considered the veins of the continent, only occasionally intersects with the Shallows, which allows lava-dwelling monsters such as Lavasioth and Gravios to emerge in the Depths, but they rarely stray too far from these nodes. It is not quite as inhospitable to surface life as the Deep, nonetheless one should come prepared for its dangers. The abandoned mining complex that leads to the surface is avoided by many of the larger monsters due to its tight confines, and it is where the Delver has operated for the last two decades.

The Deep
The area collectively called the Deep is far more extensive than the Shallows and boasts stranger environments and greater biodiversity. One might find places as fantastical as a crystal cavern, a fungal forest, or a sunless sea, each with their own uniquely-adapted species. Because the boundaries between the Shallows and the Deep are hazy at best, monsters from the Deep may venture up to the Shallows in search of prey or when forced out of their territory.

The Trenches
As you descend further into the Deep, you will find a growing number of crevasses and sheer drops until eventually one cannot progress without scaling the cliff side into the abyss. Even the Delver cannot claim to know what lies at the bottom, if there's one at all. Even monsters seem to give the Trenches a wide berth, and the few creatures that can be found there are pale and alien. Even light brought from the outside doesn't seem to penetrate the darkness as it should.

Food Chain

 * Low
 * Unnamed Herbivore
 * Unnamed Pack Wyvern
 * Mosswine


 * Middle
 * Lavasioth


 * Top
 * Aziquatil
 * Dweller in the Lake
 * Gigginox
 * Gravios
 * Nemesidae


 * Special
 * Elder Dragon of the Depths

Endemic Life

 * Cave Hopper
 * Hermit Hopper
 * Blindfish
 * Brutal Jawfish
 * Pale Squid
 * Scalebat

Lore
The Shallows were breached in ancient times by a people who have since disappeared from the continent, so long ago now that the First Wyvernians only dimly remember them. They did not expect to find a whole new world beneath their feet, but the incredible wealth of the Depths convinced them to dig deeper and deeper until they disturbed something terrible in the lower depths. The monster arose in a fury, forcing the ancients to forsake their claim and abandon the mine. Many of their tools and half-finished projects still remain to this day, exactly where they were left. Twenty years ago, a research expedition made up of hunters from the Third Fleet ventured deep into the Ancient Forest and found the mine entrance. Excited by the prospect of studying ancient, they went inside and were attacked by a starving monster that had come up from the Depths. In the chaos that followed, the ceiling collapsed, trapping a pair of hunters on the other side. The hunters descended into the mine looking for another way out, coming out in the Sunless Depths. Though they were amazed by the discovery of a secret world, they found no other way back to the surface and with no way of informing their companions that they had survived, a quick rescue seemed unlikely. Still hopeful that they would be rescued eventually, they began recording their experiences and notes about the Depths. However, years underground would take a toll on their health and sanity, and eventually the Delver lost his partner in an ill-fated foray into the Trenches. He had given up any hope of rescue until a Hunter from the Fifth Fleet was sent to the mine, the way having been cleared by a Nemesidae that had found its way to the surface.

The Delver
A hunter from the Third Fleet who has spent the last twenty years trapped in the Sunless Depths. Forced to survive on nearly-toxic mushrooms, stagnant pool water, and the meat of cave critters he's caught, he's no longer the same capable hunter he once was, and years of isolation have addled his mind. Eccentric and cautious, sometimes to the point of paranoia, he initially dismisses the Hunter as a hallucination, but is overcome with joy when he realizes rescue has finally come. However, his time trapped in the underworld has left an inexorable mark on him, and he now struggles to adapt in a world that has moved on without him, and before long, he is drawn back to the Depths, where he feels he can best serve the Research Commission.

Much of the Commission's knowledge of the Sunless Depths comes from the Delver, but there are limits to his knowledge, having only explored a tiny section of the Depths. Without proper provisions, most of his time was spent trying to find a way to simply survive in the inhospitable environment.