Difference between revisions of "Duat"

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(Known Entrances)
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('''*Note:''' Most of these entries involve areas where entrances are known to exist, each area might contain several distinct 'entrances').
 
('''*Note:''' Most of these entries involve areas where entrances are known to exist, each area might contain several distinct 'entrances').
  
There is an entrance in [[Arindell]] under [[StormWind Keep]]. This is one of a very few mapped and traversed routes. A well-established path leads from the Arindell entrance to a secret exit near [[Border Watch]].
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There is an entrance in [[Arindell]]. This is one of a very few mapped and traversed routes. A well-established path leads from the Arindell entrance to a secret exit near [[Border Watch]] and eventually the [[Sword Coast]].
  
 
There is an entrance in Sun's Beacon. During the [[Mage Wars]] it was often used to banish criminals and undesirables from the city. In the [[Ages#The Fifth Age|Fifth Age]] it was used by [[Jake Omaze]] to begin his journey.
 
There is an entrance in Sun's Beacon. During the [[Mage Wars]] it was often used to banish criminals and undesirables from the city. In the [[Ages#The Fifth Age|Fifth Age]] it was used by [[Jake Omaze]] to begin his journey.

Revision as of 18:02, 24 October 2016

The Duat is the name given to the massive network of caverns running under the Greater Continent upon which Arindell sits. Because the dimension is flat, heat and pressure do not necessarily increase as they would beneath the surface of a round world.

The Duat consists mainly of many underground tunnels, rivers, caverns, lakes, and even oceans. There is rich plant and animal life, including apex-predators such as the Basilisk and the Galgan.

History

No one knows exactly how far or how deep the Duat extends, or if it is even one massive cave system at all. Stories dating as far back as the Age of Darkness tell of adventurers becoming lost for years in its dark passages, emerging hundreds of miles from where they entered. One famous and more recent account has a man traveling over 11,000 miles.

Age of Darkness

There are no confirmed accounts of the Duat during the Age of Darkness; only wild and unconfirmed stories of horrid monsters and massive deep caverns. The only consistent fact of the old legends holds that the Duat is a massive interconnected system, though no formal explorations were ever made. Only the stories of adventurers traveling hundreds of miles underground lend any credence to the tales.

The oldest story comes from the oral tradition of peoples who lived in the Lowland Plains region. The story was first formally recorded during the First Chaotic Period, and tells of a young boy who disappeared into a local cave. Many details were added over the centuries, but the basic tale is as follows: While exploring, the youth became lost. The entire town (or at least a large portion of it) spent weeks searching but never found any trace of him. His family believed he had fallen to his death, or become lost and died of thirst. Ten years passed, and he re-emerged as a grown man. The boy had lost all ability to speak, and looked pale and terrified. Gradually, he relearned to communicate, and told a tale of surviving, alone, eating plants and fish deep in the caves, and searching for a way home. He said that some parts of the cave were dry, empty, and lifeless, while others were full of fresh water, glowing plants, and fish and insects. Entire ecosystems, deep underground.

The story is generally set "a thousand years before High Tower", but historians set the date around 4200 B.G.A. The same tale repeats itself at various points throughout history. The generally confirmed account of Jake Omaze lends signficant credence to the account as Jake's story would seem to indicate that even a young boy can survive in the Duat.

Mage Wars

The earliest confirmed accounts of the Duat come from necromanic scribes writing very early in the Mage Wars. The Necromancers were among the first deep miners of the continent, and often spoke of artificial caverns in their writings. They were also the first to use the Duat, as the underground environment was ideal for housing undead.

The Necromancers built colonies and eventually entire cities miles underground, where they found and mined rich deposits of iron, silver, gold, and other metals. By the end of the Golden Age of Necromancy, these underground operations had been abandoned, and by the Dynastic Period their locations forgotten. The Necromancers often left behind undead and ritual sites at these locations, where the dry air could preserve the undead almost indefinitely.

Alliance

During the early Golden Age, the Slayer Dragons sponsored many expeditions into the parts of the Duat surrounding Arindell. Reportedly, these early explorers claimed to have found both natural and artificial caverns.

By Uther's own order, many caves were modified for defense of the city. Supply caches, workshops, and barracks were all established underground. New tunnels were cut, natural ones expanded, as was required.

As the city grew, drainage, sewage, and underground transit systems were established beneath the surface. All of these system were connected to the old tunnels, making them an extension of the Duat.

Throughout the Ages of the Alliance, the tunnel system continued to be explored and expanded, though not much beyond the foothills of Stormreaver Range. One very secretive route was mapped from Arindell to the Sword Coast.

Major Expeditions

During the six Ages of the Alliance, six hundred and nineteen major, documented, well-publicized expeditions were made from various points around the Greater Continent (this figure excludes the explorations taking place out of Arindell, which were focused primarily on defense of the city).

Of those 619, 571 were never seen or heard from again. These expeditions ranged in size from a small handful of men to massive siege-style parties consisting of several hundred explorers.

Minor Expeditions

Jake Omaze gained considerable notoriety in the Fifth Age. As a young boy of fifteen, he left on what he planned to make a three-day expedition into the Duat. He became lost, and was trapped for thirty-one years, emerging over eleven thousand miles away.


Known Entrances

(*Note: Most of these entries involve areas where entrances are known to exist, each area might contain several distinct 'entrances').

There is an entrance in Arindell. This is one of a very few mapped and traversed routes. A well-established path leads from the Arindell entrance to a secret exit near Border Watch and eventually the Sword Coast.

There is an entrance in Sun's Beacon. During the Mage Wars it was often used to banish criminals and undesirables from the city. In the Fifth Age it was used by Jake Omaze to begin his journey.

There is an entrance in Sindall in the Forbidden City.

Rowen has it's own network of artifical inter-connected underground structures structures that connect with the Duat.