The Realm Below

No one knows the extent or depth of the ancient dwarven empire deep beneath the Ironroot Mountains. Great wealth and arcane secrets remain hidden in these halls, along with endless hordes of aberrations. As a Mror adventurer, you could help your family reclaim lands from the Realm Below, or you could lead your allies into the deep in search of wealth and glory.

Source: Rising from the Last War

Each clan holds dominion over a spire, with the ruling clans laying claim to all remaining land within a hold. Critically, a clan holds domain both over its territory and all that lies below it. Early in the tenth century, miners in multiple holds broke through to the Realm Below. Wide tunnels shaped by elemental magic led to grand halls and subterranean cities crafted with techniques far beyond those of the modern Mror earthmovers. Avenues were lit by continual flame, and environmental enchantments ensured purity of air and comfortable climate. One might think the dwarves would have been more curious about the fate of the builders, but the ancient halls were entirely empty, with no signs of blood or bone. To those who discovered them, these empty halls were not foreboding, but a gift from the Sovereigns—a wondrous realm waiting for residents.

Clan leaders proceeded with caution, but were lured in as greater wonders were discovered. Ancient forges held the promise of forgotten techniques that could yet be reclaimed. Explorers returned with ornaments of gold and silver, found simply lying around the avenues for the taking. And there were mines—mines far safer and grander than those above, yet still containing riches. In time, explorers would realize that some of the richest mines were not entirely natural—that some shafts connect to demiplanes where the rules of reality don’t always apply, like mines where emeralds grow like moss. This, too, could have been a warning, but the clan rulers were dazzled by wonder and opportunity. Expeditions moved into these upper levels, establishing colonies in the Realm Below. Miners began working the ancient veins, and smiths brought some of the forgotten foundries back online.

The War Below

For a time, it seemed like a golden age. No one knows exactly what brought it to an end. It may be the fault of adventurers and explorers who pressed too deep, ever searching for greater treasures. Or it could be that Dyrrn and its minions were watching the Mror expansion all along, waiting for the civilian population in the subterranean colonies to reach a critical level. At first, scouts brought back reports of newly exposed tunnels and chambers, of passages coated with unnatural fluids and strange things growing among mushroom gardens. Then the scouts stopped returning and the first wave of attacks began. Squads of dolgrims. Chokers lurking in the shadows. Soldorakhold faced howling mobs of derro—possibly the twisted survivors of Noldrunhold, the Lost Clan (described later in this chapter). Strange plagues and implacable oozes spread through the sunken colonies of Londurak. It was a time of terror, but also determination: whatever this unknown threat was, it must be held in the depths at any cost.

Armies were rallied, clans sending their finest soldiers into the depths, while every citizen trained with axe and hammer in preparation for dolgrim raids or a more dramatic surface assault. While some clans considered withdrawal, pride and a hunger for the wealth and wonders still hidden kept the dwarves fighting. They believed if they didn’t hold them below, the aberrations would merely follow them to the surface. The years that followed were a time of endless terror and uncertainty. As the horrors were driven back in one hold, they would strike with redoubled force in another. New threats appeared with alarming regularity; dolgrims and derro were common foes, but there was no telling when a previously unknown danger would rise.

Two major discoveries shaped the second decade of the war. The first was the revelation of the enemy the Mror faced: the daelkyr known as Dyrrn the Corruptor. In 943 YK, the illithid Dyrrashar seized the colony below Loran’s Gate in Soldorakhold, and broadcast a psychic message known as Dyrrn’s Promise. This telepathic message didn’t take the form of words, and attempts to transcribe it have produced widely varied translations. But the thrust was this: “You have drawn the gaze of the Overmind. You walk the Foul Labyrinth. Everything will change.” Clan Soldorak eventually retook Loran’s Gate and forced Dyrrashar to retreat, but the illithid general has risen elsewhere and remains at large today. None who experienced Dyrrn’s Promise can ever forget it.

Even as Dyrrn’s Promise spread fear, a second discovery brought hope. Following grave losses, Clan Londurak withdrew its forces to the surface. The Londurak prepared their defenses for a surface attack . . . but it never came. This pattern was repeated in other spires and holds; though the reasons are unclear, Dyrrn’s forces won’t pursue their enemies beyond Sol Udar.

Stalemate in the Depths

Nobody’s sure why the aberrations avoid attacking the surface in force. Sages theorize it’s tied to the wards that bind Dyrrn within its demiplane, and the aberrations only venture so far from the realm of their master. Or perhaps it’s just a tactical choice. Regardless of the reason, the war has been in a stalemate over the last few years. But many sages believe that complacency is foolish, and until they know with absolute certainty what keeps Dyrrn’s forces from rising to the surface, they can’t know their protection will last. And even if the dolgrim hordes won’t leave the tunnels and there’s no threat of a large-scale assault, the Slithering Lord could be unfolding more subtle schemes.

Londurakhold and Tordannonhold have both pulled back from the war, fortifying all passages to the Realm Below and forbidding any traffic with the depths; they ignore the Realm Below, believing that if they don’t poke the stirge’s nest, the aberrations won’t threaten them. Most of the other major clans maintain lines in the depths, defending claimed mines and colonies with steel and blood. These territories are secured by heavy fortifications, strong enough to repel attack, though serving on the line is a dangerous job. But the dwarves aren’t trying to press beyond their current lines, for if they venture across it, their fate is unknown.

The future of the war remains unclear. Many of the clan lords yearn to press deeper. But there have been all too many casualties over the past few decades, and there is still considerable fear that the current lull is a trick—that Dyrrn is building forces for a renewed assault. And no one knows if there is a way to win the war once and for all, or if it’s just a matter of advancing the line another hundred feet. Ultimately, it’s up to the DM to decide whether the war remains as a lurking threat, or if it heats up and dominates the story.

Ripples on the Surface

While the aberrations have yet to come to the surface in force, the war is ongoing, and it can be felt on the surface. Individual aberrations occasionally come to the surface; a lone choker might carry out a spree of killings, or an illithid could rise to work with a dwarf cult. Psychic attacks, unnatural diseases, and other threats can emanate from the depths.

In the past three decades, the touch of Dyrrn has become seen even in the children born to the Mror dwarves. Very rarely, an infant born to ordinary parents is different. Known as ruinbound dwarves, these unusual infants are born with a personal symbiont bound to them, along with other unnerving mutations—and unexpected powers. Chapter 6 contains more information about ruinbound dwarves (and their reception amongst the Mror), along with a playable subrace.

The Influence of Dyrrn table gives examples of threats that could arise either in a subterranean colony or on the surface itself. These things aren’t common, and clan soldiers are ever wary to repel threats, but these ideas could drive a story set in a Mror community.

The Influence of Dyrrn

It’s important to recognize the scope of the conflict in the depths. No one knows the full size of the Realm Below, though it appears to stretch across the Ironroot Mountains, and connects to multiple demiplanes in Khyber. There’s a good chance it exists below every major Mror city, but not every spire has broken through and made a connection to Sol Udar. When creating adventures in a Mror city, decide if there is an established passage to the Realm Below; if so, is it a simple passage, or is there a subterranean fortress or colony? In a spire with no known connection, a cult could be secretly digging to try to reach their aberrant masters. Or a clan could have opened a passage beneath its keep but lacked the courage to explore it—a job for adventurers.

Venturing Below

To an outsider, the idea of pressing into the Realms Below may seem like madness, but several factors drive the ongoing Mror presence in the depths. The first is a hunger for the wonders that lie below. The ancient dwarves possessed the ability to craft legendary objects and artifacts. They understood Khyber’s systems of demiplanes in a way even the Dhakaani haven’t mastered; many clan lords dream of bottomless mines or resources that can’t be found in the natural world. Beyond the innate desire for these things, for the Mror, it’s a matter of pride. Sol Udar is the work of their ancestors. The knowledge that it holds, the untold wealth, this is their birthright. It’s a burning reminder that they could be more than they are now—they could be greater than the Five Nations or the Aereni. Additionally, many dwarves are driven by their desire to know the story—to understand who their ancestors were and what became of them.

If a player character is a Mror noble, the Realm Below can be a tempting opportunity for advancement. The clans hold all lands below their territory. If a noble with a stalwart band of allies can secure an outpost in Sol Udar and fortify against the forces of Dyrrn, they can claim it as their personal estate. This could be a remarkable keep for a party of adventurers—if they are powerful enough to maintain it! The Realm Below Story Hooks table contains some more ideas for why adventurers might delve into the Realm Below

Realm Below Story Hooks

The lines between regions secured by the Mror and those held by Dyrrn’s forces are clearly marked. As the aberrations generally don’t come to the surface, there are places where the uppermost passage has simply been sealed with magic and steel. In other places where the dwarves have established colonies, the edge of the colony is heavily fortified and patrolled by soldiers, ever alert for some new attack. In most cases, soldiers won’t prevent someone from proceeding into the depths—but anyone returning goes through careful scrutiny to ensure they haven’t been infected by unnatural influences. And if an explorer has returned with treasures, it’s considered polite to offer a gift to the guardians.

Into the Silent Halls

The Realm Below blends the civilization of Sol Udar with the alien touch of the daelkyr. The dwarves of Sol Udar were an advanced civilization employing arcane science beyond that currently possessed by the Five Nations. The halls were shaped by elemental magic—an improved form of the move earth spell—and reinforced to be stronger than any natural stone. Barring any alien influence, the air is renewed by magic and remarkably fresh; a permanent prestidigitation effect keeps these halls clean after thousands of years and untold conflicts. Ultimately, venturing into this environment can be somewhat eerie: though there may have been a brutal battle there just months ago, the halls are silent and pristine.

Widespread magic was a part of daily life in Sol Udar. Explorers might find a chamber where illusory music begins to play as soon as someone enters, or discover a theater still performing ancient entertainment. Many doors are sealed by arcane locks, and high-security areas may have self-restoring glyphs of warding or more sophisticated security. The people of Sol Udar weren’t warlike by nature. Their halls contain great forges and foundries, but many of their wonders are utilitarian. An Udar kitchen has tools that replicate the heating, chilling, and flavoring effects of prestidigitation, and might have a builtin alchemy jug to dispense whatever liquids are needed. Of course, not all enchantments are automatically noticeable, and many effects require some form of command word or gesture to activate; modern colonists who have settled in the upper levels of Sol Udar are still struggling to understand the full capabilities of their new home.

The dwarves of Sol Udar also took advantage of the many demiplanes that lie within Khyber, identifying passages to them and building around them, just as the people of the surface build around manifest zones. A typical demiplane portal is clearly marked and heavily secured, of great potential value— and danger—as they can break the laws of the natural world. Demiplanes are entirely unpredictable in size, some no larger than a town, with others the size of Khorvaire itself. Within a demiplane, time might run differently. Gemstones could grow on trees. A demiplane can have its own sun, and provide vegetation and other resources that couldn’t be found in any natural cave. But a demiplane could also hold strange curses, unnatural diseases, or deadly creatures—or in the case of Dyrrn’s prison-realm, all three.

The Realm Below isn’t one single contiguous community. It was an entire nation, one that stretched at least the length of the Ironroot Mountains. There are major cities, small outposts, and long passages connecting them. The Realm Below likely had some form of rapid transit: Teleportation circles? Something similar to the lightning rail? A system tied to demiplanes? Whatever this was, it has yet to be discovered, and may lie on the lower levels held by Dyrrn’s minions. In creating a section of the Realm Below for an adventure, the DM should think about the purpose of this particular area. Was it an industrial center? A residential community? A hospital? A prison? If it contains a passage to a demiplane, the nature of the demiplane should relate to the function of the community; if it’s a hospital, perhaps the local demiplane has alien vegetation that has remarkable medicinal properties. But what unknown threats could dwell in the demiplane—threats the ancient dwarves knew to avoid?

Denizens of the Deep

Dyrrn’s minions have spread throughout the lower reaches of Sol Udar. Areas inhabited by aberrations are generally easy to spot. Often, organic matter covers the surfaces of the buildings. Explorers have encountered fleshlike coating, with tendrils of muscle spread out like spiderwebs; organic fluids that move along the walls, a harmless form of living ooze; floating, bioluminescent globes that could be neurons in a vast brain; and other, stranger things. There are strange smells and sounds. People often experience telepathic static, hearing thoughts of people around them or having flashes of alien imagery. Areas infested by the daelkyr may use any of the traps found in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, but in this realm, hazards are generally alive. A falling net is a web-like membrane secreted by the ceiling. Poison darts are chitinous stingers grown by the walls. These traps can still be evaded by the standard methods, though at the DM’s discretion, unusual skills could also apply; perhaps an organic poison needle trap could be disarmed with a Dexterity (Medicine) check instead of using thieves’ tools.

Dyrrn’s specialty is corruption, both mental and physical. Thus it has created creatures like the dolgrims and dolgaunts— goblinoids physically transformed into monsters, the most prolific denizens of the dark—as well as the derro, who still bear some resemblance to the dwarves they once were, but whose minds have been altered.

Dolgaunts often command units of dolgrims, but dolgaunts can also be found acting alone or maintaining strange shrines. The statistics presented in Eberron: Rising from the Last War represent the typical creature, but unique dols can have greater abilities. Dols are capable of acting with surprising discipline and precision, but their strategies are often unorthodox and enigmatic.

Derro aren’t aberrations, but are believed to be dwarves twisted by Dyrrn’s power. There may be derro whose roots go back to the ancient dwarves who built Sol Udar; however, the common assumption is that the derro are the descendants of the lost dwarves of Noldrunhold. Other derro could be more recent victims, created from Mror settlers captured in the Dol Udar. The derro are nomadic scavengers who remain in constant motion, roaming the deep tunnels of the Realm Below. They completely ignore Dyrrn’s aberrations, and seem to be ignored in turn; one scout reported seeing a derro band walk through a dolgrim camp, without acknowledgment from either side. Some scholars believe that the derro can’t perceive the aberrations, and that some believe themselves to be in a reality in which Sol Udar is still in its time of glory, and the derro are its lords. They don’t appear to serve Dyrrn directly, but they definitely see all outsiders from above as enemies. A derro warlord calling himself Lord Mror has repeatedly attacked Mror colonies; however, it’s unclear if this is a single powerful derro with followers across the realm, or if several derro savants use this title.

The daelkyr often hold the most important areas of an Udar site; as such, these dungeons contain both treasures created by the dwarves and the organic tools of the daelkyr. However, the purpose of areas claimed by Dyrrn’s forces varies widely. In some cases, there’s a clear logic to what these creatures are doing: dolgrims could have seized an ancient foundry and begun forging weapons. Explorers could find some sort of spawning pit where new aberrations are being produced. But the behavior of aberrations is often alien and inexplicable; a chamber could contain a giant, beating heart that serves no apparent purpose, or a pool of liquid that reflects another location. The inhabitants of the depths are unpredictable, and aberrations may not have the same biological needs as natural humanoids; for example, dolgrims don’t need to work subterranean farms for food.

Some aberrations are permanently settled in a region, but others may spill out of portals to Dyrrn’s domain, and others may be grown on the spot by the organic matter spread throughout infested regions, or created from the corpses of foolish explorers. A gibbering mouther may whisper with the voices of the dwarves who ventured into the depths last week. While mind flayers can be found serving any daelkyr, Dyrrn the Corruptor is their creator. Sol Udar is thus a logical place to encounter mind flayers or any creatures associated with them: intellect devourers, ulitharids, neothelids, and the like. Bear in mind that these creatures may serve a very different role in Eberron than in other settings, as they are the creations of Dyrrn; a neothelid may be an intentional creation, as opposed to an accidental abomination. Elder brains are tools used as telepathic anchors, linking local mind flayers, while the elder brains are linked to Dyrrn itself. In general, mind flayers serve as Dyrrn’s emissaries and lieutenants— directing lesser aberrations or humanoid cults, or engaged in inscrutable research. The most infamous mind flayer is Dyrrashar, the ulitharid who delivered Dyrrn’s Promise. It has appeared multiple times since then, often leading subtle attacks against Udar colonies.

Most other threats are encountered in isolation, and almost any sort of aberration could be found in the darkness; you can also use unusual variations of aberrations or monstrosities, shifting the creature to fit your story. For example, beholders primarily serve Belashyrra, the Lord of Eyes, but Dyrrn could have beholder servitors with beaks surrounded with tentacles, as opposed to toothy maws.

Source: Exploring Eberron