Subterra

An small squiggle In the Jeweled Amber Multiverse

2

History and Creation

Creation

What is known is that the Squiggle is a completed work, unable to be enlarged by any means, forged by the Jewel of Judgment.

History and Mastery

No Being in Subterra, presently or in the past, has any clue what the Squiggle actually is or where it came from. But no less than 13 and no more than 50 (at this time) Subterrans bear the Imprint of The Gem and know how to use it for High Order Sorcery at the least. Only one Being inside Subterra and one outside of Subterra know what the Squiggle is and where it came from; the Subterran is the only Master Imprint Holder of 'The Gem' and the OUtsider is the Squiggle's creator... but neither of them are talking and nobody knows who they are... exactly.

Prior to the arrival of the Jeweled Road in Cleggane, nobody in Subterra; except the Master of the Realm, knew of the existence of Shadow or the Squiggle, known by those who bear its Imprint, as The Gem. In fact, the Twin Cities of Sandor and Gregor did not even exist prior the the arrival of the Jeweled Trail; both cities were built on the sight shortly after its discovery. The two cities competed with each other until them butted up against each other at the ending of the Jeweled Trail. The City of Sandor created puzzle piece paving stones in many colors to match the Jeweled Trail and have turned their side of the road into an imitation of the JT. The City of Sandor had been using square paving stones for its roads and tried to pull up the Jeweled Trail with no success, so special paving stones were cut to fit up against the JT, but the paving stones used were not colored.

Though millions, over the millennia, have crossed from one Shadow to the next within the Core Shadows upon many Shadow Paths, nobody knew they were doing it; the commerce and wars of the Core Shadows span all twelve of the Core Shadows. At about the same time that the Jeweled Trail appeared the first of a handful of denizens of Subterra's Core Shadows were led to and assayed the Squiggle by a wandering Sorcerer Priest known as The Dude; he taught each how to use its powers. At first, only twelve, each of a different 'race' and each from a different Core Shadow, bore the Imprint of The Gem, but once it was discovered that it could be assayed a second time and more powers gained, each of the twelve assayed it a second time and then had 2-3 others assay it once, to help strengthen their positions within their Shadow Realm.

Topography and Cosmology.

The Shadow of Subterra is actually thirteen Shadows considered to be the core of the Subterra Shadow System. Twelve of the thirteen ‘core shadows’ are exclusively subterrain; if there is a ‘surface’ on these worlds they have never been found. Clean breathable air is abundant and only the most remote pockets of caverns might contain ‘stale air’ or ‘dead air’. The Subterra Sway is filled with Shadows that all contain massive interconnected cavern systems, most of which have inhabitants, but also contain surface worlds.

Food

Food sources range from fungis and molds to living creatures, some domesticated for food, some ‘wild’ and sometimes other denizens of Subterra. Those Shadows with surface worlds also have a variety of edible plants and animals, pretty standard fare.

Lighting

Lighting is usually glowing fungus, glowing and sometimes light emitting crystals or crystal formations (sometimes quite enormous). There is no day/night cycle in Subterra except that which is commonly accepted in large settlements; most of Subterra is 24/7, so to speak, with people sleeping at different times depending upon their location, employer or preference.

Thirteenth

The thirteenth Shadow of the Core Shadows is truly unique amongst all the Shadows of Subterra and its Sway of nearly 1,000 Shadows in total; it is precisely in the center of Subterra and its Sway, it is an almost perfectly spherical ‘rock’ 10 miles in diameter, it has a ‘surface’ and ‘space’ (sort of) but not stars or a sun, the entire Shadow/World seems to be dimly lit ‘everywhere’ with no direct light source present… and it contains a Squiggle. The ‘rock’ is honeycombed and criss-crossed with tunnels, caverns and columns/bridges of rock, all of which seem to intersect each other at all angles.

• This Shadow has normal (Earth) gravity but it comes from the ‘rock beneath your feet’ not the center of the sphere, and it has breathable air out to 30’ from its surface that never gets stale or dead. Speaking of the ‘center of the sphere’, this is where a cavern of immense size (about 1 mile across in all directions) is located and it is filled with columns/bridges made of a white crystal that criss-cross and intersect at all angles; it is called ‘The Geode’. And in the center of it, where the crystal columns/bridges intersect the most tightly is where one can find the Squiggle; a small three dimensional inscription of power, that can be negotiated from either end, that glows dimly but shifts color every 30 seconds or so, running through the entire spectrum of colors, but not in any particular order. The light given off by the Squiggle does not travel far, barely enough for it to be seen while one is walking it, thus making it very difficult to find if one does not already know where it is. The Squiggle is aptly named ‘The Gem’ due to its ‘shape’ when looked at ‘from the outside’ (or the inside); it somewhat resembles lines partially tracing the inside of a faceted gem.

Magic and Technology

Subterra is a High Magic Shadow System where High Technology does work, but is rare; Techno-Magic is extremely rare. Time flow from shadow to shadow is consistent and at a rate of 10 to 1 with Amber. Low Order Magic is available throughout the Subterra Sway in all forms but High Order Magic (Sorcery) can only be gained by “Assaying the Gem”, though very few denizens of Subterra have found or assayed The Gem… and those that have aren’t talking.

People of Note

Master of Realm

Races

Each of these Shadows is inhabited with Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes and Humanoids, but all of a subterrian variety; Drow, Duergar, Sverfneblin, Morlocks, etc. There are also other subterrain creatures and races that can be found exclusively in subterrain environments. There are 12 dominant races in the Core Shadows of Subterra and throughout most of the Subterra Sway's subterrain areas.

• Morlock - Carnivorous and Cannibalistic Humans adapted to living underground; aggressive and war like.
• Sapiens - Humans adapted to living underground; Vegetarian, Fungitarian and sometimes Omnivorous; generally peaceful.
• Drow - Dark Elves
• Grys - Scaled Elves; skins looks like fish scales and does offer some protection
• Duergar - Gray Dwarves
• Derro - Dark Dwarves
• Svirfneblin - Gray Gnomes
• Jebbnor - Dark Gnomes
• Bugbears - Already well adapted to darkness, just more so here
• Myconids - Highly intelligent Fungus Men
• Durahk - Dark Urakai
• Darkonian - Deep Dragon/Draconian; psychotropic gas breath weapon

Entrance

A tiny thread trail of the Jeweled Road branches off a wagon wide trail from Main Road past the Diega Granar Realms.

The Thread enters at the first Shadow outside the Subterra Core that contains a 'surface world'; the world is called Cleggane and the puzzled bricks for the 'Jeweled Trail' peter out at the entrance to the twin cities of Sandor and Gregor. Cleggane is like any other High Fantasy world in most regards, except for the lack of diverse and plentiful flora and edible fauna; Cleggane breeds rugged beings, creatures and flora, most preying upon each other to survive. Low population, low vegetation, tougher than normal shadow people (maybe Chaos Level Physical Attributes).

There are many Entrances into the Core Shadows of Subterra, but all are underground; Cleggane has several, as do the other surface worlds whose Veils border on Subterra.

Subterra has many Shadow Paths interconnecting all of its Core Shadows to one another; excluding the Thirteenth Shadow.

The Thirteenth Shadow has twelve Shadow Paths connecting it to each of the twelve other Core Shadows, one per Core Shadow; each is guarded and a guarded secret. The guards are set by the Being that Assayed The Gem from each respective Shadow.

Notables of Subterra

The Dude is the most powerful Sorcerer in Subterra.

Powers

High Order

Imprint of "The Gem"

• 10 pip Basic Imprint.
  • Frame can hold 4 Minor Spells and 2 Major Spells.
  • Sigil can be used as a Defensive Dome/Bubble against Low and High Order Magic (limited)
• 20 pip Advanced Imprint.
  • Frame can hold 6 Minor Spells and 3 Major Spells.
  • Sigil can be used as a Defensive Dome/Bubble against Low and High Order Magic (limited)
  • Can detect Shadow Paths within the Subterra System only.
• 30 pip Master's Imprint.
  • Frame can hold 10 Minor Spells and 5 Major Spells.
  • Sigil can be used as a Defensive Dome/Bubble against Low and High Order Magic (limited)
  • Can detect Shadow Paths within the Subterra System only.
  • Can Shadow Walk within the Subterra System only.

Magic

All forms of Low Order Magic function and exist throughout Subterra and its Sway, but not all are known and/or practiced in each and every Shadow. For example; the Shadows that have Shadow paths connected to the Core Shadows that practice Magery (Warlock) will also practice Magery, but Wizardy (D&D) and other Low Order Magics still function, they are just not taught, but might be 'heard of'.

Gm Notes

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