When Ambitrax was forced underground with the rest of his followers, the underground was nothing more than a battleground between the Kobolds, Illithids, Morlocks, Trogledytes and a few others. After his arrival, he managed to bring under his thumb all but the Illithids and the Trogledytes. Ambitrax continued his experimentations as he had during his reign on the surface. He created the Derro and the Svirfneblins. Unknown to the rest of Caedes, he did take care to leave the last remnant of the Ur-Trullen alone. With the death of Ambitrax, certain changes began to occur. No more was there one centralized leader, now each large cavern is ruled by an Overlord. The Underworld is divided to dominions and cairns. There are a total of 4 domains encompassing the entire underworld of Caedes and beyond. In the Domain of Despair, (the major domain in the underworld) there are seven cairns. Their names are Ulines, Aruthra, Procrushio, Findel, Malaki, Rimsdal, Yorik. Each of these cairns is located in a major cavern. The surrounding tunnels outside of the caverns are considered wilderness. Each of the major caverns is big enough to hold a large city and a number of small to moderate size villages. As for the populations of the underworld, they are all respectful of each others home cairns and there tends to moderately peaceful trading between cairns. The only the exception is the Ilithids, who view all other races as inferior invaders only to be used as thralls or food. The Kobold populations below ground are typically used as slaves by more advanced underworld races.

Geography of the Underworld

The geography of the underworld is simple. There are several very large caverns connected by thousands and thousands of miles of tunnels. These tunnels range in size from three-foot crawlspaces to fifty-foot wide boulevards depending on their creation and function. Currently there is only one known exit to the upper world. There are a number of water sources through out the underworld, but it is rumored that they are all fed from a single large river far underground.
Map of the Underworld

Fauna of the Underworld

Iggers are large six legged lizards that are used as mounts in the underworld. They range in color from light brown to dark violet. A large crest of spikes resides in their heads, getting larger as the age. They range in size from 8ft (young) to about 15ft(Mature Adult) long, not including the tail. The mature adults can climb walls quite proficiently. The Older Iggers are generally used as pack animals. Life spans are about 200 years. They are omnivores. They can also see perfectly in total darkness. They are about as smart as horses.

Yithlacs are large sightless hairy animals. These animals are used the same way that cattle are used on the surface. They have no eyes of any sort, and they seem to travel by means of echolocation. They are generally gathered into large herds. Males and females are virtually identinical by means of color shape and size. Sexing is done by looking at the genitals. Life spans are about 20 years. They feed on the mycinoids that are everywhere below. To get a better idea of what they look like, think of big, hairy sightless yaks, with the smell of them also.

Flora of the Underworld

Helios Lichen are a type of underworld fungus. When not glowing these are dull grey looking lichen, that is relatively easy to find. The unique thing about this lichen is that they are phosphorescent, but not at all times. Through a twist of evolution they are able to sense the sun's position above ground. When the sun rises in the morning the lichen gives off a faint pinkish light, when the sun is at it's highest point the lichen is at its most brilliant, and the light decreases as the sun starts to set. Once the sun sets above the surface, the fungus is completely out when the sun is down. It is unknown why they do this. The average life span is about 1 year.

Lunar Lichen are a type of underworld fungus similar to Helios Lichen, except that their light remains constant through out the night cycle. These give off a faint violet light. Lunar Lichen is much harder to find than Helios Lichen.

Traxians are giant sized underworld mushrooms, they can get upwards of 60-80 feet tall, whole 'forests' of these things can be found, since there is no supply of wood, these are what are used for such. They are as durable as regular wood and trees, the only difference is that they don't have leaves per say but they do have evenly spaced 'caps', along the stems, generally one for each year. With the caps being larger at the base and getting smaller as you go up. Think of large conifer trees but made out of mushroom. Residents help in the growth of them by placing privies and manure around the bases of the Traxians, as you can imagine, this makes the forests quite foul smelling. There are number of different species of them.