[centre][img]https://cdna.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/014/737/458/large/tyler-smith-comsketch02.jpg?1545236850[/img][/centre] It began with the tribe of Ozymandia. Ozymandia and her kin had been unfortunate enough to count among the few elves to be spawned outside the fortress-city of Earthwall. To demonstrate the reasons why their caring mother Celestine had forged the city in the first place, the Ozymandians - even in their mighty elven forms - had struggled against the wrath of nature. The taiga offered little of sustenance beyond hunting, forcing migrations that teared at the stamina of the tribe as a whole. Boar hide and stag skin made for decent clothing in the summer, but once the winter came, the taiga became its own kind of hell. With game suffering as much as they did, the elves were forced to chew on lichen and bark for sustenance. Further casualties resulted, for even a resistance to winter cold couldn’t sate their crippling hunger. It wasn’t until Ozymandia’s eldest daughter, Ozara, discovered the entrance to what would be their salvation, that the Ozymandians could truly know peace and security. Ozara, while scouting for game with a party of her siblings and cousins, had stumbled upon a cave in the snow. Fearing it might be inhabited by beasts, they had advanced with care. However, as minutes gathered in the tens, the party quickly realised that this was no mere cave, but a tunnel - and it sure was a lot warmer than the outside. A messenger had been sent back to tell the others; swiftly they had followed him back, for the camp was already packed at that point. The Ozymandians arrived in the cave to settle, but only a generation passed before they outgrew their own ability to scavenge the overworld for food in a sustainable manner. Ozara and Ozymandia then fell out over the next course of action. Ozymandia wanted to remain at the cave mouth - perhaps try their luck again in the overworld. Ozara, on the other hand, wanted to delve deeper - further. In the end, the mother and daughter would separate, most following their chieftess while the bravest - or most foolish - followed the heiress. In the years to follow, Ozymandia and her tribe would never hear from Ozara and her followers again. They sent scouts into the caves on occasion, but they always returned empty-handed - if they returned. However, the bond between mother and child is strong, and the chieftess could feel her daughter’s pulse through the fabric of space. She was alive… Somehow. [hr] Deep in the black belly of the world - beyond the edges of light and air - one would think nothing could live. At least, nothing not accustomed to the life down below. Here, where surfacers came to die, another people thrived. Kept secret from the heavens, these creatures knew only the shadows of the earth and the light of its veins. Their diets of alkalichen, cavern cantarelles and irongrubs turned their skins red as clay, brightened to a flaming crimson by the underground magma offering what light it could. Their skin filtered out the vast amounts of chalk in their water sources, which formed a porous, yet helpful natural armour layer atop their skin. Considerably shorter than they used to be, their forms had to change to fit the narrow channels through the stone, as their bones changed to resist the many dangers of the Underground. These creatures grew numerous and pioneered new caves in the Hob, the great networks and pockets of limestone caverns. Led by their new chieftess Ozara, these new hobgoblins spread far and wide within their new home, taking in the glorious creations of the Earthwarden… And of their patron. With time, each cave developed into their own tribes and engaged in trade with one another, helped by the Worming Bazaar led by the Procurement-Princes of the Umbralground and their host of mercenaries. These were the Centaurions of the Crater, humans, kinnaras and centaurs fighting for a living, and the hunters of the Rimeteeth tribe, legendary trackers of the Tundra - all of them demonstrating the vast diversity of peoples in the Underground. Connecting to the greater network of the Land Under Land, the hobgoblin tribes prospered under Ozara. But then, as surprising to the hobgoblins as as super volcano to the Steppe dwellers, Ozara died - not of hunger, not of wounds, but of age. The hobgoblins realised then that the agelessness of Elvenkind had left them and they prayed for their patron to come save them. And so he had come - on time - the Bureaucrat, to oversee his latest pilot project. The reasoning had been, since the Ferryman and his Souls Inc. were already immensely overworked, the Bureaucrat would solve the problem at its roots: Too many people were dying. Changing otherwise doomed creatures into something else had been quite successful, as the hobgoblins had shown. However, death followed all life all the same, and the Bureaucrat knew that anything done to help the living was always a temporary solution. The hobgoblins pleaded with him: What should they do, they asked - their leader had left the world and would never return! While the Bureaucrat was very aware of the ghost of Ozara before him weeping for all her kin that she had left behind, he nonetheless offered them consolation. New leaders would rise, surely - right now, it was more important to ensure that the corpse of their chieftess would be properly cared for and that her ghost would be properly tended to until the Ferryman would arrive. At this, the hobgoblins frowned in confusion, but then the Bureaucrat shook the hand of Ozara's daughter. An eerie blue flash blinded everyone present, and when their vision returned, nothing had changed. Well, nothing drastic, but Ozara's daughter Ozymala was crying - crying and reaching out into the air before her. Her hand gripped something, but nothing could be seen - yet it was far too firm a grip to be grasping simple air. As the hours of resting neared, Ozymala would hold a ceremony for her mother, lighting Monoxen coal aflame and burning her corpse down to the alkaline ash and glowing iron at the core of their beings. The ashes were then spread over the three rivers of her home village. As the others rested, Ozymala remained awake for the whole night, singing in a mystical language that rumours said only ghosts could understand. When she sang, the deep seemed to quiver; the waters seemed to ripple; and, most frighteningly, a most unfamiliar phenomenon to the underdwellers could be felt - gusts of wind flew by as they would on the surface. Thus was created the first Death-Singer, a most trusted colleague of the Bureaucrat. And surely, new leaders did rise, and like on the surface, disagreements brought them to separation. The hobgoblins thus spread out throughout the Hob and beyond, exploring the Underground as new citizens of Lektor’s realm. [hider=Summaree] Some Elves got fucked by fate and put in the taiga. Temperature is one thing, but there’s jackshit to eat, so they die like flies. They eventually find shelter in some caves, but soon have to move on account of the areas around the cave running out of food. The majority decide to move on while the minority decide to delve [i]deeper[/i]. Those who delve [i]deeper[/i] become hobgoblins with a lil’ help from the Bureaucrat. The hobgoblins then experience their first death by age, which alerts them to the fact that they are no longer virtually immortal. The Bureaucrat cares as much as he’s expected to to be polite and makes the Necromanagers, a holy order of babysitters for the dead. Then the hobgoblins spread around the Hob and beyond in the underground. [/hider] [hider=Might] The Ferryman/The Bureaucrat 5MP/5AP 4MP - Create the Hob, a large, limestone cave biome in the northeastern caverns. Despite the fact that the only thing saving this realm from pitch-black darkness is weakly glowing magma veins, this biome thrives with thousands of species feasting on the rich mineral soil or on whatever grows from said feast. There are lakes and rivers aplenty full of calcium-rich waters to the point where the water is constantly white or gray, and lichen fields and mushroom plains give the whole Hob a mossy texture. As the caves are made of limestone, they are also quite porous and moldeable. Some charismatic species here include: [list] [*]Alkalichen which grows like a spongy grass on the cavern floor, walls and ceiling; [*]Cavern cantarelles, which grow tall as reeds on the cavern rock; Irongrubs, which are juicy, metallic little caterpillars the size of rats that feed on rust and exposed iron veins; [*]Monoxen, coal-black sponges that eat the carbon in carbon monoxide and release oxygen. Form porous coal structures when they die; [*]Underpeas, a colourless legume that grows on limestone and next to chalky water. They absorb nitrogen from the air and become nearly the only source of it for other creatures. This makes them a keystone species in the Hob as many creatures depend on nitrogen-rich feces from creatures eating underpeas to survive; [*]Lobstermites, a large lobster suited for subterranean life that eats most of what it finds down here. Very territorial and extremely dangerous if threatened; [*]Maxolotls, monstrous aquatic beasts that rule the chalky lakes and rivers in the Hob. In truth, they are mutated dragons of the surface, morphed from lost dragons found in the Underground caves. Like their surface siblings, the Maxolotls are apex predators and rule their territory with tooth and claw. [/list] 1MP - Mutate Elves into Hobgoblins: The Elves of Ozara that journeyed into the Underground have become Hobgoblins. In exchange for their 350-year lifespan and resistance to temperatures, the Hobgoblins have perfect darkvision (though have very poor sight in daylight); they sweat limestone which gives their skin a porous but helpful natural armour; they are not as tall as their Elven kin, but their iron-rich diets give them powerful bones and thick blood to the point where their skeleton is immensely hard and rust when exposed to air. 2AP - Create the Cadaverpillars: Known more commonly as Market Maggots on account of the Umbralground Umbra using them as moveable bazaars. However, in truth, the Cadaverpillars double as effective transport for both the living and the dead. Born with a natural affinity for sensing and, more importantly, interacting with the dead, these 35 metre long, 6 metre wide worms are technically tasked with carrying the souls of the dead to afterlives all around. In truth, what ends up happening is that the living learn to tame them, pack them with harnesses for their stores and wares, and then the dead just hitch a hike. Cadaverpillars feed on cave moss, mushrooms and alkalichen. 3AP - Create The Necromanagers: A holy order under the Ferryman created by the Bureaucrat. Seeing as the Ferryman cannot be everywhere at once, the souls of the dead might find themselves waiting a bit for their ride to the afterlife. This is where the Necromanagers come in. Death-singers, witch doctors, undertakers, grave-dancers, mediums - they go by many names. Common for all Necromanagers is their shared purpose of looking after and caring for the dead until their souls are picked up and safely escorted to the afterlife. As such, they have natural affinity for seeing and speaking to the dead, and can interact with them as though they were alive. The Ferryman/Bureaucrat 0MP/0AP [/hider]