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50-497: Dragonmech is set in a world where the moon is quite literally falling apart, resulting in regular meteor showers across the planet's surface. Lunar magic has started finding its way onto the planet below, along with lunar creatures including lunar dragons, which only vaguely resemble their terrestrial counterparts. Built to combat these new threats are the DragonMechs, specially designed for combat with large creatures. Also created were

100-495: A large section of the continent and, in fact, runs for about half its length through the Underdark , and serves as the most important trade route on the continent. The Endless river exits the underground as a large waterfall from the side of a cliff. Highpoint's largest city, Edge, is actually built on this cliff and around this waterfall, and a thriving local economy is in large part based on the transport of people and goods up and down

150-413: A level of political and social power rarely seen. As the creators of a technology that is capable of reversing the fortunes of those living in this world, they control the largest and arguably the safest sections of open land in the world of Highpoint. They also control the most city mechs; the five city mechs of Nedderpik, Durgen-lok, Lokag, Thuron, and Goria form the core of their military might, as well as

200-513: A problem. Therefore, the Coglings have taken up mechanical aptitude to keep the gear forests in perfect shape—and many are the coglayers of a citymech who brag about how little trouble their section of the engines have given, unaware the smooth operation is due to a tribe of coglings smoothing out small problems before they escalate. Entirely mechanical life, Tik'toks are reminiscent of the Warforged of

250-473: A single, massively charismatic figure by the name of Shar Thizdic. Through his personal magnetism and shrewd political maneuverings he united the scattered nomadic humans of the plains to form a powerful nation that is solely for humans. Through the forced labor of enslaved dwarven coglayers, he created the first of two citymechs currently operative, known as Rebirth. Whether the result of shoddy construction, or deliberate sabotage (referred to by its believers as

300-532: A vast subterranean network of interconnected caverns and tunnels , stretching beneath entire continents and forming an underworld for surface settings. Polygon called it "one of D&D ' s most well-known realms". The Underdark featured prominently in the campaign settings World of Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms . The concept of a dungeon that spanned a planet was first introduced by Gary Gygax in his D-series of game modules and at

350-400: A whole society based on "Don't get caught." Coglings live in constant fear of discovery, which makes them hone their stealth and hiding skills to perfection. They have also taken up preventative maintenance on the gear forests in which they live, correctly reasoning that no one comes into the dangerous innards of the biggest engines in the world unless they absolutely must enter to locate and fix

400-442: Is Machines. Reptilian, tortoise-like humanoids whose heavy shells and armored hide protect them from all but the worst of the lunar rain. They have turned this protection into a racial profession of trading. Their society is strange, but it has been shown to place importance on dreams and visions, a peculiarity given they are otherwise fairly sophisticated. The slathem are fish-like humanoids who exist equally well both in and out of

450-406: Is an elf, with an elf's life span, he still remains mortal, and his time is rapidly running out. The L'arile Nation, last hope of the elves, rests on Tannanliel, which itself is dependent on Tannan himself. Tannan has kept the knowledge of the city mech's price to himself, a fact that is costing him dearly on a personal level. The tragic error of Tannanliel is that all of the remaining real power of

500-530: Is an enormous fungal growth in the Upper Underdark under the continent of Faerûn . It is a single organism living beneath the High Forest between one and three miles under the surface, immune to magic and resistant to psionic energy. Araumycos will sometimes attack intruders with poison, spores, and manifestations that resemble oozes and slimes. Araumycos houses many other fungal creatures. Travel within it

550-490: Is difficult since many passages and caves are blocked by it and damage regenerates quickly. The Underdark is home to many predators , races and fantasy monsters, most of which are hostile. These include: There is no unified underground government since each individual city-state has a different form of rule. The Underdark economy deals primarily in armor, exotic goods, magic, slaves, timber and weapons. The ethical code of many indigenous races tends toward evil or neutral. In

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600-557: Is even the Unborg, who, after going so far down the path of steamborg, voluntarily rejects the transformation and begins to regain their humanity. Underdark The Underdark is a fictional setting which has appeared in Dungeons & Dragons role-playing campaigns and Dungeons & Dragons -based fiction books, including the Legend of Drizzt series by R. A. Salvatore . It is described as

650-592: Is more nihilistically represented in DragonMech for, unlike in Tolkien's work, these Elves have nowhere to go. Rather than their powers fading from them, instead their homelands have been shattered and ruined by the Lunar Rain, their ancestral homelands and forests all but eradicated. All that remains are a few animated mechs serving as repositories for hastily salvaged elven libraries, and the sole Elven City Mech (not to mention

700-412: Is that strength is, when you can get what your want without any compromise, and therefore they see trading as a sign of weakness. However, they cannot get everything with raiding, so they are forced to trade with other races, but because of their perceived pride, they take part in a ritual fight with their merchant partners. This ritual fight is indeed very serious: it ends only, if somebody lost his life in

750-456: Is the ultimate mech pilot. Spending all their time training with mechs, they have incredible piloting skill and can skillfully gauge the limits of a mech so they know exactly how far they can push it. The steamborg is a hybrid of man and technology. With a steam engine surgically implanted into his body, the steamborg uses steam powers and artificial limbs to augment himself. Also, the Mark 2 Steamborg,

800-536: Is then it is NOT humanocentric; the single most successful and powerful core race of the planet is in fact the Dwarves. Dwarves: Many other campaigns characterize the dwarves as a dying breed, a race for whom many of their ancient and legendary strongholds have been overrun, with little hope of recovery. But in this campaign, while they have suffered disastrously from refugee invasions, their innovation has in fact made them able to rebound dramatically, catapulting them into

850-639: The Aztec religion . Many cultures are oriented chronologically by the Moon, as opposed to the Sun. The Hindu calendar maintains the integrity of the lunar month and the moon god Chandra has religious significance during many Hindu festivals (e.g. Karwa Chauth , Sankashti Chaturthi , and during eclipses). Ancient Germanic tribes and the peoples they were in contact with, such as the Baltic Finnic peoples , were also known to have

900-499: The Eberron setting, but made entirely from technology rather than magic. Their imperfect forms of gears and parts make them seem more human than warforged with their carefully sculpted forms. Tik'toks have emotions and build their own children, but the process is difficult and prone to failure, a consequence that can scar them for many years. They tend towards the reverence or at least acknowledgement of Dotrak, an emergent Deity whose demesne

950-656: The Germanic tribes , Tsukuyomi of the Japanese, Igaluk / Alignak of the Inuit , and the Hindu god Chandra . The original Proto-Indo-European lunar deity, *Meh₁not appears to have been male, with many possible derivatives including the Homeric figure of Menelaus . Cultures with male moon gods often feature sun goddesses . An exception is Hinduism , featuring both male and female aspects of

1000-407: The city-mechs , huge mobile cities that can support not only a large population, but its own ecology. The main continent in the setting is Highpoint, an unusually altitudinous continent broken into several levels of elevation, with the lowest area of it being a desert that is knee-deep in seawater for half of Highpoint's 250-odd day calendar. A major feature is the "Endless" River, which runs through

1050-496: The 29.5-day lunar cycle to women's menstrual cycles , as evident in the shared linguistic roots of "menstruation" and "moon" words in multiple language families . This identification was not universal, as demonstrated by the fact that not all moon deities are female. Still, many well-known mythologies feature moon goddesses, including the Greek goddess Selene , the Roman goddess Luna , and

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1100-563: The Chinese goddess Chang'e . Several goddesses including Artemis , Hecate , and Isis did not originally have lunar aspects, and only acquired them late in antiquity due to syncretism with the de facto Greco-Roman lunar deity Selene / Luna . Male lunar gods are also common, such as Sin of the Mesopotamians , Khonsu of the Egyptians (or the earlier Egyptian lunar deity Iah ), Mani of

1150-500: The Elves resides in its single form; and that single form can only be one place at a time. While it remains a mighty protector it is incapable of prosecuting the total war needed to drive back and destroy the lunar invaders, and though none are aware of it, all the lunar invaders need do to eliminate it is to wait for Tannan to die. Humans: The rising power of Highpoint, the Legion is headed by

1200-595: The Forgotten Realms campaign setting, R.A. Salvatore created the drow Underdark city Menzoberranzan . Parts of Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn and Baldur's Gate 3 take place in the Underdark, and Icewind Dale II featured journeys through the Underdark. An expansion pack based on the Underdark setting was released for the Neverwinter Nights game series, titled Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of

1250-457: The Forgotten Realms". Much of the literary attention for this deep underworld stemmed from the sourcebooks and accessories for the Forgotten Realms setting, including R.A. Salvatore's novels about the fictional character Drizzt Do'Urden . The Underdark was also the setting for the expansion pack to the computer game Neverwinter Nights called Hordes of the Underdark , which featured

1300-540: The Great Engine of the universe, a power who does not require that mortals think of him, only that they think. With the changes in the world, new races are coming into being to fill new ecological niches as they occur. Feral halflings who have adapted to the new world, Coglings make their homes by living as unobtrusively as possible in the gear forests of the largest mechs. Although from halfling stock, they are rapidly evolving to be their own distinct race. Coglings make

1350-424: The Legion in general, and Shar Thizdic in specific, on a permanent basis. Their mistrust and paranoia are in fact founded on good reason. Shar Thizdic is very much prohuman, a stance caused by the fend-for-yourself mentality that gripped the races during the early parts of the lunar rain. He holds no actual malicious intent against elves, gnomes, and dwarves, but because they did not compassionately aid humans during

1400-451: The One Flaw), Rebirth was something of a disaster. Plagued with failures and poor efficiency on a daily basis, Rebirth remains a citymech, and is still a powerful force in its own right. As the first human Citymech, Shar Thizdic seats himself as ruler here, a symbolic gesture of leadership. Because of its problems, Rebirth is generally acknowledged to be the weakest of all existing citymechs, and

1450-677: The Steamborg concept. These are as varied as the Necroborg (undead and powered by a steam engine), the Lunarborg (whose physiology is being altered by burning a substance in their engine), the Chainmuscle (who gains great physical toughness, improvements to their combat ability, and improved attributes as they replace more of their body), and the Ghostgear (who combines the steamborg with lethal stealth). There

1500-640: The Underdark . The tilesets which came with the Hordes of the Underdark expansion pack were used in several persistent worlds, most notably Escape from the Underdark . Lunar deity A lunar deity or moon deity is a deity who represents the Moon , or an aspect of it. These deities can have a variety of functions and traditions depending upon the culture, but they are often related. Lunar deities and Moon worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. Many cultures have implicitly linked

1550-572: The battle. Most mechs in Dragonmech are powered by steam. They are the widely accepted standards, and the second-cheapest kind of mech around. The different kinds of mech are as follows: Man-powered Mechs - These are powered by slaves turning cranks and pedalling belts to keep the mech going. Favored among orcs, who use this as their primary mechs. Cheapest by far. Steam Mechs - Using steam engines, these mechs require great amounts of fuel to keep running. They are, price and effectiveness considered,

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1600-571: The centers of their political power. Together with Duerok, arguably the core of Dwarven civilization that remains underground, these five city mechs form the Stenian Confederacy. Elves: The Elves have their part in this world as well, but their role is in fact emotionally similar to that of the Elves in The Lord of the Rings – that their time is passing and their way of life all but gone. This theme

1650-501: The cliff. Trade in Edge is so lucrative that even the drow have a trading enclave there, and all its members are under strict orders to be civil and polite to everyone who comes to do business. While in many d20 campaigns, there are inevitable tensions between the races, in DragonMech these tensions are magnified to levels of almost xenophobia. One of the defining characteristics of this setting

1700-499: The context of a game, the Underdark is extremely dangerous, especially to non-native characters and creatures. There are also the usual dangers associated with caverns: claustrophobia , poor air circulation, floor/ceiling collapses and getting lost. There is no light except for occasional patches of phosphorescent fungus ; most Underdark inhabitants either have highly developed senses other than sight or have developed darkvision . Food can be extremely difficult to find, and much of

1750-418: The conversion of druids into caretakers of machine forests. Should Dotrak emerge as a fully empowered deity and join the fight against the lunar gods, the tide of battle will shift drastically. However, Dotrak is a mostly unformed power, with no personality, agenda, or real intelligence—yet. Not all people who reject the old gods worship Dotrak. Many coglayers and steamborgs view him as the designer and builder of

1800-493: The early, and most intense, part of the crisis when the plains-nomads humans had no shelter at all, he does not aid them, and if he builds his five more city mechs like he plans to, they each will need a substantial territory to roam—territory which is held by the elves and the dwarves. Non humans are third class citizens in Legion territory, and are never permitted aboard Legion citymechs. His habit of casual betrayal, enslavement, and murder- however well he has managed to hide most of

1850-501: The end of the G-series . The Underdark was described in detail in the 1986 manual Dungeoneer's Survival Guide , by Doug Niles . It was also part of the Eberron campaign setting, in which it was called Khyber and was home to evil beings driven deep into the caverns at the end of the age of demons . A review for Pyramid refers to the Underdark as "one of the most well known facets of

1900-546: The mechs best suited for armies. The first kind of mechs constructed in recent times. Clockwork Mechs - Operating on fine mechanics, this mech can support itself with power, only needing a recharge about once a week. It is one of the most effective mech designs around. Undead Mechs - These rare mechs are constructed from dead bodies and animated by great necromancers. Animated Mechs - A special kind of golem used similar to mechs. Favored among elves. They are extremely effective, but also enormously expensive. In addition to

1950-418: The natural vegetation is poisonous . In addition, potable water is hard to locate. In the Forgotten Realms setting, the Underdark is permeated with a magical energy the drow call faerzress , which is used as a source of energy by the native plant life and which interferes with scrying and teleportation spells. In the Forgotten Realms setting, Araumycos ( Dwarvish , literally meaning "Great Fungus")

2000-477: The port city of Lith My'athar, and the mysterious Seer. The Underdark is a subterranean realm of enormous size inhabited by many different types of creatures such as drow , mind flayers , and aboleths. It extends far beyond the dungeons created by surface dwellers, and consists of caverns, tunnels and large complexes. The fictional Underdark's physical characteristics are based upon conditions in real-world caverns deep underground, except at immense size. Within

2050-493: The proof- may well be the downfall of the only hope that humans in highpoint truly have, should the other races of Highpoint decide to finally take action and eliminate him as a threat for once and all. Dragonmech deities are similar to those in other campaign settings, with only a few significant differences. First, the deities are slowly losing a war with the Lunar gods . Unaccustomed to working together, they are losing ground badly to

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2100-625: The second generation, trades the vast number of features of the fixed Steamborg slightly for a far greater degree of versatility. Considered to be even more alarming than regular steamborgs, seemingly heralds the constant evolution of the Steamborg until flesh and blood become obsolete. Based on the ranger , the Clockwork Rangers live in the bowels of the city-mechs themselves. These regions are called Gear Forests, vast engine-rooms that have developed their own unique ecology. There are many prestige classes that represent further specialization into

2150-614: The setting of Dragonmech, many of them presented in Steam Warriors. As can be expected, many of the prestige classes involve mechs and these focus around either piloting a mech (such as the feared Mech Devils), fighting a mech (such as the Anklebiter), and two classes (Assimilated and Mech Symbiote) revolve around becoming a part of a mech. Some other classes involve special focus on or uses of technology, which can include combining it with magic. Finally, there are many classes based around

2200-475: The single most powerful construction in Highpoint) known as Tannanliel. Tannanliel cannot be adequately explained without first describing Tannan himself, for it was formed by a pact between the archmage Tannan and the overwhelmed native deities. As a result, its awesome might is being powered by a constant drain on Tannan's life force, costing him roughly a year of his life for each week he operates it. Although he

2250-406: The solar divine. The ancient Egyptians had several moon gods including Khonsu and Thoth , although Thoth is a considerably more complex deity. Set represented the moon in the ancient Egyptian calendar . In Bakongo religion , the earth and moon goddess Nzambici is the female counterpart of the sun god Nzambi Mpungu . Metztli , Coyolxauhqui and Tēcciztēcatl are all lunar deities in

2300-673: The standard Dungeons & Dragons character classes, Dragonmech introduces new base classes: The coglayer is a mech and steam mechanic. They use steam powers to create technological weapons, devices, and to augment mechs. Steam Powers give the Coglayer abilities beyond Mech construction. These modular powers can be combined in order to create complex effects. Steam Powers can be combined with existing weapons such as crossbows, swords, or steamguns to create automated weapons, or stand-alone effects such as interrogation devices or steam powered undead, such as meat racks and smoking dead. The Mech Jockey

2350-502: The terrifyingly powerful lunar dragons, and some doubt has been assayed over the outcome of any battles between it and one of the dwarven citymechs. But the real panic being levelled against the human nation is that Shar Thizdic has plans for five more citymechs. Many in Highpoint are wondering what power the human nations will wield by the time the final citymech has been built, and support is growing amongst both elves and dwarves to deal with

2400-402: The unified front presented by the gods of the lunar monsters. But there is one factor of hope- an emergent deity who is rapidly gaining power and consciousness known as Dotrak. Gaining in power from the rapidly blooming faith in machines, Dotrak is making his powers known by the random animation of free roaming gear piles, the spontaneous transformation of persons into mechanical prophets, and even

2450-488: The water. The slathem have not been too terribly affected by the lunar rain. Certain of their towns and cities are underwater for part of the year, because of the immense seasonal tides characteristic of Highpoint. The winter/summer seasons result in more polar ice cap melting/freezing than on earth, so the Highpoint seasons are labeled Highwater and Lowwater. Increased tidal effects due to the moon only amplify this problem. Warriorlike humanoid leptoceratopses. They philosophy

2500-519: Was originally discounted by dwarves and elves alike. But human engineers, learning from their work assisting the captured dwarves, and from their own works afterward, have caused an uproar amongst the other nations, with their subsequent construction of the second human citymech, Haven. Haven is a significant improvement over Rebirth, and a massive undertaking whose scale is greater than all other citymechs save Tannanliel itself. Already it has proven its power in battles against lunar monstrosities including

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