Night Below
Ervenian Era, 1051 AB
The Night Below is the shadowed throne of Nyxgaas. Hidden deep within Krangath, the dead and lightless heart of Gehenna, this realm is a vast and endless labyrinth of cyclopean caverns, where even magical light withers and mortal eyes find no purchase.
Here, darkness is absolute. no torch can burn, no star can pierce, and no flame survives without Nyxgaas’ permission. It is said that he alone sees clearly in these depths, and that every shadow conceals the eyes of his spirit-servants. The air is cold enough to bite the lungs, filled with the muffled echo of unseen things moving just beyond reach.
To the faithful, the Night Below is a place of initiation, reward, and final rest—an eternal hunting ground where shadows are solid, silence has weight, and the weak are culled without mercy. To outsiders, it is a death sentence without the courtesy of a visible executioner.
Nyxgaas does not walk openly through his realm; rather, he is the realm. The darkness itself bends to his will, solidifying into walls or parting to reveal safe passage, or a sudden drop into a bottomless pit. His voice may come as a whisper directly behind a visitor’s ear, even when they are alone.
Geography
The Night Below is not a single cavern but an endless warren of under-realms, each vaster than the last, stacked and folded in upon themselves like the roots of an inverted mountain. Passages can be as narrow as a knife-slit or as wide as a battlefield, their walls of slick obsidian glistening like wet ink.
- The air is motionless and bitterly cold, its chill seeping into bone and spirit alike.
- The ground alternates between jagged volcanic stone and unnaturally smooth basalt plains.
- The walls swallow sound, making footsteps vanish after a single echo.
- The sky, where there is one, appears as a black vault with faint, blood-red crescents suspended like the ghost of a moon.
Notable Locations
The Throne of Unseen Blades
Nyxgaas’ seat of power, a jagged basalt dais rising from the center of a lightless chasm. Here, the Night Lord manifests as a towering silhouette, his cloak flowing into the surrounding darkness until god and realm are indistinguishable.The Hall of Blood Crescents
A ceremonial cavern where the red crescent moon, Nyxgaas’ holy symbol, glows faintly against the black. Assassins of the faith are said to receive their final blessing here before embarking on sacred killings.The Maw of Shattered Lanterns
A cavern whose floor is littered with the broken remains of thousands of light sources—torches, lanterns, and magical crystals—all of which failed upon entering Nyxgaas’ domain. Pilgrims scatter their own extinguished lights here as an offering.The Tomb-Rivers
Subterranean waterways of black, slow-moving liquid, their surface broken only by the drifting corpses of Nyxgaas’ enemies. These rivers are said to flow directly into the deepest gulfs of Krangath, carrying souls into the god’s eternal hunt. Within these caverns, the mortal concept of “up” and “down” becomes unreliable; tunnels spiral in impossible loops, and entire chambers float like islands in the void, tethered to nothing.Inhabitants
Petitioners
The souls of Nyxgaas’ most faithful arrive stripped of light, warmth, and sometimes even physical form, becoming spirit-stalkers—invisible hunters in the endless dark. Others retain bestial forms, serving as tireless predators in the Night Below’s perpetual hunt.Undead & Shadow Servants
Shadows, darkweavers, bainligors, and shadow dragons prowl the corridors. Some serve as wardens; others are simply allowed to hunt trespassers for sport.Orcish Spirit-Legions
Ethereal orcs armed with jagged black short swords, Nyxgaas’ favored nightblades, march in silence through the darkness, appearing without warning and vanishing into the void.Localized Phenomena
All light sources beyond 5 feet are extinguished upon entering the realm. Only creatures with true seeing or Nyxgaas’ blessing can see farther than arm’s reach.
Trait Type |
Description |
|---|---|
| Gravity | Standard. |
| Time | Timeless with respect to natural healing, hunger, and thirst for undead and shadow creatures; living creatures require sustenance but lose their sense of time within days. |
| Shape & Size | Infinite |
| Morphic Traits | Divinely Morphic (Only deities, or demigods can alter terrain) |
| Elemental Energy | None Dominant |
| Alignment | Neutral Evil. |
| Magic | Spells with the Darkness or Shadow descriptors are automatically Extended and Heightened; Light Spells or Conjuration (Healing) spells are impeded |
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