by Denis Tetreault
Version 1.5
This page is the first of what will become a new section of
my website for materials about the subterranean world beneath Greyhawk,
often called "DeepOerth". Eventually, much more
material will presented here. Some of this material, Khor in
particular, will be also part of a Dragonsfoot Collaborative Project: Mapping
the Depths of the Earth. The latest compilation of the current
state of the project (entitled "Encyclopedia Subterranica") can be downloaded
here.
1. Many visitors to the ancient city of Khor will enter the greater cavern from the eastern tunnel. This tunnel drops gently as one heads northwest into the cavern. Most of the extensive cavern complex represented on Map 14 in D3 The Vault of the Drow to the south is at a higher elevation.then Khor, such that those with the ability to sense sloping passages will have had the feeling of going deeper down for quite some time.
2. The northeastern tunnel drops gently as it exits the Greater Cavern, and continues to slope down to the north for quite some time. Some 7 miles away, this tunnel finally opens up to a cavern of unimaginable size, and the sounds of gentle waves lapping on a shore. This is the near-mythical Sunless Sea. At one time in the distant past, the water level of the Sunless Sea was much higher. In fact, its waters reached through the (then flooded) tunnel and into the Greater Cavern (flooding it as well). Rich sediment was deposited by these waters over the floor of the cavern. As the water level of the Sea dropped, the waters retreated from this cavern in several stages, producing a series of escarpments separated by flat plains.
3. A clearly marked road joins the eastern and northeastern tunnels, however it is quite clear that most traffic heads west, climbing the first escarpment through two small ravines. At this crossroads, two very different buildings can be seen. The first building is a single-story stone structure, unremarkable in nature. This guard house, built about 15 years ago, houses a small force of soldiers that collect a levy on behalf of the "government" of Khor, such as it is. Mainly it serves as a watch post and can give early warning to the city (via spell) of anything that might be a threat. On a nearby small mesa-like isolated section of the escarpment is a far more interesting building. This seven-story-high building stands like a massive blockhouse, composed of a black seamless, metallic-like material of unknown composition. It seems to be impervious to physical and magical damage. Many have speculated that it is some never-before seen alloy of adamantite, though most skilled sages scoff at such suggestions, claiming there may not be that much adamantite to be found throughout the entire underdark. There is only one large door, and not a single window to be found (hence the true number of interior levels is unknown). Whispers can be heard claiming that Joron Kasar is the only soul to have ever gain entry into the adamantite blockhouse, but many doubt that even he has been able to penetrate its secrets.
4. Wandering about to the north west, visitors will find the cavern floor to be occupied by a vast fungus forest. The rich soil supports a highly diverse fungal ecosystem, many members of which are quite dangerous.
Fungus Forest Encounter Chart
* Harvester teams generally are composed of 2-4 duerger with d6+4 slaves (50%) who will not fight, or d4+4 inhabitants of the slums (50%) who will fight. Slum residents and slaves tend to be mostly humans, half-orcs, half-drow, and elf-drow, however they can be any of the major races listed for the city with the addition of rare troglodytes and kuo-toans.
5. Hidden deep within the fungus forests lies a secluded cluster of buildings, the road leading to them following along a narrow and exposed stretch of the second escarpment that follows the cavern's west wall. The largest of these buildings is a temple to Lolth, while the remainder house drow hailing from Erelhei-Cinlu. While there are smaller temples to Lolth within Khor itself, this is essentially the hub of spying activity by the powers-that-be in Erelhei-Cinlu. The unpredictably rapid development of the underdark freetown of Khor to a settlement of such a size that "simple solutions" are now impossible, caught the Vault quite by surprise. Not knowing what this will mean for them, they keep a close eye on the city while contemplating what to do about it, if anything. Political instability in the Vault has also contributed to their lack of action. For now, the ruling factions of the Vault are not interfering with trade.
6. Wander far enough to the south of the road, and explorers will discover one
of the true wonders of the underdark... gargantuan pillars will rise
out of the gloom, reaching up beyond the capabilities of normal vision.
Known as the Forest of Stone, or more recently as the Pillars of Khor,
these columnar speleothems formed over uncountable millennia and reach almost ¾
of a mile up to the chamber's ceiling. While columns are normally formed when
stalactites and stalagmites continue to grow towards each other until meeting,
these particular formations are so unusual in their massive size and
cylindrical shape that their true origins are a mystery. It is believed
that the region of the Forest is extremely dangerous, much more so then any
parts of the fungus forests, and is populated by numerous fell beasts. Intelligent beings rarely enter.
The city of Khor lies within, or rather fills entirely, a side cavern. An impressive and seemingly ageless wall of blackish metal separates the city from the rest of the cavern. This wall appears to be composed of a seamless, dark metallic substance, and has been called the Adamantite Wall. The material certainly seems to be as hard as adamantite, although it actually isn't composed of that rare metal. The wall resists all physical and magical attack forms. Its unusual properties are due to its unusual origin.
The city of Khor was originally built by a large colony of githzerai, who arrived from Limbo and attempted to establish a major beachhead here in Oerth's underdark. While the buildings of the city are composed of local stone, the wall is composed of material imported from Limbo. Powerful githzerai wizards formed the impregnable metallic-like substance out of the chaos of Limbo itself and brought it here. The city eventually reached a population of over 20,000 githzerai and allied races. Not surprisingly, most of the locals felt rather uncomfortable having such a large population of these strange beings nearby, and eventually did something about it.
After living here for an unknown time, the githzerai were eventually wiped out by an overwhelming combined force of githyanki and drow (many of the latter coming from the Vault of the Drow's guilds and temples). The battle must have been devastating between these races. When the clash of weapons, explosions of magic, and echos of psionic eventually fell silent, the remarkably intact city was abandoned. It was sporadically inhabited by a variety of underdark races over the years, but never for very long. For the last 100 years, small pockets of escaped slaves and drow outcasts tried to hide out in the many buildings of the abandoned city, constantly struggling with the many other less-civilized denizens that called various dark corners of the city "home", or rather more accurately "lair".
Just over 25 years ago, a party of drow, half-drow, and half-orcs, led by a half-drow adventurer from Erelhei-Cinlu named Joron Kasar (7/7/8 F/Mu/Th) cleaned out much of the city over a long personal campaign, and set up permanent residence. It is believed that they discovered many wonderous things left behind by both the githzerai and their attacking force. Although, to this day, there are still areas of the city that contain many dangers, the mostly-safe city became very attractive to the many outcasts, escaped slaves, and underworld merchants that found other settlements in this region of the underdark to be "inconvenient" or down right "fatal", and Khor became a freetown. Many of the residents originally hailed from Erelhei-Cinlu, and much trade still is conducted with the drow capital.
Since the establishment of Khor as a freetown, the population has increased from about 800 struggling souls dispersed in pockets throughout the city, to a thriving population of almost 10,000. The population continues to grow, although less rapidly then the last 10 years, as news of the new city spread quickly through Erelhei-Cinlu, quickly attracting many of those individuals who would be interested. The city continues to draw new recruits from the drow capital, though at a slower rate, many of those being merchants who are coming to realize the benefits of a new, untamed market. As stories of the reincarnation of Khor continues to spread, more come from farther and farther away. Still, there are far more buildings available then the current population requires so a large percentage are still empty. No new construction has been required since the city was first abandoned all those years ago. All of the buildings are generally squat and square two- to three-story stone constructions, built with the same austere style. Water for the population comes from several wells into a gravel aquifer that underlies the cavern. It is rumored that an unexplored undercity lies in the bedrock below the gravel layer.
The population consists of approximately 1500 drow, 2000 half-drow, 500 elf-drow, 500 half orcs, 1000 duerger (primarily) and derro, 1500 humans, 2000 slaves (still slaves, as opposed to former-slaves, can include all the listed races, plus others, such as troglodytes), and nearly 1000 other less common races (including outer-planars, svirfneblin, intelligent undead, lycanthropes, illithids, trolls, ogres, kuo-toans, gith, and much more). Khor certainly is the underdark's melting pot.
Kasar loosely rules over this motley mob with the help of a rather well-outfitted, no-nonsense mercenary force. What his long-range plans are, no one knows.
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