The Scholars’ Tomb

Overview

The Scholars’ Tomb is a level of the City of Scholars located below The Undergrowth, named by early scouts. This former residential district exists in total absence of light.

Structures

Numerous traces of past life remain discernible throughout the level: apartments, laboratories, dormitories, dining halls, conference rooms, and workshops. The architecture displays a unique style, bearing witness to a once-vibrant intellectual and cultural life.

Artifacts

Relic hunters find the most valuable objects at this level before returning to the surface to hand them to Ordis scholars. Furnishings and crafted artifacts hint at daily life, each marked by the same motif of grooves and etched lines repeated across tools, devices, furniture, and walls. The Sanctum historians study these finds with intense scrutiny. The best-preserved pieces are usually discovered inside sealed containers meant to withstand time, perhaps intentionally left behind for future generations or descendants.

Wall Frescos

Numerous wall frescos carved in bas-relief cover nearly every surface at this depth. Some were once mosaics, though the tiles have been carefully and systematically removed. These frescos depict everyday scenes and foundational myths.

Recurring imagery includes:

• Inhabitants consuming or being sustained by a precious golden liquid central to their society
• A massive world-tree from which rivers of this liquid seem to flow
• Sofia depicted in idealized adult form as a tall, beautiful, serene woman with honey-gold features watching over the people or drinking from the sacred liquid

Sofia’s face appears in corridors and grand ceremonial chambers, often as the focal point of flowing ornamental ridges with hair spreading in every direction. In truth, Sofia actually manifested as a joyful, mischievous child of golden light—the frescos represent an idealized, venerated image of the City’s soul rather than her true appearance. When the Sap ran dry and the people fled, Sofia transformed into The Hunger.

Relationships

• City of Scholars: Parent location containing The Scholars’ Tomb
• Sofia: Divine figure depicted in wall frescos, the living soul of the City who became The Hunger
• The Hunger: Monstrous form Sofia took after ages of starvation and isolation
• Leocardius Sree: Oneiros scholar who documented this level in journals
• Ordis: Faction whose scholars study retrieved artifacts
• The Maze: Level below The Scholars’ Tomb
• The Sanctum: Institution whose historians analyze artifacts
• The Undergrowth: Level above The Scholars’ Tomb