The Scholars’ Tomb

Overview

The Scholars’ Tomb is a level of the City of Scholars located below The Undergrowth, named by the first scouts to reach it. Despite the name, it functioned as a residential district rather than a burial site. The level exists in total darkness, and the former inhabitants appear to have lived without any natural light source.

Layout

The district contains apartments, laboratories, dormitories, dining halls, conference rooms, and workshops, all bearing witness to a once-active intellectual and cultural life. The architecture is uniquely stylized compared to the upper levels. Artifacts and furnishings found here share the characteristic motif of external grooves and etched lines repeated across tools, devices, furniture, and walls—the same maze-like channel pattern found throughout the City’s technology.

The best-preserved objects are typically discovered inside sealed containers designed to withstand the passage of time, either left for future generations or intended for descendants who would understand their purpose.

Wall Frescos

Nearly every surface at this depth is covered in carved bas-relief frescos. Some were originally mosaics, though their tiles have been systematically removed. The frescos depict everyday scenes alongside what appear to be foundational myths. Recurring imagery includes inhabitants consuming or being sustained by a golden liquid (Sap), and a tall woman—identified as Sofia—watching over the people or drinking from the substance. 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. A massive world-tree from which rivers of the liquid flow is another frequent motif.

Relationships

• City of Scholars: Parent location
• The Undergrowth: Level above the Scholars’ Tomb
• The Maze: Level below the Scholars’ Tomb
• Sofia: Entity depicted prominently in the district’s frescos
• Sap: Substance depicted throughout the wall frescos
• Leocardius Sree: Archaeologist whose journals describe the district