The Undergrowth
Overview
The Undergrowth is a mezzanine-level cavern within the City of Scholars, located halfway down the Crow’s Eye central shaft. The name was coined by the first scouts exploring the shaft. It reflects both its underground setting and the nature of its habitat as an ecosystem completely overtaken by invasive vegetation.
Geography
The Undergrowth stretches across the entire area of The Screed above it. At this depth, the cavern still benefits from partial sunlight filtering through gaps in the rocky ceiling, with light entering through narrow fissures and wider breaches at slanting angles. Collapsed zones reveal how vital Aerolith was in shaping the geological structure of the crater, allowing formation of a protective dome without complete structural collapse.
Ecosystem
Over time, rainfall accumulated in the Undergrowth, forming numerous ponds, natural reservoirs, and waterlogged lowlands. Despite reduced light, vegetation has adapted—massive roots and branches snake upward toward light sources, forming domes, arches, bridges, and intricate tangles. Covered in thick mosses (including pink varieties), unruly vines, and wild grasses, they entwine and lift stone blocks from the ground, suspending them in midair. Multicolored canopies and shadowy groves create a complex web of levels and terraces.
Archaeological Features
Archaeologists surveying this tier believe it once housed temples and cloisters adorned with fountains and statues. The steady return of nature has buried these remnants beneath a dense, living mantle of greenery. Deep blue blocks with geometric patterns veined with gold are embedded within the vegetation—cubes and slabs of all sizes, smooth and dark. Axiom botanists and Muna druids are expected to provide exhaustive catalogs of the flora and fauna.
Skein Disruption
The Skein is disrupted at this depth, causing interference and ripples in perception for those attuned to it.
Relationships
- Aerolith: Material that enabled dome structure formation
- Axiom: Faction whose botanists study the ecosystem
- City of Scholars: Parent location containing The Undergrowth
- Crow’s Eye: Central shaft providing access to this level
- Leocardius Sree: Oneiros scholar who documented this level in journals
- Muna: Faction whose druids study the ecosystem
- The Screed: Surface location above, same area dimensions
- Teija: Muna Exalt who descended into The Undergrowth (393 AC)
- Nauraa: Teija’s Alter Ego who descended into The Undergrowth (393 AC)
- Rin: Muna Exalt who discovered the biotope is an extension of the City of Scholars’s consciousness (393 AC)
- Sierra: Axiom Exalt who used Oddball to rupture a wall and extract Sap geyser (393 AC)
- Little Mouse: Eidolon who buried a cache of baby teeth in this location (393 AC)
- Tooth Fairy: Eidolon who stalked the Little Mouse from a hidden thicket (393 AC)