Campaign Setting - Vaults of Pandius

Location: Underneath the Continent of Brun.
Area: XXX sq. ft. (XXX sq. m.); additional notes if any
Population: Estimated XXX (X% elf, X% tiefling, X% other).
Languages: Northern elvish dialect, with smatterings of Blackmoorian and Infernal mixed in. Some elves
may speak any of the various Antalian dialects, as well as the language spoken by Brunian dwarves.
Coinage: All manner of coins and jewels are used for barter, although the most valuable currency of the
Deep Elves is souls. Upon attaining adulthood all Deep Elves perform a ritual binding their souls to 100
gold coins. These coins become streaked blood red, and are then used by the elves to make all manner of
infernal pacts.
Taxes: Vassals of the Deep Realm pay taxes to one of the dark cults that control their local region. These
treasures are in turn dedicated to the elves’ dark immortals (along with other appropriate sacrifices) in order
to buy their continued survival in the inhospitable territories beneath the earth.
Government Type: Infernal Theocracy.
Industries: Mineral resources, metal goods, jewelry, intrigue, souls
Important Figures:
Overview
From caverns deep beneath the surface, the
elves plan their revenge upon a world that so
recently tried to eradicate them. Now, with the
help of powerful new patrons, the elves seek to
repay all those who somehow managed to
remain on the surface of the world. Their
corrupting touch can be felt all the way from
Antalian lands in the north, to the shores of
Taymora and beyond.
Geography
The tunnels of the Shadowdeep are long and
twisted, and many would assume that the light
of the sun never touches them… but this would
be a mistake. Elven magic has connected the
tunnels with other realms, including those of
the surface world. One may pass from a dark
tunnel to find himself walking in lands with a
blazing red sun, or staring at a gray cloudless
horizon that stretches into eternity.
Flora and Fauna
The underground realm of the Deep Elves is
surprisingly full of life. Plants and creatures of
all sorts find their way into the dark caverns
through passages and portals to other worlds,
created by the pact magic wrought from the
elves. Many take on a fiendish aspect,
revealing their true heritage. Brimstone
prowlers stalk through thick fungal jungles fed by
underground thermal springs and refuse expunged
from the lower planes.
History
When Blackmoor was destroyed in the Great Rain
of Fire, the elven colonists on the northern continent
were lucky to survive the catastrophe at all. Survive
they did, although the initial destruction was the
least of their worries for the Great Rain of Fire
brought with it vast clouds of poison that settled on
all the nearby lands. To escape the Wasting disease
that the clouds carried, the elves fled into nearby
caves delving deep underground.
Living in the bowels of the earth contained its own
problems however. Food was scarce, as were many
of the natural resources of the surface world, and
even though the elves went deep, some trace of the
Wasting followed them. Within years after fleeing
the surface, the elves realized that they were a dying
race. Starving, exposed to the elements of the dark,
and slowly succumbing to the Wasting, the elves
did the only thing that they could. They prayed.
…And something answered their prayers.
Dark powers heard the elves and offered them
sustenance in return for worship. Using the dark
arts that were taught to them, the elves began to
rebuild their society, though they rebuilt it in the
image of their new saviors.
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