What would drow et al call the Underdark.

[EccentricCircle]

I'm preparing a game set in the Underdark, with the twist being that the characters will have lived their entire lives in shadowy caverns ruled by the illithids.

Naturally they call the surface world "the Overbright", a realm of blinding madness ruled by horrific creatures with wings and leaves, and covered by an immense blue thing called a sky.

So I need a name for their home that is somewhat more evocative than just "The world" but which isn't defined by it's being deep, dark, or under something else.

Anyone got any ideas?

Edit: I guess they could just call it Earth

[Solaris]

I'd always assumed that 'Underdark' was their term for it, and the surface-dwellers either co-opted it or have it from the same roots from when drow and the rest lived on the surface, but still knew about the Underdark.

I suppose you could name it the Caverns, and then give names for particular areas much like large caves are named.

[Kami2awa]

The Halls
The Hollows
The Earthwomb
The Havens or The Shelter
The Realms

[Honest Tiefling]

What do we surface dwellers call the surface? I don't think there's much of a name for it other then 'surface'. To them living underground is so normal that there is no name for it other then 'right here'.

[JetThomasBoat]

I don't really have an idea for the what they would call their world, but maybe try to help sell the feeling by having NPCs use versions of common sayings people on the surface use to describe being outside? Not quite sure how well it could work, the more I think about it though.

The only example I can think of is like instead of saying like "He was walking around with his head in the clouds", they might say something like "He was walking around bumping his head on stalactites." Poor example, I know, but does it convey the point?

[goto124]

What do we surface dwellers call the surface? I don't think there's much of a name for it other then 'surface'. To them living underground is so normal that there is no name for it other then 'right here'.

...underground? With a small letter u?

[The Insanity]

Generally they call it by the name of the region/city they're in. Other than that, maybe "home"?

[Red Fel]

I don't think the Underdark is a case of the surface-dwelling folk discovering a new land and coming up with a name for it. I think it's just what it's called.

Look, the Red Wizards of Thay know that they live in Thay. They don't call it "this place here" and other places "the not-Thay." They call it Thay. Their allies call it Thay. Their enemies call it Thay. If you pass a street sign, it says "Now entering: Thay. Drop to your knees and hope they don't notice you." The place is called Thay.

I always figured the Underdark was like that. Humans call it the Underdark. Elves call it the Underdark. Dwarves call it the Underdark in enigmatically Scottish accents. Drow call it the Underdark whilst stabbing one another. Illithid call it the Underdark through a mouthful of brains. Boccob, when he can be bothered, calls it the Underdark. Asmodeus, when it suits him, calls it the Underdark. It's the Underdark. That's what it's called.

Least, that's my take on it.

[SiuiS]

In canon D&D lore, no one and nothing is native to the under dark; drow, duergar, mindflayers, aboleths, were all banished there in the ancient war that created the drow and shattered the world. Other monsters wander in from thin spaces where the under dark brushes against other planes, usually a chthonic one such as elemental earth or in weird dark crevasses, the sickly waters of the far realms.

As there are no under dark "natives", every race would remember there being something else and would consider the under dark their current abode but not their forever home. So under dark fits.



Alternately, they could all perform the actions they do to get to Heaven. The bright and flowering realm of lore where all are free, good is abundant, and everything is bright and glowing.