[Keeper of Storms, Drakebane, Demonic Spoon, Kelenas, Ephemeral Dreamer, Shad4c, Shadell, emeralis00, Biigoh, Carrnage, Scia, Robotninja, fitzgerald, MHLord] Arcane University
[Vindictus, redaeth, Emral282, drake_azathoth ] Great Elevator(s)
[kinglugia, east2idaho, Redon] Tower of Mysteries
[Bloodshifter] Wardwalls
[Vindictus, MHLord, Emral282, fitzgerald] Tartarus
Since no one was voting on the city name even though I said it was still open, Tartarus it is.
Time has past since the ground was broken to form the first homes, since the first explorer found a way down to the ocean and gave people their first taste of food that wasn't slug, rat, or mushroom based in months. The city is rising. And from public opinion coalescing, a name for the city has been found. Tartarus. One of the mystical pagan hells of a long lost people, said to be used as a prison deep underground where enemy gods were held captive.. Apparently people found the name apt. Or perhaps ironic, for they are far from gods.
Still, the city has grown, and as the years have gone past, as buildings have rose and the process of turning the place from a random collection of camps and houses into a real settlement have progressed, a great facility has been carved from the stone, the caves farthest along the wall chosen, and then extended, excavated, expanded into a giant facility, a University of the size and grander to compete with any on the surface. And not just rooms, but more things were built or replicated, ancient scrolls scribed from memory onto mushroom scrolls, laboratory equipment manufactured or seized from the ruins, quarters for the teachers furnished, internal gardens planted for both research and food, and last but not least the wisest of sages and wizards chosen to teach.
The first class starting just next month, in fact, and just in time, for the cold and damp and dark has not been good for anyone's health, much less the eldest, those who know the most of the forgotten lore.
However, it has been finished in time, and while not everything will be saved, much that would have been lost will be preserved. Perhaps as only dusty notations in a scholars scrolls, but still there for reference, even if much will soon be beyond the skills of the next generation to actually put into practice.
But as expected, yours is not the only city to stand tall and proclaim it's identity, for word of others have come.
Cointown was the first, for it was by the spread of its merchants that you heard of the others. And speaking of merchants, the traders of Cointown (An apt name, even if one that doesn't immediately reveal how it is literally built on a lake, in a flooded cavern.. a real floating city..) have established a great Merchants Guild, an organization of surprising size that seeks to organize all levels of trade for maximum profit.. Already, their tendrils can be found in most major traders organizations.
But beyond that is news of Mercy Tunnels, which you knew of when you left. It has finished organizing itself (The local priests seem to have come out on top), and created a vast hospital complex to save all the exiles they can. Such a legendary hospital probably knows more then even the university within its sphere. The Noble's expedition you knew of has also found a home upon the shore of a long and distant underground river that may empty into this very cavern, which suggests interesting trading possibilities if only you had easier access to the sea. Still, the new city of Port Granite sounds as if it is growing fast as it explores the underground waterways. More important, however, is the news that the Nobles somehow managed to smuggle vast amounts of overworld seeds down with them, and with well payed and substantial magical assistance have created what is already being called the Gardens of Wonder, the greatest and only flower garden within the deep dark. Who knows what mystical or medical resources may be found within its crop?
Not that you would be the only ones interested in the mystical potentials of such plants, for it seems another group of sages and wizards set out on their own expedition, made of those who were exiled after you left as well as those who just didn't come along with you. The strangely named town of Darkout was established far closer to Mercy Tunnels then your new home, within a giant cavern with a large lake. And with that lake (And the node of elemental water magic that apparently rested within), they have built a tower fully a match for the Tower of Mysteries some wanted to build in your home. Few foreign casters will be able to match the power and training of those wizards who grow up under such a powerful and effective center of wizardry, to say nothing of the geomantic effects it may radiate into the town.
Meanwhile, the heroes of the rebellion have suffered a surprising and impressive split between the warriors who follow the famed and deadly Lord Tibero and the Priests of the Unquenchable Flame, with both sides seeming to have decided it would be best for the health of the other side if they weren't sharing living space, though true information on whys and whats and who was set on fire remains rare.
Lord Tibero and his followers have moved into a giant vertical shaft of twisting tunnels and smaller caves, rich in minerals and full of bats. There, the new city of Fort Tibero is rising, and Lord Tibero has created a vast Sword Shrine to pass down his skills to the next generation of Blademasters, which will keep the warriors of his new castle some of the best in the underground, you'd guess.
The Priests, on the other hand, have ventured almost as far away from the Pit of Exile, where all exiles are thrown down, as you did if not in the same direction, probably all the way to the vast range of the Fangs of Fire the sages tell you. For they have set up within a giant volcanic rent in the earth, where magma can be seen deep below and the very walls can glow red with heat. There the fire spirits play, and at its very center they have created a wondrous temple known as the Altar of Flames, where they can directly beseech the great volcano spirit who's dominion extends over their fair city as well as allowing them to converse with the other local spirits with far greater ease then otherwise. The priests of Fortress Igni shall be priests to reckon with in the area of fire and earth magic, considering they are liable to have been taught by the very incarnations of those elements.
Still, even with connections newly being forged between the cities and the many lesser villages and towns that are springing up around each oasis of life that can be found, the course of life goes on, and the city grows. Now if only people would agree on just how it should grow..
First off, within the University, discussion is raging over the hierarchy. To put it simply, from which department should the (First) Provost that runs the whole thing come? The choice was important, for it determined which department would be seen as the most important within these founding years, when the traditions of the university are being forged.
[ ] The Department of Names and Incantations
[ ] The Department of Known and Unknown Geography
[ ] The Department of Humanities and Mortality
[ ] The Department of Theology and Begging
[ ] The Department of Math and Finance
[ ] The Department of Enchantment and Creation
[ ] The Department of Invocations and Evocations
Secondly, as the city has grown, the population has come together to make it better for the future generations. Here, while the city is young, is a chance to make a foundation that will only grow greater with age, even if it will be but a shadow to the university.
[ ] Market Square : As the city grew, the random scattering of shops and craftsmen's workplaces no longer sustained the town acceptably. As such, by the official order of the town mayor, the Market Square was opened, for the profit of all. Serving as a center for commercial activity in the town, the Market Square would also attract traders and new merchants, leading to a general enrichment of the town.
[ ] Town Watch : While the exiles to the Deep Dark were, all in all, too busy with the need to survive to really cause trouble for one another on large and organized scales, the fact was the natives were more then happy to make up for the lack. Giant albino snakes, hopping magic mushrooms, three headed giant lizards, swarms of ants the size of dogs, horrible vampire bats that hunt man in the dark.. Well, it was no wonder that the creation of the Town Watch, an armed and organized body of men to defend the town from wandering menaces, brought both peace of mind and security to the town.
[ ] Sewage System : The fact is that while people are alive, they make a mess. The suggestion to turn everyone undead to fix that was not well received, so instead the town has gone ahead and built a large network of.. well, waste disposal and collection tunnels. It would do double duty as it both made the town much less messy and more hygienic, and collected all the sewage for use in farming, greatly helping with the food supply as much as many people didn't like thinking about how it helped.
[ ] Ruins Outpost : While the Ruins offer much reward for those who dare to explore them, the fact is that exploring them is dangerous. Even beyond the monsters that have moved in, they are simply old and in bad repair. And once you have found something valuable, you must make a difficult and extended journey to bring them back to Tartarus. It is no surprise, considering these facts, that those who would delve into the ruins worked together to create a formal and fortified outpost at the edges of the ruins, where one could find both medical assistance, ammo reloads, and storage space without having to go all the way back to the city.
[ ] Caster's Tower : Just because a true wizard's tower can not currently be crafted and supported does not mean that the wizards should be let loose in the university, claimed some, for magic has the unfortunate tendency to make unskilled and over confident casters to explode, splattering strange gunk over the books. Better to give the wizards somewhere safe to practice, experiment and live, instead of a class entering a classroom to find it full of slime, a smoking corpse imbedded into a wall, and all the furniture stuck to the roof.