The Underdark Forest

The Underdark Forest, also known as the Soot-Shade Reaches and The Everblack (3)

Tall coniferous forest that stretches for miles through steep mountain passes and hidden valleys. The canopy is so dense and interwoven that no light reaches the understory. (2)

The forest houses much of what would be found in the Underdark of other worlds (1). It is home to evils such as mind flayers (1) and good such as Svirfneblin monks and peaceful flumphs (2). There is also a biosphere above the canopy, not that the denizens beneath would ever know or care (1).

Phenomenon: Tears of the Lost Treants (1)

Rainstorms regularly cross the canopy of the Underdark Forest, but their droplets do not reach the earth in the normal manner. Rainwater dripping from a needle will hit another needle, or a branch, or a vine, its descent slowed and channeled toward the trees' main trunks, down which it finally courses toward the distant forest floor in miniature rivulets and cascades (2). It is a common bit of folklore that every stream, every river running through the Forest have as their wellsprings unusually large trees, whose dark and mossy boles run water unceasingly: the tears of lost Treants (2).

House Orin engineers are studying the material properties of the giant conifers of the underdark forest (1). Based on preliminary findings, their accountants are drawing up feasibility studies on the economics a *small* trial logging operation (1).

"The Soot-Shade Reaches" is generally used to refer to the entire forest, but is also for (and originated with) a specific valley filled with dead trees (1). The valley is the site of an ancient battle between an invading army and the Sitoq (1). The invading army quickly learned three things:
1. The trees do not like to be cut (1)
2. The trees do not burn readily (1)
3. Even when cut and burned at great expense of time and lives, the interwoven branches insure that the trees simply do not fall down (1)

Oh man, of course they don't like to be cut! Do you think that means that the Sitoq tree-weaving serves a dual purpose? Both forming an impenetrable defense and restraining a tree for excavation?

Ooh, could be! Depends on how active the trees are in their own defense, and what their defense mechanisms are.

The trees of the Underdark Forest are naturally resistant to fire (1). This is a rare trait for coniferous trees that usually rely on regular forest fires to release the seeds of their cones, free up space for new plants, and enrich the soil with the ash of the burned trees (1). Instead, the ancient power that the trees draw power from help sustain their longevity in the absence of fires (1). They rely instead on the digestion of their seeds to help in spreading (1). Fires can still happen throughout the forest in the underbrush. Such events are called Flashbrights because of their speed and relative quickness (2).

Tens of thousands of years ago, the drow of the Underdark Forest were Wood Elves.

Many types of saprophytic vines and other climbing plants wind through the lower branches of the Forest. Some are cultivated for various purposes; the drow in particular often tend large hanging gardens of Whipthorn and Shadowleaf. The largest gardens also act as territory for a number of different Underdark creatures.

Some plants are not cultivatable: the Sombervine, for instance, is a finicky and highly sought-after prize.

The First Temple - Tekokuauitl

At the heart of the Drow territory is the place where High Priestess Micte Zolucan sacrificed Xicliutotect to Luat. This sacred place became the first temple, and to this day showers the blessings of Luat down upon her people.

Tekokuauitl is one of the tallest and oldest trees in The Everblack. Through its cavernous heart runs a torrent of water from above which cascades out several hundred feet above its base. Below, the waterfall has carved an underground lake deep into the stone. The Zolucatli still tell tales of the altar where the high priestess made the first sacrifice to Luat, though none have seen that sacred ground in millennia, hidden as it is behind the crushing waters.

The Everblack is in a temperate zone that gets frequent and consistent rain that helps fuel the rampant growth of the forest. It also helps dampen the forest to protect from the firefighters of the Sitoq. The fecundity of the forest is also propped up by whatever lies beneath the earth. From overhead, the Forest looks like a figure curled into the fetal position. The frequent rains and local watershed has led to a great river that skirts the outside of the forest (or perhaps has tributary tendrils that creep from the heart of the forest which would mean some zones of light).

Ooh ya! A mighty Amazon river that runs down the spine of the forest? Definitely with tributary tendrils that feed it.

The Mighty Tepotsotl River

Once you travel south of Sitoq lands the Tepotsotl turns black from the soot fed into it by the Sitoq tributaries.