Underdark (Sourcebook), 3rd Ed, pg. 180

Undrek'thoz, the segmented city

(Middle Earthroot)

This metropolis is actually a collection of ten drow cities (known as segments) spread across the Middledark beneath Thay and con-nected to each other by portals. The Matrons' power in the city is checked by an order of drow monks who act as servants of their respective Houses but also pay allegiance to their own order.

Undrek'Thoz (metropolis): Magical; AL CE; 100,000 gp limit; Assets 302,015,000 gp; Population 20,748 free; Isolated (drow 94%, human 2%, derro 1%, illithid 1%, kuo-toa 1%, tiefling 1%); 39,655 slaves (orc 39%, halfling 29%, human 19%, goblin 5%, hobgoblin 4%, shield dwarf 2%, ogre 1%).

Authority Figures: Jesthflett Trun'zoyľzl (CE. female drow cleric 20 of Lolth), Matron of House Trun'zoyľzl; Harthel Vras (NE. female drow lich cleric 18 of Lolth), Matron of House Vrasl; Zorratha Drezz (CE. female drow cleric 14 of Lolth), Matron of House Drezz'Lynur; Oryssta Sshurlynder (CE. female drow fighter 8/cleric 9 of Lolth), Matron of House Sshurlynder; Uphrezza (NE. female drow rogue 6/cleric 11 of Lolth), Matron of House Nani-tarin; Varr'ga Zek (CE female drow cleric 15 of Lolth), Matron of House Fyvrek Zek); Ithrylda Phaundal (CE. female drow sorcerer 8/cleric 10 of Lolth), Matron of House Phaundal); Jazmyndeera Brundag (NE. female drow cleric 17 of Lolth), Matron of House Brundag; Loxxa Jenner'Yxir (CE. female drow cleric 11 of Lolth), Matron of House Jenn'Yxir; Quemm Mezryl (NE. female drow bard 6/cleric 10 of Lolth), Matron of House Mezrylornyl.

Important Characters: Haznyn Tellen'hez (LE male drow monk 18), leader of the Blackened Fist; Nurymm Zek (CN male drow conjurer 15/archmage 4), Archmage of the City.

Blackened Fist: The Blackened Fist is an organization whose membership numbers about 200 monks, most of whom are at least 6th level. The Blackened Fist also welcomes multiclassed shadowdancers and assassins to join, and a number of its mem-bers also have levels in these prestige classes.

All the segments that make up Undrek Thoz are spread throughout the Middledark at different depths beneath the Plateau of Thay, and each is a small city unto itself. The reliable portals connecting the cities effectively erase the geographical distance between them, making them one large metropolis.

This arrangement was originally intended to allow member cities to ally without threatening a single city's resources. But every drow who has reached maturity knows that today's friend is tomorrow's rival in the complex political maneuvers of the race. Thus, as a safety precaution, the drow built these portals so that no metal would pass through. This limitation was designed to prevent wealth from flowing too easily between cities, but more importantly, to cut down on assassinations and invasions by preventing weapons and armor from passing through. Thus, when a traveler steps through one of these portals, any metal on her body clatters noisily to the floor in the city she just left.

This restriction hasn't actually stopped either economic flow or assassination attempts, though it did change both considerably.

Now each segment issues its own vellum scrip to cover payments between cities. Scrip notes from any segment are honored through-out the greater metropolis, except when the seller finds it expedient not to do so. Gems and favors are also widely used in payment.

The art of assassination has progressed in a more roundabout way. Rock or bone weapons are considered laughable and in incredibly poor taste, but living killers are a different story. The Houses all keep dangerous pets to provide portable lethality, and important drow always carry pets with them. Monstrous spiders are natural favorites, but snakes, shocker lizards, and poisonous vermin are also common. Stirges have recently come into fashion as well, although they are difficult to come by in the blackness of the Middledark.

A new martial arts tradition has also risen in Undrek Thoz-the Blackened Fist. Members of this order constitute an actual social class in the city in addition to the traditional priestess, wizard, merchant, and soldier classes. A monk of the Blackened Fist coats her right hand up to the forearm in pitch or henna, blotting out even the bits of shading that drow skin usually has. (This difference is notable to drow, but a character of any other race needs to make a DC 30 Spot check to even notice anything different about such a monk's right hand.) The drow Houses all contribute young children to the order so that each can have a cadre of loyal killers who can travel through the portals to carry out assassinations. The monks of the Blackened Fist also swear allegiance at a lesser level to their order at the House of Light-less Truth, which is located in the Brundag segment.

As the lawful monastic tradition took hold in Undrek Thoz, it colored its practitioners' loyalties. While they can understand the lust for power, these contemplative monks often come to question their mistresses' self-destructive pursuit of it. They tend to be circumspect in their allegiance to their fellows, because it is clear that the House Matrons will destroy them if they ever suspect that a male-dominated, lawful order might rise to challenge the traditional elite. However, the ongoing silence of Lolth offers the Blackened Fist with an opportunity that is rapidly growing too enticing to pass up.

For now, the monks are bound by their oaths to remain loyal to both their Houses and the Spider Queen. But the leaders of the order have quietly begun to sound out some of the more prominent male wizards and fighters of Undrek Thoz about moving against the Matrons. The Blackened Fist has prepared a plan to seize control of the city and rule from the monastery, in case the opportunity actually presents itself.

Brief History

More than a thousand years ago, the various segments of Undrek Thoz were independent drow cities scattered throughout the eastern Middledark. Individually they were weak and susceptible to attack from various enemies. So in 114 DR, representatives from several of the segments met and decided to connect their cities through a web of portals for mutual protection. Wisely, they decided that distant allies were best.

Over the next two hundred years, other drow cities from farther west, such as Mezrylornyl and Sshurlynder, joined the web, contributing to the power of the greater Undrek Thoz metropolis. The various segments helped to defend one another against assaults as necessary, and the metropolis grew strong. Since the portals are located deep within the various cities, enemies rarely realize that thousands of reinforcements are minutes away.

Though the cities still retain some of their original distinctive traits, political machinations and intermarriages have caused them to lose much of their individuality. Today the cities are more like one huge metropolis than a collection of allied cities.

Important sites

Fach segment of Undrek Thoz operates like a district of a large surface city, though they are much less homogeneous. The various portions all look similar, but local politics and customs are colored by each Matron's preferences and the segment's physical location. Visitors might not receive notification about the rules and idiosyncrasies of a particular segment until they've violated them. 

The following segments make up Undrek Thoz.

Drezz'Lynur (under Surthay): Lights are banned in this segment to protect the photosensitive fungi that grow on the walls and ceiling of the central cavern. Exposure to light causes them to turn white, which ruins their value as a profitable hallucinogen. Fines and jail terms are common punishments for despoilers of the fungus, depending on how much of a crop is lost to exposure.

Brundag (under Amrutlar): The drow here took over the city from an advanced tribe of hobgoblins, and this heritage gives the segment's general architecture and layout a vaguely nondrow air. The drow here are more martial and less overtly chaotic than standard drow. The main Blackened Fist monastery is here, and the calming influence of its members is felt throughout the half dozen caverns that house the segment. Loud, messy, or disrespectful visitors are escorted to the city limits (not to a portal) and warned at swordpoint about the penalty for reentry (namely death).

Nanitaran (under Delhumide): A bardic culture permeates this segment, and public speaking skills are as effective on the streets as a Nanitaran knife in the ribs. The drow here openly insult each other, and escalating insult battles can often be heard in the streets or seen on notices filled with clever libel that are posted around the city. Direct physical violence in response to insult is a punishable offense, earning the offender a day or more in the stocks at the center of the segment. The drow especially love taunting and goading nondrow who step through portals, hoping to make them violate this law.

Sshurlynder (under High Thay): Orcs and ogres on the surface and in the Upperdark keep the drow of Sshurulynder busy fight-ing throughout the year. As if that weren't bad enough, a steady trickle of adventurers wanders through town. The drow have learned to use the surplus adventurers as pawns against rival Houses in other segments, sending the fools through portals on missions to annoy, distract, or damage their enemies. As a result, some of these drow actually seem happy to find adventurers strolling about their halls.

Fyvrek'Zek (under Thaymount): Geothermal vents keep Fyvrek'Zek at a temperature of 90 degrees year round, and the segment smells of sulfur. Many drow either walk about nearly naked or wear sheer, provoca-tive clothes. The citizens of this town use the heat of the vents for mechanical power in an almost dwarflike way. Some vents, however, remain wide open at all times, and visitors have been known to "accidentally" fall to scalding deaths.

Jenn'Yxir (under Pyarados): The slave trade is king here. Jenn'Yxir provides slaves to most Houses in the greater metropolitan area for reasonable prices. Drow may not be kept as slaves, but nondrow who enter this seg-ment without proof of residence or owner-ship somewhere else in Undrek Thoz are considered fair targets for slavers.

Phaundakulzan (under Thesk Moun-tains): The western-most portion of Undrek Thoz, this segment lies about halfway between the Thaymount and the Mountains of Thesk.

Its noble Houses are powerful in sorcery, which is unusual among drow, since male wizards typically account for most arcane magic in drow society. A number of high-ranking females of Phaun-dakulzan are powerful multiclassed cleric/sorcerers, and a few are completely devoted to the sorcerer's path. House Phaundal, the First House of the segment, has made good use of Lolth's Silence to strike several heavy blows against rivals who lacked its arcane might, gambling that the Spider Queen might reward their ini-tiative and boldness when her silence ends if it ever does.

Vrasl (under the Sunrise Mountains): Necromancy is the favored expression of the Art in this segment. Skeletons out-number slaves, and the residents' undead servants sometimes attack nondrow. Slaying or destroying such a creature is as bad as killing a slave, and anyone who does so must make reparations to the owner.

Mezrylornyl (under Lake Thaylambar): Mezrylornyl wizards protect and maintain the intercity portals around Undrek Thoz. To help fund this effort, Undrek Thoz visitors who travel to this segment must pay a toll upon their first entry and any subsequent ones. The amount depends on the toll collector's whim, but the price is usually steep for adventurers. Mezryl toll collectors sometimes stake out portals from other segments if they know that rich visitors are doing a lot of traveling around the city. 

Trun'Zoyl'Zl (under Tyraturos): Clerics of any deity other than Lolth are unlawful here. Of course, no drow of Undrek Thoz would openly worship another god, but even visitors are not exempt from this law. Clerics or druids found in this segment are captured and executed for heresy unless several thousand gold pieces worth of bribes are paid to the proper authorities.

HOUSE OF LIGHTLESS TRUTH

This large, square structure in the district of Brundag houses the Blackened Fist. The building still contains numerous statues of the hobgoblin warlords who lived here centuries ago. The students use them as punching dummies, hardening their bodies by repeatedly striking the granite statues. Inside, the monastery is the dred monks. The roof is wide and flat, rising four stories from the floor of the cavern. The monks use the roof for sparring, and those who do so near the edge get extra slow-fall training from the experience as well.

THE SET FOOT

This architecturally incongruous inn in Sshurlynder is owned and operated by Mernen Halfred (CN male human Fighter 4/Rogue 4), a friendly but cautious resident of the city. With its wooden structure and stone fireplace, the Set Foot looks exactly like any inn on the surface. Mernen caters to the adventurers who wander to and through the city, offering friendly (if cryp-tic) advice about traveling around the metropolis. He also has been known to tip off Sshurlynder’s drow residents when likely candidates for some scheme show up.

Forgotten Realms - Campaign Guide, 4th Ed, pg. 224

UNDREK THOZ

Drow Metropolis; Population 50,000 The so-called Segmented City is actually a confederation of drow settlements, called segments, spread across the Underdark near Thay and linked by portals. These communities were once separate and isolated, but they allied centuries ago for mutual defense. Since then, individual traditions and social practices have blended to become a single norm.

Because of its geographic position, Undrek Thoz suffered greatly during the Spellplague and the subsequent rising of Thay. Tectonic and volcanic activity destroyed two segments under Thaymount; quakes buried and allowed the nearby Cold Sea to drown another segment under Lake Mulsantir. Magical backlashes destroyed yet another under the ruins of Delhumide. The chaos left all the segments damaged and opened the door to drastic change.

A rebellion broke out during the cataclysm. An alliance of the Blackened Fist (an independent clan of drow monks), Archmage Nurymm Zek, Vyrald Zek, and Matron Harthel Vrasl attacked all the other major houses of the city. The rebels were successful, raising arcane power and male drow to prominence within Undrek Thoz.

Portal Travel: Members of the Blackened Fist stand guard, check papers, and collect tolls at portals throughout Undrek Thoz. Papers stating identity and intent are required for any sort of travel through the portals, and those who lack such identification can be arrested, enslaved, or killed. Tolls must be paid as well, with these proceeds funding portal maintenance and increasing the coffers of the Blackened Fist, the archmage, and House Zek. This monitoring system helps control traffic, as well as contributing to the capture of escaped slaves and fleeing criminals.

Al'Vrasl: Matron Vrasl's old home is now a trade center that maintains exits into the Sunrise Moun tains for raiding into the Hordelands and limited trade with Thay. Necromancy is widely practiced here.

Brundag: Brundag was a hobgoblin city, and those same hobgoblins have been slaves of the drow for centuries. Thay's rise and the burning of Amruthar almost spelled Brundag's end, but the segment was rebuilt. It has benefited from access to geothermal and volcanic activity since. The caverns of the city are warm and wet, rich in Underdark fauna. Thermal vents and lava provide mechanical power.

The House of Lightless Truth, the citadel of the monks of the Blackened Fist, is the most prominent building in Brundag. To avoid the ire of the Spider Queen, and to keep an eye on the priestesses that serve her, the monks house a large temple to Lolth within the stronghold. Haznyn Tellen'hez, leader of the Blackened Fist, is the most powerful male drow in Undrek Thoz. His wife, Matron Huirann Tellen'hez, once a commoner, intends him to remain so.

Onamym: With the fall of House Jenn'Yxir, former namesake of this segment, House Onamym rose to prominence. Onamym has exits into the Sunrise Mountains that lead to Thay and Murghöm. Raiding and slaving are still the leading vocations here.

Phaundakulzan: Under the easternmost part of the Thesk Mountains, this settlement is the largest and most prominent in Undrek Thoz since the Spell-plague. House Phaundal rules here with the backing of the ubiquitous Blackened Fist monks. The seg-ment has a long-standing tradition of arcane power. and many of its prominent inhabitants are sorcerers, swordmages, warlocks, or wizards. Phaundakulzan also manages a complex throughout Mount Nirg in the Thesk Mountains (page 183).

Vrasl: This segment, once known as Trun'zoy'zl, is the religious center of Undrek Thoz. The lich Matron Harthel Vrasl oversees the temple complex in the city. Undead augment the ranks of soldiers, spiders, demons, and Blackened Fist monks that defend this segment.

Vao Zek: The stabilizing that saved Eltabbar and Lake Thaylambar in Thay also spared this segment, which was once called Mezrylornyl. The segment is the seat of the Archmage of Undrek Thoz as well as that of House Zek, ruled by Matron Vyrald Zek. Wizards of Vao Zek maintain the portals that connect the segments.

PLOTS AND ADVENTURE SITES

The Boneyard: Built by Mulhorandi necromancers more than a millennium ago under Thesk near the Forest of Lethyr, the Boneyard is a necropolis properly called Pholzubbalt. It gained its common moniker from a group of explorers that discovered it and retreated after marking its location on a map. Pholzubbalt's expansive passages and vaults once housed several very powerful necromancers and undead both sentient and bestial. The Spellplague destroyed many of these in gouts of blue fire.

Espera, a genasi necromancer, had already tied herself to Shar's power of shadow. She died in the conflagration but was resurrected as a larva mage. Having been given her fondest wish-to become undead-Espera went about ritually reconstituting the Boneyard's undead and creating lieutenants. Several skull lords now serve her, as do demons, boneclaws, and a unique skeletal creature constructed from the remains of a dracolich. She has also achieved an alli-ance with a nightwalker, another of Shar's servants, and thereby has a cadre off bodaks at her disposal.

With such a force, Espera's hatred for the living might soon spur her to war against even mighty Undrek Thoz. If she were to conquer that city, she could then take her armies to the surface in Thay, Murghôm, and the Hordelands. The nightmare would only worsen if the charismatic Szass Tam convinces Espera to join him..

The Cure: Wizards in Deep Imaskar are sending probes into the plaguelands and experimenting on the spellscarred. They even welcome outsiders who are willing to brave the plaguelands to bring back samples and test countermeasures. They've had some success in cleansing the area closest to Deep Imaskan and reversing some spellscars, especially on those recently afflicted. Deep Imaskari Plagueland: The Underdark around Deep Imaskar and even the surface above the city is a seething plagueland full of spellscarred. both monsters and a few rnad Imaskari. Approaching the city from underground is a treacherous task that seldom ends with admittance to the city. Those welcome in Deep Imaskar usually arrive through portals to the surface, most of which lie in High Imaskar.

Masters of Absolute Accord: Near Deep Imaskar, where the Lodge of the Retributive Masters once existed, is a place of madness. Vengeance-takers and wizards of Deep Imaskar sequestered within three mighty arcanists driven mad during the Spell-plague, aided by one of the lodge's elder members. Trapped, the mad mages and the elder vengeance-takers melded into one another, forming a quaternar entity known as the Masters of Absolute Accord. See "Order of Blue Fire" (page 264) for more information

The Masters reach out from their prison to manipulate nearby creatures and terrain. They can sometimes form and sendi forth humanlike bodies or spirits of lesser power. Every once in a while, they direct an attack at Deep Imaskar. Wild tales say the Masters have spoken to people and even manipulated events in plaguelands across Faerûn. Nobody knows their purpose, but without any basis, many believe they are malevolent.

Many spellscarred beings, especially those of the Order of Blue Fire, have visions or visitations associated with the Masters. Those who know of the Masters seek them as if they were messianic figures or even faces of a deity. Few have any inkling where the Masters reside, and fewer still could manage the dangers of approaching this bizarre being.