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89th Floor of the Tower, the Floor controlled by the Underdark City, several months after the siege of the Zephystrand City.

The 89th Floor of the Tower was one of the most unique floors in the entire Tower because the entire Floor looked like an enormous subterranean environment, with a vast network of underground caverns and tunnels beneath the surface of Abeir-Toril, evoking the impression of an immense underground domain.

It has been told that many Epochs ago, there existed a Principal World called Abeir-Toril that was dominated by a mighty civilization that roamed the Cosmos in search of new worlds and soon enough could not avoid coming into contact with the terrifying creatures that lived within the coldness of the Void.

It didn't take a long time for the civilization that lived in the Abeir-Toril to be extinguished; countless Transcendentals fell into the prey of the Outer Gods, Eldritch monstrosities or Void Lifeforms that called the vastness and coldness of the Cosmos their home. Of course, this was the most possible outcome when someone started digging into the Void because meddling into it never resulted in anything good.

In the end, the whole Abeir-Toril World, once a vibrant and powerful world, has been transformed into a post-apocalyptic wasteland inhabited by abominations that have found their way there. Until the Dark Seldarine Pantheon conquered the world and fused it with one of the floors of the Tower, this cycle continued.

In this way, it became part of the Tower and was known as the Underdark because the surface of the Floor was absolutely uninhabitable and was dangerous even for Legendaries to move freely. Even those would be hard-pressed to defend against the various diseases, toxic waste, and other things that existed on the surface of the Abeir-Toril.

The entire Underdark was divided into basically four parts: World Above, Upperdark, Middledark and Lowerdark.

As far as the World Above was concerned, it was a place that could not be inhabited and aside from some monstrous creatures and abominations, virtually nothing was living there. It was a desolate wasteland, filled with an absolutely unhospitable and unhabitable enviroment, filled with toxic and poisonous marches, contaminated places, and with only a few abominations living at the World Above.

There was a Upperdark beneath the surface, and it was basically the first five kilometers below the surface, where the creatures that lived under the ground would often attack the creatures that lived above the surface and where, in essence, only the weakest of all the creatures living in the Underdark lived.

As the name implies, Middledark is an area that stretches from five kilometers underground to about twenty kilometers underground. This layer was practically the one where most of the Underdark cities were located, as well as countless settlements. In this layer, most of the Underdark cities were located, there was a plethora of settlements, and many of the more minor factions who were leaning towards the Dark Seldarine had their headquarters located.

And finally, the last layer was the Lowedark, which was area 20 kilometers and more below the surface level. This area was a forbidden zone to anyone who wasn't a fanatical worshipper of the Dark Seldarine Pantheon and was considered as some sort of the Holy Grounds by the Drows and the other species of the Underdark.

It was in the Lowedark, where the Holy Underdark City was located, which was enforcing the rule above all factions and organizations that existed in the entire Underdark Realm. While many organizations and factions existed across the Underdark Realm, there was nobody who could challenge the undisputed rule of the Underdark City and its High Council.

The Holy Underdark City was another spectacular piece of architectonic work, with its gloomy and creepy design, where the light didn't reach, its huge and tall blue walls that were stretched almost up to the ceiling of the subterranean domain in certain parts, filled with spikes and various weapons, which only strengthened the dread that the city represented.

In the center of the City was an enormous gothic cathedral, which was easily the largest building in the megacity, which the Holy Underdark City certainly was. Because the entire Underdark was technically a theocracy mixed with some magocracy, while the society itself was largely autocratic matriarchal monarchy... really a weird combination.

And due to that, the Cathedral acted like an Imperial Palace in the Empire. In the depths of the humongous structure, there was a meeting room of the Underdark's Council, where basically the leaders of the most powerful factions and organizations across the entire Underdark were meeting on periodical bases and making a decision about the Underdark as a whole.

It is clear that the ones with the greatest power in the Underdark were the Drow Matriarchs of the various Dark Elven Houses as well as the Clergy of the Dark Seldarine Pantheon, who were the most powerful amongst the citizens. These were the real people in power within the Underdark.

As far as the Underdark's Council was concerned, these two were the major decision-makers not only because of their tremendous power compared to the rest of the factions but also because a number of Transcendents backed them, something that the other factions lacked in the Underdark.

Although the Underdark's High Council was not technically speaking a government for the entire Realm, it had the appearance of being a unified government at the same time. Underdark works on a federation-like principle in a sense, where each city-state and faction has a great deal of autonomy and is ruled by its owner, fundamentally by the respective factions and organizations.

Despite this, it was still essential for them all to adhere to the decisions that were being made by the Underdark's High Council, which were affecting not only the existence of certain parts of the various Layers or locations but also the Underdark as the whole Realm.

There are currently seven seats in the High Council, of which three belong to the major Dark Elven Houses of Nasadar, Melavrn, and Auryndar. In addition to this, there were three seats occupied by the High Priests of the most prominent religions in the Underdark, namely the Spider Queen Lolth, but they were also representatives of the Dark Seldarine Pantheon as a whole as well.

The remaining seats of the Underdark were divided amongst the other major races living there, such as the Druegar, the Grey Dwarves, and even a significant population of the Mind Flyers that made up the majority of the Underdark's population.

Though these Mind Flyers were not members of any fleet or didn't belong under any of the Transcendental Elder Brains or something like this, typically, the Mind Flyers in the Underdark were the ones exiled from the Fleets or criminals by their own standards; thus the only place they could safely come to was the Underdark.

"Now, let us already start so everyone can go their way."

It was a muscular gray-skinned dwarf who served on the High Council as a representative of the Duergar tribe. With a long white beard and red eyes, he looked a bit reminiscent of the Bloodkins, although he was in no way one. Clearly he was pretty irritated that he was being called here out of nowhere rather than spending time in the forge.

"I agree with the brutish dwarf; time is precious, many new technological advancements are waiting for us, and we need to procure new slaves for the experiments."

Suddenly, a robotic voice came from the machine that the representative of the Mind Flyers was holding. Since Mind Flyers lack mouths, they cannot communicate vocally like most of the species residing in the Cosmos.

They typically communicate with each other through telepathy, but right now, that option was out of the question because many of us would take that as a sign of an attack if they did so. So they resulted in communicating through the various mechanical devices which they constructed for this specific purpose.

The Underdark was a cruel and unforgiving place, filled with betrayal, backstabbing, and treachery, where even the people with whom you had the greatest trust could stab you in the back at any time for a small advantage. Even the most insignificant thing could become a reason for someone whom someone considers family to turn on him in cold blood.

Such was the life and culture of the people living here.

The Duergar representative looked at the Mind Flyer with a great deal of hatred, wanting nothing more than just to take his warhammer and smash up the skull of the octopus sitting across from him. The Duergars had a very bad history with the Mind Flyers because they were enslaved by the Transcendental Level Elder Brain for countless generations in the distant past.

And no matter what subspecies of dwarf, they knew how to carry the grudge.

"Now, now please try to remain civil with each other, at least until the meeting of the High Council ends... the reason why I have called you here is simple. For the past weeks, we have been suffering losses of all our spies and pawn planted within the territories of the Nesser Dynasty and even those of the Noble Houses who have been collaborating with us have been purged by the Silvermoon Knight Order and Imperial Magician Corps to the last person."

Reported the leading Drow Matriarch, who was the current Matriarch of the House Nasadar, one of the oldest and most powerful Dark Elven Houses in the Underdark. The nobility of the Drows or the Dark Seldarine were split into several Noble Houses; some were more powerful, while some were less powerful.

The Drow Matriarch herself was a beautiful woman with dark skin, around 2 meters tall, with mature charm comparable to that of the succubus from the Nine Hells of the Baator. She had pale yellow hair, shining purple eyes and a pretty large bust that caught the attention of several males in the room, though all of them knew what kind of preferences the Matriarch had.

She was wearing a leather battle outfit made from the leather of the Perfect Legendary Dragon of unknown origin, and excluding a bit of her Holy Legendary might made several people in the room relatively uneasy.

Amond the Holies of the Underdark, she was one of the rare ones who still kept actively meddling in the politics of the Underdark. Most of the people like her, especially with her strength, would long ago just become Hermits and try to reach Transcendence or live their years in peace.

"We already know that, Aunzira."

Answered a Drow man wearing the garbs of the priest, who had even more powerful aura than one of the strongest Drow Matriarchs in the Cosmos, the current Pope of the Seldarine Church, Wehlirahc Auvryghym.

While the Drow society was matriarchal, in the end, it still falls onto the good old saying, "Might makes right." As the current Pope and the strongest Priest of the Spider Queen Lolth, his standing was technically higher than even that of the Drow Matriarchs because he was the manifestation of the Will of the Spider Queen.

"The real question is, what will happen afterward? It is clearly evident that the purge of the spies and inner enemies is the prelude to something bigger, and I can safely say that the war with the Nesser Dynasty is just behind the door."

Stated Pope Wehlirahc Auvryghym grimly, while the others were experiencing myriads of emotions. None of them were in delusions that the war with their enemy wouldn't be coming, but in the opinions of the many present, it was too soon.

"Do we know what made that fence sitters decide on that?"

This time it was another of the Drow Matriarch to question; she was from the House Melavrn, another of the prominent Drow Houses in the Underdark. It was House of the same standing as the House Nasar; actually, all the three Drow Houses that had a seat on the High Council were of equal standing in the terms of the military power and potential they possessed.

"The political landscape in the Nesser Dynasty has been changing drastically for past centuries, and when the brother of the current Emperor became one of the Cardinals of the Hall of Kadath, he started massively supporting the growth of the Warhawk Faction within the Dynasty."

Reported the Matriarch of the Nasadar House grimly, thinking about the previous situation from a thousand years or so ago. That was basically the heaven for the Underdark because the Nesser Dynasty was way more tamer than now.

During the past century and a half, the entire nation had undergone massive militarization, and with the rise of the Warhawk Faction, it was basically unstoppable. It used to be that the Nesser Dynasty would never initiate new wars on their own, but now the times were changing at an alarming rate. And it must be noted that this change was not to their advantage at all.

Especially considering the tremendous growth of the military potential of the Dynasty. Before the militarization, one could state that the Underdark had a higher number of powerhouses and were overall stronger, albeit they were lacking in terms of organization and inner unity.

"And what are the chances that the people from the Hall of Kadath won't intervene on behalf of the Nesser Dynasty and join the fray?"

There was a question on everyone's mind which was nagging them for quite some time until the representative of the Druegar asked it out loud because the possibility of it could not be ignored.

"Hall as a whole? Almost close to zero. Individuals who cannot be controlled and that old man just let them be? Highly possible, at least madman like Zaldidraax or Rose Thorn will come for sure join because they just want to destroy and slaughter."

Hearing this made all people grimace at the idea that two people who were close to becoming Holies would surely be joining the war, but nobody could refute the words of Pope Wehlirahc Auvryghym.

"We need to do our own preparation for the upcoming war with the Nesser Dynasty and send those uptight elves to the deepest layers of the Abyss... we still can summon Fiends, even those at the Holy Legendary Level, with enough sacrifices."

For the Underdark's denizens, no method was forbidden because they were willing to use any method at their disposal in order to win the fight. Entire civilization and society were shaped in a way like this, as only victory mattered; other things were inconsequential.

"That could be done... at the same time, I believe it is time to create a completely unified government for the Underdark; right now, the current state is still not enough and compared to the Nesser Dynasty centralized rule, we are severely lacking in this aspect."

The words of Pope Wehlirahc Auvryghym were indeed the truth. While the Underdark's High Council was something the other factions needed to abide by, it was not comparable to the state of other factions.

In the real battle, there would be problems if the various factions and organizations that were living in the Underdark decided just to abandon their position and mission because it was not favorable to them.

If you consider that in Underdark, people betrayed each other even for the most simple of reasons, then this might be a very plausible scenario. And thus, it became a priority number one to get rid of this weakness as much as possible.

"I believe that everything important was already said, so we can now go to attend to our own matter."