Feydark

The Feydark was the echo of Toril's Underdark in the Feywild.

"I don't care if they're pretty. We need to steer clear of the glowing mushrooms!"

- Veteran Feydark explorer

Description
Like most parts of the Feywild, the Feydark was more majestic and fantastic than its natural counterpart.

Geography
The geography of the Feydark was similar to that of the Underdark. A maze of tunnels linking caverns permeated the Feydark. However, unlike the Underdark, the Feydark was home to terrain commonly found on the surface, such as forests and swamps.

Flora & Fauna
Unlike the Underdark, the Feydark was teeming with life. Despite the lack of sunlight, the Feydark's flora and fauna were as colorful and vibrant as their surface cousins. Many Feydark species exhibited bioluminescent characteristics.

Plants and fungi were pervasive and ubiquitous. A typical tunnel in the Feydark had its wall covered in vines and its surface covered in thorns and noxious flowers. It was common for the vegetation to be so thick it blocked a tunnel completely. A frequent sight was thick shrubbery growing on the roofs of caverns, appearing as upside-down forests. Damaged plant-life rejuvenated quickly, even a few hours if the location was ideal.

The Feydark was also home to a wide variety of fauna. Large and healthy populations of amphibians, insects, reptiles and rodents fed on the plentiful fauna, which were in turn eaten by wild hogs and large flightless birds.

The Feydark was the source of the life energy of the Feywild, due to the existence of primal mud: a thick organic sediment that ranged in color and texture, from thick, dark brown to viscous transparent slime. It settled in depression in the Feydark landscape.

Primal mud was absorbed by the roots of the Feywild, providing nourishment to the extensive flora of the Feydark. A creature could be healed with primal mud, however the exposure had to be brief, as prolonged exposure caused the primal mud to break down living tissue into raw organic compounds.

Primal mud was the source of the Feydarks mushroom arches, also called an arch of wonder: bioluminescent purple mushrooms that formed an arch over a tunnel.

Inhabitants
Several sentient species make their home in the Feydark.

The most numerous and powerful were the fomorians, a fey echo of the titans. Fomorian kingdoms rivaled the size of surface realms, filling massive caverns and stretching out along endless tunnels. Cyclopses, servants of the fomorians, also made their home in the Feydark. When a cyclops was encountered in the Feydark, more often than not they were on a task given to them by a fomorian master. They served the fomorians as soldiers and guards, as well as smiths. Cyclops forges created powerful, and devastating, magical weapons. Spriggans swore fealty to the various fomorian kingdoms.

The Feydark was also home to a large number of gnomes. Their physical appearance differed from their surface-dwelling cousins, having larger eyes and skin so pale it appeared almost translucent. Feydark gnome culture was also quite different from that of surface-dwelling gnomes. They were known for their violent tendencies and gallows humor, while madness and savagery where considered positive personality traits. Feydark gnomes were also extremely xenophobic.

The Feydark was home to a large population of myconids. Due to their aggressive growth and spread, the myconids were seen as a menace to the other denizens of the Feydark. Myconid colonies were eradicated when encountered, however some fomorian kingdoms kept gardens of myconids.

It was common to encounter chitines in the deepest parts of the Feydark. They often worked with spriggans, and anyone else who opposed the drow.

Eladrin from the surface avoided entering the Feydark, as the cramped tunnels and lack of sunlight and trees made them very uncomfortable. Exiled and out-casted eladrin lived in the Feydark, as well as those taken prisoner by the fomorians.

To the denizens of the Underdark, the Feydark seemed a paradise in comparison. As a result, duergars, goblins and quaggoth from the Underdark have all attempted to establish colonies in the Feydark. Few have survived long.

Drow were a common sight in the Feydark, and they used the extensive tunnels to spy on the eladrin. The dark elves traded both information and goods with the various fomorian realms, but occasionally some of the giant lords, due to temporary alliances with the House of Flowers (led by Liria Valthorin, alleged granddaughter of Corellon), attacked the drow and one of their cities, Irith Tal. The animosity towards Irith Tal is due to Liria's father, the archfey and alleged demigod known as the Rose King, being killed there along with his army, and their city destroyed by the drow.

The Feydark hosted a menagerie of dangerous and deadly creatures. Drakes, hooked horrors, hydras, stirges, shambling mounds, troglodytes and vine horrors all were found living within the Feydark. Among the most dangerous residents of the Feydark were the black, green, and purple dragons who laired in the caverns and hunted the tunnels.

Notable Locations

 * Realm of Malabog: A region of the Feydark that served as the personal domain of King Malabog of the fomorian giants.
 * The Living Gate, a portal to the Far Realm located in the Feydark below Cendriane.
 * Irith Tal, the drow city of Matron Zarra, mother and enemy of Liria Valthorin, who still aspires to use her daughter's archfey blood as a weapon.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Watchers at the Living Gate
 * Venom in Her Veins
 * Video Games
 * Neverwinter: Fury of the Feywild
 * Neverwinter: Fury of the Feywild