Underkingdom of Grth'lwythlnn

Few know exactly what happened that started the raging great fire of -19,873 known as the First Great Tragedy of the Nevelost, but it burned mercilessly, and drove the Nevelost before it without mercy or abatement. Most fled down into their Silverstone mines, where already there were great subterranean dwellings for the miners and their families, and a community of tradesmen who supported them. They named this new realm the Underkingdom of Grth'lwythlnn, which means "Last Refuge" in the speech of the Nevelost.

Thus was established the Underkingdom, a large, elaborate, and hospitable new home for the famed Nevelost. The above ground was slowly converted into a large and beautiful garden and park area where the Nevelost would sometimes wander when they desired the taste of sun on their brow.

The Kingdom is Lost

The great (and, through some minor oversight, only) entrance to the Underkingdom collapsed in the year -19,232 in what was known as the Second Great Tragedy of the Nevelost. The kingdom was sealed away for a long, long time: 46,012 years, to be precise.

At first, the Nevelost were unconcerned. Their legendary skill in just about everything served them well in surviving underground, so no one attempted to dig back to the surface world, which most of them found somewhat boring by this point. By the time it was discovered that the lack of sunlight and constant exposure to Silverstone was having a negative impact on those individuals whose blood was tainted by the lesser, more corruptible blood of the Elves, no one remembered how to tunnel sufficiently well to do anything about it.

Fragmentary records also suggest that during this time, the Nevelost unearthed an ancient and terrible evil that preyed on their race for some time. It has been suggested that this was in fact the true Second Great Tragedy of the Nevelost, in which tens of thousands of pure-blooded Nevelost were devoured for their hubris in digging too greedily and too deep.

Dark Evolution

Either way, the mingling of Elven and Nevelost blood combined with the dark and fuming mines of Silverstone that lay deep beneath their realm resulted in a twisted and bitter race known as the Unlight Elves. At first, when the Unlight Elves were a minority, the problems were easily handled. Systems of government came and went, life continued mostly unchanged, and the Underkingdom was by and large a peaceful place to be. But the Unlight Elves bred more quickly than the Nevelost, and they were troublesome. Very troublesome, and also evil.

It is not known who initiated the plan, as the Unlight Elves kept very poor records and destroyed the records of the Nevelost whenever they found them. But some leader of the Nevelost proposed to save their corrupted brethren by breeding the evil out of them. Every pure-blooded and post-pubescent Nevelost remaining in the Underkingdom was recruited to participate in a mandatory breeding program with the Unlight Elves.

The program was extremely popular among both races; it was also an absolute catastrophe. Post-mortem analysis of the program demonstrated that an individual with as little as 1% Elven blood was susceptible to the corruption that befell all sun-deprived Elves. Instead of breeding out the Unlight Elves, the Nevelost all but wiped themselves out within two generations.

Warped and corrupted by eons of life underground, the evil Unlight Elves were additionally bitter that nobody had attempted to come rescue them. This dark evolution is often referred to as the Third Great Tragedy of the Nevelost, and it was the primary cause of conflict in the Underkingdom for almost 25,000 years. After that time, the few remaining Nevelost isolated themselves from their dark brethren and attempted to rediscover the art of tunneling.

The Kingdom is Found

In 26,780, a catastrophic earthquake rocked Battal, splitting open the CryptoCrypt and releasing the dread Vampyre Lord Vhadxi. It also reopened the entrance to the Underkingdom, freeing the Unlight Elves and (somewhat later) the few pure-blooded and good-souled Nevelost that remained.

Those not-quite-so-bitter pure-bloods emerged from the Underkingdom when they realized, somewhat belatedly, that the entrance was open and their dark brethren had departed. This small faction would persist in Battal until the end of time, mostly content to avoid discovery but occasionally seeking to do some good in the world. Well, Llorllthos wanted to do some good, anyway.