Great Bhaerynden

Great Bhaerynden, also referred to by the local gold dwarves as the Deepwilds, Deep Lands or simply the Deeps,Although the terms "Great Bhaerynden" and "Deep Lands" are never explicitly stated to be synonymous, the description of the latter in Dwarves Deep corresponds to the same geographic area. It is described as being "...east of the Shining Sea and south of the Sea of Fallen Stars" and "...fan out beneath the Shaar for many thousands of miles". Furthermore, the very similar "Deepwilds" the given as a dwarven name for Great Bhaerynden in Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting p. 192 and Shining South p. 160. And both sources state that the Deepfall and Wyverncaves are located in Great Bhaerynden, whereas both were previously stated in Dwarves Deep as being part of the Deep Land. was a domain of the Underdark located in the south-central region of Faerûn beneath the vast plains of Shaar.
==History==
This region was the first homeland of the dwarves, in a cavern known as Bhaerynden. However, it was later invaded and conquered by the drow when they first ventured into the Underdark in search of a realm of their own, scattering the dwarves and sending them into exile. The drow renamed their new home Telantiwar, but this kingdom didn't last.
Less than two millennia later, around , for reasons that remained unknown well into the Present Age, after the drow had torn Telantiwar apart in a civil war great magical explosions rocked the cavern of Bhaerynden and the domed ceilings of its enormous vaults came crashing down. Many of the drow were crushed beneath rocks and rubble from the rock layer above. This great collapse laid ruin to many of the shattered dwarven cities the drow had seized for Telantiwar, opening the cavern up to the sky and creating what later became known as the Great Rift. Many scholars suggested the the drow had caused the collapse by weakening the cavern roofs through excessive tunneling and an over-reliance on magic to support the roof's weight. Many gold dwarves on the other hand believed the collapse was the work of their god Moradin, crashing his mighty axe down to destroy Telantiwar.
The drow nobles that survived this disaster gathered what people, slaves, and equipment they could before fleeing elsewhere in the Underdark to find a new place to call home.
Following this there was a hectic scramble in the Underdark to lay claim to new territory. Before long dwarves returned to their ancestral homeland and established the Deep Realm, staking their claim on both the Great Rift and much of the surrounding lesser caverns and tunnels. These dwarves would become the ancestors of Faerûn's gold dwarves.
When the Spellplague struck Toril in the , great rifts opened up in the Underdark beneath the Sea of Fallen Stars, which in turn caused the collapse of great swathes of land. One of the casualties of this disaster was the Great Rift, whose western half collapsed into the deeper reaches of Great Bhaerynden, creating a huge canyon that was later dubbed Underchasm. Much of the communities in Great Bhaerynden were devastated in the wake of this formation, with numerous outposts and settlements becoming displaced. Many of the remaining drow realms in particular fell to ruin, such as Llurth Dreier. The thousands of drow that once called that city home scattered throughout Great Bhaerynden. Some moved to other drow holds, whilst others assaulted any place they thought they could conquer, with some even managing to take control of Underhome.
==Inhabitants==
Gold dwarves lived in the Great Rift and a lot of the adjoining caves. They regularly patrolled the vast caves that were outside of their control. Occasional ambitious gold dwarves would attempt to establish homesteads or mining outposts, but within a year or two dangerous creatures that lurked within the recesses of the Great Bhaerynden would always drive them back. Beyond gold dwarves, duergar could be found scattered throughout the region.
Drow and half-drow held the cities of T'lindhet and Llurth Dreier. Halflings lived in Deepburrow in Great Bhaerynden. Earth genasi, urdunnir dwarves, and many creatures of elemental earth made their home in Earth's End. They were later joined by more genasi, as well as Halruaan ethnic humans, both fleeing from the destruction of Halruaa during the Spellplague. In the Lowerdark reaches of the Great Bhaerynden, it was home to aboleths, cloakers, deepspawn, the mysterious slyth, and horrid wildlife, such as giant spiders and night slugs.
Following the Spellplague, drow clans displaced from Llurth Dreier wandered the Underchasm. These drow were referred to broadly as the "wild drow", a moniker born from their stubborn refusal to cooperate with each other enough to build any sort of major settlement.
Unlike settlements in the Northdark, the cities of this region interacted more closely with the cities above ground.
==Geographical Features==
===Abysses & Rifts===
*Chasm of the Spiders
*The Great Rift, a large rift or canyon considered to be part of the Upperdark, it was the center of gold dwarf civilization. Large portions of it were destroyed or cut off by the Spellplague in 1385 DR.
*Lightdrinker, a deep abyss and shadow crossing that formed following the Spellplague.
*Underchasm a huge canyon created by the Spellplague in 1385 DR.
===Bodies of Water===
*Darkgulf
*The Deepfall, a large underground waterfall at the northern end of the Great Rift that carried the River Shaar into the deeper depths of Great Bhaerynden.
*The Falls of Myndyp
*The Lightless Sea, also known as the Undersea.
*Riftlake, a large body of water in the Great Rift that the River Shaar originated from.
*The River of the Serpent
*The River Shaar.
*Selendar, a river formed from the water pumped out by the Pumps of Pyraddin.
===Caverns & Tunnels===
*Bluesky Cavern
*Long Road, a tunnel stretching for thousands of miles from the Deep Wastes.
*The Whistlecavern
*The Wyrmcaves, a network if interconnected caverns that were resided in by a powerful family of black dragons.
===Other Locations===
*Blackrock Anvil, a natural lava cascade.
*Fuirgar Air-Shafts, a series of passive vent shafts in the heights of Fuirgar that were created by the dwarves to bring more air down into the Deep Lands.
*Needle Leap, a natural stone bridge overtop a rift.
*Rootstalk, an enormous living fungal organism that covered every inch of a cavern that was in diameter. Much of its body was hollowed out into passages and chambers for housing humans, myconids, and other fungal parasites.
==Important Locations==
===Landmarks===
*The Gate, a gargantuan pair of heavily guarded doors in the deepest reaches of the Great Rift that seperated it from the rest of the Deep Lands.As the Great Rift is later stated on page 155 of Underdark as being located in the Upperdark, this gate most likely opens up to the Middledark or "Middle Great Bhaerynden".
* Pumps of Pyraddin, a dwarven pump system beneath the Lake of Salt that continually drained water from the springs around it down into the depths of the Great Bhaerynden.
===Realms===
*Bhaerynden, the first great kingdom of the dwarves and the namesake of the Great Bhaerynden.
*Deep Realm, the kingdom of the gold dwarves that was centered within the Great Rift.
*East Rift, a kingdom of gold dwarves that formed following the Spellplague's destruction of the Deep Realm. It was located along a shelf of the Underchasm, built atop of and within the ruins of the Great Rift.
===Settlements===
*Deepburrow, a small halfling city mostly situated above the surface on the northern frontier of Lluiren.
*Earth's End. Originally a mere adventuring outpost founded for travelers from the Elemental Plane of Earth, it became a large and vibrant community following the Spellplague.
*Fluvenilstra, a settlement in the Lowerdark that was host to the greatest abundance of edible and useful flora in Great Bhaerynden.
*Golothaer, a drow city that was part of Telantiwar.
*Helmstar, a poor independent trading outpost.
*Llurth Dreier, a city of fungi-farming drow in the Middledark that revered Ghaunadaur. Following the formation of the Underchasm it fell apart and became known as the Oozing Ruin.
*T'lindhet, another drow settlement in the Middledark. Following the formation of the Underchasm, it was the largest remaining drow enclave in Great Bhaerynden.
*Underhome, the heavily fortified capital city of the Deep Realm and the Great Rift. A few years after the Underchasm had significantly damaged the Great Rift, the city was overran by some of the drow refugees of Llurth Dreier.
*Velm's Brace, a ruined dwarven stronghold that was believed to be haunted.
*Wildstar, a small dwarven stronghold.
==Appendix==
===Notes===
===Appearances===
===References===
FR:Profondeurs sauvages
Category:Regions
Category:Locations in the Underdark
Category:Locations in Faerûn
Category:Locations on Toril
Category:Locations