Edonilche'el

The sprawling metropolis of **Edonilche'el** is the largest known city in the whole of the Underdark. The heart of Drow culture and politics, Edonilche'el, often simply called **Edonil**, serves as a de facto capital of sorts for Asul's Drow.

Grand, sprawling, and often breathtakingly gorgeous, the city of Edonilche'el is in many ways a reflection of its inhabitants; a decadent place of stunning beauty and terrifying depravity, where a veneer of culture and nobility masks a stinking heart of savagery and brutality.

## Description

The Drow 'capital' of Edonilche'el is by far the largest known (an important distinction as rumors claim larger Aboleth settlements may exist within the unexplored depths of the Sunless Sea) city in the whole of the Underdark, in terms of both population and size. Indeed, in known Asul Edonilche'el is rivaled only by the surface city of Longmen.

Like most Drow settlements, Edonilche'el exists in a constant, often violent, power struggle between various local factions, and different parts of the city are often under different rule at different times. Unlike other Drow cities, however, no one Drow has yet dared proclaim herself Valsharess of Edonilche'el, and instead the various factions within the city carve out their own claims within the city. Indeed, the general belief among the Drow is that the Valsharess of Edonilche'el would essentially be the *Nei* (Empress) and as such only the *rightful* ruler of all Drow would dare proclaim herself Valsharess of the city.

### **Chathery**

The district of **Chathery**, ruled by House Rendanvlos, is situated in the vault's northwest, around a series of great geothermal rifts and vents. These fissures and cracks split the district into several smaller areas and provide both heat and light to the city. While the heat these rifts provide is felt in neighboring districts as a pleasant warmth, in Chathey it is far more intense. These rifts also serve as dumping points for garbage and refuse, and countless rumors and legends have grown up about what sort of horrors lurk in their depths.

### **Harglukphalar**

North of the vault containing Edonilche'el's bulk, and connected by a single and well-defended tunnel, is a smaller cavern containing **Harglukphalar**. Formerly a Duergar fortress, this area was conquered by the Drow of Great House Quarthas and now serves as their seat of power. Brutalist and utilitarian, the aesthetics and architecture of the district suit the demeanor of its new masters as well as it did its old ones.

### **Harlolath**

**Harlolath** is a region of Edonilche'el under the rule of House Barra'che and conveniently demarcated from the rest of the city by a river. Few, if any, c'rintri make their homes in the domed buildings of this district and the shebali who live here tend to be among the poorest. In Harlolath, shadows thicken and writhe as though living things, flowing into one another and twisting about in the gloom.

### **Triankdarla**

The ceiling above Harlolath bears many stalactites of great size. It is here upon the ceiling that the House Barra'che ruled district of **Triankdarla** is built. The district consists not of the domed buildings below, but of hollowed out stalactites, and palatial estates built along the sides of stalactites, suspended between them, or directly upon relatively flat and open areas of ceiling. Numerous bridges connect these stalactites and constructs to one-another creating a dizzying maze of walkways. A wealthier district, Triankdarla is populated almost entirely by c'rintri, not counting slaves of course, and garbage, corpses, and other refuse are often dumped down into Harlolath below.