Gnomekin: The Underground Highway

The Underground Highway is a vast network of subterranean tunnels, rivers, and passageways that extends throughout the continent of Talislanta. Ranging in depth from a few dozen feet to several hundred feet below the surface, the Highway is by no means uniform in construction or design. Some of the tunnels are barely five feet in diameter; others are wide enough to allow passage of a landark. Some run at a consistent depth for miles on end, while others run uphill and down, winding like serpents through the subterranean depths.

Such inconsistancies can be attributed to the diverse methods used to create the passageways that together comprise the Underground Highway. It is estimated that no more than a third of the tunnels were constructed by artificial means. Of these, most found in western Talislanta can be attributed to the Gnomekin, or in the east, the Vajra. The smooth, square-walled tunnels found in some places are also of artificial construction, though no one knows who made these passages, or when they were constructed. As much as 40% of the system can be attributed to the burrowings patterns of giant land kra. Geophages, subterranoids, and earth demons account for perhaps another 10%. The rest of the tunnels are believed to have been formed by underground rivers, lava flows, and other types of natural seismic and geological activity.

Of all the Talislantan races it is likely that none knows more about the Underground Highway the Gnomekin. Their geomancers were instrumental in opening the large section of highway that leads from Durne to the city of Cymril, which has been used as a major trade route for over two hundred years. This section of the Highway measures over thirty feet in diameter, and runs at a fairly consistent depth of one hundred and forty feet. The surface is smooth, and suitable for use by wagons and mounts; the walls and ceilings, hewed from solid bedrock, are rough in texture but structurally very sound. The passage intersects with two other serviceable roadways, one leading to Vardune and Taz, and the other to Sindar, Kasmir, and Astar.

The Gnomekin began a concerted effort to map the full extent of the Underground Highway in the year 607. To date, they have charted at least 70% of the tunnels that extend beneath the Seven Kingdoms, and have surveyed parts of the system extending as far east as the Volcanic Hills, as far north as the borders of Narandu, and as far south as the borders of the Dark Coast. Maps and geomantic studies of the Underground Highway may be purchased in the city of Durne. The work of surveying the entire Highway continues apace, and has generated considerable demand for qualified surveyors, geomancers, and mercenary retainers.

© 1994 SMS

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