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    Canonfire :: View topic - The Sunless Sea
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    The Sunless Sea
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    Master Greytalker

    Joined: May 12, 2005
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    From: Woonsocket, RI, USA

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    Sat Mar 07, 2009 1:32 pm  
    The Sunless Sea

    Has anyone made an effort to reconcile the Sunless Sea from GDQ 1–7, from Sargent's Night Below, and from Wolfgang Baur's "Kingdom of the Ghouls" into a single, cohesive version?
    Grandmaster Greytalker

    Joined: Aug 05, 2004
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    Sat Mar 07, 2009 8:15 pm  

    Not sure if this is germane, but the Sunless Sea is featured in some 3rd Edition modules and some various Dragon articles to the point that I think it is a nearly generic term for an underground ocean found in the undergrounds of multiple settings. Or I could have it wrong.
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    GreySage

    Joined: Aug 03, 2001
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    Sat Mar 07, 2009 9:23 pm  

    Yes, I made a map. It's not to scale, though.

    Master Greytalker

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    Sun Mar 08, 2009 6:56 am  

    That's f***ing beautiful, rasgon! It's pretty close to what I'd envisioned anyway. The only thing I'm still trying to account for is the orientation of the Night Below map, which would seemingly put Haranshire to the west of the Hellfurnaces. Confused
    GreySage

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    Sun Mar 08, 2009 7:23 am  

    DMPrata wrote:
    That's f***ing beautiful, rasgon! It's pretty close to what I'd envisioned anyway. The only thing I'm still trying to account for is the orientation of the Night Below map, which would seemingly put Haranshire to the west of the Hellfurnaces. Confused


    I wasn't sure where Haranshire was relative to the Sunless Sea; I had assumed it was directly above, which would mean if the map above had north pointing toward the top, it'd be northeast of the Vault of the Drow.

    The White Kingdom is supposed to have its entrance in the Yeomanry in the mountains west of Loftwick (the adventure is somewhat vague on this).

    If all else fails, I suppose you could put a teleportation zone or magical portal somewhere in order to make sure the PCs get where they need to go.
    Master Greytalker

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    Sun Mar 08, 2009 9:29 am  

    rasgon wrote:
    I wasn't sure where Haranshire was relative to the Sunless Sea; I had assumed it was directly above, which would mean if the map above had north pointing toward the top, it'd be northeast of the Vault of the Drow.

    The White Kingdom is supposed to have its entrance in the Yeomanry in the mountains west of Loftwick (the adventure is somewhat vague on this).

    If all else fails, I suppose you could put a teleportation zone or magical portal somewhere in order to make sure the PCs get where they need to go.


    Hmmm... If I read the GDQ map correctly, the Sunless Sea would be in the Hellfurnaces six hexes due south of Loftwick on the Darlene map. "Kingdom of the Ghouls" places the svirfneblin stronghold of Glimmerfell (and the Sunless Sea) in the Crystalmists west of Loftwick; unless the Sunless Sea is hundreds of miles across, that would have to be changed accordingly. The best fit for Haranshire seems to be the southern Yeomanry / northern Hold; perhaps that map could be flipped east-west. Thoughts?
    Adept Greytalker

    Joined: May 14, 2002
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    Sun Mar 08, 2009 10:58 am  

    Quote:
    unless the Sunless Sea is hundreds of miles across, that would have to be changed accordingly.
    well if it really is a "sea" then that shouldn't be to much of a problem. the main difficulty I see is that Sargent took what could better be described as a descent sized sunless lake, and applied the name Sunless Sea to it. Sargent's "Sunless Sea" is roughly 25 miles by 25 miles, or 625 square miles... for comparison the Great Salt Lake covers around 1700 square miles and Lake Superior about 31,820 square miles... the Caspian Sea on the other hand covers ~ 143,244 square miles, while the Black Sea covers about 168,495 square miles.

    Doing a quick internet search the only "Sea" I found that was as small as or smaller then the Sunless Sea from the night below was the Dead Sea, which is roughly half the size of Sargent's sunless sea, however it was called a sea in antiquity not because of its size but because it was salt water (the sunless Sea in Night Below is specifically noted to be freshwater)... if it were to be discovered and named today (or even in historical times) it would probably be classified as a salt lake.
    Master Greytalker

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    Mon Mar 09, 2009 12:31 pm  

    If you found it underground, I bet Sea might seem much more appropriate though.
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Sat Mar 14, 2009 7:57 am  

    For good measure, one could throw in the information regarding the Darksea, from the 1e Dungeoneers Survival Guide.
    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:35 am  

    Is the Sunless Sea freshwater, saltwater, or brackish?
    Black Hand of Oblivion

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    Wed Mar 25, 2009 1:22 pm  

    I think it is freshwater, but considering its location its mineral content is probably higher than normal(all the "stuff" dripping off the stalactites into it). There is water flow into(and likely out of) the Sunless Sea, so I wouldn't think it would be too brackish, if at all.

    Maldin probably knows all about underground water content, being the rock grubber geologist that he is, so perhaps he will poke his head in here and lecture. Happy
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    Journeyman Greytalker

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    Thu Jul 23, 2009 7:45 am  

    The information in GDQ1-7 "Queen of the Spiders" is spotty, at best. Are there other canon references that I may be overlooking?
    CF Admin

    Joined: Jun 29, 2001
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    Thu Jul 23, 2009 8:23 pm  

    Aeolius wrote:
    The information in GDQ1-7 "Queen of the Spiders" is spotty, at best. Are there other canon references that I may be overlooking?


    Zavoda to the rescue:

    Quote:

    Sunless Sea (Underoerth)[RVR]
    D1 - IBC
    D1-2 - 14
    D2 - IBC
    D3 - IBC,22
    DRG#209 - 13
    DRG#285 - 66
    DUN#70 - 51,52,62,65,66,72
    GDQ - 88

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