SPOILERS AHEAD! If we think about the Big Rubble as a sprawling collection of dungeons, it has four basic levels:
Above Ground
These are mostly the ruins of buildings built over 700 years ago. Some of these ruins have been refurbished as fortificatied dwellings (best examples are probably Flintnail Temple, Mani’s Ruins, Old Flintnail Fort, Opili’s Fort, Real City, and the Zebra Fort) or are intact enough to be inhabited by humans, trolls, or even monsters such as broo or ogres.
For me the vibe is very much that of the Fallout series, with ruined buildings refitted for the purposes of newer (and far less skilled) inhabitants.
The Garden is a unique above ground area, inhabited by aldryami. It is a long overgrown Aldryami Garden, with nearly seven centuries of growth.
The Puzzle Canal is another unique above ground area, a network of canals that connect to the Zola Fel River.
Underground City
Beneath the ruins are basements, cellars, drainage tunnels, etc., as well as passages built by the dwarfs to connect the areas of Old Pavis. After the fall of the city in 940, many inhabitants sheltered in the basements and converted them to residences, expanding them, building new passages, etc creating an Underground City (or more precisely cities),. Shrines and catacombs were built during this time, primarily to Pavis and Flintnail, but also to less savory deities and spirits. Some basements have sub-basements.
Initially much of these areas were inhabited by the human survivors in Old Pavis, but that population contracted during three centuries of isolation. When the trolls conquered Old Pavis, many areas of the Underground City were taken over by trolls, trollkin, and cave trolls, and many others were abandoned and later claimed by broo, ogres, and even worse things like vampires or other monsters. It is believed that the Black Fang cult is centered in a large basement network in the Main Ruins (although it could be elsewhere).
It is thought that much of Manside, Temple Hill, the Troll Stronglands, and Griffin Gate areas have vast basement and sub-basement levels. There are a few other locations with known basement and subbasement areas such as Blind King’s Castle and the northern tip of Ogre Island.
Quarries and Dwarf Tunnels
The dwarfs built quarries and mines to gain stone and other materials out of the remains of the Faceless Statue. Although the most active period was in the first century of the city’s existence, the dwarfs have continued to work over the centuries. Many of these quarries and underground mines have been abandoned by the dwarves and are either empty or home to something else.
It is widely known that dwarf tunnels connect all the major dwarf mines with each other and with Dwarftown in New Pavis. It is thought that many of these tunnels are protected by the dwarfs, the most important by iron dwarfs, but others protected by fiendish traps.
Some of these tunnels go quite deep and are beneath the basements and subbasements. Remember the dwarfs have had many centuries to build these – and they are a very patient species!
Other Underground
Krarsht tunnels. At some point in the history of Old Pavis, a Krarsht temple was established beneath the Devil’s Playground. Many date this to after the fall of Pavis, although some think this may be much older. Rumors of a vast and deep network of krarshtkid tunnels, with temples to the Lords of Terror, spawning holes for monsters, and worse. Among the trolls and dwarfs there are stories of desperate battles against chaos beneath the ground.
There may be other levels as well, localized in places such as Blind King’s Castle or elsewhere.
From a design and play perspective, the Big Rubble lets you introduce through adventures the trolls, the elves, dwarves, broo and other chaos, and even nomads. Plus it is a good place to introduce the Lightbringers and Yelmalio cults to new players, plus a few strange cults like Pavis, Lanbril, Black Fang, etc. You can even slowly introduce more complex concepts such as Illumination, the Lunar Way, etc.
And New Pavis lets you introduce the bigger picture. Argrath and the Hero Wars, the oppression of the Lunar Empire, and so on. Plus it is filled with temples, merchants, libraries, inns, and trainers – so a great place to spend your loot and plan your next adventure.
A cross section of the Big Rubble might be very interesting!
Maybe even something like this:
The sheer scale of the underground Big Rubble is staggering. The Underground City covers at least 375 hectares, maybe more. That’s bigger than Republican Rome within the Servian Walls. All underground and some areas have several levels of sub-basements. I haven’t carefully run the numbers, but a quick eyeball suggests that the Underground City is much bigger than all of the levels of Arden Val combined.
There are many kilometres of dwarf tunnels and mines.
And god-knows how many kilometres of krarshtkid tunnels exist beneath the Rubble.
In short there is plenty of space to add to your Big Rubble. Want a vast haunted catacomb now filled with undead and ghosts? No problem!
Want a strange underground temple to some evil Second Age cult (maybe even a Chaos god with a new mask) with a ghostly god-spirit, treasures, and secretive worshipers? No problem!
Want a secretive conspiracy that threatens the people of New Pavis, Sartar, or wherever? No problem – put them beneath the Big Rubble!
Other ideas – want to get some really good loot or artefacts that helped Pavis survive before the Troll Occupation? One good place to go is to the cellars beneath Temple Hill. The only problem is that Temple Hill is occupied by hundreds of trolls. A troll clan nearly four times the size of the Sazdorf clan rule Temple Hill and its subterranean levels. So you better be really sneaky and have a good idea what you are doing! Maybe the LM temple has an old map of Temple Hill from the Opili Fort years?
Anything digging below the level of the Zola Fell will likely be subject to water infiltration and eventually to flooding unless pumps are being used and maintained. And yet it is certain that there are dwarf made tunnels that go under the Zola fel. Those dwarfs must have made them well.
Remember that the Bowel Stones are among the organ stones used to construct the city, used for sewers, plumbing, and dungeons. No doubt bowel stones were used to line any tunnels beneath the river.
