With just a week until the Valentine's Day Weekend Launch Event for Arelith's new city of Guldorand, we take an extensive look at the 'Deep Wells' beneath the city. Far larger than any similar area on the server, they also have a distinct narrative and utilize a whole new approach to dungeon design on Arelith.

“What are the Deep Wells? I get asked that almost daily...

What they are, exactly, is as mysterious now as it was during the time of Alamsidar, but I can at least share his tale, and in doing so explain why the place has attracted so much attention from Evermeet, and indeed many other moon elves who now flock to the fledgling city of Guldorand and its newly built Elven Quarter.

There is a period in Elven History known as the 'First Flowering' where the first realms of the elves came to exist on Toril, and in one of these realms, that of Shantel Othreier, there existed a tale, or rather a series of them.

They concerned an individual named the 'Shepherd Alamsidar', a great elven sage, leader and explorer who led many of the moon elves to then unexplored corners of Faerûn so that they in turn may settle there.

His stories almost, not exclusively, revolve around his leading a group of moon elves to settle an island 'at the edge of the world', and the discovery of the 'Endless' Wells; the Alwcalala Amaccla.”

“You must understand this all a very long time ago, certainly well over twenty thousand years, and with Shantel Othreier itself destroyed during the Crown Wars, the tales of Shepherd Alamsidar and the Amaccla were a myth, a poorly documented footnote in the history of a dead realm. Those few that studied these stories presumed them to be a fiction, one of the many stories told to the children of Shantar, the Alwcalala Amaccla themselves, were never thought of as a real place, but as a narrative device, and quite frankly they had ever reason to think so."

"You see, the Wells were an endless, almost mystical series of caverns that extended, infinitely – and I do not use that word lightly- beneath the isle. In some tales the Shepherd and his fellowship would discover ancient ruins or strange creatures, while in others the wells took on the quality of a dreamscape – allegorical tales of them meeting themselves, learning great life-lessons or overcoming eldritch powers of the earth. In many the exploration of the Alwcalala Amaccla brought them to different worlds by means of strange portals, or emerging from a cave to find themselves standing beneath 'alien' skies.”

“The riddle as to what they are will likely never be more than theories, but I should start by explaining why both myself, and more importantly the powers of Evermeet became convinced that these were indeed the Amaccla

It was not long into the first excavations of the city that the remains on an ancient Elven settlement were discovered. As I'm sure you can imagine this halted construction for some time, as they were carefully studied. From studying a few inscriptions, fragments of pottery and the like, it was relatively straightforward to classify it as a previously undiscovered colony of Shantel Othreier – a fascinating discovery in its own right, of course, but hardly one to set hearts racing.

It was a few years later, when the sewers and catacombs were being laid that the Deep Wells themselves were discovered. It very soon became clear that much of what they are defied logic. A mixture of natural and artificial caverns that linked ever deeper, seemingly without any unifying purpose.

It was only when an ancient elven burial site of a warrior of Shantel was discovered, one that bore an inscription that she was 'Beloved of Alamsidar' that many came to believe they had discovered the Alwcalala Amaccla.”

“Was it conclusive proof? No, it was argued that the phrase 'Beloved of Alamsidar' merely meant that as a child she loved the tales of him, as many did, or that it referred to another Alamsidar entirely. Still, that all changed when explorers came not only to realise just how far the Wells extended, but began to discover strange portals, some so large they filled entire caverns. These almost entirely matched the tales of the Shepherd Alamsidar that most of the existing doubt was eradicated, and once they were recognised as such by Evermeet resources were poured into the city, and moon elves from all across Toril became coming to settle in the city.

It was around this time that the dangers of the Deep Wells became apparent; the deeper explorers reached the more dangerous they came, culminating in an attack by a Shadow Dragon from the depths. Nowadays exploration is the work of adventurers only, though we have been able to use the power of those portals to construct 'Rods of Recall' to help prevent them becoming lost down there."

"Few of the monsters down there, are native to the Alwcalala Amaccla, but are themselves seemingly either explorers, or unwittingly drawn from far off realms. All are hostile of course, but those able to communicate have indicated they arrived via some unexpected opening or portal.”

“I should probably mention at this stage, that while the exact nature or purpose of the Wells remains a mystery, they do go some way to explain the evolution of Arelith, to be exact the staggering diversity of creatures to be found here. It is highly likely that many have their origin in the Amaccla, and eventually found their way out to populate the larger isle.”

“Ah, of course I knew we'd get to this, you have your own theories on the Deep Wells. Then let's hear them shall we? I can then tell you which others currently have the most traction.”

“The Underdark? That does seem the most obvious answer doesn't it? No, while creatures of the Underdark can be found there from time to time, there is no indication that the Wells intersect with that region of the Underdark beneath Arelith. A good thing too, as if true the people of this city would be staving off drow on a daily basis."

"That it doesn't connect to the Underdark is revealing in itself, and many have inferred from that fact that the Deep Wells are not physically part of Toril at all, at least not in the conventional sense.”

“Well, of course a planar nexus is everyone's second guess, so I'm not surprised you would raise it. In truth it is also one of the most convincing explanations even among the experts, though thus far it cannot be confirmed. Many of the portals discovered in the Wells are inoperative, at least by our explorers, so it is impossible to say just where they lead, while those that do function inevitably lead to other chambers of the Amaccla. Certainly some of the creatures found there do have their origins in other planes, but not all, so it is likely planar travel is but one aspect of an even more complex structure.

It has been posited that what we are dealing with an instance of 'Incremental Planes', which is itself an contentious hypothesis. The general gist of such theories is that certain places do not exist within any single plane, but rather are bore holes between them, the further one travels in either direction the greater the influence of whichever plane one is approaching. The only concrete example of such phenomena are the tunnels left by the god Urdlen, a great while mole that digs its way between the the Golden Hills, the Abyss and the Prime, though the extent and scale of the Amaccla rules out the work of the Crawler Below.”

“Of the current theories three are most dominant. One states that the Alwcalala Amaccla are an artificial construct of some powerful entity or demi-power, one that used the isle of Arelith as its own personal playground in its pre-history, and that the Wells themselves were simply the means by which it would fill it; a menagerie to be called upon as needed whenever it wished to repopulate the play board.

In this explanation the Shepherd Alamsidar and his settlers stumbled into the domain of this old god, and explain both Alamsidar's disappearance and the obvious lack of any such being in modern times as the result of some great battle between the two, that the Shepherd and his fellowship defeated this entity at the cost of their own lives, and in doing so paved the way for the civilisation of Arelith. It's a narrative that plays well with the bards of Guldorand, though has little by way of concrete proof.

Another frequently cited possibility is that the Deep Wells are not the Alwcalala Amaccla at all, but an elaborate hoax perpetrated by some great enemy of Elven kind. Certainly their discovery has lured many elves to this isle, and while it may sound absurd that any trap could ever be so elaborate, it is worth remembering the nature of our world, and the great powers at work here."

"The third most common explanation, and the one I find most convincing, is that, however strange it may appear, there is no mystery at the heart of the Amaccla; that what they appear at face value, is precisely what they are. Not everything requires some great tale to explain away its origin, and the Wells may be a naturally occurring, if poorly understood phenomenon, and that the tales of the Shepherd Alamsidar, while based upon fact, have also been subject to a great deal of creative license.”

“Interestingly, there are those out there still who might remember such times; dragons and other such creatures who had dealings with Arelith long before it had the name. Few are approachable of course, and those that have been asked have reportedly been unable or unwilling to answer any question related to the Amaccla.”

“Anyway, I hope that answered at least some of your questions. If you find yourselves looking for more answers I would suggest you look to the adventurers that now explore them. I expect a great many more theories and tales of the Deep Wells are yet to be told, and more secrets discovered. I too, of course, shall eagerly anticipate them.” - The Alwcalala Amaccla (Deep Wells of Guldorand), as dictated by the High Delver Perdan Carmenor

THE CREATURES OF THE DEEP WELLS

In addition to the chasms themselves the Deep Wells is home to a number of dungeon complexes, and with dozens of new creatures added, many using whole new creature skins to Arelith, there is much for both old and new players to experience.

The Cult of the Dragon

The Doomsayers of the Promised End

ARELITH'S 'ROGUELIKE'

While not procedurally generated, the Deep Wells in Guldorand were largely inspired by the 'Roguelike' games of the 80s, and 90s (Angband, Umoria etc). These games have the character delve into a near infinite dungeon beneath a town, facing unique monsters and using a 'Scroll of Return' when they have reached their limits. The Deeps Wells of Arelith have no easy exit points, no teleport, and are designed to be an endurance test, a dungeon to get lost in. Using our 'Rod of Recall' a player can, at any time, opt to use it and return to the safety of the city above. We will go live with approximately 30 levels of dungeon, and plan to continue adding ever more complex lairs and unique encounters as time goes on.

Angband is one of the most popular 'Roguelike' Dungeon Crawlers

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