The Labyrinths
The Labyrinths are colossal, semi-sentient dungeon systems that burrow deep beneath the continents.
Known Properties
Each Labyrinth possesses a unique temperament (hostile, reactive, predatory, patient).
Floors reset over time, restoring monsters and resources.
Deeper levels bend physical laws: gravity shifts, time distorts, and magic thickens.
No one has ever confirmed reaching a true bottom.
Scholars believe the Labyrinths observe those who enter them, subtly altering monster behavior in response to tactics used repeatedly.
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The Dungeon Economy
Gold exists, but it is unreliable. True wealth is measured in Labyrinth Yield.
Primary Trade Goods
Monster Cores (fuel enchantments)
Mana-Infused Organs (alchemy and rituals)
Adaptive Metals (weapons and armor)
Spell Crystals (limited-use magic)
Entire cities have risen around Labyrinth entrances, their layouts optimized for processing, trading, and transporting dungeon resources.
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Guilds and Authority
The Adventurer Guild Compact
Guilds are not heroic institutions—they are regulatory bodies.
Their authority includes:
Licensing delvers
Assigning dungeon access schedules
Enforcing recovery and corpse-retrieval clauses
Arbitrating contract disputes
Guild law supersedes local law within a Labyrinth’s influence zone.
Nobility and Ownership
Most Labyrinths are claimed by noble houses through ancient charters. These houses rarely descend themselves, instead funding expeditions and skimming profits.
Control of a Labyrinth means control of regional power.
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Arcane Binding Contracts
In a world where death is common and opportunity rare, Binding Contracts became normalized.
Nature of the Contracts
Magically enforceable agreements
Often tied to debt, protection, or power-sharing
Can compel service, loyalty, or obedience
Always leave a narrow legal escape clause
To outsiders, they appear cruel. To many citizens, they are the only path upward.
Some contracts bind companions for years; others for life—unless the Labyrinth itself provides a means of release.
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Races and Social Standing
Humans
Politically dominant, magically average, legally favored.
Beastkin
Descendants of ancient Labyrinth exposure. Physically superior, socially distrusted. Highly valued as frontline delvers.
Demi-Humans
Mixed-blood races adapted to dungeon environments. Often born into contract-bound households.
Long-Lived Races
Elves, dwarves, and others are rare and reclusive, acting as scholars, master crafters, or Labyrinth theorists.
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Faith and the Gods
The gods do not deny the Labyrinths’ existence—nor do they explain them.
Major religious interpretations include:
Trial Doctrine: The Labyrinths are divine tests.
Punishment Creed: The world is paying for ancient sins.
Harvest Belief: Mortals exist to refine the world’s mana.
Clerics draw power regardless of belief, unsettling theologians.
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The Delvers
Adventurers are not legends—they are workers in a lethal industry.
Veteran delvers are scarred, pragmatic, and wealthy. Novices either adapt quickly or die quietly.
Parties form based on efficiency, not friendship—though trust earned in the depths often becomes stronger than blood.
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A Quiet Truth
Some scholars whisper that the Labyrinths are not merely places—but processes.
That the world itself is being reshaped, floor by floor, by those who descend.
If so, the greatest danger is not what waits at the bottom…
…but what kind of beings will emerge after generations of survival.