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Those Below, What We Know (I)
Since the enemy that we know as 'those below' seem to only act through vassals, it is hard to say when they were encountered first. Seemingly random events in the past might have been more or less their doing unbeknown to anyone. In the light of recent events theories have spread that link disasters of the past and monster incursions to the doings of 'those below'. In fact, since no one was expecting a guiding hand behind those events, there is no evidence to support that. The great cave-in of the starsilver claim is cited the most amongst such instances. Indeed the few tunnels that remain from these mines are overrun by creatures that are counted to the forces of those below. Still, it's possible that they are simply lured by seismic activity and just moved in. The gnomes were the first to make out patterns in certain events and attacks on their deepest hold. When their counter efforts were met in kind and often countered, they began to suspect a guiding force behind all of this. Their concentrated efforts were answered by massive counterblows that required massive coordination and logistics, not available to the mostly primitive creatures they fought. Even countermeasures against cave-ins and volcanic activity were sabotaged. Despite all gnomish efforts the enemy activity just grew until the gnomes had to pull back when the effort and casualties were no longer worth the gain from those bases. At first only random holds in the deepest of regions were lost. The frequency of occurrences did rise and at some point establishing new outposts did no longer cover up the losses. The gnomes retreated from the deeper areas and put more efforts into new bases closer to the surface to compensate. With their somewhat nomadic lifestyle the gnomes were able to handle the new situation quite well but since the threat is spreading more and more, they see themselves under pressure. With the deep mining on the rise for the last several hundred years, the dwarfish forces on the other hand are beginning to encounter more and more of the minions from below on their own. Mining technology that was safe and reliable for millennia have started to fail, due to the unnatural seismic activity and rise of lava levels.
