Catacombs of the First Wave

The Catacombs of the First Wave are accessible from the town of Portsend from multiple entry points across the city. The Catacombs are natural formations that extend throughout the areas surrounding Portsend, with much of the area under water, extending out to to the sudden shelf drop just offshore.

Cathedral of the Deep by Randy Wilder

The Catacombs were never inhabited by the First Wave humans, but were instead the burial places of the human dead, of which there were many the first years of the First Wave. By all historical accounts, the First Wave humans did not antagonize or disrupt the dwarfs who had held the Draak'thor Massiff for eons by the time of the first human's arrival. The First Wave eventually gained numerical strength, and the humans relocated to the Northern continent of Arrhynsia where they formed the Northern Kingdom (eventually becoming the @North). The Catacombs, with their dead, were left behind in this first foothold humans made on the continent.

Inside an Ancient Tomb

The picture below is an outlying section of the Catacombs. Tombs become nore elaborate as one approaches the heart of the Catacombs referred to as the spectacular "Cathedral of the Deep" where ancient wards hold back the ocean from entering through giant windows that look out onto the Ur Hilgarria. These simple rough hewn shelves were the resting places of those who were unable to afford a place for their loved ones closer to the more welcoming areas of the tomb.