Gunblin, the Illuminated City-or De Sole, the Circus City. Located beneath the crust of Bygate Lake, the city is just nestled in the Underdark. Far from plain sight, only reachable through the underwater passages of Bygate itself, as well as small, secret tunnels leading the the rest of the underground region. Even after 10,000 years, the city has maintained its reputation as the mere tip of the iceberg that is the dramatic macabre. Exactly as the name suggests, there are clowns, exotic animals, acrobats, unwilling performers, and all manner of entertainment to be found in its halls. Soft azure motes captured in steel lanterns illuminate the many tents and stone-brick housing of De Sole's most illustrious and semi-permanent residents. Indeed, even the city center is naught but a massive, artfully decorated tent whose walls perpetually shift and wave along the ground, inviting all to stride inside and enjoy the absolutely fun and hilarious delights the city has to offer.
Culture and Values
Outwardly, the city shines brightly with its nearly five thousand-year history of pulling absolute filth from the depths of the Underdark, adorning them in fine silks and makeup to cover up the filth, of course-then let them earn their keep entertaining the well-to-do of Gnublun. For these lackeys, the path to success may be paved through song, dance, juggling, ventriloquism, drama, ducking and dodging the fatal sting of a Giant Scorpion, vilely contorting your body in high-flying maneuvers, or even telling hilarious stories about your past in the horrid depths of the Underdark. What does the past matter when one has made it to the Upperdark? Where your handler, director, owner, will lead your way to a better life on the Surface, even. Even a taste of the Sun is priceless to the lackeys of Gnublin.
For the Upper Class and tourists to De Sole, there is gold to be made. Decadence to be savored. Misunderstood artists with unspeakable ideas who must be indulged with the lives-sorry, bodies-oh, that came out wrong-talents of the lackeys who have absolutely no choice in the matter. For they are naught but dirt-no, even less than dirt, born beneath it and therefore must earn their way to the Surface...and freedom. Many lackeys have gone their entire lifetimes dreaming of a blinding orb that could warm their faces and alight their path. Many have died in the lantern-light, alone and forgotten.
Geography, Flora, and Fauna
Gunublin is in the utmost reaches of the Upperdark, as close to the surface as can be and the most well-known path to reach it from almost anywhere in the Underdark. It boasts a centralized-if slightly westward-location on the main continent of Ashirma. The caverns are cool, if slightly humid, but can grow suffocatingly hot should they become packed during tourist season.
This means that all manner of mushrooms and flowers that flourish in darkness ought to be picked before patrons flood the city. This diet forms the staple of the lackeys, whilst this ill-begotten surface food is reserved for those few Upper-Class patrons and owners who direct the many troupes of De Sole.
Political Structure and Economics
No single circus troupe holds all the power in the Circus City. Instead, a varietous enclave of owners and their respective troupes hold sway by way of entertaining the city and generating wealth by the size of the audience. The bigger the audience an owner can draw with their lackeys, the more tickets bought, the more seats filled, and the more attention drawn to their shows. Therefore, they gain influence. However, much backstage infighting, sabotage, and even assassination prevents a single owner from permanently outgrowing the others. Like crabs in a barrel-or worms in the dirt-each owner drags one another back beneath the earth where they belong. Externally, the owners have ambitions to usurp Owl's Crest as the premier source of entertainment on the continent. While the Storied Kingdom utlizes such fruitless concepts as creative liberty, the illustrious and dank City of Gunublin boasts a strong labor force and daily quantity of shows that cannot be matched by any other in Ashirma. Voluminous output is what its known for, and its lackeys are always capable-if not always willing-to provide.
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