The Flame Below

Stub-class article · First seen: pre-campaign brief · Last seen: pre-campaign brief

The Flame Below is, in the world brief, “a primordial force said to dream within the earth’s molten veins”, the source of the molten emberite that powers the Everflame Forges of Khaldun Forgehold. The brief does not say whether it is a god, a being or a figure of speech, and no session has taken the question up. It is world-brief canon only; the party has not visited Khaldun.

Overview

The Flame Below appears in the world brief in one sentence about Khaldun’s industry: the Everflame forges that line the main halls are “each powered by channels of molten emberite drawn from the Flame Below, a primordial force said to dream within the earth’s molten veins”. That is all the brief says of it, and no session has mentioned it.

Known traits

  • A force. The brief’s word is “force”, with the modifier “primordial”. It does not call the Flame Below a person, a place or an institution.
  • It dreams. The verb is the brief’s, and it puts the dreaming “within the earth’s molten veins”.
  • The source of emberite. The molten emberite that fuels the Everflame Forges is drawn from it.
  • A Khaldun belief. The “said to” is a hedge: the brief reports what Khaldun says of the Flame, not a confirmed fact.
  • Not stated. The brief does not say whether the Flame Below is a god, a sleeping being, a primordial in the cosmological sense or a poetic name for the mountain’s heat. It gives it no clergy, and does not say how it relates to the voices in the Emberdeep.

Relationships

  • Everflame Forges and Emberite. The forges run on emberite drawn from it.
  • Emberdeep. The brief reports voices there warning of “something vast stirring in the molten dark”, which the dwarves ignore, confident that while their oaths hold, the Everflame will never die. It does not say the voices are the Flame Below’s.
  • Embermantle Clan and Great Guilds of Khaldun. The authorities that run the forges and the city that depends on them.
  • Runeworks. The brief has runesmiths quench hot steel in blessed oil; it does not link the oil to the Flame.

Notable named figures

None.

History in the campaign

Not yet seen in play.

Status

As of session 23. Off-screen and undefined. The Flame Below has never been named at the table, and the party has not visited Khaldun. The question of what it is stays open, and is tracked in Open Threads.

See also

References

  1. ^ : DM world brief only; not yet appeared in any recap.
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