Chapter 2: Chapter 2: A high roost must first start down on the lowest soil

— From the hearts of the largest cities, to the deepest, most obscure corners of the world, dungeons exist.

Dungeons are important natural locations, where the magical energies of leylines come together, mixing in with the landscape at the point of conversion. These magical pressures result in the organic creation of a ‘dungeon-core’, the literal beating heart of a dungeon.

It is assumed that dungeon-cores can be underway in the form of a physical avatar, or they can simply possess their dungeon, thereby leaving their body and living as the dungeon itself. We do not yet understand why they would choose to do this. But it is imagined to be a very strange, abstract sensory experience.

A dungeon’s purpose, like with any other living creature, is to explore, consume and expand, in order to fulfill its natural drives.

Whereas a living animal might seek food to produce new offspring and thereby further its lineage, a dungeon will consume resources from anything ranging to dirt, all the way to the bodies of the dead, in order to grow and expand itself outward.

A dungeon-core serves a dual purpose as the lifeline of a dungeon, but it also acts as the head of the snake and manages all processes related to the dungeon's decisions as well, similar to the brain of a person.

Dungeons are highly adaptive during their birth, seemingly taking on any specialization, depending on their location. But after specializing, dungeons remain rigid in their patterns for the rest of their lifespans.

A young dungeon-core, who has specialized in the attribute of FIRE, for example, will always head further down this path. Dungeon-cores do not seem to have free choice over their attribute, but rather it will be given to them at birth as if it were the color of their eyes or hair.

Author’s Note: FIRE dungeons are somewhat rarer and are typically found down in old cave-systems or in the far-lands of the north-eastern regions. But they make for a striking example for this explanation.