The Endless Dance

The Endless Dance—referred to as Tel'Pennalilt in drow Elvish—is a vast and yawning thousand-mile cavern, spanning a seemingly infinite open space within the Gloom. The upper ceiling of the cave is layered with moonstones and gems that glitter in reflection of the light from those living below, and the silvery mists that drift through the open space in a twirling pattern give the region its name.
The drow majority live in elegant cities above the mists, with the moonstone ceiling barely visible up above. Peoples who live in the Dance outside of the cities include flying and gliding species that live on massive stalactites or stalagmites, underground triton and aquatics that provide trade with the oceans, and hunters in the fringe caves who bring back food for the populace—an ugly job that is unfavored... but necessary.
Tel’Pennalilt is wholly isolated from the Brights, and very few traders from the region venture out to the other regions of the Gloom, but they make a point to be welcoming to visiting dignitaries.
Tel’Pennalilt lives on the food hunted by the Loathful in the Hollows and uses the material traded by Skolos and Stalas to build elaborate structural works of art. As most of the drow eschew light sources that exacerbate their sensitive eyes and as a consequence do not perceive color, sculpture and architecture are the most popular visual art form in the Endless Dance. Delicate glasswork and statuettes will sometimes be offered to visiting dignitaries as gifts, and often fetch a high price due to their craftsmanship and rarity.
Skolos and Stalas are almost entirely dependent on the drow cities of Tel’Pennalilt for their food and amenities, but are able to trade the fruits of their mining and expeditions into Ancient ruins to meet their needs.
Kazja’s Chosen and the other residents of Myrtensi attack outsiders on sight, and subsist on the plant and animal life found in the waters around them.

Geography and Locations

Map of the Endless Dance
As the largest center of civilization in the Dance, the drow cities and their governance are centrally positioned and important. They are overseen by the Anate, a conclave of representatives from each city in the Endless Dance. Each individual Anator is agreed upon by empathic selection of the local population they are representing.
The Master Regent of Tel’Pennalilt is elected by empathic vote from among the members of the Anate to preside over their meetings and run current affairs while the Anate is not in session. The current Master Regent is an androgynous drow named Reloren Thune.
The Master Regent is matched in authority only by the High Priestess of the Moonstone, the oldest and most senior of the drow priestesses that protect and maintain the Temple of the Moonstone. The current High Priestess is a drow woman named Lysistrine Eltarevis.
The Priestesses of the Moonstone are a sacred order of drow women dedicated to maintaining, guarding, and researching the Moonstone that generates the empathic web permeating the Endless Dance. Although outwardly soft-spoken and quiet, many priestesses are trained clerics, monks, paladins, sorcerers, and the like. Those that wear their signature hooded habits are treated with utmost respect.
The Loathful are an unofficial class of society amid the drow civilizations referring to those people that hunt for meat in the Hollows and provide it to the marketplace. The lack of edible plant life in the Endless Dance means most everyone subsists on fungi and meat, but because the act of hunting is made so difficult by the Moonstone, the Loathful are looked down upon as heartless creatures by the upper class.
There are five primary drow cities known and mapped in the Dance. They are as follows:
Tel’Lyntevyll: Capital of the drow settlements to the west and home of the Anate. Elaborate suspended city of domes and walkways. Connected to the four other core drow settlements via skyways and through the western Hollows (in the case of Essphys Nal).
Essphys Nal: The most isolated of the drow cities. Supplies Skolos and retrieves resources from the Empties. Large lera population.
Tezathir: Notably large gorgon population among the drow majority—primary supplier of food from hunting in the Hollows.
Keycaria: Primary diplomatic station for the drow civilization of Tel’Pennalilt. Accepts travelers from Heliotros/Obsidi and beyond.
Lentirim: Location of the Moonstone. Even more predominantly drow than the other cities.
Outside the drow settlements, a number of other places to live can be found. Some of them are described below.
Skolos: Settlement built on the side of a massive stalactite. Large populations of lera and winged tieflings and dragonborn. Live by hunting winged monsters of the Dance and selling their skins, and by supporting trade between Essphys Nal and Stalas.
Stalas: Settlement built on the flat top of a shattered stalagmite. Predominantly verdan and genasi, with a sizeable population of dwarves making up the settlement’s upper class. Many rare and precious metals and minerals are mined here and traded by way of Skolos to the western regions.
The Cloud Hounds are a group of hunters, fighters, and rangers renowned in Skolos and Stalas for their ability to traverse the open air of the Endless Dance by flying or line-slinging. They are responsible for fending off the monsters that occasionally emerge from the Empties to attack the settlements. Some will occasionally venture into the Empties to retrieve lost supplies, rescue missing people, or explore for valuable Ancient technology. Each of the ten-odd bands of Hounds has their own ‘Packleader’ responsible for training and inducting new members.
Myrtensi: Submerged underwater region with one primary settlement built around the Myrtensi Gate between the edge of the Dance and the waters leading to Threshold. Predominantly occupied by locathah, but with significant numbers of water genasi, triton, and sea elves. The sect in command of the region considers guarding entry to the Dance to be a sacred duty bestowed upon them by Kazja and call themselves Kazja’s Chosen. This fanatical sect of locathah and other aquatic races guards Myrtensi with their lives, believing themselves to be carrying out a sacred duty to the primordial Kazja. They were founded by Greatest Cleric Zaauam and are now led by Great Cleric Rinnul.
The Hollows: Dense cave systems mostly occupied by lone gorgons confident in their ability to fend off the bizarre wildlife.
The Empties: Largely unoccupied by sapient life. Very rarely, a shadar-kai hermit or outlander may be found among the yawning blackness.

The Moonstone

The Starstone of the Endless Dance is a moonstone that grants the peoples within its purview an empathic web through which all life in the cavern taps into the emotions of creatures around them to form a collective zeitgeist.
The Moonstone is a psionic entity that subconsciously links all living creatures within the Endless Dance. This can be considered a form of Divination magic that may be suppressed by Mind Blank, a Ring of Mind Shielding, or similar effects.
In the modern era, the Moonstone causes living creatures near each other to experience heightened empathy, sensing others’ underlying emotional states at all times. Mechanically, this could manifest as advantage on all Insight checks performed within the Endless Dance.
As one gets closer to the Moonstone, the effect becomes stronger. The drow priestesses who attend and protect the Starstone are under the permanent effects of Telepathic Bond with all other priestesses.
In rare cases, the collective empathic web can magically empower one of its members. A Folk Hero in the Endless Dance, for instance, may find themselves stronger, faster, smarter, and more resilient due to the combined support of the people who admire them—while a pariah may experience the opposite.
Due to the influence of the Starstone, crimes and misdeeds—and especially killing—are loathed in the Dance. Death is more painful when you can feel the dying patterns of the creature you have slain.

Type

Cave

Location under

The Gloom