We humans know many demons originate from there, from the darkness, such as the trolls / digijelm. The underworld is a terrifying place where you don't want to end up. Yet the uz called it "wonderhome" before Yelm crashed down into it and seared their souls, stunting them from uzuz to mere uzko.
Even we humans have many different views of the underworld : Ty Kora Tek's realm is NOT a hell, rather a sad place where some dead spirits gather. In many Earth Cults, the underworld is more or less part of the Earth realm.
To answer your question, as anything else in Glorantha, the Underworld is what your culture tells you it is, and how you can expect to interact with it. To heortlings, it's what Harmast described in his Lifebringer Quest, based on Orlanth's own Lightbringer Quest : you cross the Bridge of Swords, walk on the Dead Path, get to Havan Vor etc. But there are many doors in Havan Vor's hall, leading to many other underworlds, some of them hellish.
To me, the Underworld is Humakt's Barracks, where Swords train all day.
"michaelL" <michaelalewis25_at_...> wrote:
> Iv'e started reading the Uz lore and had some questions about the underworld.
> It seems that the underworld is an actual place rather than the
> underworld that comes to mind.
> Whats it look like? Is it always dark?
Not any more - every night, it lights up as the sun goes down the Gates of Dusk. At least the parts called Wonderhome the uz care for are thus afflicted. You don't want to be there without special precautions, though - the light may be counteracted by the prevalent darkness down there, but its fire still sears.
There are many places of the Underworld that have little or nothing to do with the uz.
I don't think that the parts Ethilrist visited had uz, or those parts connected to Alkoth.
Darkness still is the major theme down there, as is death or undeath.
> I thought the sun lights it up on its return.
> Why did the Trolls leave? Why don't they go back?
Those that didn't were burnt horribly by the embers of the dead sun and perished.
The sun still spends its night there, so it still poisons the lands below.
Also, even the dark trolls who made their escape were hurt significantly, and might not be fit to live in the less damaged regions of the Underworld any more.
Some parts of the Underworld are called Hells, others simply are demonic realms, or even just the lower earth realms with chthonic presences, sleeping plant spirits and similar denizens. The volcanoes all connect to some fiery source in the earth - maybe to one and the same, maybe to different ones.
I don't think that Mostali tunnels regularly connect to the Darkness elemental portion of the Underworld. They may be typical in the underearth, and the reports of early struggles indicate that some tunnels do lead down past the primal rivers into the realm of Darkness.
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