Technocratic Society

The Underdwellers' civilization model is described in pre-launch material as a thriving technocratic society. After centuries cut off from the surface, the descendants of the original exile had become disciplined, ordered, and educated. The depths were home; their society was built on engineering, knowledge, and structured craft rather than on the worship-leaning rhythms of the surface civilization they had left behind.

Markers

• Engineering. Cities grown from rock and metal. Endless caverns mapped and lit. Excavations that reached outward in all directions.

• Education. The civilization was hardened by subterranean life and disciplined into a learned society.

• Order. Pre-launch material emphasizes the structured, planned quality of Underdweller settlements.

• Memory loss. Even as their craft thrived, their memory of the surface faded. Sun and sky became metaphors.

Tension with the Cults

After the rediscovery, Sky Cults formed among the Underdwellers. The cults represent a partial rejection of the technocratic identity in favor of religious awe at the sky. Pre-release lore implies that this fracture is internal to the Underdweller civilization rather than a clean external split.

Open Questions

Whether the technocratic society uses magic, runes, machines, or some hybrid, and whether the surface civilization's revived beliefs include explicit anti-technocratic doctrine, are unrevealed.