The Surface Cataclysm

The Surface Cataclysm is the named-but-not-titled geological event that sealed the Underdwellers below. After a faction of the ancient people descended to escape

the Tyrant, the earth betrayed them: mountains split, oceans shifted, and the path back to the surface was sealed.

What It Did

• Closed the descent. The fleeing faction could no longer return to the surface even if they had wanted to.

• Reshaped the surface. Mountains split and oceans shifted, suggesting tectonic-scale or supernatural-scale changes.

• Forced cultural adaptation. Cut off from the surface, the Underdwellers had to invent a new society from scratch in the dark.

What It Did Not

Pre-launch material is silent on whether the cataclysm was geological, divine, or magical in cause. It is also silent on whether the Tyrant survived it on the surface and whether the surface civilization the Tyrant ruled survived in any form.

Connection to Past Cataclysms

The Steam page tagline references ruins that whisper of past cataclysms, plural. The Surface Cataclysm may be one of several, and the others may be referenced as the Druid explores. See Past Cataclysms for the placeholder index of plural events.