The United Dungeon Council

Officially formed in 5 930 After the Dawn of Flames at the end of the first United Dungeon War, the UDC was in truth older by a few years. While the beginning of the war was more chaotic than anything, by the end of it the various dungeons were operating as a coordinated, unified military force, with robust logistics, production facilities, shipyards, ect. All of these systems were transferred onto the UDC which, for the first few decades of its existence was more or less an extension of the old command structure and effectively a military dictatorship.

However, as time went on, and the attacks on dungeons became rarer and rarer, the UDC began to...mollify. A proper civil administration was put into place, and the organization shifted from a purely military one to a sort of United Nations for dungeon cores. Financing arrangements were changed and the UDC's military core was gradually dissolved, as the need for a standing army lessened.

Nowadays, in terms of military forces the UDC mostly relies on a form of levy, by taking troops from member dungeon whenever necessary and effectively leasing them. It does have a 'core' permanent force, but it has diminished in size over the years as budget cuts became greater and greater, and now it is little more than a defense force for Unity itself, and is effectively incapable of more than token long range deployments.

There is, of course, a mutual defense treaty underlying the entire UDC, allowing for, if a 2/3rd majority of the council votes it or a member dungeon core is destroyed, to launch a full scale war, by more or less requisitioning half of the military forces of all member dungeons and placing them under a central command structure. At least that is what it does nominally, but in truth since most dungeons are wary to give control of their monsters or creatures to someone else, it effectively turns any UDC army into a vast coalition of disparate forces, like any feudal kingdom relying on the men at arms of various nobles. However, due to the vast resources the older and larger dungeons can field, it is common for many lesser dungeons to place themselves under their command and try to integrate themselves into their forces, allowing for a far greater degree of coordination than might otherwise be possible.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

One of the key reasons why the UDC works is also the most often overlooked one : the advisors. All of the dungeon advisors come from the Western Marches, and often have blood ties to the Von Oswald family to one degree or another. This means that, in effect, all of the advisors function as the members of a vast network of relatives, similarly to the noble networks of old Europe, albeit far more centralized and with less poison, internecine warfare, politicking and assassinations. And since these advisors are, for various reasons, extremely well thought of by their dungeon cores and generally get along well together, they are able to grease the wheels of the UDC's more routine business and internal diplomacy the way a great many aides have done throughout the millenia in the halls of power of humanity. Indeed, given the low level, instinctive aggression (natural) dungeons have towards damned near anything except their advisors, it is likely that without the vampires smoothing the way the UDC would have never survived after it was no longer an absolute military necessity, and fractured into warring factions. It might not even formed at all, as a matter of fact.

The UDC extract a mana tax from all of its members, that tax has varied much over the years, but currently sits at 10% of their mana generation, which by most government standards is absurdly low, yet due to the unique way dungeons operate, still permits the UDC to function acceptably well, notably as the council has progressively lowered its interventions and thus costs over the last few decades. Remarkably, very few UDC number attempt to falsify their mana generation or any other form of fraud, notably because most of the income not absorbed by military operations is redistributed in the form of various subsidies, some of which include materials and devices shared by other dungeons, thus making it a net positive for most dungeons.

Although the UDC is a military alliance it is not a marketplace. One of the greatest fears of the adventurers guild and most nations was that the UDC would put together some form of universal schematics, materials and technology package and distribute it to all of its members. Fortunately (for those concerned parties), thanks to some adroit diplomacy, veiled threats and outright bribery from the higher echelons of the adventurers guild, this did not become the case. As such while the UDC does not necessarily prohibits exchanges of materials and knowledge between dungeons, it does not encourage them either outside of its own limited subsidy program. This has limited exchanges between dungeon considerably, and although there is an active, if mostly quiet, trading network between dungeons, it is far less than it could have been, and has prevented the creation of a common dungeon database, much to the relief of many.