The History of the World Dungeon, as known by our earliest scholars, was not the tale of the demise of humanity. Quite the opposite in fact as the infinitely expanding nature of dungeon served as a shield against the Chaos of the Wastes, the Fungal Tide, and whatever Leviathans continue to lurk in the Endless Sea.
It is perhaps the fault of our ancestors, though not explicitly stated in our current records, that we were beset upon by these terrors. But today no one has the energy to be upset with dead men, whom rest in tombs long forgotten.
In our survival and its grace we have embraced the life of dwellers near the periphery of the World Dungeon. Fractured as we are, humanity still clings to the one tenant of our continued survival.
Always Tread Lightly.
Perhaps the best way to emphasis this would be a most of us have committed to memory as young children.
"We tiptoe while we scavenge. Whisper while we eat. Travel in the shadows. Hide our heartbeat."
But we would have no story if humanity hid like rats until the day of our death.
In the present year of 1500 AD (After Dungeon). The Bastion (Founded 1493) has set out a declaration. Following shortly after the deposition (1492 AD) of late Emperor Bernard IV (1447-1493 AD). Which has revealed previously hidden information held in the vault of the former royal family.
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A message, drawn by finger into a small shining black tablet (Harder than any known material) with the seeming ease of sculpting clay. Was hidden in the emperor's private section of the vault.
Inscribed upon it in an unsteady hand, "The Core is alive. It was never our sanctuary, but a beast which grown in slumber for centuries." In text that our scholars matched to a splinter tribe of humans who delved into the depths around (750-770 AD). A small sample of dried blood was also present on the bottom right corner of the tablet, but has yet to produce any known biological signature.
The content of this message was verified with an 95% mark of accuracy and has accounted for some of the recent changes in the dungeon.
The Beasts of the Wastes and The Insects of the Jungle, have been pouring into the dungeon in greater numbers over the last few years. (1491-Present) Our recent Emperor was only deposed after his mishandling of evacuation efforts near the dungeon's "mouths", as some of the scholars have coined the six entrance pits to the World Dungeon. An incident which had a 87% Causality Rate.
No human aside from our mages have ever been able to live near the Dungeon's mouths connecting to the Endless Sea. And our recent Scouts have failed to report back from that section of the dungeon entirely.
We are as many believe, effectively trapped in the dungeon.
Since the day the jaws "snapped shut". We, the dwellers of the periphery, have moved from our previously fractured tribes into the main base of The Bastion. Rumors are spreading of forces being amassed to find the core and determine what mysteries the infinite World Dungeon has hid from us for over a millennia.
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I do not know where the winds of change will blow the fate of humanity towards. But the continued records of our existence will be kept by my children, and my children's children.
I hope they have the luck to write the records of a great hero.
For I am older than I have any right to be.
- Gerald Gate, the Scribe of the Corrupted Wastes