What Everybody Knows about the North and the Great Dungeon

Here follows a collection of common knowledge shared by all player characters. Like all common knowledge, not all of it is necessarily true.

• The North is a vast, cold wilderness of craggy shores, deep bogs, dark woods of pine and birch, and looming mountains.
• In ages past, these lands were part of the legendary kingdom of Norumbega, ruled by the elves and their goblin and gnome servants.
• In old Norumbega the elves lingered in gleaming cities made of gold and silver.
• Norumbega fell hundreds of years ago when the goblins revolted against their masters. The elf-halls were destroyed, and elves and gnomes were driven into hiding.
• The great kingdom returned to wilderness filled with monsters.
• Goblins ruled the North after Norumbega fell.
• Nearly two hundred years ago humans from the City States to the south came. These men carved out settlements in the north, scattering the native goblins into the wilderness.
• Nearly a hundred years ago dwarves, frost and fire giants, and human berserkers from the Far Reaches to the east began moving into the North.
• Today descendents of the southern men may rule the coast, but the interior remains wild and unknown.
• Black Lake, the headwater of the Great Gobbo River, sits in the heart of the North.
• In the middle of Black Lake is Delvemont Isle and the Great Dungeon of the North.
• Each year dozens of adventurers, eager to win their fortunes, make the long journey up the Gobbo to the village of Delvetown on the shores of Black Lake.
• Delvetown is a rough and tumble frontier settlement and not entirely safe. It is used as a base camp for all the dungeoneers.
• Delvetown contains armorers and weapon makers, a potion shop, whorehouses, gambling halls, and taverns. Prices tend to be outrageously high due to the remoteness and all the treasure that flows through the town.
• No one knows who built the Dungeon, or how old it is.
• The Dungeon teems with deadly monsters and traps and mysteries, but also the promise of gold and gems and powerful magic.
• The first three levels of the Dungeon are called the Goblin Halls.
• The main entrance to the Dungeon is a big opening, called Culagormac's Porch, which opens into the Gobbo Promenade on the First Level.
• No one knows how big the Dungeon is, exactly. The corridors seem to stretch out forever, and even after all this time dungeoneers are still finding new hidden sections and sublevels and such.
• The deeper down you go in the Dungeon, the more dangerous it becomes. And the stranger it becomes, too.