Subjective Descriptors — dangerous; malicious; vengeful;
Objective Descriptors — predatory; anthropomorphic; greedy; psychopathic;
Metaphorical Significance — The end of greed, explore evolution.
The dungeon is a mana-fueled being. It is a natural geographical formation in a world where monsters arise from the confluence and eddying of aetherial energies. Over time, that chaotic flow of mana gave rise to an intelligence, a spirit of mana that took control and ordered the flow. It became the dungeon.
At first, the dungeon maintained a balance of intake and release, building energies before releasing it as monsters. It was a simple, natural cycle. Then humans discovered the dungeon. Their introduction to the eco-system, along with the mana they bore, caused an unusual change in the dungeon: it polluted the mana, slowly allowing it to develop self-consciousness and desire.
From the death of the humans that came, it was able to absorb mana and “spirit”. As this continued, it gained a taste for this energy and, as its intelligence grew, it began to observe what motivated the humans, beginning to provide these in sufficient quantities to elicit their greed, causing them to risk greater danger to gain the reward.
As the years passed the dungeon grew using the energy it gained to expand itself, to grow deeper and stronger, to redirect more of the natural mana to itself in order to gain just a bit more of the human “spirit” that it thirsts, works, lives and kills just to taste.
Questions To Consider:
• How do you defeat a malevolent spirit? Does the dungeon master (dungeon) have a physical form?
• What is the significance of defeating the dungeon? What metaphorical value does such a victory carry?
• Does the dungeon retain parts of the ones that it devours? Fragments of personality or memory? If so, can those be reclaimed?
• What does the “death” of the dungeon mean for the world? Will it harm the natural order? Will humanity have to take responsibility for the monster it created? Will they rise to the challenge, or shift blame and left the world fall into ruin?