The internal volume of a dungeon can be different from the volume one would measure if the entirety were to be excavated. The space within a dungeon is much larger than the outside would appear – this is because dungeons are dimensional pockets that are connected to our material world via a spatial knot.
This extra-dimensionality also allows for other strange phenomena. For example, on some dungeon floors, one can perceive a sun and a sky above despite being on an underground dungeon floor. One might presume these are simple visual tricks, but the warmth and radiance of these false suns is real in the sense that plants can be grown with their sunlight. These underground suns also rise in the morning and set in the evening making them indistinguishable from the real sun one would find aboveground.
In the deepest parts of a dungeon lies its core – a crystallization of mana – that connects to all parts of the dungeon and provides a constant flow of mana that is used to sustain all aspects of the dungeon’s normal operation including monster spawning. Dungeon cores are highly sought after resources by Fantasy World peoples as they are top class magical conduits perfectly suited to a city sized barrier keystone, or world class magical artifact creation. Despite being at the lowest levels these cores are often protected by a monster of unimaginable power. The oldest dungeons would classify these last bosses as SSS+ threats requiring nation-state level resources to even have even a minimal chance of a successful subjugation.
Adventurers who enter dungeons will also note another fact – dead bodies disappear inside dungeons. A villager who dies in their bed or their field will remain where they died unless moved by animals or other people. In that state they will decompose over time until nothing but bones remain. Even after hundreds of years, those bones will remain to tell the story of that person to those of future ages. This is not the case inside of a dungeon. It is a well documented fact that dead bodies left unattended within a dungeon will sink into the floor leaving nothing but the clothes, weapons, and armor of the deceased. The exact mechanism behind this process is still an area of active research – so too is the understanding of when bodies will disappear. At times it is immediate, like with monsters, and at other times it takes time, like with adventurers.
While many questions remain, it is my hypothesis that we can begin to ask more nuanced questions if we shift our frame of reference regarding dungeons. Perhaps dungeons are less of a structure and more of an organism.
…tbc
