quote:

---

Originally posted by Eilserus

Do islands in Underdark lakes or seas have sand on their shores?

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Fellfire

I am by no means an expert on the matter. My reasoning being that deep in the Underdark, water would not flow in great quantities from the surface, rather it trickles down and percolates through the bedrock, which would act as a filter removing most of the particulate, to collect in vast underground lakes. Most pictures I have seen of subterranean lakes are very placid, disturbed very little by wave action. There would of course be dirt and organic matter, but sandy beaches like we see on the surface would be rarer because of the lack of erosion caused by wind and waves.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kentinal

I disagree, sand beaches could be common in the underdark.
Sand are light particles of rock, that flow with water. Underdark receives water from the surface, which includes light particles of rock. Tides effects that cause waves are not restricted to sea level. The occur above and below sea-level. To add to this, limestone and other rock can break into small pieces of rock.
Sand deposits (small pieces of rock) can and will occur where current allows it to settle. The beaches of the underdark will not be sun lighted but likely should exist based on waves, floods.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Eilserus

if sand is formed from wind,

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by entreri3478

*It's kind of funny how a mini debate is going on about the probability of finding sand around a large underground body of water....in a world where you can find dragons, flying cities, and the walking dead.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wolfhound75

Sorry Sage but, I would even hesitate to say I've even found what I'd consider a rocky/pebble-type 'beach'. Just some small deposits of debris here and there but far less common than even DDGttU made it seem. If you look closely enough (meaning you have a powerful enough light source since none of us have infra/darkvision) the debris is usually accounted for by something else - a broken stalactite for example.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Eilserus

I've never seen an actual beach except in pictures. Up here in North Dakota, the shoreline on the lakes are basically a gravel mixture of various sized rocks with smaller sand in it. Then again maybe all beaches were like that and they just drove a rock picking machine through the area to make it nice for beach goers. That's just a guess though. ;)

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Wolfhound75

I actively enjoy caving as a hobby and am a chronic explorer of various caves though technically an amateur. So if you'd like to hear my personal observations feel free to read below.

With all the cramped crawly spaces I've slithered through I have yet to see what I would call an actual sandy beach while on a cave crawl. Lots of grit, silt, plenty of water and fantastic galleries but nothing like you would picture along what comes to mind when most of us say 'the beach'. Most of the water-filled spaces are just pools that come right up to the rock.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Eilserus

That's a pretty cool experience you have had Wolf. Sounds like fun but after watching that movie Descent, I don't know if I would ever go into a cave system. Get eaten by a crazy morlock thing! hehe.

---

quote:

---

Grimlocks in the Forgotten Realms
In the Forgotten Realms setting, grimlocks are the descendants of humans of Uthgardt ancestry from the Golden Eagle and Red Pony tribes. Long ago, in 576 DR (the Year of the Sunless Passage), these barbarian tribes vanished into the Underdark by way of a passage that leads down from beneath One Stone, the Uthgardt ancestor mound located in the easternmost Moonwood. After years of wandering in the lightless passages of the Underdark, these barbarians evolved to the current grimlocks. They still retain twisted vestiges of their ancient traditions, including a depraved form of ancestor worship that involves consumption of the aged and weak while they still live.[citation needed]

In the Underdark of Faerūn, some groups of grimlocks worship individual medusae, considering them as minor deities. The power of a medusa's gaze is beyond the grimlock's ability to comprehend (as they are blind), so it seems divine to them. More enlightened grimlocks, however, tend to worship Shar, the goddess of darkness.[citation needed]

Many wild grimlocks are born in an extended series of caves that they call the Fingerhome. The caverns of the Fingerhome extend throughout the upper, middle, and lower Underdark.[citation needed]

One tribe of grimlocks resides in the Cavern of Cloven Heads, a small cave that five thousand years prior was the site of a battle between a rear guard of dwarves of Clan Black Axe and a group of drow refugees led by Menzoberra the Kinless (the Lolthite priestess who founded Menzoberranzan). This tribe abandoned their nomadic ways and settled the surrounding caverns. Within the Cavern of Cloven Heads lies a monstrous boulder engraved with runes. Surrounding the boulder are the riven skulls of hundreds of drow. This discovery matched fragmentary legends regarding the grimlocks' lost ancestor mound, so they now revere this mound as such. (This mound is actually an ancient dwarven cairn of the Black Axe Clan. The inscriptions on the boulder are Dethek runes that relate the legend of the "Brave Beards." The rock itself lies atop the spot where the last defender of the dwarven rear guard, Dorn Black Axe, literally sank into the floor of the cavern.)[citation needed]

---