This shadow is entirely underground - there is no 'outside'. Digging upwards or downwards merely encounters layers of successively less and less stable sandstones, and (after a hundred miles or so) magma. The Tunnel is a group of vast (thirty miles across, ten thousand miles long) natural tunnels through the rock. In addition, a huge network of man-made tunnels have been bored between and around them. The tunnels are lit by dull, phosphorescent mould (equivalent to a new moon) and/or bad electric lights.
As shadows go it is very Real, and thus resistant to change and outside forces (that is, it counts as a Shadow of the Realm).
Technology level:
Steam-power has been around for hundreds of years. The Tunnel is criss-crossed by railways, canals, tram-lines, cable-cars, telegraph lines, coaling stations and so on.
Physics:
The air is thicker in this world, and air-resistance is much more velocity-dependant. This means that missile-weapons do much less damage here, so aren't considered very important in war. No liquid or gas is inflammable. Vehicles are large and slow. For some reason propellers are grossly inefficient in The Tunnel, so boats tend to be paddle-driven.
Technology that doesn't work:
The internal combustion engine. Explosives of all kinds, for example gunpowder. Electricity does work, but not very well - things like electric lights give off a dull, sputtering glow.
Magic:
There is a parallel spirit-world. It is only vaguely understood by the living, but can be contacted by 'sensitive' mediums. The spirits sometimes stray into the material world for various reasons (malign or downright unfathomable). There are also ghosts, stray clumps of life-force which dissipate over time and with very simple patterns of behaviour, who are also attracted to mediums. Ghosts and spirits can sap the life-force of the living, which manifests itself in a deterioration of energy, health and mood. This happens over a period of weeks. The best mediums can channel life-force between spirits, ghosts and mortals to heal (or to cause) illnesses.
Other forms of magic don't work very well in The Tunnel, and their use will attract the parasitic attentions of ghosts and spirits, who will want to feed on the glowing life-force of the user.
Religion:
A mixture of formal ancestor-worship and Japanese-style animism.
War
The use of poison gas is rife in The Tunnel, so all soldiers and horses are automatically issued with gas-capes and masks, and most war machines of whatever kind carry purification units and/or air supplies, in addition to poison gas dispensers of their own.
Land Combat:
Because of the very high degree of air resistance in The Tunnel, missile weapons are ineffective. Thus, wars are fought hand-to-hand. Also arising from this is the use of weapons whose momentum (and damage) relies on mass rather than velocity, or on crushing their target.
Heavily-armoured cavalry is effective, but there are also close-combat tanks (steam-powered) which attack one another by ramming, crushing in pincers, flipping (see Robot Wars!), lifting, drilling, tangling and so on. The biggest of these must move on tracks like a train, or be a fixed part of a fortress, or be mounted on a ship. An obvious defence against these war machines is Paschendael-style mud, and systems of canals are set up to create such belts of mud and moats when necessary. These mud-based defences are countered by paddle-tanks, which are propelled on their bellies through the mud.
Naval combat:
Some of the caves have lakes and rivers in them, and many tunnels have canals, so there is a need for aquatic war-machines. The most common form of naval vessels are half-submerged ironclads driven by paddles, and vehicles that crawl along the bottom of shallow waters (such as the canals).
Air combat:
Flying machines do work in The Tunnel. Heavier-than-air flight is achieved using steam-powered ornithopters with fixed wings for lift and flapping wings for propulsion. These are, however, slow (due to the constraints of air resistance in The Tunnel). Lighter-than-air flight is also possible, with balloons and airships, but is even slower than heavier-than-air flight.
'Feel' of the World:
Nineteenth Century, with lots of Big Engineering and gothic architecture blackened by soot. The air is hot, sticky, and humid, with a chemical sharpness that will irritate the senses of off-shadowers. Yellow, pea-souper smog and sooty rain are common.
When an off-shadower moves in the Tunnel, it feels like there's a stiff breeze blowing against them. The faster they move, the stronger the 'wind'.
Typical top speeds (for equivalent effort exerted):
| Vehicle/Activity |
On Amber |
In The Tunnel |
| Walking |
4 mph |
3 mph |
| Man Running |
15 mph |
10 mph |
| Horse Galloping |
40 mph |
15 mph |
| Steam-train |
60 mph |
17 mph |
An arrow fired from a crossbow will decelerate very rapidly. Beyond about five metres, it will do noticeably less damage than in Amber. Maximum range is normally about thirty metres.
Society:
Society in The Tunnel is highly stratified, and divided between a number of distinct castes:
- NOBLES (from whom the Senate, consuls and tribunes are selected).
- KNIGHTS (from whom the cavalry and mech-operators are recruited).
- PLEBEIANS (from whom the infantry are recruited).
- ARTISANS.
- SERFS.
Senate elections are held under a college-based system. The balance of power among the different castes is the subject of constant debate and periodic civil strife.
