Gameable Concept: "The Underwar"

Hi gang! Miss me?

Yesterday, I came up with an interesting gameable “concept,” but nothing really applicable for any games I’m currently running or anything I’m planning on writing up in the future. So I’ll toss this out there for anyone who may want it for their own use: “The Underwar”

The ground shudders and shakes, as if a moderate earthquake were striking the area. Far-away muffled screams and shouts can be occasionally heard on the winds, but no one reacts. The people who live here go about their business, as if these sounds and tremors were commonplace. In this land, the military has a very strong presence: recruitment takes place on every corner, factories on the edge of town produce massive amounts of weapons and armament, and most individuals are wearing uniforms and other regalia marking them as soldiers. Occasionally, a massive battalion of heavily-armed troops will march out of town to much fanfare, walking off into the distance. But there is no heavy combat in the area or, in fact, anywhere in the lands. The skies are clear and all seems quiet, although there are those occasional earth-shaking tremors and faint shrieks of rage…

If asked, any one of the townspersons confirms that they are indeed at war “with Those Below.” For years, the lands have been under attack by underground dwellers. Monsters? Humanoids? Invaders from Below? None of the civilians are certain. Those Below never come to the surface, preferring instead to attack from underneath – digging and burrowing causing the buildings (and people) aboveground to fall into the cavernous depths below. The only way to stop them was to take the battle to them.

About 3 miles away, there is monstrous cave opening nearly 1 mile wide that leads into the cave complex deep within the earth. Just within the cavern, the military has set up a massive command center complete with barracks, armory, hospital, etc. From this staging area, they defend the opening keeping Those Below from ever encroaching the surface. Also from here, they enter the tunnels and caverns, fighting Those Below in their own domain. The cave network varies from narrow nooks and crannies barely wide enough for one unarmed person, to cave rooms big enough for an entire kingdom to fit within. Full skirmishes and battles have taken place in these thunderous halls, with massive explosions and the sounds of battle echoing throughout the cave chambers, being heard and felt aboveground.

The kingdom is fully engulfed in a war no one ever sees.