Quote: There are traditions about demons from below the Earth in most cultures. Apart from many religions having an underworld of the dead below the Earth there are European dwarfs, snirfneblin, tappers, orcs, etc., South American inbunches, and so on.
The Eastern ones stand out though because they're part of a system of balance. The idea is that above ground, everything contains a benevolent spirit that humans must share, and is by nature free. Below ground is the underworld, ruled by some cruel tyrant or another, and the source of all evil in the world. Volcanoes and earthquakes in the region made that believable.
All of those stories so share the criteria of below ground (like caves and volcanoes) being a mysterious, forbidding place.
Quote: But what I was really pulling this stuff from was the writings of early 20th century occultists that had a high regard of Eastern (and especially Tibetan) hidden wisdoms and who popularisied stories of underground or hidden cities with secret ascended masters, and of the curious 40s pulp fiction craze about twisted underground races described collectively as "the Shaver Mystery".
Never seen that stuff, but I'd guess a lot of it was borrowed from explorers bringing back stories and writings from the East 20-30 years or so earlier.
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 Untold Tales of the Lair Legion #348: The Core, or Deepest Down - Complete · The Hooded Hood thanks his daughter for the lunch and the laundry. Here's the damn story, okay? · Sat Oct 02, 2010 at 09:54:48 am EDT
- I should have guessed where all the subplots were headed, given the specific power ... (no text) · CrazySugarFreakBoy! · Wed Oct 13, 2010 at 04:01:41 am EDT
- And deep it is. · Al B. Harper · Sun Oct 10, 2010 at 09:29:42 am EDT
- Reply to part 4... · L! · Sat Oct 09, 2010 at 03:09:51 pm EDT
- Part four reply. · Rhiannon · Sat Oct 09, 2010 at 11:00:26 am EDT
- Those people will never want to see a S'more again. · Visionary
 · Sat Oct 09, 2010 at 10:36:10 am EDT
- Or sushi. · HH · Sun Oct 10, 2010 at 05:14:52 am EDT
- It's one of those "that can't be good" moments. · Anime Jason · Sat Oct 09, 2010 at 10:25:48 am EDT
- Which one? · HH · Sun Oct 10, 2010 at 05:10:50 am EDT
- Will the grading be norm or criterion reference based? (no text) · killer shrike gives the story a strong A, regardless · Sat Oct 09, 2010 at 09:10:29 am EDT
- Part 3 reply. · Rhiannon · Fri Oct 08, 2010 at 03:07:58 am EDT
- Hatty sure does get shot a lot. · Visionary · Fri Oct 08, 2010 at 01:08:43 am EDT
- That must have been very cathartic for young Vincent (no text) · killer shrike · Thu Oct 07, 2010 at 05:46:03 pm EDT
- Hmmmm.... · L! · Thu Oct 07, 2010 at 03:34:55 pm EDT
- Hmmmm....? · HH · Sat Oct 09, 2010 at 07:10:39 am EDT
- Third part - the game! · Anime Jason · Thu Oct 07, 2010 at 09:20:30 am EDT
- Part 2 reply. · Rhiannon · Wed Oct 06, 2010 at 03:31:21 am EDT
- At the foot of part two... · Anime Jason · Tue Oct 05, 2010 at 08:11:06 pm EDT
- Sally's got some 'splainin to do · killer shrike doesn't think a flow chart will help her though · Tue Oct 05, 2010 at 07:35:39 pm EDT
- Some peculiar goings ons down below... · Visionary · Tue Oct 05, 2010 at 07:25:08 pm EDT
- "Diving inside a tub of maggots tossed inside a spin dryer"? You do have a way with a phrase. (no text) · killer shrike enjoyed this part and is looking forward to future parts. · Sat Oct 02, 2010 at 03:56:42 pm EDT
- Interesting. · L! · Sat Oct 02, 2010 at 03:43:06 pm EDT
- So I should hold off on cleaning out their lockers? · Visionary · Sat Oct 02, 2010 at 01:18:09 pm EDT
- They're really more "within" than "deep down" at this point. · Anime Jason · Sat Oct 02, 2010 at 12:51:17 pm EDT
- Part 1 reply. · Rhiannon · Sat Oct 02, 2010 at 11:08:37 am EDT
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