Brell Serilis, Duke of Below

The secret portal

After Veeshan claimed Norrath, Brell Serilis acted next, and quietly. From his Plane of Underfoot he opened a magical portal to a cavern deep in Norrath and filled the depths with creatures of every kind. Then he sealed the portal inside a labyrinth of living stone.

Sources: Library of Erudin: “The History of Norrath” (original EverQuest manual text) · Library of Erudin: EverQuest RPG Player’s Handbook: History of Norrath (2002) · Allakhazam: Brell Serilis

The pacts

Then he went to the other gods and talked them into meeting. Without ever saying how he knew, he told them of Veeshan’s new world and, with words worthy of a king of thieves, proposed an alliance to divide it and keep the dragons in check. Everyone but Rallos Zek agreed, never suspecting that Brell had already released his own creations.

Brell took the depths and made the dwarves. When Bristlebane and Cazic-Thule arrived, he arranged a second pact so he could make more peoples, and created the gnomes, wiry, tinkering cousins of the dwarves.

Sources: Library of Erudin: “The History of Norrath” (original EverQuest manual text) · Library of Erudin: EverQuest RPG Player’s Handbook: History of Norrath (2002)

Before the dwarves

A tale recorded on mithril, “The Duke of Below and The Lord of Light’s Battle,” given in a dwarven quest, tells of a time before the first dwarves, when behemoths of land, sea and air waged war on Veeshan’s dragons. The dragons won, at a terrible cost. Brell loved this world’s caverns, gems and rivers of metal so much that he named it the Underfoot, after his own plane.

But before he could make thinking creatures to share it, the threats had to be removed: great titans of the elements and arcane might were loose, shaking the world’s foundations and warring on the dragons.

Sources: Library of Erudin: Brell Serilis (The Duke of Below and The Lord of Light’s Battle)

Everyone’s father

The Runnyeye goblins claim Brell as their father, to the disgust of the dwarves of Kaladim, and the gnolls of Splitpaw say he sculpted them from the sacred Clay of Cosgrove. Some form of Brell worship can be found almost anywhere underground.

Sources: Allakhazam: Brell Serilis · Library of Erudin: Brell Serilis

Who he is

The RPG Handbook (which spells him “Brel”) calls Brell Serilis neutral, the god of the Underfoot of Norrath, also called the Duke of Below. Cavern dwellers on every continent claim him as their father, from dwarves to goblins to gnolls, and though mortal enemies deny sharing a god, “there is more truth there than anyone would care to admit.” An older deity description says he is allied with Fizzlethorpe Bristlebane and an enemy of Veeshan.

Sources: Library of Erudin: EverQuest RPG Player’s Handbook — Brel Serilis (White Wolf, 2002) · Library of Erudin: Brell Serilis (Brell Serilis – The Duke of Below)

The meeting at Dagnor’s Cauldron

The RPG Dagnor’s Cauldron sourcebook tells where the first pact was made. Prexus preferred the sea, Tunare the forest and Brell the mountains, so they settled on a corner of Faydwer. Brell dug a great bowl into the cliffs and filled it with water. Prexus sat in the water, Tunare on the shore, Brell in the western cliffs, and Rallos Zek “deigned to crouch among the rocks to the north.” Afterward Brell formed the dwarves, who settled in the mountains around the pool. A kobold scroll, KobScr3, tells the same pact from the kobolds’ side, dating it to King Gkar’s reign.

Sources: Library of Erudin: Brell Serilis (Realms of Norrath: Dagnor’s Cauldron — Chapter One; KobScr3)

The wall of living stone

Pages from an in-game history of the Hole record a researcher concluding that “the wall placed deep in our home was brought to life by the touch of Brell” and is “the door to the Underfoot,” then losing control of its power: “Now every piece of stone I see talks to me.” See Erudin, Paineel and the Hole.

Sources: Library of Erudin: Brell Serilis (HOL2Chap19Complete; HOL2Chap20Complete)

Underfoot (2009)

The 16th expansion, Underfoot, went into his realm in November 2009, centered on the Heart of the World, a vast ball of magma floating at the center of a hollow sphere. Official lore articles describe the Underfoot as working “much like a massive factory,” where every creature works as part of a great machine until Brell’s First Creation began spreading heresy. They also describe Brell’s Temple, with the workshop where he labors to make new life, and Kernagir, the Shining City, where his chosen spend eternity. Brell’s Rest is where his worthy dead go, and Brell’s Arena hosts the gnolls’ and kobolds’ Boomerang Brawl, run by the gnomework Gilbot the Magnificent. See Underfoot and Brell’s Rest.

Sources: Library of Erudin: Brell Serilis (Announcing EverQuest Underfoot; Underfoot: Unfolding the Lore series)