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* The Ocampa in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' lived in an underground city provided by the Caretaker after his species decimated their planet's surface.
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* The Ocampa in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' lived in an underground city provided by the Caretaker Caretaker, to atone for after his species decimated advanced technology unwittingly causing their planet's surface.surface to become barely habitable.
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* In ''{{Series/Defiance}}'', what once was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis Saint Louis, Missouri]], has become a Buried City due to [[NoodleIncident an accident involving alien terraforming technology]]. The locals fled and it is uninhabited, though almost perfectly preserved. The town of Defiance was built on top of the city as a mining outpost to dig for the resources it - and the alien technology - held.
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* In ''{{Series/Defiance}}'', most of what was once was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis Saint Louis, Missouri]], has become a Buried City due to [[NoodleIncident an accident involving malfunctioning alien terraforming technology]].technology being accidentally released, causing massive cataclysm across the planet Earth. The locals fled and it is uninhabited, though almost perfectly preserved. The town of Defiance was built on top of the city as a mining outpost to dig for the resources it - and the alien technology - held.
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* The titular Arx of ''ArxFatalis'' is a bunker city built in collaboration by all the races of the planet on realizing their sun was going dark, plunging the surface into permanent winter. The various races have set up their own settlements at different locations throughout the caverns. There are also other bunker cities scattered across the world which sometimes trade with Arx.
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* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': The capital city of the [[DefectorFromDecadence Forsaken undead]] is the ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin aptly named]]) Undercity. It was originally just a series of sewers and catacombs below the palace of Lordaeron, but after the palace was destroyed by Arthas, the undead led by [[OurBansheesAreLouder Sylvanas Windrunner]] claimed it to themselves.
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* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': The capital city of the [[DefectorFromDecadence Forsaken undead]] is the ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin aptly named]]) Undercity. It was originally just a series of sewers and catacombs below the palace of Lordaeron, but after Lordaeron which Arthas ordered enlarged to act as his base of operations. When he departed for Northrend, the palace was destroyed by Arthas, the undead led by Forsaken and [[OurBansheesAreLouder Sylvanas Windrunner]] claimed it for themselves.
** This is a running theme for the dwarves who have several underground cities, though only one is fully under their control.
*** Ironforge is the home city of the Bronzebeard dwarves and capital city of the united dwarf nation. It's built inside of a mountain ridge and is easily the most well-defended of the original Alliance cities.
*** Blackrock Mountain was originally the home of the entire Black Iron dwarf nation, its walls honeycombed with their dwellings and monuments. When the Black Dragonflight and Old Horde invaded, the mountain became split between their two cities: Blackrock Spire, the old city inhabited by the Old Horde; and Blackrock Depths, a new city carved out beneath the Spire tothemselves.house the displaced dwarves.
*** Grim Batol was originally the fortress city of the Wildhammer dwarves until it was abandoned due to an "evil taint". Its layout is very similar to Ironforge and there are signs that it extends much further underground than can be visited in-game.
** The goblin capital of Undermine is built in a series of volcanic caverns and magma tubes beneath their home island. The current state of Undermine after the volcano's eruption is unknown.
** This is a running theme for the dwarves who have several underground cities, though only one is fully under their control.
*** Ironforge is the home city of the Bronzebeard dwarves and capital city of the united dwarf nation. It's built inside of a mountain ridge and is easily the most well-defended of the original Alliance cities.
*** Blackrock Mountain was originally the home of the entire Black Iron dwarf nation, its walls honeycombed with their dwellings and monuments. When the Black Dragonflight and Old Horde invaded, the mountain became split between their two cities: Blackrock Spire, the old city inhabited by the Old Horde; and Blackrock Depths, a new city carved out beneath the Spire to
*** Grim Batol was originally the fortress city of the Wildhammer dwarves until it was abandoned due to an "evil taint". Its layout is very similar to Ironforge and there are signs that it extends much further underground than can be visited in-game.
** The goblin capital of Undermine is built in a series of volcanic caverns and magma tubes beneath their home island. The current state of Undermine after the volcano's eruption is unknown.
** Blackrock Mountain was originally a
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* There's an UndergroundCity beneath Fairy Airbase in ''Anime/{{SentouYouseiYukikaze}}'', which is where most of the FAF's forces live. It's got what you'd expect of a normal airbase "town", including shopping malls, convenience stores, public transport, and of course housing. It's implied that similar underground cities were built under the other 5 major FAF airbases.
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* There's an UndergroundCity beneath Fairy Airbase in ''Anime/{{SentouYouseiYukikaze}}'', ''Anime/{{Sentou Yousei Yukikaze}}'', which is where most of the FAF's forces live. It's got what you'd expect of a normal airbase "town", including shopping malls, convenience stores, public transport, and of course housing. It's implied that similar underground cities were built under the other 5 major FAF airbases.
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* There's an UndergroundCity beneath Fairy Airbase in ''Anime/{{SentouYouseiYukikaze}}'', which is where most of the FAF's forces live. It's got what you'd expect of a normal airbase "town", including shopping malls, convenience stores, public transport, and of course housing. It's implied that similar underground cities were built under the other 5 major FAF airbases.
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* Yoshiwara in Manga/{{Gintama}} is an underground RedLightDistrict with its own laws seperate from the Bakufu. It was originally an underground shipyard where the Bakufu built its ships, but Yoshiwara and its residents were moved down there after its original destruction during the Joi war.
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* The Dwarves in ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic VII'' have the underground Stone City as their capital city. Somewhat downplayed in that they also have surface villages and barrows only accessible from above-ground and other barrows (the Nighonians apparently also have great underground cities, as per what is said and what we see in ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic III'', but the settlements of theirs we actually get to visit are above-ground).
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* The Dwarves in ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic VII'' have the underground Stone City as their capital city. Somewhat downplayed in that they also have surface villages and barrows only accessible from above-ground and other barrows (the Nighonians apparently also have great underground cities, as per what is said and what we see in ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic III'', but the settlements of theirs we actually get to visit are above-ground). In V the Dark Elves Dungeon faction have their cities underground.
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* The fairies in ''ArtemisFowl'' live in a large underground complex of cities and tunnels as their way of hiding from the "Mud Men" on the surface.
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* The entire premise of FallenLondon.
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* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', [[spoiler: Area 13]] is a former Apocalypse Bunker that acts as a semi-independent city state. Daily life is extremely regimented; presumably this lifestyle, along with a diet of [[FutureFoodIsArtificial future food]] enables humans to survive underground for long periods.
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* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', [[spoiler: Area District 13]] is a former Apocalypse Bunker that acts as a semi-independent city state. Daily life is extremely regimented; presumably this lifestyle, along with a diet of [[FutureFoodIsArtificial future food]] enables humans to survive underground for long periods.
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* In the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'', Beta Colony was one of the earliest interstellar colonies established, before [[OurWormholesAreDifferent the Wormhole Nexus]] was discovered. The planet is inhospitable to human life, so the colony is underground. Space is at a premium, so strict PopulationControl is employed, although thanks to perfect contraception [[FreeLoveFuture sexuality is largely unrestricted]].
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* The Dwarves in ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic VII'' have the underground Stone City as their capital city. Somewhat downplayed in that they also have surface villages and barrows only accessible from above-ground and other barrows (the Nighonians apparently also have great underground cities, as per what is said and what we see in ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic III'', but the settlements of theirs we actually get to visit are above-ground).
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* In ''MasterOfOrion II'' the Sakkra are a reptilian civilization with a penchant for underground cities, effectively doubling the population that can inhabit a planet and making orbital bombardment harder.
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* In ''MasterOfOrion ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion II'' the Sakkra are a reptilian civilization with a penchant for underground cities, effectively doubling the population that can inhabit a planet and making orbital bombardment harder.harder, as well as give defending ground troops a [=+10=] advantage over any invaders other than the Bulrathi, who get the same amount of boost due to their strength.
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* ''Film/DemolitionMan''. The part of the Los Angeles population that doesn't accept Doctor Cocteau's rule lives in an underground city below the city's streets. They survive by eating stolen food and rats.
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* The dwarves of ''{{Discworld}}'' live in vast, underground cities, and living underground is a part of their cultural beliefs. Vimes visits their capital in ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'', which is reached by elevator and holds a vast mine. He's disgruntled to find in ''Thud!'' that the dwarves in Ankh-Morpork are starting to build one in the network of buildings that has sunk below ground level.
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* The dwarves of ''{{Discworld}}'' live in vast, underground cities, and living underground is a part of their cultural beliefs. Vimes visits their capital in ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'', which is reached by elevator and holds a vast mine. He's disgruntled to find in ''Thud!'' ''Discworld/{{Thud}}'' that the dwarves in Ankh-Morpork are starting to build one in the network of buildings that has sunk below ground level.
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[[AC:WebOriginal]]
* The SCPFoundation has some examples, such as [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-110 SCP-110]], a city underneath a farm in New York that was displaced across time (although apparently it was already underground when it was built), and [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1678 SCP-1678]], a replica of VictorianLondon placed underneath the real London, and intended to serve as an Apocalypse Bunker.
* The SCPFoundation has some examples, such as [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-110 SCP-110]], a city underneath a farm in New York that was displaced across time (although apparently it was already underground when it was built), and [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1678 SCP-1678]], a replica of VictorianLondon placed underneath the real London, and intended to serve as an Apocalypse Bunker.
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* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' had the sewer dwelling Nosferatu. If enough of them made their home in a given city's sewers they would eventually begin to burrow and carve out an actual underground home for themselves away from the prying eyes of mortals and vampires. They did this not just to hide their {{Masquerade}} breaking RedRightHand, but to [[spoiler:escape the notice of the Nictuku, their cannibalistic "older brothers".]] In an odd inversion, they didn't dig deep ''[[DugTooDeep enough]]''.
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* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' had the sewer dwelling Nosferatu. If enough of them made their home in a given city's sewers they would eventually begin to burrow and carve out an actual underground home for themselves away from the prying eyes of mortals and vampires. They did this not just to hide their {{Masquerade}} breaking RedRightHand, but to [[spoiler:escape the notice of the Nictuku, their cannibalistic "older brothers".]] In an odd inversion, they didn't dig deep ''[[DugTooDeep enough]]''.
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* In various TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons settings, races such as Dwarves, Dark Elves (a.k.a. Drow) and [[{{Cthulhumanoid}} Illithids]] tend to live in huge underground cities, often including vast open spaces and even farmlands (usually growing some kind of mushroom-based crop).
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* In various TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' settings, races such as Dwarves, Dark Elves (a.k.a. Drow) and [[{{Cthulhumanoid}} Illithids]] tend to live in huge underground cities, often including vast open spaces and even farmlands (usually growing some kind of mushroom-based crop).
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* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'' had the sewer dwelling Nosferatu. If enough of them made their home in a given city's sewers they would eventually begin to burrow and carve out an actual underground home for themselves away from the prying eyes of mortals and vampires. They did this not just to hide their {{Masquerade}} breaking RedRightHand, but to [[spoiler:escape the notice of the Nictuku, their cannibalistic "older brothers".]] In an odd inversion, they didn't dig deep ''[[DugTooDeep enough]]''.
* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem's'' Nosferatu are less restricted in where they live, but their clanbook actually details how they can build a literal Necropolis for themselves. For that matter, much of the kindred population in ancient Rome lived in Nosferatu dug warrens.
* ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem's'' Nosferatu are less restricted in where they live, but their clanbook actually details how they can build a literal Necropolis for themselves. For that matter, much of the kindred population in ancient Rome lived in Nosferatu dug warrens.
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* With Earth's surface being uninhabitable due to constant bombardment, humans are forced to live in these at the start of ''[[Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato Space Battleship Yamato / Star Blazers]]''.
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* With Earth's surface being uninhabitable due to constant bombardment, bombardment and the resulting radation, humans are forced to live in these at the start of ''[[Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato Space Battleship Yamato / Star Blazers]]''.Blazers]]'' (The Yamato has no time to loose, since if they're not gonna bring the radiation scrubbers back in one year, humankind is toast, since the radiation keep on creeping further and further into the shelters).
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->''Proton looked up and saw the rocky cone of Mount Terror, the solar reflector leaning over the armorcrete rim, and the curved magnalloy blades of a blast iris retracted into the sides. The purpose of this construction was suddenly clear. They were inside a depthscraper — a legacy of the time when entire cites were built underground in fear of another atomic war.''
-->-- '''Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space'''
-->-- '''Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space'''
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* ''Webcomic/DrowTales'': Similarly to ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' ([[DerivativeDifferentiation on which the comic was originally based]]), [[OurElvesAreBetter drows]] live in underground cities. Most notable of these is Chel'el'Sussoloth, the capital of the drow nation. The city is split across several caverns that are connected by tunnels and bridges, and the ceiling above it resembles a starry night sky.
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* ''Webcomic/DrowTales'': ''{{Webcomic/Drowtales}}'': Similarly to ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' ([[DerivativeDifferentiation on which the comic was originally based]]), [[OurElvesAreBetter drows]] drow]] live in underground cities.cities of the "Apocalypse Bunker" subtype after a war that wrecked the planet's surface. Most notable of these is Chel'el'Sussoloth, the capital of the drow nation. The city is split across several caverns that are connected by tunnels and bridges, and the crystal ceiling above it resembles a starry night sky.
sky because of reflected light.
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* The city of Lux in ''{{Texhnolyze}}'' is somewhere in between type 1 and 2.
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* The city of Lux in ''{{Texhnolyze}}'' is somewhere in between type 1 and 2.
2.
* At the start of ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', humanity is confined to a series of relatively small underground settlements. Anyone who dares to reach the surface is soon hunted down by HumongousMecha-driving Beastmen.
* At the start of ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', humanity is confined to a series of relatively small underground settlements. Anyone who dares to reach the surface is soon hunted down by HumongousMecha-driving Beastmen.
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** ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'': Khazad-dum, aka "the Mines of Moria," was one of the oldest and grandest dwarven cities in existence until its inhabitants DugTooDeep and awakened an angry and powerful balrog.
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** ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'': Khazad-dum, Khazad-dûm, aka "the Mines of Moria," was one of the oldest and grandest dwarven cities in existence until its inhabitants DugTooDeep and awakened an angry and powerful balrog.
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* The city of Lux in ''{{Texhnolyze}}'' is somewhere in between type 1 and 2.
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A full-fledged [[TheCity city]] that stands BeneathTheEarth. It's a civilian form of ElaborateUndergroundBase and comparable to an UnderwaterCity. The underground city is more than a collection of refugees hiding in abandoned sewer and subway tunnels, it has markets, mines, homes and possibly even farms (either of mushrooms and stranger fare or sophisticated hydroponics).
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A full-fledged [[TheCity city]] that stands lies BeneathTheEarth. It's a civilian form of ElaborateUndergroundBase and comparable to an UnderwaterCity. The underground city is more than a collection of refugees hiding in abandoned sewer and subway tunnels, it has markets, mines, homes and possibly even farms (either of mushrooms and stranger fare or sophisticated hydroponics).
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- Drakensang
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* ''VideoGame/{{Drakensang}}'': The dwarven city of Murolosh.
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- Sanctuary
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* ''{{Series/Sanctuary}}'' has Praxis, a large undground city with advanced technology where humans and Abnormals live.
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*The MarvelUniverse has several subterranean civilizations, including The Mole Men, The Lava Men, The Deviants and even a sunken Atlantean city whose inhabitants age instantly when exposed to the surface's atmosphere for some reason.
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/underground_city_by_gamefan84_901.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[http://gamefan84.deviantart.com/art/underground-city-126944836 Art by gamefan84.]]]]
A full-fledged [[TheCity city]] that stands BeneathTheEarth. It's a civilian form of ElaborateUndergroundBase and comparable to an UnderwaterCity. The underground city is more than a collection of refugees hiding in abandoned sewer and subway tunnels, it has markets, mines, homes and possibly even farms (either of mushrooms and stranger fare or sophisticated hydroponics).
Typically these cities come in a few flavors:
* '''Apocalypse Bunker:''' A refuge from an apocalyptic threat, thus serving as a BottleCity capable of weathering everything short of planetary crust destruction via ApocalypseHow scenario.
* '''Inhuman Borough:''' Home to a non-human or once-human race of MoleMen or home to evolved sentient dinosaurs using it as the above mentioned Apocalypse Bunker. While most of the time the residents are natives of Earth, aliens occasionally live in these.
* '''Buried City:''' This was once a thriving surface city [[GhostCity that has come to ruin]], but also been hidden and preserved to an amazing level underground. Usually thanks to an earthquake. If it was [[AdvancedAncientAcropolis highly advanced]] it may have survivors in the form of a LivingRelic, KingInTheMountain, HumanPopsicle or PerpetualMotionMonster.
It is possible that these varieties be combined. For example: a Buried City may still be inhabited and serve as an Apocalypse Bunker, or an Inhuman Borough built by aliens as an Apocalypse Bunker.
The underground city is very often a HiddenElfVillage and is only rarely part of a larger network of interconnected cities. Usually each is a [[UniquenessValue one of a kind]] sovereign and isolated city state. In contrast, one way in which OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame is that they tend to live in a network of underground cities.
In videogames, these can be an UndergroundLevel.
----
!!Examples:
[[AC:Anime and Manga]]
* With Earth's surface being uninhabitable due to constant bombardment, humans are forced to live in these at the start of ''[[Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato Space Battleship Yamato / Star Blazers]]''.
* In another Creator/LeijiMatsumoto anime, ''Anime/QueenMillennia'', the aliens infiltrating Earth set up underground cities to survive the coming apocalypse.
[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* In ComicBook/ActionComics [[http://superdickery.com/images/stories/science/97_4_0000412.jpg #412]] Franchise/{{Superman}} discovers the existence of an entire underground city beneath Metropolis.
* Xenoarchaeologists in ''[[Comicbook/MarvelStarWars World of Fire]]'' find an underground city under their dig site and decide to break through the still-functioning energy barrier put around it. This stirs up the xenophobic, paranoid security system, which kills them all, then people landing on the world to investigate, then ships flying in orbit overhead...
[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* In the ''{{Matrix}}'' movies the only human city in existence, Zion, is hidden underground.
* The Worker's City in ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'' is a utilitarian and gloomy place underneath the titular city of the movie. It becomes a symbolic of the worker's being an oppressed class, and is a plot point as the film's villains attempt to flood it.
* {{Atlantis}} in ''Disney/AtlantisTheLostEmpire''. Instead of simply being underwater, it was buried beneath the ocean floor, and still inhabited.
[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', adventurers seeking to solve [[spoiler: the kidnapping of Caspian's son]] discover a previously unknown subterranean civilization of the Inhuman Borough type. It turns out the local inhabitants [[spoiler: are slaves captured from an even deeper cavern biome.]]
* ''CityOfEmber'' is set in an apocalypse bunker type of city where their supplies and power source are failing.
* The dwarves of ''{{Discworld}}'' live in vast, underground cities, and living underground is a part of their cultural beliefs. Vimes visits their capital in ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'', which is reached by elevator and holds a vast mine. He's disgruntled to find in ''Thud!'' that the dwarves in Ankh-Morpork are starting to build one in the network of buildings that has sunk below ground level.
* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', [[spoiler: Area 13]] is a former Apocalypse Bunker that acts as a semi-independent city state. Daily life is extremely regimented; presumably this lifestyle, along with a diet of [[FutureFoodIsArtificial future food]] enables humans to survive underground for long periods.
* The ''Literature/HyperionCantos'' have the [[HeavyWorlder high-gravity world]] Lusus, where all settlements are for some reason underground "Hives" carved into the rock. These are quite extensive; Lusus is a major center of economic and political power in the Hegemony and subsequently (the detective and central character Brawne Lamia's father was a powerful Hegemony Senator).
* ''Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt'': [[OurElvesAreBetter Drows]] live in city-states in the underground domain called the Underdark, after being (supposedly) chased there by the elves. The best known of these cities is Menzoberranzan, the birth home of TheHero, Drizzt Do'Urden. It has 20,000 drow inhabitants plus hundreds of thousands of slaves, grows giant mushrooms and Rothe livestock and trades with other underground humanoid races.
* Creator/JRRTolkien's dwarves often lived in such cities.
** ''Literature/TheHobbit'': Before it was conquered by Smaug and turned into his personal treasure horde, Erebor was a dwarven city ruled by the King Under the Mountain.
** ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'': Khazad-dum, aka "the Mines of Moria," was one of the oldest and grandest dwarven cities in existence until its inhabitants DugTooDeep and awakened an angry and powerful balrog.
** ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'': Two other dwarven cities, Nogrod and Belegost, existed in the Blue Mountains, and dwarves from them carved out the Thousand Caves of Menegroth which served as the capital of the Elven kingdom of Doriath. All three were sunk beneath the sea at the end of the First Age.
[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* In ''Series/{{Cleopatra 2525}}'' all of humanity live in underground cities because robo terraformers called Baileys roam the surface killing any human they find up there.
* In ''{{Series/Defiance}}'', what once was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis Saint Louis, Missouri]], has become a Buried City due to [[NoodleIncident an accident involving alien terraforming technology]]. The locals fled and it is uninhabited, though almost perfectly preserved. The town of Defiance was built on top of the city as a mining outpost to dig for the resources it - and the alien technology - held.
* In ''Series/FallingSkies'', starting with Season 2, the remnants of human civilization are living beneath the city of Charleston, North Carolina in an Apocalypse Bunker.
* The Ocampa in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' lived in an underground city provided by the Caretaker after his species decimated their planet's surface.
[[AC:TabletopGames]]
* In various TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons settings, races such as Dwarves, Dark Elves (a.k.a. Drow) and [[{{Cthulhumanoid}} Illithids]] tend to live in huge underground cities, often including vast open spaces and even farmlands (usually growing some kind of mushroom-based crop).
* ''TabletopGame/{{Earthdawn}}''. The entire population of the Earth had to hide from an interdimensional invasion. Most of them constructed and found refuge in kaers, magically protected underground cities. The dwarves of Throal actually hollowed out a mountain and used it as their kaer.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' takes place almost entirely in Alpha Complex, a massive underground {{Arcology}} run by an utterly insane computer.
[[AC:VideoGames]]
* ''VideoGame/AsheronsCall'' had at least two examples. The first was actually called "The Underground City" and it was the former home of Elysa Strathelar and Thorsten Cragstone's rebels. The other was Xarabydun, a settlement in the middle of the desert strangely full of plant life.
* If it survives long enough, a ''DwarfFortress'' that grows from outpost to ElaborateUndergroundBase will eventually be a full fledged self-sustaining city able to go without outside trade. That's a big IF though.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': The Vaults enabled humanity to survive nuclear war in America but just barely. And they were intended as proof-of-concept models for a GenerationShip that wasn't built in time, hence the various experimental (and often sadistic) situations manufactured.
* In ''MasterOfOrion II'' the Sakkra are a reptilian civilization with a penchant for underground cities, effectively doubling the population that can inhabit a planet and making orbital bombardment harder.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'' has the Under, a town in the old mines beneath Pyrite Town that at the start of the game is ruled openly by CIPHER. The player frees the town, and by the time of ''XD: Gale of Darkness'' everyone has moved to the surface.
* ''ProfessorLaytonAndTheUnwoundFuture'' has one under [[spoiler:the city of London]]. The inhabitants are made to believe that it is located in [[spoiler:the future.]]
* Former Hell, introduced in ''Subterranean Animism'', the 11th ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' game. When Hell moved from underground to somewhere else, {{youkai}} who were hated because of their powers decided to move to the old location. They formed a contract with the above-ground youkai, where the above-ground youkai are forbidden to go underground, while the underground youkai keep the remaining evil spirits sealed.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': The capital city of the [[DefectorFromDecadence Forsaken undead]] is the ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin aptly named]]) Undercity. It was originally just a series of sewers and catacombs below the palace of Lordaeron, but after the palace was destroyed by Arthas, the undead led by [[OurBansheesAreLouder Sylvanas Windrunner]] claimed it to themselves.
** Ahn'Kahet is an underground city that here and there borders natural subterranean life. It features large, glowy mushrooms, insects of different types and sizes and bioluminiscent birds/bats that fly around. It also contains large number of undead that took over the city as well as the few surviving Nerubians that orginally inhabited the city. While the dungeon itself is fairly linear, players are able get a good view of the massive underground caverns from ledges and combinations of creepy music, darkness and mysterious whispers (courtesy of an [[EldritchAbomination Old God]] under whose range of influence the city is located) make this place quite {{Nightmare Fuel}}lerific.
[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]
* The titular ''Webcomic/{{Endtown}}'' is the Apocalypse Bunker version crossed over with Inhuman Borough because most of the inhabitants are mutated humans.
* ''Webcomic/DrowTales'': Similarly to ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' ([[DerivativeDifferentiation on which the comic was originally based]]), [[OurElvesAreBetter drows]] live in underground cities. Most notable of these is Chel'el'Sussoloth, the capital of the drow nation. The city is split across several caverns that are connected by tunnels and bridges, and the ceiling above it resembles a starry night sky.
[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'' eventually developed Undertown, an entire city hiding underneath Bellwood's sewers where a great many species of aliens and traders make their living here outside of the watch of humans.
[[AC:RealLife]]
* [[http://io9.com/5786651/10-mysterious-underground-cities This is very much]] TruthInTelevision.
* Before you buy/build your own Moria though, [[http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/08/underground_russian_cult_uncovered_can_you_live_without_sunlight_.html living underground has drawbacks]] in the form of [[http://geography.howstuffworks.com/terms-and-associations/live-underground.htm vitamin D deficiency]] and depression.
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[[caption-width-right:350:[[http://gamefan84.deviantart.com/art/underground-city-126944836 Art by gamefan84.]]]]
A full-fledged [[TheCity city]] that stands BeneathTheEarth. It's a civilian form of ElaborateUndergroundBase and comparable to an UnderwaterCity. The underground city is more than a collection of refugees hiding in abandoned sewer and subway tunnels, it has markets, mines, homes and possibly even farms (either of mushrooms and stranger fare or sophisticated hydroponics).
Typically these cities come in a few flavors:
* '''Apocalypse Bunker:''' A refuge from an apocalyptic threat, thus serving as a BottleCity capable of weathering everything short of planetary crust destruction via ApocalypseHow scenario.
* '''Inhuman Borough:''' Home to a non-human or once-human race of MoleMen or home to evolved sentient dinosaurs using it as the above mentioned Apocalypse Bunker. While most of the time the residents are natives of Earth, aliens occasionally live in these.
* '''Buried City:''' This was once a thriving surface city [[GhostCity that has come to ruin]], but also been hidden and preserved to an amazing level underground. Usually thanks to an earthquake. If it was [[AdvancedAncientAcropolis highly advanced]] it may have survivors in the form of a LivingRelic, KingInTheMountain, HumanPopsicle or PerpetualMotionMonster.
It is possible that these varieties be combined. For example: a Buried City may still be inhabited and serve as an Apocalypse Bunker, or an Inhuman Borough built by aliens as an Apocalypse Bunker.
The underground city is very often a HiddenElfVillage and is only rarely part of a larger network of interconnected cities. Usually each is a [[UniquenessValue one of a kind]] sovereign and isolated city state. In contrast, one way in which OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame is that they tend to live in a network of underground cities.
In videogames, these can be an UndergroundLevel.
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!!Examples:
[[AC:Anime and Manga]]
* With Earth's surface being uninhabitable due to constant bombardment, humans are forced to live in these at the start of ''[[Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato Space Battleship Yamato / Star Blazers]]''.
* In another Creator/LeijiMatsumoto anime, ''Anime/QueenMillennia'', the aliens infiltrating Earth set up underground cities to survive the coming apocalypse.
[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* In ComicBook/ActionComics [[http://superdickery.com/images/stories/science/97_4_0000412.jpg #412]] Franchise/{{Superman}} discovers the existence of an entire underground city beneath Metropolis.
* Xenoarchaeologists in ''[[Comicbook/MarvelStarWars World of Fire]]'' find an underground city under their dig site and decide to break through the still-functioning energy barrier put around it. This stirs up the xenophobic, paranoid security system, which kills them all, then people landing on the world to investigate, then ships flying in orbit overhead...
[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* In the ''{{Matrix}}'' movies the only human city in existence, Zion, is hidden underground.
* The Worker's City in ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'' is a utilitarian and gloomy place underneath the titular city of the movie. It becomes a symbolic of the worker's being an oppressed class, and is a plot point as the film's villains attempt to flood it.
* {{Atlantis}} in ''Disney/AtlantisTheLostEmpire''. Instead of simply being underwater, it was buried beneath the ocean floor, and still inhabited.
[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'', adventurers seeking to solve [[spoiler: the kidnapping of Caspian's son]] discover a previously unknown subterranean civilization of the Inhuman Borough type. It turns out the local inhabitants [[spoiler: are slaves captured from an even deeper cavern biome.]]
* ''CityOfEmber'' is set in an apocalypse bunker type of city where their supplies and power source are failing.
* The dwarves of ''{{Discworld}}'' live in vast, underground cities, and living underground is a part of their cultural beliefs. Vimes visits their capital in ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant'', which is reached by elevator and holds a vast mine. He's disgruntled to find in ''Thud!'' that the dwarves in Ankh-Morpork are starting to build one in the network of buildings that has sunk below ground level.
* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', [[spoiler: Area 13]] is a former Apocalypse Bunker that acts as a semi-independent city state. Daily life is extremely regimented; presumably this lifestyle, along with a diet of [[FutureFoodIsArtificial future food]] enables humans to survive underground for long periods.
* The ''Literature/HyperionCantos'' have the [[HeavyWorlder high-gravity world]] Lusus, where all settlements are for some reason underground "Hives" carved into the rock. These are quite extensive; Lusus is a major center of economic and political power in the Hegemony and subsequently (the detective and central character Brawne Lamia's father was a powerful Hegemony Senator).
* ''Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt'': [[OurElvesAreBetter Drows]] live in city-states in the underground domain called the Underdark, after being (supposedly) chased there by the elves. The best known of these cities is Menzoberranzan, the birth home of TheHero, Drizzt Do'Urden. It has 20,000 drow inhabitants plus hundreds of thousands of slaves, grows giant mushrooms and Rothe livestock and trades with other underground humanoid races.
* Creator/JRRTolkien's dwarves often lived in such cities.
** ''Literature/TheHobbit'': Before it was conquered by Smaug and turned into his personal treasure horde, Erebor was a dwarven city ruled by the King Under the Mountain.
** ''Literature/LordOfTheRings'': Khazad-dum, aka "the Mines of Moria," was one of the oldest and grandest dwarven cities in existence until its inhabitants DugTooDeep and awakened an angry and powerful balrog.
** ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'': Two other dwarven cities, Nogrod and Belegost, existed in the Blue Mountains, and dwarves from them carved out the Thousand Caves of Menegroth which served as the capital of the Elven kingdom of Doriath. All three were sunk beneath the sea at the end of the First Age.
[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* In ''Series/{{Cleopatra 2525}}'' all of humanity live in underground cities because robo terraformers called Baileys roam the surface killing any human they find up there.
* In ''{{Series/Defiance}}'', what once was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis Saint Louis, Missouri]], has become a Buried City due to [[NoodleIncident an accident involving alien terraforming technology]]. The locals fled and it is uninhabited, though almost perfectly preserved. The town of Defiance was built on top of the city as a mining outpost to dig for the resources it - and the alien technology - held.
* In ''Series/FallingSkies'', starting with Season 2, the remnants of human civilization are living beneath the city of Charleston, North Carolina in an Apocalypse Bunker.
* The Ocampa in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' lived in an underground city provided by the Caretaker after his species decimated their planet's surface.
[[AC:TabletopGames]]
* In various TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons settings, races such as Dwarves, Dark Elves (a.k.a. Drow) and [[{{Cthulhumanoid}} Illithids]] tend to live in huge underground cities, often including vast open spaces and even farmlands (usually growing some kind of mushroom-based crop).
* ''TabletopGame/{{Earthdawn}}''. The entire population of the Earth had to hide from an interdimensional invasion. Most of them constructed and found refuge in kaers, magically protected underground cities. The dwarves of Throal actually hollowed out a mountain and used it as their kaer.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' takes place almost entirely in Alpha Complex, a massive underground {{Arcology}} run by an utterly insane computer.
[[AC:VideoGames]]
* ''VideoGame/AsheronsCall'' had at least two examples. The first was actually called "The Underground City" and it was the former home of Elysa Strathelar and Thorsten Cragstone's rebels. The other was Xarabydun, a settlement in the middle of the desert strangely full of plant life.
* If it survives long enough, a ''DwarfFortress'' that grows from outpost to ElaborateUndergroundBase will eventually be a full fledged self-sustaining city able to go without outside trade. That's a big IF though.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'': The Vaults enabled humanity to survive nuclear war in America but just barely. And they were intended as proof-of-concept models for a GenerationShip that wasn't built in time, hence the various experimental (and often sadistic) situations manufactured.
* In ''MasterOfOrion II'' the Sakkra are a reptilian civilization with a penchant for underground cities, effectively doubling the population that can inhabit a planet and making orbital bombardment harder.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'' has the Under, a town in the old mines beneath Pyrite Town that at the start of the game is ruled openly by CIPHER. The player frees the town, and by the time of ''XD: Gale of Darkness'' everyone has moved to the surface.
* ''ProfessorLaytonAndTheUnwoundFuture'' has one under [[spoiler:the city of London]]. The inhabitants are made to believe that it is located in [[spoiler:the future.]]
* Former Hell, introduced in ''Subterranean Animism'', the 11th ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' game. When Hell moved from underground to somewhere else, {{youkai}} who were hated because of their powers decided to move to the old location. They formed a contract with the above-ground youkai, where the above-ground youkai are forbidden to go underground, while the underground youkai keep the remaining evil spirits sealed.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': The capital city of the [[DefectorFromDecadence Forsaken undead]] is the ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin aptly named]]) Undercity. It was originally just a series of sewers and catacombs below the palace of Lordaeron, but after the palace was destroyed by Arthas, the undead led by [[OurBansheesAreLouder Sylvanas Windrunner]] claimed it to themselves.
** Ahn'Kahet is an underground city that here and there borders natural subterranean life. It features large, glowy mushrooms, insects of different types and sizes and bioluminiscent birds/bats that fly around. It also contains large number of undead that took over the city as well as the few surviving Nerubians that orginally inhabited the city. While the dungeon itself is fairly linear, players are able get a good view of the massive underground caverns from ledges and combinations of creepy music, darkness and mysterious whispers (courtesy of an [[EldritchAbomination Old God]] under whose range of influence the city is located) make this place quite {{Nightmare Fuel}}lerific.
[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]
* The titular ''Webcomic/{{Endtown}}'' is the Apocalypse Bunker version crossed over with Inhuman Borough because most of the inhabitants are mutated humans.
* ''Webcomic/DrowTales'': Similarly to ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'' ([[DerivativeDifferentiation on which the comic was originally based]]), [[OurElvesAreBetter drows]] live in underground cities. Most notable of these is Chel'el'Sussoloth, the capital of the drow nation. The city is split across several caverns that are connected by tunnels and bridges, and the ceiling above it resembles a starry night sky.
[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'' eventually developed Undertown, an entire city hiding underneath Bellwood's sewers where a great many species of aliens and traders make their living here outside of the watch of humans.
[[AC:RealLife]]
* [[http://io9.com/5786651/10-mysterious-underground-cities This is very much]] TruthInTelevision.
* Before you buy/build your own Moria though, [[http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/08/underground_russian_cult_uncovered_can_you_live_without_sunlight_.html living underground has drawbacks]] in the form of [[http://geography.howstuffworks.com/terms-and-associations/live-underground.htm vitamin D deficiency]] and depression.
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