Deep in the lower, forgotten levels, in the oldest subbasements of ancient buildings, an entire shadowy culture has developed. Coruscant's underworld is dank and oppressive, never seeing the sun or the night sky because of the looming shadows of kilometer-high buildings. Low-flying shuttles traveling near the ground level must fly with all their running lights on and weapons powered up. Otherwise, the underworld is never traveled alone.
—Pollus Hax, The Illustrated Star Wars Universe
Houses are built on top of abandoned cellars, are lived in and are torn down. Tenements are razed and buried under new tenements. Malls are built and maintenance tunnels are dug, and then the malls suddenly go bankrupt and close. The surface of a city is only the tip of a vast infrastructional nightmare - and only the Nosferatu know what's down there.
—Vampire: The Masquerade - Clanbook: Nosferatu
Cordo: Light... Please, Doctor, let me see some light...
Mandrell: Fool, there's no light down here! Only that which we make ourselves.
The Undercity, or the Pit, extends deep beneath the streets of Dystopia. Some say this undercity is larger than all the other layers combined. The trash from Dystopia's upper layers filters down here, where the stench of organic and chemical wastes assaults the traveler. Dying spirits and madmen share the sewers and collapsed subways with the Technocracy's mutant rejects and shuffling toxic monstrosities. Cults of diabolists hold perverse rites in the Pit, and Nephandi sometimes scour the Undercity for potential servants. None of the Undercity's denizens have any hope left. No Technomancer can accept the Undercity and remain devoted to creating the world his Union foresees.
—Mage: The Ascension - The Book Of Worlds
The "Undercity," as some call it, is home to the diseased, the insane, to criminals, and even the dead — unwanted corpses are often discarded here by murderers and lazy undertakers.
Darktown's slums makes Lowtown look pleasant in comparison. The foul miasma known as chokedamp clogs and swells in every corner of the Darktown, creating a poisonous mist. Its sewers are a dangerous place. The walls are damp, slick, and coated with phosphorescent lichen. The sewer is a maze, and one foolish enough to enter is not likely to be heard from again.
You descend to the deepest reaches of London, below even the shrouded slums. This dim realm is called Underlondon, and like most underthings, it is not mentioned in polite company. Only the most desperate scavengers venture into Underlondon. Here, the city's rubbish collects in heaps the size of hills; the city's refuse falls like unpleasant, unrelenting rain.
Over in Gross Coil and Skulkford the city's sitting on layers of older buildings . For hundreds of years they sunk into the mire , and they'd just build new ones on top of them . The pavement's only been solid there for a hundred and fifty years. Over there, the sewers feed into old basements and bedrooms. The tunnels like this one lead into submerged streets. You can still see the road names. Rotten houses under a brick sky. Straight up. The shit flows along channels, and then through windows and doors. That's where the undergangs live. They used to be human, or their parents did , but they've spent too long down here. They aren't a pretty sight.
—Isaac, Perdido Street Station
