Molopolis is a fabled underground city rumored to possess a wealth of misplaced or lost objects from the surface world. No one has ever seen the underground city, yet among the common folk of many kingdoms there is a firmly entrenched belief that it exists.
The concept for the underground city of Molopolis was created in part by Ben Neufeld (Calgary, Alberta) as part of his ‘Foot Knight package’ backer reward from the 2014 Realm of Strife Kickstarter Campaign.
Most academics agree that Molopolis is nothing more than a folk tale, told to children to encourage them not to misplace or lose their belongings. The tales generally involve a diminutive race of subterranean creatures, excellent burrowers but with poor vision, who sneak into homes during the night and steal anything from shiny trinkets to children’s stockings. Exactly why a city full of children’s stockings would be of use to anyone is beyond explanation and further proof that Molopolis does not exist.
If there is any truth at all to the tales, it is unlikely that Molopolis is a single city, as the belief that it exists is spoken in Tolgatha through to Leonen, meaning that the creatures who live there would either have to travel exceptionally fast or possess dimension altering magic. Among more pragmatic local law enforcement officers and town guards there is a belief that what the common folk call Molopolis is actually an interconnected network of subterranean thieves dens and that the citizens of Molopolis are simply masked robbers and scallywags belonging to a powerful and well organized Thieves Guild.
Foremost among the proponents of the fabled city of Molopolis is Lord Devon of Westway, who claims to have lost dozens of jewel encrusted necklaces, three full suits of ceremonial plate armor, countless pieces of silverware, at least 23 pairs of undergarments, and even his first two wives to the underground city of Molopolis. He has invested a great deal of his own personal wealth on expeditions down into the natural cave systems found near Westway all in an attempt to find what he believes are secret entrances to Molopolis. Most of these expeditions have proved to be of little or no consequence, though more than one ill fated expedition has ended in the deaths of many of Lord Devon’s household servants. When asked how, after nearly bankrupting his estate in search of Molopolis, there is still no firm evidence of its existence nor a single person who can prove they have been there, Lord Devon simply cites what is obviously the strict foreign policy of Molopolis, “Outsiders are not welcome!”
More recently, Lord Devon has been recruiting Alchemists from throughout Leonen and beyond, working at concocting a secret Elixir of Molopolificence that will peel back the veil and allow those that drink it to not only detect the hidden entrances to Molopolis, but also detect the presence of its citizens when they are on the surface. This has cast some suspicion that Lord Devon himself has been dabbling in Alchemy for too many years and has perhaps caused some form of permanent brain damage from sampling his own potions. Of course it is impolite to directly accuse a noble Lord of Leonen of such, and doing so may result in a long term stay in his dungeon, or worse, indentured servitude on one of his “expeditions”.