Shell 5 - The Core

Geography
The core (shell 5) is mostly a desolate wasteland riddled with gorges and networks of caves. In many places, forests of black crystal spires jut out from within the ground. The center of the core, beneath the rocky crust, is a single enormous black crystal that emanates negative energy and darkness that normal dark-vision can see through. The surface of the core is pitch black and the skies above are always dark.

The distance between the surface of shell 5 and shell 4 is much greater than the distance between any other shells. Surroundings become dark on the way down from shell 4 long before the surface of the core is reached. From the surface of the core, none of the upper shells are visible. If it weren't for debris falling from above, the dwellers of shell 5 might not know that the other shells exist.

Avatar
Mors is an avatar of evil, darkness, and negative energy. He is not alive, but neither is he undead. His state of being is best described as anti-life. His true form is warped, monstrous, and far from humanoid, but is recognizable as both undead and devil-like. He is methodical and calculating. Whereas the other avatars travel their shells to disburse their energy and rest in their lairs in humanoid form, Mors primarily channels energy from within his lair and uses his humanoid form to travel the surface.

Lair
Mors resides at the very center of the core, deep within the crystal below the surface. From those depths, he channels the dark energy that shapes shell 5. Surrounding his lair, in a honeycomb of dark crystal, is an insect-like hive of his truest kin - hive-minded devil-like monsters that are healed by negative energy and blinded by light.

Capital City
The largest city on shell 5 is the necropolis called Malum. Although it is not built around the lair of an avatar, it is still considered the capital city of the shell. It is built amidst a vast expanse of empty ground that has neither gorges nor crystal spires. Malum is populated by all manner of intelligent undead and an occasional devil. Other creatures of the darkness that have no taste for civilization, such as bodaks and wraiths, are rarely seen near the city.

The library of Malum is one of the largest repositories of dark magic in the multiverse. Powerful evil spellcasters, such as Liches, have been known to planeshift there to study unique dark rituals from the unholy texts.

Civilization
Any creature that falls to its death on shell 5 is reanimated within a matter of days as an undead by the necromantic energy that permeates the core. Throughout history, many expedition ships have crashed into the core and many people have plummeted to their death from the upper shells. In many of the cultures above, it is also a common practice to commit the bodies of the dead to the darkness below.

Reanimation results in mindless undead far more often than intelligent ones. The intelligent ones usually find their way to a city, while the mindless ones are devoured by the various scavengers that roam the wasteland between cities. The majority of intelligent undead remember nothing of their original lives. On extremely rare occasion, a body is reanimated with full memory. Those with full memory who were of good alignment in life remain good aligned in undeath, even though they are sustained by negative energy. They are the only good aligned creatures on shell 5. Those that survive long enough are found by other of their kind and brought to the sanctuary city, Salus.

The undead created here are immortal while on shell 5, but quickly weaken and die in the absence of negative energy. Thus only masters of necromancy, well versed in manipulation and infusion of the dark energies, can ever hope to leave the confines of the core.

Culture
Being immortal and having little else to occupy their time, the people of this shell study magic. Since the majority of the population is evil and negative energy is abundant, most studies are experiments in necromancy. Cities and everything in them are built by using necromantic spells to turn mindless undead into a work force. Dangerous creatures that attack the city are kept at bay using magic and mindless undead defense forces.

Races
Centuries of reanimation has brought about populations of vampires, ghosts, zombies, skeletons, and other more obscure undead. These undead make up much of the surface population. The remainder of the demographic are creatures that come through planar rifts connecting shell 5 to the plane of shadow. The Mors-kin live only in the hive within the core, but often come to the surface in hunting packs to prey upon the creatures there. Devils are not native to this world but can be seen on shell 5. They planeshift to the major cities to barter for the purest of dark crystals for use in enhancing their magic.

Blessed-Born
There are no creatures on the surface of shell 5 that breed in a traditional sense, however there are still Blessed-Born. Creatures reanimated in the vicinity of Mors when he walks the surface receive his blessing - +1 caster level to necromancy, darkness, and death effects. Mors-kin born in the center of the hive while Mors is in his lair recieve the same bonuses. Blessed-Born of Mors look more shadowy than normal and cast unusual shadows, but otherwise look normal.

Religion
There are no religious orders or practices on shell 5. The surface dwellers are at odds with Mors, who created them for the sole purpose of being food for his kin. Mors-kin, being of hive mind and intrinsically connected to Mors himself, have no need for religion or culture.

Magic
Necromancy, darkness, and death effects enact at +1 caster level on shell 5.

Organizations
Collectors - Each city has a group that scouts the surrounding region for new intelligent reanimations and brings them back to the city. Collector groups also scavenge for useful or valuable debris from the upper shells.

Places of Note
Salus - the only good aligned city on shell 5. The city is hidden in a deep gorge to protect the rather small population from the abundant evil that surrounds them. Driven by memories of their former lives, Salus' collector group is the most skilled and obsessive on the shell. They salvage shipwrecks and study the debris in the hopes of someday building their own functioning ship that will let them once more set eyes upon their homelands.

The people of Salus realize that they cannot survive for long after leaving the core. They study necromancy in the hope of freeing themselves from negative energy dependency, but thus far their good alignment has proven very counter-productive to standard necromantic rituals. Their success would require the assistance and knowledge of those in the upper shells, but they cannot reach the upper shells until they succeed. Salus is a city trapped by impossible circumstances. Until fate smiles on the people there, all they have is hope.