Real Life Megadungeons: Chavin de Huantar, Peru

At first blush Chaven de Huantar isn't much to look at. There aren't any really grand buildings or huge underground tunnels. The site was first established sometime around 1200 B.C. and abandoned around 500 B.C. It was occupied by a number of different cultures but the last one to occupy it were the Chavin culture, one of the many pre-Inca cultures in Peru. 

What makes the place unique in my opinion is how it was designed. The builders specifically included acoustical properties in the complex so that the priests can manipulate sound so that worshipers can hear it at a stele located in a central place.

From an article on the subject from Popular Archaelogy:

Says Miriam Kolar, Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellow, PhD Candidate
 at Stanford University and leader of the study: 

"At Chavín, we have discovered acoustic evidence for selective sound transmission between the site's Lanzon monolith and the Circular Plaza: an architectural acoustic filter system that favors sound frequencies of the Chavín pututus [conch-shell trumpets] and human voice."

The Lanzon is a sacred statue or stela depicting the central deity of the ancient Chavín culture. It is housed in the central chamber of a series of underground passages within the Old Temple of the ceremonial and religious center of Chavín de Huántar. A central duct was built to connect the area of the monolith with that of the Circular Plaza, a place of ceremonial activity and significance. The duct was specifically designed to filter to a certain sound range -- namely, the range emitted by the Chavín pututu instrument.

Some images:

The outside.

Some tunnels:

A denizen? A goddess? A demon?

 This guy is too cheerful to be a head mounted to a wall. I wouldn't trust anything he says.

A conch shell used in ceremonies. Maybe to summon the goddess or wake the stone heads?

Something that I find particularly interest is this glyph of some sort of winged creature. Maybe another denizon of the dungeon or a god watching over it? However I also had a thought--what if you used this as a framework for a city? It could make an excellent map for a city center I think.

Same image cleaned up a bit

And now made very recognizable:

And now a map of the complex:

Real Life Megadungeons: Ayutthaya, Thailand

In case you haven't figured it out by now, I love to use real life as inspiration for my gaming. Yesterday this image popped up in my RSS reader courtesy of the tumblr blog Subterranean Design (a blog that everybody needs to be following):

The head is normally above water

The image immediately resonated with me, so 45 minutes later and the magic of Google I learned the following. The image is from the city of Ayutthaya in Thailand, which was founded in 1350. The dynasty ruled until 1765 when an invading Burmese force of some 40,000 soldiers sacked the city. Just a few years later the Burmese army was forced to withdraw because of the threat of an invasion of Burma by Chinese armies, leaving the city of Ayutthaya in ruins.

The founders of the city chose well in picking the site. It's at a junction of three rivers, as well as being placed on a main trade route. Part of the city (the "old city" as it's called) is actually located on an island.

Some examples of the city's architecture:

(photo by Justin Gaurav Murgai)

A possible dungeon entrance?

Another oracle?

Painting of the city that was ordered to be done by the Dutch East India Tea Company:

And another one

Where's the dungeon you ask? Simple--just imagine that all the pagodas and towers are linked with underground tunnels and passageways. Or better yet don't even imagine that there's a dungeon--there's enough ruined structures and buildings to keep a party busy for awhile.

Real Life megadungeon: Odessa catacombs

The catacombs of Rome are world-famous, and justly so. The Sedlec Ossuary is also very famous for it's thousands upon thousands of skeletons and bones. A lesser-known (and much neglected) series of catacombs can be found under the city of Odessa.

According to the font of all knowledge, the catacombs under Odessa total some 4,000 km stretching under the city and surrounding area of Odessa. The area has never been fully mapped (really it's barely been mapped at all). Apparently the first tunnels were built as a result of mining the soft limestone, then as tunnels were expanded they hooked into each other in a vast network that has housed everything from smugglers to Nazis (and apparently even housed a wine cellar at one point).

The tunnels are starting to become flooded, which adds an extra element of danger for your dungeoneering party. Not only do they have to navigate 4,000 km of territory (with whatever might lurk beneath), they now have to avoid flooded areas and sudden washouts.

Some pictures for inspiration:

The entrance

Some early rewards for the party:

Some interior glamour shots:

I wonder where the train goes . . .

And some bits of what's been mapped.

In a place as old as this there's no telling what you're going to find.