The Underhive, also known as the Badzones,[1a] is the area below the Hive cities, out of reach of the laws of the Clan Houses, the Planetary Governor, and Merchants Guilds.[1a] These areas predate the hive cities by centuries or even millennia, originating from Necromunda’s earliest settlements before the planet's ecology was devastated. The underhive, remnants of these old cities, may still contain relics from the original colony ships.[2a]
Overview
The physical structure of a Hive is made of several hab-domes stitched together with tunnels and shaft over a long period of time, giving it a Honeycomb-like structure.[1a]
The interior of the underhive is a vast, industrial-scaled cathederal of metal and decay, where machines the size of battleships have been abandoned long ago; it is said that some gangs worship those ancient machines as hungry gods, to which they sacrifice captives.[1a] These domed caverns are filled with rubble, toxic dust, and filth, creating a hazardous environment.[1c]
A dome provides a wide open space, divided into zones of factories, houses, commercial buildings, and other structures. Between each dome, the maze of tunnels and shafts is the scene of bitter gangs wars and bloody raids,[1a] highly valuing scouts who can navigate them.[1b]
Settlements
Despite the harsh living conditions, habitable pockets exist and are fiercely contested by gangs for their valuable remnants of machinery and minerals. Many areas remain unexplored due to blocked and flooded tunnels.[1b]
Underhive communities are usually small, consisting of simple holes and dens, although larger settlements like Dust Falls and Dead End Pass exist. These are protected by stockades made from debris, with shelters and buildings repurposed from ruins. Survival involves cultivating edible fungi and algae or raising native animals such as rats and mutant dogs.[1c]
Larger settlements have their own order with trading places, small workshops for equipment repair, and services for travelers. Goods and services can be bought or bartered, with information being the most valuable commodity, especially news of ore strikes and tunnel openings that could lead to wealth.[1c]
Badzones
The underhive is also known as the badzones as travelling trough it can be perilous, with travelers sticking to well-trodden paths to avoid bandits and monsters or risking hazardous routes. Guilder caravans, guarded by local gangs or Bounty Hunters, are the only ones that can navigate these dangerous areas with relative security, providing essential trade routes that sustain the settlements within the underhive. The Imperial House has classified different types of badzones:[3a]
- Ancient Manufactorum: a forest of rusting smokestacks looms above a labyrinth of ancient, abandoned machinery, with the rumble of dormant forges echoing faintly from deep below.[3e]
- Dome Jungle: local flora and fungi have overtaken the dome, with twisting creepers and deadly carnivorous plants completely overgrowing the crumbling remains of habitation.[3d]
- Sump Sea: the sump, a bubbling morass of toxic goo, floods entire levels with waste, forcing fighters to use boats or bridges to navigate across it.[3e]
- Stygian Depths: cracks permeate the very foundations of the hives, creating vast, yawning chasms between domes, with the darkness crisscrossed by a web of rusting gantries.[3e]
- Unstable Dome: an ancient war, a forgotten quake, or simply the passage of centuries has left the dome unstable, ready to collapse at the slightest hint of violence.[3d]
- Warp-tainted: an area where the veil between reality and the Warp is thin.[3d]
Outlands
Beyond the badzones lie the outlands, where civilization has completely forsaken humanity. These are the most desperate and abandoned places in the underhive, where survival is a constant struggle against extreme conditions and lawlessness.[4d]
Outlanders on Necromunda are outcasts who have never been affiliated with a House. They may be descendants of escaped helots or lost tribes dwelling in the badzones, or they could originate from a defunct House, forever excluded from Necromundan society due to ancestral sins. Some are true underhivers, born from criminals or outcasts from Hive City, able to trace distant lineage to various clans. Many Outlanders take pride in their separation from mainstream Necromundan society, viewing it not as a weakness but as a source of strength.[4b]
Life in the outlands is a constant struggle for survival, with gangers frequently undertaking perilous missions to scavenge or prospect for resources essential for fortifying their hideouts or simply sustaining themselves with basics like food and water. Once a gang establishes a settlement, they face the ongoing challenge of defending it against rival gangs, the dangers of the underhive, and even internal conflicts that can destroy fledgling towns.[4e]
Defenses are crucially important, more so than in the rest of the underhive, as isolated settlements must fend for themselves. Walls are paramount in their defenses; a simple three-meter tall fence can deter most threats or provide time to eliminate them. More security-minded settlements utilize towers, gates, sentry guns, minefields, and guard beasts to enhance their defenses, as few settlements can prosper for long without implementing several of these measures.[4c]
The Hive Bottom
Deeper underground, the underhive transitions to the ancient, abandoned hive bottom, marked by darkness, toxic fumes emanating from the Sump Sea, and a labyrinth of crawl holes. Monstrous creatures, born from millennia of toxic waste, dwell here and occasionally prey on humans. Their eerie howls haunt the underhive, and hunters sometimes display their skins, alongside those of savages and outlaws, as trophies in the Down Town trade hole.[1b]
Denizens
The discontented, the poor, the disinherited and outcasts naturally gravitate towards the Underhive.[1c] The Badzones also offer opportunities for those willing to work hard to create habitable spaces, cultivate algae and mutant fungus, and eventually restore order to reclaim areas back into the hive.[1c]
Inhabitants of the underhive are viewed as barely better than vermin by those living above. Life here is harsher and more violent, with opportunities for upward mobility often achieved through strength, luck, and ruthlessness. The underhive serves as the battleground for proxy wars among Clan Houses, with young gang members fighting for survival and a chance to move up in both status and physical location within the hive.[2a]
- Clan Houses Gangs
- Merchants Guilds: Necromunda's economic powerhouse
- Palanite Enforcers: The Law of Necromunda
- Redemptionists: Fanatical priests
- Spyrer Hunters: Children of Hive Nobles sent down to prove their worth by hunting in the Underhive
- Bounty Hunters: licensed by their worlds to capture or kill fugitives, criminals and creatures for a bounty
- Hive Scum: mercenaries
- Outcasts Gangs
- Chaos Cults
- Ratskins: Primitive natives of the Hive Bottom
- Scavvies: Diseased and ghoulish creatures
- Hired Guns: Mercenaries for Hire
Sources
- 2: Necromunda Rulebook (2018):
- 2a: pgs. 10-11
