You seek the treasures of empires long vanished. The world’s dungeons are brimming with lost secrets and artifacts of unimaginable power—and they belong in a museum, or at least in your living room. While others call you a tomb robber, you consider yourself an archaeologist, a collector, or an explorer.

Are you associated with a wizards’ college or institute of higher learning, or are you a private collector? Are you an idealist or a profiteer? What is the one relic or piece of knowledge that you’d trade anything to find?

You are skilled at hunting monsters in underground environments. You have spent much of your training alone in the dark, honing your senses to pick out the slightest sound or notice the most subtle disturbance in loose sand. You are relentless in your pursuit, for you know the danger your quarry poses.

Are you a guardian of your community, or do you hunt for sport? Do you work alone, or do you hire yourself out as a guide for bored nobles in search of excitement? What monster have you sworn to catch?

You spent long years captive to an Underland empire, where you grew accustomed to ways that aren’t your own. You are now a stranger to your own people, having replaced their social mores with those you learned while underground. Your bizarre ways mystify them: you don’t wake and sleep with the sun, you eat strange foods, and you often use words and phrases that they’ve never heard.

After a long period of captivity, you returned to the surface and were welcomed with open arms, despite your scars and aged appearance. You’ve resumed the life you left behind, re-establishing old connections. The only problem is, it’s not your life to which you’ve returned—you are an imposter.

Whose identity did you adopt? Did you do so with their blessing, or did you leave them for dead? Might they return one day? If so, whose story will be believed?

Ability Score Increases: +1 to Charisma and one other ability score.

Only the brave or foolhardy dare even the briefest foray into Underland, and few survive such treks long enough to make a habit of it. Underlanders are survivors through and through, having known the leanest of times in tunnels home to monsters and deadly traps alike. The harshness of subterranean life makes Underlanders extremely cautious about whom they trust, but once they form a bond with someone, their loyalty is ironclad. At the same time, Underlanders can be incredibly patient when danger is near—but when the moment to strike is at hand, theirs is sure.

One of the most difficult aspects of life in Underland is finding enough food to eat—or protecting what food one can find. An underharvester is someone who’s mastered the practice of gathering food in the harshest of environments, learning by painful experience (or wise lessons) what food is safe to eat. Mushrooms in particular are a valuable resource for underharvesters, something they take with them whenever they travel to a new area.

The oceans of Underland are sailed by an eclectic mix of merchants, pirates, explorers, adventurers, and agents of the various underground factions. While less affected by extreme weather than their surface counterparts, these subterranean seas possess hazards of their own, and those who sail them (and survive) are made resourceful and resilient indeed. Sunless mariners spend most of their lives on (or under) the water, operating boats and submarines on the shipping lanes that link Underland’s ports.

Sewer rats are ratlings who live by their wits in the most inhospitable parts of cities. They venture out at night in search of food and other necessities, stealing whatever they can’t scavenge. Able to wriggle through tiny spaces and laughing at locks, sewer rats operate much like a thieves’ guild—albeit one more interested in food than riches.

Though every motley is unique, they share much in common and find comfort in each other’s company. What develops from there is a loving community that is accepting of all types of people, embracing exiles, outcasts, and anyone else who seeks a peaceful life. Motley collectives may be permanent settlements or nomadic caravans, but no matter what form they take, all collectives value cooperation. In a motley collective, each member’s peculiarity is turned into a strength.