Undertown is a fictional city-state in Paul Stewart

Paul Stewart (writer)

Paul Stewart is a writer of children's books, best known for the bestselling The Edge Chronicles, the Free Lance novels and the Far Flung Adventures series which are written in collaboration with the illustrator Chris Riddell...

's series of books, The Edge Chronicles

The Edge Chronicles

The Edge Chronicles is a young-adult fantasy novel series by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. It consists of three trilogies, plus three additional books, and others . Originally published in the United Kingdom, this series has since been published in the United States, Canada and Australia. To...

. It was founded when the many different species throughout the Edge migrated to form a town underneath the great floating city of Sanctaphrax

Sanctaphrax

Sanctaphrax is a fictional city-state from Paul Stewart's & Chris Riddell's The Edge Chronicles.-Early history:Sanctaphrax was founded centuries ago when a flight rock growing in The Stone Gardens became far larger than any before...

. The central ethos of the city was that every undertowner was free, to live as he saw best without compulsion or coercion

Coercion

Coercion is the practice of forcing another party to behave in an involuntary manner by use of threats or intimidation or some other form of pressure or force. In law, coercion is codified as the duress crime. Such actions are used as leverage, to force the victim to act in the desired way...

. It is the economic centre of the edgeworld.

Rulers of Undertown

In the Quint and Twig trilogies, Undertown is ruled by the United Leagues of Undertown Free Merchants, powerful trading organizations that monopolize the economy of the Edge. The Leagues disband at the end of the First Age of Flight, when stone-sickness renders their ships unusable. In the first two books of the Rook trilogy, Undertown is ruled by the Hammerhead Goblins, who enslave the populace. In the last book of the Rook trilogy, Undertown no longer exists, having been destroyed by a Dark Maelstrom. However, the city of New Undertown - dedicated to the principles of democracy and equality on which Old Undertown was originally founded - has been founded in the Free Glades.