Storyline

Backstory texts

Below are the texts given from each stage.

Many heroes of all kinds ventured into the Dungeon before you. Some of them have returned with treasures and magical artifacts, most have never been heard of ever since. But none has succeeded in retrieving the Amulet of Yendor, which is told to be hidden in the depths of Pixel Dungeon. You consider yourself ready for the challenge, but most importantly you feel that fortune smiles upon you. It's time to start your own adventure!

The Dungeon lies right beneath the City, its upper levels are actually constitute the City's sewer system. Being nominally a part of the City, these levels are not that dangerous. No one will call them a safe place, but at least you won't need to deal with evil magic here.

Many years ago an underground prison for the most dangerous criminals was built here. At that moment it seemed a very clever idea, this place, indeed, was very hard to escape. But soon dark miasma started to permeate from below, driving prisoners and guards insane. In the end the prison was abandoned, though some convicts were left locked here.

The caves, which stretch down under the abandoned prison, are sparcely populated. They lie too deep to be exploited by the City and they are too poor in minerals to interest the dwarves. In the past there was a trade outpost somewhere here on the route between these two states, but it perished after the decline of Dwarven Metropolis. Only omnipresent gnolls and subterranean animals dwell here.

Dwarven Metropolis was once the greatest of dwarven city-states. In its heyday the mechanized army of dwarves has successfully repelled the invasion of the old god and his demon army. But it is said,that the returning warriors have brought seeds of corruption with them and that victory was the beginning of the end for the underground kingdom.

In the past these levels were the outskirts of Metropolis. After the costly victory in the war with the old god dwarves were too weakened to clear them of remaining demons. Gradually demons have consolidated their grip on this place and now it's called Demon Halls. Very few adventurers ever descended this far...

Known events

Below are known events of Pixel Dungeon. They are not in chronological order.

• The Dwarven Metropolis and the City trade with each other.
• The Dwarven Metropolis soon fell due to corruption.
• The Dwarves’ interests have shifted from engineering to arcane arts, warlocks have come to power in the City. They started with elemental magic, but soon switched to Demonology and Necromancy.
• The Dwarves fought against Yog-Dzewa and his army of demons.
• Some of the Dwarf soldiers that came back from the fight were cursed with evil by the demons and started to think evil, as the Dwarf Warlocks switched to Necromancy and Demonology.
• A Prison was built underground by the City to hold criminals.
• Most of the criminals and thieves in the Prison either died and revived as Skeletons, or lived and became crazy from lack of freedom.
• Gnolls went into the Dungeons to seek refuge.
• The King of Dwarves has tricked his court in participating in a ritual. This ritual granted the King eternal youth and an undead army of Dwarves.
• The King of Dwarves massacred his court, then revived them as his eternal slaves, and summons them to fight by calling out "Arise, Slaves!".

The City

Not much is known about the City, as it is spoken of a few times in the game. It is located directly on top of the Dungeon. The City had built an underground Prison and trading routes with the Dwarves. The City is presumably inhabited by humans, as the Shopkeeper, Hero/ine, Crazy Thieves, Old Wandmaker, and Crazy Bandits came from there.

The Dwarven Metropolis

The Dwarven Metropolis is located on depth 16-21. It is populated by Dwarves, Golems, and elemental beings. The Dwarven Metropolis fell due to the Dwarves turning to evil magic and the corruption that went around the City. The Metropolis used to have trading routes with the City and used to mine, but due to the poor minerals, they stopped. The Dwarven Metropolis is ruled by the King of Dwarves. Before the downfall of the Dwarven Metropolis, the Metropolis was ruled by a King and a court.

The Hero/ine

The Hero/ine presumably comes from the City and entered the Dungeon in order to start their great adventure, clear the Dungeon, and get the Amulet of Yendor. 

The Thieves' Guild

The Thieves' Guild is an organization of criminals, such as the Crazy Thieves and Crazy Bandits. Members of the Thieves' Guild don the Ring of Haggler on themselves to signify their allegiance to the guild. The Thieves' Guild is notorious to Shopkeepers and vendors and will be given discounts in exchange for "temporary immunity".

The Tengu

The Tengu are a clan of assassins outside of the Dungeon. They are known for their extensive use of Shurikens and traps. The clan and the members of the clan are both called 'Tengu'. The most notable Tengu is the one trapped in the Prison.

Tome of Mastery

It is possible that the Tengu in the Prison was a high ranking assassin and may have brought the Tome of Mastery to show his high level. Then he was caught for assassinations and was locked in Prison while he had the Tome of Mastery.

Trolls

From what we can gather from the Troll blacksmith, Dwarves are not the only people to master smithing. Trolls in the Pixel Dungeon universe are described as tall, lean, and having a stone like appearance.

Assumptions

These are assumptions made through the given evidence in the game.

• Tengu is possibly an assassin that brought the Tome of Mastery into the Dungeon with him. The reason for this is that he was part of the Tengu clan, which is known outside of the Dungeon.
• The reason why Tengu is there could possibly be, that he might have been caught for assassinations and was captured, or he went into the Dungeon in search of artifacts; which can explain why he is at depth 10 in Prison; which also explains why the Hero/ine must use an Iron Key on a locked door, instead of just having a normal door.
• The King of Dwarves must have massacred his court during the ritual, then brought them back to life, due to in-game text saying that the Undead Dwarves were former members of his court.

Trivia

• A large part of the Pixel Dungeon’s history revolves around the Dwarves.
  

History

Update	Change
1.6.0	Added Backstory Texts to the game (Scrolls appearing {pictured above}, when entering a stage for the first time, in a run)