The fifth installment of Underfoot's "Unfolding the Lore" series is out and centers in on the Foundation:

The Foundation

The Foundation is where mountains are "born." In the early days, Brell created stone giants known as the Genari and charged them with raising mountains all over the multiverse. But his personal interest in this form of sometimes destructive creation waned, and now the Genari do their endless, tireless work with little help from their creator... not that they complain.

The fourth part of Underfoot's "Unfolding the Lore" series is out and focuses on Brell's Arena:

Brell's Arena

Located just off Brell's Rest, Brell's Arena is a small battleground that was created by Brell Serilis to allow the gnolls and kobolds to "play" a vicious game known as the Boomerang Brawl. This unusual game is run by Gilbot the Magnificent, a gnomework creation of Brell.

Underfoot expansion beta registration is now open. Here's the message from EQLive:

Sign Up for the EQ Expansion Beta We are now accepting sign-ups for the EverQuest® Underfoot™ expansion beta. The beta period is expected to begin on October 20, 2009 and end on December 1, 2009.

The third part of Underfoot's "Unfolding the Lore" series is out and surrounds a mining area known as the Underquarry:

The Underquarry

The Underquarry is a multi-lobed underground strip-mine where servitors of Brell toil endlessly to mine the living rock along a system of pathways and veins. It was once a few large caverns quietly hiding underground. Flowing water breached the caverns, creating two massive sinkholes. Since then the water flow from above has ceased and Brell's minions have turned the caverns into mines and quarries for needed materials.

The second part of Underfoot's "Unfolding the Lore" series gives us a glimpse into Pellucid Grotto:

The Pellucid Grotto is one of the areas of the Underfoot where the primal mineral underpinnings of Norrath and other worlds are managed. The race collectively known as the Crystalkin has made this their home since before memories were made.

The first part of Underfoot's "Unfolding the Lore" series is out and centers around Brell's Rest:

Brell's Rest

Brell's Rest is the place where the worthy of Brell's worshippers go when their time on Norrath ends. Some worshippers are given places amongst those of the Underfoot, to work on the world, but few find such a thing to their liking. Many spend their afterlife in an "ideal" setting for their race. Dwarves, gnomes, gnolls, kobolds and others all live in or around Brell's Rest or in the Shining City just out of sight on the sphere above. However, most of the residents of the Rest are gnolls and kobolds. The dwarves tend to stay in the city brewing beer and crafting things in stone and metal, while the Gnomes tinker, though some of them also wander the land to see what's up out there.

Sony Online Entertainment has announced that the launch date of Underfoot, EverQuest's 16th expansion, has been pushed back to Dec. 15. SOE made the move "to ensure that we can give our players the best possible gameplay experience and the amount of content that they've come to expect." The expansion was originally scheduled to be released on Nov. 24.

Of course, this means some of the Road to Underfoot details have changed as well. You now have until 11:59 p.m. PST on Dec. 1 to participate in all three events and pre-order the expansion in order to gain early access to Underfoot on Dec. 8.

For more information, check out the full announcement after the jump.

Here is a message from EQLive about getting access to Underfoot a week prior to its commercial release:

The busy gnomes of the EverQuest® team are putting the final touches to the 16th expansion to the EverQuest franchise, Underfoot, and we couldn't be more excited to unveil it to you! In anticipation of this EverQuest milestone, we're rolling out the Road to Underfoot events to give you a taste of what's to come and the opportunity to get there early!

Sony Online Entertainment today announced that EverQuest Underfoot is scheduled to launch on November 24th. Players can expect several in-game events leading up to the release of the 16th expansion, the first of which began today.

Sony Online Entertainment is proud to announce that the 16th expansion to the legendary EverQuest franchise, EverQuest Underfoot, is scheduled to launch November 24, 2009. In anticipation of this EverQuest milestone, SOE is also kicking off the first of three "Road to Underfoot" in-game events.

Scheduled to begin on August 12th, the Road to Underfoot commences with the first event, Giants, Giants, Giants, which features:

• New adventures in Norrath: gather friends and slay some of Norrath's most fearsome giant creatures.
• Encounter the greatest "big" foes of Norrath, from the Ancient Cyclops to the powerful Lord Brekt. Seek out Tzudani, Emissary of Veeshan, in the Plane of Knowledge to heed the call.
• Gain valuable rewards: the farther you get through the Giants event, the better your reward!

In case you missed it, check out our exclusive Underfoot screenshots and our exclusive interview with Ryan Barker. Also, stay tuned for the best in-depth coverage leading up to the launch of EverQuest Underfoot.

Last month at the Sony Online Entertainment Fan Faire, the EverQuest team announced that they've been hard at work on the 16th expansion simply titled "Underfoot". Curiosity got the best of us, so we sat down with our old friend Ryan Barker from the EverQuest development team to find out what we can expect in the next expansion.

ZAM: Hey Ryan, it's great to talk with you again. Are you ready to talk about the Underfoot?

Ryan Barker:  Sure thing, ready if you are!

ZAM: First of all, it's hard not notice that this is the first EverQuest expansion with a singular name, making it nearly impossible for players to create an acronym. Is this intended or is the EverQuest team running out of ideas?

Ryan: Well, the acronym issue was definitely brought up, but we just came to the conclusion that it didn't really need a multipart name.  The Underfoot title makes it pretty clear what the premise for the expansion is, and it's always been referenced that way in lore up to this point.  It was definitely a conscious decision.