Soul Gorge Caverns
The Soul Gorge Caverns are a long continuous stretch of natural and man made caverns that twist and tunnel their way deep through the surrounding area. There are 10 natural entrances scattered in the wilderness that connect to these tunnels, which cover an area more than 50 Square mile, and stretch a total of nearly 200 Miles. The most accessible entrance is Cerberus, located within the city of Cratos.
They also tunnel their way deep into the ground creating what the Hunters call Floors. The first floor begins near the surface of the caverns where they occasionally open up at the Wilderness. The entrance at Cerberus sits about 100 feet underground providing access to three different depths and floors. The first lift descends to a depth of 500 feet below Cerberus and opens up to Floor 8. Floors 20 (1,400 Feet) and 35 (4,500 Feet) are also accessible via lifts. There is no symmetric measurement of a floor, rather any time that the tunnels have a long horizontal stretch separated by a vertical stretch, it is considered a floor. For this reason floors can be relatively small, spanning one or two chambers wide before the next pit drop, or Miles long. The pits themselves can also very before connecting to the next floor, and some pits bypass floors all together, leading to deeper areas that can only be reached by certain pits and dropping for several hundred feet, with the longest known pit to be over 1000 Ft straight down. The deepest explored floor (Floor 42) is around 7,000 feet below Ground Level and takes over 3 months to descend and ascend, but the deepest known floor is Floor 49 at about 9,000 feet below.
Navigating the Soul Gorge Caverns is not always a linear path. Sometimes it requires the calculated zigzag, rising and dropping between floors and pits to reach the desired floor. Other times, tunnels can descend with low enough grades to connect to lower floors without requiring descending down pits, but this can take far longer to reach deep into the caverns. For this reason, it is not uncommon for Hunters to be down in the Caverns for Days or Weeks at a time. The longest recorded exploration of the caverns was 5 years and 9 months by an team that had gotten lost within the Caverns. Only 2 of the original 6 made it back from that exploration. It is believed that others may currently be lost within the Caverns that could one day make their way back out, with a total Missing Hunters count sitting at over 200. But most people tend to suspect those missing to have perished long ago, though without evidence, they remain missing.
Geography
The Soul Gorge Caverns are a beautiful place. At its surface, it is lined with natural deposits of stone and minerals, that create breath taking stone formations. But as you explore deeper, the caverns open up and evolve into their own ecosystems depending on the depth and resources available.
From Large Crystal filled chambers, Bio-Illuminated walls, expansive Fungle Jungles, and even a large underground lake. There are even areas that are exposed to geothermal activity which are belived to be the cause of all the Hot Springs in Kardia - The Orange District.
Fauna & Flora
A wide variety of Beasts, small and large alike, inhabit the Caverns. Many of these evolving or adapting to life deep underground.
The large majority of plant life down below consists of decomposers such as Moss, Fungi, Algae. Though it is not common, on occasion, deep roots from old trees can also make their way down underground.
In addition to the wild animals, there are a collection of Monstrous creatures that also make the deep caverns their home. These can be quite tame, to highly territorial, but all should always be approached with caution.
Lastly, Fiends commonly are formed out of thin air in pockets throughout the Caverns. This is due to the large number of Souls that wonder throughout the caverns seemingly rising from deep below. They absorb the Aetherite dust from all around and form. Creatures, such as animals and monstrosities can also influence the Fiends creation down here.
Natural Resources
The Caverns naturally produce Aetherite Crystals. These crystals grow on the floor, walls, and ceilings and do not usually grow below rock cover. Rather they fill open cavities and cling to open surfaces. They grow at impressive rates compared to most other crystals, though the conditions for the growth of Aetherite crystals is also the same conditions that produce Fiends.
Fiends can also be considered a Natural Resource, as they drop Aetherite upon their death, as well as their occasional harvestable parts.
Other minerals can also be located or mined within the Caverns including metals like:
- Copper
- Iron
- Zinc
- Lead
- Silver
- Gold
- Garnet
- Peridot
- Meteorite
- Aquamarine
- Amethyst
- Quartz
- Obsidian
- Opal
- Jade
- Azurite
- Jasper
- Malachite
- Diamond
History
The Soul Gorge Caverns were discovered several hundred years ago, well before the establishment of Cratos. However back then, the best efforts that could be made by the people at the time was to seal it off by caving in the natural entrance periodically to prevent any fiends from escaping.
It was not until the the establishment of Cratos that the caverns began to be explored with any level or regularity. At first the Caverns were coated with deposits of Aetherite Crystals. But after as the years passed, it forced people to press on further down into the Caverns. But they quickly found out that the Caverns were far more dangerous than they imagined due to the large concentration of Aetherite.
It was not until the formation of the Hunters and the Hunters Academy that Cerberus too was constructed and the Hunters instructed to clear out the Caverns. Over the past decades, great leap have been made to further explore the Dungeons below Cratos. Many things have been found, but many more secrets still remain to be uncovered.
It is believed that as of now, only 40% of the Caverns have been explored and mapped.
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