Salt Crystal Caves

Overlooking the Eastern salt flats is a series of caves and tunnels that lead beneath the sands to a place as dark as it is bizarre. While the air itself sucks the life out of any humanoid that tries to traverse it, certain small critters are known to have adapted to the location perfectly, and anyone who hears of them dreams and wonders at what paradise the other side hides.
From outside, travellers can only hope to see the formations of rock crystals, and the nightly flocks of bolt bats, which although breath-taking, have nothing on what actually lies within.

Geography

The entrances to such caves are scattered among the 'coasts' of the salt flats, and lie and various altitudes but mostly along the lower parts. Within, they form a maze network of salt-crystals, stalactites, cave ins and various rock formations, but knowledge of these things is limited to what can be observed from without. It is unknown how deep and far the caves go, but on the rare occasion where a scholar attempts to tag a bolt bat, the creature does not come back out for days.

Fauna & Flora

Bats that chain lightning, venomous crustacean centipedes, rock snakes and even the legendary Cave-Tusks make their home within the tunnels. Besides these, there live many insects, and then those that prey on them. These creatures all subsist on each other in a precarious balance that would be threatened if humanoids could bear the naturally dehydrating effects of the cave.
However, the true wonders within the dark lie within the deepest reaches of the earth, where no surface-dweller can ever hope to dream of knowing. Reservoirs of water, safe from sorcerers and humans and the sun, and haven to mythical things such as algae, and impossibly even fish. The ecosystem exists as if separate from the outside world, a relic of a past long forgotten.

Alternative Name(s)

Storm den, the Dark within the Earth

Type

Cave System