The Air Pocket Caves
The Air Pocket Caves are a massive cave system that stretches underneath the entire Nightlight Zone, serving as several pockets of breathable air. The entrances to these caves consist of circular holes in the ground, which can somehow keep the water at bay with an invisible barrier. It is unknown how deep into the ground these caves go, but they are diverse in structure, and are used by numerous creatures, either as a nesting site or as a permanent habitat. Inside, the ceilings drip with water, but there is also dust covering every inch of the caves' surfaces.
Geography
These caves most often consist of long rocky tunnels, which are mostly straight, but can also form in winding directions. Inside, they are filled with rock piles, stalactites, stalagmites, small pools of water, and sandy basins. These tunnels can either branch off from each other, or connect to large chambers at various points, and this pattern repeats throughout much of the biome. However, there are also different forms tunnels can take. They can have dramatic curves at various instances, lead straight down, or become vertical zig zags. They can also become perfectly parallel to each other, and connect at several paces throughout. The tunnels can also travel in a large spiral pattern, sometimes leading to a chamber below or above, or form into a vague four-way intersection.
The chambers themselves can also vary in structure from each other. The floor can take on numerous different shapes, and inside there can be miniature plateaus, or sections of upraised rock for creatures to rest on. Some chambers have large pools of water inside, which can lead to a water filled tunnel leading outside, and filled with large predators that can swim. There have also been some instances of isolated pools of water, with swimming creatures normally found outside forever trapped in the Pocket Caves, feeding off of the creatures native to the cave systems. Some chambers can even form vertically, with rock jutting out from the walls and forming natural walkways to the top.
The terrain of the caves can also be affected by what biome is above them. The Fields can cause the caves to have a purple tint, as well as rocky spikes forming from the sides of the tunnels. Underneath the Kelp Forests, the Pocket Caves can have several large plants growing inside the tunnels, sometimes blocking the way. With The Frozen Wastes, the same thing can happen with ice, with stalactities turning into large icicles. And with the Dunes, the caves can have more sand inside them than normal.
Ecosystem
Unlike the other environments in the Nightlight Zone, the Pocket Caves are completely dark, and lack oceanic currents, or any form of wind. They do sometimes experience quakes, which mostly affect the ecosystems above, and only provide a brief inconvenience to the lifeforms inside. The smallest lifeforms, like immature plants, grubs, worms, slugs, and starfish, are rarely affected at all by the quakes, and are able to cover vast distances in their lifetimes despite their rather slow speed. They have extraordinary stamina compared to the larger inhabitants of the Caves, and often form vast colonies with other members of their species.
Plants grow just about anywhere in the Pocket Caves, as long as there are deep enough grooves in the rock for their roots to grow. Without the density of water, along with the ocean currents, they have to take to special means for their reproduction. The animal part of the ecosystem has average diversity, with many of them being blind due to the absence of light. They consist mainly of large arthropods and worms, with few creatures that appear similar to swimming species. They also take on mostly well rounded roles in their ecosystem rather than specializing for some.
In the Pocket Caves, resources are plentiful enough as to prevent high competition. Predators have to go on long chases just to get a meal, and their prey have to take special measures in order to hide from threats. If some species have a habit of pairing up with each other, they have to be extra careful to keep track of their companions when they cannot rely on sight to sense their surroundings. One quirk about the species of the Caves is that they often have several smaller variations depending on what biome is above them.
Ecosystem Cycles
The Pocket Caves are not affected by the passing of time as much as other environments. There will be periods where the quakes from above will become less frequent, offering a period of convenience where the inhabiting species can breed much easier. It is thought that the tunnels and chambers change shape due to the ground shifting as if there were a force similar to tectonic plates. If true, it would cause species to constantly be on the move in order to not get crushed by cave-ins and the like.
Certain ecosystems are more time-oriented depending on the environment above them. With the caves beneath the Forests, there are certain hunting and breeding seasons taking place when the plants don't grow as frequently, with the same being applied to the Wastes, only with the ice formations. Sometimes, caves below the Dunes can be flooded with sand, which causes mass migrations between various species.
Localized Phenomena
Much of the phenomena that happens in the Pocket Caves relates to the biome above them, where whatever happens above can happen to some extent to the caves below. They affect the ecosystem cycles in the caves depending on where they happen. Large plants, ice, and sandfalls can all disrupt passageways, and ruin hunting grounds for certain predators.
Fauna & Flora
Fauna
The fauna of the caves consist of bizarre creatures suiting for walking and air breathing, which sometimes surface from the cave entrances.
Grubs
Starfish
Barnacles
Coral
Rock Mite
Ambulochina
Ground Crawler
Giant Cave Crab
Greenshell Beetle
Terragnathan
Cave Snail
Inocanthid
Armored Proboscis Worm
Flora
Without oceanic currents to carry their spores, the Caves' plants have special means of reproduction.
Algae
Roof VineNatural Resources
There are not many resources used by the inhabitants other than the rocks and sand that fill the tunnels. There are plenty of shelled creatures inhabiting the caves, which leave their shells behind upon death for newborn creatures to hide in. The water pools are also used by certain predators in order to catch their prey in the middle of taking a drink, or prey on swimming creatures already inhabiting the water pools.
History
The first of these caves were formed from ancient seaquakes which threatened to tear the entire realm apart. The Watchers caused stability in these tears in the ground, forming the cave systems that are known today, but it is unknown exactly how they did so. It is also unknown how breathable air got into the caves, but perhaps it is linked to the Watchers' interference with the seaquakes. Nevertheless, it opened a new avenue for life to develop. Plants quickly adapted to growing in air, taking root in just about any surface they could, and the animal life had to grow lungs instead of gills to breathe. The herbivorous species quickly spread to lower the plant populations, and predators established themselves and caused herbivore populations to decrease as well. The ecosystems within the caves remain untouched by outside influence to the present day.
Alternative Name(s)
The Pocket Caves
Type
Cave System
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