Mah'hbum Cave
The Mah'hbum Cave is a cave complex that spirals out from the lowest point of the Gilgamesh's Rest deserts. It was originally formed as the first Terraformers caused floods that eroded away through the deserts limestone deposits.
Mah'hbum Cave spirals through the earth, interspersed with jagged formations, sharp drops, and tight squeezes. The Cave was first under the ownership of the Geothermal Mason Society, and it served them for decades as a resource. The caves were explored, and the Masons carved a steep hallway into the earth, connecting many of the chambers.
After the Huckleberry Cataclsym, the people of the Rest forgot about the cave in the middle of the desert. Then Gommorah Sands came to be, but rather than repairing the caves, they sealed them away from the public, citing issues of safety and hostile wildlife.
I have a hard time believing that the person who discovered this cave had the last name Mah'hbum.
The name feels very 'on brand' for the Federation
Mah'hbum Vertical Profile
Cave Features
Documented Formations
Pictured Below: Many of the larger chambers and small passages are adorned with soda straws and helictites. These examples are pictured at Foster's Squeeze.
In the deeper stretches of the cave, some of the soda straws have grown to several meters in length.
Pictured Left:
There are several massive chambers and galleries. This example is called the Crackle Wall, due to it's similar appearance to the branches of a food crop on Jhoutai
The Mason's Chamber is the largest gallery and the destination of the carved tunnel made by the masons.
The Chamber sports formations that exceed 50 meters in length and several unique clusters seeded by the Masons who once called the caves their workspace.
When the planet of Nova Braga was still young and being settled, Gilgamesh's rest was terraformed, a process which involved large storms to be cast over the region. A side effect of this process was that the natural cave formations already forming below the limestone of the Rest exploded into a several-kilometer deep sprawl.
It is debated how much of the cave existed before the introduction of terraformation. Still, due to the scale of the speleothems, it is under general consensus that the caves started millions of years before sophontic life ever arrived on the planet.
Sophontic Influence
The Geothermal Mason Society took over Mah'hbum cave, first as a place to explore and learn, and second as a project to shape.
The Masons tunneled large angled ramps through the limestone using their earth carving powers. Through careful planning and the use of moisture-preservation locks the Mah'hbum became a tourist destination for early Syndicate colonists looking to see the geological splendor of deep cave formations.
Many Masons took the chance to seed their own unique
Most areas of the cave, however, were kept protected and hidden from the public. To this day no one but the Masons knows what went down in the lower and harder to reach portions of the cave.
Dangers
The Mah'hbum Caves have been closed off for multiple reasons, 323 of them. One for each death that has occurred since the cave was open to the public.
Caving is very dangerous on its own, and caving in Ethnis is many times more so.
If you plan on exploring the cave, be prepared for the worst and carry a weapon for defense.
There are multiple pitfalls and galleries in Mah'hbum, and since the cave is a living cave, many surfaces are wet.
Many explorers have died painful deaths falling into tight spaces or onto waiting jagged stalagmites.
Deep into the caverns, the temperatures rise significantly. Once you travel below the Mason's Chamber, temperatures can rise to 50 degrees Celsius.
During the monsoon seasons, humidity in the cave can rise to 100%, which makes the heat even more lethal.
There are plenty of creatures in Ethnis that call Mah'hbum home. An entire ecosystem lives in the galleries and corridors.
The largest creatures are bats and Rutas, which aren't too dangerous on their own. But in a bad situation, these creatures can quickly dispatch incapacitated cavers.
Mah'hbum is a deep and sprawling complex and there are many forks and winding trails that look alike.
Getting lost and disoriented inside the cave can be a death sentence, especially as it can lead into any one of the other dangers.
Mah'hbum looks kinda ***ed up.
Mah'hbum has been through better days that's for sure.
Come check out some of my SummerCamp work if you need some inspiration ;)
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