overview
the cavern people are an offshoot of the scavengers that broke off before the scorching that reverted the scavengers into a primitive state, a war between dragon kind and the scavengers resulted in this branch fleeing to 3 caves named Legacy, Curiosity and Spirit, since the purge a population of approximately 5000 people has been maintained to prevent expansion beyond the cavern walls however people are beginning to believe they aren't big enough any more
beliefs
The cavern people have a loose collection of organised religion Buddhism, atheism and catholicism are the most followed that remain from the period of time before the evacuation and while the original city of Olympus was a still-functioning citadel
Technology
Pre scorching or equivalent to atomic era technology, meaning heavier than air flight, atomic power, penicillin, computers and radar at the time of the evacuation. now, their technology is more equivalent to the age of information, meaning fusion reactor testing, particle physics, waste reprocessing and crop genetic manipulation.
Location
The cavern system is found 750 metres below sea level, close enough to the coast where fissures have opened allowing for water to seep into the caves and a combination of natural filtration and desalination have turned the sea water into freshwaterUtilities
Water - Water is provided by fissures in the rock surface that allow water to get through desalination and natural filtration. When natural seepage of seawater isn't enough, wastewater treatment and processing is possible for use to supplement seawater.
Power - Mostly atomic but some hydroelectric. reasearch into fusion is progressing
Defences - Two flak weapons are located outside the cavern entrance covered in camouflage netting there is also a small watchpoint/nest located in the canopy of the nearby rainforest. During the purge, the cavern was only secured by a rock more recently a large cogwheel door has been constructed. This was caused by an attempt by a rainwing dragonet attempting to shift the cover stone. almost immediately after this occurrence, a bill was called to build a secondary door to the legacy cavern and completely seal the spirit and curiosity caverns. Electromagnet railguns are under development but advancements are slow due to the restrictions on testing because of the noise and heat generated.
Food - large amounts of scavenging and stored materials and farming using artificial light and heat lamps and fissures in the rock. Fish are found in underground rivers and fruit/nuts are scavenged from the rainforest. They also produce basic synthetic items such as biscuits. Research into the genetic manipulation of crops is progressing to allow faster growth under heat lamps and with little true sunlight.Attributes
- Pale skin, due to living in the caverns for so long. Albinism is not considered unusual. It is very common to have black or brown eye colours. lighter colours are rarer.
- Only come out to scavenge at night, stick to the bottom of the rainforest, as they are all sensitive to light
- 5-7% of the population are completely infertile. It is not uncommon for a family to be unable to give birth to more than one or two children. Those who can have more children than that are considered lucky. Despite this, deaths from pregnancy and birth are incredibly rare, and almost all children survive until adulthood
- Extremely skilled climbers, average citizens do not need a harness to scale heights. Incredible climbing endurance (can scale almost vertical cliffs)
- Average death age is around 60 - 70
- incredibly high upper body strength relative to their size.
Facts and Features:
- Wear loose, cold weather camoflauged combat fatigues and webbing which carry items such as ropes compressed air pitons and swiss army knives.
- Lights are powered by artificial lighting, however it is dim and only placed where it is necessary
- Use green cloaks and cover themselves in mud/leaves to blend in with the rainforest ground. The two flak weapons place outside of the entrance to the caverns are covered in camouflage netting and painted dark green to match the forest floor
- Feed almost exclusively on fruits, fish, and some synthetic items (biscuits, but nothing advanced)
- Republic, each cavern acts as a state with its own minor rules but come together to create a federal government
- Passive, only kill dragons if attacked or absolutely necessary.
- Will welcome scavengers that come across them into their group
- Have a written language + a different speaking language to modern scavengers (more detailed)
- Extremely skilled climbers, average citizens do not need a harness to scale heights. Incredible climbing endurance (can scale almost vertical cliffs)
- Average death age 60 - 70
- Have access to penicillin, guns, drills, aircraft, atomic power
- Once they breach 5000 members, they will enact a one child policy to keep the caverns from overcrowding
History
about 9 years and 7 months before the purge a fortress was beginning to be built named Olympus this was specifically designed to be where the evacuation would be staged with a runway built within the walls unlike the other scavenger cities of the time which had to have runways built outside their defences
about 9 years before the purge scouts began to be sent with seismic mappers to find caverns large enough to fit the population on 3 cavern systems were found that had a large enough area to house more than 5000 people about 5 years before the purge crews began to stock defensive posts and the cavern systems with food, fuel, water, radioactive material, ammunition, defences and mechanical and electrical parts.
About 1 year before the purge the nightwings created a prophecy about a huge movement net of people from humanities strong hold to certain cave systems this worried the dragons and they made large strides in negotiations and preparations for war. About a week before the purge the order for martial law was given and for people to begin preparations for evacuation to the caves.
On the day of the purge emergency was declared at 3 am and people were aroused from sleep the evacuation was called at 5am and people began piling into the first group of transports named Hope 1, Hope 1 managed to get its full population of 500 people to the caves this was then radioed in to the stronghold and the second wave named Hope 2 proceeded.
Hope 2 was launched but one of the ships had a hydraulic failure in the landing gear causing them one set to not retract increasing drag on one side of the aircraft sending the plane into a death spin this caused it to crash only 456 of 500 people made it to the shelter.
Hope 3 was then launched Hope 3 was the 2nd largest group carrying 1000 people they managed to get 943 people to the caves 57 were lost to another aircraft failure.
Hope 4 was launched getting another 800 people to the caverns of 900. Hope 4 was the last group to make the journey without interaction with dragons.
Hope 5 was the largest group of planes carrying 1500 people was escorted by 30 propeller planes and 2 prototype jet aircraft. Only 800 people of Hope 5 made the journey because halfway through the flight of about 40 minutes in Hope 5 detected a large group of dragons off the side of their group, about 3 minutes later a large air to air skirmish broke out, 700 people were killed, 17 prop planes were destroyed and 1 jet was severely damaged however the planes were able to fend off the group of 13 dragons until the last group could land.
After this Hope 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 all tried to make it to the evacuation cave, none of which survived the journey over. 6000 people were lost in flight and a further 17000 were lost on the ground
finally the message was received that said “Olympus has fallen”. this was the term used for when no more transports would make it to the caves, and they were to be sealed in.
during the time when the caves were sealed, most of their resources came from drilling and small scavenging parties. after a while it was decided that the cramped space of the legacy cavern wasn’t enough, and it was decided that an attempt would be made to tunnel into the curiosity caverns and finally the spirit caverns this gave a huge boost to morale, because all families and individuals were given comfortable living quarters.
At this point the caverns were divided as separate districts given different seats on the republic council allowing them to create a government
current activities