CURIOUS TALE SATURDAYS: ARCHIVE

The Perse Hollows:

The Curious

Depths of Sele

Part 5: The Greatest Spelunk

Saturday, June 2, 2018

It has been a blast writing about the Perse Hollows these last several weeks. I haven't done a big locations miniseries in a while, so this was grand. And all I'm able to paint for you here is stills. Imagine the depth and dimension of these places in the context of a narrative!

Now it's time for our tour of the Hollows to draw to a close. Join me this week on the greatest spelunk, as we explore...

Major Highlights in the Perse Hollows!

Astoria

Starting from the upper entrance, Crawler's Mouth, the Hollows begin with the Astoria Cavern District. From the entrance, the main Astoria caverns proceed generally westward, with slight elevation decreases and numerous forks to the north and especially south. Astoria I, II, and III are all nicely oriented to have large horizontal surface areas, which, together with their proximity to the aperture, makes them ideal for development and to this day they are the most densely populated area in the Perse Hollows, and are also the most similar culturally to the rest of Sele (inasmuch as Sele as a whole can be said to have a single base "culture" for comparison against, which of course is not true once you start digging). Astoria has a little of everything—even sunlight a few days during the year when the morning sun comes in at just the right angle and lights a small swath of Astoria I.

At the west end of Astoria VI, the Astoria district comes to a close as the Hollows condense into a long, narrow passageway that curves steadily downward, eventually inverting beneath itself (like a "U") and to the east southeast. This passageway is no roughly 20 feet in diameters—too small to develop separate aedes in, scarcely with room for the rails, footpath, pipes, and conduits. Only a minority of Galans ever see this tunnel, let alone anything beyond.

Because of the U quality of the tunnel, the bend is too steep for a standard railway, and so the railroad actually continues through a separate, excavated tunnel that traverses the distance safely and rejoins the natural passageway.

The Academy

As I mentioned, the Academy actually spans three different districts of Sele! One of these is Astoria, the cavern neighborhood closest to the surface.

Modeled after the Academy in Ieik, but much larger in scope and population, the Academy is where all of the city's children live until their age of demonstration (and some live there beyond that, as do many adults who work there in residence).

Consisting of one vast and sprawling arcology, and numerous outcroppings, satellites, fields, warehouses, and more, the Academy has nearly all the infrastructure conducive to a child's upbringing, and dominates the view in Astoria I with its vast structure and thousands of sparkling lights.

Moreover, the Academy spurred much of the economic and cultural development in districts containing it, as Gala's children are cherished and the communal care of them is an obligation that all competent Galans eagerly participate in.

Benezar

After continuing on, eventually the U-shaped passage from Astoria opens up into the Benezar Cavern District. Similar to Astoria in cavern size, economic diversification, and cultural proximity to the surface, the Benezar caverns nevertheless feel very remote from civilization as a whole, much like an isolated mountain town.

The Hanging Stones

Located in the Benezar Cavern District—immediately beyond and technically below the Astoria Cavern District—during the excavation of material on the eastern perimeter of Benezar IV it was discovered that some of the rock—seemingly no different than the rock around it—did not fall when it should have. Subsequent excavation completely isolated this material, where it hangs suspended in the air by no observable force. The feature was declared a science park and catacombs were built to let people see the rocks up close, with a large park underneath, and a spotlight show to light the rocks with powerful illumination.

In the city's young history, it has become a tradition for people to visit this place with others when they wish to seal something or make contracts. Weddings, business deals, collaborative projects, and friendships are all cemented here, on the metaphor of these relationships being self-sustaining, requiring no outside support.

Gamma Lucra Mega Cavern

While technically not the largest cavern in the system, Gamma Lucra feels like the largest cavern in the system because its orientation is vertical. Deep inside the Perse Hollows, and spanning over a mile in height, all habitation in the Gamma Lucra Mega Cavern (commonly just called Gamma Lucra) is situated on outcroppings and recessions in the cliff faces, connected by cliff-face roads and bridges.

The persestone here is exceptionally dense, making Gamma Lucra the only major cavern to have a substantial intrinsic glow, permanently lit in pale perse.

Gamma Lucra serves as a major junction in the Perse Hollows, connecting fourteen different cavern neighborhoods, and it is home to the largest population in the Perse Hollows after Astoria, Benezar, and Rukbat (all three of which are adjacent or virtually adjacent to the entrances). Gamma Lucra in contrast is "the deep caves," far removed from either Sele above or the Sodaplains below.

Despite its numbers, however, this population is predominately split up into small hamlets, individual ranches and properties, and dedicated facilities. It is a popular destination for people who like space and privacy, and the views are incomparable.

Like all the cavern neighborhoods, Gamma Lucra is named after one of the world currencies. The Gamma Lucra is the most prestigious of them all, for it is the currency of the Panathar Empire.

Sweet Wark Pastures

Already detailed in an earlier installment of Curious Tale Saturdays, this is the main wark-breeding ranch in Sele. Located high up in Gamma Lucra, the Perse Ranch for many years was essentially the third pillar of the Galan military initiative, with the army at Gartan Rock, the navy at Charybdis Pier, and the nascent air force gradually taking form here—though I should stress that this was not a military installation, and its overseer Sparnas is not a part of the military.

The Phanero Institutes of Gala

Silence's marquee science initiative, the Phanero Institutes of Gala, unified many of the independent research facilities and laboratories under a single, higher directorate. Her unspoken ambition here was always to expedite scientific research and development to the highest rate possible, for the purpose of understanding the cosmos and improving the quality of life for all who lived on Relance.

She took inspiration from her years in Junction City—and she found the resemblance of Gamma Lucra to the Junction City interior almost uncanny—and noted the incredible value of conducting research in stable locations with stable conditions, which Gamma Lucra offers.

Lacking the time to lead the Phanero Institutes herself, Silence appointed one of the most-admired scientists in Gala to lead it, an applied physicist named Nightlight (whom you may remember from The Great Galavar, though she was a bodybuilder back in her school days), who would go on to become one of the most significant figures in the Galan government below the Guard of Galavar itself, and a member of the Outer Council, conceived as a permanently-convened "Satellite Vardas Council" without Galavar or the Guards (though Arderesh serves as its chair).

Silence herself maintains facilities rights at numerous laboratories and workshops in the Phanero Institutes, as do Gregor and Jemis.

The Perse Hollows Heritage Preserve

Sadly, the eponymous perse glow in the Perse Hollows is completely drowned out in most of the Hollows' developed areas. Galavar and the Guard Zirin Aloryane therefore designated a large natural preserve of some of the most visually splendid caverns.

This preserve is located in Gamma Lucra II, another vertically-oriented cavern. Though not nearly as large as Gamma Lucra I, it is large enough to have a spectacular visual landscape, and the persestone here glows even more strongly.

Rhendor

Rhendor is one of the most impressive cavern neighborhoods in its own right. Despite lacking Gamma Lucra's sweeping vistas, it does contain one cavern, Rhendor IV, that resembles a deep valley, filled with exquisite geological formations—stacks, towers, pillars, arches, and more.

The Valley of the Consecrations

Rhendor IV is known as the Valley of the Consecrations, for this is believed to be the corporeal focal point of the Realm of Sourros. In other words, this is the location in the Prime Material Plain suspected to correspond to the location of Sourros in the Divine Plain.

It is also proof that the Steps of Sourros and the Depths of Sourros do not exist in Relance, at least beyond the first short bit, as relatively precise measurements—at no small risk to the surveyors—determined that the Depths of Sourros correspond to Rhendor IV in material space.

Some of the religious stalwarts from Ieik, who were reluctant to leave "God's" village but nevertheless joined the great migration to populate Sele, eventually settled here.

Rukbat

Astoria is the first cavern beyond the upper entrance, Crawler's Mouth. Likewise, Rukbat is the first cavern beyond the lower entrance, Sand Maw. Rukbat is the physically largest cavern neighborhood in the Perse Hollows.

Charybdis Pier

What Gartan Rock is to the Galan army, Charybdis Pier is to the Galan navy. Inspired by Lilit DeLatia, who had founded Gartan Rock as a world-class military academy, Silence founded Charybdis Quay both as a world-class naval academy and as the naval headquarters and main base for her planned fleet.

Charybdis Pier houses both of the sandship shipyards, as well as a great quay called Charybdis Quay, where the sandships dock. It also houses all of the fleet's associated workshops, factories, smelters, refineries, and warehouses, and the Charybdis Pier academy campus itself, including classrooms, laboratories, exercise yards, lecture halls, dormitories, refectories, and everything else required to live and learn.

Rukbat I is the single largest cavern in the entire Perse Hollows by a significant margin. Longer than Sele itself, nearly a third as wide, and over 600 feet high, it can not only hold all seven ships in the contemporary Galan Sand Fleet, but they look small in comparison.

The cavern is heavily fortified against invasion. The Galan military defense strategy always assumed that any major invasion force would discover this route, attempt to penetrate here, and fight their way up through the Perse Hollows. The Hero Rennem, in choosing a more difficult path through the Howl Riada, thereby circumvented several critical Galan defensive installations altogether, and was able to attack the city from its western flank on the Shos Plateau, which was protected only by a fortified wall.

Silence was elated to discover that the Rukbat was a part of the Perse Hollows, with internal connections up to Sele. Prior to this discovery, her original plan for supplying and servicing Rukbat was to construct an elaborate pulley lift system all the way down the hidden fold in the Cliffs of Raglan where Sand Maw is located, to facilitate the transfer of materials. But, as it happened, that turned out not to be necessary, allowing for huge savings in cost and labor.

Merak

West of Astoria (by way of Altair), Merak is one of the larger cavern systems in the Perse Hollows. Despite its size and relative accessibility, however, very few people go there. Technically, this is because of Silence's Merak Embargo, which allows Merak to not exist for those whose presence she does not explicitly sanction there. This is because of Merak's central tenant:

The Chiaroscuro Shipyard

There is a reason the City of Sele stops abruptly in the west, instead of petering out like it does in the south and east: The plain west of the city will one day be destroyed to create a new, third opening to the Perse Hollows.

Located in the Merak Cavern District, in Merak X, the Chiaroscuro Shipyard is the site of Silence's long-term master plan for the Galan air force: a skyship so large and powerful that it could single-handedly oppose the Panathar Empire.

Still under construction at the time of the Prelude, the skyship Chiaroscuro is a closely-guarded secret. Endowed with many of the wonders discovered or created by Silence in her life, including the illegal ones (something that never bothered her), this ship is intended to defeat its enemies the way a cold snap defeats plants: by changing the conditions of reality outside what is necessary for Gala's enemies to survive.

Also under-construction is a system that will one day delete the entire ceiling of Merak X, thus exposing that cavern to the open world, where it will rise into the air and proceed directly against the formidable might of the Panathar Empire.

Chev's Smiling Restaurant

Arguably the most popular hangout for the construction crews and naval personnel in Merak, Chev's Smiling Restaurant—just "Smiley's" to the locals—serves hearty food and drink in a format we would recognize as being like a diner.

After the events of ATH Book I, Silence spends a fair amount of time in Merak, where Galavar is not allowed, and particularly here at Smiley's.

Illustrated in Perse

And that's the end of our greatest spelunk, and the end of our tour of the Perse Hollows and their surroundings and context. I hope you've enjoyed having a glimpse into Sele's beautiful underworld.

There are many cavern neighborhoods in the Hollows, and even the ones already named in my notes aren't all mentioned here. There is easily enough lore for the Perse Hollows to be the setting of its own series!

One note that I wanted to include, which didn't fit anywhere in the miniseries: As you may have noticed in these articles, what we would call the far more "futuristic" look of the Perse Hollows by comparison is actually perceived by the Galans quite differently, not as futuristic but as natural for the needs imposed by the environment and the vision of its designers and key influences. This topic (of progressively more advanced technology not being regarded on Relance as "futuristic) deserves its own article, but alas today is not that day.

Join me next week when I discuss Mandolar, the greatest composer in all of Gala.

Until then, may the secrets hidden beneath your surface shine in a fine light all their own.

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