The Rainbow Caves

[Ari Rahikkala]

Infodump inspired by the Top Ten Places You Should See Before You Die book/competition/whatever. Most of the ideas here are from 2003, but the text itself is fresh. It also briefly tells the account of the Isle of Sago the way I see it.



There is a chain of seamounts passing northward from the Isle of Yardistan through the Central sea called the Porpoise Leaps. They're all the result of one tectonic hot spot, assumed to be about 30 million years old, which has been sitting tight in one spot of Micras' mantle while the seafloor around it has been slowly inching southward.

The exact time when this hot spot first played a major part in world history is unknown, but the records are assumed to be from 950 ASC or so. At this time, a strange family of corals was found inhabiting all of the Porpoise Leaps. The symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) of these corals, which are known as just the Glowing Corals, are abnormally efficient at absorbing a few colours of light, and also abnormally reflective in others - and due to complex biochemical dependencies, different coral species tend to have different zooxanthellae.

The result of this entire set of ecological miracles is that the corals of Straylight used to be some of the most bright and colourful in all of Micras. The tops of the Porpoise Leaps are crowned with sprawling coral reefs, shining brightly in a multitude of tones one mightn't find anywhere else under the sea. What's more, the scraggy seamounts form plenty of small natural caves and holes. Because of the unusual properties of the local algae, even the inside of these caves tend to be strangely well-lit with light reflected off the colourful corals. These caves are often lit in constantly changing colours as the caustics formed by the waves on the sea shine on different corals.

The Duchy of Straylight was founded by the same generation that found these caves, called just the Rainbow Caves, in ASC 976 (there is some dispute over this date as the original records of the foundation have been lost, but it did happen in that general time). The Duchy was named after the strange light in these caves; even though the reflections can't carry enough light for colour to be visible more than a few turns into a cave, the effect is still eerie and quite unique: Light where there was supposed to be no light - straylight.

Unfortunately the economic development of Straylight has caused widespread bleaching and destruction of these corals. The Pohjankaupunki region once used to be the greatest of all coral reefs in Straylight; now, due to nutrient runoff, overfishing, and especially the very destructive practice of sediment mining have all but extinguished the coral life near this city. However, large coral reefs still exist a few hundred kilometers north of Discontinuity, and they seem to be holding up fairly well against the stress of constantly increasing tourism and naval shipping.

The source of the ecological miracle of the Glowing Corals and the Rainbow Caves is unknown, and defies evolutionary theorists' best attempts of explanation. It's a persistent belief among Shirithians that the Casmodanian technomagi had something to do with it, however.

The second time the hot spot was important in world history was during an infamous political incident between Shireroth and the shortlived Holy Katarian Empire. This was the unfortunate raising of the Isle of Sago right in the middle of Straylightian territory, caused by a long string of unprecedentedly large volcanic eruptions. During the 2800s ASC the Katarians cultivated and colonised the island. Shireroth showed little interest in the island until a media campaign in 2864 heavily publicised its existence and the idea it should belong to Shireroth.

The incident sparked a major political scandal which raged for several months until it was found out that Sago was sinking back down into the sea. It turns out that the pressure that had been building up in the mantle had somehow managed to raise the crust by about 44 metres in this area - and now that the hot spot had started to pass northward of the island and the pressure renormalise, the bulge in the crust was falling back down, and the isle with it. Within just a few dozen years, the Isle of Sago had become too small to maintain more than a couple of dozen inhabitants. All that's left of it now is a few scraggy rocks above the sea.

The only permanent result of the incident was that the hotspot got renamed: In Straylight, it had widely been called Piece Of Hell during the incident, and the name stuck.

Piece of Hell has been quiet lately, and after belching out all the material it did for Sago, it is unlikely to cause any significant volcanic activity for a couple of millennia at least, However, it is still pushing out hydrothermal vents, and it mightn't be long until the Straylightians figure out how to make economic use of those and settle around them...

[hypatias mom]

I like this story. It goes a long way to explain your duchy. Thanks for the imagery.

[Ari Rahikkala]

Thank you .

Also, it seems I'm slowly starting to feel inspired enough to finally start writing those sanct articles again. Here's McCallavre (the sanct, not the artist). So many articles to write still left...

[Liam conToketi]

Very interesting. I like.

And it's nice to see Blavatsky's entry still ends mid-sentence...

[Yvain Wintersong]

Very nice, but I'm still waiting for you to explain the Full Circle post.

[Andreas the Wise]

Very nice, I must visit these reefs ...