I've had this idea for a few days but this is the first time I've had time to think about it. I've had this idea of a lava cavern, perhaps situated somewhere close to the D'ni Cavern or perhaps in a different age all together.
You would first link into a small room that has large tubular machines built into the wall. On one wall would be a large machine that suits you in a heavy duty maintainers suit (like the one's you see in Gahreesen, but can't wear), and on another, a linking book to the Nexus. When leaving the small room, you find yourselves in a small, but vertically high cavern. The small room was built inside of a large spherical crystal, fused to the cavern wall, that was hollowed out by the D'ni. Above you, massive lights hang, sending a dim orange light down onto you. Beneath, a black surface, streaked with orange lines, cooling lava that has old, rusted pipes rising from its crusty black surface. You walk out of the metal walkway, extending from the crystal until you reach, a large metal barrier. The barrier can only be opened until you enter the suit-fitting machine, in the link-in the point (a safety mechanism to prevent from permanent scarring of the lung tissue and eventual death). Once you have suited up, you may enter the next cavern through a large fissure in the cavern wall. The Cavern beyond the first is much large, wider and much, much more active. Lava spews furiously from the lake as you walk along the metal walkway. Along the cavern wall, you notice large metal structures, capped with domes that have metal pipes protruding from them, that sit on the surface of the lava lake. These are storage containers, that are used if Lava levels exceed a certain level. The pipes suck up Lava at a quick paste, depositing them in chambers where the constantly heated to maintain viscosity. Also on the Cavern walls, growing round the edges, about 20 metres above the Lava lake are fungi, that seems, in a strange manner, to glow blue. This is because the bacteria in the Mushrooms react to the heat of the lava and this produces a chemical reaction which is seen as the blue glow.
Ahead is a large stone building, with a wide, transparent dome at the top. This is the control station for the operation. At the top of the cavern, a small shaft leads upwards, where it is filled with spinning turbine blades. These are turned by the steam, which turns the generator, which generates Electricity. If this was situated near D'ni, this would explain where the could get their electricity from, and where perhaps they could have things like hot and cold water and central heating.
More ideas tomorrow perhaps. I have done a quick sketch of the cavern, but I don't have a scanner to get it onto here.
Guild of Writers
