The Caves concept

Description - The majority of The Caves takes place in a prison located on the continent of Khafrit.The prison is located about two hundred feet below ground, and is connected to the surface via a two-hundred foot long ten foot wide shaft.

The actual prison itself is an extensive cave system, the tunnels of which stretch for several hundred miles. Prisoners are given relatively free reign in these tunnels, and a rudimentary civilization has been set up in some of the larger caverns located near the link to the surface. Smaller splinter groups have taken up residence in some of the many branching tunnels, working to scrape a living out of the stone of the caves.

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The Prisoners: The Caves are used primarily as a means for Khafrit to dispose of those it no longer wishes to deal with. High-profile political dissidents, lower-class criminals the state can no longer afford to care for, and everything in between. Most prisoners of the state make it into the caves, and few last very long.

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The Gardens: These fertile caverns, known as Gardens, are lit by luminescent mineral growths that bathe the entire cavern in a harsh yellow glow. It is uncertain whether these are natural or if their existence is the result of magical experimentation. They allow the growth of plants and creatures that would be otherwise unable to survive in the absolute darkness of the caves, and are the primary reason that the gardens are able to grow crops. A few of these close to the center of the caves have been cleared out by the combined efforts of multiple smaller communities, and are used to grow the food that sustains nearly all sentient life in the caves. They are the only thing that allow centralized communities to feed large populations. These fertile caverns are considered neutral ground, and fighting within them almost invariably leads to the ostracizing of the involved parties.

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Population Centers: There are four major communities that have been set up within the caves. Each has its own agenda, and they vary in both size and temperament. All hold a great deal of influence over the caves.

* New Khafrit is composed of those who intend, one way or another, to return to the surface some day. New Khafrit's power is based on the connections its residents held with powerful people on the surface before being thrown down, and it maintains its status primarily through manipulation of the other groups. Like all the cities however, they're very capable of pulling out the muscle if they need to.

* Cave Trade Hub: The Trade Hub is responsible for moving goods between the citizens of the Caves and the surface, as well as maintaining links between family members on the surface and those who have been imprisoned. They work closely with the guards who patrol the shaft, selling off rare minerals or ores found deep inside the caves in exchange for the movement of items or letters. They're one of the larger cities, with a population nearing three-hundred.

* The Dive: The city furthest from the entrance to the cave and hardly recognized as a major player, The Dive is a cavern connected to some of the longest tunnels in the caves, most of which plummet deeper into the earth. The Dive plays host to a very specific crowd, mostly those looking to either map out the unexplored depths of the caves or else those looking to make a quick buck off all the suicidal maniacs who pass through.

* The Gardeners: A religion that applies their faith to the world around them, the Gardeners seek to improve the caves they live in through the use of magic and more mundane means. Obsessed with gaining access to larger and larger sections of the Gardens in order to better understand them, the Gardeners are constantly searching for means to improve the tunnels they occupy. They are the largest suppliers of food in the caves, and wield immense power because of this.

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Khafrit: The country of Khafrit is a monarchy that brooks no disorder within its borders, and enforces this as strictly as it can. Any hint of political dissidence is met with a swift and harsh response, usually the imprisonment of the offender. The same excessive force is used to discourage most crimes.

The monarchy does what they can to promote the image of the untamed horrors contained within the Caves, and to give the citizenry the impression that all who enter die horrific, indescribable deaths. While this is hardly true, there is almost nobody who knows what really goes on inside the caves.