The Dragon Age Caves

In the time when humans were but neanderthals, Dragons fought over Etolar. The early humans sheltered here in this massive cave complex as the evil and good dragons battled for control. Some humans were slaves of the evil drakes while others were voluntary servants of the good drakes. It was a time when the gods were drakes, long before Pelor, Pholtus and the others of that Pantheon.
Eventually the Dragon Wars took their toll, with the good drakes just eking out a victory over the evil ones. The surface was like a vast Dragon bone yard. Many of the drakes withdrew into seclusion in a silent race to repopulate with superior numbers. With the drakes out of the lime light, the humans were able to evolve and spread.
The caves still remain, a remnant from a bygone era, and re-purposed fur use in recent times. The topmost levels have been absorbed by areas of Lorcaster. Trendy taverns and merchant districts operate businesses just under the surface, connected directly to the city. But the deepest levels were expanded by criminals, outcasts and cultists.
The oldest markings on the cave walls (Bison, Lizards, Birds, etc) are cave paintings by the neanderthals that first hid here. Later eras reproduced them in added stone works or actual cave wall carvings. Researches have recorded nearly three dozen distinctive symbols that can be followed to different areas and depths of the caves. This appears to be an ingenious navigational aid, likely representing different tribes that inhabited different levels / areas of the complex.
Some areas have been worked for ease of passage especially in the top-most levels (The Underground Mall District and the lowest-levels near Seaside District. But many of the mid levels remain inaccessible to all but the most determined.
Improvements range from stonework supports and buttresses, the addition of doors, clay, sand or gravel to level floors for ease of passage.
For the most part the upper levels are dryer. The deeper one travels the more geolofically active the cave system appears to be.