Byrd's Passage

Byrd’s Passage is the rather simple name given to the sprawling cave system that winds its way through the northwest end of the Barrier Mountains on the continent of Nibiru.

History

Byrd’s Passage seems to have been largely formed naturally by the passage of the subterranean Dholgroth river system, though some areas have seen development by the very few permanent residents. The tunnels wind all the way through the mountain, beginning where the Dholgroth river meets the Barrier Mountains to the east, where the settlement of Highjump is established, and ending where the river empties out into the foothills on the western side of the mountain, where the settlement of Stone’s Throw is established.
The main flow of the river is well-documented, and is a regularly-traveled waterway. There is also a stunning profusion of tributaries that wind away from the river, which are about one-third mapped at best. At places the flows converge into enormous, slow-moving waterway, and dozens upon dozens of underground lakes have been also mapped along the course of the Passage.
Documentation shows that Byrd’s Passage has been used as a means of traveling through the Barrier Mountains for hundreds of years, and word-of-mouth traditions hint at a time frame in the thousands of years. Even so, there are enormous portions of the Passage that have either remained unexplored or have been forgotten, and it’s anyone’s guess what strange mysteries live beneath the mountain.

Description

For as long as anyone can remember, groups of kegani have lived in Byrd’s passage. They wear as many shapes as their seagoing brethren, and indeed can adapt to the sulfurous waters of the Aurrus Sais quite well, but many spend their entire lives in the Passage. The kegani here are typically smaller in stature and families that have lived there for many generations tend towards paler coloration, sometimes to the point of having semi-translucent shells.
Over the millennia, travelers have established small waypoints, outposts, and waterfront towns along the river. These largely serve as resting places for the river traffic and places of trade. Members of many other races can be found scattered throughout these locations, though the numbers still skew heavily towards kegani, and almost no cha’ari can be found making permanent stead deep in the mountain.
There are a wide variety of unique life forms in the Passage, from the cave-fish that live in the waters, to a variety of freshwater crustaceans, as well as creatures who pass through on migratory or breeding routes. One of the most notable fixtures found within the caves are the luminous species of fungi and glow-worms that grow and live in profusion along the waterway. Oftentimes these provide more than enough light to see by, though it is light of a murky and ethereal quality. These organisms cannot survive outside of the passage, however, which is why they haven’t seen wider use as a source of illumination.
Byrd’s Passage hosts an entire self-contained ecosystem, one that the locals have worked to maintain while still accommodating passengers through their domain. The food chain revolves largely around the species of fungus that grow within the caves, and as such the vast majority of wildlife found in the cave sports some manner of bioluminescence. The most common varieties seen are of a pale blue color, but further from the river, a traveler might find various flora and fauna reflecting shades of green, fuschia, and yellow.
Traveling down the Dholgroth River is always an affair of proceeding in fits and starts. There is no one continuous waterway that can safely bear a boat all the way to the end, so even the most direct of travelers must make a handful of pit stops before they reach the other side. The fastest routes, barring no complications, take about two days, whereas a winding route that seeks to connect with the more far-removed settlements can take weeks or months, depending.
There are untrammeled miles of caverns, from the bone-dry, to the fully-submerged, to everything in between. The lack of wind means that propulsion along the river relies on currents, elevation, powered motion, or--as is most common--locomotion facilitated by beasts of burden. The vast majority of riverboats are pulled by the enormous pallidipedes, gentle giants that were domesticated by the mountain kegani thousands of years ago.

Parent Location

The Rookery, The Barrier Mountains

Character Knowledge
Characters just now arriving on Venus: I’ve heard of some way to cut through the Barrier Mountains in the north–I think it’s a pass, or a canyon?
Characters not from Venus, who spent some time there: Byrd’s Passage is the rather simple name given to what is apparently an enormous waterlogged cave system somewhere in the Barrier Mountains.
Characters from Venus: Sure, it takes longer to travel under the mountains than to fly over them, but not everyone was born with a pair of wings. Besides, just listen to the kegani and stick close to your guides, and you’ll be fine.
Characters who have traveled through or live in Byrd’s Passage: It’s a truly unique and very strange place. There are plants and animals here you won’t find anywhere else on Hesper, and the mountain kegani have tales that only they can tell to share.