Mai Butte
Mai is the fourth-largest of the major geological formations that make up the Holy Plateaus of Ket, after the plateaus of Nin, Taln and Oro. Like the others, it is a butte-type formation: a steep, vaguely cylindrical escarpment rising sharply out of the ground. Mai is unique from the others in that it rises entirely water-locked, rising out of the Sunken Expanse off the Voideast coast of Ket. Like the others, its cliffsides were once populated with Kettite warren-towns in the First Age, but has since been abandoned after the Deluge left it isolated.
The subsequent plundering of Mai Butte has become a major issue.
Mai Butte is expanding as the oceans recede. Due to its partly metamorphic makeup, it is often described as a "gneiss butte". Sections are also know for their attractive cleavage.
Buttes are erosionary features (the harder rocks left behind after wind & water erosion), however Mai is unique in that it is actually "growing", in the sense that that more of the structure is being exposed as the Sunken Expanse recedes, revealing more of its lower reaches. This is important in that, before its abandonment, Mai Butte was richly populated with Kettite-style, cliffside settlements carved directly into the red sandstone escarpments. As the water recedes, these previously-underwater rooms and warren-towns are being exposed to open air once again, as are the historical treasure troves found within. The Kettites are now in a desperate race with tomb raiders to recover artefacts of their lost history before they are smuggled and sold on the black market. As luck would have it, their neighbours across the Worldscar to the east, the Nurinians, have deeply-embedded religious beliefs about the sacredness of historical artefacts, and have sent teams of Salubri (elite warriors dedicated to the elimination of poachers and black marketeers) to help them.
Buttes are erosionary features (the harder rocks left behind after wind & water erosion), however Mai is unique in that it is actually "growing", in the sense that that more of the structure is being exposed as the Sunken Expanse recedes, revealing more of its lower reaches. This is important in that, before its abandonment, Mai Butte was richly populated with Kettite-style, cliffside settlements carved directly into the red sandstone escarpments. As the water recedes, these previously-underwater rooms and warren-towns are being exposed to open air once again, as are the historical treasure troves found within. The Kettites are now in a desperate race with tomb raiders to recover artefacts of their lost history before they are smuggled and sold on the black market. As luck would have it, their neighbours across the Worldscar to the east, the Nurinians, have deeply-embedded religious beliefs about the sacredness of historical artefacts, and have sent teams of Salubri (elite warriors dedicated to the elimination of poachers and black marketeers) to help them.
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