Flude Cauldron

The Flude Cauldron is a huge, kettle-shaped depression located twelve kilometers southeast of Plaxton, just east of Trinumvira. It is naturally formed &mdash; the likely result of several sinkholes collapsing simultaneously at some point in Caspar's past. The lack of retained water, which would form a lake, alludes to a network of subterranean soft-spots and porous rock, and a lower water table in this region.

The first wave of Sarian pioneers called this feature Eirnacorom Bisala, or the Basin of Cares and Embers. The watchtowers of Trinumvira, in the Vira Bluffs only some five kilometers away, could look down upon it. Because of its geographic position, Sarians viewed this region as a confluence of all four elements they revered. While the Sarians tried to re-establish contact with Mergansar, or to repair their starships, the basin would not play any significant role in their efforts until some eighty years later, whenupon Soma Brin devised a means of harnessing the wind and the natural shape of the depression to stoke a conflagration of epic proportions that could be seen by observers, if there were any, back on Mergansar.

Twelve towers were planned for construction, shaped so as to catch the wind and then channel it into a vortex within the basin. The vortex would, in theory, superheat a pyre located at the center of the cauldron until it produced a column of intense fire. Over the next fifty years, the Sarians managed to construct and finish eight of these towers, each measuring over 100 meters in height. They were decorated with elaborate glyphs from the Sarian language as blessings. Known as Flude Runes, the glyphs are what gave this landmark its name when Republic surveyors arrived in 1189 BBY. The nearly-completed cauldron was never fired, as the surveyors repatriated the wayward Sarians with their fellow natives back on their home planet.

With ships now travelling between the two worlds, and the first of many settlers coming weekly, a suitable landing field was sought. At the time, Plaxton was nothing more than a sodden clay field. Anchorron and Yaerberron were suitable, but too far away from Trinumvira &mdash; shipping companies wanted a suitable landmark for navigation. And so, using the leftover material from cutting the Soyometin (southern pass) connecting Trinumvira to Plaxton, the new Caspians filled in the cauldron enough to make it level, compacted the surface, and cut several dozen hangar bays and storage facilities in the encircling walls. The Flude towers themselves served perfectly as navigation beacons, sensor mounts, illumination arrays, and anti-static discharge towers. A substantial facility stands in the space where the four missing towers would occupy, acting as a concourse and coordinator, and the main Aerotram line runs tangent to the perimeter of the cauldron.