Cauldron (Nukaush)

A location on Nukaush (Dagudashaag 1906). It features perhaps the most famous outlaw 'pitstop' in the sector.

The Cauldron region of Nukaush features great deserts carpeted by minerals that interfere with most sensors. The region was initially formed when a meteor passing through the system destroyed the twin moons of Ithungsi and caused a fragment of one of these moons to crash into Nukaush. The Cauldron is protected on three sides by high cliffs, with massive waterfalls plunging over the sides to the crater floor three kilometres below. The Western edge of the crater is lower but is dominated by three active volcanoes that continually spew black sulphuric smoke into the atmosphere.

The crater lake, known as the Cauldron Sea, is fed by melting rivers of snow, caused by the mini-greenhouse effect of the valley, heat being trapped beneath a canopy of sulphuric smoke and water vapour.

The Cauldron has no native life of its own, though numerous species have been transplanted. Perhaps the most unusual aspect of the region is the phenomenon known as the Lucifer Lines; seven lines radiating out for several kilometres from the crater which only show up as infrared. No-one knows what caused them. Perhaps the most surprising thing is that the thick covering of snow on the surface is totally unaffected by the lines, though the snow and ice should be melted by the excessive heat apparently given out by whatever fashioned them.

On the surface of the Crater Lake is a Starport, startown, and several estates. Most of the city is actually underneath the lake. The true city of Port Inferno is built within ancient magma holes that honeycomb the region.

History

During the Rule of Man, a settlement was built on the southern coast of the Cauldron Sea by smugglers and pirates who used the planet as an illegal 'pitstop'. The colony survived the Long Night but was preyed upon by Reivers, who apparently established a settlement of their own in the northern territories.

The Cauldron region is extremely dangerous, and tourists are advised to stay away. There are no laws in force regarding the preservation of life.

References and contributors

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Jae Campbell. "Port of Call: Nukaush." Signal-GK 10 (1995): 4-13. via. HIWG
• Jae Campbell. Encyclopaedia Dagudashaag (Signal-GK, 2017), 266.