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Disappointed that exploring the ice cave didn’t give him what he was looking for, the man pressed on. Determined to find what he was looking for, the traveler had heard about a potential place. The trouble was, he had no idea where it was, let alone how to find it. He headed over to the nearest town and spoke with some locals, who kindly pointed him in the right direction. He set off, hoping to find a mythical fantasy crystal cave.
As one of many environments, the crystal cave is one of the hardest to find. It doesn’t appear in many places and there’s no specific area where you can come across it. It’s entirely random and that unpredictability is precisely why it’s so rare.
The fantasy crystal cave is random for a reason and it’s because it offers something no other environment has: an untold value of crystals. It’s swimming in an ocean of crystals, many of which can be sold for a high value. If someone is lucky enough to discover one, he can instantly become one of the most wealthy people in the world.
You would think that such a place would have crystals and nothing else. However, that’s not the case. With all these precious crystals, the cave has its own security system and that system comes in the form of creatures. There’s a great deal of monsters who’d love to sink their teeth into those who come to take them out of the cave.
The role a fantasy crystal cave plays in the story is situational. In some, it’s a prominent setting, playing a great role in shaping it. For those it appears in, it’s one of the most visual environments as its glittery appearance dominates the scenes it’s in. In others, it doesn’t even appear at all.
This is the twentieth in a series chronicling the different kinds of fantasy environments and the third and last in a mini-series about caves. As always, if you’re interested in reading about the environments in fantasy, you can find more articles on our blog page. I’m sure you’ll find one that catches your eye!
Without further ado, let’s get going and discover what the fantasy crystal cave is all about!
A fantasy crystal cave is decked out in nothing but crystals. All the way from the ceiling to the ground, there’s crystals a galore! What makes this so fascinating is that they’re essentially just hardened rocks. These rocks withstood intense pressure over a long period of time and became crystals.
So what’s the average size of a fantasy crystal cave? Some may not even go far from the entrance whereas some can run deep into the mountain with many branching paths it’s easy to get lost in!
One incredible thing about a crystal cave is that no two are the same. Each one has unique crystals found nowhere else. One may have red and blue whereas another may have yellow and green. The only way to know is to find them all and explore each one of them.
So where can you find a fantasy crystal cave? One place to begin would be mountains. Mountains are the most likely place where you can find caves because they’re prime mining spots. In some worlds, a crystal cave serves as a key mining site.
Additionally, hills are another place though the odds of finding a crystal cave are substantially lower than that of mountains. Hills don’t have a lot of mining potential. You’d have better luck exploring mountains.
Even though mountains are the best option to find a crystal cave, you have less of a chance to stumble upon one. This is because many mountain caves are either abandoned mining sites or monsters’ dens and there’s more of them than crystal caves. A mountain range may contain five or less and they’re found in places hard to get to.
A fantasy crystal cave comes with creatures who’ve claimed it as their home. These beasts were attracted to the dazzling luminosities of the crystals and zealously guard them. They’ll stop at nothing to prevent people from taking them away which makes them quite dangerous.
One denizen of the cave is mimic crystals. While they look exactly like the real ones, they can attack using their teeth or make their bodies so hot it hurts to hold them. They deliberately put themselves right next to the authentic ones, hoping someone will mistake them for the real thing.
Another beast to keep an eye out for is the rock monster. It comes in many different shapes and sizes but it expertly camouflages itself by burying most of its body underground or in the wall to catch people off guard. When it makes its move, it attacks by either flinging rocks or pounding its body. Rock monsters can cause a lot of damage in a matter of moments which makes them one of the most dangerous creatures in the cave.
It wouldn’t be a cave if there weren’t any bats. These fang-toothed critters hang upside-down on the ceiling and swoop to attack. They travel together in packs and can inflict poison. They come in a variety of sizes, from gigantic to little. Whenever bats see two animals fighting, sometimes they’ll join in on the action, hoping to extract a pound of flesh for themselves.
You have the usual assortment of animals like bears. These furry animals burrow deep within the cave and only wander out to get food. However, these adorable critters have razor-sharp teeth and claws that can tear flesh effortlessly. They’re also formidable fighters, capable of holding their own in battle.
In some cases, besides the furry creatures you see in a fantasy crystal cave, there’s rare monsters like evil spirits. They take several forms such as demons, banshees, and ghosts. Some can even go inside crystals and possess them. They’re notoriously difficult to kill for they’re impervious to many weapons.
If there was one word to describe the role a fantasy crystal cave plays in the story, it would be situational. After all, it’s one of the rarest environments and found only in certain spots which makes it difficult to incorporate it seamlessly into a tale.
A core fundamental of creating a story is establishing a natural progression from one scene to another. In fantasy, many tales feature scenes in a wide variety of environments and it’s important to connect them to the ones before and after. You want the audience to feel like each one of them is part of the story.
Here, a crystal cave offers a lot of promise but it’s tricky to bring it into your story. Remember that it’s packed to the brim with crystals and not many major plots feature them in a prominent role. You need only look to stories like Lord of The Rings and Harry Potter and see how they leave them out, since they don’t add anything to them.
For the tales it appears in, it becomes one of their most important settings. It serves as the site where something happens that dramatically alters the dynamics of the story. Perhaps the hero learns the villain is searching for it so he can find something deep within the cave that will ensure his victory and wants to get there before his enemy does. However, the villain gets there first and obtains what he’s seeking. Thus, he’s more powerful than before and the odds of the hero defeating him are bleaker than before.
The key is to tie it into the tale in a way that works and it feels natural to have it there. Don’t try shoehorning it in if it doesn’t affect your story because you want to have it. You can always decide to use it for a later story!
To summarize, a fantasy crystal cave is one of the most beautiful environments. Who wouldn’t want to go spelunking in a cave where you see a dazzling display of luminescent crystals all over?
This type of cave is considerably difficult to locate. It also doesn’t help that it appears in specific areas and finding one in these places is easier said than done. Perseverance pays off for those who refuse to give up, for in the end their eyes see one of the most breathtaking places they’ve ever seen in their lives.
Such beauty is filled with dangers. These dangers come in the form of the denizens of the cave, who’d love better than to either drive off unwanted guests or feast upon their flesh. Denizens such as bats and mimic crystals make navigating a crystal cave tense, for they can appear out of nowhere and cause mayhem.
While it can be hard to incorporate a fantasy crystal cave in the story, if you play your cards just right, your hard work will pay off. All you have to do is make it work in a way that makes sense and you’d have created a stunning visual setting that serves as the site of a key turning point in the tale!
Should you have this in the world you’re building from scratch? There’s no question about it! Crystals are an important part of fantasy and they should have a place where they come from and that’s where the cave comes in. Make it a place your audience will want to learn more about!
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Thanks for reading this and until the next time,
Sunfire
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