[Rainbow Six]

Originally Posted by Raellus

In researching various T2k sourcebook projects, I've come across underground salt mines in Poland (does the famous Wieliczka Salt Mine near Krakow get any references in canon?), Austria, and Romania (South Korea harvests sea salt).

From the Free City of Krakow. From his description it sounds like it may be the encounter Lurken is thinking of.

About 12 km south of Krakow are the rock salt mines of Wielczka. They are quite famous, dating back to the 10th century; before the war, they attracted 300,000 visitors a year.

The mines are a a labyrinth of galleries, corridors, and white rooms with gleaming walls of salt crystal. There are over 150 km of underground passageways, and three chapels, including the reknowned St. Anthony Chapel which was carved from a single block of rock salt in 1675.

The arched ceiling of the Crystal Cave (the largest single chamber in the mines) is over 80 meters high, with walls and vaults covered by rock salt garlands. Many rooms contain lakes of extremely concentrated salt water.

The surface village has largely been abandoned and its materials transported below the ground into the mines, where a large number of people now live. Tents and flimsy shanties have been erected in the vaults for some; others (mostly latecomers) sleep on blankets in vast, common barracks. Many of the inhabitants are local civilians and refugees who fled here during the early days of the war. A second wave arrived when the nuclear exchange began. A number of deserters and separated military personnel have gathered here as well. Rather than becoming marauders, these have seen the opportunity for establishing a secure, hidden refuge and joined the subterranean community as its ORMO. For added security, several concealed exits have been constructed, some at a considerable distance from the former village.

Food is a constant problem (as it is almost everywhere). Some is grown locally. Most is imported in merchant caravans, bought from surrounding communities in exchange for salt, firewood, lumber and primitive manufactured goods turned out with what remains of the mine's machine shops.

Because of the food problem, strangers are not welcomed to the underground community, and may be warned away from the mine entrance by rifle shots. Foraging parties may be en- countered at some distance from the village, and visitors with food to trade and news of the outside world will be admitted for a short time. People wishing to stay must demonstrate skills useful to the community, primarily farming, mechanical skills, hunting, distilling, and so on.