The flooding begins midway through the Rain Season, sometimes lasting for over 60 days. In 1961, a quarter of the First Landing complex was washed away after being inundated by water for days. In 1962, the Jaladri Leadership Authority (JLA) started a new project called the Flood Mitigation Committee (FMC).

Over the next decade, some of the largest-scale industrial infrastructure projects on-world were planned and completed around New Cascade. The projects absolutely helped absorb some of the impact of the sheer amount of rain that the islands endure yearly, but one of the most successful projects was the Bottle Brush Tree initiative. 

Early in Jaladri’s history, scientists discovered that Earth species of flora seemed to experience accelerated growth on Jaladri.

Moving forward 5 years, the first hybrid plants were introduced. The most peculiar of the 3, were the “Bottle Brush Trees”. A new type of crafted-tree created using genetic material from Mangrove, Willow, and California Sycamore trees. The mature trees are towering, formidable willows with extensive root systems. They mature within 25 years and will continue to grow and expand their roots for another 25. These trees can grow in the mountains, and along the coast. 

The densest area with these trees is located along the west side of New Cascade, bracing the mountains. Native fauna flock to these forests, particularly nesting birds. Under the canopy, the air is measurably cleaner, and on average 10-15 degrees cooler. Bottle Brush Trees have two blooming phases before leafing out every year. They provide food to hundreds of different animals and insects while naturally fertilizing the soil beneath them.

Another curiosity located on the west side of the city are the Debris Basins that have been built into the bottoms of the canyons leaving the Kaen mountain range. The mountains are filled with Dusk Clay. Not as much as the deposits on Hoshimi, but still enough to provide instability during flooding season.

When large portions of the clay dislodge from the lava rock and geodes that insulate the bedrock, the massive soil liquefaction above means that everything growing out of it (or built on it) will be dislodged.

This composite debris flow travels quickly down the canyons, towards the west side of New Cascade. For years during the First Iteration, this caused damage, deaths, and destruction every season. Thanks to the FMC, these catastrophic debris events can now be stopped at the bottom of the canyon, while the water is separated into a separate canal with a direct path to the ocean.

The debris basins, built between 1963 and 1974 (New Cascade), have been an integral part of the efforts to tame Jaladri’s nature. Port Worden’s Flood Control Engineering project completed a smaller bank of debris basins in 1985.

Currently, there is a large-scale build on the southern peninsula of Ketinio. Allegedly, this island nature preserve is beginning to crumble into the ocean.

Why JLA, JTC, and Baisho-Caplan are involved in a natural erosion process has been a topic of intrigue as of late.

There are sporadic years following very specific weather patterns that lead to an impact bloom. This term was given to what scientists at the time called “an emergency spring event”. 1965 was the first occasion on record.

Early signs were abnormally warmer average temperatures during a specifically severe rain season. Then the bees and other pollinators started appearing before the flowers. After two days of being inundated with insects and birds, overnight millions of different plants began to bloom.

Over the next 72 hours pollen counts were at historic highs, hundreds of people ended up needing medical assistance for intense seasonal allergies. After all of this chaos however, yields of produce from around the planet tripled. Local fauna saw a population boom as well, which in turn helped nature mitigate the surplus.

1995 is the first Impact Bloom of The New Iteration, the last being in 1986.

The first leaks pertaining to “structures on Ketinio” happened at a high end corporate bar in Port Worden. In 1985, a reporter overheard and recorded a conversation between Baisho-Caplan executives and the Port Worden JLA Chief Marshalling Officer.

At the time, it was just information, unusable due to the nature of how the recording was procured. After 6 months of exhaustive research and dead ends, the story began to take shape. There are remnants of ancient structures deep within the island, near the mountain lakes.

Survey records going back to the late 50s detail over 15 small expeditions to the area. Allegedly the only way anywhere near it is via airdrop and sky-hoist egress. More recent findings have uncovered a “hidden harbor” complex on the south side of the island, a place where nothing was supposed to be built, where even monitoring stations are ocean-based. As of today, this information is still heavily suppressed. 

The airspace over Ketinio has been a no-fly zone since First Landing. While the largest island on the planet is a protected nature reserve, few people know of its other secrets.

We all know about compost gel bins, de-printers, and incinerators, but where do complex items go when they break or are no longer needed? Most machines, robotic hardware, and vehicles can be stripped down and separated and recycled or reconstituted based on their material.

This time consuming process is important not only to conserve energy and resources on-world, but to reduce the amount of clutter that we need to make space for. This process is even applied to full size buildings and other pieces of infrastructure.

However, before most items reach this stage, they will live multiple lives being reused and recycled first. Famous examples include The First Landing Complex, The Southern Ceramic District, and most recently, the massive tunneling machines used in completing the Aquamarine Line.

They have been sent to Ketinio to aid in the  FMC’s rescue and rehabilitation of the south end of the island and repurposed to cut flood canals into the lava rock with hopes to mitigate the severe flooding eroding the coastline.

There is a 150 year old Epiphyllum oxypetalum plant brought on the ES La Brea during First Landing. It resides in the Research District now in its own atrium, on display in front of the Department of Built Environments Building. This cactus blooms one night, once a year, and this year its blooming was emphasized by a massive seismic event centered near Southern Ketinio that happened at peak blossom (2:42 AM).

The earthquake registered as an 8.1 in the immediate area, with New Cascade feeling a decreased intensity of 3.9. Two different tsunami waves split off from the bottom of the island, both luckily directed away from Reitoru and out towards open ocean.

While not afraid of a small earthquake now again, Reitoru and the north islands are less known for them than Hoshimi is. The scale of this event prompted a massive scale investigation that was immediately dropped 72 hours later due to “safety concerns”. The news said that while unexpected, it was a natural event resulting from the unstable nature of the planet’s core.

Large portions of the bedrock beneath Hoshimi and Ketinio are intensely magnetic. Certain areas can be dangerous and will affect all electronics and positioning devices, as well as medical augmentations and in some rare cases, consciousness.

In most locations, the depth of the magnetic bedrock renders it mostly inert, as most of the lava rock covering the planet is surprisingly ferromagnetic and insulates the surface from the magnetic field.

Non-Essential flights north of New Cascade have been restricted as of this morning. The roads and lines are open, but you can’t fly north of the city. Communication with Columbia Reach and New Miramar has been spotty, but everybody seems to be ok, just on edge after the earthquake. 

Both New Cascade and Port Worden are electric with speculation and theory. All of the news feeds and radio broadcasts have been talking about it. The news says it isn’t safe, but why can’t workers fly into their jobs? Even New Miramar is quite far from the south of Ketinio.

You can’t go a day without a mention of Baisho-Caplan, from advertising, to headline news, it’s the one name that keeps popping up. After the earthquake, there was heavy cargo traffic from Port Worden for 3 days straight.

The main JLA campus in New Cascade also seemed to be preparing for a massive operation. There is no military on Jaladri, but the nature of the planet and its flora and fauna have required even scientific expeditions to look like a war machine gearing up.

Nobody would have expected a joint operation between BC and the JLA, but also, not many were surprised when the announcement came. There were buildups of equipment storage at Reitoru Skyport and Harbor for weeks before the quake, everybody assumed it had to do with sending the drills to Ketinio.

The main operation was supposed to start 3 weeks from now, but after the earthquake everything seems to be happening at warp speed.

The FMC was granted Emergency Marshal status as of 1 hour ago. This allows them to circumvent and/or suspend the first 3 tiers of environmental protections established by the JTC.

This is often done during natural disasters or large rescue efforts to account for additional equipment and energy usage within a period of time. Generally when these are announced, a time table is included, however this alert was labeled “indefinitely”. Teams from a variety of organizations have been called in to evaluate and consult on the project. The rumor is that there is a heavy NDA in place.

The infrastructure project enacted to rehabilitate the southern peninsula of Ketinio has been severely damaged by the earthquake and requires immediate emergency efforts. 

Scientists and non-emergency personnel on site will be kept off shore for 72 more hours until risk of an aftershock event has diminished.

Subsea Fiber Optic Cables lie in between Reitoru and Hoshimi. They were placed inside of massive artificial reefs built around them in sections.

An invasive but necessary piece of infrastructure, connecting two cities across different islands makes a lot of sense. However, in late 1994, Marine Biologists aboard a science vessel discovered a second network of cables north of New Miramar. These were encased in lava rock until nearly a mile out from the shore where they travel along the seafloor.

The only location they can be connected to is somewhere on Ketinio.

The Rain Season is always bookended by calamitous storms. As the heat and humidity continue to rise near the end of the season, the storms can become frightening. Some of the most intense and beautiful weather phenomena on-world happen during these closing storms. The scarier they are, the better the growing season and summer will be. This is a natural metaphor for change.