FESTIVAL CATACUMBAS —EP1 / Prolog

It’s the year 2242.

After the devastating 100-year-long Climate World Wars, which began in the early 2000s, nature collapsed across the globe. Since then, sand, wind, scorching daytime heat, and icy cold nights have dominated the Earth’s surface.

The water vanished. Sank deep beneath the Earth’s surface. Myths surround the why. One theory suggests it evaporated and the rest simply flowed underground, as the depleted soils couldn’t hold water anymore. The more widespread theory describes how elites of the world diverted the water to the so-called Hollow Earth after the collapse.

This Hollow Earth theory from the 17th century suggests that at the core of the Earth, in the hollow world, lies “Cataclysmia” — the island of the blissful. A place accessible only to a small class of privileged and super-rich.

Only a few entrances to the inner world are known worldwide. The largest and most famous entrance lies in the former megametropolis of Mexico City.

On Cataclysmia, there’s water, sufficient food, and an almost heavenly climate. A desirable place. But space is limited.

For those who want to end the daily struggle for survival and be admitted to Cataclysmia, the annual FESTIVAL CATACUMBAS offers the opportunity to gain entry.

But not all people long to enter the hollow world. Free spirits, flying traders, and adventurers, but also plunderers, smugglers and outlaws prefer the life-sustaining but free world on the Earth’s surface.

The massive constructions of glass, steel, and concrete, once symbols of human triumph, praised as jewels of civilization, are being swallowed deeper every day by the wandering sands. Until nothing remains of their former grandeur and they are only mute witnesses to an era of decay and desperation.

Outside these sunken temples of grandeur, there is a merciless desert where unforgiving storms ally with the glaring midday sun and only loosen their iron grip towards evening.

Rivers, lakes, and oceans have dried up. Where majestic waves once roared, there now stretches a desolate graveyard of salt, sand, and time-worn remnants of a bygone era.

The same picture is seen worldwide. Eurasia, Australia, South and North America. According to mythology, there are also entrances to Cataclysmia here.

Central America, Mexico City. 43 million inhabitants in the year 2180, before the storms and great droughts set in. Today uncertain.

The last inhabitable spots in the former megametropolis are highly coveted and dangerous. If Mexico City was already one of the cities with the highest crime rates in the past, it’s no different today. But today, it’s a matter of survival. If you don’t find shelter, you simply dry up in the drying storms during the day and freeze at night.

But the danger doesn’t just come from people. Entire skyscrapers regularly collapse due to the constant abrasion by sandstorms. The dilapidated buildings now offer protection only beneath the Earth’s surface, and not everyone knows the entrances to these shelters.

Torre Reforma, with 246 meters formerly the tallest skyscraper on Paseo de la Reforma, once one of the most important boulevards in Mexico City, now measures less than 200 meters in height. Sand, dirt, and dust envelop the tower up to the 6th floor and shrink it day by day.

And here lies perhaps the largest entrance to the hollow world. Beneath the basements of the former landmark of the megacity, a 1,500-mile-long shaft leads to the legendary Cataclysmia.

Here, at the crossroads into the realm of the privileged, the annual FESTIVAL CATACUMBAS begins.

For three days, this place is filled with hundreds of people. Some driven by hope, others by greed, and those thrilled with joy, no matter how bad the world may be.

👊😎🫱 Thx for reading.