The Hinoko Islands

The Hinoko Islands are a chain of islands to the far north eastern edge of Caracklyst. They are mostly composed of rolling mountains and high cliffs, and are characterized by large amounts of volcanic activity. There are many myths and legends about the islands, all with the same lesson. Do not, for any reason, step foot on the islands. To do so is certain death or madness.

Geography

From a distance the Hinoko islands appear calm and peaceful. The cliffs that the sea crashes into split occasionally into wide black sand beaches, and the hills roll gently into majestic mountains. However as one approaches you begin to notice that very little lives there but the short, hardy grass that covers everything past the beach, and towering trees that cluster near and up the mountains. Every once in a while you'll pass a cliff wherein the stone opens to spew molten rock into the sea, and watch as new land is created. No one knows what the interior of the islands look like, and the people that venture that far invariably never return.

Fauna & Flora

The hardy plants that cling to the islands are unique as far as anyone studying them has found, occasionally some will wash into the sea and be collected by passing sailors, through this method a garden was constructed for research at the National University of Suradan in Shamir. They found that the trees they collected grew to immense proportions in as few as 3 years, but never dropped any seeds. In what was thought to be a tragic accident later on the garden was burned to the ground. However in the ashes they found that all of the trees had dropped large pods containing hundreds of seeds.

Natural Resources

Very little is known about the resources of the islands, but occasionally a metal of mysterious quality will wash up on the beaches of Suradan, hard and brittle, but impossibly sharp. Local legends claim that the islands are the source of this mysterious material, and oftentimes these are kept as talismans or totems worn by smiths or sailors.

Alternative Name(s)

Muspelheim, by the Dreng. The Fire God's Realm, by the Northern Suradanese

Type

Island