Super-Tsunamis
[Prompt: A destructive natural or supernatural event]
So, here's the thing. When your planet is a giant turtle made of rock and fully capable of barrel rolls and other marinəchelonian moves,
and her entire belly is covered in water,
let's just say fun things can happen.
I need to do a lot of research on massive geologic & climate events before I can say anything on the causal mechanics of it, but When The Right Conditions Are Met, Olua's seas are capable of producing some truly monstrous waves. It doesn't happen often (probably, unless I find some reason that it does, in which case this is going to massively impact how people approach infrastructure, permanence, and all of civilization), but when a super-tsunami arises, it has the capacity to destroy entire ways of life. The first time the poor skitter colonies experienced a super-tsunami, they had no notice whatsoever. How were they supposed to know such a thing was even possible? And so, when the wave came, the entire front line of islands was wiped out. Ohhh. So that's why they were otherwise uninhabited. Turns out, outside islands acted as a sort of wave break for the archipelago, making the tsunamis less severe for islands inside the ring. Well, skitter leadership couldn't stand to not be using those islands at all, so "here's what we're gonna do. We'll have the outer islands be work colonies for criminals and undesireds. We'll set up watch-and-flare towers and means of evacuation, and they can run away when the waves come." Of course, this would mean these islands' inhabitants would never be able to establish a truly permanent den. Being forced to nomad within (the place that is supposed to be) your own home does a number on your psyche, but these were the chaff of skitter society, so who cares, right? They're lucky just to live. So that system was set up. The islands were mostly evacuated, but for those the colonies didn't care for. Those who did live there would scrape out a living with the few hypertough organisms that grew on the battered soils, and abandon their lives whenever a flare went up. Meanwhile, skitters on insider islands would prepare their homes for lesser, but still devastating, impact. These are super-tsunamis, after all, and they were lethal three island-layers in. Still, strongly securing everything under stone and ushering each skitter into emergency tunnels underground was usually enough to keep everything basically intact. One particularly powerful super-tsu impacted the whole nation. The impossibly tall (magically heightened?) monster wave tore through the entire archipelago, destroying nearly every bridge between the islands (not to mention, hundreds of lives). The islands were isolated from each other for a while after that. But how they responded to the existential disaster, I'll have to work out another day.
I need to do a lot of research on massive geologic & climate events before I can say anything on the causal mechanics of it, but When The Right Conditions Are Met, Olua's seas are capable of producing some truly monstrous waves. It doesn't happen often (probably, unless I find some reason that it does, in which case this is going to massively impact how people approach infrastructure, permanence, and all of civilization), but when a super-tsunami arises, it has the capacity to destroy entire ways of life. The first time the poor skitter colonies experienced a super-tsunami, they had no notice whatsoever. How were they supposed to know such a thing was even possible? And so, when the wave came, the entire front line of islands was wiped out. Ohhh. So that's why they were otherwise uninhabited. Turns out, outside islands acted as a sort of wave break for the archipelago, making the tsunamis less severe for islands inside the ring. Well, skitter leadership couldn't stand to not be using those islands at all, so "here's what we're gonna do. We'll have the outer islands be work colonies for criminals and undesireds. We'll set up watch-and-flare towers and means of evacuation, and they can run away when the waves come." Of course, this would mean these islands' inhabitants would never be able to establish a truly permanent den. Being forced to nomad within (the place that is supposed to be) your own home does a number on your psyche, but these were the chaff of skitter society, so who cares, right? They're lucky just to live. So that system was set up. The islands were mostly evacuated, but for those the colonies didn't care for. Those who did live there would scrape out a living with the few hypertough organisms that grew on the battered soils, and abandon their lives whenever a flare went up. Meanwhile, skitters on insider islands would prepare their homes for lesser, but still devastating, impact. These are super-tsunamis, after all, and they were lethal three island-layers in. Still, strongly securing everything under stone and ushering each skitter into emergency tunnels underground was usually enough to keep everything basically intact. One particularly powerful super-tsu impacted the whole nation. The impossibly tall (magically heightened?) monster wave tore through the entire archipelago, destroying nearly every bridge between the islands (not to mention, hundreds of lives). The islands were isolated from each other for a while after that. But how they responded to the existential disaster, I'll have to work out another day.
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