The Oasis Skerry

Just south and to the east of the center of the Great Storm’s eye is the Oasis Skerry, a flat island of sand, palm trees, and a mild climate. It is one of the Inner Islands, and houses many skilled craftsmen and merchants. The Oasis is the second most humanly populated island, beaten only by Port Brimsey.

Fortania

At the North-Easten sector of the island sits the second largest city in the Great Storm: the Fortania Trade Hub. This settlement, containing more than half of the Oasis’s population, serves as the go-to for legal traders and merchants. The city is primarily constructed of wood, with all buildings in the city’s limits being required to have a coating of flame-resistant paint. While some accommodations had to be made for the limited resources of the Great Storm, Fortania's architecture strongly resembles that which could be found in major Faramine cities prior to the Great Storm.
Most within Fortania practice either a trade occupation or produce products from raw material imports. It is a city primarily reliant on its business with other islands to thrive. The island that engages most with Fortania's merchants are the other Center Islands—namely Horizioncliff and Port Brimsey. Horizoncliff provides much of the wood and food for Fortania, whereas Brimsey supplies metals and stones from its local mountain.

Geography

Much of the Oasis Skerry consists of flat, sandy beaches. These dunes make for a good half of the island, with the remaining area being what can be described as a palm forest: a biome with tall grass and plentiful palm trees. The island’s soil is too poor to be effective for the farming of most resources, as it is filled with salt and sand. There are rare patches of soil suitable for farming, though due to how few and far-between they are, it still would not be practical to run a farm on the island.
The Oasis Skerry, as stated prior, is primarily flat. Towards the center of its ring-shaped circumference, however, the land slopes upwards. The island’s land mostly sits just a few feet above sea level, meaning that flooding is common. The innermost land strips tend to sit higher—enough so that the seawater will not reach it even during floods. These sections of land contain better soil compared to the rest of the island, as it contains less sand and salt. The few farms on the Oasis are contained upon these patches of land.

Climate

The Oasis's climate is stable year-round, maintaining livable, even comfortable temperatures. Summers are quite warm, rising up to just under eighty degrees Fahrenheit during the day. Due to the majority of the island's terrain being sand—a substance which does not retain heat—the island tends to become shockingly cold at night. Winter on the island, while of course colder than summer, is rarely cold enough to produce snow. Liquid precipitation is common during all seasons, however, in fact it rains nearly every other day. Such drizzles tend to be lighter, but full downpours are by no means rare.
Like many of the islands within the Great Storm, the Oasis Skerry’s weather fonts come from the winds of the storm itself, thus meaning it has a set climate. One would find that during winter, the temperature can warm by up to ten degrees going from Horizoncliff to the Oasis. Due to it remaining warmer during wintertime, and because much of the island is sand, the Skerry virtually never sees snow that lasts overnight.

Natural Resources

While containing few natural resources compared to Horizoncliff, Artima or many other islands, the Oasis Skerry does hold a few valuable deposits. With its palm trees, the island proves to be an adequate supply of wood for the purpose of construction on the island itself. Being a beach island, it also is mostly comprised of sand, which is commonly exported by human traders to make sell to glassmakers. However, that about concludes the list of the island’s natural resources, as its environment is ill-suited for farming, it has no stone for mining, and there isn’t significant animal life that lives on the land’s shores.
There is a single floral item besides its palm trees of note on the Oasis Skerry: a rare flower called the Ocean’s Tear. This flower’s pedals serve as a dye, ranging from dark grey to navy blue in hue. This dye is a common export of the island, along with its sand and a bit of its wood.

History

Prior to humans entering the island cluster, what is today known as the Oasis Skerry was once inhabited by Selkies. In fact, most Selkie histories label their island of origin as the Oasis Skerry. Their claim is that the Ocean Mother—their creator deity—spawned them upon the Oasis’s sandy shores on the western side of the island. By the time humans came to the island, the Selkies had expanded to most of the other islands in the cluster, the Oasis remaining their most inhabited island, however.
In would later be known as year 2 PS, humans landed on the Oasis’s shores under the orders of Lt. Vernon Armen. They quickly started to build a base of operations on its eastern side, forcing many Selkies away. Though there was yet to be violence, the Selkies’ anger against humanity started on this day. After Armen and those he commanded left, the Selkies tried to smoothen their relations with the remaining humans, though they would be irked as the settlers expanded ever outwards over the island.
In the year 1 TA, further human settlers would arrive on the Oasis Skerry along with the rest of the islands. Metians, Farath, Zeri and a few Upoth would come to the sandy island, all to the Selkies’ resentment. Then, with the Great Storm’s creation, tensions boiled over, and a terrible slaughter commenced. Thousands of Selkies were killed after a mere three days, the rest forced to flee. From then to the present day, the Oasis Skerry has been a human-dominated island.

Area

Total Surface Area: 190 Mi²
Total Farmable Land Area: 20 Mi²

Climate

Average Temperature (Summer): 75°F
Average Humidity (Summer): 70%
Average Temperature (Winter): 53°F
Average humidity (Winter): 30%

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Population

Human Residents: 9,780
Selkie Residents: 2,410
Nereid Residents: 460
Non-humanoid Mammals: 1,720

Type

Island