Oq-Atul (ɔkʔɑtul)
The Isles of Mist, named for their foggy shores, are shrouded in mystery as much as they are fog. Little is known about the islands, apart from they're surrounded by jagged rocks on all sides, and of its inhabitants, aside from that they have yellow eyes and refer to the archipelago as Oq-Atul.
What is known by scholars, however, is that the islands don't seem to be stuck in time, just isolated from the rest of the world, which is also why the Oq-Atulins are so primitive compared to other cultures. Much of the islands are dense forests and marshland, difficult to navigate, and the terrain is rugged as well. Despite scholars wishing to learn more about the islands, it is not a tiring pursuit nagging at the backs of their minds, and even less so for merchants or nobles. This is because the islands lack resources of major interest, particularly metals: even copper is rare on the islands, so any gems that are there are in too small amounts of to warrant going back to attempt finding more. With such a lack of desire to explore them and do trade with the natives, the islands of Oq-Atul will likely remain shrouded in mystery amongst global figures for many centuries to come.
Fact vs Fiction
The only facts about the islands the average person knows are that they're remote, surrounded by jagged rocks, and primitive. It is said that the islands are frozen in time, as punishment by the gods upon the natives and that they are actually animals trapped in human forms. The rocks that surround the islands, combined with eerie, almost unending fog, make a landing on the islands' shores a death sentence, one of the major reasons the islands are so poorly known.What is known by scholars, however, is that the islands don't seem to be stuck in time, just isolated from the rest of the world, which is also why the Oq-Atulins are so primitive compared to other cultures. Much of the islands are dense forests and marshland, difficult to navigate, and the terrain is rugged as well. Despite scholars wishing to learn more about the islands, it is not a tiring pursuit nagging at the backs of their minds, and even less so for merchants or nobles. This is because the islands lack resources of major interest, particularly metals: even copper is rare on the islands, so any gems that are there are in too small amounts of to warrant going back to attempt finding more. With such a lack of desire to explore them and do trade with the natives, the islands of Oq-Atul will likely remain shrouded in mystery amongst global figures for many centuries to come.
Geography
While little is known about the islands’ overall appearance, it is generally accepted that there is one or several larger islands in the center, while smaller islands surround it. These islands are known to not have volcanoes on them, despite being miles away from any significant landmasses. This suggests to scholars that the islands were formed by a Crumbling, a fairly old one too based on the wildlife found on the islands which seems to be almost completely removed from the rest of the world. Further evidence of this Crumbling come in the form of the jagged rocks that completely surround the islands, making landing on or leaving the islands extremely difficult almost to the point of impossibility though not completely. In fact, there is evidence of multiple Crumblings that occurred in Oq-Atul, which explains the unusual, jagged rocks that surround the archipelago as well as how humans reached the islands without any nearby islands to hop between.
Ecosystem
Oq-Atul is a temperate archipelago, with hot, extremely humid warm months and chilly, snowy cold months. This is uniform all across the archipelago regardless of the island or how on the outskirts it is. Winters in Oq-Atul are bitter and cold, while summers are muggy and blistering. The trend of two extremes is further divided by the types of environments that the islands house, those being either temperate rainforests or swampy estuaries.
Much of the archipelago is the former, with the vast majority of the islands covered in a maze of trees that darken the forest floor with a near impenetrable canopy. Most unusual, while flowering plants are present on the islands, the dominant trees are conifers, limited mostly to small flowers and estuarine species. Fires in the forests are rare to the point of near complete absence and the islands are naturally subject to mere small-scale disturbances, such as blowdowns or avalanches. These forests are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, with some of the largest trees on the planet, rivaled only by the Skywood trees of Brianey.
While not as common as rainforests, estuarine marshlands are arguably just as important to the stability of the ecosystem. Most of these estuaries are similar to fjords, though glaciers are not to blame as these are the result of the above mentioned Crumblings. That said, there are places where these "fjords" are expansive enough to form a sort of coastal plain, where pockets of soil poke out of the water at high tide and there is almost a large stretch of beach at low tide. These places still have large, jagged rocks jutting out of them so traveling them at high tide-in the fog-is not an easy task, yet life proliferates regardless.
Much of the archipelago is the former, with the vast majority of the islands covered in a maze of trees that darken the forest floor with a near impenetrable canopy. Most unusual, while flowering plants are present on the islands, the dominant trees are conifers, limited mostly to small flowers and estuarine species. Fires in the forests are rare to the point of near complete absence and the islands are naturally subject to mere small-scale disturbances, such as blowdowns or avalanches. These forests are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, with some of the largest trees on the planet, rivaled only by the Skywood trees of Brianey.
While not as common as rainforests, estuarine marshlands are arguably just as important to the stability of the ecosystem. Most of these estuaries are similar to fjords, though glaciers are not to blame as these are the result of the above mentioned Crumblings. That said, there are places where these "fjords" are expansive enough to form a sort of coastal plain, where pockets of soil poke out of the water at high tide and there is almost a large stretch of beach at low tide. These places still have large, jagged rocks jutting out of them so traveling them at high tide-in the fog-is not an easy task, yet life proliferates regardless.
Fauna & Flora
Flora
The plant life of Oq-Atul calls back to a primordial era that has long since passed. Here, conifer trees proliferate while broadleaf trees are rare, primarily due to the cold temperatures during the winter.Fauna
Oq-Atul's wildlife is far removed from animals found in other parts of the world, though the forms themselves may be familiar to naturalists. The vast majority of the predators on Oq-Atul are hyaenadonts, both large and small, and this is the only place in the world where they remain.Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
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