Insulam Merano

Heritage site and the birthplace of glass magic. An interconnected series of islands united by the kilns that draw their heat from natural springs, glassmiths and vitrices both originated here, isolated due to the dangers of their crafts. Glassmiths were the first to leave the island and adapt their skills across the rest of the country, while vitrices stayed closer to home and operated in secret until word of their gifts spread and became highly sought after. When the creation of stained glass was banned in 2002 and all practicing vitrices exiled, they returned to Insulam Merano and declared it independent from the Meranese government’s control. The Senate retaliated by cutting off the island and erasing its existence from the history books, claiming that all inhabitants were killed by a series of explosions from the old kilns. Most of Merana believe the island to be a legend, and think that if it did exist, it would be abandoned. As of 2019, the surviving inhabitants of Insulam Merano - nearly all of them women - operate in the dark.

Geography

Though the vitrices have always maintained a presence on the island, the emigration to the mainland in the 1500s left it as an artifact of the past. Hotshops that once belonged to the glassmiths still function with ancient equipment on one of the smaller islands, though barely. The islands themselves are glossy obsidian, heaps of broken glass heated and smoothed to form a sloped pavement. The largest structure on the largest island is the first Temple, a series of interconnected wood and glass chambers with a dormitory, meeting rooms, community hall, and chapel where new stained glass windows are produced. It backs up to a natural hot spring which is used to heat the temple and its forge. The front of the temple faces the shore of the Empty Sea, where the sand necessary for stained glass is collected. Glass boats that allow coming and going are tethered a nearby dock.

Fauna & Flora

Nothing lives on Insulam Merano since the bombardment that set off the kilns. The islands are made of black glass, and nothing can grow. In the years since, some of the vitrices have been able to create a garden in raised beds, so they can grow some of their own food.