Ntsuluru o-Ogwa (nʦʷuluru oogwɑ)
There are many settled areas at the edge of wilderness, wildlands, vast uncharted deserts, impassable jungle, and the like, but none are as famous or feared as what the Mbaran mariners have called Ntsuluru Ogwa. Mariners from the northern continents call it the Indigo Void; although some foreigner speakers of the Qh'Raa languages who know of this place might call it Ōgwa /oːgwɑ/ or some variant.
Located at the end of the western arm of the Myriad, on its outermost tip is a small outpost of ancient make signifying the end of the world. The Mbaran trading houses, in some ancient era, built an outpost at Ntsuluru Ogwa, and there they have exiled seafarers as punishment for various transgressions. Named for the Indigo void, in their trade tongue it is Ntsuluru o-Ogwa (lit. "outpost at Ntsuluru Ogwa"). Exile to the outpost is a sentence of utter boredom and the contemplation of nothingness, because after the Myriad islands' end lies a great watery void.
Ntsuluru Ogwa which can be translated as “The Great Beyond” or “The Nothing Beyond.” It is so name because it is naught but a huge expanse of seemingly unending sea. The weather never changes. The sea never rages; its minor tidal motions are the extent of its motions. The sky is constant, unbearably so. Mbaran mariners insist that Ntsuluru Ogwa is only endless sea or possibly the end of the world is beyond it.
Ntsuluru Ogwa is immediately recognizable by the shallow pristine waters that surround most of the Myriad's islands, beginning to show deep inky patches, holes to truly deep water. Eventually the shallow waters become the anomaly and the indigo leading to blackness becomes the norm before all the shallow waters disappear completely and the sea is dark. Secondly, the waters are calm. The winds die down and the stillness becomes oppressive. Travel into the dark, calm waters slows to a snail crawl.
It is said that ships with oars have challenged the calm and driven past the point where sail cannot aid them... but they have not returned. Unlike many maritime stories: it is not giant sea monsters that threaten ships, but lack of anything. No seabirds—even closest to shore, they refuse to fly into the calm—no whales breaching, no shoals of fish: only calm dark waters and oppressive near silence.
The way that seasoned Mbaran traders speak of it is enough to horrify the most seasoned sailor: if the greatest sailors in the world do not enter Ntsuluru Ogwa, none of the lesser seafaring tribes would ever.
Ntsuluru o-Ogwa is an outpost left to monitor the most feared and least explored regions of the known world. Should anything ever change or come from it, the exiled sailors, wait. Most merely serve their time fighting the madness of utter boredom.
To many, Ntsuluru o-Ogwa is an outpost at the literal end of the world. It is a prison of sorts; feared by all who serve the Mbaran Trade Fleet.
Climate
Warm, humid, calm. Frequently hazy skies and misty waters at dawn or in the night. No precipitation. No storms. Clouds are rare. Little to no wind. This is the full extent of the weather of Ntsuluru o-Ogwa.
Natural Resources
In addition to being devoid of metrological variation, Ntsuluru Ogwa is devoid of life. Fish, seabirds, marine mammals, squid, even mythic sea creatures are absent. The Ogwo—the name of the sailors sentenced to mind Ntsuluru Ogwa—are fed on rations imported by supply ships and the fruit trees, seabirds on the island. Occasionally, the Ogwo will send fishing parties easterly into the more thriving regions of the archipelago. The Outpost, "o," at Ntsuluru Ogwa is not self-sufficient. Without supply ships, its exiled residents would starve. Long before the establishment of the various Mbaran trade fleets, no fishers of the Myriad would venture into its waters. Fishers never travel as far as the western tip of the Myriad where the outpost lies. It has been legendarily feared since forever.
Alternative Name(s)
kess'Ōgwa; the Indigo Outpost; the Post at the Indigo Void; the Outpost at the Nothing Beyond; the Beyond; the End of the World
Type
Outpost / Base
Population
20-30, mostly men, exiled from various mercantile houses.
Inhabitant Demonym
Ogwo
Location under
Owning Organization
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