South Sea Islands

The South Sea Islands refer to the sparse islands furthest away from the connected or landlocked islands such as Copingsettlement), @Ship's_Landing or Yala_City. Human settlements in the South Sea, sometimes know as "Plantation Islands", are some of the most dangerous places to live in Shuria and are frequently subject to hurricanes, abrupt shelf collapses, windward blowouts, and Velt incursions. Nevertheless, many daring or entrepreneurial people find it worthwhile to settle and operate plantations there, as the climate is ideal for pod cultivation. Some notable plantation islands are Vidication, ThePebble and Glory of The Seen.

Tidal Erosion

The South Sea Islands exist in the precarious location where intense volcanic activity has managed to outpace the intense tidal forces of the Southern Sea. Further South, and the tides wash away volcano deposits faster than they can be laid down. While rare, on human time scales, islands in the plantation band are known to collapse or wash away, or at least eroded below peak sea levels, because of changes in local volcanic activity and plate movement.

Island Shape & Long Tails

Because of the unidirectional flow of the tide, most of these islands have a disctinct tear-drop shape, rounded (sometimes concave or lopsided) in the front and long and tapered in the back. Volcanos that survive long enough to become islands only do so because they are active enough and that activity serves to reinforce the windward side of the island, filling in the side of the island being most pummeled by the tides. Proper plantations and settlements often have an engineering team, guiding lava to reinforce key points of the island and coating the most vulnerable parts in slick, erosion-resistant material called Cort. The tail on the leeward side is made up of layers of silt, the result of erosion from the front being pushed to the back. This long silt beach is used as extended real estate to orchestrate ship to ship trade during low tide. Tail_Barges are rarely used in the South Sea due to relatively low sea traffic and incelement weather.

Blowouts

-Windward side wear thin, volcano erupts out the front or at an angle. Creates the beginnings of a new island in front, but too low to reinforce the parent island against erosion from above. Over the next few weaks or months, the parent island will lose considerable mass, and create large overhanging shelves.

Shelf Collapse

-Natural islands will develop shelves where the rock of the visible island overhangs the water due the the island underneath eroding away. The coast can appear solid and safe, but structures or docks built along the edge may fall away if the shelf collapses. It is usually better to intentional knock shelves lose than to try to reinforce the underside.

Weather

-Big winds. Lots of rain. Very bright sun for large portions of the year.

Pod Cultivation

-Pod_Cultivation and study is the backbone of the entire economy in the modern era. Pods are a crystillne fruit that can be utilized by a skilled practinioner to shape stone, grow plants and trees (notably, not pod mothers), detect water and ore deposits and heal almost any wound short of death. Pod size varies considerably, but potency is deteremined not by size, but by age. The longer a pod is allowed to grow, the more powerful the magics they can be used to produce, but a "ripe" pod seems to act like a beacon that attracts Velt raids. A plantation owner seeking wealth might push the limits before harvesting a pod. A strong enough pod could lead to an early retirement.

Velt Incursions

-See The_Velt and The_History_of_Velt_Human_Relationships. Since The_Champion's_War, humans have nearly wiped out the Velt population on land and pushed those that remain out to sea. -When a nearby Velt colony detects an overgrown pod, The Velt will camp under water near the underside of the island and wait for nightfall when the tide is retreating to scale the sides. Sometimes a raid will target workers and families of the plantation, but their primary focus is always to uproot and steal mother plants, and to a lesser extent, pods. It is suspected that they too desire the power the pods, even though they don't appear to use them as tools like the humans do. Perhaps they worship the mother plants or use them in their rituals, or perhaps they're too stupid to realize the power they hold.

Type

Archipelago