Muriwai (Muriwai)
"It is a land made of broken ends and thirsty edges, where life is not welcome."
Muriwai is an island in the Southern Region, to the east of Atu Motu. It is a blasted and lifeless place, avoided by almost all who know of it. It is also one of the Wild Places, where physical reality and the realms of spirit and dream are pressed so tight that they bleed into each other.
The shores of the island are covered in fine black sand that glitters in the sunlight. Those who have stepped onto those beaches find that the sand is sharp and shifts easily underfoot, easily toppling an incautious person in a bloody fall. The island is nearly flat, with only a slight upward grade as one walks towards the center, where a low hill sits.
"As I walked towards the hill at the center of Muriwai, glass towers flickered in the corners of my eyes, only to vanish when I looked at them directly, leaving only ruined shards that looked like cracks in the sky"
There are no structures on Muriwai, only the shattered remains of ancient glass buildings, the ghosts of which can only be seen sidelong. If approached carefully, one might get close enough to glimpse reflections in the ghostly glass before it vanishes, but those who have done so refuse to reveal what they saw, and advise against ever attempting the same - at least if you want to sleep well ever again. Studying the remains of the buildings directly is also unpleasant, as looking too closely at the glass creates a sense of vertigo and disorientation.
"What they sought was at the center of the island, buried in black glass shards. The island drank from their flesh as they climbed that broken hill, and took more when they uncovered the unblinking orb beneath the ruined sky"
Continuing towards the interior, the cracks in the sky open, and a great void eclipses the sky. The only light comes from the far horizon and the reflections that glitter off the glass itself. Climbing the hill is a treachorous endeavor that always draws blood, as the shards shift and shatter underfoot, sending splinters flying through the air. At the top of the hill, there is a faint blue glow beneath the shards. Clearing these away reveals a shallow pit, with a great crystalline orb embedded in the bottom.
"When I touched the orb, it blinked beneath my hand, almost like it wished to dislodge some irritant. And then my own eyes opened, and I saw great and terrible marvels of a different time and place."
The orb of Muriwai (sometimes called Muriwai's eye) is capable of granting visions to those who touch it. The content of these images are not consistent from one person to the next, and are rarely pleasant in nature. Some people have reported seeing images of their own future troubles, while others describe the distant past or alien nightmares. One element that is always there is an oppresive sense that the viewer is also being watched - that to see these things is also to be seen by something.
"The Eye of Muriwai is not a passive object, nor is it a creature or a god as we know it. It is something else - something from beyond our collection of knowledge. It may even be from beyond The Silence."
Some of those who come away from Muriwai do so changed. It may be a minor change - a inch of height, or perhaps their hair color shifts a shade darker or lighter. It could also be something they possess; more than one strange object has its origins in an encounter with the orb. Other times, the change is more noticeable. One adventerous soul received a ring of eyes that floated around their head, until he plucked them out and burned them all. Another was reduced to nothing but a featureless sphere of flesh that was very faintly screaming. Other excursions have never returned at all, and their fates are unknown.
"I beleive that Muriwai is a special kind of Invasive Narrative, one with its origins in a truly alien section of The Dream. We should interdict the island and prevent all contact with it, lest it spread its strange story to other aspects of the world."
Geographic Details
Location: Southern RegionLatitude: 4.34 degrees South
Longitude: 2.5 degrees East
Average Elevation: 59 ft
Highest Point: 98ft
Lowest Point: 0 ft
Area: 5.88 sq mi
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This article was originally written for Spooktober 2024. You can find all of my Spooktober Articles at Spooktober Central.
This article was originally written for Spooktober 2023. You can find all of my Spooktober Articles at Spooktober Central.
For some reason I read this article with an Australian accent. XD I wonder if these people ever see our eyes looking back at them.
They do, yes. ;)