Usran (us.ran)

"If your bones lie in the deep
And your spirit cannot rest
There's a beacon you can seek
That your grave might be blessed"

— from The Lighthouse Song

Usran is a small island in the Lamofo Islands of the Mangimoi Archipelago. Until the construction of the Usran Lighthouse, there was no permanent residents on Usran, and it was unknown by anyone not from the immediate vicinity. The Order of the Lightkeepers selected the location as a bridge point for Lighthouse Signaling, so that it could be part of a relay for messages between larger and more populated areas of the archipelago.

The God of Usran Lighthouse

As with all of the lighthouses in the Ring of Light, the keepers of Usran Lighthouse are also priests of its resident Numina. The lighthouse gods typically arise during the first century a lighthouse is active, and acquire characteristics based on the events the priests witness, and their individual reactions to them. In the case of Usran Lighthouse, the specific incidents that inspired the birth of the Numina are fairly well documented, making its origins less obscure than many other gods.

The currents around Usran are such that many things wash up along its shores, and in the early years of the lighthouse it became a common pastime of the keepers to search the beaches for anything of interest. And then one day, a body washed ashore. The keepers did not know who the unfortunate sailor was, but they were holy and respectful people and held a funeral, burying the body in a region they designated as the lighthouse cemetary, now that they had a need for one.

Shortly afterward, the haunting began. It began simply - cold spots and strange sounds that had no obvious source, but then escalated to the apparition of a young sailor who was clearly trying to communicate something to the living people around him. The keepers of Usran Lighthouse finally managed to work out a method by which the spirit could convey their wishes through a series of knocks, and learned that in order to rest, the spirit needed his bones to go home.

The keepers undertook this mission. Through a long series of questions, they narrowed down the location of the sailor's homeland to the island of Lahat, and discovered that he was originally of the Tau Dilaut. And then they took him home to his family, who had not known his fate until then. It was a sad homecoming - but it was a homecoming all the same.

After this incident, more things began to wash ashore on Usran. Bodies were some of them, but not the majority. Most were small, precious things. Messages sealed in bottles arrived every few days, along with jewelry and small works of art. What they all had in common was that each one had a desire to go home, and had been lost at sea. The god of Usran lighthouse had manifested its domain - it was the god of lost things finding their way home.

An Ongoing Mission

Today, the keepers of Usran Lighthouse have accepted the mission of their god, and undertake to return as many things to their homes as they can. Not all the lost objects are accompanied by a helpful ghost, but the god of Usran can read the history of an object and will reveal it in visions to their priests. They do their best to identify where each lost thing should go, and use their connections with sailors and the Order of the Lightkeepers to send the objects there. Still, they are overwhelmed by the volume of lost things sifted from the sea by their god, and have a vast collection of items that are waiting for someone to have time for them. Bodies receive priority, while other objects may wait years in storage. Sometimes, a person who is seeking something lost and knows of Usran will travel to the island themselves to seek it out. This sometimes works, but not everything that is lost to the sea is returned.

Geography

Usran is a small, rocky island surrounded by coral reefs. The lighthouse is set on a high cliff near the sea, overlooking a wide stretch of beach. The island is roughly triangular, and measures about six miles from north to south, with a maximum width of about two miles.

Type

Island

Location under

Lamofo Islands

Geographic Details

Location: Southern Region
Latitude: 6.32 degrees South
Longitude: 19.75 degrees West
Average Elevation: 79 ft
Highest Point: 1,309 ft
Lowest Point: 0 ft
Area: 15.11 sq mi

A Darker End

There is another place in the Great Ring which calls to the bodies lost to the ocean, and it is not a kind place for them. The haunted island of Krákuhólmi gathers both bodies and their ghosts from the sea, trapping the spirits there to serve the Crow-God Morvhan. The keepers of the Usran Lighthouse have advocated for the binding of Morvhan to prevent his grim harvest, but so far nobody has undertaken to discover his True Name and imprison him. You can read more about Krákuhólmi here.

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