Xuyla (ʃu.jla)
"Xuyla is only the beginning. If we don't do something, Tali will go the same way Biku did."
Xuyla is one of the Nofo Islands in the Mangimoi Archipelago. It is located off the east coast of the large island of Sela, and has historically been a part of the Kingdom of Tali. However, over the last several years much of the territory on Xuyla has been purchased by merchants working in conjunction with the Kingdom of Pagi. This has raised concerns that Pagi is planning to acquire the Kingdom of Tali entirely, as they did with Kingdom of Biku half a century ago.
The island is sparsely populated compared to the rest of the archipelago, with only a few fishing communities along the coast. The interior of the island is heavily forested, but all of the trees are less than a century old, when the island was almost completely deforested by Talian merchants. Since then, logging has been tightly controlled by the Kingdom of Tali, which the merchants of Pagi have found frustrating, and may be inspiring the current financial takeover.
Notable Spirits
The Hyang of Xuyla is known as Latu-Mangga. She is said to manifest as a great dragon, who sleeps beneath the mountains and dreams of the time before humans. During the great deforestation, Latu-Mangga awoke for the first time in centuries and manifested above the island, furious at the devastation. Most of the population of Xuyla fled her wrath, and for nearly a year anyone who ventured inland risked encountering the angry dragon-god. Only when the first saplings sprouted did she return to her underground lair, and to her habitual slumber.
Geography
Xuyla is a crescent shaped island that has a center line roughly parallel to the nearby island of Sela. It measures about 44 miles from tip to tip, with a maximum width of 13 miles. Like its neighbor, Xuyla's coastline is a mixture of high cliffs and deep bays, and mangrove swamps are found anywhere they can take root.
A line of mountains run down the center of Xuyla, with Gunung Pau rising over three thousand feet above the trees. Birds, bats and insects are common in the forests, but only a few species of land animals have reestablished themselves so far.
Geographic Details
Location: Southern RegionLatitude: 1.8 degrees South
Longitude: 18.67 degrees West
Average Elevation: 75 ft
Highest Point: 3,520 ft (Gunung Pau)
Lowest Point: 0 ft
Area: 474.13 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.
Now I want to sketch Latu-Mangga.
I would love to see that