The Stripped Islands
The dying memories of the past
Where there is water, there is land- that is what the ancient Utianees said. And where there are land and water, there is life. Aisles of grassy plains cross into a perfectly rectangular island that seems to loom over the water's surface, larger than life and yet so close to touch. Waves speed towards its rocky base, but to no avail as they are weakened by the littering of rocky outposts that surround it. Storytellers speak of meteors that crashed from the sky, drawn to this sanctuary by a sense of belonging. Tunnels of a strange mineral are fallen logs of stone and granite connecting its many aisles.
It's as if a higher power ripped its claws across the ocean, leaving behind trails of land that intersect at near-perfect angles. Birds rest along the rocky pillars that surround it and reach towards the sky. Small critters scatter in tunnels, fish hide in the underground caves, and the wind plays an old, childish song as it ripples across the water and land. Fields of tall grass and flora shine in the early dawn. Moss spiral up rough bark, fungi grow in the darkest of caves. There is no silence, only the ambient noise of life.
The sound grows louder, and louder, and louder- you realize, with a jolt, that there's no going back.
Geography
The Stripped Islands are sudden, unexplained plots of land that appear in every World, in the same location each time. It is always dead centre of its poles, on the equator, yet far away from any other existing continent, oriented directly 90 degrees from the latitude and with its longest side perpendicular to it. There are no explanations for this consistency, or even why and how these islands are formed in the first place.
They do not erode with time. Across all eons of The Realm, any World and any planet, as long as there is life on it, this island is somewhere on it. As far as any mortal can tell, these have not changed since the dawn of the Realm's existence.
The island is primarily made of what appears to be stone on the bottom and soil on top. Each "aisle" is approximately 200 metres wide, and 6000 metres long. There are typically 11 aisles that form each island, with gaps in between, some as large as 100 metres and some as small as 10. Its surface is generally about 60 metres above the water's surface. There are large, one-person wide stone tunnels that go across the islands length-wise. Some touch down in the middle, some begin near the edge, but just about every single aisle is connected with these tunnels. Some loom overhead while others traverse through caves. Near the two edges of the Island, thick pillars reach above like ancient fossils.
Fauna & Flora
Natural Resources
Stepping into the islands, resources from all around the world are abundant. Everything you can possibly obtain anywhere else on the planet is here.
And with them, the voices of those who came before.
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