#Island25 Day 1 — Old Glassatine
Good grief I need to cut back on this text.
So day one took too fucking long. I wrote far too much. If I want this to be sustainable, I’ve gotta push to trim the fat. Anyway, that comes a day at a time.
Not going to push email notifications for these unless people express interest in that in the next weekly posts - don’t want to flood anyone daily!
Dungeon25 is gonna be in catchup for a bit, as is this I fear - my sleep schedule has been shot and so expect a day or two delay on these!
For now, welcome to the first island within the Free Skylean Empire - Old Glassatine!
Name: Old Glassatine
Allegiance: Free Skylean Empire (FSE)
Altitude: Altospheric (5000m)
Cloud Base: Altocumulus Lenticularis - a series of flat, lens-shaped layers about 1km deep.
Size and Shape: 2km x 3km rough oval.
Weather: Heavy winds often, billowing up to 2km from the mainland. 1-in-6 chance of heatwaves, increased to 2-in-6 in winter.
Demographic: Dominant orukin, minority fellfolk, groups of men, ælves and other common species.
Exports: Mirror-glass, cloud tea.
Imports: Silver - unlike much of the FSE, there is no silver in the earth of Old Glassatine.
Settlements: Kallistrate’s Wake, A village of mostly fellfolk, and Malgobrok, the main town on the island.
Descriptive Appearance: bright white grass on grey soil. Unnaturally flat.
Tales to Hear
The Ancient Descent: Old Glassatine used to rest at cirrospheric height, however, during the Shattering of the Sun, the death of Saint Kallistrate the Vigilant caused a detonation so forceful it pushed Old Glassatine down from the cirrosphere and into the altosphere, forming the Crater of Glass.
The Footsteps Above: Guards in the Wind Towers sometimes report hearing footsteps on higher floors that shouldn't exist. Those who follow the sounds discover a marble labyrinth guarded by beings from the Age of Sun and Sky. At the centre of the labyrinth is a lost angelic vault containing ancient texts and artifacts.
The Heliosic Echo: Tales say that in the deepest part of the Crater, the glass sometimes whispers prophecies that are supposedly echoes of Saint Kallistrate's ever-vigilant mind trying to remain alive in the world. No prophecy told this way has been written down as coming true, as distrust for angelic word is rife within the FSE.
Places to Go
Crater of Glass: A shallow, circular crater, 1km in diameter and 150m deep, resting at the centre of the island. Supposedly formed in the Ancient Descent, leaving behind a shattered pit of mirror-glass that regrows slowly over time. Locals conduct a slow and methodical mining process to extract the mirror-glass - it was discovered that when split into two halves, the inside of mirror-glass becomes see-through, and so mirror-glass has found use in one-way windows as well as in the construction of a variety of luxury jewellery.
The Heliosteles: Ancient walkways that form the main footpaths around the island. Lined with old marble and gold columns, many of which are broken and repaired with concrete and silver. Some say the pillars were broken and repaired deliberately to make a point of placing the constructions of the FSE on top of the ancient angelic buildings.
Skylean Spires: Spiralling towers of glass and silver that harrow the winds, their design copied from fragments of pre-Shattering schematics. With the island being walled in concrete, the Spires form the towers which connect each wall segment.
Stuff to Grab
Cloud Tea: Served in a mirror-glass cup designed to make the liquid look like it floats, cloud tea has a milky white colouration but tastes of blueberries and rosemary. Traditional drink of the new year all around the FSE.
Wind-Woven Fabric: Cloth spun in the draughts at the tops of a Skylean Spire, naturally patterned by the air currents. very lightweight and comfortable in hot climates.
Kallistrate's Teardrops: Seven small, teardrop-shaped pieces of the first mirror-glass ever formed, each said to hold a fragment of the saint's final prophecy. Only two have been found, one is displayed in a museum in the capital of the FSE and the other is kept in the care of Foreman Sokolov.
People to Meet
Foreman Sokolov: Orukin manager of the mining forces within the Crater of Glass. Built like a brick wall. Gruff and closed off, but weak to a drink or two - often opens up a bit too much while sloshed. Finds the process of mirror-glass extraction tiring, and misses working the silver mines elsewhere in the Free Skylean Empire. A year away from retirement.
“Old Theo”: Incredibly old fellfolk oracle with memories dating back to the Shattering of the Sun. Frail and barely moving, normally wheeled around in a wheelchair. How he’s alive is a miracle, and getting audience with him is hard.
Archivist Dmitri: Young orukin and fellfolk sympathiser. Maintains ancient scrolls and production records from before the Shattering while secretly preserving more of the angelic history than officially sanctioned. Skittish and shy with a lithe frame.
Foes to Fight
Refraction Golems: floating glass prisms found within the Crater that refract sun/moonlight into beams of energy. Looking at refraction golems can temporarily blind.
Soldat Lunaris: The FSE national guard. All FSE citizens must do 3 years mandatory service. Have a problem with too many individuals wanting to stay on in the force, end up turning away 60% of individuals who request to become full-time, and 25% further who wish to be reservists.
The Heritage Front: Reactionary extremist fellfolk who want to restore the ancient angelic rule to Old Glassatine.
Additional Notes
Old Glassatine is a bastion of the Free Skylian Empire, and it is protected tightly. Soldat Lunaris deployed here tend to be more vigilant than those elsewhere in the empire. Losing Old Glassatine would mean losing a symbol of their ancestors victory. Despite this, orukin residents on the island “hate how fucking bright and hot it is all the time” and generally tend to be here on the basis of trade/economics rather than wanting to set down roots.