Island of Haiska (Ha-ï shka)

The coldest inhabited place in the world

The island of Haiska is large, nearly twice the size of the Island of Velcaan. It is situated in the far north of Hysal across the White sea from the Arrosian mainland.

Geography

The island's coastline is jagged and formed of tall dark grey cliffs and gravel beaches, both of which are covered in snow most of the time outside of the brief summer. Vast and deep valley cut deep into the rocky land, carved out by slowly descending glaciers towards the sea. Some of these valleys are filled with ocean water, creating large fjords. Beyond those glacial valleys, the interior of the island is permanently covered in snow and a thick sheet of ice, which feeds the glaciers flowing down to the see. The layer of ice is broken up by numerous wind swept mountains, which peek through the ice sheet. Many smaller islands pepper the waters around the island, particulary along the eastern coast, yet most of them are little more than bare rocks jutting out of the freezing waters. Those waters are also covered in ice for most of the year, although the ice does break away into icebergs during summer along the southern coast.

Localized Phenomena

Midnight Sun and Polar night

During summer, the sun does not set bellow the horizon on the island of Haiska. This lasts for about 70 days along the southern coast, from mid may to late july and a bit longer further north in the interior of the island. During winter, the opposite is true. For about the same amount of days, the sun does not rise over the horizon. Twilight occurs during a couple of nights leading up to and following those 70-ish days.

Aurora Borealis

Auroras are quite common in the sky above the island, consisting of dancing bands of multicoloured lights that can appear in hues of green, blue, red and yellow and be intense enough to illuminate the island bellow like twilight.

Climate

The island is gripped by artic cold almost all year round. The winters on Haiska are very cold and plunged in permanant darkness. Storms can form over Levianthan sea and especialy the Northern sea, which brings bringing large qantities of snow along the southern coast, while the interior remains largely dry. 
Spring is similary cold and windy. The storms over the Northern sea gradualy become less strong while the opposite happens to the ones over the Levianthan Sea. As they move west, they form a chain of clouds and precipitaions that keep the islands's sky overcast during most days while regular snow falls on the islands. Rain is possible along the coast by the end of spring. 
Summers are warm enough along the coast line for the snow to melt and rain to fall, as well as allowing moss and small flowers to grow. Nonetheless, the ever present wind and frequent precipitations do strip the land from most of the heat the sun may give.
During the fall, the island's breif summer rapidaly transitions into a long a greling winter. the storms coming from the west gradualy lose strenght while the ones to the south of the islands gain strenght. Rain ceases to fallas temperature rapidaly drop bellow freezing even on the coast. The sun eventualy dissapears beneath the horizon, rising once again only 6 months later.

Fauna & Flora

A variety of birds species from the Arrosian mainland travel to the island during the brief summers., with the two most common being White Owls and Puffins. White Owls live on the island but fly to Arros and specificaly to Rumalia during the winter and returning by mid-spring to the island. Puffins spend most of the year out at sea but assemble into large colonies on the numerous cliffs of the island.
On land, few species can survive. The lemming is a small rodent which burrows in the snow during winter to find food. They are preyed upon by Artic foxes, which can sometimes be spotted roaming in the snow in winter, trying to spot them. In the summer, the foxes move to the coast, where they feed on fish and birds egg. Walrus colonies congregate on rocky beaches and outcrops along the southern and western shore of Haiska, as well as on the numerous other small islands to the west.
The waters around the island are also hove to many whale species, such as baleen whales, Belugas, Narwals and Orcas. Many types of fish also roam in the cold waters around the island which walruses hunt and eat.

Natural Resources

The island is rich in all kinds of mineral resources, especially iron and tin metal. However, because of the harshness of the climate and terrain, extracting these resources can be very difficult and generaly not viable for most of the year, not to mention that bringing those ores back to the mainland is also pretty hard and time consuming. A single mine, which produces tin and iron is still active near the City of Hos. Most of the iron and tin is exported, which brings in enough money to sustain the population of the island and allows for them to import some much needed wood, grain and higher quality tools and weapons. The most precious export of the island however are small magical gemstones called Frostite, which are very rarely found at the bottom of glacial valleys, sometimes under water.

History

Discovery and early settlements

The island was discovered in the year 994 BC by a fleet of Rumalian raiders traveling south-east towards the Island of Accosia. The fleet of long boats were blown off course by a powerful storm and sent north-east instead, landing after a week at sea on a rocky peninsula, one of many Haiska has. Two years later, after a couple of exploratory expeditions to the island, the Town of Hos was founded by the Halserat of Skagos after a deposit of Tin ore was found nearby, a rare material in Rumalia. Many other settlements, sometimes numbering as little as 20 people, were founded along the southern coast of the island. Iron deposits were soon found in the region, and expeditions into the interior were organised and launched to search for more resources, yet it was quickly realised that there wasn't much waiting for them there except death.

Raids and New Temple

In the following centuries, the island was used as a launching point for raids on the Accosian islands as well as the Axe coast near Alvaros and Northengor and went as far as The Fork region and down towards Kingdom of Naurcia. These raids would stay largely unchallenged for many centuries. Meanwhile, back on Haiska in the year 854 BC, a Dragons was spotted flying over the town of Hos and towards the north. Many of the city's residents, uncluding all 147 Dragonkin citizens of the city at the time organised an expedition to locate a sign of the dragon and give offerings, as their Fate dictates. They departed north, and after waking for two days and eventualy reaching the icy plateaus of the Island's interior, they saw what they were looking for. A singular and large dragon paw print, sinking deep into the thick ice and forming a hole large enough for a adult human to stand in it confortably. Over the following months and years, the The Ice temple of Haiska was built around it and still exists to this day.

Decline

By the end of the 4th and the start of the 3rd century BC, the raids became too much for the Kngdoms of Northengor, who together with the kingdom of Alvaros and the kingdom of Heoria, put their long lasting squables aside and banded together to stop the raids, forming the Northern Sea Alliance. With their combined navies, they started targetting raid outposts directly, including a brief invasion and occupation of Hos. This forced the Confederation of Ru'mensh to negociate a peace, forcing the raiders to move out and/or stop raiding. As a result, by the end of the 3rd century BC, raids had mostly become a thing of the past. Because of this, all outposts were eventualy abandoned and Hos lost two thirds of its population, going from a population of 6000 at its peak to just a bit over 2000 residents. Hos managed to escape the fate of other towns and outposts thanks to the valuable tin and iron deposits nearby, which meant that it wasn't solely reliant on income from raids on the mainland.

Contested Control

Nowdays, the island numbers around 2300 inhabitants, the vast majority of which live in Hos, while the rest live in a small commune nearby the temple, or in the temple itself. The island is currently controled by the Confederation of Ru'mensh, yet the Kingdom of Northengor also claims ownership of the island and regulary sends warships near its coast to harras merchant ships and intimidate the local residents. Within the confederacy, the island's control is also disputed as both the Halserat of Nazor and the Halserat of Skagos claim the island for their own territory, though the Halserat of Skagos has remained in control of the island since its explorers founded Hos. However, all three governments, whether they be the kingdom of Northengor or the two Halserat, could and can only have nominal control over the whole island, as it is very remote and military and govermental infrastructure is nearly innexistant outside Hos. Only the small stip of coastal land encompasing the town of Hos, its mines, the path to the north and the temple and commune is controled by the Skagosi as the rest of the island is impossible to control because of its shear size, rough terrain and harsh climate.

Tourism

Visitors to the island mostly consist of traders from the mainland as well as religious pilgrims seeking to visit the Ice temple north of Hos. The port of Hos is the only harbour in Haiska in which large ships, not just small boats, can safely anchor away from the rough seas and winds. For this reason, all travelers to Haiska, regardless of their final destination, first land in Hos. Traders from the mainland stay within the city on deliveries, and may occasionaly got out to the mine and help the locals bring back materials to their ship. They usualy do not stay on the island for long. Pilgrims do stay longer, but spend most of their time inside The Ice temple of Haiska, way outside the city. Air travel to the island is imposible because of the cold temperature, whcih affects the floatability of Winged ships as well as the high winds which make navigation very hard and even dangerous. Travel by Jrokya from the mainland to the island has been theorised to be plausibly feasable, but the logistics and dangers assossiated with such a treck makes it very impractical.

Alternative Name(s)

Island of Ice, Northern Edge.

Type

Island

Owning Organization

Confederation of Ru'mensh

Contested By

• Halserat of Skagos