The Tangle

The Tangle is a patchwork archipelago of ships, garbage, and other debris that has floated together in an vast oceanic gyre. It's location within the Aurrus Sais make this gyre a fertile breeding ground for Ango Vine , and as such, the entirety of The Tangle is overgrown with the thick vines. The seas surrounding the area contain large numbers of the Ango Vine spores as well, which often take root on the perimeter of The Tangle itself, adding to it's size.

Size

Figures detailing the size are always rough estimates, in part due to The Tangle not being made up of a single, discrete, island structure, and in part because pieces of the overall island are regularly breaking off and colliding in. The main body of The Tangle is a patch of connected ships, wreckage, and debris roughly 7 miles in diameter, with smaller connecting strings of patches and nearby floating semi-independent patches across the whole 30 mile diameter of the region itself. Patches that are close enough to each other with active Ango growth tend to be cemented together from the vines anchoring themselves into both patches.

History

The ocean currents heading up the coast near the Kumari-Kan Mountains have formed an ocean gyre in this area for tens of thousands of years, but it is only since the Ascension of Ra and the end of Hespers rotation that this gyre began to collect and grow in earnest. The gyre effect has become stronger since, and unchecked growth of Ango Vine serves as an effective glue to hold the debris within The Tangle together.

Sources

Ships that are not diligent or fastidious enough in performing the maintenance that prevents Ango Vine from growing on their ship will quickly find their propulsion systems overwhelmed by the drag of hundreds of vines growing on their hull. Eventually these ships, unable to move on their own, will find themselves either run aground on the shores, or caught up in a gentle ocean vortex, along with hundreds of other ships that met a similar fate.

Inhabitants

Much of what is known about The Tangle is thanks to a Master Scout of The Cartographer's Guild, Graa'tuk, who has studied The Tangle extensively. During surveys, he has reported signs that some unfortunate soul left on board an overgrown ship survived long enough for the ship to drift into The Tangle, but no direct observation has ever been made.

Fauna & Flora

Despite the lack of human or near-human life, the abundance of Ango Vine has allowed an ecosystem of life to exist on and around the patch. Many species of rodent and insect normally found on ships have found their way onto the island structures, to scavenge through ships that find their way into the collection or to gnaw on the ever growing Ango Vine itself. Some smaller predator animals roam the island, and the waters are full of shade loving fish.

More disturbingly, Graa'tuk has also seen multiple Cenna lurking just below the vines waiting for something or someone to pass within snatching range. It is due to the frequency of these Cenna Sightings that Graa'tuk has not attempted a landing on The Tangle.

Character Knowledge

Characters just now arriving on Venus:

You may have heard of sailors referring to The Tangle as a hazard to be avoided.

Characters not from Venus, who spent some time there:

You know of The Tangle as a hazard full of ghost ships and treasure, but you've never heard of anyone going there to try and get at any of it. Surely it's not that dangerous, right?

Characters from Venus:

Someone or something on a ship that gets caught up in the tangle might as well be gone forever.

Type

Archipelago

Location under

Aurrus Sais, the Golden Sea