Sargasso Traveling Islands

To seek the Sargasso Traveling Islands, look for where they’re not. Search where the horizon shivers, and you’ll find them waiting for you. They’re not just a place, but a test by the Sea Goddess to see if you’re worthy of what is there…

- Volana Marofo, Kelstani Navigator for the Tami, in Clan Zozimar

The world is no longer what it once was. It’s a mix of fantastic with deadly, wrapped in a frame of mysterious. A new Earth coming to terms with dramatic change it didn’t ask for, but certainly deserved.

One of the most dangerous regions on this new Earth is the infamous Sargasso Sea. Known as the ‘Lost Ship Graveyard’ or the ‘Sea of Fear’, it was transformed during Crossing’s Fall. Before, it was a mid-Atlantic area devoid of wind and thick with sargassum seaweed. Today it’s a region of intense, seasonal destruction and chaos punctuated with periods of calm.

At the heart of this lies a set of legendary islands. Modest landmasses that seem to appear then move without warning. They are called the Sargasso Traveling Islands.

Islands of Myth and Mist

The Sargasso Traveling Islands are a collection of seven floating islands said to be located deep within the Sargasso Sea. But according to the stories, they are more than geographical points on a map. Instead, they’re the epicenter where nature is at war with itself and the Etherwave Arcana. A place where storms, both natural and mystic, push the islands like ships caught in a strong trade wind.

To most, the islands are the stuff of rumor and legend. Stories say the islands wander the wide expanse of the Sargasso Sea, following patterns that, so far, only Kelstani Navigators can partially predict. Even the Kelstani warn their maps are temporary at best, since these islands are always in motion.

Finding a good map is just the start of your worries. The sea keeps her secrets close, and will punish anyone trying to take them…

- Elara Blackwater, Captain of the Silk Duchess

Sargasso Traveling Islands in a Storm by CB Ash*

Alternative Name(s)

Lost Islands, Islands of Fear

Type

Island, Floating

Parent Location

Sargasso Sea

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Mystic Wave and Fury

The island’s strange movements are thought to be from a combination of forces. Ocean currents, fast energy streams from the Etherwave Arcana, and powerful storms all play their part to move the islands through the ocean. Some even believe there may be a greater force at work. Ancient powers or relics that fell to Earth from Otherworld that now live deep below the seaweed-choked waves.

For those that know the islands believe the primary fuel that drives their motion is the collection of natural, and unnatural, storms. Disasters that brutally scour the region. Wavebinders who have researched this region believe that this may be the actual point where the Etherwave Arcana broke through to flood the world with its power. A tear in the world's fabric, where the Etherwave continues to flow unchecked. As a result, this region and these islands suffer the brunt of the effect. In a way, like a barrier reef protecting Earth against a tidal wave of raw power.

Naturally Unnatural Disaster

Etheric Storms are the most common, and worst, that both hammer the islands and churn the surrounding ocean. These storms range in size from modest thunderstorms to wide hurricanes charged with raw arcane energy. Wavebinder researchers agree that this magical energy is the same as what powers the mysterious Arcane Gates scattered across the world, or created by Navigators.

Only here, without the mystical construct of the ‘gate’ itself or the mind of a Navigator, the energy is wild and aggressive. Lashing out with bright flares of arcane power that are suspected to come from the remains of the now shattered Otherworld. Perhaps even a remnant of the catastrophe that caused Otherworld to shatter.

These bolts lash out with incredible force, striking a target with the force of a cannon. All the traveling islands bear lingering scars and craters from arcane flare strikes. While it looks as if anything in their path is consumed, this hasn’t always been the case. Whatever the flare touches is badly burned, but will be transported elsewhere to other locations on the islands.

Beside etheric storms and arcane flares, there are also mystic hailstorms. Unlike the natural variety, these contain a special twist, where each frozen stone is a charged piece of elemental magic. When it hits, the stone shatters, covering its target in chilling, painful, thin sheets of ice. More than one tall tale recounts the story of a hapless sailor who froze to death on a hot summer day when caught out in one of these storms.

Last of these unnatural disasters are the Charybdis Vents that follow in an island’s wake. Charybdis Vents are a strange phenomenon of violent, moaning, temporary whirlpools that can spawn behind an island while it moves. While they vary in size, most are wide. Large enough to swallow a galleon whole. Rumors say that once it swallows a ship, that vessel or its wreckage, are spit out on the far side of the world.

No one knows what causes the Charybdis Vents, though many have suggestions. Some say they are just a side effect of the traveling island, similar to a ship’s wake. Ship captains and certain cartographers believe the cause is from rifts along the ocean floor that occasionally tear open. Another remnant of what may have brought the shattered remains of Otherworld to Earth.

Sargasso Traveling Island approaching sunset by CB Ash*

A Realm of Resilient Life

After all that, if you think those islands are battered and barren, think again. There’s plenty living there, and it’s as tough as you might expect…

- Elara Blackwater, Captain of the Silk Duchess

The storms and other disasters are a threat, but despite their occasional appearance, unique life is said to thrive on the traveling islands. A wide variety of plants and animals call the islands home. These creatures quickly adapted to survive despite the periodic, and seasonal, storms that batter the islands.

In both shoreline, shallow pools and just offshore grow long strands of glitterweed. Giant, blue-white sargassum seaweed that glows a soft blue, especially at night. The glow is both a reaction to the sun it’s absorbed during the day and how it protects itself from storms. It’s a natural enchanted aura that is armor for the plant, defending itself and anything under it from the freezing effects of the mystical hailstorms.

Onshore there are the broad-leafed thunder palms, clumps of snailgrass, along with a wide variety of tropical flowers, vines, and sand grass. These plants thrive on these islands and possess their own defense mechanisms against the dangerous storms.

As for animals, they are no less unique. Some are native to Earth, but others come from Otherworld. Both types thrive in the islands unusual, and mildly enchanted, environment. Sargassum fish, Conger eels, and hawksbill sea turtles are a common sight. But so are sirens, Spearfisher birds, amphibious palm squids, and the unusual hammerhead flying iguanas that lurk in the trees.

Native Visitors

Beyond plants and animals, according to legend, there are other local inhabitants to the islands. But unlike the average flying iguana, these are as much visitors as they are natives. That would be the mysterious ship-bound Kelstani. The seafaring people that wander the ocean in their ship-based caravans.

The Kelstani remain true to their origins, so their homes are aboard their unique ships. But they have a strange kinship with the Sargasso Traveling Islands through resources and tradition. With resources, the Kelstani understand the wildlife there and often harvest certain plants and herbs to replenish their hanging gardens aboard ship.

Wood is taken carefully and thoughtfully from thunder palms for ship repairs and other needs. As for animals, the Kelstani know the secret ways of the flying iguana, palm squids and more. So, unlike any other visitors to the islands, the Kelstani are least likely to be harmed or harassed by the local wildlife. Kelstani folk are so accustomed to the danger that they have curatives for the more common venoms and toxins that the islands try to use on unsuspecting visitors.

But the islands also hold a special place in Kelstani traditions, as well. The seagoing nomads use the traveling islands as a rite of passage for younger generations. Each year, Kelstani clans send out young men and women in small crafts to chart the new path these islands have taken across the sea.

These young explorers are expected to work together, helping each other as a crew. Since the seven islands travel as a group, the Kelstani cartographers only have to locate and land on one island. Then return in ten days with the evidence they have found the new, erratic path the islands are taking. In between those trials, experienced Kelstani Navigators also understand the challenge once a season, just to update Kelstani clan maps.

Dreams of Avarice

There’s more to those islands than just a fancy tale or a squid in a palm tree. Parts of lost ruins, buildings and more from Otherworld are there, too. If you're willing to risk getting to them…

- Elara Blackwater, Captain of the Silk Duchess

The Kelstani are the most frequent visitors, but they aren’t the only ones. Legends lure researchers and treasure hunters each year, with dreams of a chance to find the islands and their ruins. Some survive the trip over the rough seas, through storms, and the historical trouble of the Sargasso Sea itself. The rare few that arrive, then return alive, tell tales about deadly discoveries.

Stories abound of ruins, ancient libraries and more, torn away from Otherworld in 1712 only to be cast across the traveling islands into their humid, thick jungles. Survivors say they’ve seen ancient books, treasures, gems, and other relics found nowhere else on Earth, or the remains of Otherworld that can still be reached.

More Questions Than Answers

Of anywhere on Earth that was changed by Crossing’s Fall, the Sargasso Traveling Islands stand out as mysterious and prone to natural, and unnatural, disasters. No matter what small fact is uncovered about these lands, more questions appear than answers. Do the storms truly make them travel? Is their route erratic or part of a mysterious larger plan? Are they lands ripped from Otherworld when it shattered, left here to wander aimlessly?

Anyone who dares navigate the waters around these islands is sailing a dangerous path. Not only is it risky, by also one set in motion by tragedy that gripped Earth and Otherworld. But for anyone who sails that sea and finds these islands, they also could find never before seen secrets and relics, along with an equal amount of danger.

One doesn’t just sail up those islands. Those lands, storms, just all of it? They make you earn being here. They also make you earn leaving in one piece as well.

- Elara Blackwater, Captain of the Silk Duchess