Khyarmani Atoll (kh-yar-mahn-ee)
The world's largest atoll, equal parts beautiful and lethal, home to the world's largest oceanic sinkhole
Geography
True to its status as an atoll, Khyarmani Atoll is a massive ring shaped island nearly 150 miles across - within the center island ring lies the single largest freshwater basin in the entire world, known as "The Gods Bowl" or "Khyarmani Lake", which is rumored to be home to some of the most ancient oceanic creatures in the world.
Along the island ring, a vast host of jungle ferns, towering trees, and wet forest floor lies adjacent to towering cliffs and crumbling rock faces and mesas that abut the vast freshwater water basin along the atoll's interior, evidence of the island's turbulent tectonic and volcanic activity.
Most notably, however, is the large central freshwater basin in the middle of the atoll - better known as "Khyarmani Lake": it is well-known as not only the largest freshwater source in the entire world, but also the deepest marine sinkhole in the known world as well, known to be several thousand feet deep, potentially many miles...making it inhumanly deep, and a thing none have managed to get to the bottom of as of yet. Rumors abound about terrors and monsters lurking at the bottom of the hole, spawning horrible beasts and monsters that drift up to the top, as well as tales of planar portals further down in the sinkhole, and much more.
Ecosystem
The ecosystem of Khyarmani Atoll is a thing of ancient wonder and Rainforest-like beauty - along its island ring is a host of animals that dwell in the rainy canopies and forest floors of the isle, while birds and lichen and the like fly across the isle preying on the freshwater beasts that dwell in the lake in the center of the atoll.
However, there is a unique aspect of the atoll's ecosystem not found anywhere else - for reasons unknown, a large number of slimes, Sentient Slimes, and ooze based monsters can be found emerging from the freshwater lake in the center of the atoll with alarming regularity, alongside a host of other monsters too numerous to fully document here. These beasts, alongside a unique breed of monster dubbed the Khyarmani Oraculon, a massive floating eye that roams the airspace and area in, beneath, and around the atoll with terrifying attack and perception abilities that spawn from the central freshwater basin, combine to form a unique ecosystem where the slimes and Oraculons and other monsters are predated upon by various species of lichen and flora as well as specialized clades of predators adapted to hunting down the normally formless slimes and flying oraculons.
For this reason, Khyarmani Atoll's ecosystem has been charitably described as a "Death Island" - almost everything is engineered to survive under the harshest of predations and conditions, which almost universally means they are well-suited to killing and murdering other creatures.
Ecosystem Cycles
The ecosystem of Khyarmani Atoll is suprisingly stable - it does not experience too much changing of the seasons thanks to its rather tropical location, though unlike a true Rainforest is does experience some mild seasonality. Though it rarely experiences snow, the atoll's ecosystem does mutate during the wet season and the dry season(The former being cooler and the latter being hotter), with the flora and fauna rapidly adapting to intake large amounts of water and forgoing some natural defenses in favor of preparing for the coming dry season.
In the dry season, with resources scarce, the flora and fauna will begin to attack each other in an effort to survive - and considering that it is during this scarcity that an event known as "The Surge" occurs where the slimes, oozes, and Oraculons emerge from the central lake in vast numbers, this is said to be the more 'lethal' of the atoll's ecological cycles, with the wet season being somewhat less dangerous as the slimes, oozes, and oraculons retreat into the central water basin, allowing the native island inhabitants more time to freely move about and achieve goals and tasks.
Localized Phenomena
At the point of the seasons changing(Happening twice a year), there is a period of 14 days known "The Eyestorm" where a large hurricane emerges from the center of the Atoll and surrounds the island(Which thankfully stays mostly sheltered from the storm in its eye), blocking travel in much of the surrounding ocean and seeing all active travelers in the nearby waters as well as inhabitants of the island attacked by a massive number of the unique eye-beasts known as Khyarmani Oraculons, who spawn from the storm in great numbers.
Additionally, an event known as "The Surge" occurs during the peak of the island's dry season which sees a large number of slimes, oozes, and Khyarmani Oraculons spawn from the Atoll's central lake and harass and attack the island's native inhabitants. This event, while dangerous to those on the island, is not such a concern to passers-by.
Fauna & Flora
The flora and fauna of the atoll are exceeding dangerous, such that it has recieved the classification of "Death Island" - almost every plant and animal is ludicrously lethal to endure the island's harsh environs and monster populations. Slimes, ooze-based monsters, and the unique monsters known as "Khyarmani Oraculons" are common to the isle(Spawning from the atoll's central inland freshwater lake), with countless species of plants and animals present as well as native inhabitants. There is a small tribe of Jungle Elves that make the island their home, but they seldom make contact with outsiders - most interactions have been quick, to the point, and have either resulted in warnings to leave or outright butchery.
Natural Resources
The natural resources of the island are plenty - it is a place of plenty in many regards, most of which lie in the island's central freshwater lake that the atoll surrounds.
History
The history of the isle is relatively boring - it has long been the subject of various marine research expeditions, but none that have ever established a large presence or achieved anything notable. It was once in the domain of the Kingdom of Tarthus-Tetsu when their empire stretched much further at the height of its golden age long ago, but has ever remained something of a mystery - an isle whose mysteries have never quite fully been uncovered.
Most notably, it has been the source of several ruins of the ancient civilization from which records of the great husk Baruchiel were found by recent archeologists and scholarly expeditions.
Most notably, it has been the source of several ruins of the ancient civilization from which records of the great husk Baruchiel were found by recent archeologists and scholarly expeditions.
Tourism
The island sees little tourism beyond occasional, small marine expeditions, adventurers seeking to complete monster hunts or jobs on the atoll, or, more commonly, pirates and other lawless renegades who use it as a base of operations.
Alternative Name(s)
The Ancient Atoll, The Khyarmani Sinkhole, The God's Bowl
Type
Coral Reef, Atoll
Related Professions
The Khyarmani Oraculon
While the Atoll is home to a plethora of monsters, most commonly slimes and oozes, none are as iconic as the unique and legendary Khyarmani Oraculon - a monster resembling a massive, floating eyeball capable of supernatural flight at extremely high(Near-supersonic) velocities, extremely accurate perception(allowing for sight through illusions, magic, and more), and highly dangerous attacks such as high velocity beams of light ejected from its large monocular eye, capable of cutting through metal, trees, and creatures alike. Thankfully, these Oraculons seem mostly docile, or content to ignore most creatures - they will universally attack those who present themselves to them, but to those who show deference, hide, or make a clear attempt to stay away they will seldom initiate pursuit, instead preferring to attack outsiders to the isle or to roam into the waters outside the isle to attack nearby ships and the like. Additionally, they are known to have stacking properties - when many Oraculons merge, their powers multiply exponentially, allowing their attacks, defense, and perception to ramp up to frightening levels. In the largest recorded instance of this 'stacking' property, nearly 500 Oraculons merged in the skies above the atoll during one of the notorious "Eyestorms" that wrack the isle(See "Localized Phenomena" for more info) to form a continuous chain that allowed them to somehow "percieve" the entirety of the populace of the Kingdom of Tarthus-Tetsu on the day of the country's founding - who all universally reported a distinct feeling of being 'watched' and 'an unnerving feeling' as Amenmeses Ra-sen Shakanasa I stood atop the Grand Temple of Amenheru and declared the country's reformation and establishment.
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