The Archipelago is a small cluster of islands, south of the main continent of Koldenwelt.
Geography
The Archipelago at present consists of a few dozen small islands (the largest is only around one hectare in area) spread out across one square kilometre of ocean. However, the layout of the cluster is highly variable, and at some times in its history it has contained hundreds of city-sized islands, while at others it has been a single island or even part of the mainland.
Currently, the islands of the Archipelago are covered in sparse fern forest (although in the past this has also been everything including desert, lush grassland, volcanic wasteland), and is inhabited by creatures such as Al Packa, Spoffits, and Oogies. For several centures until the War for the Eye, it was inhabited by an Elvish tribal race. The huts used by this tribe still remain, but the only remaining sapient inhabitant of the island is Arbor Vitae. Many other traces of intelligent life can also be found in the Archipelago, primarily the temples of long-gone civilisations, which in many cases are the only evidence of what were apparently once-great empires.
Navigation towards, around, and away from the Archipelago is difficult due to subtle yet strong currents, and a psychic disturbance that appears to be centred in a half-sunken pyramid near to one of the northernmost islands. This had led to a common belief that there is a nexus for the Source under the sea floor, which is sometimes associated with other unexplained phenomena such as how many settlements have managed to dig wells to access fresh water not very deep underground, and of course the rapidly-changing landscape of the Archipelago and the sudden disappearance of many civilisations that have lived there.
History
Around 100,000 BNA, the Archipelago was a large peninsula connected to the mainland. It is believed that the first civilisations on the planet originated there, but too few traces of them remain to back up this theory. The peninsula later split apart into an island group, which is how it has remained to the present day. Since the time of the Screebles, many races have settled on the islands. Many of these islands have since sank into the sea, leaving only a few ruins of temples as the only evidence of not only the settlements, but of the civilisations themselves. In the War of the Eye, the most recent race to inhabit the island was destroyed by the Legion of Shiarchon, leaving Arbor Vitae as the last of her kind. At the end of the war in 0 BNA/NA, the legendary artefact known as the "Eye" was taken to the Archipelago and placed underground.
Trivia
- The Archipelago is not the only archipelago on the planet of Koldenwelt.