The main trading centre of the Archipelago Elves before the War for the Eye, waiting for the day's business to begin.
The Archipelago is a chain of islands in the Tropical Lands of southern Koldenwelt, extending westwards from the Archipelago Peninsula and passing directly south of Sprak Island.
Geography
At present, the Archipelago consists of several clusters of a few dozen small islands, with a few larger landmasses, although none are more than a few kilometres in area. However, the layout of the region 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, and volcanic wasteland), and is inhabited by creatures such as alpacas, spoffits, and oogies.
While the waters surrounding the Archipelago are inhabited by the Oceanic Razoa civilization, the only islands to have been inhabited in recent millennia are those of the westernmost cluster, which is also the smallest and most remote part of the Archipelago: the largest island is only around one hectare in area, the cluster is spread out across a mere one square kilometre of ocean, and the closest neighbouring cluster is fifty kilometres away. For several centures until the War for the Eye, the islands were inhabited by an Elvish tribal race; now only the huts used by this tribe still remain. Many other traces of intelligent life can also be found in the cluster, 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 this cluster 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. Some legends claim that the Source nexus is a result of the imprisonment of Caligaduro Provectus underneath the islands.
History
In the Orichalcum Age, the Archipelago was a large peninsula connected to the mainland. It appears that the first civilisations on the planet originated there, or at least in the nearby Tropical Lands. The peninsula later split apart into an island group, which is how it has remained to the present day. Since the time of these earliest races, many other cultures have settled on the islands. Most 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. At the end of the war, the legendary artefact known as the "Eye" was taken to the Archipelago and placed underground, near the Source nexus.
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