High Seas Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
highseasmods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
island_registry2014-09-30 10:51 pm
highseasmods) wrote in island_registry2014-09-30 10:51 pm
Entry tags:
Northeast
♦ MONSUTA
[Distance from Isla Empieza]: Approximately a month in a decent-sized ship.
[Terrain]: Monsuta is fairly large island, and part of a violent upheaval of ocean bottom untold centuries before. It is likely part of a chain of extinct volcanic islands, based on the crater-type appearance, if one could see the island from the air. The exterior of the island is inhospitable, with only a few places where it would be safe to take small boats to shore (larger boats would need to dock off-shore, or risk getting their hulls ripped up). The island is a somewhat blobby shape; with cliffs and chimney rock rising up on pretty much all sides, but the ocean has worn tunnels into the cliffs, allowing daring pirates explorers a chance to get onto the island (during low tide). Once past the stony exterior, the interior of the island is far more hospitable, at least on the surface.
The cauldron is warm and green, looking pretty much like your favorite tropical paradise; with high cliffs and cataracts of rushing water, colorful flowers as big as your head, interesting rock formations, caves to explore, paths to walk, creatures to hunt. A traveler on foot would probably be hard pressed to make it across the cauldron and back in under a couple of months. There are amazing ancient trees, lots of vines, huge ferns, plenty of fresh water in the form of streams, lakes, and those waterfalls.
[Weather]: The walls of the island protect it from a lot of the worst weather, and there might be enough of an active volcano below to keep the cauldron warm enough to support the giant animals living there. Think tropic/sub-tropics, with rain happening nearly every day (depending on exterior weather as to how intense the rain/storm might be), a bright, warm sun (despite Monsuta's northerly location), and, if you go high enough in the cliffs, snow.
[Is the island inhabited?]: There appears to have been human/humanoid life at one point or another; there are remains of a primitive civilization near one of the landing points. Those remains include mostly pottery, shell shards that could've been used as weapons, and the like. If there were buildings of any sort, they're long gone. That doesn't necessarily mean there aren't people on the island; they just might not want you to find them first.
[If so, what is the culture like here?]: Hunter/gatherer, with emphasis on hunter. The people, should they make themselves known, are naturally copper-skin colored, with dark hair. They wear intricate tattoos (both male and female), and start tattooing at an early age (say, twelve years). Both sexes were a modified skirt/kilt/kirtle, usually of leather, though feather kilts are worn for ceremonies. Jewelry and decorations are made of natural items, such as carvings of bone, wood, or stone, or feathers glued or sewn to something else. Men and women both wear their hair in topknots, with the higher ranked members of the tribe wearing intricate combs in their hair, as well. There are a few of these tribes on this island. Due to their lives, and what they share their island with, they can be violent, and untrusting of strangers.
[Island peculiarities]: There is a lot of green, a beautiful, tropical jungle, full of massive plants and insects, oh, yes, and dinosaurs from every age. Jurassic to Cretaceous, they're all here, and some of them might be hungry.
And we won't go into the other large creatures that roam the island, fighting with the dinosaurs, except to say they're large, humanoid in shape, and covered in black and/or grey shaggy hair...i.e., giant giant apes.
Also, beware of the carnivorous plants, because they are hungry.
[Terrain]: Monsuta is fairly large island, and part of a violent upheaval of ocean bottom untold centuries before. It is likely part of a chain of extinct volcanic islands, based on the crater-type appearance, if one could see the island from the air. The exterior of the island is inhospitable, with only a few places where it would be safe to take small boats to shore (larger boats would need to dock off-shore, or risk getting their hulls ripped up). The island is a somewhat blobby shape; with cliffs and chimney rock rising up on pretty much all sides, but the ocean has worn tunnels into the cliffs, allowing daring pirates explorers a chance to get onto the island (during low tide). Once past the stony exterior, the interior of the island is far more hospitable, at least on the surface.
The cauldron is warm and green, looking pretty much like your favorite tropical paradise; with high cliffs and cataracts of rushing water, colorful flowers as big as your head, interesting rock formations, caves to explore, paths to walk, creatures to hunt. A traveler on foot would probably be hard pressed to make it across the cauldron and back in under a couple of months. There are amazing ancient trees, lots of vines, huge ferns, plenty of fresh water in the form of streams, lakes, and those waterfalls.
[Weather]: The walls of the island protect it from a lot of the worst weather, and there might be enough of an active volcano below to keep the cauldron warm enough to support the giant animals living there. Think tropic/sub-tropics, with rain happening nearly every day (depending on exterior weather as to how intense the rain/storm might be), a bright, warm sun (despite Monsuta's northerly location), and, if you go high enough in the cliffs, snow.
[Is the island inhabited?]: There appears to have been human/humanoid life at one point or another; there are remains of a primitive civilization near one of the landing points. Those remains include mostly pottery, shell shards that could've been used as weapons, and the like. If there were buildings of any sort, they're long gone. That doesn't necessarily mean there aren't people on the island; they just might not want you to find them first.
[If so, what is the culture like here?]: Hunter/gatherer, with emphasis on hunter. The people, should they make themselves known, are naturally copper-skin colored, with dark hair. They wear intricate tattoos (both male and female), and start tattooing at an early age (say, twelve years). Both sexes were a modified skirt/kilt/kirtle, usually of leather, though feather kilts are worn for ceremonies. Jewelry and decorations are made of natural items, such as carvings of bone, wood, or stone, or feathers glued or sewn to something else. Men and women both wear their hair in topknots, with the higher ranked members of the tribe wearing intricate combs in their hair, as well. There are a few of these tribes on this island. Due to their lives, and what they share their island with, they can be violent, and untrusting of strangers.
[Island peculiarities]: There is a lot of green, a beautiful, tropical jungle, full of massive plants and insects, oh, yes, and dinosaurs from every age. Jurassic to Cretaceous, they're all here, and some of them might be hungry.
And we won't go into the other large creatures that roam the island, fighting with the dinosaurs, except to say they're large, humanoid in shape, and covered in black and/or grey shaggy hair...i.e., giant giant apes.
Also, beware of the carnivorous plants, because they are hungry.