the Sea O'Many Mournings

This sea stems from the strength of the Great Inward Stream and the turbulences caused by its dividing into two branches, the Great Streams. Gales that sweep the Great Outward Stream look pretty much like gentle breezes compared to the Sea O'Many Mournings' fierce gusts… But these are real storms, where the raging of atmospheric forces combine with the roughness of the sea. Actually, the Sea O'Many Mournings is constantly caught under a huge mass of dark clouds, a thousand nautical miles wide, striped with lightnings and rumbling with thunder from morning to evening and vice-versa, so much so that it is impossible, when one sail on those parts, to tell one from the other.

Some say that it would be a shelter for awesome sea-monsters, that drifted there during their journey on the Great Streams, confused by the violence of the waters, waiting for years and years before they're able to get out. Needless to say that those monsters are hungry and pretty much irritated ! Not only won't they find anything to eat, will they be tormented by the currents but should they get to the surface, they would also be frequently stricken by lightnings ; It is therefore highly probable that they all went nuts and it is reported that they attack at first sight !! (If they really exist though…)

And yet, and yet…

The (legendary ?) " '53 Great Eruption "

Many are those who crave for crossing the Sea O'Many Mournings, far less are those bold - or mad - enough to try…

What a pity !

Because it is told that at the center of the Sea O'Many Mournings, lies a haven of tranquility : a peaceful sea, heavenly islands where gentle jungle green merges with the turquoise lagoon waters, under a white crown of misty mountains… Some tales add however that some of those mountains may be active volcanoes !

It is also told that there would be two main islands and an unknown number of smaller ones. The two main islands are known in the legends by the name of Celesta and Paradisio.

According to the rumor, at least one of both would be a volcano, because two Pirate generations ago – in the year 53 of the Universal Calendar, a quite large number of sailors, astronomers and voodoo priests testified that : one late afternoon, a huge column of smoke had risen far above the Sea O'Many Mournings' black veil of clouds, a veil torn by gushes of fiery glows, that couldn't come from the lightnings' usual milky gleam. Muffled rumbles were heard more than a thousand nautical miles away and some islands were repeatedly shaken by small earthquakes. Finally, after nine or ten days, the Sea O'Many Mournings' veil of dark clouds partialy broke up and the columns of smoke were clearly seen, that is what is told.

Insane sailors who tried to take a closer look on the phenomenon never came back. They wanted to take advantage of the situation to cross the Sea O'Many Mournings. It is very likely they were caught in the storm that unleashed on the 11th day and never calmed down since then. Perhaps did they come to safe ground on Celesta or Paradisio and - not so insane after all - decided to stay there…

"Dust" and "Orichalcum"

It is also reported – and those testimonies can't be more reliable – that iridescent dust deposited on every front step in the Known World during more than three years after those events. Some say that would be linked to the speculated antimagnetese eruption. All in all, this dust has grown very rare and precious. It is simply called "the Dust" in every place of the Known World - because it proved very useful in the making of stained glass, ceramics... and voodoo potions !

Some scolars from the Navel of the World also tried to take a closer look on it (with very powerful microscopes, I tell ya !) and they came to be very surprised : this "Dust" contains indeed a very small amount of tiny colorless crystals (to put it simply, they are more or less "black") which seem to be partially embedded in the some specks of dust. Three different forms were identified : tétrahedral, cubic and octahedral from the more common to the rarer. Speculations flourished since then to complete the list with hypothetical dodecahedrons and icosahedrons but none of them was found for the moment, which could tend to prove thei rarity.

Except their link to a particular kind of speck in the "Dust", those crystals seem to have a very few interactions with materials or energies communicated to them ; Some assume that, having extracted them with difficulty from their embedment, they saw them levitate for a while and then lost contact with them ! And we don't know what their exact physical and chemical properties are or wether they are toxic, or where they come from... All in all, those investigations are all quite confidential, not to say altogether esoteric, and very few know the name scholars gave to those crystals (Well, on second thought, we wonder why we should talk about it right now...) : "Orichalcum"

A nice name, I confess. And we don't know anything more about it. Nothing but mystery...

Misty and disgruntled rumors

So, why the name « Antimagnet Islands »? It is only a rumour, widely spread however, according to which the name was given to a group of island – let us remind, still hypothetical for the time being – because no compass could work anymore when approaching them, adding yet another torment, as if it were necessary, to the torments of navigating the Sea O' Many Mournings! No compass, no visibility: if that really be the case, even the boldest Navigators are not close to the point of landing on the shore of the Antimagnet Islands!!

A scholar of Glabbooby Island recently managed to accumulate a sufficient amount of Dust and he demonstrated that approaching it with a magnet needle placed on a cork floating in a bowl of water… well nothing happened, which even thicken the mystery…

Short note to the Game Master: Having a close look at the general map of the Known World, our reader – and nonetheless Friend – would have seen that there isn't only two , but three, islands (actually four but the last one is barely more than a rock). So what? Inconsistency of the sources of information, dubious in any case? No, sorry, that's something else. But that cannot be told for now. That will be told later on if a follow-up comes but know at least, dear Reader, that it is of the highest importance, at least theoretically!

Second note to the Game Master (and, by the way, if you're not, you shouldn't be reading here…): It should not be so useful right now, the simple idea of crossing the Sea O' Many Mournings being a sure sign of mental disorder, but if you want to know,Célesta is an island of almost two hundred miles in length and almost eight thousand meter high. Only its second summit (over six thousand meters) would be active and that rather in an explosive way if the stories are true! As for Paradisio, for the same length, it is formed of two islands linked by a bridge of sand and surrounded by a lagoon on the Western Coast. It tops at more than five thousand meters at a crest which reminds one of the sting of the reef stonefish. What about the third island? We told you already! Great revelations will come later!

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