Relias: Uprising (59 page)

Bodies of Water

Carpathic Ocean

The Carpathic Ocean is Havok's largest ocean, separating Arctanica and Solara.

Altaric Ocean

A colder ocean as a result of oceanic currents originating from the south pole, the Altaric Ocean is located off of Altenia's and Solara's southern coasts.

Andarian Ocean

The Andarian Ocean is located to the north of Solara and separates it from Andoria.

Soliric Ocean

The second largest ocean, the Soliric Ocean is located between eastern Solara and Marsecta, acting as the ocean that straddles the western and eastern hemispheres. Roughly a fifth of the Soliric Ocean is located beneath Solara in a large, subterranean ocean. This northernmost point of this underground body of water runs close to the southern edges of the Bremonni Badlands and stretches down towards the Altenian borders. Some unconfirmed geological surveys indicate a number of underwater canals that span Solara and connect to the Carpathic Ocean. These assertions are considered true though there is no physical evidence to support them.

The Gulf of Aliya

The name 'Aliya' became the common reference to this body of water after the first Sirens returned with Phillip Carver as it was the name they had given it. It replaced the Arctanican name. It is located in the gulf nearly surrounded by the Aliyan and Delyran Peninsulas.

Tarmus Straight

The narrow body of water located between Tarsis and Southern Arctanica.

The Bremonni Badlands

The geographical feature in the Pretoratan that covers the greatest area, The Bremonni Badlands are set to the east of the Byfayne Mountains and to the south of the Sestik Mountains. On its flat, desolate plains are three major cities: Leramato, New Eckis, and Pyre.
 

Aliyan Isles

History:
Located within the Gulf of Aliya, the Aliyan Isles claim the title as being the most mysterious and least known geographic location on the planet. Because of their location on top of a massive raw Furo aquifer, the size of which contests that of the Sestik Aquifer, the Aliyan Isles sit near the center of the Aliyan Dead Zone, making any air approach impossible and an approach using any electronically based transport unnecessarily hazardous and impractical. To add to the islands' veritable impenetrability, tall columns of sharp, dense rock protrude from the ocean floor while a multitude of sizeable coral reefs rest just below the surface. Being as it is, approach by water is hazardous and, as most explorers have determined, not worth the risk of life. With those facts kept in mind, only a handful of humans have made it onto the Isles alive while only one has returned.

     The Aliyan Aisles are home to the Sirens. During the Autocthonids' initial southern migration at the advent of the Evolutionary Epoch, a small, derelict group of Autocthonid migrants constructed the first vessels capable of maritime transportation and fell upon the small, tightly knit archipelago. They would eventually spread across the five islands some with unique reactions to the Furian Aquifer located beneath them. As a result, the Aliyan Isles, should Phillip Carver's records prove even remotely accurate, are the some of the strangest and  most bizarre locations on Havok.

     The initial discovery of the Aliyan Isles took place in 1375 during the Exploratory Renaissance . When a ship, the
Styling Palto
, set off from its port in Pardene, it was met with the same enthusiasm that most exploratory endeavors were treated with during that renaissance. However, after the passage of a year, the success of the voyage came into question. After another several months, the
Syling Palto
was considered lost. Another voyage set off in an attempt to complete the journey that the
Syling Palto
had embarked on. When that ship never returned, it became perfectly clear the dangers of exploration and maritime travel. These disappearances, as well as fresh memories surrounding the doomed voyage of Captain Daniel Valentine, instilled uncertainty within the throngs of potential explorers and marked the end of the Exploratory Renaissance.

     Several years later in 1385, a pirate vessel known as the
Tomb of the Righteous
, stumbled across a series of islands not marked on any map when fleeing an Arctanican Frigate off the Pardenian coast. According to ship records, the
Tomb of the Righteous
had decided to set anchor off the Aliyan coast and explore the island. Before a solid anchor could be set, though, it was said that a series of
'womanly, sultry voices
' drew them and their ship nearer to shore. Entranced, the ship's captain and several crewmembers found themselves unable to maintain control of themselves and the ship was steered towards shore.

     After impacting on several subsurface pinnacles, a teenage crewmember named Phillip Carver regained at least a small amount of control and attempted to steer the boat away from the island.  Heavily damaged, the ship sunk within a matter of minutes while  Carver and a number of crewmembers managed to escape.

     Following nearly a week at sea, the small boat of starved, dehydrated pirates were picked up by an Arctanican patrol and taken back to Pardene where they were put before a judge. During their trial, the men testified separately before the judge, jury, and Pardenian citizens in attendance of the events that had transpired of the Aliyan coast. They spoke of the beautiful women who robbed them of all self-control and lured them onto the jagged rocks offshore. While initially met with skepticism, the nearly identical testimonies of the other four men cast a new and pervading air of mystery over the Gulf of Aliya. Their testimonies, though, did nothing to soften the jury and judge to mercy. Four of the five men were sentenced to hanging while Carver, because of his low-level status on the ship and the little influence that he had, was instead sentenced to ten years in prison.

     Over the decade that followed, legends of these 'Sirens' spread throughout civilizations across the world, being regarded as both fact and fantasy. Several vessels attempted to explore these newly regarded 'Isles of Aliya' and, with extra care taken with the knowledge acquired from the pirates of the
Tomb of the Righteous
, returned safely home. Any crew that attempted to explore the island, though, was never heard from again.

     After ten years, Phillip Carver, now 28 years old, was determined to not only return to the Aliyan Isles, but to accomplish what no man had ever accomplished: to make it ashore, explore them, make an accurate record and return safely home. After difficulty assembling a crew (excursions to the Aliyan Isles had been strictly forbidden by law), Carver charted a voyage to the Aliyan Isles in 1395 and, according to historical records, was not heard from again until 1418 when he returned to Pardene with a thick, leather-bound record he had titled
Transcendence: The Enigma of the Aliyan Isles
as well as two dozen members of the native people, advanced by Arctanican standards
.
It's from these two dozen Sirens that all modern day Sirens would descend. There is no other known instance where Sirens travelled to or returned from the Aliyan Isles.

     This new record, because of the strange and bizarre nature of Carver's exploits, is considered fraudulent by the establishment as well as those considering themselves to be among Havok's intellectual elite. And though he had proved the existence of this strange, beautiful and entrancing race, the events that actually transpired drew doubt due to their improbability. This discredit led to the general consensus that, while
Transcendence
is an entertaining and well-thought out story and that the Sirens were, in fact, a real people, it is nothing more than an elaborate fantasy fabricated by its author, Phillip Carver.

Note: Due to the extremely limited information available concerning the Aliyan Isles, details surrounding the elusive land masses are scarce and subjective. What follows is information taken as objectively as possible from Phillip Carver's record 
Transcendence and the Enigma of the Aliyan Isles.
The limited available details involving the islands and their inhabitants are considered provisional and speculative and in no way constitute a definitive and accurate record of the Aliyan Isles. What follows are translated excerpts from Phillip Carver's
Transcendence.

     Upon approach, the Aliyan Aisles are beautiful, entrancing, but strangely foreboding. (This is undoubtedly due to the traumatizing nature of my initial visit.)The Aliyan Isles consist of five main islands known as the Isle of Sanctity, the Isle of the Dead, the Isle of the Holy Sovereign, the Isle of Sentience, and the Isle of Souls. Each island has its own unique culture and inhabitants while there is one, the Isle of Sentience, that is so strange and so unpredictably bizarre that I find it difficult to describe. But more on that later. I will instead start with a basic description of these remarkable places and work my way from there.

     The first island I came across was the Isle of the Sovereign, home to the king and queen of the Aliyan Empire. At first glance, it appears to be a tropical paradise set upon a towering, cobalt bastille and is ostensibly impenetrable. It isn't until closer examination that I find a narrow and perilous white sandy path winding up the cliff's edge.

     The second island, located to the immediate east, is the Isle of Sanctity which serves as the sacred isle inhabited by Aliyan priests and priestesses. The third, located to the west of the Isle of the Sovereign is the Isle of Souls. Due to the strange, ominous phenomena I encountered along this island's outer edges, I was unable to explore it and to me, as it does to the rest of the Aliyan Empire, the Isle of Souls remains a dangerously intriguing mystery. The third island, located to the south of the Isle of the Sovereign, a place which I will spend a great deal attempting to describe later, it the Isle of Sentience. It is a curious, peculiar island with a strangeness that I will make no attempt here at describing (While I cannot be certain, I feel that due to some strange power, the Isle of Sentience is subjective to the minds and hearts of those who visit it ). The last Isle is the most mundane of islands, resorting itself to what I believe to be native superstition while I have no experience with anything unusual or remarkable having happened there. This island is known as the Isle of the Dead. It is considered by the Aliyan empire to be a temporal passage to the afterlife. Because of the general trepidation surrounding the Isle of the Dead, only one town, with a mere two hundred inhabitants, has been built, and due to their general aversion to recreational intimacy, the population of the Isle of the Dead stagnates and remains constant.

     Travel between islands is dangerous and nearly impossible and the passages of water between islands are considered haunted and possessed (though I know personally that these waters aren't, in reality possessed, but are instead abundant in dangerous, sinister columns of razor sharp rocks.) Further instigating an aversion to travel are the existences of the strange and disturbing phenomena experienced by Captain Valentine which I myself temporarily found myself trapped in. Due to the perilous nature of these bodies of water, it seems that the different islands, while under the declared rule of the Isle of the Holy Sovereign, have developed their own societies and are independently governed.

Transcendence and the Enigma of the Aliyan Isles

Reaching completion circa 1418 M.E,
Transcendence and the Enigma of the Aliyan Isles
, (Most often referred to as
Transcendence
) details the endeavors of explorer Philip Carver  as he made his way around the Aliyan Isles. The name
Transcendence
comes from Carver's high opinion of the Islands' inhabitants, viewing Sirens as the 'perfect beings' and holding them in an almost religious esteem.

     The book is split up into volumes, each volume being a vivid and detailed description of each of the Aliyan Isles while the final log is a lengthy, abridged journal of Carver's journeys between the islands. (The original copy of
Transcendence
contains Carver's unabridged log, a record which ended up being over three thousand pages in length.) An abridged copy of
Transcendence
was made widely available  in 1505 M.E, having been abridged by Carver's son.

The History of Havok

Archaic Epoch (A.E) 3.9 Billion Years

This is the Epoch where the world was created and took form. It's also the epoch where the first, single cellular life form appears, developing form matter gathered together at Havoc's creation. It ends at the advent of the first race of linguistically and socially advanced creatures known as the Autocthonids.

Prehistoric Epoch (Ar.E) 2000 Years

This is the Epoch where, according to Archaeologists and Biologists that a race known as Autocthonids (Or, by the Durants, Angels) populated the planet alongside its wildlife. This period of time was considered to be the planet in its perfect form. However, after a cataclysmic cosmic event, Altigo's and Eygus' orbits around their stars are dramatically altered, consequently changing Havoc's orbit, eliminating the global tropics that the moon once enjoyed and created a series of 'dead zones', or areas that seemed uninhabitable compared to the Autocthonids' original biome. The Prehistoric Epoch ends at the conclusion of this cosmic event and the beginning of the development of the Havoc that existed at the beginning of the Modern Industrial Epoch.