Tales of Iskavell

(Common knowledge and travellers' lore)

For centuries, Iskavell was a sailor’s ghost story: a land lost behind the Veil of Storms, where stars and compasses failed. Some claim it rose during the first Rift storm, while others say it was always there, waiting for the world to tear open. Today, the island hums with the same strange power that now scars the globe.

The Old Prison

Old legends speak of a creator or destroyer bound beneath the island. When it was sealed, the world froze and the seas cracked. The Caldera, a pit of half-melted ice at the island’s heart, marks the centre of this ancient tomb. It is a place of distorted time, and those who venture too close never return the same.

The Wardens of the Endless Watch

Stories say the Wardens were not merely sentinels but sacrifices. They were buried alive alongside the god to ensure the seal held for eternity. Now that the Rifts have opened, these ancient guardians are waking. They claw their way out from the permafrost, clad in rusted, frost-rimed armor. They do not speak or sleep; they only seek to drive intruders away from the sacred boundaries of the Caldera.

The Drowned Return

Fisherfolk see pale lights moving beneath the frozen waves. They say the Drowned Court, ancient worshippers of the deep, has returned to reclaim its shrines. Their songs rise through the ice when the moon is thin. They wait for a "Great Thaw," believing the rising sea will eventually swallow the world.

The Spreading Rifts

Rifts have torn across the globe like glowing wounds, leaking impossible energy. Scholars agree these tears grow stronger as one nears Iskavell. Many call the island the Heart of the Source, fearing the land itself is a wound bleeding out the power that is undoing reality.

The Twin Voyages & The Bloom

A decade ago, two ships breached the storms. One group, the Emerald Dawn, attempted to "replant" the tundra with a relic from the old lands. A violent green explosion resulted, leaving a smoking crater and a forest of predatory vines. Settlers whisper of a "Bloom" that feeds on the living, a parasite born from a failed miracle.

Engines in the Mist

The Arkive, a heavy walking fortress, rumbles across the tundra on mechanical legs. Its masters, the Rift Chasers, siphon energy from the air to fuel their arcane engines. While they claim to study the Rifts, locals fear the machine’s metal hull listens to their secrets and hungers for the power it harvests.

Iskavell Now

The island has become a desperate crossroads:

• Stormbreak Settlers cling to the coast, surviving on trade and grit.

• The Emerald Dawn hide in the ruins of their forest, preaching the land is waking.

• The Rift Chasers stalk the wastes in their fortress, hunting raw power.

• The Drowned Court waits beneath the ice for the tide to turn.

• The Wardens rise from the earth, guarding the secrets of the Caldera.

The northern lights bend strangely above the Caldera, and the ice below seems to breathe. Whatever sleeps beneath Iskavell is no longer dreaming.