AiRaikoth as you've never seen it before

The home island and summer abode of the Raikothin. At it's heart lies the volcanic mountain known as Yaanek, famous in antiquity for the peculiar prophetic utterances of the Priests of Joy situated there.

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Kvani Neyin
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AiRaikoth as you've never seen it before

Post by Kvani Neyin »

It was the wish of my predecessor that a complete physical map of the island of AiRaikoth, center of the Shining Garden, should be produced before the next Hyperborean New Year in March. This took longer than anticipated due to the hostility of the terrain involved as well as a series of successive crises that have occupied my government. Nevertheless, after many years of exploration and surveying, the Mesyelon Neyin, or "Neyin Era Great Map", is finally complete.

You will notice some differences between this map and AiRaikoth as seen on the MCS Map (where it is called "Hyperborea Proper" or "Isle of Bifrost"). This is to be expected. The MCS Map's task of covering the entire world produces potential distortions near the pole; therefore, AiRaikoth should have a longer north-south axis (as compared to east-west axis) than the map depicts. Nearly five thousand years have passed since our island was first charted by the earliest Apollonian explorers, and in that time glaciation, sea level changes, and the constant vulcanism present in this part of the world have significantly altered the coastline.

Finally, in some cases the MCS is just wrong. For sailors five thousand years ago, mostly based out of Apollo City or Musica, to chart the entirety of a polar island surrounded by ice most of the year was a monumental task even at the low-level guess-and-fudge scale they did. We can see the difficulty of charting in this remote region by the way the constant, albeit ridiculous, rumors of an island called "Leng" to our northwest continue to persist despite the best efforts of sober cartographers to dispel them. But after five thousand years of living in these remote regions we have developed a pretty comprehensive knowledge of every little bay and mountain range - which we have recorded accurately.

In particular, I want to mention the sole feature the early explorers recorded about AiRaikoth - the four "rivers" that ring our land. Flowing rivers at our latitude seem unlikely; we expect these explorers were in their own way trying to note the great fjords. Exactly which fjords they had in mind is a matter of historical controversy: Tuime Ennon from Boreal University suggests they were, clockwise from the southeast, the Great Gleaming Fjord, the Bay of Bad Judgment, the Tear-Up-The-World Fjord, and the Warm Springs Fjord. Although some of these seem superficially implausible (the Warm Springs Fjord is only a few dozen miles long, hardly the island-splitting great river of the MCS), Ennon-mai suggests we consider that the early explorers, freezing and starving and near-dead merely from exploring the coastline, were hardly going to sail into the mouth of each fjord to chart how long it went, and were probably forced to make wild guesses.

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AiRaikoth is an island about the size of Great Britain at about the latitude of Iceland. Its six million inhabitants are clustered mostly in the southeast, especially in so-called Greenland, a peninsula of about the size and population of Connecticut, and on the Bejewelled Plain, a large glacial valley a little further north. A few communities persist outside these two oases of life - notably the quiet maritime city of Taras and the eerie and ultra-isolationist far northern community of Sithli - but the overwhelming majority of the island is uninhabited deadly freezing ice fields and mountain ranges.

In fact, most of the lands of AiRaikoth are notable mainly for their deadliness and hostility, and the explorers who discovered them left names that stand as warnings to those who would come after. Names like the Ghost Coast and the Cold Waste bear witness to the grumblings of the frontiersmen who first entered them, and more sinister still are the almost inaccessible enclosed valleys of Never-Go-Here and You-Will-Die.

Still, while most people stick to the civilized regions on the east coast, a strange collection of hunters, trappers, monks, hermits, anarcho-primitivists, extremely determined geocachers, and people who just want to get away from it all live in the west and sometimes even construct weird experimental communities there. The Raikolin are extremely proud of their option to leave civilization at any moment and romanticize those who choose a life in the wilds, even to the point of forbidding any development west of the mountains to avoid interfering with their lifestyle.

There follows a long description of some of AiRaikoth's more charming areas:

Greenland, not to be confused with the Earthly isle of the same name, is the southernmost peninsula of AiRaikoth and home to over half its population. The three great cities of Kalen, Midoth, and Anshir stand here, as well as many smaller towns. The climate is no worse than Reykjavik or Trondheim, the eastern plain supports agriculture, and the seas are rich with fish. The triple mountains of Dragumve, Pirumve, and Aramve rise from the center; the first is most famous as the home of the Dragumve monastery where Phaye Takurion developed the heretical Dragumve-silk (Dragumve Logic) that developed into the Dragumve Cult. This latter, under heresiarch Omi Oitherion, eventually founded a secessionist colony somewhere in the Absentias that is mysteriously lost to history.

The Bejewelled Plain is named literally; this is the center of AiRaikoth's lucrative gem mining industry, and is rich in amber, opal, ruby, and sapphire. It is dominated by the Great Gleaming Fjord, across which the Great Fjord Bridge was built during the Fallow Time before the Great Reconsolidation. Its main population center is the city of Irsil, best known as the most important stop along the pilgrim trail to Tala.

Cape Welcome has a few small towns, notably Anatul, but the high cliffs in the area prevent them from their otherwise natural role as harbors or fishing towns. The soil in this area is still good enough for grazing, and it is a pastoral region. If there are the equivalent of rednecks in AiRaikoth, you will probably find them here.

Welcome Island is generally grouped together with the Bejewelled Plain, and there are good transportation links between the two (unlike between most other areas in AiRaikoth). Because of the broken fjords, ice sheets, and rockfalls that are a constant feature of Hyperborean topography, it is sort of halfway between a proper island and a peninsula. Its main city is Talisre, famous for its seabirds and as a haven for sailors who are going north for some reason. Sailing past Talisre is known to be a sufficiently bad idea that Cape Consideration is named in honor of the second thoughts that such a journey ought to engender.

This concludes the even remotely livable parts of AiRaikoth. There follows a list of the horrible parts that will kill you.

Miracle Island is so named because it is a miracle that people continue to live there. The entire island steams with hot springs, geysers, and fumaroles, allowing the inhabitants to temporarily keep the cold at bay. The city of Sithli is commonly called "Raikotion Raikoth", or "Hyperborea's Hyperborea", because of its status as an extremely isolationist island way north of everything else. Although it is technically possible to dock a ship at Sithli and trade there sometimes, most people are smart enough not to try it. Sithli is the most northerly city on Micras.

The Cold Waste is sometimes defined as everyhwere north of an imaginary straight line between Taras and Lake Nowhere (other people say Taras and Lake Auber, which gives it half the island). It is the area where nothing grows and no one lives. Although there are probably various lucrative ores here, the entire area is a preserve dedicated to wildlife and any humans hardy enough to get into it.

Katanta is the legendary City of Hermits. Not found on any map, the only way to find it is to live in the Cold Waste and stumble across it; since only very unusual people live in the Cold Waste, this screens out most potential citizens which is the way the Katantin like it. Katanta is rumored to have developed spirituality and meditation much further than any of the major cities, but it stubbornly refuses to share with outsiders and also no one wants to go there to ask them. Its location on this map is, of course, only approximate.

Never-Go-Here competes with You-Will-Die for the title of "worst place in AiRaikoth". The lowest temperature ever recorded on the island, -60 F (-51 C) was recorded here. As a deep valley enclosed by high mountains, blizzards sort of collect here; there are no hot springs and even the animals seem to mostly stay away. Nevertheless, most explorers agree that You-Will-Die is slightly worse than here.

Lake Nowhere is on the little-seen west coast of AiRaikoth. "On the shores of Lake Nowhere" has a status in the language similar to the way an English-speaker might say "in the middle of nowhere". Ironically, there are a few small communities, mostly monastic, who literally live on the shores of Lake Nowhere, as it is rich in fish and wildlife.

The Mountains Beyond The Mountains are so named because most Raikolin, living in Greenland, consider the mountains of Raikoth to exist in four ranges, each further and higher than the next. First come the Three Peaks, then the Harbinger Mountains, then the Compass Mountains, and finally the Mountains Beyond The Mountains. Although they do not contain the highest peak in AiRaikoth - that is Mt. Yaanek, slightly to the south - they are by far the largest collection of high mountains and dwarf everything except Yaanek itself. Also, although Yaanek is relatively accessible from Tala, the peaks of the Mountains Beyond are extremely remote and hard to get to - especially Raknumve, the second highest peak on AiRaikoth. Many monasteries are in this region.

You-Will-Die is generally agreed to be the worst place in Raikoth. This titanic valley is almost inaccessible, and can be entered only through a pathway of tiny winding passes called the Labyrinth, which is itself literally on the shores of Lake Nowhere. Racked by storms that arise in the weird local microclimate, You-Will-Die is probably not as cold as Never-Go-Here but makes up for it in barrenness and treacherous terrain. A single lake, fancifully termed Your Grave, is completely frozen over. Or at least this was true two thousand years ago. The place's reputation continually attracted glory-seeking would-be explorers, who mostly died of exposure. In order to prevent this carnage, Tala passed an unusual law - it was illegal to claim, even truthfully, that you had been to You-Will-Die. This prevented people from going there to boast about it, but caused a new problem: describing the area would constitute proof that you had been there, and so no one knows anything about what has happened there in the past two thousand years. Of course, this has only encouraged a new wave of curiosity-driven exploration. Although the Angels are well-aware of this, they refuse to rescind the law against discussing it, and no one knows why.

The Ghost Coast, depending on who you're talking to, extends either only as far as Further-Still, only to Lake Auber and Cape Weir, or all the way to Lake Nowhere. In ancient times before the Audente colonization, the Greenlanders thought this area was where the souls of the dead lived. Although it is in theory liveable, civilized colonization is restricted by the decree that all land west of the mountains must remain wild.

Further-Still is a large island or peninsula (see the entry for Welcome Island) off the Ghost Coast. Its eastern tip is Cape Much-Like-Life, so named because one sails to it from a warm and friendly place of happiness, is tossed by various storms, and then ends up sailing into a land of mist and cold from which few return. A lot of poetry is written about Further-Still for some reason, and it boasts a rather large monastery.

The Bay of Bad Luck is so named because most of the ships that end out there were sailing to Greenland (probably to Sonara, the port of Kalen, or to Anshir, the main port of AiRaikoth) but got blown off course. Its sister body of water, the Bay of Bad Judgment, is so named because it is hard to get there by accident; one must be deliberately trying to sail northwest, which in AiRaikoth is almost always a bad idea.

The Harbinger Mountains are so named because, although relatively low and mild (people have even been known to cross them sometimes) they portend taller, more dangerous mountains a little further on. Among these are the Compass Mountains, so named because they run almost straight north-south. The tallest of the Compass Mountains, Triniamve, is fancifully named "The Compass Needle".

The Thousand Nadirs are a series of broken valleys separated by high mountain peaks. One of these valleys has the monastery of Kphomban in it; the others have geocaches, small shrines, and the graves of previous explorers.

I would be happy to further explain any features of AiRaikoth or answer any questions you might have about the map.

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Vilhelm Benkern
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Re: AiRaikoth as you've never seen it before

Post by Vilhelm Benkern »

An envoy of the count of Mar Sara appears at this, er, press conference and bows before saying:

"The comital government has been sent an electronic version of this map prior to this unveiling and it made a significant impression on the Count. Long has he dreamt about life on the island far to the north, in his palace on the island far to the south. This new vision of the lay of the land, along with the colourful descriptions provided in the information pack, has helped him to realise that it is even worse than living on Mar Sara. The government of our fair isle has much to learn from yours. We too face mountainous terrain, though under much more favourable weather conditions. We too are subject to the merciless latitudinal bias of the cartographocracy: stretched because we're far from the equator, coloured in quickly due to perceived insignificance. Your triumph here today bathes Raikoth in glory and gives a spark of hope to we, the distorted ones. So accept the county's congratulations and expect questions when the Count has had time to go over this esteemed atlas with a magnifying glass."
Vilhelm Benkern DEOMI, Member of the Order of the Dragon, Silver Swan, Red Dragon
Dirigent of Musica, Count of Mar Sara
In Aryasht Prapta Vrteti, former Prince of Aryasht; Zaila Vrteti, Norfolknath
In Elwynn Benjamin Sebasokrator Timothy Quentin Kern, Duke of Raikoth
In Khalypsil Representative of the Wisdom

Elijah Ayreon
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Re: AiRaikoth as you've never seen it before

Post by Elijah Ayreon »

Wow,nice map! I am impressed. And everything, the map, descriptions, toponymy -- they all add up to the first time I actually want to go there since I joined Shireroth from the first time. Remember, it was with a bit of hesitation I took on the role of being Count of Elwynn, and then everything escalated. It was Hyperborea that I joined all those years ago. I could now make a song about "the road to Yaanek"!

Just a question, what happened to the island where I can find Vanaheim? And, why is AiRaikoth spelt like this now? Kai Raikoth is Kai Raikoth and I've seen Ai-Raikoth before.
Elijah Ayreon-Dariolin of Waffle-Paine (no longer with us)

Ric.

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Scott Alexander
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Re: AiRaikoth as you've never seen it before

Post by Scott Alexander »

Thanks for your nice words, Ben. The polar map you posted to the MCS was part of the inspiration for this; I tried to sort of a little capture the shape I saw there. How did you make that, anyway?

Ric, Vanaheim is still on an isle a little to the south. It's probably just barely off the southern border of this map. I was kind of exhausted after this and decided to save it for another day.

Kai Raikoth means "Greater Raikoth" and Ai Raikoth means "Raikoth Proper". I haven't really decided how to represent small words like "kai" and "ai" orthographically. In the Raikothin alphabet they would just be tacked on to the beginning of the name, like I've done here, but I kinda dislike that aesthetically in English because it's kind of unnatural looking. You're right that I should standardize it someday.

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Orion
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Re: AiRaikoth as you've never seen it before

Post by Orion »

Very nicely done, Scott. Does this bear a vague resemblance to Hyperborea on Micras, or are you intentionally trying to distinguish the two? From my perspective it does bear a faint resemblance, if you consider the claimsmap to be very crudely drawn.

And as someone who regrets having used certain poor naming conventions in the past, only to be stuck with them a decade later, you might want to consider some more original names for places like "You-Will-Die" and "Never-Go-Here". Take your time, think on it, write and re-write - it took me two weeks to name the tiny smattering of places in the Bluelight map, but I was very pleased with how original the end result was compared to a lot of my previous work. I think if you do that, you'll be happier with your work over the long run.

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Scott Alexander
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Re: AiRaikoth as you've never seen it before

Post by Scott Alexander »

Yes, it was pretty intentionally supposed to be Hyperborea on Micras but more, uh, featureful.

I've actually wanted to use the names You-Will-Die and Further-Still for some purpose or another for about three years, ever since they were in a book I never finished writing (I came up with Never-Go-Here halfway through and laughed for like thirty seconds and make that valley solely so I could use it). I am pretty fond of them and like them much better than the usual unmemorable names like "Great Valley" or "Blizzard Mountains", or some mouthful like "G'nakkurlangei'rj".

(my main naming regret has always been things I named after real-world stuff or stuff in an existing work. That's why I've tried to get rid of both "Hyperborea" and of various Warcraft references)

Can I ask what names you used that you were later unsatisfied with?

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Orion
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Re: AiRaikoth as you've never seen it before

Post by Orion »

Well I'm glad you're happy with the names. If you've pondered on them for that long then there's no question but that you should use them.

I'm in a similar boat with your use of Hyperborea in that Cimmeria and Wolfraven are both blatantly plagiarized from Robert E. Howard's Conan stories, although I've since managed to change everything else. But other names remain - like Mt. Atlantis - and even the names for Cibola, Caplona, Sypyr, and Leng - my preference now would have been to give them original names, rather than ripping off of fabled or barbaric lands. Alas, now it's canon.

Elijah Ayreon
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Re: AiRaikoth as you've never seen it before

Post by Elijah Ayreon »

We did warn you when you extended the map... :p
Elijah Ayreon-Dariolin of Waffle-Paine (no longer with us)

Ric.

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Scott Alexander
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Re: AiRaikoth as you've never seen it before

Post by Scott Alexander »

Here is one of the poems about Further-Still from the original project I lifted it from:
Beyond the distant ocean
Far past the highest hill
There lies, unseen by mortal eyes
The land of Further-Still

There's many would depart there
There's some who even will
But howsoever far they go
They don't reach Further-Still

And I myself set off there
Vowed not to stop until
At last I came, through ice and flame
To distant Further-Still

I've passed through lands of plenty
Of love I've had my fill
But on I pass, o'er rock and grass
To search for Further-Still

I know the task is foolish
And like as not to kill
But that's my quest, and I won't rest
Till I'm in Further-Still

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Vilhelm Benkern
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Re: AiRaikoth as you've never seen it before

Post by Vilhelm Benkern »

Yes, I would like to nail my colours to the mast and say that one of my favourite things about this map is the names. It's amusing poetry. I especially liked Cape Weir, Cape Sere, Cape Fear. If you can turn the whole of your country's landscape into a song, that's rather neat. And while it is funny, I think it does a good job of bridging the gap between silly (potentially unrealistic/feeling very 'micronational') and realistic (potentially dry, or based on some unpronouncable and highly grammatical conlang). This map is lovely to look at, and with Scott's wonderful sense of humour sprinkled about it, I think we have a strong FNORD contender already so early in 2013.
Vilhelm Benkern DEOMI, Member of the Order of the Dragon, Silver Swan, Red Dragon
Dirigent of Musica, Count of Mar Sara
In Aryasht Prapta Vrteti, former Prince of Aryasht; Zaila Vrteti, Norfolknath
In Elwynn Benjamin Sebasokrator Timothy Quentin Kern, Duke of Raikoth
In Khalypsil Representative of the Wisdom

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Spraki
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Re: AiRaikoth as you've never seen it before

Post by Spraki »

I love that poem. I would consider it a favourite of mine among your work!
Count Rev Dr Spraki Krumsson Lla'i-Ašura of Azarea
Father of the Kaiseress, Ambassador of the Heavenly Light to the High King of Stormark



Ric from Sweden

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