Tag: travelers-log

The skiff drifts into the cool embrace of the canyon’s hands, a brief reprieve from the relentless light. Air knife-sharp, tongues cleaving to the roofs of mouths for want of a drink, dizzying heat rippling over the surface. The river a shining ribbon of deceit: here, the salinity is so high such that only halophiles can thrive in its waters. Open your mouth and feel the salt crystallize on your teeth; open your ears and hear nothing but wind whistling through winding walls worn down by time. Close your eyes and see the living-red heart-pulse of your eyelids, overexposed, reflecting sandstone and limestone and the rich red of iron, the pale shells of creatures long gone ground into dust.

Both warning and shelter at once, this fortress is one of several way stations for island hoppers navigating the icy southern archipelagos of 1c. The surrounding region is often covered in a dense fog and low-lying clouds thanks to lava-driven upwellings, and the occasional eruption can cause severe, localized storms, making the region one of the most perilous to traverse. Like most structures on 1c, it has a deep underground network for harnessing geothermal energy and a small cache of resources in the event that a visitor requires shelter from a storm.