Barbosa’s Archipelago

Overview
Barbosa’s Archipelago is a realm in the Middle Umbra. It was named after its original discoverer, the Italian Void Seeker Marco Barbosa, in 1421 CE. At the time of its discovery, neither Barbosa nor the Void Seekers deemed the location to have much value. Barbosa believed it to simply be the Pacific Ocean’s Penumbra, but later surveys revealed that the archipelago was indeed its own distinct locale. The coordinates were recorded in the Codex Petere Longinquum Aethera Noster Dominus and quickly faded from memory.

In the early days of European maritime exploration, the Gauntlet was close to nonexistent on the open ocean. For those navigators who knew how, crossing over was therefore as simple as just turning the helm ever so slightly. As more and more of the world became drawn onto maps, the Gauntlet hardened. For whatever reason – theories conflict – this caused Barbosa’s Archipelago to slide deeper into the Umbra. Nowadays, it is almost impossible to simply sail to the archipelago.

The Archipelago is controlled by the Free State of Ether.

Getting There
To access the archipelago there are a few available options. The most common is by sea or air from the archipelago’s echo in the physical world. The vessel must have some capacity enabling it to pierce the Gauntlet, and the pilot must then navigate the stretch of Penumbra separating Earth and the archipelago. Without knowing where to go, this is quite a perilous undertaking. Strong currents and fierce storms can push a ship off course or knock an aircraft out of the sky. The Pacific Penumbra is essentially endless, and it is easy to become hopelessly lost in the great expanse.

Since the turn of the century, the archipelago has been surrounded by a vicious storm, named the Cyclone. The Cyclone is strong enough to tear wings off planes and break a ship’s keel. Where this storm came from, if it has a purpose, or whether it is an Umbral phenomenon or actually an Umbrood, is a matter of great debate, but so far, anyone with knowledge of the correct course appears to be able to travel through it safely.

The second way to get to the archipelago is from other Umbral locations. Many Etherites will enter from Etherspace, perhaps docking their vessel at the Nadar Observatory and riding the space elevator down to Port Athelney. Other travellers follow Airts or Moon Bridges from other Umbral domains to one of the myriad islands.

The last way is by nonlinear travel. It is believed that there are at least three teleportation devices connected to a chamber in Vargo’s Anchorage. If the rumours are true, one such device is found in London, another in New Orleans, and the last one in a hotel bathroom in Alexandria.

Ecology
The archipelago is a vast place, large enough that even Etherites who have spent decades there haven’t been able to map it. The fact that the archipelago is constantly, if slowly, changing further confounds a comprehensive survey; new islands appear, old vanish, or they may move in relation to each other.

There are an estimated 600 islands in Barbosa’s Archipelago, a third of them floating sky-islands. Most of the island are lush with fauna similar to that found on tropical islands in the South Pacific. There are also several Umbral species native to the archipelago, as well as both animals and humans who somehow made it through the Gauntlet and have been living here for centuries. The humans are largely Polynesians, but there are also some descendants of crews from European ships who got lost and shipwrecked on the many reefs that litter the archipelago’s ocean.

Barbossa’s Archipelago is mostly ocean, ranging from clear and shallow to deep and dark. According to some the studies that have been done so far, the deepest parts of the ocean is literally bottomless. The leading theory is that it is connected to the Deep Umbra. The ocean is teeming with fish both mundane and more fantastical, but there are other things in the deep as well. In 1919, an oceanographic expedition set out to chart the depths of the area called Savago’s Abyss. The last transmission from the team mentioned observations of a massive Umbrood in the deep. Their ship disappeared and no sign of the expedition has been found.

The islands range from low sandbanks, palm-clad atolls or jungle-covered volcanic islands, to massive rocks floating among the clouds. Though most of the islands are uninhabited, they are teeming with life from all kingdoms of life on Earth. Life in the archipelago is not limited to the species currently inhabiting earth. A few of the larger islands are dominated by dinosaurs, from gigantic herbivores to terrible carnivores. Several extinct species of mammals, birds, and reptiles have also been observed.

The humans of the archipelago can be split into three groups. The first is a Polynesian tribe, the Mana Katē, on the island of Ketua Loei. This tribe traces its roots back to the legendary navigators of Kopa Loei and several of its members still practice this ancient craft.

The second of the groups is the Castaways, descendants of shipwrecked sailors and passengers from the last three centuries. This group have intermarried extensively with the local Polynesians and have established a small but living community on Moku Moku. This island is surrounded by shallow, azure blue sea, teeming with fish, surrounded by a ring of coral reefs. The island itself is covered in lush jungle, where game and fruit are plentiful, and fresh water abundant. This eclectic society is led by a council of elders and speaks a pidgin language combining elements from Polynesian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English, French, and Chinese.

Lastly there are the Mages. There are currently about sixty Awakened, most of them from the Society of Ether, and perhaps two hundred auxiliaries and Technicians in the archipelago. The Mages live on the cloud islands, with Lady Winterbottom’s Port Athelney being the largest of their chantry-settlements. The rest are spread among six other chantries, Fort Wildcard, the Solomon Institute, Skyrock Station, Port Dezhneva, Île de Nuage, and Vargo’s Anchorage.

Port Athelney
The oldest of the Free State chantry-settlements is located on the cloud-island of Prospero. The island, a massive volcanic rock, is about 2,570 ft. from keel to summit and has a topside surface area of roughly three square miles. The island's topside is mostly covered by cloud forest, with a volcanic peak towering above the canopy.

The chantry-settlement itself consists of the Free University, a Victorian three story red-brick building with two wings, a dome, and large greenhouse annex at the rear. The dome features a 30 ft. Tesla-coil that draws power from the Ether, fueling the settlement and it's many machines and experiments. In addition to the university, there are three hangars, a concrete runway, mechanical shop, pub, and roughly thirty houses in the settlement.

Ketuna Loei
This idyllic volcanic surface island near the center of the archipelago is very much the epitome of the Southern Pacific paradise, with crystal clear waters, white beaches, and a jungle teeming with fruit and wildlife. The Polynesian Mana Katē tribe who live here follow the ancient ways of the Kopa Loei, maintaining close bonds with the local spirits and living in harmony with with land.

Isla Tyrannis
The largest of the archipelago's surface islands is a jungle-clad plateau, with 100 ft. cliffs making any landing from the sea difficult. Few humans ever venture there, as the fauna consists mostly of gigantic prehistoric lizards.