Pigmote Isle
"There is no habitation in sight, no market, very little in the way of a maintained dock. A stretch of sand thickens into damp, black earth, from which sprout stunted... Palms? Not quite: tall fungal growths with frond-like caps, as if someone sculpted the idea of a tree from a mushroom."[1]
"As you step on to the quay, you hear clamour, shouts, and shooting; you can see, off in the distance, smoke rising from beyond the hill, and dots of fire flecking the horizon. Two tiny figures stand a little further down the quay."[2]
Within the the tendrils of the zee-weed and fungal fauna of the central Unterzee, there lies an unassuming island uninhabited by men. But it is, indeed, inhabited. This is Pigmote Isle.
The Neath's Most Adorable Nation[edit | edit source]
"London will never believe a b____y word of this."[3]
Pigmote Isle is home to two groups of accidental settlers; a group of cavies (guinea pigs!) stole a ship from the docks of London[4] and accidentally took a stowaway band of Rattus Faber with them. After floating on the Zee for months in the dark (cavies are not good at sailing, you see),[5] they were shipwrecked on Pigmote and founded a new nation.
Pigmote is now in a state of civil war. The rats and cavies are fighting over the Isle's most precious artifact, a piece of blue scintillack that the rats call the Rat Star and the cavies call the Lady's Eye. They have each formed a nation of their respective species.
Blue scintillack is a valuable thing indeed, as a gem that can emit apocyanic light reminiscent of the sky of the Surface.[6] As such, more parties than just the rodents of Pigmote are interested in such a treasure.[7] Pirates target the island's scintillack harvesters;[8] agents of Visage claim that what the cavies call the Lady's Eye is actually the island's Left Eye;[9][10][11] and the Fathomking seeks the return of what he and his drownies call the Thalassine.[12]
Hail Cavia! Kingdom of Cavies![edit | edit source]
"The Seneschal led me to the southern side of the island, skirting the Chickenwoods. We passed through a number of raised mounds of earth mixed with fortifying strips of mushroom flesh, which I supposed to be makeshift walls. The settlement was dazzling: this side of the island appeared to be absolutely wreathed in scintillack. The Cavies' dwelling was awash with silver phosphorescence."[13]
The cavies have established the Kingdom of Cavia on the southern half of the Isle. Pigmote's greatest treasure, scintillack, is abundant in their territory, adding to the resources gleaned from their stolen steamer.[14] As such, they have essentially made themselves the well-armed gentry of Pigmote Isle. According to the Seneschal to King Gracegnaw,[15] the King and his armies have fully conquered southern Pigmote, and now seek to conquer the rats and win back the Lady's Eye for the House of Cavy.[16] They see the rats as mere "rabble,"[16] and their knights take great pains to sharpen their teeth to better rival the rats' in combat.[17]
The cavies worship the Eye as a deity, claiming its light guided them to Pigmote[18] and attributing miraculous healing powers to it (or perhaps Her); it apparently warded off a sickness many of the cavies contracted on their journey.[19]
Cavia is a rather splendid little kingdom. Founded around the remains of the now-wrecked steamer that took both the cavies and the rats to Pigmote, the area is festooned with color and sparkling scintillack.[20] (This is not explicitly stated, but considering the decorations and the fact that one guinea pig is even seen wearing a scrap of Parabola-Linen,[21] it may be deduced that the ship carried a great quantity of fabric.) Cavia's greatest landmarks beyond the steamer are a training grounds, and a gazebo of sorts where King Gracegnaw keeps council.[20]
Hail Murinia! Republic of Rats![edit | edit source]
"The Chief Engineer led me to the northern side of the island, skirting the Chickenwoods. We passed through a number of what can only be termed check-points, as fierce-eyed rats shouldered their derringers and saluted the Chief Engineer. Soon we come upon a small colony, smaller than some of the infestations I had encountered in London flats: perhaps only fifty Rattus Faber all together, working diligently to fortify their side of the island."[22]
The Rattus Faber stowaways and their descendants have established a strong presence on the northern half of the island. According to their Chief Engineer, they fled London to make a home away from their predators and human exterminators.[23] After they found the Rat Star, however, the cavies attacked the rats' settlement to claim the gem for their own.[24] Ultimately, the rats of Murinia wish to be left to their own devices.[25] To them, the Rat Star is a morale booster[26] and something interesting to study, perhaps for the purposes of future tinkering.[27]
By contrast to Cavia, Murinia is a much humbler settlement - but it is fully equipped with mining tunnels, a fishing operation, and a barracks.[28] While they have access to abundant food from fish and chickenwood mushrooms, their military is outnumbered and wanting for weaponry, as their only firearms and ammunition come from raids on the well-equipped cavies.[29]
References[edit | edit source]
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