N/Organizations/Unicorn Island
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Unicorn Island is located in the Diamond Sea, 3000 leagues east of Karabala. The island is inhabited by Unicorns, dazzling creatures that live nowhere else.
The island is a dormant volcano. It was formed around a million years prior to the Dawn of Ages in the same cataclysmic eruption which spread large diamonds throughout the Diamond Sea. The volcano, in its last eruption, ejected pure diamonds from its magma chamber; most these crystals remained inside the cone. Time and Nature wore away the rock until the crystal lay exposed in towering spires.
The diamonds capture the light of the sun and moon and reflect it far out to sea. Approach to the island during the day is dangerous because the sun's light is focused onto many points. Captain Slurmansk of Karabala lost his ship, The Viserian, in a great fire shortly after his discovery of the island in 8465.
[edit] History
Unicorn Island was first discovered by the Armidian Navy in 3742. Admiral Córan organized a mining expedition to the island soon after (strangely enough, though the mining villages suffered from rampant fires, there are no records of any ships being burnt) and the island was, for many years, the property of the Armidian Empire.
In 3989, the Empire gave the island as a gift to the newly formed state of Galicia. The Galicians mined diamonds here and traded them for several centuries, not even being deterred by an eruption in 4250. However, in 4733, the Armidian Empire and the state of Galicia passed laws prohibiting further mining on the island as this was endangering the already endangered Silkskin Unicorns and diminishing the supply of diamonds. The island was made into a wildlife reserve and steps were made to prevent approach to it, among them, sharpening the tips of the spires to be able to focus light better onto targets.
In 6266, following the Fall of the First Age, the island fell once more into obscurity and was only rediscovered much later in 8465 by Captain Slurmansk. He had been captivated by the sparkling of the island's crystal spires and had sailed closer to investigate. He soon learned the danger of approaching the island in the daytime as his ship quickly caught flame. Slurmansk survived the incident, and only returned to the island in 8472, after Slurmansk had procured the Visarian II. He explored the island and claimed it for King Yesa IV.
