Suspira
Lore
March 20th, 2024
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An almost uninhabited volcanic island, made of black stones and sands, Suspira bathes in an unreal end-of-the-world atmosphere. Located far from Arkaster, it is called the "whispering island" or the "isle of murmurs," referring to the sulfuric vapors that almost constantly exhale from the ground. There are many hot springs and sulfur farms on the island. But it is mainly the concentration of Kelon that makes it an industrial asset for the Asgarthans. The Axiom has established numerous mines and refineries there with the aim of collecting this precious resource.
Suspira is of vital importance to the Axiom, which has bet everything on Kelon to fuel the furnace of its industrial revolution. But the Faction knows that the mines of the precious material are running dry. Even though current stocks will sustain Asgarthan society for a few years, the Prospectors’ Guild knows that a solution must be found to maintain the pace in the long term. Despite the general concern, some miners find themselves dreaming of an altered island, where vegetation can finally flourish when it is finally fully stabilized.
For a long time, maritime transport was the main means of transporting Suspira's ores to the capital. Initially passing through the Southwest Passage, ships had to cross the shallows of the Shawl and then navigate through narrow fjords, squeezed between the peninsulas of Anthea and Kirighai. The Season of Mists forced boats to take the Biela and bypass Anthea to the south, extending the journey by several weeks. And when the crossing was possible, the passage was such a bottleneck that the estuary was completely crowded. This traffic jam forced many vessels to anchor off Sojourn, sometimes for days before finally embarking on the journey.
It was only when the Sundström Route was inaugurated that maritime traffic finally managed to clear up. By winding through the Undersea, previously considered too impracticable by pilots, ships were able to drastically reduce their travel time. Moreover, it allowed the capital's shipowners to charter much larger tonnage vessels, the famous mistbreakers. On this channel, Dusk remains an almost obligatory stopover point, as does the port of Gusta, on the Abelena archipelago.
Today, although maritime routes remain the most favored for the transport of Kelon or Aerolithe, the Axiom Guilds are increasingly resorting to air routes to supply themselves with these rare ores. The mining cities of Utval and Vatigest have recently been equipped with aerodromes to more quickly reach Arkaster or Sadracca, as well as in the future, all other cities on the peninsula.