Man's Arrogance: The Skull Isles by 105697 on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

THE ROAD TO DISCOVERING THE SKULL ISLESDuring the fifteenth century, as the European powers began to push further into the vast oceans to colonize new lands, rumors began circulating of mythic places of terror that should only be sought out by the most brazen sailors and conquerors. Of these places, perhaps the grandest of them all was the dreaded “Skull Island”. Said to be surrounded by an eternal cyclone and bordered by massive towers of rock carved into the imagery of skulls, this terrible locale was said to be the bane of sailors everywhere. Its waters were churning with waves, whirlpools, and water monsters that could sink entire galleons, and for those who managed to make it to land, they would be promptly torn apart by hordes of carnivorous beasts the likes of which humanity could not conjure from even its sickest of minds. Those who say they have ventured and returned from the island speak of it as a place of unrelenting terror, with even the smallest denizens having an acquired taste for the flesh of man. Centuries later, the Skull Island tale is seen as an exaggeration at best and flagrant hoaxing at worst, a folkloric construct made by greedy colonizers to one-up their competition. It ranks among El Dorado and Atlantis in its mythical status, one that has since been discarded by the rest of the world. But little did humanity know that the tales of the Isle of the Skull were tame compared to what really dwelled in the land that time forgot...After the Dermon Rat Monkey incident in the early 1930s, authorities secretly began an investigation to find out where the creature had come from. All leads eventually circled back to one Carl Denham, a rich New Yorker who had apparently acquired the specimen from one of his exotic trips into the South Pacific and had supposedly come from a land of great terror. Denham denied any knowledge of the Rat Monkey’s aggression, saying the specimen was not only quite tame but also covered in fur. After everything was said and done, Denham was only charged with a few small fines and a year of jail time, all of which he managed to pay off due to his incredible wealth for someone during the Great Depression. The Rat Monkey was written off as an odd species of rodent from the wilds of South America, and the case was considered closed.But things would begin to amp up in intrigue after Apex, then Monarch, acquired the deceased remains of the Dermon Rat Monkey specimen in the late 40s, with their research finding it not to be a bizarre rodent but a member of the now-extinct multituberculate mammal group. Interestingly to get to the bottom of the mystery, a few agents contacted Denham. Denham was not surprised by this, for he had said the place he had visited was filled to the brim with beasts long thought extinct. He then went on to narrate the path to his eventual acquisition of the unique Rat Monkey specimen: Denham had heard of an account of a sailor from the 1920s found floating on a piece of a ship off the coast of New Zealand. He raved on about monstrous death sprites that rose from the earth and devoured his comrades while they had been stranded on an island filled with the most terrifying nightmares of nature. While most people saw the man as mad, Denham thought there might be a grain of truth to his tellings. His subsequent voyages across the South Pacific further spurred his interest, as ended up discovering various myths by islanders of a so-called “Skull Island”, the mythical land thought to have been made up during the Age of Exploration. This was enough to convince Denham, though he needed to be discreet about his motives if he intended on finding this island for himself. In 1933, he boarded the SS Venture in a Chilean port alongside sixty other crew members that he hired under the guise of filming and documentation of the wilds of Sumatra, in actuality to discover the mythic island. But of all those aboard the ship, only Denham, the captain, and the intended lead actress survived, being picked up by a passing cargo ship on a wandering lifeboat in the middle of the ocean three weeks after departing from the Chilean port. Denham elaborated on this by saying the ship was attacked by an ocean monster and washed up on the shores of the massive island, where they were attacked by waves of beasts as they figured out a way to get off the island. The last survivors were picked off one by one by three armored saurians intent on making a meal of them, but before they could finish the job, they were slain by a great humanoid ape beast that took pity on Denham and the last two survivors and granted them safe passage out of the island’s waters. After the inevitable suing allegations by many of the family members of the deceased crew members, Denham eventually turned his accounts of the island into published literature that quickly became famous. Denham ended up acquiring great wealth himself as his story began being told around the world, bringing much-needed entertainment and wonder in an era of depression. It became so popular that there have since been a few reboots of the story and an attempted film that showcased the beasts of Skull Island invading the mainland. Barring all the politically and racially loaded messages of these rebooted works (with the attempted film being an allegory to the potential German invasion of America), Denham did not take too kindly to being so lenient with the source material, mainly due to the fact everyone seemed to have treated it as pure fiction instead of a revolutionary account that he wanted to be famous for. He was quite open about his criticism, though most people ignored his complaints. Eventually, Denham stopped trying to convince the public of the reality of his journey to prevent being labeled as a crackpot, but he still firmly believes that he truly did come across the mythic Skull Island, the last place on Earth where monsters still rule the surface. He was secretly hoping the people that had come to question him would be the first to believe his accounts, but even they thought the whole story was too good to be true. The world was still unconvinced of the existence of Skull Island… But that would all change with the discovery of the kaiju during the early 50s, expanding the horizon of life to unparalleled levels once thought impossible. As more and more of these titans were discovered, the more Denham’s accounts began to make sense. The discovery of other full-fledged kaiju ecosystems like that of Odo Island, the Cosmic Mountains, and the Graveyard of the Fallen Gods gave more credence to the existence of other such environments across the planet. Soon, the evidence for Skull Island would begin to mount. In the halls of Beiru, there are tales of a terrifying land of beasts beyond the great ocean known as “Kaito: The Nightmare Realm”, often described as a prison of spires keeping in the most feared beasts on the planet and ruled over by a thundering mountain of a god. These mentions of the Nightmare Realm are not restricted to Beiru however, being mentioned across all known archaeological dig sites belonging to the Paleolithic empires, usually only in passing as if it was a known fact at the time. Furthermore, younger oral myths from the South Pacific speak of a rather similar realm of monsters, usually going by different names based on the culture. In the Solomons, it is referred to as “Pharo”, while ancient Sumatran sailors speak of it as “Mondoto”, but both roughly translate to “Monster Island” in their respective languages. These ancient tellings were quite similar to that of the descriptions of Skull Island, leading some to believe the original rumor spawned from hearings of these tales. Apex was beginning to consider the possibility of such a place, but there was still the issue of its location. Various accounts during the Age of Exploration put the island’s location all across the world, from off the coast of Sumatra, Madagascar, or the Bermuda Triangle. The more ancient tales however have helped narrow it down to the South Pacific.This inference would be later supported by scientific evidence as well. A few of the local organisms of Beiru and Odo Island were thought not to have originated as kaiju within their confines, but rather may have migrated from some other distant kaiju ecosystem. Megafossils similar to a few of the inhabitants of Beiru were discovered spanning from Southeast Asia to Australia and New Zealand, potentially showing the progression of migration to Beiru through Australasia from some other unknown location. Geologic mapping around Odo Island found it to be different from any other tectonic plate known, and several sunken seamounts were found to its south. Thus suggested that Odo Island had a messy split from a tectonic plate completely unknown to science. A few more sunken islands were also found, though these were volcanic in origin, much younger, and instead formed off the coast of the southern tip of South America. After Arkion’s global roar, a massive burst of anomalous activity and biological frequencies were detected deep in the South Pacific. The frequencies were too varied and powerful to have been committed by a single kaiju, and a few proposed they may have in fact been produced by many differing giant creatures at roughly the same time following the detection of Arkion’s roar. Interestingly, this same general spot of the South Pacific has been known to be a potential gathering site for different species of seabirds as well as a possible spawning site for the Pacific’s freshwater eels. All this evidence was beginning to build up, and Apex had become more and more sure of the existence of this nigh mythical landmass, sending out various ships into the region to potentially find the island. But these all failed, the island’s location remained a mystery. Ironically, just as Apex finally began to take interest in Denham’s accounts, Skull Island was getting harder and harder to find. If this were any other case, Apex would have eventually dropped the case, but not this time. There was too much evidence mounted up to be considered a coincidence, and the prize for their discovery was immeasurable. They couldn’t predict what Skull Island had in store for them, but if even a fraction of what Denham said was true, then this would be the motherload. The greatest bastion for the continuation of kaiju research, a land of discovery that could satiate mankind’s knowledge of the elder life for perhaps all time. They just needed to find it... For years, Apex had been getting ever closer to solving the mystery of Skull Island’s existence, constantly being teased by history and nature of a realm of unfathomable and unlimited discovery. But soon the teasing would come to an end. After retrieving the camera of the tagged rhedosaur that caught tape of a potential piece of land inhabited by kaiju deep within the Pacific, Apex began scrambling through the images being sent by the newly launched satellite imaging program LandSat in the hopes of potentially verifying the coordinates. They eventually came across what looked to be a gargantuan cyclone thousands of kilometers from land, with a large archipelago within its eye. After cross-referencing the location with the rhedosaur's last known position, oral myths within the South Pacific, Denham’s accounts, and the slurry of other evidence they gathered, Apex realized this was it.After decades of mystery, uncertainty, and research, the Nightmare Realm had finally been discovered...

____________ THE GEOLOGIC HISTORY OF THE SKULL ISLESLocated within the most remote confines of the South Pacific is the most dreaded place on Earth: The Skull Isles. Known among the ancients as The Nightmare Realm, it is just as terrifying as they claim. Before its official discovery in 1973, it is thought many others throughout history had found this archipelago only to lose their lives as they succumbed to the terrors that lay in its confines. A truly bizarre case of island evolution, the Skull Isles sit atop a goldmine of geologic and biotic knowledge so extensive that some suggest it may take decades if not centuries to even barely scratch the surface of the inner workings of this ultimate of ecosystems. One could even say it is the greatest discovery on Earth, one that may only be rivaled and exceeded by the wonders the exist in the depths of outer space.Looking at the Skull Isles, it becomes clear how such a landmass has managed to evade detection for so long. Located twenty-seven hundred kilometers from the nearest piece of land, the island lies in a desolate oceanic desert that already receives almost no passing aircraft or watercraft. Nestled well within the Roaring Forties, powerful gusts of cold winds and massive waves caused by the Circumpolar Current makes the already remote location even more difficult to get to. Even when someone manages to get to the region, they are faced with the insurmountable task of piercing through the stratosphere-high mega-storm that encircles the islands. Formed from the violent reactions of the cold ocean water and bubbling geothermal energy from underwater volcanoes, the cyclone rains down torrential downpour from the sky, be it rain, snow, or even massive hailstones. The ocean beneath it is also violently churning in tandem, a violent current capable of ripping through most boats and hurtling massive underwater boulders in every direction. Massive spires also erupt from this tumultuous sea, the product of the violent tectonic and volcanic activity, creating a ring of teeth around the island that acts like barbed wire for ships. If one manages to get past all of this, they are left in the relatively calmer waters in the cyclone’s eye, where danger now lurks in the form of monstrous entities beneath the surface.Geologic mapping suggests the Skull Isles are the highest point of a submerged mass of continental crust dubbed "Kaito", which split off from Southern Pangea during the Middle Carboniferous, sometime before the beginning of the collapse of the global rainforests during the latter parts of the period. After splitting from the mainland, the landmass began to sink beneath the waves due to crustal thinning, leaving only a portion of it above the sea, of which a part of that split off during the Eocene and began heading north to form Odo Island, carrying with it some of the endemic life of its parent landmass. It's thought all of Kaito would have sunk beneath the waves had it not been for the massive hotspot bubbling beneath its surface, one that was present long before Kaito became an island. This massive magma plume erupting from beneath the continental landmass creates alternating mega-calderas that erupt huge masses of volcanic material. These magmatic eruptions continuously produce new land that counteracts the massive earthquakes that cause parts of the island to sink into the ocean. This process of creation and destruction has recreated the island's surface into a maze of labyrinth-like landscapes within the larger island's interiors, as well as craggy, spiraling rocky outcrops and islets that erupt from the ocean and give the island it's ominous appearance. While the Skull Isles comprises hundreds of outcroppings that break the surface of the ocean, most of the land area is occupied by two of them: The Western portion named "Mondoto" and the Eastern portion named "Pharo". At one point, these two islands were connected until powerful earthquakes destroyed the last land bridges connecting them, with Mondoto slowly crumbling into the ocean the further west you go as Pharo continues to grow larger from magmatic eruptions to the east. The immense geothermal heat emitted from deep beneath the island makes the region much warmer than the environment outside the spiraling vortex, in turn allowing for a much greater diversity of life to live on this desolate rock. This constant cycle has been interrupted several times in the past, with massive magmatic eruptions increasing the island's size by a large margin, and times where it seemed the island would crumble in on itself. In recent years, it seems the islands have been slowly gaining more and more land, though at a rather slow rate based on current estimates of the island's magmatic and tectonic deconstruction and recreation.But the magmatic eruptions of the Skull Isles are far from typical. The material they spew forth is incredibly unique and diverse, ranging from huge deposits or mineral ore to exotic and rare earth metals to naturally occurring alloys. Such deposits are usually sought out by mineral-feasting organisms that need to incorporate such materials into their bodies, and they can be so numerous and dense that they cause magnetic interference in both compasses and electrical equipment. The uniqueness of the island’s deposits of geologic deposits may be due to its anomalous nature. It is thought that environments such as the Skull Isles form when a series of anomalous geologic, meteorologic, and biotic processes converge in a single spot to create the right conditions for kaiju to dwell in large and concentrated numbers. Such patterns have been seen with Odo Island, the Cosmic Mountains, and the Graveyard of the Fallen Gods have these same processes converging to form their respective ecosystems, but the Skull Isles show what may be the most exaggerated and concentrated example of such a phenomenon and has evidently been going on for far longer than any of the previous examples, most likely before Kaito even split from the rest of the world. With high annual precipitation, rich soils, massive deposits of mineral ore, and energy being emitted from both beneath the Earth and the Sun, all concentrated on a single constrained landmass has resulted in the humongous proliferation of an ecosystem unlike any other. Tens of thousands of times more productive than the richest rainforests and coral reefs, and several-fold more than Beiru. With its inhabitants ranging from microscopic lifeforms to the biggest creatures to ever walk the Earth, the Skull Isles have birthed what is perhaps the planet’s most extravagant lifeforms ever known.____________ THE BIOTIC HISTORY OF THE SKULL ISLES Initial inspection of the Skull Isles confirms its status as a haven for Lazarus taxon. Most of the entire biotic diversity of the isles stems from branches of organisms once thought extinct, kaiju, or otherwise. It’s thought even before its split, Kaito was the last refuge for many creatures by up to that point were all extinct, as indicated by various endemic animal kaiju that have stemmed from creatures ranging as far back as the Cambrian Explosion. When Kaito split from Southern Pangea, it carried with its refugium of survivors, now allowed to evolve in total isolation from the rest of the world unabated. Kaito’s pre-split inhabitants also included various kaiju groups, such as various pseudoeukaryotes, chordatoctopods (the family that includes the Jinshins and Griffins), the terrestrial chondrichthyans, the giant arthropods that were the dominant aerial hunters of the time, among many others. To this day, the Skull Isles hold the greatest concentration of these kaiju groups than anywhere else in the world, further solidifying this landmass’ anomalous kaiju properties. However, not all of the Skull Isles diversity comes from the organisms that settled on Kaito when it was still Pangea. Other endemics to the isles originated from ancestors that immigrated to the region, further adding to the pantheon of monsters that were already present. Based on analyses of the biotic history of the Skull Isles, it can be inferred that there were three major biotic immigration phases the Skull Isles underwent, each one ushered in by a radically different process with its own unique cast of characters that made their way to the dreaded Nightmare Realm.The first biotic immigration to the Skull Isles began during the Late Paleozoic to the Mesozoic, and is known as “The Island Hopping Phase”. During this almost two hundred million year time span, the volcanic and tectonic activity of the Skull Isles were higher than modern levels, resulting in temporary land bridges forming between Kaito and other Gondwanan landmasses, which allowed terrestrial flora and fauna to make the journey to the islands via island hopping and crossing the land bridges. Sometimes, these immigration events can be quite large if connecting to multiple landmasses and the land bridges are large and extensive enough. The largest immigration events took place sometime before and after the P-T Mass Extinction Event, the Cenomanian, and the Maastrichtian. Of these three, the Maastrichtian is considered the largest immigration of external terrestrial fauna into Kaito, with land bridges extending to South America, Antarctica, Zealandia, and Australia. The Maastrichtian immigration event would also mark the end of the first wave of biotic immigration into the Skull Isles, as geologic activity lowered to modern levels, and the land bridges and islands loosely connecting the landmasses sank beneath the waves.But there would still be continued migration into the Skull Islands after the K-Pg extinction event. The second biotic immigration spans from the Palaeocene to the Early Oligocene, as is known as the “The Rafting Phase”. After the end of the Mesozoic, Kaito began to move closer to the still connected South America and Antarctica. While the collision of the sparring tectonic plates did not kick up enough activity to form extensive land bridges, it did end up fueling the formation of various tropical storms and cyclones fueled by the warming of the oceans by volcanic activity, alongside more frequent earthquakes and eruptions in this area. These natural disasters caused massive amounts of debris to enter the ocean, some of these piles floating on ocean currents and carrying with them unintended passengers. A few of these accidental sailors washed up on the Skull Isles, where they managed to beat the odds and integrate themselves into the island’s already crowded and competitive ecosystem. Metatherians like marsupials and sparassodonts were the first to make the journey, followed by many other organisms such as several species of snakes, lizards, frogs, various ocean-dispersing plants, xenarthrans, early phorusrhacids, rodents, and finally ending with primates during the Early Oligocene. At the same time, Kaito began to move further away from South American and Antarctica, with the splitting of the Southern continent from its more northerly neighbors creating the start of the Circumpolar Current that began the rapid cooling process of the planet. As the oceans cooled, the volcanic activity of the Skull Islands reacted more harshly with its surroundings, fueling the growth of the mega-storm surrounding the isles to its current size seen today. Having drifted to its current position by the Early Pliocene and its mega-storm at full strength, there would be no more significant biotic immigration into the Skull Isles minus the various sea-faring creatures of the Southern Hemisphere and the occasional arthropod that waves up on the shores in a pile of debris for millions of years. But the isolation would be broken eventually with the third and most peculiar biotic immigration event of the Skull Isles. Here, instead of being Gonwanan organisms making the journey, the third biotic immigration event was characterized by organisms that originated in Laurasia, specifically South and Southeast Asia (though there are a few human introduced species that originated from Wallacea and Oceania). Starting from sixty-thousand and ending twelve-thousand years ago, various kinds of Asian fauna would make their way to the islands. They did not do so with the advent of island chains or rafting, but rather by one species that spear-headed the whole third invasion of the Skull Isles: Humans. Referred to as “The Anthropogenic Introduction Phase”, this immigration event most likely started when the common ancestral population to the massive Paleolithic empires of the world began making sea-faring boats, with one part of this ancient society going on to colonize the Skull Isles. Some of the creatures they brought were accidental, like the rats that unsurprisingly boarded their ships and fed on their grain. Other creatures however were introduced deliberately as either livestock or pets, as a way of transplanting their former way of life, whatever it may be, to better colonize the islands. Some of the creatures they brought with them would go on to integrate themselves into the island ecosystem, the descendants of such creatures still around today in the wilds of Kaito. Compared to the descendants of the older waves of biotic immigration, however, they compromise a rather small portion of the island's terrestrial biodiversity. This may seem odd due to the usual impact of invasive organisms on islands, as such isolated environments are prone to damage. But the Skull Isles seem to be an exception, mainly due to the idea the island’s competitive environment has created organisms aggressive and powerful enough to stamp out nearly all invaders unless they themselves are kaiju. This extremely high resilience for an ecosystem, isolated or not, has made some to wonder if the real biotic crisis does not stem from invaders from the mainland touching down on the Skull Isles, but monsters from the Skull Isles making their way out of their natural prison. There have been a few cases where some fauna from the Skull Isles, emigrated to the mainland via island hopping. In most cases, these emigrations seem to fail, but for a few, they can find suitable environments to live in, spreading the fauna of Kaito out into disparate parts across the planet's surface. It is thought these invasions may only be unsuccessful because the invaders came alone, and could be relatively easily snuffed out by natural processes outside the Skull Isles. It would take a mass invasion from the Skull Isles to the mainland to create a biotic crisis the likes of which the world has never seen, but fortunately, such an event has not yet happened in the history of life on Earth... When humans first arrived on the Skull Isles is more complex than one may think. The humans who spurred on the prehistoric invasion of the Skull Isles, who came from Asia, were part of the third great civilization during Paleolithic times known as the Tagu. While the ancestors of the Ailenas centered around the Pacific Rim and the Atlanteans colonized the Atlantic coastline and oceanic ridge, the Tagu centered around the deep south of the planet. The Skull Mountain temple was the capital of their empire and they lived there for dozens of millennia before finally falling to ruin at the end of the Pleistocene, the only trace of their existence is what little remains of their architectural marvels in the form of eroded and decaying ruins. However, the current human inhabitants of the Skull Isles are not descendants of the Tagu. The living population of humans on the Skull Isles, known as the Atu, descended instead from a more recent invasion to the islands, most likely from Polynesian sailors that drifted to the islands a little over three thousand years ago. After this initial introduction, their gene pool has since expanded with subsequent strandings from New Zealand, other parts of Polynesia, Southeast Asia, Australia, and more recently a few strandings from western colonizers. Thus, the story of human colonization of the Skull Isles can be separated into two different waves. The first, taking place around sixty-thousand years ago from Asia, led to the rise of the Tagu Empire, which fell to ruin around the time of The Golden Demise. Then, thousands of years later, Polynesian sailors shipwrecked on the island, their descendants eventually settling on the dreaded rock in fear of the creatures around them. Unlike the Tagu before them, the Atu live a modest life, huddling in a few shallow underground pockets and hiding behind spiked walls, their dwellings made of nothing more than stacked basalt. Their lives outside their sanctuary are characterized by utter silence, communicating via symbol writing, and hand gestures. The simplicity of their life is a necessary way of survival among the nightmare realm, for here humanity is not the hunter, they are the prey of countless demons and monsters that rule this island with fearsome jaws, claws, poison, venom, radiation, or sheer unbridled rage. It is a miracle the Atu have managed to get as far as they can, perhaps due to the intervention of other, mightier beings...

____________ HABITATS OF THE SKULL ISLES Hollows: Lacerating the bedrock of the isles is a labyrinth of extinct lava tubes that provides the basis of a massive but little known ecosystem just beneath the surface. Millions of years of tectonic, volcanic, and biotic activity have resulted in a complex web of tunnels that connected the entire archipelago together and extends several miles beneath the surface. Subterranean rivers run through some of these tunnels, which allows for the growth of various producers in this aphotic environment. Here, life obtains most of its food from radiotrophic, chemotrophic, and lithotrophic microorganisms, fungi, and other producers that provide the basis for this whole subterranean ecosystem reaching all the way to very massive predatory kaiju. The Atu make their home in the shallow tunnels, where they are able to easily access other parts of the isles with minimal danger. These tunnels are also often used as pathways for larger surface creatures, as while the isles may look separated, they are all connected via these underground tunnels that allow the biotic interchange between smaller and large outcroppings. Further down, the conditions of the hollows begin to be less tolerable, as the temperature begins to skyrocket and poisonous gases fill the air. Only the tougher bio-terrestrial kaiju are capable of piercing through the increasing hostility and towards the heart of Kaito. It is said the inhospitable conditions are home to a myriad of underground entities, many of which are regarded by the Atu to be symbols of death and incoming doom.Lowlands: Carved through by millennia of tectonic activity and runoff from the mountains above, the lowlands are known for their lush vegetation and maze-like terrain from the volcanic deposits beneath them. The mountain runoff creates long rivers that saturate the rich soils, fueling the growth of thousands of different species of sessile life. Most of the lowlands are made up of massive seas of fern prairies that reach almost two stories tall and bamboo forests towering almost two hundred feet above the ground. Groves of broad-leaved bushes and trees provide isolated microhabitats for more closed environment-living organisms. Here, massive herbivores plow through the thick brush, creating vast game trails and pathways through the seas of vegetation. Smaller creatures often follow these game trails and even in the footsteps of these massive herbivores, as it is preferable to pushing through the dense foliage, encumbering one to attacks by predators. Even so, the pathways are not always safe, for like anywhere else on the planet, the native predators of the island have learned to wait for prey to pass through these biotic highways, lurking in the tall vegetation just out of sight ready to strike. What predators may be hiding in the brush is any prey's guess, but all the possible options are equally terrifying: Saber-toothed hunters, serrated beaked horrors, armored snaggle-toothed brutes, are but a few options for what may be waiting to ambush its next target.Coasts: Sandy beaches on the Skull Isles are rare, and seem to mainly be restricted to certain parts of its western and northern portions. For the most part, the coastlines are made up of sheer sea cliffs of basalt columns towering hundreds of feet above the surface of the ocean. Subjected to regular beatings by massive waves, the hydrology of the surrounding ocean has molded them into towering spires quite foreboding to climb. Due to their remoteness, many birds will nest on the cliffs, usually taking advantage of natural holes and abandoned burrows to raise their chicks in the relative safety of predatory creatures. Nevertheless, there are terrestrial organisms that have managed to evolve ways to scale these sheer cliffs. Here, the game of predator and prey continues as it does on the rest of Isles, with the constant danger of falling off into the oceans below to be ripped apart by the predators of Kaito’s seas. Sections closer to the ocean are home to tidal-living organisms purpose-built to withstand the battering of the waves, feasted on by equally as durable coastal scavengers and tidal-foragers keen on making a meal out of any wounded creature battered against the sharp rocks. Higher up, fleet-footed herbivores gather around high-rise mangrove forests and tussock grass fields, oases in a barren environment of eroded rock. But such places are not entirely safe, for predators have learned to exploit these sanctuaries in hopes of an easy meal.Jungles: Closer to the interior of the islands is perhaps the archipelago’s most extraordinary ecosystem, the towering multi-leveled jungles and rainforests. Compared to the same environments that blanket the planet’s equator, the towering floral forests of the Skull Isles are like nothing else on Earth. The flora here regularly grows over a thousand feet tall, reaching such heights in only a matter of decades. From these massive foundation organisms, various epiphytes, vines, younger trees, sessile flora-fauna, fungi, among other things make their homes on the massive branches and trunks strong enough to support the habitat’s biggest inhabitants, creating the high-rise labyrinth seen today. Incorporating massive amounts of metals in their bodies, these forests are often sought out by mixotrophic kaiju that feast on plants and minerals, and the unique endothermic qualities of the island’s massive jungles not only provide comfortably stable habitats for its inhabitants but also contributes to the formation of rain clouds on the isles and its overall stable tropical climate. Being so massive in height, the jungles of the Skull Isles can be distinguished into many different layers. In the canopy and emergent layers, arboreal acrobats swing through the trees to avoid being hunted equally as capable tree-dwelling hunters. Lower down, in the darker understory, building-sized predators lurk in the eternal twilight as they track down fleet-footed prey that is also looked to avoid attacks from ambush flora-fauna. And down in the forest floor, where barely any light reaches, bioluminescent denizens crawl, leap, and slither through the uneven, dark, and root-blanketed landscape covered in piles of decomposing fungi that break down the dead to return their nutrients to the island.Uplands: High above the rapturous cacophony of the green hell, the various mountains and plateaus of the Skull Isles seem like comparatively peaceful places to settle down in. Consisting of various active, dormant, and extinct volcanoes, these highlands are dominated by giant fungoid and lichen that bathe in the ultraviolet radiation and thrive due to a lack of large plants to compete with. The mycelium networks break down the surrounding rock which is rich with the various volcanically-produced minerals that many of the island’s mineral eaters seek to devour to strengthen their own armored defenses from predators. Flocks of flying kaiju raise their young atop these high-rise nurseries in greater relative safety than the lands below, right next to easily-accessible mountain streams that cascade down the mountains into grand waterfalls that feed much of Kaito’s with freshwater. However, the uplands are rife with their own challenges, such as colder temperatures, wind-battered landscapes, and kaiju that have also decided to migrate to this environment to escape the intense competition below. The Tagu’s architectural structures are most well-preserved here, and perhaps provide the greatest insight into their civilization’s former way of life. But things have drastically changed in the last twelve thousand years. Where once there were droves of people inhabiting the halls and pathways of these structures, now they have been eroded down and blanketed in mycelium, while the humans have been replaced by various forms of alpine kaiju. The mountains have since been reclaimed back from humanity in perhaps a little under a few months after the fall of the Tagu, and they once again seat the true rulers of the Skull Isles.Chasms: Paired alongside the towering peaks of the isles are deep chasms that run through these mountainous environments. Extensions of hollows that have been exposed to the surface via geologic activity, the biotic and radioactive runoff rushing down from the mountains empty into them in toxic waterfalls. The result is a vile ecosystem fueled by the death and decay of the island itself. Subterranean rivers carve and connect these chasms together, carrying with the toxic waste for miles. Fungoid decomposers are fueled by the richness of this radioactive soup, allowing for their mycelium to grow and ramify through the entire chasm system further excavating the rock around with digestive enzymes. Here, the most dreaded of the isle’s residents make their home, a cast of ambush predators, carnivorous parasites, and ferocious freeloaders that have been mutated by millions of years of radioactive exposure. Any hapless organism that happens to fall into chasms is often quickly and brutally ripped apart by hordes of these putrid beings, which take a myriad of forms. Stalk-legged merchants of death pick off scraps from the chaos below, slithering parasitic carnivores that write in the chemical brew itself, multi-limbed arthropods that clamber across the blackened walls and shores, and flying harpies that swoop down to rend off flesh from bone and limb from the body. According to the most ancient myths of the Tagu, a vile destroyer was born from this toxic pit to lay ravage to the rest of the world but was fortunately defeated before it could do so. But that does not mean there are no longer titans among this forsaken army of scavengers.Wetlands: Much of the radioactive runoff from the chasms flows through the subterranean rivers, through which it will either exit out into the ocean or the freshwater bodies of the islands. The nutrients carried by the biotic soup dilute into the archipelago’s freshwater supply, boosting its productivity. To prevent nutrient levels from reaching too high, the wetlands of the island’s water bodies filter these nutrients out, whereupon they fuel the growth of massive ecosystems on the edge of land and water. Where they meet lowlands, they can form extensive marshes several feet deep and filled with several meter tall water plants. Where the wetlands pierce through jungles, large swamps form that brings about a flooded forest-type ecosystem filled with arboreal and aquatic fauna of all kinds. These rivers often carry mats of floating vegetation that create miniature archipelagoes and can extend for several kilometers. It is sometimes said you can cross Kaito’s rivers on foot without getting wet thanks to the mats of vegetation, though more likely, one would meet their end in the form of some terrifying predator before that. The water bodies themselves are filled with equally-diverse amounts of life, all of which can expand to other parts of the freshwater system through a series of underwater tunnels connecting all the freshwater bodies of water of the isles. The largest freshwater lakes of the Skull Isles can span many kilometers and reach almost a kilometer deep, constituting the equivalent of a miniature sea with its own water monsters, ranging from tentacled monstrosities, things with curling limbs, conical-toothed ambush predators, slithering forms that weave through the shallows, among other things. The Atu get a fair deal of nutrition from these freshwater bodies as they fish the shores, but are always wary of what may lurk just beneath the surface.Seas: The seas of the Skull Isles are among its most spectacular and terrifying ecosystems, the true hell’s aquarium. Along the shores, massive reefs of razor coral and forests of mega-kelp fed by biotic runoff from the chasms create a thriving ecosystem dwarfing the menagerie seen in other shoreline environments across the world. The seafloor of Skull Isles’ closed oceans is riddled with the massive hydrothermal vents continuously spewing out radioactive materials and nutrients into the surrounding water, where hundreds of deep-sea lifeforms gather around to feed on the ambient energy or other creatures living around the smoking vents. In more open water, year-round upwellings caused by volcanic activity cycling nutrients through the sea and colder ocean water getting through the barriers and causing overturns create massive blooms of bioluminescent plankton whose energy is passed on up the food web, from shoals of baitfish and squid all the way up to ship-sized predatory goliaths with bone-crushing jaws, lashing tentacles, and winding necks. The depths of the islands are littered with the remains of hundreds of ships that have been capsized or destroyed by these nightmares of nature. The only thing keeping most of these marine terrors from escaping into the rest of the global ocean is the wall of spikes within the massive storm, acting as a cage to prevent the island’s monstrous inhabitants confined to the islands. However, even this barrier can not keep out the largest inhabitants of the isles, who are thought to be large and powerful enough to traverse through the storm, and a few migratory kaiju and endemic Skull Island creatures have found their own clever ways of escaping the confines of their home environment.____________ NOTABLE AREAS OF THE SKULL ISLES 1. Ruins of Mondoto: To the far northwest of the isles lay the crumbling ruins of Mondoto. Many millions of years ago, some of these outcroppings used to be grand islands themselves, but as they move further away from their volcanic center, tectonic activity overpowers the creation process and they begin to crumble into the sea. These outcroppings are usually occupied by flocks of seabirds raising their chicks, far away from the potential havoc terrestrial predators could have on them. Still, there are a few permanent residents of these spires, but like all passengers aboard a sinking ship, they are doomed to die if they do not find a way off such isolated environments.2. Jungles of Decay: As Mondoto’s northwest portion crumbles into the oceans, it has created a fragile ecosystem to its south. Here, jungles grow atop massive pillars of rock that are lacerated by large chasms that cut through the region. Vines and various epiphytes connect the crowded islands for arboreal creatures to make the crossing. Various megafauna is also present in these jungles but is quite rare due to the conditions of the environment. Of the ones present, they tiptoe through the rugged and narrow pathways sided on one side by rock and another by a steep drop, careful not to lose their grip especially when being chased by predators. Those unlucky enough to fall to the chasms below will find themselves swarmed upon by a collection of freshwater and chasm organisms ready to feast on the dead and dying.3. Eastern Outcroppings: A series of islands off the coast of Mondoto, these islands were thought to have been connected to the larger landmass only a few thousand years ago until a powerful earthquake sank the slivers of land connecting them. Since then, some of the isle’s megafauna have undergone their own adaptive evolution, shrinking somewhat in size to accommodate for more limited resources. Still, the “dwarves” are dangerous beasts in their own right, even if they have mellowed slightly.4. Ocean of Blades: Through which the first Skull Isles expedition entered, the Ocean of Blades lives up to its name. On the rocky outcroppings surrounding the sea are colonies of razor coral jutting out from the rock that is treacherous for passing watercraft. Further out to sea, there are more active dangers at play in the form of blade-toothed ocean predators nearly as big as the ships themselves capable of sinking entire galleons with minimal effort. Despite its danger, however, if one wants to enter the Skull Isles by boat, it’s through here.5. Southern Sea Cliffs: Jagged like the jaws of a carnivorous beast, the southern sea cliffs are a prime nesting ground for the endemic flying kaiju that feasts around the nearby waters. Large salt deposits have built up around these areas from the sea spray, which many herbivores often frequent to get the much-needed calcium lacking in their usual diet. Predators hide within the crevices of the sea cliffs, sometimes building large tunnel systems in the case of the larger predators through which they can easily make their way around the coastline without daring to venture on the cliffs to tempt their luck above an ocean of monsters.

6. Eastern Fragment: Once itself a separate island from Mondoto and Pharo, the Eastern Fragment formed from volcanic activity initially creating its own landmass before tectonic activity smashed it into Pharo Island. This allowed interchange between the two islands, though it is clear most of the fauna in the region today stem from Pharo Island itself. Once a mountain began to form and making interchange more difficult, there have been some instances of potential genetic drift between the fauna of the Eastern Fragment as isolation makes it harder for them to cross genes with organisms from the rest of Pharo.

7. Maze of Terror: Trapped between the island’s two largest bodies of land-locked water, this massive expanse of wetland is riddled with marshes and swamps that are packed with life both terrestrial and aquatic. This has garnered the region a rather deadly reputation by the Atu, the shifting mats of vegetation and ever-changing waterways creating a nigh impossible-to-escape labyrinth that is prone to the occasional flooding when the rains hit. More urgent threats however include the various predators that wind their way through the maze, lurking just out of sight in this tangled maze to get the drop on their prey. But perhaps more terrifying than these predators are the thousands of parasite larvae that are eagerly waiting for the arrival of a potential host.

8. Socket Lake: The largest freshwater body on the Skull Isles, this vast lake reaches nearly a kilometer beneath the surface, and is riddled with hundreds of tunnels through which various aquatic species can traverse to invade other freshwater bodies across the islands. The lake is filled with shoals of baitfish that are fished upon by multitudes of piscivores, which themselves sometimes fall prey to larger carnivores, such as the torpedo-shaped beasts prowling the lake’s surface, armored reptilians closer to the shore, and true behemoth lurking deep beneath the surface ready to snatch up the next unwary target.

9. River of Monsters: The island’s largest river by volume runs down from Socket Lake and into the Ocean of Blades. It carries with it massive mats of floating vegetation that act like miniature islands. The river carries them down its length into the Ocean of Blades where they can stay afloat for decades before finally sinking into the depths or washing ashore on another piece of land. The deep and unevenness of the riverbed can create microhabitats as well as massive rapids that empty into the ocean at an exhilarating rate. But rough water conditions are the least of one’s worries when traveling down the river, for if the Atu’s given name is any suggestion, aquatic monstrosities of almost every form imaginable dwell across its entire length.

10. Optic Sea: While Socket Lake is the largest freshwater body on the Skull Isles, the Optic Sea takes the title of the largest body of water on the whole on the Isles, reaching down as far as two kilometers beneath the surface. Unlike Socket Lake, the Optic Sea is actually a body of seawater, formerly part of the surrounding ocean before the Eastern Fragment smashed into the rest of Pharo Island. As a result, most of the fauna within it is marine in origin, essentially containing miniature versions of the larger predators present in the surrounding seas. That doesn’t make the Optic Sea any less dangerous though, for while the predators within it have shrunk, their ferocity is as unbridled as their larger ancestors.11. Cranial Range: To the northeast of the island sits its largest chain of mountains stretching nearly six-thousand meters, made up of a series of massive volcanic calderas beneath the surface. This vast range of towering mountains expels such humongous amounts of molten material that they are the most frequented spot for bio-terrestrial mineral eating organisms. Meltwater from icecaps around the volcanic peaks creates such massive amounts of runoff that they form the longest chain of waterfalls on the planet, stretching nearly the length of the mountain range itself and dumping billions of gallons of water into the land below, saturating the soils of the isles to form its many rivers, lakes, and other freshwater bodies. Hordes of flying kaiju nest atop these mountains in their greatest numbers, adding to the cacophony already present within this chaotic ridge of tectonic activity.12. The Pit: The chasms of the Skull Isles are filled with monstrous beings of all kinds, but nowhere on the archipelago is it as concentrated as the dreaded Pit. The source of all the radioactive runoff that ramifies through the chasm system of the isles, it is where the greatest concentration of vile beasts that call the decaying environment home. Paired with the many volcanically active mountains of the northeast, the chasms that make up The Pit are subject to a constant downpour of toxic waterfall runoff from the colonies of flying mountain kaiju and exotic metals, creating a constant source of food for all its inhabitants. It is here that the most dreaded beast of the chasms makes its home, the daikaiju overlord of this damned congregation of demons.13. Sanctum of Kaito: The largest tract of unbroken jungle on the Skull Isles, this massive expanse of jungle contains the island’s largest flora, stretching hundreds of feet into the air and giving off massive clouds that go on to nourish the rest of the isles. Here, the tangled labyrinth stories above the forest floor are brimming with more life than can be counted. Here, the hide-and-seek-game of nature is in full swing, with numerous flora-fauna species, be they predator or prey, trying their best to blend into the background. This makes the jungles of the Sanctum treacherous for any would-be wanderer of the Skull Isles, for here, the forest is so thick with predator beasts that it’s almost as if the very vegetation around you is about to spring out in a predatory attack.14. Lechen Bay: Characterized as one of the few places on the Skull Isles with gently sloping sandy beaches, this stretch of coastline is often frequented by several different species of migratory maritime kaiju and daikaiju, mainly due to the sheer richness of the waters themselves. The colonies of resting kaiju are often shadowed by beach-combing predators and scavengers keen on picking off the young or dead for an easy meal. Sea cliffs still exist here and are nested by colonies of seabirds and flying kaiju raising their young, the Atu usually fish in these waters due to their relative calmness and easy accessibility, but they are still wary for lurking beneath the surface is the horror of the deep, one which the Atu describes as an armored two-headed beast with a taste for destruction.15. Varadag Peninsula: Bordering Lechen Bay to the west, the peninsula is made up of various sloping valleys and hills that create mixed forests of lowland and jungle vegetation. At its center stands a slender lake that is often visited by various herbivorous kaiju as they make their way across Pharo Island. The lake is also a hotbed for flying arthropods, which will gather around the area in massive numbers monthly to spawn, often attracting larger flying creatures to feast on the flying mass of food. Despite its beauty, the peninsula is said to host its own daikaiju overlords, stealthy beasts aid to be nestled within the hills of the region, ready to attack lest any intruder disturbs their peace.16. Primal Passage: Splitting the two largest islands of Kaito apart, the Primal Passage is a violent waterway filled with rapids and whirlpools ready to batter or drown passing creatures, as well as a host of carnivorous predators capable of tearing apart large megafauna with ease. Interestingly, the passage can work as an artery, transferring nutrients from the surrounding ocean into the interior of the island through shoals of baitfish that swim through the seaway regularly, which are then caught by fishing predators through which the nutrients are eventually carried towards the interior, furthering rapid vegetation growth.17. Strait of Despair: The narrowest portion of the Primal Passage, it may only be a kilometer across. However, despite its distance, it is perhaps the most dangerous section of this whole seaway. Sided by sheer cliffs on either side with deep uneven water, powerful rapids rush through the strait and are usually seen in tandem with whirlpools and massive waves. The Atu occasionally visit this region to harvest the carcasses of those unlucky creatures that have been battered along the rocks. They must be careful though, as they are not the only creatures looking for a free meal, be it in the form of a carcass or a fragile human.18. Effigian Peak: The Atu have never ventured to Mondoto themselves, the Strait of Despair being a strong barrier. However, even if they were given the choice to enter, they would still not take it, all due to the ominous spire they know as the Effigian Peak. Capable of being seen from the other side of the strait, the extinct volcano is considered a bad omen to the Atu for the inhabitants that dwell within it The Atu speak of them as deadly hunters that lurk across the isles but are at their greatest concentration around this peak. Every night, they collectively scream out into the darkness, their calls being heard from miles away. Occasionally, their chorus would be interrupted by several massive roars that would shake the land. The owner of the roar is unknown, but the Atu are not eager to find out...19. Geode Spires: A massive geode formation on Mondoto, this mainly underground structure is a massive natural formation of crystal structures that have been developing for many millennia thanks to boiling anhydrite rich water passing through the structure and providing fuel to grow. While most of it is underground, the part that is visually accessible sprouts massive crystal structures that reach anywhere from a few meters to several hundred feet above the ground to form an intimidating wall of spikes through which light enters to scatter a spectrum of colors across the landscape in a dazzling show.20. Sugo Valley: Located around Southern Mondoto, this collapsed caldera is covered in a mixed variety of lush jungle and lowland vegetation, creating an environment through which creatures from the trees descend to join those grazers and browsers in a feast of fruit, leaves, grass, ferns, and other flora. Here, it is as if the days of the dinosaurs never ended, for Sugo Valley is host to great gatherings of the island’s largest saurian inhabitants, from those mighty herbivores attracted by its great bounty to the predators that follow their every footstep.21. Jaws of Spires: Further venturing through the Ocean of Blades, the reefs of razor coral begin to grow more stacked and packed together, growing upon the large spires erupting from the sea to form serrated rock faces that can cut through typical ships. The reefs are home to dozens of different aquatic species, darting in and out of the safety of their crowded homes in search of food or a mate, though they must be careful not to fall prey themselves for serpentine forms coiled within the crevices. Watercraft can no longer continue from this point to venture deeper into the isles, and either aircraft or land vehicles are used for further exploration, though this comes with its own disadvantages.22. Solgell Plateau: Once a might plateau that stretched nearly six thousand meters high, it has since eroded down in an elevated section of the surrounding lowland jungles and forests. Various giant tunnels and valleys have been excavated into the plateau, most likely due to the actions of erosion and kaiju, creating an uneven and quite difficult to navigate the terrain. Surprisingly, Solgell Plateau is actually rather unproductive for a Skull Isle lowland and jungle environment, only hosting about half of the expected species that are seen in surrounding environments (though still quite a lot). This may be perhaps of the Plaeteau’s other distinctions according to the Atu, which speak of the region as a war-zone, its diversity not as great as the rest of Kaito due to the eternal turf war being committed by two of the island’s most ferocious beast gods...23. Atu Village: Located within a near-surface subterranean pocket, the Atu village is a modest but well-defended dwelling that the current inhabitants of the island have made residence in for thousands of years. Burrows leading out of the pocket are sealed off by spiked walls to keep out the more dangerous inhabitants of the hollows. The entirety of the Atu populations dwells within this village, and they rarely leave its confines. It’s only when they need to seek out more food than they dare to leave the safety of their homes to deal with the dangers that lurk all around the isles.24. Boneyard: This volcanically active patch of the Skull Isles is thought to have formed thousands of years ago after some massive event regarding the tectonic and volcanic forces of the isles. The upland valley is littered with the bones of dozens of kaiju and daikaiju, most likely the result of millennia of the island’s larger predators dumping the remnants of their kills within this area. As a result, opportunistic predators and scavengers often take up residence here picking scraps of meat and chewing through the thick bones of these fallen monsters. Highly flammable geothermal vents also pocket the area, with some carnivores seen roasting their meals on these unstable wells of heat to aid in digesting the scraps. The Atu never venture into the boneyard, mainly due to it being the so-called home to the devils of the islands...25. Skull Mountain: The tallest mountain on the isles, standing almost seven-thousand meters above sea level, this dormant volcano is host to the greatest concentration of minerals on the isles, including a super-durable and conductive natural alloy whose only other location outside of the isles are in smaller concentrations with the Beiru Hotspot. Here the ruins of the Tagu are the most well-preserved, but they have still been weathered down by wind and mycelium. The largest of these intact structures is a massive temple that would have no doubt been the center of the Skull Isle capital. Now, it hosts a menagerie of mountain-living creatures, and while human monarchs no longer walk its halls, the temple throne now seats a mightier entity, the most revered beast on the whole of the archipelago: The King of the Skull Isles...

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NEXT: The Welcoming Committee

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