Altar
Altar is an island of the Western Threshold, located at the Southern end of Pelican Reef and east of the Sunken Isle.
Altar is a strange island, its surface perfectly square, made of smooth black stone, sitting just a few feet below the waterline. This black column descends to great depths, and those who have dared tried to dive it offer varied reports, many claiming to see ancient Old Realm glyphs carved across the surface, though they can never quite describe them, nor locate them again on further searches.
Many stories speak to its origins. Some say that it was a great prison raised by the Anathema, upon which thousands were sacrificed in the most blasphemous of rituals. Some speak that it was worked by the Maiden of Endings to mark the edge of the world, but the Maiden of Journeys swept it beneath the waves so she could continue her travels. Some say that it is a monument from the time before history, thrust into the depths of the oceans by vast and terrible beings to mark their dominion.
Regardless, Altar today remains a strange land. The obsidian which makes it up is nigh-imperishable, resisting all attempts to break or work it. At the center of the island, the only mar upon its surface is a shallow indentation, left by a grand drill of the Golden Age whose wreckage has long since been swept away. Around this mar, heavy stones and rubble have been heaped, to form the base of islets upon which structures can be raised, individual homes with shallow waters between serving as canals. Once upon a time, these islets supported structures of good Steel and Adamantine Glass, but these have shattered over the centuries and today their foundations support lesser structures of canvas and wood flotsam.
The location of Altar, between the Southwestern seas and the Blessed Isle, would make it ideal as a trade port, a rival to Wu Jian, but this has never come to pass: the waters above its surface are too shallow for trade ships, the waters around it too deep to lay anchor. Efforts with ballast ships to expand or add to its array of islets (such as a grand attempt undertaken by the Dynastic House Ragara in RY420) end in failure, eventually over the months and years being swept away. The lives of those few who inhabit it today are difficult: for one, solid obsidian offers up no springs or sources of fresh water, making them dependent on collecting rainwater for drinking and cooking. And yet the fishing grounds surrounding Altar are rich indeed, vast schools being swept northward by the currents heading into Pelican Reef, while the shallow surface of the island is crisscrossed with ropes growing valuable Sea Sponges… these are traded with passing vessels for the necessities of life, allowing the people of Altar to subsist.
Perhaps the most valuable export of Altar, however, is not goods but intelligence. Its position just south of Pelican Reef, surrounded by open waters, gives it an excellent position for observing ships and flotillas taking the southern route around the reef between the West and Inner Sea. It is certain that several major powers, including The Guild, the Coral Archipelago, and the Great Houses of the Scarlet Dynasty maintain informers amongst the population so they might monitor each other’s movements.
