Athion Flower Island

Place

Place Name:

Athion Flower Island

Biome:

Flower Island

Size:

400.3 km²

Continent:

Unknown

Subcontinent

Unknown

History

Historical Overview

Nearly 4000 km off the mainland, Athion is a largely isolated, relatively small island hovering above the deep ocean. While these circumstances have provided it with a great deal of defensive ability against the kin'toni ever since the embers of the Awakening Age, they have also come with their own set of challenges. Ever since the island was discovered and populated during the rule of the Xerea Empire, its inhabitants have had to rely mainly on self-sustentation, as importing resources from the mainland was an expensive and troublesome bargain. As such, the population in Athion grew to be able to sustain a healthy agronomical, mineral, and even industrial sector while still occasionally receiving avid support from the continent.

A great deal of funds were funneled into the island over the years, and many high-rankink scientists and engineers were employed to aid in the population of the remote island. It may seem odd that a random, relatively small island sparked such an intense interested in its population. However, this particular island was home to a unique resource that would come to fuel this initiative. As suggested by the name, Athia is immensely dotted with flowers. More so, it's strewn with a particular kind of giant flower specimen by the name of c'elur. C'elur is a unique kind of flowering specimen, not only due to its immense size, but mainly due to its characteristics.

The story goes that Athion was peacefully inhabited by a wild tribe until some point in time before the Awakening, and this tribe simply lived together with the island until the Xerea Empire came along. The Empire had, of course, been aware of island's existence from the beginning, and had chosen not to intervene out of respect for the naturally occurring tribe present, and because there was simply no value to be had in such a remote and insignificant island. However, at some point, a group of archeologists and anthropologists became incredibly fascinated with the island. They wanted to initiate contact with the wild tribe as part of an experiment, but had been denied access to Athion due to moral and ethic laws surrounding indigenous natives.

The group, however, did it anyway. They privately set sail on an undisclosed journey and headed straight to Athion, fully prepared to engage the locals. They would only return after a full 93 days, by the time when their families had thought them dead at sea and the naval authorities had given up their searches. Professor Gariav Taiyu, Head Researcher for the expedition and Doctor of Anthropology, told the following to the press: "We were caught in a waterspout... and our ship was flung to the sea. When the water had calmed we stopped at the first island we could see. That was Athion... it was wonderful. I never thought I would be able to witness it with my own eyes. So even thought we were pretty scared we were also kind of excited."

"Did you find the natives?"

"Oh, the natives? Not, not a trace of them. We wandered around for quite a while... I mean the island is too big to know, maybe we just missed them, but I thought at least we would find traces, you know? We found none of those."

"Nothing at all?"

"No, no. I mean, hell, I was sure we would. When we got there there was this huge trail of smoke in the sky. It was incredible. But I knew it couldn't be man-made, no, unless they were burning down the whole forest. It was tons of smoke, looked like a factory. We tried to walk there but it too far on the other side, and you can't go through the middle 'cause the forest's too dense. So we just figured it was a natural fire. It's pretty hot up there."

Professor Gariav then explained how they were able to fix their ship in time, and how lucky they were to have packed food rations for many months. Though his claims are doubtful to say the least, there was no contrary evidence to oppose Professor Gariav, and no lawful actions were able to take off against him and his team. His statements regarding the natives, however, sparked a certain curios within the general population. If the Professor and his team had found no traces of them on their side of the island, and if the other side was apparently producing enough smoke to emulate a forest fire, could the tribe be alright? Humanitarian concerns, and later protests, started to take off.

And though the authorities firmly believed this was all a conspiracy by the historians to be able to access the island, there was little they could do. An official reconnaissance expedition was commissioned. Their findings were interesting. Turns out, there were no tribes inhabiting Athion at all. Later findings suggested that there had been natural tribes there long ago, but presently none remained. It was also found that a steam-operated biofuel procession plant was installed on one side of the island, and that the tribe theory was nothing more than a farce orchestrated in order to keep Athion's resources to a single company. This blatant display of corporate corruption, plus the fact that they had been bribing official government ecological companies in order to keep quiet and support the tribe theory, fueled a great deal of changes in the present economical and industrial climate.

More importantly, however, Athion was finally able to be properly colonized. Though at the time a very small settlement already existed in the island, in order to operate the processing plant. The island, which was surrounded by smaller peaks of earth that rose above the sea level, provided the mainland with a stable and rich income of biofuel which was extracted from the local plant life, and so the first colonizers were mainly workers, managers and construction officers for the local factories. As time passed, this small community would grow and become more susceptible to certain needs, like medical care, local food production, better housing, entertainment, etc., and so more people of different fields would come to join Athion, and more housing would be built, until Athion quit being a remote work location and became a proper living community.

It was very crucial that the local wildlife and plant life was to not be disturbed by the new current of civilization. Messing with the ambient could provoke changes in the flora and fauna, and this could cause precious losses in the local industry. The biofuel which was extracted and processed in the island was a precious resource that only justified the presence of people in the island, but also served as currency with the mainland to be used in exchange for their resources. As much as the remote island strived to be self-sufficient, there were always amenities and products that had to sourced from elsewhere, and the only reason they had funding available for new projects and local needs depended entirely on their main and only export.

Not to mention that it also uniquely provided energy for all of the island.

In order to get past this challenge, the main points of civilization on the island were built only where wildlife did not have a great impact. Beaches, clearings, mountainous terrain, and even the tiny islands spread around Athion served as bases for construction. The end result was somewhat odd from a city planner's perspective, but wildlife was the priority here. Life in Athion proceeded then naturally and peacefully for years to come, building a community focused centre in the middle of the ocean and growing a reputation of solid bonds and perseverance, a hub of people capable of leading happy and meaningful lives even far from civilization.

The Awakening Age, however, brought a variety of changes. Communications were operational long enough for the inhabitants to realize what was going on, generally speaking. What would come shortly after however, would be a long and distant time of utter silence. Cut off completely by the mainland, the people of Athion were met with the decision of sailing ashore to see what was going on with their own eyes, or staying in relative safety. Their crops were plenty enough to feed the entire island, which was not very populous to begin with. Their energy source was entirely local, and now that they had no need to export to the mainland it was entirely theirs and they had more than enough to spare.

They had medical facilities, some weapons made for hunting, and a wide array of knowledge left behind by their companions on land. The only thing they didn't have was courage to face the apocalypse. A boat was prepared. The people of Athion, which would later come to be known as the Leruntshy zu'aan, had to see the apocalypse with their own eyes. The people that left, however, would not return by themselves. In trying to oversee the situation, the Leruntshy had foolishly revealed their location to the ferocious kin'toni, and danger would soon come to meet them. Luckily for them, it is much easier to fight someone coming by boat while you're on land, and after a rigid assault of attempts to infiltrate the island, the zu'aan would come victorious. Outside excursions were forbidden.

Barriers were set up. Any boat that loomed in the horizon would be attacked without mercy. Even the waters were examined and kept on surveillance, lest the kin'toni try to attack from the sea floor. And so their lives would continue almost as normal before the Awakening. They had less knowledge, as their databases and connections were entirely lost and they had to rely on memory, and they had no fancy weapons like their counterparts used to have on land, but they had a strange territorial advantage, and that was enough for them to survive. Not thrive, perhaps, but certainly survive.

Geography

Athion is a subtropical island near the edge of a tectonic plate, likely originated from a volcanic outburst in the distant past. Despite being geographically close to a plate, earthquakes are very uncommon, and volcanic activity is limited to the nearby sea floor. The island is about 1240 m above the sea floor, and is mainly composed of a subtropical forest encompassing most of the center of the island, a white sand cliff-strewn beach on one side, and a high cliff side leading to the ocean on the other. Surrounding the island are various small islands, generally devoid of flora. The island has two inactive volcanos, and many of the tiny islands surrounding it are the peaks of other inactive volcanos.

The climate is humid and prone to high temperatures around the entire year. Flora is thriving and exists in many sub-cultures and forms, while fauna is typically of a smaller scale. The surrounding ocean floor is densely populated and home to a large coral reef. Deeper down there are sea caves and thermal vents, where volcanic activity is common but small in scale. Geologically, the island is mainly composed of volcanic rock, giving it an unusually lush and fertile soil originated from spewed volcanic ash from the past. The underside of the island is a mountain-like piece of terrain that leads steeply off the shore after about 10-20 m, and sinks gradually until the sea floor.

Along the underwater base are breaks where coral reefs have developed, as well as many entrances and cavities that lead to underwater caves. Despite being home to a total of two extinct volcanoes, the structure of the island's base is strewn with these caves and is largely hollow, having just enough integrity to support the island. The small islands surrounding Athion are mainly derived from rock peaks and smaller volcanos that are built on top of the main mountain and sever to the side. There are a few exceptions built on underwater cliffs. The sea floor itself has a great number of chasms and trenches, making the actual depth of the water likely much larger than the averaged amount.

The warm seasons come with a humid, highly torrential climate that envelops the island in strong winds and tropical storms. While the beach-side of the island has typically calmer and more hospitable waters, the cliff-side is prone to receiving fierce and considerably high waves, made possible by the jagged terrain. Despite this, Athion has never been prone to flooding. The colder seasons bring a more stable and temperate climate. The temperature is never cold, per se, but rainfall is less common and the air is not as harsh. There is never snow or hail in Athion, as the temperature never goes under 0 degrees celsius. The tree flora is mainly composed of evergreen trees, making autumn and winter not particularly different than the rest of the year, visual wise.

While uncommon, it is not rare that a cyclone will periodically affect the island, though the zu'aan colonies are more than suited to dealing with this harsh climate, and so is the local wildlife.

Plants

The main resource of Athion is a flowering plant by the name of c'elur. C'elur is an unusual plant that begins its life deep underground, and slowly, over the course of decades, grows incredibly thick roots capable of penetrating the rock underneath the island's surface and reaching the sea. Meanwhile, the plant reaches for the surface in a similar way, creating a strong trunk that drives straight upwards. When it reaches the surface, it grows a little more and then produces a large bouquet of giant multicolored flowers, with bulbous petals and a large center. It's believed that the color of the petals is influenced by the consumption of certain minerals present in the island's underground, which is widely populated by geodes and other crystalline formations.

The plant requires no sunlight and has no leaves, and it's method of reproduction, by pollination, makes it more akin to a fungus. Some have called it a mixture of the two. The roots of the c'elur, as they reach the underwater caves underneath Athion and propagate, are used as a source of nutrition by some of the local fish life. The roots, despite being incredibly strong, are easily bruised by external means, likely as a result of tissue replacement once they're no longer needed for drilling, and secrete a viscous yellow sap with incredibly nutritious qualities. This sap, when harvested and properly processed by researches, makes for a powerful and efficient biofuel.

Athion is similarly populated by other types of normal flowering plant life, likely adapted to exist due to c'elur causing a boom of pollinating insects, little to no fungal life, and a small variety of native fruit trees. A lot of plant life in Athion was brought aboard from the colonizing period, mostly crops and other fruit trees, as well as decorative kinds. Besides c'elur, Athion is home to other kinds of native flora. As propagating seeds and spores to such a remote island is a difficult challenge, most of the flora in Athion is either some kind of wild variant of mainland plant species, or a brand new native plant. Some of those include:

Crii, a wild nut that grows on humid dirt around the edge of the beach-side forest, which is dried and grounded in order to make a popular native spice; Nebula, a fruit tree named after the cosmic phenomenon due to the strange rose-black-blue coloration on its soft arch-shaped seedless fruit, thought to be a variation of a mainland fruit tree caused by the rainbow crystals underground; and a plethora of wild flower species that number in the thousands, filling up almost the entirety of the island and being its namesake. It is believed that the aggressive pollen of c'elur, which attracts pollinating insect life, has caused other flowering plant life to come inhabit the region.

Sea flora is also particularly eminent around Athion, as the terrain surrounding it is viable for the growth of coral reef cultures. This sub-biome is a thriving habitat for fish life and coral life alike, and expands well beyond the scope of the island.

Animals

The existence of animal life in Athion is sparse. Flora has grown outstandingly out of proportion, leaving little room for fauna to develop beyond a very primitive stage. Insect life, particularly the existence of pollinating species in symbiosis with the flora, as well as crustaceans and birds, are the main forms of animal life in Athion, leaving only a few number of reptiles, mammals and even amphibians. Fish life is of course plenty around the surrounding coral reefs. The most striking symbol of fauna in Athion is the exotic, multicolored pavii'l. A six-winged, large arthropod that initially appears as a strange bird, the pavii'l is a light blue insect with rainbow-colored wings, a thin and long 'beak', and a large tail that protrudes forward and is reminiscent of a bird's feather tail.

A pollinator, the pavii'l can normally be found ingesting the pollen of the larger plant species in Athion, including the c'elur, and going around spreading them with its tail. The pavii'l will suck in the pollen alongside the flower's nectar, and while passing through its body, the nectar will be consumed while the pollen will carry on to their tails, where it will be ejected in spurts while the insect is in mid-air, pollinating the terrain. They reproduce by themselves and lay small eggs by the base of large flower species, and are known to be a very asocial creature, largely ignoring the existence of others of its kind. Due to the general lack of fauna in Athion, its only predators are large migratory birds, which can found in Athion during the hot seasons.

Crustacean forms are mainly found underwater and near the beach-side, comprised almost entirely of shell life. Some mollusks are also present in the region. A number of these species has been brought over by the colonizers from other lands, in an attempt to create a healthy fishing culture. There are no lakes or ponds within Athion, therefore all the fish life is found either around or underneath the island, inside the cave systems. Water mammals are somewhat uncommon, but occasionally migrating species will pass by. The local fish species typically spend their lives year-round in the island's coral reef, as it provides them with a lush and food-rich biome, not to mention the cave population which feeds on c'elur roots.

A worthy mention is a fish species named aneki. Aneki, a medium orange disk-shaped fish, are known to attach to c'elur roots and spend their entire lives like this, essentially draining the plant of its sap in order to survive. They are regarded as a parasite and efforts have been made to exterminate them from the environment. Most of the animal life in Athion is edible by zu'aan standards, and the resulting gastronomical scene is rich and widely renowed. Due to the lack of land animals, they are largely pescetarian and have adapted to co-exist with the fish life, while consuming it. They have had a significantly small ecological footprint on Athion's ecosystems, proving a careful and worthy approach.

Historical Timeline of Ages

Age Name	Dates	Controller
Stone Age	Before 1E 0	Unknown
Copper Age	1E 1–1E 2200	Unknown
Bronze Age	1E 2200–1E 4400	Unknown
Iron Age	2E 0–2E 700	Unknown
Ancient Age	2E 700–2E 2200	Unknown
Middle Age	3E 0–3E 2050	Unknown
Early Modern Age	3E 2050–3E 2600	Unknown
Industrial Age	3E 2600–3E 2700	Unknown
Machine Age	3E 2700–3E 2800	Unknown
Atomic Age	3E 2800–3E 2850	Unknown
Space Age	3E 2850–3E 2875	Unknown
Information Age	3E 2875–3E 2900	Unknown
Genetic Age	3E 2950–3E 3000	Unknown
Awakening Age	3E 3000–3E 3415	Unknown
Twilight Age	4E 0–4E 500	Leruntshy City Zu'aan

Place

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Athion Flower Island

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This article is written by mightyvanilla. Copyright 2026 mightyvanilla. All rights reserved.