Permian Islands

The Permian Islands, also known as the Dragon Archipelago, is a series of islands which combined make up roughly the same land territory as Australia. In the south, near the equator of Kaimere, the islands are of a searing climate. Further north, up beyond the horse latitudes, the region is temperate. A great mountain range cuts through the islands, leading to an arid west and humid east. This long series of somewhat insular land masses spanning several climate zones has resulted in a high degree of biodiversity.

The Permian Islands consist of three major landmasses, The northern, temperate Septenia, The primarily tropical Meridia, and Occidia, a comparatively large and arid landmass southwest of Meridia.

Western Meridia is mostly hot steppes (BSh), with a stretch of coastal forests (Am) supported by occasional monsoons. The heartlands of eastern Meridia is a verdant rainforest (Af) with monsoon forests surrounding and a savanna (Aw) to the north.  Eastern Meridia is also called the Crocodile Jungle, for this tropical region has seen crocodylomorphs explode in biodiversity. Occidia, the largest island to the south of Meridia and sometimes including the second largest offshore island, is dominated by hot steppes and a few coastal forests.

Septenia follows the general trend of arid and humid as Meridia, though the mountain range is taller and takes less space. The hot desert (Bwh) is completely bereft of moisture. A mix of humid subtropical climates (Cwa) and Mediterranean (Csa) make up the rest of Septenia. To the north, a series of islands with a maritime temperate climate (Cfb) supports a unique cast of flora and fauna.

Notable fauna of these islands includes Dragons and other Eborfeltherians , Bear Crocs, Sloth crocs, tapir crocs, Stallion birds, Quilled Badgers,

### Natural History

At the end of the Permian Dynasty around 200mya, a large landmass broke away from Kairul, one half was the Permian Continent which remained in the temperate zone, while the other half drifted to the Polar Continent. This second half was further split into a subpolar landmass and what would become the Permian Islands, which eventually drifted south towards the temperate zone. Due to the extinction event which ended the Permian Dynasty, therocephalians, especially large and specialized ones, went extinct. On the Permian Islands, a group of cynodonts became top predators, this was due to their lower metabolism, which allowed them to prevail over their intelligent, venomous, and high metabolism therocephalian cousins. For most of the Mesozoic dynasties and all of the Tyrant Dynasty, cynodonts occupied most megafaunal niches.

The Dynastic extinction wiped this slate clean, wiping out all but one clade of cynodont from the islands, and spreading volcanic ash across the islands, causing a mass die off. From destruction came abundance. In the northern island of Septenia, an order of therocephalians called Ebolfeltheria exploded in an adaptive radiation. Around 30mya, a group of ebolfeltherian developed powered flight, the dragons. Having been in competition with large nyctosaurs of the time, they remained in the dense forests. Once the nyctosaurs had gone extinct as a result of the Dynastic Extinction, dragons grew very large in a relatively short period of time, about one million years, and became top predators of open territory.

A cladogram of eboltheria- Keenan TaylorAn extinct macropredatory cynodont- Keenan Taylor
### People

As per Assembly policy the peoples of the Permian Islands were not contacted in any expeditions, though information has been provided by an Assembly historian by the name of Ra Karos. According to the historian Ra Karos, a great civilization in Septenia once existed, though the exact timeline is unknown. According to the oral and written history of the islanders, this civilization was led by a number of witches. Some think these witches were Kaimerans who migrated to the islands, perhaps to escape the calamity that ended the Age of Witches, but others think they were more likely to be indigenous witches, especially since Maku, native Kairulans, and Tlaton of Kaishel all have witches of their own. Regardless of their origin, these witches tamed and domesticated wild dragons to serve as their familiars. Through means unknown, perhaps through rudimentary genetic manipulation like that used by the First Children, these domesticated dragons were dramatically enhanced in size. The production and potency of their venom was also increased, air sacs with low-density gas filled out their chests to facilitate flight with a wingspan now typically between forty and eighty feet depending on the breed, photosynthetic cells in their skin help them supplement unprecedented nutritional demands, and they were completely loyal to their lineage of witch-kings. Peoples of the Permian Islands have also been recorded to have domesticated Permian Jackals.

Some believe that an enigmatic species of dragon found in Pakardia, the Vanyu, was brought from the Permian Islands through trade, though this matter does not have concrete historical records, there is some archaeological evidence.

### Expeditions

As the initiative to explore Kaimere has been a relatively recent one, expeditions to the Permian Islands have been fairly minimal, and in those that have ventured to their shores, many have been killed in draconic assaults.

  The above report had been created from notes and illustrations compiled during a series of studies conducted by naturalists from the Assembly. As is typical of Assembly studies, research was done in as non-invasive a way as possible. The peoples of the islands were never contacted. While this gave a more natural perspective, seeing the ecosystem without influence from the researchers, it does limit the scope of study in many aspects. Future studies with more sophisticated technology, such as drones used in the most recent mission, may reveal information that supports or refutes some of the conclusions drawn from available research. This section is dedicated to Dr. Darren Foster, Dr. Lance Jones, Mr. Hans Juhl, Dr. Oye Nakamura, along with Captain Gerard DuPont and the crew of ARS Atlantis, all of whom lost their lives in the pursuit of studying this island chain thousands of miles from reliable support in the known world.