Cinder Isles

The **Cinder Isles** are a location on the Stranger. The region consists of a pair of small rocky islands connected by a village of stilt houses.

## Description

### Features

The Cinder Isles are positioned downstream of the River Lowlands and can be accessed from this region. Its defining features are its two islands. One of the islands contains the Island Tower, which has a room that connects to the simulation built by inhabitants of the Stranger.

On the other island is a burned temple that used to be dedicated to the Eye of the Universe. The metal symbol of the Eye can still be found inside the temple.

A slide reel theater is built along the cliffside, where two slide reels can be found. The first slide reel shows how the Stranger's inhabitants analyzed the Eye of the Universe, while the other slide reel reveals how the inhabitants used seals to lock up the Prisoner.

* The slide reel theater
* Theater interior

The rocky islands are connected by three wooden residential buildings. One of the buildings contains a projector that displays a clue on how to access the Island Tower's cave entrance. This building also has a scratched out portrait of the Prisoner.

* Interior of one of the residential buildings
* The exterior of the residential building containing the cave clue
* The clue on how to access the cave entrance
* Scratched out portrait of the Prisoner

### Slide Burning Room

The Cinder Isles contain a Slide Burning Room that is usually hard to find. A map in the Abandoned Temple shows the location of the room. It is located behind the slide reel theater, in a hidden bay. The room has a slide reel that reveals how to access the Forbidden Archive in the Starlit Cove. It also has a passage that connects to the slide reel theater.

* The location of the room
* Exterior of the room
* Interior of the room

### Dam

The Stranger's sails activate around seven minutes into the loop to move the spacecraft away from the impending supernova. Due to the strain this puts on the Stranger, the dam starts breaking down. 13 minutes into the loop, the dam eventually bursts. The Cinder Isles are hit 30 seconds later. The buildings on stilts are destroyed, but the two islands are high enough not to get flooded. The Island Tower falls down 20.5 minutes into the loop, severing its connection to the simulation.

## History

The Cinder Isles originally contained only residential buildings, the slide reel theater, and a temple dedicated to the Eye of the Universe. It was also where the Prisoner seems to have lived. When the Stranger's inhabitants first arrived at the Eye of the Universe, they analyzed the Eye and found out that interacting with it would lead to the end of the universe. Horrified by this discovery, the inhabitants burned the Eye temple on the Cinder Isles.

Shortly after moving the Stranger near the center of the Solar System, the inhabitants started constructing a simulation modeled after their home moon. On the Cinder Isles, they built the Island Tower where they went to sleep to connect to the simulation.

After the other inhabitants locked up the Prisoner, they used the Slide Burning Room to upload a portion of the slide reels into the simulation. Most of the reels were burned there afterwards, with the exception of a few of them, which only had specific slides burned. Lastly, the portrait of the Prisoner in their house was scratched out. The Cinder Isles were then abandoned as the Stranger's inhabitants went to sleep in the simulation forever.