Squid Peninsulla

This is Squid Island. Or rather, it was, until an earthquake created a landline to the rest of the continent, turning it into **Squid Peninsula**. On the region live a fauna of voracious swarms of ants and termites that fought constant wars for the control of the scarce natural resources of the island. The opening of the landline threatened to cause a massive natural disaster to the rest of the continent, so many wizards and sages have established a wall of fire to block the insects from crossing. And while it seemed to be working at first, both the ants and the termites are growing more and more bold, digging deeper and deeper holes now that they know there's land beyond the sea...

## The Island of Death

The lands of the former Squid Island are considerably unexplored, even to this day. All the information we have of the island comes from far away observation from the sea and aerial analysis from mozadizz explorers or other flyer races. The island seems to be covered from top to bottom with a deep and thick cover of rainforests, which cover even the highest and most mountainous parts of the land. From time to time, a tree will be seen as falling down for no apparent reason, only to be replaced a couple of months later. The species of plants that cover Squid Island are remarkable in that they are able to grow at an accelerated rate, reaching a height in months what some other trees would need years for. We also know that the island has plenty of rivers, and that it enjoys a stormy weather, very typical for the area. From time to time, a rainstorm chocked full of cinders from okhostial volcanoes turns the trees into a shade of black.

That is pretty much what we know about the island. Every single individual who has tried to set foot on it has met an untimely end, caused by the native fauna. Which, at first glance, seems strange. The island boasts of no big mammal, reptile or great monster, and at first glance, the only real animals spotted by explorers being different species of birds living at the top of the trees, and some small crabs always living near the shores, to sink back into the ocean at the first sight of danger. However, the many remains of shipwrecks lying dead on the beaches, with human remains clean of all flesh and ships stripped of all of their wood show that there is something that feasts on anything that cannot get out of the island in time. The threat that lurks in the dense jungle is not a massive monstrosity, but instead a couple of insect species that are in constant war with each other. The “hell ants” and “hell termites”, as many sailors have named them, are species of eusocial insects that are native to Squid Island. These two species have evolved over time in a brutal race against the other, trying to exterminate the other for supreme dominance of the island, and that has caused every other species of animal in the island to become extinct. While the behavior of these two insects is quite unknown, they seem to have developed an incredible and complex system of organization and hunting.

The combine behaviors of these two species make settling, or even being on the island, absolutely impossible. Any living being who arrives to the island will be immediately detected, and once they start getting deeper into the island, they will be assaulted by swarms of ants, eating their flesh while they are still alive. Meanwhile, the moment a ship or any other construction made out of wood will swarm them, dismantling and disintegrating the transports at an astonishing speed. Many sailors swear they could see with their naked eyes the boats on the shore literally disappear in moments, as if melting. This causes the poor souls in the island to be stranded, where they will be easy prey for the ants. This means that the only survivors of the island are the ones strong enough to reach the shore and swim away to safety, or those who can fly. Even magical protection seems ineffective against the creatures, which makes many naturalists think that they fed off magical creatures in the past, and developed measures to neutralize magic. The lethality of the fauna has resulted in many sailors and nearby populations to know Squid Island as “**The Island of Death**”. However, the only thing that seems to contain the ants and termites is salt water. For many centuries, the only thing keeping these monstrous species from attacking and causing havoc in the rest of the world was their confinement within an island. They are apparently quite sensitive to salt water, having no other defense for it other than grab whatever item is floating at the time and try to wait to go back ashore, chocking when their bodies oversaturate with salt.

## Squid Peninsula and the Wall of Fire

In the year 2.829 ABE, a massive earthquake in the U’ritass Strait provoked the emergence of an isthmus between Squid Island and the land of the Great Ra’Ga. The earthquake also inundated the lands of the now Squid Peninsula, and many think this is the only reason the insect colonies didn’t immediately cross the isthmus towards Giantstep, the flooding of most of the hives in the northern side of the island. The cities and towns of the Ra near the coast were the first ones to notice the change, and having heard the legends coming from the terrible Island of Death, quickly notified everyone they could. Many Ra threw themselves to block the isthmus with whatever they could find, from great boulders to mud and even thulean concrete. The news quickly spread throughout the land, bringing many sailors and pirates, unified for once in their wish that the horrible critters from the Island of Death would stay enclosed in their cursed land. Between them came some wizards and mages, who were the first ones to set up the wall of fire. At this point, the wall of fire simply covered the precarious barricade formed by the Ra had formed, but it proved effective enough.

However, when news of this arrived to the Island of Wizards, many of the highest members of the Ancient Order, having heard of the dangers lurking on the island, and recognizing the potential catastrophe for the world if those things expanded throughout Giantstep, immediately sent some of their order to properly respond to the threat. It was those members of the Ancient Order who, using their great knowledge, set up an immense wall of fire that covered most of the isthmus, blocking it and preventing the ants from crossing through.

Nowadays, the Wall of Fire is a staple of the region, working not only as protection as the ants and termites, but as a light in the night, serving as a lighthouse of sorts for the ships travelling in the area. Ships that now had to circumnavigate the Squid Peninsula, since the U’ritass Strait had been completely blocked. The **Wall of Fire** is constantly watched over by representatives of the Island of Wizards, as well as volunteer wizards from Southern Giantstep. The threat of the insects has not disappeared, however, as they’ve been seen trying to bypass the wall through other means, and it’s frequent to see many wizards creating rituals to scorch the underground, as well as the surface, just to keep the ants and termites to dig deep down and crossing from beneath.