Cinder Isle (place)

## Cinder Isle

Concept art of the map and layout of Cinder Isle

*This article is about the location. For the comic series, see Cinder Isle.*

**Cinder Isle** is a small coastal island in Maine USA in the Sapphire Foxx Universe. While exact location is not specified background art seems to depict it somewhere off the southeast coast of main near Brunswick and Portland. It serves as the main setting for the comic "Cinder Isle" and the beyond comic "Cinder Isle: The Cure". It is home to most of the main characters including: Gavin/Gaela, Zach, Shane, and later Nathan/ Natalie (the Quad). The Island is described to be around 200 square miles and has numerous unique and separate environments including beaches, at least one major mountain, marshlands, and forests.

In 1996 the island was placed under military enforced quarantine due to the emergence and outbreak of what was referred to as the T1-G1 Virus. In an effort to cover up the paranormal elements of the virus and further ensure its containment the outside world was told that a freighter carrying Nuclear Waste had capsized in a storm off the coast of Cinder Isle and the resulting contamination and radiation killed all the residence and rendered the entire area toxic. In reality however the residence were all cut off from all outside communication outside of the military and CDC and were left quarantined indefinably due to the danger the Virus posed to the global population. While the US government arranged for any needed supplies to be brought in and did care for the residence while they were trapped on the island, they were also strictly enforcing the quarantine. Even authorized to use deadly force to prevent escape.

The Island remained in quarantine for 400 days until the efforts of the Quad restored Alistair Huntington, the sorcerer who was indirectly responsible for causing the outbreak. Once he was restored, he was able to use his abilities to not only cure every one of the virus, but also use Mass Memory Alter (MMA) to modify the worlds memories so the cover story or quarantine never happened in their point of view. While only the Quad and Alistair maintains the knowledge of what actually happened on the island in 1996-1997 the rest of the population and the world see it merely as a minor island with a few nice tourists spots off the coast of Maine.

## Notable Locations

* **Underwood Forest** - a forested area at the northern center of the island and mainly only full of trees and brush for several miles and is surrounded by the rural housing areas of the town. In the deeper parts of the forest lies a small spring fed lake that served as ground zero for the T1-G1 outbreak. The lake's underground spring become linked to the flow of red water from a Faultline cavern originating from Alistair's island. This resulted in the water of the lake turning a deep crimson red and being laced with the infectious curse that would be seen as the virus. The surrounding area of the woods also housed a great deal of wildlife, but after the emergence of the ghosts and the Abomination as well as the military presence there following their discovery seemed to mostly drive off said wildlife.
* **Cinder Isle Highschool** - The main large school on the island attended by all the local children. A rather large school with a sizable campus area as well as high number of classrooms. The school also offered other facilities such as sporting arenas and a well-equipped gym. The school was the main location of the beginning of the T1-G1 outbreak but following this only a few small outbreaks occurred on its grounds. Due to the quarantine, there were a number of changes made to some of the school's functions such as dividing the existing sports teams into smaller groups to compete against each other allowing some degree of a sporting season for the locals.
* **Sweet Bread Lodge** - a ski and camping lodge located on the island's central mountain Mt. Sebago. While implied to be a popular tourist destination in the winter months, the quarantine made the tourist trade effectively non-existent and instead the lodge offered its ski slopes and rentable cabins at big discounts to the locals to have weekend trips and family holidays away from town. The Lodge included many different commodities and services such as restaurant(s), Ski and Snowboarding slopes of various sizes, rentable cabins, hot springs, spa services, etc. While still located on the island the lodge seemed to be high up and isolated enough on the mountain to make it somewhat of a getaway for the locals even during the quarantine and was located far enough away from town that a winter blizzard would make the roads impassable for a couple days.
* **Cumberland Marsh** - a large marshlands that served as most of the islands southern end. Mainly a very swampy and water covered area this march was mostly left uninhabited apart from local wildlife. During the virus however a few of the ghosts on the island used the isolation of the march as their home. Effectively making a home in a small, abandoned fishing shack they could inhabit when active.

## History

In 1996 an Earthquake from a nearby epicenter shook the island and caused minimal damage at the time. About a month later however unknown to anyone at the time, a fault line cavern had formed that linked an underground cave at the bottom of a small lake in Underwood Forest to the curse vault chamber of Alistair's Island which was hidden by magic over a hundred miles away. As a result, the fluid from the decayed Gender Curses Stored in the chamber flowed through the fault line and seeped into the lake causing its water to turn a deep red shade and contain a variant of the curse and its effects.

In late September of that year three boys, Gavin Scarborough, Zack Houlton, and Shane Gardiner, found the lake. Zack had unknowingly exposed himself to the curse when he washed his face in the red water and due to its fluid like state the curse affected him similar to a pathogen or contagion resulting in the outbreak of the T1-G1 Virus. After the initial few dozen cases of the virus were reported and assessed the CDC and US military ordered a Strick quarantine of the island with instructions to kill anyone who tried to flee and arrest anyone who attempted to enter. The first several days of this saw the island descend into chaos from the uproar and anger of the residence. At this time the military elected to cover up the truth of what was happening on the island and disseminated a false news story that a Nuclear Freighter had capsized off the coast and contaminated the area resulting in the deaths of everyone on the island and anyone who tried to get too close. After about a week however the military arranged for regular shipments of needed supplies to be sent to the island so the population could maintain a certain degree of normalcy and be provided for.

Over the course of the next year the virus would continue to spread across the island and infect its population. Around the time of mid spring in 1997 it was estimated about 50% of the population had been infected but most major and large-scale outbreaks burned out after about 2-3 months and most infections were individuals or small groups. Exactly one year after the original outbreak of the virus it was estimated that just under 90% of the population had been infected with just over 500 men left on the island as a result. At this point the current mayor of the island Mayor Westbrook decided to hold a commemorative festival to hopefully bring some light and positivity to the community. However, at said festival two delinquents by the names of Bridget and Frank attempted and succeeded in infecting the rest of the population but were caught and arrested for bioterrorism. Their actions however contaminated the island's water supply resulting in the rest of the population getting infected with the exception of Gavin who was found to be naturally immune to the virus.

A few months later, the Quad managed to find and repair a damaged Alistair Huntington who revealed the true origins of the virus and offered to help them repair and undo the damage as well as erase it from memory so it would be perceived as the virus never occurred and life continued as normal for the population of the island. The quad then arranged to have a question added to the island's election ballot that year asking voters if they wanted to change back to their normal bodies or not. After assessing the poll results and reading the minds of anyone who didn't vote, a fully restored Alistair performed his MMA and cure spells to effectively eradicate the virus and rewrite the memories of everyone in the world except for the quad. It is now remembered by the world that there never was a T1-G1 Virus or island wide quarantine and that any of the infected who elected to remain changed had in fact always been that way since birth.

Following the MMA and removal of the virus from Cinder Isle, life seems to have continued and progressed normally for the inhabitants. In 2018 after the destruction of Alistair's Island at the hands of Sylvana Huntington, the New Sapphire Legion fled the explosion and teleported to the coast of Cinder Isle as it was both nearby and Alistair knew he could seek the help of his friends Zack and Gaela who still lived on the island.