The Soon Islands

The **Soon Islands** are a small archipelago apart of Nareemia located 1,345km west of Kamver Island and the island is in the northern Marima Ocean. The island is famous for its snow-capped fjords, small fishing villages, special ritual monuments and as well as being one of the closest parts of Herethear closest to Parania and Pasia, meaning one of the first places Paranians hit was probably the **Soon Islands**. The island comes in third on closest places to Parania, after western Kutwhe and Paudchaud, Siere.

The island achieved its name from the word “monsoon”, as when Paranians sailed across the Marima Ocean to mainland Nareemia, encountered many monsoon storms that are common in the Marima Ocean, so they set sail for the Soon Islands and made it their recovery, often taking shelter in one of their caves.

The island experiences all four seasons, in spring, a cool breeze comes rounding the island with common foggy, moist, humid and misty days, many island inhabitants call this sensation “foggy hour” which usually starts around 5 a.m and ends around 10 a.m every day from late March to mid June. In summer, the island experiences extremely hot temperatures, a humid subtropical air flows from the southern nations of Kutwhe up to the island, making that sweet fruity aroma rise around the island. In fall, the leaves change colours, while the days become windier and cooler. In winter, the island experiences snowfall much like the mainland with cold, dropping temperatures.

## History

Before 1760, when Paranians came, the area was dominated by a singular tribe, known to the Paranians as dirtyfoot. They were called Dirtyfoot as they always walked barefoot through dirts, bogs, mountains and cliffs, leaving ash stains and dirt stains implanted onto their foot. They also were known to climb trees well and collected pine sap to cure coughs and pneumonia.

During the Marima monsoon season (May-July), the dirtyfoot tribe got their safeties ready and headed for shelter, only to see ships coming by their island and hear chanting and yelling as they heard a ship dock onto the shores of the Soon Islands. Then, they saw sailors, captains and other gentlemen dressed in fine clothing hop off the ship, run to the island and take shelter in a cave approximately 340m away from them. The dirtyfoot were frightened, so they tried their very best to make themselves not visible, putting palm leaves, pebbles and rocks at the mouth of the cave to hide themselves.

After days of hiding, the tribe’s chief, Hukanawomatanatana gained courage and greeted the Paranian sailors, therefore, the two tribes and the Paranians gained a friendship and worked together to live in peace. The dirtyfeet tribe built houses and huts for the Paranian sailors while the sailors made them shoes so they wouldn’t get “dirty feet”.

## Flora and Fauna

Fauna in the island includes great blue herons, northern flickers, Heermaan’s gull, trumpeter swans, red-breasted sapsuckers, yellow-bellied sapsuckers, Melanerpine woodpeckers, goldfinches, auk puffins, barred owls, downy woodpeckers, black-headed grosbeaks, redstarts, olive-sided flycatcher, song sparrows, spotted towhees, and the great white pelican. Few mammals occur natively in the island, pothead whales, minke whales, white-beaked dolphins, sperm whales, blue whales, and the harbour seal are the marine native mammals that occur through the region. Native land mammals include the white-tailed deer, the black bear, and the red fox, while introduced mammals include the gray wolf, the common hedgehog, and the woodchuck. Amphibians and reptiles include wood frogs, common toads, slow worms, sand lizards and western skinks.

## Gallery

A dirtyfeet womanA white-tailed deer in a foggy meadow in the early hours in The Soon IslandsA trio of deer running in The Soon IslandsA albino black bear in the Soon IslandsA red fox in the Soon Islands, huntingA dirtyfeet village lady in her outfit sewed by the ParaniansA dirtyfeet lady and childThe introduced common hedgehog from Paranians is a common sight in the Soon IslandsThe introduced groundhog is an invasive species in the Soon IslandsA pack of wolves in the Soon Islands, these wolves are not native species.The great blue heron at a lake nearing the port city of HuddingtonA pair of trumpeter swans at a lake nearing Huddington during the foggy hoursA wood frog, one of the few frogs in the Soon IslandsThe introduced hedgehog at a pondA hedgehog mother carrying her babyHuddington, the capital city with a population of 340,000A common toad, the only toad in the Soon IslandsGreat White Pelicans during the foggy hoursA whale