N.Sanity Island

N.Sanity Island is a small isle in the Wumpa Archipelago, located 251km west of Tasmania in the Southern Ocean. The island and its companions are geological remains of the lost continent of Gondwana that once connected Antarctica and Australia, but was shattered off over 180 million years ago. It is the second largest of the three islands, and the northernmost and temperate of the archipelago. The island was the first to be explored in the events preceding the Mutant Vortex Crisis, where conflict between the explorers and Wumpians resulted in the death of their chieftain, Papu Papu.

The island bears a highly tropical climate, along with significant mountain ranges and swamp regions. Because only a small amount of Lemurians lived on the island during the apex of their civilization, there are little ruins spread across the island. Most Lemurian ruins are from the Munch era, where Lemurians began moving to the island in higher numbers while conditions on the Wumpa and Palace islands were becoming uncomfortable. The Wumpian populations on the island are the admixtured descendants of these Lemurians, who survived the collapse of Lemurian society. In the years that followed, the Wumpians lost most of their former knowledge and developed a superstitious fear of Lemurian technologies which relied on subterranean minerals. For this reason, the Wumpians do not use stone architecture and instead construct all of their materials out of wood.

Up until the conclusion of the Mutant Vortex Crisis, N.Sanity Island had no inhabitants apart from the Wumpian primitives. Today, the island is the main administrative region for the Wumpian Initative's efforts on the archipelago. It has the highest population of explorers and researchers, who mostly live in and around Fort Brabham, a small base located outside of Wumpian territory. The island also has a small population of Earle'dein, who mostly work alongside the Wumpian Initiative for political and diplomatic reasons.

N.Sanity Island its sister isles were mostly unknown to modern humanity before the Mutant Vortex Crisis, and did not appear on any maps or documents. The islands remained protected by the cloaking magnetic sphere which was activated by the subterranean minerals present underneath the island. The Cortex Corporation discovered the archipelago in 1991, following a worldwide search from malevolent actors such as Neo Cortex. The islands were used as the base for the corporation to amass an army of rapidly evolved mutant animals which dramatically changed the ecosystem of the islands forever. Out of the three islands, N.Sanity Island was the least affected and encountered little to no mutant or scientist presence, due to a 'treaty' made with the Wumpians, in exchange for slave labor.

Pre-Lemurian
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Climate and Geography
N.Sanity Island has a temperate climate and shares endemically unique fauna and flora with the rest of the Wumpa Archipelago. Most of the island is covered in dense rainforests, that surround a mountain that dominates the midland regions of the isle. This mountain experiences sporadic rainfall during climatic cooling periods, and from its heart runs a waterfall streaming violently out the mouth of a skull shaped cave. This cave was presumably carved by the natives or their Lemurian ancestors. Surrounding this river are wetlands and small fertile plains.

Skull Mountain
2,459m

Inhabitants
N.Sanity Island has the highest human population of the entire Wumpa Archipelago, with most of the island being the territory of the native tribe. Tribal territory is defined by its parameters within the boundaries of the tribe's two great walls. These twin walls are relatively new structures, likely under a thousand years old, and are constructed almost entirely out of wood: a rarity in human architecture. The cultural and political center of tribal activity revolves around the Native Fortress, a small city some 20 miles east of Skull River.

Crabs
See Tasmanian giant crab

The Wumpa Archipelago are host to a small population of saltwater crabs, a species of decapod crustaceans with a single pair of pincers. The most popular hypothesis is that these crabs found on N.Sanity Island are Tasmanian Giant Crabs, or some sort of offshoot of that particular species. This claim is substantiated from their geographic relativity to Tasmania, and their shared red color and other characteristics. While Tasmanian crabs can grow quite large, the crabs on N.Sanity Island are on average much bigger, and this could be due to a lack of natural predators on the island to cull their populations and prohibit growth. This phenomenon was seen in the massive growth of Coconut crabs in the Indian Ocean, until human settlement led to later generations become on average smaller. Wumpa Crabs can be as much as three feet tall and five feet wide, and are shown to have high levels of aggression even among their own species and for this reason remain relatively distanced except when to mate. Wumpians believe crab meat to bear medicinal properties.

In addition to their similarity to the growth experienced by former cococut crab populations, some explorers have also speculated that these crabs could be coconut crabs themselves, that escaped the man caused extinctions in Australia. Critics often mention the poisonous edibility of coconut crabs, and point to the common consumption of Wumpa Archipelago crabs by the local population as evidence against this claim. It is also possible that their gargantuan size is because of special genetic traits or mutation from polluted ocean waters, instead of environmental factors.

Mangabeys
See Wumpian Mangabey

Tortoises
See Wumpian Tortoise

The Wumpa Tortoise (or Zenz tortoise) are a unique species of terrestrial tortoises endemic to the Wumpa Islands, and are named after their distinctive red and green shells. Colored shells are actually a rarity among tortoises, and the Wumpian tortoises bright colors make it a unique species, and a surviving trait possibly due to a lack of natural predators. These tortoises are mainly found across all Wumpian islands, with the highest concentrations on N.Sanity Island. The tortoises are not equipped to survive in water, and are even able to survive high altitude conditions as seen on the High Road. The tortoises are worshipped by the native Wumpian tribes, and were brought to the High Road to serve as guides and guardians. This relationship has led to a light domestication of the tortoise, and they are shown to be rather comfortable around humans. Wumpa Tortoises are unique in their ability to survive environmental conditions that would prove hostile to most other tortoise species.

Population
Royal Society: 21,175 (2005) (3,016 in Fort Brabham)

Wumpians: 9,318

Earle'dein: 422

Ruins
N.Sanity Island has the smallest amount of surviving ruins out of any Wumpa Island, and only one substantial structure remains: Aku Temple. Other smaller structures, such as Tiki Pillars, are common across the isle, and it is also highly theorized that the Lemurians were also the ones to carve out the skull shape into the mouth of Skull Cave, though this cannot be proven. In addition to these structures are the most notable eternal wheels and boulder valley, engineering marvels even by modern standards. It is possible that the regions of the island were separated from the main urban areas of Lemurian civilization, and the endemic natives are descendants of a more rural people that survived the cataclysm. These rural people might even have been of a separate race, and these biological differences would explain the cultural and developmental contrasts between the two cultures.

Aku Temple
See Aku Temple

Aku Temple is a monumental structure on N.Sanity Beach and the only standing architectural marvel on the island. The temple bears a striking resemblance to mesoamerican pyramids, and its exact purpose is unknown. It has seemingly been abandoned and is no longer in use by the natives of the island. It is still unknown whether or not the ancient Lemurians conducted human sacrifices, and how connected they were with mesoamerican cultures. The temple is named after the Aku Aku mask which was once imprisoned atop the temple.

Eternal Wheels
See Lemurian Sunwheels

Smaller structural ruins left behind by the Lemurians are the eternal wheels located on common paths and militant routes. These wheels are carved stone structures, laid onto the ground in an arch shape where upon which a stone wheel constantly rolls back and forth from the arch's opposite points. The construction of these technological marvels would have required a great understanding of mathematics and physics, and though they have been maintained and replaced by the natives, they remain for the most part intact. Some wheels are believed to have been active for thousands of years.

It is unknown how these wheels were able to withstand erosion and environmental disturbances such as earthquakes. Each arch has a deepening ridge which allows for a degree of stability in the wheel's motion, though theoretically they would be unable to survive geological tremors.

The purpose of these wheels is unknown, but most explorers subscribe to one of two major theories. The first is the theory of invader deterrence, and that these wheels would be "activated" under threat of invasion, in order to slow the advancement of moving troops. The second theory is much more passive, and views the wheels as a more so decorative or cultural addition.

Boulder Valleys
Within N.Sanity Island's vast network of carved paths, is a trap valley unlike any ever seen before. The valley lies in a road that splits from a fork encountered on one of the major interjungle highways going towards the native fortress. Upon entering this valley, a trap can be set that unleashes a gigantic stone boulder which subsequently rolls forward and crushes anyone on the path. It is believed that perhaps similarly to the stone wheels, the boulder was placed as a trap for any invading forces. Upon invasion, the safe route of the highway would be blocked off, forcing invaders into the trapped valley.