The Great Goddess Tree Tale

VIII - Information about the Isle

It was the end of the summertime. The Sun that had been strong in the last few months now was starting to hide. A light rain was pouring down for three consecutive days. Summer was giving signs of its departure.

The Isle's climate could be sorted as something between tropical and subtropical. The temperature varied between 91,4º F in the hottest Summer day and 39º F in the coldest winter day. According to the Isle's latitude, the seasons were well defined. Each Season showed its colors by the Isle's Flora. Never snowed in Winter, but a cold wind coming from sea diminished the hot sensation.

Besides the Summer, the seawater was still cold. A cold ocean current gets through the West seashore decreasing the temperature. By the other side of the Isle, the Eastside, the seawater was hotter. The incidence of the cold current slope was minimal, raising the temperature of water. That was why the East side beaches were more frequented by tourists and population grew more over that region.

Beautiful beaches with warm waters, cutted through small bays, that was the East Coast Village. The main village was called Center East.

By the other hand, owing to the cold sea current, the West Coast was benefited with many nutrients from the Pole. Plankton was conducted by the current, sustaining the food chain of marine fauna. Some periods of the year it was even possible to see humpback whales swimming through the coast. Dolphins weren't hard to find either. The mammal predators go against the big traveling shoals.

For this reason, the West Coast was suitable for fishing, and most of the income of the coastal population derived from maritime fonts. On the road that followed, from the point of the Inn, the village could be reached in 10 miles. Some 25 extra miles and the West Coast Village could be found. It was the third largest Village in the Isle with more than five thousand households, right after the South Coast Village and the Center East Village. The economy in the West seashore was predominantly fishing-based, making the West Coast Village its main reference. Several fishing ventures that came from the continent were already settling business in that promising side of the Isle.

There was in total four great human groups in the Isle: The South Coast Village, the Center East Village, the West Coast Village, and the Center Southeast Village. The small villages, though, were many and filled the roads that linked the greater Villages.

All the Villages contoured the Isle shores. The wide north was uninhabited and the creatures running from the new era's urbanization went there.

There was a reason for the Villages not having names. The native indigenous population of the Isle, which was already small, had given names to the places that were so large and strange for our language. For example, the South Coast Village's beach was named Suttratvana. The plains where Kalima had set her Inn was called Yuutaresman.

The settlers that came around 150 years ago found those denominations to be extremely complex and simplified the names of the future Villages, denominating them by their geographical positions. And this way they remained.

Summing up the greater Villages and the small villages, there were an approximate 45 thousand households, slightly higher than 170 thousand inhabitants. At that time, a demographic census was difficult to perform and this information came from the Villages' managers.

However, this tropical paradise was already giving hints of growth and prosperity; many households from the Continent, including the fishing entrepreneurs, reached it as their final destination. The new world was now reaching the old, Progress reaching the world of enchanted beings.