Vritona

Vritona
The emblem of the T'vaqi Coastal Patrol, often used to represent Vritona.
(Click for location in the Eastern Ocean.) (Click for map of Vritona.)
Largest city	Soqho
Demonym	Vritona'i
Establishment
• Claimed	X-X 58 PC
Area
• Total	1.767 km2 (0.682 sq mi)
Population
• Estimate	350
• Density	198.1/km2 (513.1/sq mi)

Vritona is an island in the Eastern Ocean. It was claimed and settled in 58 PC by the Nation of T'vaqi, and comprises the easternmost extent of the nation.

Geography

Vritona is a small ring-shaped island, about 0.409 dodoshi (1.5km) in diameter at its widest point.

Ecology

• Amanala, N'shoqala

History

rough timeline

• X-X 58 PC: discovered, settled
• 59 PC: tourism begins for the wealthy, hotel or two
• 60 PC: q'so house
• 62 PC: soqho established
• 62 PC (later): n'shoqala discovered
• 8-8 66 PC: ~750 tcp soldiers moved to vritona, in retrospect idk how tf
• 25-4 67 PC: discovered to be a volcano
• 17-6 68 PC: q'so hides in his bunker
• 72 PC: i'o qopam established
• 76 PC: public port near soqho

Settlements

Vritona has two main settlements, Soqho ("east") and I'o Qopam ("copper eye"). A number of individuals, usually not exceeding two dozen, live in various small vacation homes in parts of Vritona's forest.

Soqho

Soqho is the larger of the two settlements, with a population of approximately 260 during the warmer months and 200 in winter. The town comprises the eastern half of Vritona, not including the Pale Caldera. It is populated mainly by high-ranking members of the T'vaqi Coastal Patrol and their families, though some wealthy families from the mainland own vacation homes in the town. There are two small hotel buildings in Soqho for visitors. The town contains Soqho Port, the only public port on the island. T'vaqi explorations of the Eastern Ocean typically stop at Soqho Port to refuel.

Miqovi Q'so

On 1-2 60 PC, Grand Magister Insi Q'so ordered that a private vacation home (outfitted with an underground bunker) be constructed on Vritona for his personal use. Several construction teams were paid large sums of money to temporarily relocate to the island and build the house, which Q'so wanted complete before the fifth Haracalnde month. This briefly brought the population of Vritona into the hundreds. The house, located in the north of the island, was finished on 4-4, at which time Q'so left mainland T'vaqi to stay in the house.

Q'so would depart from T'vaqi to visit his vacation home at least once per year. On 17-6 68 PC, during the height of the Tricade War, Q'so left the mainland to hide in the house's bunker out of fear for his own safety. On 22-11, Q'so suffered a nervous breakdown after months locked inside the house, boarding an unoccupied ship docked at Soqho Port and steering it northeastward without supplies. A month later, on 26-12, he was discovered treading water under the capsized (but still floating) hull of the ship, and transferred back to the mainland. It is not known how long he spent under the ship, nor how he managed to survive a month on virtually no food or water.

After Q'so's subsequent arrest and trial, his house was made available to rent for a high price.

Weather stations

Two weather monitoring stations exist in Soqho, located on the northernmost and southernmost points of Vritona. Both stations work in tandem to measure ambient temperature, humidity, wind speed, and atmospheric pressure once every shav (2h 24m). This information is relayed back to the mainland via radio. Due to the small size of the island, both stations usually make near-identical readings; the two stations exist together as a means of increasing redundancy, so that if one begins making faulty readings the other can assume control and maintain the schedule. At least two employees are staffed at each station at all times.

I'o Qopam

I'o Qopam is the smaller of the two settlements on Vritona, with a permanent population of about 90. It was established in 72 PC as a research base intended to study the geology and environment of the Pale Caldera. The town comprises the western half of Vritona, including all of the Pale Caldera. Most residents of I'o Qopam live in one of two communal housing buildings, which are connected via dirt road to laboratories.

Surrounding islands

Several small rocks near Vritona have been observed and documented by members of the TCP, though few are notable. The largest, named Tala (Throne) is approximately 1.3 padoshi (74.55m) in diameter at its widest point and 9.67 doshi tall (17.33m) at its highest. No attempts to claim these islands have been sustained.

In 76 PC, a curious discovery was made by residents of I'o Qopam, who had just found a previously undiscovered rock a few hundred doshi northeast of Vritona. The rock is unremarkable save for a single plastic candy wrapper found wedged under a stone, on which a faded message was written in ink: "I WILL NOT DIE". The wrapper was taken back to I'o Qopam as a curiosity.