Mysterious island

This island is located off the coast of Farolend. What was gleaned from the few expeditions sent to the area was that it is a mountainous area with a gorge, at least one river, and a spring. One of the reasons for the lack of exploration is that any technology brought to the island fails to operate. To this day, researchers are struggling to find reasons why robots do not function, guns don’t fire, vehicles do not move, cameras do not turn on or record, and batteries do not work. In addition, the sky above the island is always cloudy, preventing satellites from photographing the surface.

The other reason is that any person that steps foot on the island will find changes in their bodies such as growth in height, muscles, breasts, hips, hair, and voice. However, the way this happens is not consistent. There have been varying reports of immediate transformations, gradual transformations, transformations triggered by temperature, weather, or the phase of the moon.

In addition, those people develop supernatural powers. Among the confirmed powers are the ability to teleport, communicate through dreams, and predict the future. Blessed with these abilities, these people feel thankful and indebted, using this opportunity to join the religious cult called the Children of the Island to welcome more members into the fold.

The wind that blows through the island and eventually makes it to the mainland causes a strange, but temporary illness that lasts about two weeks. Much like a seasonal flu, this illness becomes more pronounced during the winter, with the afflicted experiencing the same effects as visitors of the island. These symptoms usually disappear on their own after two weeks. To prevent this, the kingdom initially sought to build a wall to isolate the island. But after it was deemed infeasible, focus instead turned to vaccines leading to moderate success, though development persists each year to combat any evolution to the illness. The vaccine reduces the symptoms to three to seven days.

Though the kingdom issued an official recommendation to avoid the island, many people seek it out, seeing it as a shortcut to greater beauty or an alternative to transition to the opposite gender. This is further spurred on by rumors of a secret spring that, when drunk, causes change within minutes.