#isolas

Map Wall - Several maps have been attached to a bulletin board hidden inside the alcove. They're held up by small pins. The board has come loose from one corner.

Map Wall - The maps look old and faded. Your eye catches a map of Insulinde, a map of Revachol, and a map of Martinaise.

You - Look at the map of Insulinde.

Map Wall - This large map displays archipelagos. You see a constellation of small dots on the light blue emptiness of the Insulindic ocean. The largest, in the northeast, is "Le Caillou" (you are here). Another, far away in the southwest -- "Semenese Islands (Ile du Fantôme)".

You - What else?

Map Wall - Ozonne, Laurentide, Face-a-la-Mer, Archipelagos, North Arcade Islands... all just specks of dust on the vastness of the Insulindic. On the edges of the map, the colour fades into a blur of dotted lines. Black and white.

Visual Calculus - Disintegrating into mathematics.

Inland Empire - In the northeast a dust mite stands on the north coast of Caillou. In a bookstore. It's you.

Shivers - Radiating outwards from you -- the Suzerain Revachol. With a radius of 80 kilometres. Still, the crown jewel of this isola would be barely visible.

You - Squint first -- can you see *cities* on the islands?

Map Wall - You can. On Caillou -- Revachol, a single black star; on Ozonne -- Fond de l'Air and Virmandeux; on Archipelagos -- Croyant-Morain, Villiers; on Semenine -- Olduvai. And on Laurentide -- Deora Of The Seven Seas...

Empathy - Lost little pearls of light. Tiny fires in the dark.

Encyclopedia - 850 million people live on these little dots. An oceanic world of culture and commerce, torn apart by history.

You - Look at the edges.

Map Wall - The ocean breaks apart into a tangle of cosines and azimuths, all pointing into pale nothingness. *Mundi* is the north azimuth; *Graad* is the northeast azimuth; *Samara* is the east azimuth; *Seol* is the west azimuth. *Isolas*, they're called.

Inland Empire - Connections to other worlds. Worlds past the Insulindian, unknown to you. You only know you've never been there.