Are there already people living on Armageddon Reef?

Yes, it is the most demon-haunted piece of land on all of safehold. But could a few dozen- or even a few hundred- people be wandering around there? I could imagine a couple of reasons why people would be living on Armageddon reef.

First, shipwreck victims. If it was just one ship, the survivors may not be able to repair or rebuild well enough to get off Armageddon reef.

Second, criminals. The one place on earth that you can guarantee that nobody else is going to come after you. They'd probably figure that being on the reef is punishment enough.

Finally, Knights Templar who get it into their heads to go demon hunting. Might there not be a few church fanatics itching to take on Shan-Wei on her own ground?

The first and second groups might actually have had children, so you could have a few generations of people who have grown up on Armageddon Reef. But I imagine, as a group, these people would infuriate the church even more then Charisians. Would the church have a policy of trying to hunt the first two groups down?

All possible!

Is Armageddon Reef close enough to shipping lanes that it would make a good base for pirates?

There is no textev for this, but it is possible if not overly likely given the almost universality of belief on Safehold.

Still, it can't be ruled out altogether. Not everybody is pious even on Safehold. If true they are likely safe enough from outsiders sinse the place is known to be demon possessed and it's unlikely that anybody would have the appetite for the task of evicting them.

Don

Where did Merlin set up his train set? I thought he picked Armageddon Reef precisely because nobody lived there. Could be wrong though.

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Annachie wrote:Where did Merlin set up his train set? I thought he picked Armageddon Reef precisely because nobody lived there. Could be wrong though.

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It was way off from the Barren Lands in the Great Western Ocean, not Armageddon Reef. One issue with using Armageddon Reef would have been not being nearly so certain that bombardment would have gone unnoticed, since there is fishing near it and sailing past it going on occasionally and many parts of it aren't far enough from southern Charis. Also, there may be some bit of the OBS that keeps a special eye on it in case any Pei loyalists returned there after the War Against the Fallen.

From the opening scene in HFAF... The Castaway Islands.

Don

Tararoys wrote:Yes, it is the most demon-haunted piece of land on all of safehold. But could a few dozen- or even a few hundred- people be wandering around there? I could imagine a couple of reasons why people would be living on Armageddon reef.

First, shipwreck victims. If it was just one ship, the survivors may not be able to repair or rebuild well enough to get off Armageddon reef.

Duke Thirsk and his fleet were marooned by Cayleb after the Battle of Crag Reach (OAR) on Opal Island just off Armageddon Reef's mainland. While they were able to use their dismantled ships and supplies, still that indicates somewhat livable conditions in that area.

So, does that mean others could be living there permanently? I would say yes as Earth's history shows people living on very bleak and distant places such as Easter Island!

Charybdis wrote:

Tararoys wrote:Yes, it is the most demon-haunted piece of land on all of safehold. But could a few dozen- or even a few hundred- people be wandering around there? I could imagine a couple of reasons why people would be living on Armageddon reef.

First, shipwreck victims. If it was just one ship, the survivors may not be able to repair or rebuild well enough to get off Armageddon reef.

Duke Thirsk and his fleet were marooned by Cayleb after the Battle of Crag Reach (OAR) on Opal Island just off Armageddon Reef's mainland. While they were able to use their dismantled ships and supplies, still that indicates somewhat livable conditions in that area.

So, does that mean others could be living there permanently? I would say yes as Earth's history shows people living on very bleak and distant places such as Easter Island!

Is it that bleak? The north of Armageddon reef is further north [nearer equator] than the south of Charis, and looking at the map S Charis seems to have political subdivisions, rather than just being a cold waste land, which seems to imply a reasonable level of population. I imagine that it could be somewhat like Scotland...

isaac_newton wrote:Is it that bleak? The north of Armageddon reef is further north [nearer equator] than the south of Charis, and looking at the map S Charis seems to have political subdivisions, rather than just being a cold waste land, which seems to imply a reasonable level of population. I imagine that it could be somewhat like Scotland...

The major problem with Armageddon Reef is that it is largely "unsactified" -- i.e. not terraformed -- and that would make survival difficult. What terraforming there was would have been around the Alexandria Enclave and destroyed by the Rakurai.

Not only is it not terraformed, there's nothing _to_ terraform. Textev is that it was scoured to bedrock over the entire surface, and there hasn't been time for vegetation to recover past lichen-equivalents, with perhaps a few mosses. Admittedly, simple statistics suggests that not every blade of grass-equivalent would have been destroyed, but it's not likely that more than a half-dozen trees would have made it through. There won't be much in the way of advanced plant life outside a few lucky or sheltered pockets, which would make unsanctioned settlements hard to sustain.

Weird Harold wrote:

isaac_newton wrote:Is it that bleak? The north of Armageddon reef is further north [nearer equator] than the south of Charis, and looking at the map S Charis seems to have political subdivisions, rather than just being a cold waste land, which seems to imply a reasonable level of population. I imagine that it could be somewhat like Scotland...

The major problem with Armageddon Reef is that it is largely "unsactified" -- i.e. not terraformed -- and that would make survival difficult. What terraforming there was would have been around the Alexandria Enclave and destroyed by the Rakurai.