August / September 2012 Lite Challenge: Cataclysmo
The island of Cataclysmo is ruled by The Council, a group of secretive Mathematicians, who reside on the island's only city - Concentricity. It was they who planned the city from the ground up as a series of concentric circles with mag-lines transporting passengers and cargo straight into the heart of the city.
The island is somewhat developed with the elite living in the Exclusivity Estates and the Beachfront Property but as well-planned as Concentricity is it also has the Inner Slums that 'houses', for want of a better word, those who can't afford proper housing. Currently, the New Settlements is being developed but environmentalists claim it encroaches into the National Forest and question The Council's planning wisdom.
In addition to the National Forest are three more reserves: The Forest Reserve, the Botanical Garden and the Centauri Preserve which house a variety of flora and fauna only found on Cataclysmo and nowhere else. This is in stark contrast to the availability of the Hunting Grounds where anyone with a licence is free to shoot up any game according to the stipulated conditions.
The western island is largely undeveloped due to unsuitable land conditions in the Arid Lands and a small patch north-west used as a Gamma Rays Test Site. Many citizens accuse The Council of blatant environmental issues by their secretive Black Ops Research and Engima Labs and blame their unethical R&D for the recent and unexplainable Thermal Blight that now plagues the island. It seem to be a form of dormant malignant lava that continuously bubbles and froth but at a strangely low temperature. While there are two major areas with Thermal Blight, small pockets have erupted in several places and this may be a sign of things to come.
The Council in their logical administration habitually lock up dissenters in the Castaway Prison near Devil's Horn. It is a huge maximum security prison that most locals suspect harbour another 'research site'. Rumoured sightings of strange creatures roaming The Dark Forest give rise to questions on what actually goes on in the Castaway Prison.
By and large, most of the Thermal Blight is contained by The Dark Range and the Westward Range mountain ranges. A statement by The Council explains that major geological and ecological upheavals account for the Thermal Blight rather than any nonsensical Secret Ops. What they failed to mention is that the changing seas, now aptly dubbed The Dark, The Deep, The Cold and The Ice are bringing a yet unheard amount of cold currents crashing against Cataclysmo. This along with the lowering temperature of the seabeds has caused most of the shores to freeze up leaving only the Bay of Numbers and the Bay of Infinity somewhat ice-free.
In short, the island of Cataclysmo, with its Thermal Blight is like a hot egg dropped into a bucket of ice. If there ever was a recipe for disaster, this is it.
