Of the writers, perhaps the must notable and luminous exile was the great Piqayean novelist Chaster Kammeston. He not only never visited Muriseay but actively disdained its influence, would not allow Muriseayan artwork anywhere near his house and never received nor of course ever applied for any Muriseayan grant aid. When awarded the highest literary accolade in the world, the Inclair Laureateship for Literature, Kammeston accepted, but on discovering that the ceremony was traditionally held on Muriseay he belatedly attempted to decline the prize. Such was his standing that the Laureateship Committee decided exceptionally to make the award on the author’s home island. The entire committee plus an attendant horde of publishing and media people travelled at their own great inconvenience to Piqay. Kammeston did then rise magnanimously to the occasion, accepted the Laureateship humbly and thankfully, and made a gracious acceptance speech in which he praised a number of his fellow authors.
The mime artist, Commis, refused for years to take his performance to the island. He never gave any reason. It is thought that his short Muriseayan season of live performances was booked either in error or against his wishes by his agent. The agent died in mysterious circumstances shortly afterwards, and Commis himself was murdered before he could reach Muriseay to fulfil the contract. Because of the unusual nature of his murder, it was cynically rumoured at the time that he had staged or falsified his own death to break the contract, but this is an outrageous suggestion. It remains none the less that his work is unknown on the major island except, ironically, by word of mouth.
Rascar Acizzone, the tactilist master, was a native of Muriseay, but he was sent into permanent exile after a period of imprisonment. Although his work is still officially disapproved, the museums and galleries in Muriseay Town do have examples of his extraordinary paintings in closed case, for examination solely by academics, historians and genuine students.
A similar exception to the rule was the landscape painter and portraitist Dryd Bathurst. He was permanently barred from entering Muriseay after some incident during a visit in his youth. It appears that there was a policier or probation element to this ban, not an artistic one, because his work hangs prominently in several galleries on the island. And Jordenn Yo, the earthmoving installation artist, tried several times to enter Muriseay but was refused entry every time.
However, these people are the exceptions and the Muriseayan artistic influence remains the most important in the world. Visitors intending to take advantage of this immense heritage should plan an extended stay on the island, or make repeated visits so they might fully appreciate the huge range of material the island has to show.
Currency: all accepted in Muriseay Town; elsewhere the Archipelagian simoleon, Muriseayan thaler and Aubracian talent may be used at commercial rates. Forces’ paper money is also accepted in the port areas of the big coastal cities.
Nelquay
SLOW TIDE
A small, obscure and largely unvisited island, NELQUAY is situated in the cool northern latitudes, part of the Torqui chain of islands. The economy is agrarian peasant, although a speculative construction project is under way to build a marina, hotel and casino complex.
This controversial and ambitious development attracted scores of migrant workers from neighbouring islands — notably from the adjacent Hetta Group — many of whom remained on Nelquay when the construction work went into abeyance. The financial backers of the project were not known, and the marina became subject to scrutiny by Covenant administrators. It would have involved the building of a new harbour immediately adjacent to one of the military shipping lanes. As that put the island potentially in breach of the Covenant, the entire project has been put on hold until more is known about who is behind the project and what their intentions are.
After the murder of the mime artiste Commis, the search for the killers soon focused on Nelquay. This was because there is a direct ferry route between Nelquay and the town of Omhuuv, where Commis was killed. A group of itinerant workers who were known to have been on Nelquay for the marina construction were seen in the vicinity of the killing at the time. They left Omhuuv just after the murder and there were witness accounts of them boarding the ferry to Nelquay.
Officers of the Policier Seignioral from the Hetta Group visited Nelquay Town and raided the address where these men were known to have been lodging. None of the men was present — to date they remain fugitives — but a great deal of incriminating material was discovered in an outhouse at the back of the property. A lot of construction equipment and materials had been concealed there, and this included a sheet of plate glass, similar, according to policier forensic scientists, to the sheet that was used to murder Commis.
Later some men were arrested in Nelquay, but were released without charge.
A dry, blustering katabatic wind called the Sora, which rises in the cold plateau of the mainland not far to the north of Nelquay, sweeps across the island most nights. Livestock on Nelquay is hardy, the main crops are beets, potatoes, carrots, leeks, swedes.
Kal Kapes visited Nelquay once, seeking imaginative exposure to the colder, more undeveloped and therefore more challenging areas of the Archipelago. He had always responded to the myths of the barren north, the great quest sagas of the seas and the legends of the frozen heights. He stayed for three months but there was no university or library on Nelquay, no one he could talk to, nothing to inspire him but the cold sea, the grey landscape, the seabirds and an almost unvaried diet of boiled mutton. He persevered, but he was alone. One night, close to the harbour in Nelquay Town, he was beaten up and robbed at knife point. He departed the next day.
Currency: Archipelagian simoleon.
Orphpon
STEEP HILLSIDE
Although there are vineyards on many islands throughout the Archipelago, the island of ORPHPON is the producer of some of the finest wines. Traditionally sold in cask form and never bottled on site, the wines are shipped to specialist distributors where they are repackaged. The white wines called ORSLA, from the hilly districts of Orphpon, are sharp, bright and dry. The AETREV of some of the neighbouring islands are a little sweeter, and vary in colour from a rosy yellow to a greenish gold, and have a bouquet reminiscent of spice and berries. These are the wines most eagerly sought by connoisseurs.
The wines from the southern coast of Orphpon are a coarser red, generally deemed undrinkable at the table, and are shipped to blenderies on the northern mainland where they are mixed with other table wines, or used as the basis for fortified aperitifs.
Olives are grown in the same region. On several of Orphpon’s neighbouring islands the income from olive cultivation exceeds that of the vineyards.
Many people move to the Orphpon group of islands because of the presumed congeniality of the ambience, the warm summers and what is thought to be the spirit of good neighbourliness amongst the islanders. Much of this would appear to be true. However, there are strict shelterate laws and unadvertised visa restrictions.
Only by travelling in person to Orphpon will you discover that your stay is to be restricted to fifteen days, even should you have a firm booking at a local hotel or other resort, and that you will not be allowed to return for another two years. Outsiders and casual visitors rarely understand the reasons for these strict rules and every year there are attempts to breach or ignore them. Such visitors will then discover how strictly enforced are the laws. The prison regime in Orphpon Town is downright unpleasant and rigidly enforced (we write with some experience), and the authorities routinely maintain several empty cells throughout the holiday season in readiness for would-be visa deniers.
However, most of the cells in the prison do command an attractive view across the harbour and adjacent islands.
Unusually for the Archipelago, Orphpon is not a feudal state with a bill of rights for the freedom of the
