Iceapelago / n. (pl. -os or -oes) 1. A group of islands surrounded by ice. 2. A frozen land mass with many islands. Gk pelagos sea (orig.= island of Ireland post the collapse of the Gulf Stream
Young Spanish researchers detect seismic tremors on the dormant Caldera de Taburiente on La Palma (Canary Islands).
Scientists atop the Greenland Ice Sheet seek to measure the flow of meltwater.
A manned submersible off Ireland’s Continental Shelf finds early signs of underground volcanic activity.
The stories are interconnected.
One thread binds them all.
Fiction turns into fact.
Iceapelago is formed.
And the Arctic foxes arrive.
It’s thirty years since the collapse of the Gulf Stream and the arrival of the tsunamis from La Palma and the Eriador Ridge off Ireland’s Continental Shelf that created Iceapelago; thirty islands that were once Ireland.
The survivors struggle in pre-medieval conditions to secure food and medicines ahead of Winter Day when tundra conditions lock down Iceapelago for months on end. The Commander, the titular head of Iceapelago, tries his best to manage rising dissent and dissatisfaction. He is supported by some but not all of the elected leaders, the Sixes and Sheriffs from the islands.
An Arctic storm that arrives on the eve of Winter Day causes havoc.
A decade after the Big Storm climatic conditions improved gradually in Iceapelago. The third generation of survivors faced a different set of challenges as improving temperate weather prevailed. The sea ice melted. Crops thrived. Food was plentiful.
The ageing island communities were more settled and self-sufficient but isolated.
Word spread abroad that Iceapelogo had recovered well unlike other less-fortunate regions affected by the extremes of Mother Nature. The leaders of the Principality of Ria Formosa in Portugal target Malahide Castle Island and the other communities around Dublin Bay as their new home.
Rory, the Iceapelago Commander, has to confront the climate refugees. An assault and a defence define the future of Iceapelago.
This is the final part of the Iceapelago trilogy.