MPC #50-1A "Area Design Contest"

The Shrouded Peninsula

Hugging the border of the Eastern Timberlands, and the Northern Prominence, a vast peninsula awaits--but the journey there is a trek in itself, filled with harsh terrain, hazardous weather, and dangerous Digimon, lying in wait for their next prey to stumble through the mist. Inhabitants of the Digital World have given a nickname to this land, while officially known as The Shrouded Peninsula, it has earned the title of 'The Fog', a fitting name, as the entire peninsula is constantly blanketed in a thick layer of fog, hiding its secrets, cloaking its legends, and fueling its rumors. What adventures await those who are brave enough to step into The Fog...

How do you get to The Shrouded Peninsula? There is only two ways in and out of the cape, both will test the abilities of those who decide to make the journey. Arguably the easiest way into the vast landscape is to go by sea, avoiding the natural barriers tied to the landmass. But don't misunderstand, the seas are treacherous, harsh, only the most skilled or strongest can make it through the freezing rogue waves and strong storms that never end over the turbulent waters. By boat, or other means, the waterway will take you to the main city of The Shrouded Peninsula, Gigabyte Harbor. But not everyone has the luxury of a boat, or Digimon capable of faring the waves, and has to make it here on foot, what does The Shrouded Peninsula have in store for these adventurers? Luckily, after a glacier recently melted, a path to The Shrouded Peninsula on foot has opened up...

You'll know when you're going the right way, the first of two natural barriers isolating The Shrouded Peninsula from the Digital World mainland. As the sprawling forests of the Eastern Timberlands fade to the North, wanderers are met with the first layer--a thick dead forest, forever shrouded in mist...The Silent Taiga. Dense, vast, and full of mystery, these tall spires of poplar and conifer, lives lost to time long ago, lay in an eerie silence. No telling what Digital Creatures haunt this dead Taiga, but those who found out rarely live to tell the tales of their first encounter in The Fog. Those who did whisper rumors of glowing eyes watching them in the mist, strange noises echoing across the usual silence, whispers suggesting one will meet their fate--driving those who stay to long to madness.The Shrouded Peninsula shows its hand early, the thick blanket over the forest floor making trekking through this landscape difficult, compasses seem to go haywire, spinning in circles, but should your direction hold true, one can make it through.

So you've passed The Silent Taiga, a dead fog blanketed forest that likes to play games with compasses, you've found your way North and have broken through the first natural barrier that surrounds the border of The Shrouded Peninsula, what could one expect next? Exiting The Silent Taiga, the trees finally thin out, but only cause something even taller is in their way. A steep ridge surrounds the inner ring of The Silent Taiga, seemingly impossible to pass...but in the distance you can spot 2 tall mountains on this ridge. These are the Alpha Crag, and Beta Peak, two towerous mountains jetting from the ground at a sharp and steep angle, as if it was shoved straight from the center of the Digital Core itself, and forced up through the ground, creating these massive peaks. Between the two mountains, a valley waits. This pass is the only way in and out of The Shrouded Peninsula on foot, the gate to The Fog proper.

If one is brave enough to fare the depths of The Silent Taiga, once finding this pass, the trek becomes slightly easier. Still filled with fog, the valley between Alpha Crag and Beta Peak is thickly blanketed, but rather barren, the narrow passage only about 100 yards wide, and 4 miles long, snaking between the two mountains--its a no mans land...hardly any life, and what life there is--is dangerous. Mountain Dwelling Digimon tend to live across the two mountains, and at times attack those traveling through the pass. While claiming no official name, this passage has been unofficially dubbed Delta Pass, going with the Alpha and Beta names of the mountains surrounding the narrow gorge recently unlocked by the melted glacier. A tiny stream cuts through this passage, and flows towards the exit inside The Shrouded Peninsula proper, making following the stream the best way to navigate the pass between Alpha Crag, and Beta Peak. Straying from this path are many other routes, leading no where--dead ends, caves, graves of lost travelers, marked only by a bone or two left in the place they last stood living.

One particular cave jutting off of this main passage through the mountain range, runs deep into the rocky features, cutting down underground and leading to a large open cavern. Inside this cavern is a crystal clear water pool, and is free from the fog that blankets most of The Shrouded Peninsula--a single oasis among this harsh landscape, isolated and safe. Should one follow the stream, and make their way to the end of the pass, they will find themselves finally within The Shrouded Peninsula proper, instantly gaining amazing views over the fog layered valley, seeing the vast landscape. From here a number of things can be seen, directly ahead is the Aurora Delta, and off in the very far distance the signs of a town can be made out--Gigabyte Harbor.

Our weary adventurer still has plenty to see, only just now having broken through the natural barriers created by The Silent Taiga, and the mighty ridge only able to be passed through by the Delta Pass. Before you is the Aurora Fields, a vast flat landscape featuring zero grass, just dirt and stone, and a lot of stone at that. The fields are absolutely blanketed in rocks, from the size of a shoe, to large enough to easily crush a house and use as a nice perch. During the day, this field is barren, eerie, simple rocks and fog, lasting for miles, but at night, the fields becoming something...different.

The Fog lifts, and reveals the vast rocky Aurora Fields in their entirety, and the most spectacular sight within The Shrouded Peninsula can be seen. The skies at night come alive, a bright Aurora dancing with its green and blue hues across the night sky, giving The Shrouded Peninsula light in the darkness, a soft glow everywhere under these lights. Truly a beautiful sight to behold, and this can be seen from anywhere within The Shrouded Peninsula beyond the Alpha Crag and Beta Peak, all the way to The Fragmented Coast. The Aurora fields goes on for miles, but there is an end to them. Found on the other side of this vast landscape is the main civilization of The Shrouded Peninsula, Gigabyte Harbor, a small but prosperous fishing community at the edge of the landmass, feeding into the Eastern Ocean.

Gigabyte Harbor is a quint village, rather small but tightly pact together, a number of houses, businesses, and other buildings all built ontop of one another, climbing down stepping stones of a cliff side as it comes down to meet the waters. At the waters, a large dock can be found, many boats stationed here from the local Digimon who tend to fish to survive, mainly, almost every resident of Gigabyte Harbor. The inhabitants of this town are kind to outsiders, but this is a false mask, as when your back is turned they are watching you out of the corners of their eyes...they are very weary of those who do not live in the community, but don't push them away. Business is still business, as long as it goes down smoothly--according to the Digimon who live here. Beyond the stores, there is also a large tavern and inn, run by an old lonely Wizardmon, who tends to be the most friendly to outsiders within the town, if not one of the most mysterious. Always having a tale to tell, and a lifted hat to listen to other's problems as they drink at the bar. He has a habit of letting inn rooms go for free, assuming you spent a good time in the Tavern chatting with him and drinking it up.

Gigabyte Harbor is free from the fog that blankets almost all of The Shrouded Peninsula, and despite weary looks and whispers between each other, is a safe place for Digimon and Humans alike. The rumors that fuel legends and superstition sprout mostly from this place, inhabitants telling tales of their adventures within The Fog, weaving tales of wonder and mystery...but are they just rumors, or reality?

The fishing village lays upon The Fragmented Coast, at about one of the only points it comes down to meet the waters gradually. The rest of The Fragmented Coast is made up of miles of steep bluffs, dropping sharply down to the raging seas below, and spanning the entire shoreline of The Shrouded Peninsula as it meets the Eastern and Northern seas. As our weary traveler adventures along The Fragmented Coast, the name will soon become apparent, as there is data missing from the bluffs, resulting in floating masses of rock, splits in the land that must be jumped over, calling it fragmented is putting it lightly, as some parts of the coastline are straight shattered.

As you walk along this fog covered coast, off in the distance a storm can be seen over the seas...raging, thunder crackles and lightning flies constantly from this never ending, stationary storm, just a few miles off the coast the thunder roars across the entirety of The Shrouded Peninsula, echos of it able to be heard as far as the Delta Pass. The lightning of this storm are so intense they take on a bright azure tint, instead of the white or yellow of norm. This storm is the reason for the sea's turbulent nature surrounding The Shrouded Peninsula, the cause for the danger on the waves. Along the Fragmented Coast, closest to the storm, a large outcrop stretches out over the water. From afar this outcrop can be spotted, rising above the layer of fog, but nothing else of interest seems to appear...at first.

Getting closer, just like a mirage, the image of an old Lighthouse slowly will fade into existence. As one approaches, there is notably less rocks surrounding the Lighthouse and the outcrop it sits upon, the only place within The Shrouded Peninsula that harbors green grass, flowers, and even living trees, lining the path leading to the spire that came into view as one neared it. This of course is known as The Forgotten Lighthouse...

Standing a stout 300 feet tall, this once pure white stone tower now sits in disrepair, the once pristine paint weathered and faded to a dull bright gray, moss growing at the base along the side facing the sea and storm, many vines snaking their way around and climbing the tower. Busted windows, a broken down door, clearly the term Forgotten fits, as it seems no one has maintained this lighthouse in decades. A small house is built into the base of this Lighthouse, but is empty, simply having some empty book cases with broken shelves, more busted out windows, and a single lone wooden rocking chair standing in the middle of the room, facing the window towards the sea. Legend tells the tale of a simple lighthouse operator whom used to live here with his family, but after loosing this family to the sea and awaiting years for their return in that very chair, the lonely Digimon left the Lighthouse, the mysterious man was last seen wandering towards Gigabyte Harbor. Word of mouth says the Wizardmon that runs the Inn and Tavern is the very same mysterious man who lived at the Lighthouse many years ago, but this has never been confirmed...nor denied.

Legends and rumors aside, what makes the Forgotten Lighthouse so important? Why is this dead spire of light the center of so many legends? Our adventurer takes the long walk along the seemingly endless spiral staircase that snakes up the inside of the tower, careful to not fall through the missing or rusted out pieces along the way. Reaching the top, what will one find? The light of the Lighthouse is broken, shattered, bult no longer within the socket, leaving only the reflective bowl for the bright light. It appears to be aimed towards the storm out above the sea off in the distance, and should someone find a way to light this reflective surface of the Lighthouse's signature feature, the beam of light can be followed to just above the clouds of the never ending storm...lighting up the side of a large, steep mountain face.

Resting atop the never ending storm's thick dark clouds, only able to be seen from top of The Forgotten Lighthouse, is a large singular mountain peak, sharply jetting into the sky, with a small plateau at the top. This is known as Fallen Angel's Crest. This is a rather new name given to the peak by the inhabitants of the Digital World, and The Shrouded Peninsula--before it was known as Arashiyama--or Storm Mountain. Rumors of a human girl taking to the top of the peak a decade or so ago, where she was forced to die or jump by a powerful Digimon, fell from the mighty crag and into the storm below, gave rise to its new name--Fallen Angel's Crest.

Broken down, The Shrouded Peninsula is a land of mystery, legends, superstition, dangerous Digimon, and beautiful sights that can only be found within the isolated landscape. The path through Dela Pass opened, the glacier that once blocked the pass between the mighty Alpha Crag and Beta Peak has opened, giving access to this land by more then those brave enough to face the waters, giving the inhabitants of the Digitlal World and its Human World visitors access to this harsh, vast, but beautiful and lore filled land. What of you young wanderer, do you have what it takes to step into...The Fog.