Phantom island

A phantom island (or Nis Hamdi, literally “Ghostly Island” in Imbu) is a purported island which appeared on maps for a period of time (sometimes stretching for centuries) during recorded history, but was removed later after it was proven to not exist or to have never existed.



Possible Origins
Phantom islands usually stem from the reports of early navigators sailing past already mapped areas to explore new realms. Some have been purely mythical, while others most likely arose through faulty navigational positioning of actual islands, or other geographical errors.

Other phantom islands are likely due to navigational errors, fog banks, pumice rafts from underwater volcanoes, misidentification of icebergs, or even optical illusions. However, some historians postulate that not all misidentifications may have been accidental; Abayadi navigators were responsible for charting much of the Abayadi Sea, as well as adjacent bodies, but were also paid according to the success of their expeditions at the time of the Confederation of Abayad. This may have led some to exaggerate or even invent islands from whole cloth in order to ensure that they were paid greater amounts, cynically scribbling them onto their maps to report back to their backers among the region’s Merchant Families.

The North Allonian Ocean’s Ayub Island was an apparent duplication of a chain of islands to the northwest of Hazala, accidentally recorded as being much further to the northeast than in reality. The island was the subject of a treaty between two Merchant Families, the Husan and the Norami, effectively dividing the world in two between their shipping operations for certain kinds of spices. Due to the error, the Norami secured a much larger amount of the trade than intended.

While many phantom islands appear to have never existed, some may have been actual islands subsequently destroyed by volcanic explosions, earthquakes, submarine landslides, or low-lying lands such as sand banks that were no longer above water. Adqas Bank, believed to have been off the southern coast of Ibora, is believed to potentially have been such a case.