Forgotten Island
The Forgotten Island, also known as the Island north of Vaugarde, the Forgotten Country or simply the Country, is the country where Siffrin and the King come from. Its sudden disappearance from people's memories is the catalyst for most of the events that lead to the story of In Stars and Time.
History
Not much is known about the Island's history, except for its disapperance from people's minds.
An unknown event linked to Wish Craft[1] caused everyone to lose all memories related to it, including its precise location, its culture, its language and its inhabitants.[2] People who have spent most of their life on the island, like Siffrin and the King, have extreme amnesia because of it (to the point of forgetting their own name), only remembering small snippets of their life on the island before immediately forgetting what they were talking about. Whenever people try to remember something about the island or read something written in its language, they get a sudden and painful headache, and trying to say its name can cause severe pain and distress that can lead to death.[3]
The island is still physically present and people can technically still see it, but they will be unable to identify it as the Forgotten Island.[4]
The forgetting of the Island hasn't had a lot of repercussions on the rest of the world for quite some time. However, the sudden loss of years worth of memories and cultural heritage has taken a heavy toll on its inhabitants' mental health. After being taken in and cherished by the people of Vaugarde, the King grows so scared of losing his home again that he decides to use Time Craft to freeze the whole country in time, so as to keep it perfect and unchanging forever.[5] Siffrin's frequent memory losses and lack of a place to truly call home are also the main source of his insecurities: his fear of being alone after Mirabelle's quest is over is what makes him unwittingly trap himself inside a time loop in order to stay with his friends forever, thus starting the events of In Stars and Time.[6]
Description & Culture
Most information about the Forgotten Island has been lost. However, small tidbits can be gleaned from Siffrin and the King's dialogue.
The King describes the island as having mountains and beaches with black sand.[7] Siffrin having a temperature-regulating cloak hints at the island having big temperature changes, with hot days and cold nights.[8]
The inhabitants of the island most likely had a light complexion and light hair, as seen from the King's and Siffrin's appearance.[9]
The inhabitants of the island do not follow the Change belief: instead, they worship a god called the Universe, which seems to have some kind of control over fate and wishes. This makes the Country's inhabitants the only people able to properly use the rituals associated with Wish Craft.[10][11] They have a strong affinity for things related to space, stars and astronomy in general compared to other cultures: this is strongly reflected in their language and idioms, such as using "stars" as an interjection[12] and "blinding" as a substitute for a swear word.[13] They also seem to put a strong emphasis on sailing and the sea, with Siffrin's family having their own boat and Siffrin knowing how to use it despite being a teenager at the time.[14]
Unlike the people of Vaugarde and Ka Bue, the people of the Forgotten Island seemed to prefer functionality over aesthetic when it comes to clothing and mostly wore plain, yet comfortable clothes.[15] They also wore pins on their clothes.[16] Their craftmanship was especially good, using special stitching techniques[17] and advanced Craft to make the clothes able to regulate their temperature and grow with their wearer.[18]
Most stories from the Forgotten Island have been lost, though one can be found in a locked room in the House of Dormont: it's a cautionary tale[19] which tells the story of a lonely person whose problems are ignored by their friends and family. Realizing that no-one will truly understand them except themselves, they decide to create a perfect copy of themselves, in order to have someone to talk to.[20] After several unsuccessful attempts, they finally achieve their goal by using Wish Craft.[21] This story seems to closely parallel the past of one particular character, though the likeness is purely coincidental.
When it comes to funeral rites, it is common for the inhabitants of the Forgotten Island to throw the ashes of the deceased to the sky.[22]
Related characters
- Siffrin
- Loop
- The King
- The sister of the daydreaming one
- A handful of unnamed characters (a baker related to Siffrin's Incident, someone in Isabeau's Friendquest)
Trivia
- insertdisc5 says her inspiration for the Forgotten Island's culture was initially Guadeloupe, but that she'd rather leave it to the player's imagination.
- According to them, the Forgotten Island is definitely not based on the United Kingdom.[23]
References
- ↑ "A wish made everyone forget the Country" | https://insertdisc5.tumblr.com/post/739585437105094656/the-in-stars-and-time-spoiler-qa
- ↑ "Ah, the island north of Vaugarde, I remember when it happened. Well... 'Remember' isn't the right word, is it? We all just know something happened. An entire stretch of land disappearing from people's mind doesn't happen often, does it?" — Odile, remembering the event that caused the world to forget the island, In Stars and Time
- ↑ "Also, Dad noticed no one can say the name of the island north of here anymore? I tried to say it yesterday and I got like the WEIRDEST headache for HOURS." — Diary in the House's library, In Stars and Time
- ↑ "You see an island in the distance, too." — Siffrin when looking at the scenery at the top of the House during the Epilogue, In Stars and Time
- ↑ See: The King
- ↑ See: Siffrin
- ↑ "The mountains!!! The sea!!! The lightless sand, dark like the night sky!!!" — The King, talking about the Forgotten Island, In Stars and Time
- ↑ "The Country got cold at night" | https://insertdisc5.tumblr.com/post/739585437105094656/the-in-stars-and-time-spoiler-qa
- ↑ "Bright one" — The King, referring to Siffrin, In Stars and Time
- ↑ "You've only wished at a Favor Tree that one time, but it just makes sense!!!" — Siffrin, talking about Wish Craft rituals, In Stars and Time
- ↑ "[Wish Craft] could have been a way to save Vaugarde if everyone somehow wished for it, but no one knew how to do it correctly, so... [...] And the only person who knew how to do it wished for... ... What DID you wish for, Siffrin?" — Odile, talking about Vaugardians not knowing the proper Wish Craft rituals, In Stars and Time
- ↑ "So, you know how you say this word, when you're annoyed or something bad happens? I don't know what language it is, but I always thought it was like a swear word? [...] And one day, I heard someone else say it! So I asked them, and they said it means 'stars'!" — Isabeau during his Friendquest when asked about stars by Siffrin, In Stars and Time
- ↑ "Follow the blinding script" — Siffrin during Isabeau's friendquest, In Stars and Time
- ↑ "So I took our boat! Got to the beach, rowed away from the shore a bit. I was going to come back right away, I just wanted to scare my parents a bit!" — Siffrin, talking about the time he ran away from home, In Stars and time
- ↑ "It's less clothing that's to make you look pretty, or make you stand out, and more clothing that's here to keep you comfy and warm. Function over form, you know?" — Isabeau talking about Siffrin's cloak, In Stars and Time
- ↑ "Everything, from your accent, to the way you use Craft, to the stitching on your cloak and hat, to those pins you wear--" — The King talking about Siffrin's distinctive features as an inhabitant of the Forgotten Island, In Stars and Time
- ↑ "So right here, right, that's super interesting stitching. It's backstitching, right, which is a very solid kind of stitching, and it's used in a lot of different places..." — Isabeau talking about Siffrin's cloak, In Stars and Time
- ↑ "Your cloak's been sewn with some kind of temperature regulation spell crafted into the stitching, that's kind of cool. [...] Aw, it's also been crafted to make the cloak grow with you! It must've been incredibly expensive, unless it was handmade?" — Isabeau talking about Siffrin's cloak, In Stars and Time
- ↑ "It was a story told to you, when you were a child, to make you fall asleep. A cautionary tale of some kind, even if you could never remember the moral of the story." — Siffrin talking about the story in the secret room (ACT 5), In Stars and Time
- ↑ "Seems like it's the diary of a very sad person… [...] It just feels like they lived through some hard times, and everyone around them seems to brush their worries aside… Everyone is acting as if everything's fine, when this person continues to suffer. [...] 'No one can understand what I've been through. Not my friends, not my family, no one. If no one can understand me, if I'm doomed to never be truly seen by another… If I'm the only one who can understand what I've gone through… Then, couldn't I just create another self? Another me? Someone I could talk to, who could understand?'" — Mirabelle telling the story in the secret room, In Stars and Time
- ↑ "Um, they spend a good chunk here trying to figure out how to do it... It's a lot of complicated theory. [...] Oh? This page... It only has a few words, but... 'I've figured it out. How to create another me.'" — Mirabelle telling the story in the secret room, In Stars and Time
- ↑
Siffrin: "Throw my ashes to the sky!"
Mirabelle: "Oh, this is new to me! Is it, perhaps, common, where you come from?"
[Siffrin makes a confused expression, followed by a fake smile, indicating that he doesn't remember]
Siffrin: "Maybe?/Who knows?/(Wink.)" — Siffrin and Mirabelle talking about how they want their bodies to be cared for if they die, In Stars and Time - ↑ "I will ALSO say that ISAT’s map operates on Final Fantasy/General Fantasy rules (i.e. in-universe locations are based off of real ones when it comes to culture, but are not one to one parallels, especially for geography), so no, the Country isn’t based on the UK oh my god please do not say that to me again or im deleting ISAT out of your computers and putting legos at the foot of your bed. It’s based on another place. You can figure it out, I believe in you." | https://insertdisc5.tumblr.com/post/739585437105094656/the-in-stars-and-time-spoiler-qa