For generations, several clans lived on a volcanic island across the Great Salt Lake from the frozen mainland of Not-Hoth. Geothermal heat made their home warmer and greener than the mainland. The island supported vegetation, animals, and clan settlements beneath the looming Great Smoking Mountain.
The islanders descended from the ancient Sakh and the indigenous People. Their communities had developed separately from the mainland sa-khui, and neither population knew the other still survived. Clan membership, territory, and traditions shaped daily life.
The Great Smoking Mountain was both a defining landmark and a dangerous volcano. Its heat sustained the island's unusual environment, but its eruptions could destroy the settlements that depended upon it.
During the events associated with Barbarian's Taming, the Great Smoking Mountain erupted violently. Earthquakes accompanied the disaster, and sections of the mountain and island collapsed.
Many islanders had gathered away from their home villages for clan proving games. Those who remained behind were largely killed when the eruption devastated their settlements.
The Long Tail Clan was wiped out. None of its members were among the people away at the games, leaving no known survivors after the eruption.
The surviving islanders lost relatives, homes, food supplies, and much of the territory their ancestors had occupied. The disaster did not merely damage individual buildings: it ended the island's former way of life.
Seventeen islanders are known to have survived the first catastrophe: fifteen from the recognized clans and two Outcasts. Survivors included members of Strong Arm, Tall Horn, and Shadow Cat.
The Outcasts had already faced exclusion under the old clan system. Surviving the same disaster did not immediately erase the divisions between them and the recognized clans.
The small remaining population struggled with grief, limited resources, and the loss of established support networks. There were too few people to rebuild the former villages or maintain the old society as it had existed.
The survivors settled on the portion of the island that remained habitable. They erected new shelters and continued hunting and gathering where possible.
Their homeland was no longer as secure or abundant as it had once been. The volcano remained a threat, and the reduced population faced difficulties replacing lost knowledge, sustaining families, and planning for the future.
Years passed between the first disaster and the arrival of Lauren and Marisol. The survivors were not newly displaced when the human women found them; they had already spent years enduring the consequences of the eruption.
Lauren and Marisol, human women rescued from the Tranquil Lady, were separated from the mainland group and reached the volcanic island.
K'thar of Strong Arm discovered them. Their arrival revealed that an inhabited mainland existed across the Great Salt Lake, offering an alternative to the islanders' precarious existence.
Lauren learned about the clans and the danger posed by the Great Smoking Mountain. She urged the survivors to leave rather than risk another catastrophic eruption.
The proposal required the islanders to abandon the last remaining part of their ancestral home. Some feared the unknown mainland, its extreme cold, and the people who lived there. Leaving also meant setting aside longstanding assumptions about their isolation.
The surviving recognized clans eventually agreed to evacuate. They spent approximately a month preparing for the crossing, gathering what they could carry and arranging transportation over the Great Salt Lake.
The islanders could not bring their former villages or restore the people they had lost. They could only preserve useful belongings, skills, memories, and one another.
The two Outcasts remained separate from the recognized clans, reflecting the old social divisions that had persisted even after the catastrophe.
As the islanders departed, the Great Smoking Mountain erupted again. The renewed volcanic activity confirmed the danger Lauren had warned about.
The refugees crossed the Great Salt Lake and reached the mainland. There they encountered Vektal's people and the newer human survivors.
The surviving Strong Arm, Tall Horn, and Shadow Cat clans were accepted into the broader community and acknowledged Vektal's leadership. The two Outcasts also reached the mainland, although they were not immediately discovered by the other residents.
The island's destruction became a shared historical trauma for the refugees. Their departure marked the end of the island clans' isolation and the beginning of their lives among the mainland population.
The refugees joined the temporary coastal camp that had formed around the disposal of the Tranquil Lady. Their need for a permanent home helped turn that camp into Icehome Village.
Mainland sa-khui taught the islanders how to cope with colder conditions, while the newcomers brought their own knowledge, abilities, and customs. The islanders gradually built homes, formed relationships, and raised families in their new surroundings.
The migration did not make every clan difference disappear. Individual islanders retained their identities, memories, and attitudes toward the old traditions. Over time, however, shared village life offered opportunities to question rules that had divided them.
By the time of Ice Planet Barbarians: A New Beginning, the island is no longer an active homeland of the five historical clans. Its volcanic landscape has been devastated by successive eruptions.
The ruins may contain remnants of former settlements, damaged paths, buried objects, or other traces of island history. They should not be portrayed as intact, thriving clan villages.
The precise safety of any landing, exploration route, or surviving structure must be determined by the established geography and current conditions. Volcanic heat does not make the island harmless; unstable rock, toxic gases, and renewed activity may pose dangers.
The refugees and their descendants now belong to the living communities of Not-Hoth, particularly Icehome. Their histories remain meaningful, but their futures are not limited to restoring the old clan system.
The Great Smoking Mountain was an active volcano on the islanders' ancestral home.
The first catastrophic eruption occurred years before Lauren and Marisol arrived.
That disaster destroyed much of the island and killed most of its inhabitants.
Seventeen known islanders survived: fifteen from recognized clans and two Outcasts.
The Long Tail Clan had no known survivors.
Strong Arm, Tall Horn, and Shadow Cat survivors continued living on the remaining habitable land.
Lauren encouraged evacuation after discovering the surviving islanders.
A later eruption occurred as the refugees left the island.
The islanders' arrival on the mainland helped establish Icehome as a permanent settlement.
In the current campaign, the island is a devastated historical location, not an active clan homeland.