The Island of Hy-Brazil

Detail from 1570 map of Europe by Abraham Ortelius

We've all heard of Atlantis, an island of degenerate super-scientists who fought the Athenians sometime before the 3rd c. BC. It was used as a parable by Aristotle and he clearly identified it as a mythical place. But did you know that 1500 years later Europeans were certain that another mythical island existed off the Irish coast called Hy-Brazil?

The name probably derives from the Irish Gaelic word breas, meaning “noble” or “fortunate.”

Not a lot of people had been there because it was cloaked in heavy fog that lifted only once every seven years. A river ran through the middle of it.  There were Christian monks and priests living there, humongous black rabbits, a real sorcerer, and they have wealth and lots of good food to eat. There were lost civilizations that were possibly immortal and primitive gods to meet and fight with. There was even a UFO and alien technology by some accounts.  Expedition to Barrier Peaks, anyone?

Detail from the Catalan map of 1350 showing the location of Hi-Brazil.

(Image from Donald Johnson's Phantom Islands of the Atlantic)

From the 1300s until the 18^th century, European explorers and cartographers were certain that there was a perfectly round island somewhere off the coast of Ireland. Between 1350 and 1865, scores of European explorers set forth to find the fabled island.  In 1674, a Scottish sea captain claimed to have found it and spent a day on shore with the natives.

The name of the country Brazil probably has something to do with this island’s name as well. There is a circular “island” on the flag and a ribbon running through the middle, just as the island has been described. Could this be coincidence? (Answer: Yes, complete coincidence. Don’t be stupid.)

Flag of Brazil

In the real world during fairly recent times, the learned people of the day believed in fantastic islands. You don’t have to be playing an ancient Greek, Viking or Ray Harryhausen campaign to spit on your hands, hoist the black flag, and set out in search of wondrous islands of madcap monks.  PCs, especially in port towns, ought to hear rumors of places like Hy-Brazil all the time.  And at least sometimes, such places really ought to exist somewhere in the corners of the map in your Realm.

Have you got any places like Hy-Brazil in your Realm?  What are they? Where are they? What are they like?

File Photo