The Noktu Islands stretch for nearly 3000 km (1900 mi) across the Arctic Ocean. The Noktus suffer winters so harsh it sometimes freezes even at sea level--shocking on Capsica, though of course half of Earth routinely freezes.

Except for the Green Islands, they're not large; mere specks in an orbital photo, when they're visible at all.

It will come as no surprise that these polar islets are uninhabited, given the native Capsican fear of frostbite (reasonable, since their skin burns on contact with snow or ice).

Uninhabited, but not unknown; in summer ships pass along the north shore of Bel in great numbers. Capsicans find their Arctic Ocean threateningly cold, but unlike ours it has no sea ice at all in summer. And, in a world with narrow seas and convoluted sea routes, it offers a profitably direct shortcut between many regions.

Sadly, the Noktus, though well-charted, are splendidly placed to cause shipwrecks. The Arctic, even in summer, is prone to fogs and navigational confusion--the sun just wheels, blurring east and west, when you can see the sun at all.

But these tragedies are most often just economic. They rarely result in the sort of grim Arctic survival tales (or more often non-survival tales) of Earth's Arctic. For Capsicans can fly. And the one thing every sailor knows about the Noktus is that if you can get a clear bearing south and fly all day, you're likely to hit the coast of Bel by next morning. It's hard to miss. Huge, wild, cold and thinly populated--the Capsican Siberia, basically--but at least in summer, you'll find help.

The Noktus are, then, wreckers but not killers. Villains with a heart.

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