The Convergence

As time passes and both major factions begin gearing up to venture to the island, more has come out about the nature of the ongoing crisis. It's been deemed the Convergence, though specifics as to why are all over the place. The general concept is that this is a crisis facing nearly every plane- Rhyst, the Void, and the Faewild included. Whether the entities there are doing anything about it is presently unknown, but the nature of it is no less urgent. Since the initial efforts to place outposts were established, they've since grown into whole-scale forts, and this mysterious island remains as the last point of settlement.

The Island

Recently, the island was named Sarea. For all intents and purposes, this island didn't seem to exist on most maps a mere few years ago. Other than that, reports say it's fairly ordinary: terrestrial, with snowy mountains to the north and a temperate southside. Deeper investigation fails to bring back results as lone visitors seem to get lost there, but... those who have returned provided information that indicates it's more magical than other locations by far, and more lush as well. Life seems to thrive atop this place, for whatever reason.

The Factions

Both Arlandria and Isegrád have spearheaded the exploration of this apparently fresh island. While it wasn't even close to being public knowledge before, there are all sorts of propaganda missives about it now, claiming that this is the "newfoundland" and that it holds the secrets to all magic. Whether it's an attempt to get willing souls to go try and save the world or whether the island actually does hold the secrets to all magic and they're looking for a leg-up on the competition can't be determined easily. What can be determined easily, though, is that it's serious either way.

The other hotspots were given an outpost, then a fort. This island has been given more attention from both major factions than any other event in recorded history, with each sending a monumental percentage of their Empyrean and their Hedera- their chosen elites- to ensure it proceeds as planned. Every operation before has ended in failure, with small groups getting lost there and even larger ones falling to mysterious ne'er-do-wells at the shoreline. Now, they're sending veritable legions instead, and naught but the end of the world could hope to halt this adventure.