For years, the Antartic Peninsula has been free of the imbalance of Gaia that pervades the rest of the world. Most visitors have been kept away by the ice packs that surround the continent. Those persistent invaders are worn down and then attacked in their weakened state by the guardians of this, Gaia's last wilderness.

Using unwary passers by for breeding, Alka may have started the myth behind the Sirens; certainly, if a ship threatened to damage a Caern the females would change forms and distract sailors, while their males attack the boat. However this all changed when communication improved, and no longer could they pick of ships without endangering their secret. The Alka moved south, retreated, and split while they debated what they ought to do. While they were talking, the Wyrm moved in.

First, they sent a series of humans to cross Antartica. While most were killed, or left to die, Scott succeeded in convincing the Alka to let him cross; since they expected him to die they let him. Scott found little of interest, but sparked an interested in human society, and in the rush that followed they found room to gain a foothold. The Alka did what they could, but were unable to prevent the increments of the Wyrm, mainly because at the time they had another battle on their hands.

The Alka, when they retreated, left their kinfolk to guard their external caerns. But the Rokea, so long at a tense stand-off with the Alka, seized their moment and attacked. Penguin populations plummeted in key areas and it was only by human kinfolk in the east implementing shark hunts that it was slowed. The first important caerns to be defiled were in New Zealand: for years, the Yellow-Eyed Penguins and their fellow Aboriginee kinfolk had guarded the Caerns. But the Wyrm moved in, and gradually took over their lands and waters. The Rokea, allied throughout, took over their undersea lands, while Pentex corrupted those topside. Fortunately, Glasswalker intervention has finally staved off temporarily their total destruction; however the recent epidemic shows that the war in that area is still far from over.

Antartica itself is the closest place to the Umbra apart from the most powerful caerns, the gauntlet fluctuating between 0 and 2; the nearer to human settlements one gets, the higher the gauntlet. The deepest explorers, those scientists who don't want to change nature, live in gauntlet 4, while towns are gauntlet 7 (still). The Wyrm has no Caerns yet on the Antartic Continent itself.

Most Alka believe that their most powerful Caern is in the center of the Antartic continent, at the magnetic North Pole. But in fact it lies underwater, in a vast chamber completely encased in ice, which only elders can reach. Here resides one of their totems, Pen Gwyn, the great Penguin, who provides knowledge of everything that passes in the umbral realm around Antartica.

The umbra around the Antartic is as cold as the real world, perhaps more so because of the cold spirits that roam around. Even the most powerful banes find themselves drained just to keep moving in the Umbral enviroment. Once a pack of Black Spiral Dancers and some Bane Spirits mounted a huge attack on the Antartic Umbra. They used balefire to keep themselves warm, but when they had walked for hours they realised that they were out of Gnosis and Power, and they hadn't found anything: they found the way back as frozen as the way onwards, and slowly froze as Alka elders closed in and ritually destroyed their spirits so that they couldn't return. Such an attack was never tried again.

The Antartic Umbra appears to be white in all directions, and has a drift which only the Alka and the local spirits really know how to navigate, else an Umbral traveller finds himself wandering in enormous circles around the Antartic rim. Alka can only step sideways through underwater ice, although in the Umbra, there appears to be little distinction between water, ice and air, and as usual, they can step back from anywhere.

Alka are organised in a similar way to other changing breeds, awarding renown as usual. Since there is rarely as much to do in such a well cared-for enviroment, there are comparitively few elders. There are three breeds - Homid, Eudis(Metis) and Dytis(Penguin). Homid are the least common, but there are a surprising number, settled frequently among the scientists and shippers, along with their kinfolk; few leave Antartica, as they feel out of place and warm. The Eudis are positively welcomed by the Alka as they are far more spiritual than the Dytis; they do not suffer from the disfigurements of the metis of other Bete, but are impotent and also rarely live more than 10 years. The Dytis are the most plentiful and are the fighters and explorers.

Aside from the Pen Gwyn, Alka also serve Antartica, the spirit of the south and the cold, and Wendigo.