Guide To Monster Island (by Scott McGinnis)

Brief History:

Monster Island is situation X miles East from the Philippines and X miles SW from Hawaii. It is the tip of a gigantic underwater mountain and consists of one large main isle with several smaller islands including a small archipelago. Its main features are an active volcano called Mount Galtoa and large main plateau about 1000 feet in elevation above sea level.

The British first discovered Monster Island in the early part of the 20th century. This occurred during the worldwide good will tour of the HMS Hood. The island was previously unknown and does not show up an any charts prior to it's discovery. Yet the stories of local natives in the South Pacific did refer to a large series of seismic events in the 1800s and also the presence of a new island somewhere in the pacific.

Many geologists suggest that the Island was created sometime in the 18th or 19th century during a period of intense volcanic activity and was colonized by plants and some small number of hardy insects shortly after. When it was discovered the Hood was unable to launch a landing party but a scientific venture after World War I indicates it had already dense jungles, and introduced species of insects and marine birds.

During World War II it played a minor but important role as a hidden base by first the Japanese and then the American forces. Troops stationed in these locations did introduce vermin in the form of rats and cockroaches but animal life was still minimal and largely unknown to the island a part form large colonies of crabs and other crustaceans.

It was in 1945 that the American forces first introduced the Atomic Bomb to the world and brought an end to World War II. However, the rapid onset of the Cold War with the Soviet Union caused continued research in chemical and nuclear weapons and the test zones of New Mexico in the US were no longer a viable option. Therefore, as the last nation in control of Galtoa Island, it reverted to US control. The US armed forces occupied the small islands around the base and began using it first as a testing ground for nuclear weapons and later for chemical warfare.

It was in 1952 that the first Kaiju attack by the creature later named Kajiro occurred in Tokyo Japan. It has always been thought that the origin of Kajiro was closely related to the unrestricted nuclear testing at Galtoa and other Pacific islands. It was even suggested that Kajiro was a resident of Galtoa prior to this testing. Although that was disproved when dinosaur eggs long buried were uncovered on other South Pacific islands on which testing occurred. But it was shortly after the attacks of Kajiro that the US government released data that the plants of Galtoa had mutated to a more hardy and tough variety. More disturbing were the reports of large cockroaches, some the size of automobiles and gigantic rats as large as metro buses.

As the emergence of new Kaiju in the mid fifties continued it became evident that something had to be done with these creatures. The armed forces of the world were repeatedly thwarted by these huge foes and the number of lives lost, as well as the tremendous amount of funds spent in defeating these giants were forcing world governments to teeter on the brink of bankruptcy. Therefore, during the historic Kaiju Threat meetings at the UN in 1958, the Island was "donated" to the UN by the United States and formed the basis of the UN's Science Alert Corps (UNSAC) Kaiju Retention Facility, otherwise known as "Monster Island".

Collecting Kaiju is not an easy task by any means. And it was determined that a facility needed to be large enough to not only house Kaiju of titanic proportions but also, similar to livestock; offer them enough room and food to survive. The reasons for this are simple. It has not yet been possible to completely destroy Kaiju reliably, and therefore a docile Kaiju in retention is preferred to a highly aggressive crowded or starved Kaiju. Also, while UNSAC does not consider inter-Kaiju conflicts a threat it is considered dangerous to have too many angry Kaiju in one location and constant conflict is not considered "desirable". Galtoa Island proved perfect in this regard.

Initially other Kaiju usually collected Kaiju after defeat. Regeneration, learned the hard way, meant that "dead" Kaiju often resurfaced months or years later to pose a new threat. Since most military forces lacked the firepower to destroy the beasts, there were many years through the 1950s and 1960s where untold destruction occurred through out the world. However, during this incredible explosion in Kaiju creatures occurred they inevitably came into conflict with each other and this gave UNSAC the opportunity to restrain and transport them to Monster Island. Even then sonic projectors and sleep gas dispensers only guarded the Island, primitive at best and occasionally breeched by tough and or wily Kaiju.

Today, with technology gained form our defeat of the Deloks the Island is protected by force field with 500 mile diameter. This allows the monsters full reign of the island and flying creatures are able to fly and hunt in the surrounding waters. Also the field's spherical shape allows aquatic creatures to lurk the depths and not escape the containment system.

Features:

The island is X miles wide and X miles long. The main island was called Galtoa when first the name given to the legends by locals on the nearest islands. The main island consists of lush tropical jungle in the lowlands and sparser more temperate region on the large plateau. The jungles are quite hot and resemble South American rain forests. The temperate regions are similar to forests of the US Deep South, typically the Tennessee mountain regions. However, both the temperate and jungle regions are punctuated by regions of clearings, some due to weather events (monsoons, lighting strikes) and in recent years, by Kaiju struggles.

The main feature of the plateau is the looming Mount Galtoa. It is an active volcano prone to frequent and unpredictable eruptions. This has produced a large lava flow field consisting of barren basalt flats and trenches formed by rivers of lava that often run right down to the sea. There is another seismic feature on the island; the nearly X mile long cleft running laterally from the plateau down to the lowlands. This huge fault is immensely deep and has no known bottom. Kaiju have found access difficult, although not impossible and many of the flying types can come and go from it’s depths at will.

Located to the south of Mt. Galtoa is the fresh water Lake Ito named after the first scientist to study the Kaiju Kajiro. From this runs a river that pours over the 1000-foot plateau rim to a smaller lake below. Lake Ito is quite deep and is believed to be an older caldera of Mt. Galtoa. It has become dormant and filled over the years with rainwater. Several Kaiju reside there and the fact that they do not often struggle with each other suggests there is more room in the lake then meets the eye.

The river flows to the sea, but not before it melds into the steamy swamps of the south west portion of the island. This region is the hottest, and most humid and Kaiju preferring these conditions can often be found there. Immediately off the coast of the swamps and slightly to the south, are collections of deep underwater tunnels know collectively as The Abyss. Attempts to plump it depths have failed mainly because it's the frequent haunt of many marine Kaiju, mostly notably The Kraken.

Directly south of the main island is a smaller island with similar geology to the main island. A large bald mountain named Mt. Wilson, after the first director of the UNSAC, dominates it. For some odd reason, perhaps due to its relative isolation, it has become the home to several Kaiju considered by many to be intelligent and basically "good". Namely Nyani Mkubwa, Honu and Nijira patrol here and keep more aggressive Kaiju from residing long there. It is the only part of the island that UNSAC forces can make sorties to in order to get close and study Kaiju biology. Several African governments have insisted that this island be monitored closely in regards to Nyani Mkubwa who is considered to be a deity in some tribes. However, suggestions that it become an publicly accessible, international "nature reserve" by the "Friends of Honu" and the politically based conservation group "The Nijira Party" have been rejected due to the close proximity of other Kaiju.

To the south east of the island is the Polar Enclave. One of the main obstacles to containing Kaiju is matching them to their environments. Polar and arctic regions where Kaiju have emerged have been recreated using weather control technology from the Deloks. The archipelago consisting of three islands south east of the main island have been kept perpetually "frozen". The islands consist of lowlands covered in ice and snow and icy barren peaks in the mountains. The sea around the island is frozen almost yearlong and is made up of large ice flows and bergs. Finally, the small island to the east of the main land is home to the UNSAC research station also known affectionately as "Fantasy Island". This used to be a heavily shielded and bunkered underground installation for observing nuclear and chemical ordinance. This made it ideally suited for remote observation of the inhabitants of Monster Island. It is protected by a smaller version of the same force field that covers the entire island chain. For some Kaiju have instinctively attempted to approach the island and although it is heavily protected risks can not be taken. Form the research station remote cameras and radar as well as satellite imaging it used to keep track of all the Kaiju on the islands. Also the weather control devices for the polar enclave are regulated from here as well as the seismic monitors geologist use to record the volcanic activity.